Harvey of Japan Newbie fame emailed me this morning that his iPhone app (which we helped with a little bit) was on sale at iTunes!  (more on this with the next post) He mentioned several of his Twitter followers had “Retweeted” the news.
Well, I had heard of “retweeting,” but had no clue how to do [...]

Very important new Poll!
Anime is…
1) the very essence of life! Sugoi!!
2) –I could go a day without watching.
3) fun to watch because of the big eyes.
4) better than the Underwater BB Stacking Channel–but only just.
We need your input!  Vote now

Makoto, Baba, and I went to this Matsuri (festival) at Mount Monju.  I stumbled on this footage the other day and threw it up (not literally) on Youtube.

So Jack is dying, his daughter returns for a stem cell miracle, and Season Seven comes to a close.  I have a feeling Season Eight will spend half of the day cleaning up Season Seven’s mess.
This was the first season I actually watched on TV.  Every other year, I waited until it was finished, bought [...]

“When you beat my pitch, young gentlemen, I’ll try again.”
Yesterday, while reading up on Washington I came across the story of George Washington out-throwing all others in a throwing contest.  Well, wanting a little more context than the book was giving, I decided to Google, “When you beat my pitch, young gentlemen, I’ll try again.”
Go [...]

New Promo at TheJapanShop.com!  Buy the wooden Shogi Board and Piece set for $30 and get the Shogi for You & Me software for free.
Shogi is often called “Japanese chess” and the similarities are there, but there are twists.  You play with kanji pieces that can resurrect!
For more information go a-clickin’ this a way.

This is based on our Podcast #10 and only covers two countries (US and England!).

For more on this, please see our Flash Countries, Languages, and People page with sound.
By the way–I just figured out how to switch my Youtube channel page to display the video Widescreen. It had been squeezing the video to fit [...]

義理と褌欠かされぬ
giri to fundoshi kakasarenu
Never fail to do your duty or wear your fundoshi
The 大辞泉 (daijisen) Japanese-Japanese dictionary has this definition:
男子は常に褌を締めなければならないように、義理を欠いてはならない。
Just as a man must always fasten his fundoshi, so should you never fail in your social obligations.
And the Kodansha J-E translates it as: “Social obligation and underpants–two things you can’t do without”
‘Twonce in a while, [...]

One question has plagued the college student more than any other.  This of course is–which to dip first: the Peanut Butter or the Jelly?

He… (and I say “he” not to be sexist or as an attempted rebellion against political correctness, but because a woman would simply wipe the knife off before sticking it in the [...]