Web Search Update
According to Lycos, Clay Aiken is now the #1 searched for thing on the internet. I am now speechless.

Another Weather Report
June in the Tokyo area is known as "Tsuyu", or just the Rainy Season. Basically, it rains all the time, and when it isn't raining, it's really muggy out. Guess that's a fair price to pay for a dry, snow-free winter and awesome weather day-in day-out in April and May. Once the rainy season ends in roughly Mid-July, Summer officially begins, and the heat hits in full force, and when we you have to walk and take trains everywhere I can imagine that it will be a lot of fun. Compared to the muggy NC springs and summers, I think I can handle it though.

The Airwaves In Japan
Are filled with a lot of crazy stuff. Japanese radio can be full of Bilingual DJs and eclectic content, and I would say that Japanese TV deserves its reputation.

But, since I need a break from the Japanese language sometime, I listen to the American Forces Radio here in Japan a lot. As you may know, this station (Eagle 810 AM) is broadcast by the United States Army from their bases in the Tokyo area. In general, it's very convinient, broadcasting a good variety of music, as well as news and occasionally sports in English.

One thing that I found surprising at first, although maybe I shouldn't because it is the military, is that during the week, Rush Limbaugh is played in the evenings. I find this surprising, because this is a heavily partisan political show, being broadcast on US- Goverment funded radio stations. There was an article about it here . Now, whether or not you think playing an hour or two of NPR is effective balance is a matter of personal opinion, but at least it contains a veneer of sanity and journalistic integrity. Hey, if it pulls in the ratings, what can you do? Because that's all that matters, right?

Popular in the United States


"Some were seen purchasing NASCAR sunscreen and toothbrushes"


Nascar fans, what can I say? Is this even newsworthy though? It's always interesting how the driver themselves become their own brand, which ties in with their brand sponsor... I'd like to see that, something on the marketing of Nascar drivers. Well, maybe.

In another "WTF" moment, somehow UNC Charlotte's own Clay Aiken is the #4 most searched for item on the web, according to this list here . That's above Britney Spears, Dragonball, Harry Potter, the Atkins Diet, and Pamela Anderson. Of course, the Nick Berg video is #1. Which is just sad. Let the man rest in peace I say.

Killin' Em
I finally watched Kill Bill the other night, and being a big action movie fan, I had my expectations running pretty high. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the mind-blowing action revelation that I was hoping for, although I will hold final judgement on the film until I've seen part 2. I don't know, maybe because I never "got" Tarantino films (Pulp Fiction- good, but great?) And it was so violent, in fact, that it cut into my enjoyment of the action- turns out that the Japanese cut of the film is even bloodier than the US one. And this is coming from a John Woo veteran. It really did make me think about how violent movies should be, and that's a first for me. I understand the stylistic reasons behind it, but for some reason that line of argument doesn't impress me enough with this time.

Going to watch Vol. 2 when I get back to the States. And if any of you bloodthirsty types want to see the Japanese version (remember, no subtitles for the Japanese language!, at least in the one that I watched), let me know and I'll pick it up.

Oh, one more thing
Congratulations to the (former) perennial laughingstocks Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning on making it to the Stanley Cup finals. Good to see the little guys (and a Canadian team) get some shine. It'll be interesting to see this tough Canadian town going up against possibly the least natural place for hockey on earth. Well, it will make for good sports editorial page fodder at least.

My weekend
I went to a baseball game in Yokohama on Saturday. It was pretty cold and rained for a little bit, and the game ended up running for 5 hours and 40 minutes, but I still had a good time and the game ended with a walk-off homer, which is always exciting. Fans here are pretty crazy, both teams had a large fan section with a small band, huge flags, guys at the front leading the cheers, and general craziness. Maybe I can get some videos up soon that I took.

Also, as a bit of an aside, anyone out there with extensive knowledge of movie Westerns?

Wait, this is May, right?
Apparently, there's a typhoon heading Japan's way right about now, it caused a lot of problems in the Philippines and now its making a turn north. I don't think anything's too serious about it, mostly a rain event, but it is interesing to note that if the trains have to stop running due to the weather (not likely), they have to shut the school down for the day. The trains really are that important here, kind of like if buses could run or not way back when. The good news is, after another day of not so hot weather, the forecast is looking good for the next week or so.

For news on the typhoon, and Japan related news in general, I recommend www.japantoday.com. I think it's a pretty good site.

Heeey everyone
if you want to see some more pics of places around where I'm living, check this page that a friend made:

Click here!

No people, just places and an assortment of interesting/strange things. Go check it out.

School Daze
I really don't want to be in school right now. Combine the facts that I just got off a week long vacation, I don't really like any of my classes, there's a lot of interesting things to see and do outside of class, and the fact that this is my normal time of year for summer vacation to start up, and you have a recipe for apathy. I still have two and a half more months of this to go. Hopefully, it'll start going better soon.