InspectorGadget

I was thinking more of the banter that they have between the presenters sometimes. IG

You're right. It was a typo on my part. I meant 'wakarimashita'. And yes, my Japanese is still craptacular. I yield to your superior knowledge. IG

It's possibly wakimashita , which means 'I understand'. It's been about 3 years since I last watched the news here, because it's generally not balanced or well investigated, and the media in Japan has a tendency to 'navel gaze' (ie focus almost entirely on events within Japan and hardly anything on international news) . Instead I rely on the internet and BBCWorld for information on current events, and the same is true of most of the other gaijin that I have contact with. IG

Two words: Tentacle Porn. Google away. IG

A quick loook at this thread will give you some indication: 1) Buy used schoolgirl underwear fron vending machines 2) Get pissed from beer vending machines 3) Fall asleep in train stations and listen to doorbell noises. 4) Get a lot of strange stares from the locals 5) Pay stupid amounts of money to the government to keep our vehicles on the road. 6) Have girlfriends/partners/wives who scream during sex and carry around 'brand name' paper bags. 7) Laugh at the Rockabilly/Lolita styles. 8) Hatch secret plans to deal with the Bosozoku once and for all 9) Marvel at the range of junk food available and the unusual flavours. 10) Debate the merits of Japanese vs Foreign Coke 11) Drink Pocari Sweat and Lipobitan D to recover from #2 Personally, I have no car, and it takes me an 90 minutes by train to get anywhere reasonably interesting (like my local watering hole). I live in in a really inaka village in the middle of nowhere. All you can drink (nomihodai) deals with friends and kareoke are the usual things that I get up to. IG

I'd have to agree with you on the Mt Ranier (especially the caramel one). Any of those ones that have an actual expiry date on them taste better than the weapons grade coffee out of the jihanki's. Unfortunately, I don't own a car here, and there is no conbini in walking distance, so I don't have a choice. I can't wait to get my car in May. IG

How Pokari Sweat got it's name is here: http://www1.sphere.ne.jp/mucci/mono/pocarie.htm The vitamin drink with a 'D' on the bottle is Ripobitan D. Incidentally, those vitamin drinks are absolutely LOADED with Caffine. Likewise with the O.T.C cold and flu medicine that you buy at the drugstores. Occasionally I get sugar cravings here, but usually I just fix that with a sweet canned coffee. ZIIIIIING! Steer clear of that bloody Georgia Max stuff in the yellow can though. Urgh! IG

I'd believe that. The Japanese palette is a lot more sensitive to sugar that what we are used to. I discovered this when I brought back some normal dark chocolate with me as omiage. My colleagues loved it . . . . . why? . . . . dark chocolate isn't as sweet as the usual foreign chocolate that they're used to getting when people go to places like Hawaii (eg Macadamia Nut Chocolate) IG I prefer the word TODGER

Sciby, Have a look at Yongfook. He does nothing but review Japanese snacks, and is a pretty funny writer. http://www.yongfook.com/index.php Well worth a look. IG

They're definately re-using them (grin). It just seems that they tend to be a bit selective about which bags they choose to re-use. You don't see to many Uniqlo bags being re-used do ya? Rezz, judging by your avatar, I reckon you'd look good with a rockabilly haircut. :wassup: IG

The Elvis hair comes around from the Rockabilly scene, which is alive and well in Japan. Post-WW2 and during the Korean War, when American GI were in Japan in large numbers, American rock and roll music became popular here. Rockabilly style (eg leather Jackets with metal studs, BIG bleached, coloured hair , and fast angry music) was an attampt to 'rebel' against the clean cut rock and roll of the time. Through the years, it continued developing, and has become a style unto itself. The style tends to be attractive to the wanna-be gansters, and gangsters themselves. Bosozoku, are 'speed tribes' (zoku = tribe or gang). These are the little shits, often Senior High School students, who ride around town on crappy 150CC motorcycles with no exhausts gunning their motors, just to be a pain in the ass. Some cities have big problems with them running up and down the main streets weilding planks and pipes etc. Late last year, laws came into effect putting in place hefty fines for noisy exhausts and group riding, aimed specifically at this problem, and it seems to have had a noticeable effect on the numbers of them around. Mostly they're a bunch of pussies. When the cold weather comes, they disappear. They're most common during the school holidays. They hardly ever ride alone. If they ever tried this shit in Aust or NZ, the general public would 'take matters into their own hands'. I've certainly been tempted to on a few occasions. The Bosozoku members are often young idiots who want to become Yakuza later on. As a consequence the Yakuza tend to use them to to odd jobs (eg petty theft and roughing up people' when need require. I know of this second hand, through a friend who used to hang out wth junior Yakuza. It's kinda funny when you think about it. When Japanese want to rebel against society, they do it as a group! The paper bag this is just fashion. Petty young materialistic girls walking around with paper bags from `brand name` stores (eg Louis Vuitton, Chanel etc), just so they can look chic and fashionable. Some even buy small inexpensive items from the stores specifically so they can get the paper bags. IG

That's a bastard. It looked good with it on the front.

