I hate shopping most of the time. That’s a tough position to take living here in Japan, with its long shopping arcades, both above ground and below. But there is one shop in this country I can honestly say I love. Love! It’s in Tokyo, in Kanda, and it sells traditional Japanese hanafuda, karuta, and […]
At heart I guess I am about 8 years old. If I happen to find myself in a 100 Yen shop, I immediately gravitate to the toy section. I can spend hours scouring the shelves, hoping to find some cheap hanafuda variant to add to my collection while my wife stocks up on random household […]
I had been a ruthless accumulator of things. Everything was piling up, especially books. Though our apartment is fairly well organized and generally clean, I couldn’t help but notice a kind of burden my pack-rat lifestyle was reeking on my mind. I also wondered if there were other unforeseen benefits that might occur if I […]
Was able to add some small shelving space to my micro man cave, giving me considerable more space.. Things are getting a bit more cramped with the addition of a couple more Nanoblock sets, including a Japanese Festival Car and Notre Dame Cathedral.
In the past year I have experimented with fly fishing via bicycle within the city limits of Sapporo. Slowly I began assembling the gear necessary to get me from apartment to stream as swiftly as possible. It has been a slow process, filled with trial and error.(See my previous post about what I started out […]
I’ve added some real depth to my micro man cave this past year. Two massive Nanoblock projects in particular really tied the shelf together: the T-Rex and Human Body skeletons! I’ve pretty much taken over all my wife’s space on this shelf, so my micro-man cave has kind of hit maximum threshold. Thank goodness Sapporo […]
With only four primary brewers battling it out for supremacy amongst Japanese consumers, and a micobrew scene that remains straight jacketed by anachronistic laws, Japanese marketing has to really pull out all stops to distinguish themselves on the supermarket shelf. Kirin decided to really turn on the Hokkaido charm by featuring the winding Chitose River, […]
When I need a creative jump start I always turn my trusty friend Nanoblock. Even though it isn’t creative in an end of itself, the act of “doing” brings other creative endevours to the surface. And Nanoblocks, with their hundreds of tiny frustrating pieces, all seperated haphazardly into small plastic bags, makes for the perfect […]
Since my first visits to Japan, I would come across a variety of gadgets in stores like Don Quijote and Tokyu Hands, that made me scratch my head. Some of the more interesting of those quirky products are beer can attachments that create a creamier, more substantial head after pouring. This has always perplexed me. […]
Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan by Azby Brown My rating: 4 of 5 stars An absolutely lovely read that is infused with history while looking disapprovingly at our current consumption driven culture. The author uses the unique device of placing Edo era travelers in distinct locales, partaking in a kind of […]