escape_artist said...

escape_artist at 01:21 PM JST - 25th October

Tie games in the playoffs? How lame. And then to be preempted by some inane TV show, or lame movie in this case per hoserfella.

This isn't real baseball to me. It really is double-A ball run by single-A company men who don't seem to really understand baseball as a…

Posted in 12-inning tie puts Yomiuri one win away from Japan Series at 01:21 PM JST - 25th October
escape_artist at 09:15 PM JST - 24th October

Re: DVDs, what do the authorities & movie companies expect when they're priced so obscenely high in Japan. I know the subtitles cost a bit more but 4,000-5,000 yen or more for a new DVD?! I sure will never buy at that ridiculous price. And yeah, I would bet it's…

Posted in 52% think it OK to buy counterfeit brand goods, DVDs: survey at 09:15 PM JST - 24th October
escape_artist at 02:59 AM JST - 23rd October

eresay, the more accurate term is "global climate change". The colloquial term "global warming" is only a part of that. Some parts of the earth will warm while others cool, and overall havoc will reign as weather patterns change a whole lot faster than normal.

Posted in Climate experts gather in Tokyo to discuss global warming at 02:59 AM JST - 23rd October
escape_artist at 01:56 PM JST - 22nd October

Most department stores nationwide are losing money and this is the best thing the bone-headed managers can come up with? I don't care how much they think sex sells -- and it certainly does, it's still just a gimmick in the end. Do people really need or want someone pointing…

Posted in Escalator girls at 01:56 PM JST - 22nd October
escape_artist at 02:44 AM JST - 19th October

The train looks like the Nankai Rapi:t express, a fast and comfortable but more pricey way to get to/from downtown Osaka and Kanku.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq6vgf0vb_4

Never even close to crowded whenever I've taken it. In fact, I see more people on the train in this photo than all the times I've…

Article Unavailable
escape_artist at 04:57 PM JST - 9th October

When Japanese people say "Japanese", I think they almost always are referring to it in a racial or ethnic sense, not in terms of citizenship. This is the mindset that Aso's comments come from.

Posted in Aso hails Nobel prize haul after chemistry win at 04:57 PM JST - 9th October
escape_artist at 10:48 PM JST - 2nd October

The powers that be in Japan won't like this...

Cannabis less harmful than drinking, smoking: report

Agence France-Presse, Thursday October 2, 2008

http://tinyurl.com/4uepvh

Posted in 5 Hosei University students arrested for possessing marijuana at 10:48 PM JST - 2nd October
escape_artist at 04:21 AM JST - 26th September

I remember when going to a department store in Japan used to be a rather enjoyable adventure, as places where one could wander floor to floor wiling away the time checking out a wide variety of goods at not so unreasonable prices (except maybe for the traditional Japanese items). I…

Posted in Isetan Mitsukoshi to close 6 department stores next spring at 04:21 AM JST - 26th September
escape_artist at 11:30 AM JST - 24th September

The Japan Times article this quote is from is here... http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080919f1.html

I think Yohan's demise was just the biggest and latest of Japan's sucking in toward itself in recent years. The foreign book sections at all major bookstores in Kansai have been shrinking for years, now catering mainly only to…

Posted in Yohan's bankruptcy was too sudden and it is taking a long time for other book distributors to establish a supply system. They do not have the knowhow for handling large volumes of foreign magazines and books. at 11:30 AM JST - 24th September
escape_artist at 01:12 PM JST - 21st September

A French friend told me once that Beaujolais is considered a substandard wine in France and often used for cooking, not drinking. I suppose there could be various types of Beaujolais, good and bad, but if true, don't the Japanese people who go gaga over this stuff care about quality?…

Posted in Becky named Beaujolais goodwill ambassador at 01:12 PM JST - 21st September