The cure

Cure for what ails you.

I made a mid-spring resolution to start cooking for myself more often. The arrival of an colleague from Italia has helped that goal drastically. He even taught me how to make a big mess in my kitchen, as pictured below:


der paster in der pan goin flipper flipper!

I discovered that one of the following is a cure for canker sores (inside of the mouth):

• Fresh cooked pasta with broccoli and extra virgin oil
• Spending all day at home cooking and eating (and jogging)
• Fresh veggies

All Carrots Look Alike

I also happened upon a new mystery: Why do all carrots in Japan look like this one? Huge, triangular, and without skin.. It's bizzare. I just can't find a normal carrot. But the good thing is that mutant clone carrots are fairly cheap--by far the cheapest ingredient in the $5 salad pictured above!

umbrella condom +alpha

Umbrella Condom: n. a plastic cover that fits over an umbrella, as to protect the inside of a building from drippy bits.

Umbrella condom dispensers are often located near the entry of buildings and moved to a place of prominence by the building staff whenever it's raining. Next to the free "kasa condoms" is the obligatory "kasa condom rubbish bin."



+alpha: adj. [Japanese marketing] a standalone suffix that designates "more than you normally expect."

Why alpha? No-one knows. But the dispenser at my conference's building has a previously unknown feature: it dispenses condoms with a blow. Air is blown to keep the condom open, facilitating easy insertion of one's umbrella, which can often be clingy and adhesive when wet.



No idea if these HDPE condoms are recycled, how I feel about the idea of a recycled condom of any sort, and how much electricity is required to continually blow condoms. But since this is the first time I've seen the condom blow, I'm guessing it is only associated with government positions. (This is a government/community building in addition to convention center.) Non-inflated dispensers are much more common, and cheaper I'm guessing.

PS Apologies if some feel this blog humor has risen to untenable levels of sophistication. We will return to normal broadcasting shortly.

a nice photo shoot

Thought you may enjoy this photoshoot link I found. I'm going to go have my blood boiled at the roughness festival now.

Oh, lovely Engrish

I was invited to a festival. From the website, does it sound nice to you? Here's a quote:

The Sanja Matsuri counted by one 
of the Edo three major festivals boils 
Asakusa people's bloods as a roughness 
festival of the Edo the greatest, and 
gathers one million tourists or more 
now every year.

The emotion of the downtown and shouldering 
person's heat pile up the atmosphere of 
the festival, the foreigner also participates 
in portable shrine Cats at the same time 
as being known to the Japanese whole country 
as Hana in Edo recently, and it is popular 
as a global festival.

This is the scene.

I wish this had a smell-a-vision, or some way to guage the smell of this photo. It smelled like caked urine and sweat. The man's white pants were stained brown, but I think it was mud. (I hope it was mud.)

He must have been in the subway system to avoid the rain--though arguablely, the rain would have done this homeless man good. I'm guessing he'd spend just enough time in each station to avoid having the police called to remove him due to his smell. Yes, he smelled that bad.

Prior to his last-minute decision to board our train, I was sitting in the seat marked in blue. I noticed a 10Y coin on the seat, and I moved it to the side. (Not that I was expecting anyone to care if I took it, but I didn't need it, and it's kind of the Japanese style to not take things if they're not yours.) After the homeless man sat at the place marked by the green circle, I left. I lasted 5 seconds. I wasn't the only one who left. It was that bad.

The next stop, he left, and the air stirred by his motion gave us all a second wave of the stench. Definately "Ewww.. Grossness." Normally at this point, it'd be time to pity the guy and try and forget his body ordor.

But leaving the train, I thought to go back and see about the 10Y. Zoom in, and look at the red arrow. Amazingly, a man so far down in the dumps that he hadn't showered in at least a month not take the coin. I was amazed.

What do you think? Did he not see it? Was he choosing to smell like a toilette for other reaons? Would he have taken it if it was a 1000Y bill? ..Would I?

Smell like a C O W

Hair Make ROPE Sometimes there's no need to write anything. Yes, that is a cow on my triple box of soap. (The soap is kind of moist and dense, like cheese or something.) And the Hair Make Rope sign is a beauty salon: Rope, for your Hair and Make(up) needs.