やなな at Gekijo Dori

やなな at Gekijo Dori. You can see they are in front of Takashimaya Gifu at one point. I didn't know about やなな until I got back from Gifu City. It would have been fun to get a picture with her. Maybe next time. I added this to the GIfu City Fanpage.

See やなな's blog HERE.

かぶと虫が逃げた！Run Trypoxylus to escape in the final of sumo wrestling.

In the final, a Trypoxylus sumo wrestler escaped. This final determines which is strongest, but suddenly, one of the players escape from the final match! See this boy's face? It looks so sad... This boy is the owner of the escaped Tryposxylus.

山形県でカブトムシの相撲大会が開催された模様。
でも、決勝戦で、なんと相手方が飛んで逃げたそう。
飼い主の少年はとても悲しそうです。

みき

Japanese family chronicles 10 years of life.

If you are a true fan of real life in Japan you should like this video. It is 10 years of ordinary family life in Japan in chronological order.

I have often thought about trying this. Pretty sure I don't have enough pictures to cover 10 years without large gaps.

Yakitori Grill - やきとり!

So, I am in Japan, and they are cooking all these wonderful things on these stick grills. I should have thought to buy one of these when I was there, but didn't think of it till afterwards. So far the one below is the only one I have found. It is not like the ones the street vendors have, but looks like it would do the job. This one is from Mitsutani Electric Corporation.

I'm thinking that with my rudimentary welding skills I may be able to create my own, which would use charcoal. You can see my Japanese Beef page on Facebook here, where I have more pictures and videos.

Cherry picking tour in Yamanashi (山梨)

チェリー狩りにいきました！

チェリー、さくらんぼは食べ放題。

でもたくさんのさくらんぼはいらないかも。。

やはり適量がいいです。

みき

Hello! This is Miki.

Long time no posting!

I went on a cherry picking tour last week. I ate alot of cherries in this tour. I could eat as many as I like, but couldn't eat as many as I wanted to. After eating too many cherries I did not feel well, appropriate quantities are always best, but still I like cherries though..

Miki.

メイド - There's a maid on the floor.

This image was removed at the request of the owner.

You will have to take my word for it.

It was funny.

Give me your email if you would like to see it.

Japanese Beef

Japanese beef is one of the greatest things on earth! Another example to prove the Japanese have the best of everything. The fat is amazing, soft and buttery, melts in your mouth. I am not just talking about Kobe. If you go to any store that sells meat regardless of the cut, it is sure to be the best thing you have ever tasted. If you like meat that is.

I find it interesting how in America we pride ourselve on finding the leanest percentage of fat possible, and the leaner it is the more expensive it is. What a sharp contrast, you would think the opposite, that Americans would go for the fatest cut of meat possible, yet it is the Japanese who are blest with such fine beef.

The picture and video here were taken in Takayama. This is a great example of Hida beef. These sticks were 3500 yen each.

I started a Japanese Beef fan page on Facebook please join HERE!

No Pictures Please! (写真だめですください!) - Akiba Cafe Maids

It did not take long to find out that the cafe maids handing out flyers in Akiba did not like their pictures taken. More than once I was told no pictures please, as well as given the the Japanese sign of "No", which is the forearms crossed like an X. One of them actually followed me until I stopped and made me delete a picture while she stood there and watched. So, most of my pictures are of them walking away.

I did mange to get a flyer from one of them, where as most of them went out of their way to avoid me when they saw my camera. She was actually very nice and insisted that I examine the flyer on the spot, and kept asking me what I thought.

See more pictures HERE.

Tilt Shift Gifu City

Sometimes I think I may be living under a rock. I am always finding cool things that have been around forever, that I have never seen before. Regardless, here are some nice tilt shift photos of Gifu City, by Pinboke. Please check out their other tilt shift photos here.

Tilt Shift Time Lapse of Japan

Who doesn't like the effect of tilt shift? This is the first time I have seen it in time lapse. Great find by The Awesomer.

WD TV HD Media Player Firmware Update

Western Digital realeases firmware update 1.02.07! 

This player is still my choice for watching all those GB's of Anime and J-Drama's. Just attach your portable HD and go. Unless you have a dedicated Media PC, this is the way to watch your downloaded TV and Movies. Although I have been having some trouble with some subtitle files on occasion, I still like this player, it handles just about anything I throw at it.

From the WD Website:

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Version 1.02.07 Now Available!

We've received tremendous feedback on WD TV and some great suggestions to improve the product even more. In response to your requests, we're pleased to offer release product enhancements to make your viewing experience better than ever. Updating your media player is simple. Just follow the instructions below, grab your remote and enjoy the show!

What's New?

Release 1.02.07 (4/27/2009) 
(includes all previously released updates)

• Enhanced cover art, album art, and thumbnail support for media files and folders
• Additional subtitle languages and decoding support
• Improved media playback and navigation
• More audio formats for MKV container
• Fixed bugs reported by the WD TV user community

Japanese Food

One of the more popular questions when I cam back was, "How was the food?". Overall it was very good. I can think of other places in the world where they eat scarier things. I had some amazing things that I cannot get here, and some things that I don't need to try again.

My goal was try as many different things as possible. My host family did their best to help me meet my goal. Just ask what it is AFTER you eat it, and you will be ok.

Swine Flu Quarantine Inspection

Upon arrival at Chubu International in Nagoya, we had to pass quarantine inspection. Took about an hour. Fortunately the air blowing out of the vents was very cool, I turned mine up high and hoped for the best. Not that I had a fever, but I didn't want to take any chances. So I passed, and so did everyone around me. I have heard other stories and if someone close to you has symptoms it could mean 1 week isolated in a hotel, not fun.

I took this video with my Nikon D90 DSLR and a 10-20mm super wide Sigma lens.

Two amazing weeks in Gifu City.

Finally after 2 years of talking about it, I got a change to visit. After reading about Japan and scouring blogs for information and details about this country, it was my turn to see for myself what it is was all about. I can say for me, that it was more than I had expected. It is truly an amazing place in so many ways.

The picture above is just one example of my 2 incredible weeks in Japan. I can't even put into words the experience that I just had. I can not thank my host family enough for everything they did for me during my stay. Finding a family that would allow me to stay and live with them allowed me to experience the country in ways that would not be possible otherwise.