ISO Photo Mascot

My family just returned home after a week-long visit to Tokyo. It was great to experience Tokyo through their eyes; they noticed more and more "only in Japan" details as their jet-lag wore off, and then of course it was time for them to go home.

One thing that we enjoyed doing was taking photos of a little stuffed bird, as a favor for an elementary school project in my sister's town.


Perched next to fortunes at Asakusa shrine

Yes, it's been done before. And yes the garden gnome in Amelie was funnier. And yes I'll have to carry it around where-ever I go. ...

But I'm considering it. Then the blog would be all thematic and stuff. .. & maybe it would help me to post more often.

What would be a good mascot? I wanna keep with the "Trying to make sense of Tokyo" theme. Any ideas??

I like Oprah...

... and I'm in-touch-enough to admit it. Let's face it: she's really good at saying like it is.

Today I read Oprah on CNN. Soon after, I took a "love type" personality quiz.

.. about the quiz: I'll show you mine if you show me yours!

PS What does it mean, when "Oprah" is in spell-check?!?

Strangely enjoyable PSA

I just witnessed some edutainment. Look for my favorite character in the PSA, "Annoying Loud White Guy Who Asks Why":


Of course, my second favorite character is "Inexplicably Non-Overdubbed Generic Asian Guy":


The movie is to announce fingerprint/photo requirements for entry into Japan from November 23, 2007. In general it's a very entertaining video. In a very disjointed and bad taste sort of way, the blunt "We're REALLY scared of foreign terrorists" repeatedly repeated message fits perfectly over the muzak light-jazz keyboard soundtrack. I also really like the non-tasteful random overdubbing.

(By the way, yes, it is a serious video. Check out the other channels at the website. TV isn't often quite this bad in Japan, but luckily web TV is.)