I arrived at Narita Airport last night around 6pm. Quickly made my way through immigration and customs without a hassle. Was very happy that the line at immigration was 10 people long. My wife arrived 10 minutes late, which gave me time to buy a soda, and some oreo cookie bites at the store in the airport (at reasonable prices go figure, go Japan!). It’s now 6:30am. Now starts a week or two of waking up ridonkulously early. Happens on most trips that I don’t sleep very well in the plane. I’ve had my buttered toast breakfast. Greated the dog, who was confused that someone was awake at 6am. I found a key waiting for me on the coffee table. I assume it’s the key to the house. Attached to it is a barcode card, it looks like it’s for a grocery store. Very nice of my wife to lay…

For the last 15 years it has been the big todo from environmentalists that the earth is warming and we the human race are the cause. I’m not here to argue that the human race isn’t contributing to any warming of the earth that is happening. It would be stupid to assume that we weren’t contributing to any climate change, cause we are. The earth’s ecosystem is a complex beast. No one on the planet fully understands it. Sure we can predict the weather, and based on conditions we can assume that there may be a hurricane forming, or tornados may touch down and cause havoc, but in reality our understanding is minimal. Over the past 4.54 billion years the earth has been around, it has gone though many natuarlly occuring changes. Just as we age and evolve, the earth too ages and evolves. Going through seasons year after year,…

I am a huge fan of Cirque du Soleil. For many years I have tried to see as many shows as possible as they have come through the Boston area. I even got to see La Nouba at Disney World in Florida, which is one of the shows that does not travel around. I have enjoyed them all immensely. Today my wife treated me to ZED. This is one of the non traveling shows and it is hosted at Tokyo Disney. As with most Cirques ZED starts out with 2 clowns, that wander the amphitheater harrassing members of the audience, and doing silly things. We were in the first row stage left all the way in the corner. The clowns did there thing, and one was even hiding under the stage near us, we knew he was there, there was no surprising us. The show starts off with the 2…

Well for over that last 12 years I have. I’d hear of something, and want it, but website either had no english access, or only took payments and orders to japanese addresses. I would like to introduce you to a new way of thinking. The new world order in buying stuff from overseas comes in a couple different flavors. Enter Tenso.com. Tenso is a service that allows you to place an order on a Japanese website and have the item shipped to a Japanese address. In turn Tenso takes your ordered items and routes it to your address. You could be in the US, or the UK, or Antarctica, but they’ll ship it too you. Of course there is a small fee, an you do have additional shipping charges, but for many people who unlike me don’t have a fiance who lives in Japan, it’s a great option. Contender #2…

What is a Bento? In Japanese Bento or “o bento” is basically a boxed meal usually a boxed lunch. When you are on trains that are not local or local expresses there is usually a woman (i have yet to see a man) walking down the isles with a little cart selling food items, including pre-made bentos. Usually stuff I won’t eat, but that’s another topic. There are bentos sold in the convenience stores, and there are even little bento shops that sell nothing but bentos in disposable cartons. Bento is so common in Japan that they come in all shapes and sizes. A simple google search shows images of many styles of bento boxes. Some are traditional japanese style, some are child themed with popular cartoon characters, some are single layers, and yet others are multi layered. Available at the ¥100 shops (100 yen about US$1) for cheap plastic…