In an ideal world, anywhere that issues International Licences should be able to give you information related to their use in the country that you are travelling to. However in most cases, people either don't receive this information, or it is out of date. In addition some countries allow you to apply for/renew International Licenses through the post. eg Many states in the US and NZ as well. IG

And also remember that the laws in Japan have changed, so that you can only use an international license for 1 year from your arrival in the country (as stamped in your passport). After that, you'll need to convert your license to a Japanese one (no test for Aussies, Kiwi's Brits and a few others. Nasty tests for the Canadians and Americans). The old trick of simply getting another international license no longer works. Get caught, and you can be done for being an unlicensed driver, and that often has implications for your job as well. IG

Sorry mate. I was herding my own group of people around. IG

In this neck of the woods (Kanto) that constant diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing doooooooooooong (slow) runs day and night, regardless of whether the trains are operating or not. It's bloody annoying, especially if you are trying to sleep off a hangover waiting for the first train. : It is intended to guide the visually impaired to the nearest exit. This makes sense, as times that I can remember hearing them in a station, there has only ever been one speaker broadcasting it, and it has always been at the top of the stairs nearest the exit. Another aid is `door closing warning` jingle that plays when the train is about to leave. They're different at every station, and give the visually impaired an audio cue as to which station they are at / when to get off. On a side note, a lot of footpaths in urban areas have a 'yellow brick road` (a coloured textured surface) embedded in them. Visually impared people can follow these and be sure of staying out of harms way. When they come to a road, the texture changes to warn them that a hazard is ahead. IG

So would real wood furniture. That stuff is STUPIDLY expensive here. IG

At the end of 2003, there were 4.57 million vending machine in Japan (pop 125 million approx), nearly all of which are drink or cigarette dispensers. Machines selling food or anything else aren't common. Drinking during working hours is strictly prohibited, mainly due to the insurance laws and the zero tollerance for drink driving (well . . . officially anyway). It is very common to see drunk salarymen after work on the trains on any night of the week. Drinking Beer, Happoushu (cheap low malt beer designed to get around tax laws), Chu-hi (rice alcohol with a fruit flavouring, think alcopop), and Sake (One-Cup Ozeki is the preferred brand among salarymen) is very common on the trains. The age that you can legally buy alcohol and cigarettes in Japan is 20, which makes it interesting if you have booze and cigarette vending machines on every corner. . . . . Sometime in 2005, a law will come into effect requiring the machines to conduct some sort of age verification before selling these products (probably by scanning the customers drivers license). IG

To add to what Rezz said, originally they were schoolgirl panties. The H.S. girls used to make a bit of money on the side selling them to the second-hand shops for resale. HOWEVER They soon worked out that they didn't even have to wear the panties in order to sell them to to the shops, and instead, some of more enterprising ones started mass-producing used school girl panties. All they did was purchase panties from the 100 yen shop, smear a bit of yoghurt on the crotch and leave them in the sun for a day. IG

Ha ha. I'm not a Rezz, but I've been looking into that exact topic for the last couple of months as I'll be returning home soon. I though that he might appreciate the link. IG

Sumo would be a good idea. The new year tournament started on the 9th and will run until the 23rd. Unreserved seats are available for around 2,100 yen per day. The stadium in in Ryogoku, two stops from Akihabara (and next to the huge Edo Museum). It's very easy to get to by train. Well worth an afternoon. I may be going on Sunday depending on how things work out. IG PS. Plus it's warm, covered, and out of the snow, which is scheduled to fall tomorrow evening. It's gonna get cold tomorrow! http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3022.html http://www.sumo.or.jp/eng/ticket/index.html

Have a look at these guys. I'll be using them to take a car to NZ in late May. They also service Australia. http://www.kiwicar.com/ IG

Your prayers have been answered. There is an 80% chance of snow in Tokyo tomorrow starting in the early afternoon. It should then continue throught the rest of the weekend. IG

If you want to see something interesting, jump on the JR Yamenote Line and go to Akihabara. It should take about 20 minutes. That's Electric Town, where all the cheap gadgets are. Well worth a visit. IG

See you all at TAS. I probably won't been you at the station, but probably at 2pm in the centre cafeteria.