Why is it that when you put a coat hanger on your head, you are able to turn your head around further than normal?

And, how do people discover such things?

Other Random Posts from Blizzardboy. Enjoy:)

• PixelMoon
• The Home of Skiing
• Blood Types and Scientology

Q: Is all the Japanese land urbanized like Tokyo? Is there no natural landscape left anywhere in Japan?
Q: Please tell me where Japan is located. Can I go from Tokyo to Hong Kong by Shinkansen bullet train?

or my personal favourite,

Q: Are there samurai in today’s Japan?

The answers to those questions and more can be found here. Is it just me, or are they taking the piss? Of course there are samurai. Here is a picture of one taken in Nagoya:

(credit: Rumpleteaser )

And you have to be very careful and stop and bow when they pass by or they will chop your head off. Actually I was late for work yesterday because this happened!

Some other interesting posts about Japan around the net recently include: Things About America I Didn’t Know While I Lived There from Life Nomadic’s blog. They have been doing a bit of travelling recently and one their travels came to Japan. Their post compares life in Japan, the United States and Panama and makes for a good read. You can check it out here. And, Hacking Japan: Inside Tokyo for Less than New York from Tim Ferriss, author of the 4-Hour Work Week reminisces about his time in Japan. His unusual top four is a good little list of places to visit in Japan (although listing Akihabara is perhaps not the most timely):

The Most Unusual Top 4

Ghibli Museum: This is the real-life Alice in Wonderland. The most incredible museum I have ever visited, hidden in a park and designed by animation powerhouse Ghibli Studios, this gem is a home run. Get tickets at a Lawson convenience store well in advance.

Tsukiji Fish Market: Get up EARLY (around 5am) and see the largest fish market in the world. A single tuna for $40,000 USD? That’s low-end. Wrap up eating the best sushi in the world for breakfast in the outer market. Unforgettable.

Takeshita Doori: The kids and fashion here must be seen to be believed. Indescribable, especially sitting right next one of the most beautiful shrines in Tokyo. Red contacts and outfits that make Marilyn Manson look like Pokemon? Prepare to be amused.

Akihabara: From “maid cafes” (you can sit in a mock living room and have maids at your beck-and-call for food, newspaper, coffee, etc.) to electronics years ahead of the US, this “computer city” is the mecca of geekdom. Otaku central. Moe moe kyuuuuu!

You can check out his post here - along with a beautiful photo from Kyushu!

Finally I found a new blog about Japan that has a nice magazine style layout: check out the sevententotokyo.com blog!

Related Posts. Click to read more.

• Boso Peninsula Pictures
• The Office: Is this your office in Japan?
• Japans Pigeons Say No!

I love this sign! It says “Don’t give the pigeons food!” and then the pigeon says “Stop it! I don’t need food!”

Is this just a case of anthropomorphism or do Japanese pigeons have much more refined tastes than their human counterparts?

Related Posts. Click to read more.

• The Office: Is this your office in Japan?
• Cute as Pie: Salivating Sushi
• Push Do Not Thrust

This sign says “Here is not a toilet! Bad!”

If you relieve yourself here a giant hand will appear out of the sky and poke you in the back. This is a new variation of the time-honoured Japanese art of kancho (here is a Korean flash game you can play if you want to practice (NSFW)). Amazing really the technology advances available to the powers that be in Japan.

I remember when we were driving in Akita, one snowy wintry day, when an old man in a little truck stopped in the middle of the road, got out and began to draw in the snow. The traffic backed up quite a way (Japanese roads are narrower than a narrow thing so no-one had the, uh, balls to pass), but he was oblivious to it all. Nonchalantly he wandered back to his truck and drove off. It was less shocking than seeing a taxi driver in Kyoto masturbating at the taxi stand while waiting for customers, but still it was a little surprising.

Related Posts. Click to read more.

• The Office: Is this your office in Japan?
• Japan Websites and Travel Stuff
• Japans Pigeons Say No!

Some great photos of maki-sushi from toxel.com. Yummy!

Rolling sushi so that the ingredients make a pretty picture is quite an art form. You can see more pictures of scrummy sushi here.

Related Posts. Click to read more.

• Japans Pigeons Say No!
• Adventures in Japan - Musical Wonderland
• The Office: Is this your office in Japan?

Kiwiology is…

Kiwiology is a directory of kiwi blogs - the stuff that makes up the New Zealand blogosphere.

Blog topics include, but are not limited to:

New Zealand blogs, Kiwis blogging overseas, blogs about New Zealand politics, the environment and sustainability in New Zealand (or by people based in New Zealand), New Zealand’s economy, Kiwi businesses and business topics, New Zealand issues and current events and kiwis’ personal blogs.

Recent blogs (as of this posting) added to kiwiology include:

• Bwagy | Marketing Blog

• Blizzardboy A Kiwi in Japan

• Our Sport

• Oswald Bastable’s Ranting

• PhotoForum NZ

• nothing better to do

• OutdoorKnit

• Frank Observations

• Dead Sharks

• NZ Tramping

Also, if you have a New Zealand related blog, or would like to suggest one, you can add it here.

Other Random Posts from Blizzardboy. Enjoy:)

• This is not a toilet! Bad!
• Christmas in Korla
• Hi-tech Creepiness | GPS Stalker

Japanese woman caught living in man’s closet

(story source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_on_re_as/japan_closet_woman )

A homeless woman who sneaked into a man’s house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.

Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man’s closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.

The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.

One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.

“We searched the house … checking everywhere someone could possibly hide,” Itakura said. “When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side.”

The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man’s house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.

She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman “neat and clean.”

Here is a picture of our closet. I know some people who sleep in their closets (if you aren’t too tall they are a good size) to save space. Not much room in ours though

Related Posts. Click to read more.

• The Office: Is this your office in Japan?
• Japan Websites and Travel Stuff
• Japans Pigeons Say No!

Before we left Japan for China, we visited the Boso Peninsula, which is part of Chiba prefecture and forms one side of the entrance to Tokyo Bay. We took the train down from Tokyo through to the Miura Peninsula. Miura Peninsula is the site of the American military base at Yokosuka. From Kurihama on the Miura Peninsula, we took the ferry across the bay (Japanese only site) to the port at Kaneya in Chiba. We visited the Giant Buddha at Nihondera, took the cable car and enjoyed a nice walk around there. We stayed at a little ryokan in Tateyama City. The next day we went around the tip of the peninsula.

It is a nice trip / weekend away from Tokyo. Being vegetarian we didn’t take advantage of the areas bountious seafoods which the peninsula is famous for. We went just after I bought the camera, so some of the photos have a strangely bluish hue to them.

Related Posts. Click to read more.

• Japan Websites and Travel Stuff
• The Office: Is this your office in Japan?
• Japans Pigeons Say No!

We went to Sendai a few years ago, and these photos were snapped around the city center. Sendai is the largest city in Tohoku, and is sometimes refered to as the capital of Northern Japan. When I was living in Akita, it seemed like a big city, but after living in Tokyo it seems pretty small. For all that it has a great atmosphere, some wonderful shops and restaurants as well as a highly recommended castle.

Other Random Posts from Blizzardboy. Enjoy:)

• Being Vegetarian in Tokyo
• Getting a Drivers License in Japan
• A new Prime Minister for Japan