motytrah said...

motytrah at 02:52 AM JST - 16th July

The Queen of England still owns a ton of land, holds a great amount of money and nobody tells her what to do. The royal family in Japan lives at the whim of The Imperial Household Agency. If anything, the lack of populism with the Japanese Royals can be blamed…

Posted in Emperor, empress arrive in Hawaii at 02:52 AM JST - 16th July
motytrah at 02:45 AM JST - 16th July

The real costly part about it is if they have to run the APU. That's basically a generator located in the rear of the plane that runs off jet fuel. In most US airports where it's hot they have AC trucks or connections on the jet way where they actually…

Posted in JAL darkens inside of planes on ground to keep them cool at 02:45 AM JST - 16th July
motytrah at 02:28 AM JST - 15th July

Seems to me that the answered is formed on if the family intends to head back to the west. We complain a lot on JT about how messed up white collars workers are in Japan because of the education system. That may not be a good thing to bring back…

Posted in Is Japan a good place to raise children? at 02:28 AM JST - 15th July
motytrah at 02:08 AM JST - 15th July

Royalties? I thought the Morning Musume idols usually got screwed since they scout them so young.

Yet another Idol marries comedian story. They usually do end in divorce.

Posted in Mikitty embarrassed at exchanging vows in English with hubby in Hawaii at 02:08 AM JST - 15th July
motytrah at 12:49 AM JST - 11th July

Cyclonic is a fad. Independent testing showed Dyson was no better or worst than the cheapie vacuums. Dyson had stopped making the claim that Cyclonic's didn't clog and now market on how maneuverable they are.

Posted in Cyclonic vacuum cleaner at 12:49 AM JST - 11th July
motytrah at 12:45 AM JST - 11th July

My favorite French Tourist story. I was in Amsterdam transiting back to the states. I'm in line at the gate for the exist interview when the customs agent comes up to me:

"You, you're American right?" "Yeah." "It's your lucky day, come to the front of the line." "Alright." "We've…

Posted in Pushy French are world's worst tourists; Japanese are top: study at 12:45 AM JST - 11th July
motytrah at 07:28 AM JST - 9th July

It certainly was a very good show. But it had a lot of things against it. It's an hour long show, every episode had a new cast of characters with new costumes, a ton of detailed props and sets, and a tone of CG and special effects to supplement those…

Posted in Nozomi Tsuji happy to be 'Pushing Daisies' at 07:28 AM JST - 9th July
motytrah at 07:20 AM JST - 9th July

While Lost in Translation did get permission from the Hotel, the commentary with Sofia Coppola made it clear that many of their outdoor shots and all the train shots were done with out permission because of all the red tape. They'd trim the crew down to just a few people…

Posted in Filmed on location in Tokyo...not quite at 07:20 AM JST - 9th July
motytrah at 06:54 AM JST - 9th July

Many posts have brought up the western Little Miss pageants that are fairly common in the west. While quite distasteful on a lot of levels, I think there is one clear difference. Those pageants are targeted to be family events. They are attended by friends and family. They may be…

Posted in Innocence lost: the dark side of Akihabara at 06:54 AM JST - 9th July
motytrah at 12:55 AM JST - 8th July

My wife was a judge for the Recount. I know paid election workers who were in the Franken camp that did the election and the recount. The actual recount, including going over the ballets that had objections, was handled in under a month (weeks if you look at the actual…

Posted in Minnesota court rules for Franken in Senate fight at 12:55 AM JST - 8th July