telepathic paranoia

I have a short short called Summer Salad out in this issue of 5×5. It’s print only, so you’ll have to pick up a copy of the magazine if you want to read it… It’s about nostalgia and culture clashes and the pressures of the academic job market, and how the question of what to [… Read More]

So this is indefensibly self-indulgent, but I feel like posting pics of all the bento lunches I ate in Japan. woooooooo bento.  and this concludes my japan posts for…  a while, certainly.  Let’s hope Idaho in winter gives me as much fun stuff to blog.

You may think Japan is the land of sushi and ramen and lychees, but actually, the Japanese love donuts.  And the love doing fabulously interesting things to donuts. No visit to Japan is complete for me without a trip to Mister Donut. Mister Donut was a fixture of my childhood, until they got bought out [… Read More]

I know it might be hard to believe from this blog, but I did do more than eat in Japan.  It was a little rough getting to any of the major sites scattered throughout the city, as I was located on a far, far outskirt (practically a suburb) — so any trip downtown was a [… Read More]

Hey, guess who figured out how to get the photos off his mobile phone!  Yes, M.  And wow, I’m so jealous now of his eight megapixels…  His photos are gorgeous. So remember that piggy-looking pork bun I was talking about yesterday? Well, if that isn’t just the definition of kawaii. And his little piggy tail!

Straight from Japanese combini (circle k, seven eleven, family mart, etc.) to your computer, it’s more fabulous Japanese junk food!  (See previous junk food here) First up, it’s a wafer cookie with pop rocks inside. Or at least, that’s what the packaging seems to by indicating to my uncomprehending gaijin eyes.  I mean, isn’t that [… Read More]

It may be Christmas Eve Eve in the Western world, but yesterday was a national holiday in Japan — the Emperor’s birthday!  I asked M.’s host how this holiday is traditionally celebrated, and he said, “Hmm.  The emperor comes on TV.  Everyone stays home to watch.  It’s not very exciting.” He made it much more [… Read More]

(food, that is) There’s a ton of delicious food here in Japan, but some of the cheapest and most interesting tidbits can be found in local “combini” — not an Italian term, as it might appear, but a Japanese corruption of “convenience stores”. This stuff may not always be the healthiest or most traditional foodstuffs [… Read More]

If you came here looking for the English manual for the SH001 phone, it can be found here: http://www.au.kddi.com/torisetsu/pdf/sh001/sh001_basic_e.pdf It’s snowing right now in Northern Idaho, but I’m not bothered…  because I’m visiting M. in Kyoto for school break.   Or rather…  I’ve decided I need to stop telling people I’m in Kyoto, because it [… Read More]

Oh look! I went to Seattle! (And went no where near the Space Needle — this was taken from the freeway.) I did, however, make it to Pike Place Market, in desperate pursuit of fresh fish. Coming from the Ocean State, the fish available on menus in Idaho makes me distinctly nervous. This halibut sandwich [… Read More]