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.