June 11

Cream Puffs You Can…Drink

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Hanging out waiting for a train this spring, my intrepid fellow adventurer and I spotted THIS in a vending machine! Of all the unlikely tastes to come in a can, this has got to be one of the WTFiest. I mean, do any of you actually find yourselves craving the innards of a cream puff […]

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June 09

Secret Flower Seasons of Japan

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So, everybody knows about the cherry blossoms, and I bet you flower mavens even know about the glories of the plums, wisteria, azaleas and iris. But recently a bunch of parks & gardens have figured out that the best way to attract crowds of wallet-carrying camera-toters in the off-season is to plant lots and lots […]

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May 31

The Dish-Breaking Shrine

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This spring, the ever-impish kami-sama apparently thought I was in need of some sort of life lesson. Because every time I set out with a well-planned, perfectly-timed plan, it was like this: “You know that amazing thing you traveled three hours on four trains to see? Well, forget it. You’re not going to see it. Instead […]

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May 20

Confessions Of A Shiba Stalker

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Okay, I’m going to come right out and admit I don’t actually have a dog. You would, however, be forgiven for assuming that I was knee-deep in shiba inus, on account of I own a scary amount of stuff that is almost exclusively bought by fanatical pet owners who, uh, own shiba inus. But if that wasn’t bad enough, it gets worse. I stalk them. […]

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May 17

Please Tell Me That’s Not Seaweed On My Ice Cream

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The sticky rice balls I can handle. I could even get into the slightly gelatinous, traditional mitarashi topping that gets its brown from, uh, soy sauce. But I draw the line at nori. Yes, those suspicious-looking little black things on top are KILL ME NOW strips of the same kind of seaweed that holds your tuna roll together. And […]

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May 15

The Wedding Of Your Dreams

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Because what nuptial event could possibly be complete without… • Read a novel set in Tokyo

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May 13

Endless Fields Of Blue

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Every once in a while you discover a place where the photos that made you run to the nearest station and jump on godzilla-knows-how-many-trains to get there did not lie. Not even a little bit. Those pictures of hills swathed in an unbroken carpet of blue flowers at Hitachi Seaside Park? REAL. Where I come from, these little pieces of […]

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