CNN reports that American Poet and University of Wyoming Professor Craig Arnold is missing after setting out alone to climb a volcano known as Kuchinoerabujima. The CNN article above mentions that Arnold was on a fellowship in Japan doing research for a book on volcanoes. Not much is mentioned about Kuchinoerabujima (or Kuchinoerabu Island). The…
Most of the government agencies in Japan are creating Youtube channels. The cynical side of me wants to add, “so they can pretend that they are reaching out to and receiving the approval of the people”, but I’ll refrain. So here’s the top video from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. … and let…
‘Tis the season when the youngsters are running around eating Kit-Kats (キットカット,きっと勝つ, kitto katsu), and looking for pentagons (五画, 合格, gokaku) in the architecture while trying to endear themselves to various deities in order to find favor in the hopes of scoring a few more points on their junior high entrance exams. Many private schools…
Around 2:55 pm on June 30th, trains in Ibaraki were halted for nearly two hours. Some trains were as much as an hour and forty-five minutes late affecting approximately 2,600 communters. The reason? Snakes. A 1 meter long dead snake was found in the overhead wiring. In the same station another snake caused a 2 hour…
In the Kansai region where I live it seems like there’s a new AEON mall or Max Valu supermarket going up everywhere. They advertise their store brand (Top Valu) and seem to be doing well in the wake of the Daiei money troubles a few years back. If you live in Japan and you’ve been…