"One of those two Zippo lighters was in Franklin D. Roosevelt's pocket when he was assassinated. And one wasn't. One has historicity, a hell of a lot of it. As much as any object ever had. And one has nothing. Can you feel it?' He nudged her. 'You can't. You can't tell which is which. There's no 'mystical plasmic presence,' no 'aura' around it ( Read more... )

The Japanese have different words for numbers , depending on what is being counted ( Read more... )

It's interesting watching the Japanese at traffic lights ( Read more... )

You know you're in Japan when . . .

As the train comes into the station , half the people waiting on the platform pull out cameras and take pictures of it. It's the train driver I feel sorry for , all those flashes in one go must have been like looking into an atomic blast.

Finally worked out why I keep finding money in my right boot. There's a small hole in the pocket of one of my trousers : just big enough for coins to slip through , run down my leg ( which is quite an interesting sensation ) , and land in my boot ( Read more... )

Well , I finally made it to the China Town in Yokohama. According to the tourist guides , it's the largest China Town in Asia. I'm guessing this doesn't include places in China ( Read more... )

I know there a bit of a time zone difference between England and Japan , but surely it can't be April Fools day back home already ( Read more... )

Well , I went to Roppongi , and I almost lost my sole. Damn thing fell off my boot on the train ride up there. I'd heard all the rumors about Roppongi being an unholy sort of place , but I didn;t expect god to be quite so quick off the mark. Or quite so dyslexic. Picked up some quite good glue to stick it back on with. Unfortunately the stuff took ( Read more... )

The Japanese word for 10,000 is 'Man ( Read more... )

Little things I like about Japan ( Read more... )