Tuesday, February 26, 2008

a new friend in kanayama




a new friend to the lonely ana tower in kanayama is being constructed. when finished, this apartment complex will be 161 meters tall or 47 stories tall. 161 meters for an apartment building? the tallest building in lincoln, nebraska is the state capitol building which is 122 meters (34 stories). i was counting yesterday and it was around 35 stories, still 12 more to go. i think they are still try to hustle the spaces, as i am still getting flyers in the mail about it.

and in case you were wondering, that is a j dilla t-shirt i am sporting.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

slum village japan tour




Thursday, February 21, 2008

a little something for the ladies

the only two snow shovels in aichi



i am glad to see aichi prefecture has taken notes from stockholm, sweden, on the treatment of snow or maybe vice versa. aichi hates leaves, but cant get enough of that sweet snow on the sidewalk.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

meat street


living next to a chinese restaurant is well...interesting. this meat laid in the sidewalk for three days. meat can lay in the street, but heaven forbid autumn leaves fall to the ground. oh no! we can't have that. that's nature and of course, we all know how much japanese hate nature. so what did they do in my neighborhood on a nice saturday afternoon in december? that's right, shake down all the autumn leaves from the trees into big dump trucks, before nature had even a chance to run it's course. i expect the same thing this spring when the cherry blossoms come out. as much as japanese people tell me they like nature, i am convinced more and more that they really don't. car parts in between tetraports, laundry machines on the mountains, televisions on the beach, food scattered on the sidewalk, as much as i rail on nebraska for being a big dump. japan is a big dump, literally.

Monday, February 18, 2008

meiji mura


john took some great pictures at meiji mura last week. check them out here.

i love meitetsu


Saturday, February 16, 2008

the mura part two










Wednesday, February 13, 2008

meiji freaking mura part one















Tuesday, February 12, 2008

in atsuta ward with john








the right stuff









Friday, February 08, 2008

party bus





every sunday and on national holidays, this bus roars past my apartment, blaring some of mine and your personal favorite patriotic hits. it has been a dream of mine to join these guys on a sunday. i wonder if these guys ever have enough balls to go through chinatown or through some of the neighborhoods that are heavily populated with foreigners. i bet they do.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

hey john, are you jacked up yet?



tack sa mycket!, jun






last weekend was tough. had to say "hej!" to another swedish gangster. on sunday, we missed each other so much that we made each other sick. well, we both got the flu. i haven't been back to sweden in about four years, i think. i gotta get back, soon.

oh by the way jun is so slick, he convinced our taxi driver to eat some beef bowls at yoshinoya with him after he dropped me off in kanayama. jun was hungry and did not want to have the fare keep going while he was inside, or have to take another taxi from yoshinoya back home. so jun got the cab driver to eat with him.

i'm sure are paths will cross again. i hope.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

JSU "cant tell me nothing"