Leonard Richardson’s short story, Let Us Now Praise Awesome Dinosaurs starts with a Thymomenoraptor trying to buy a handgun. You’ll hear Iggy Pop’s theme from Repo Man while you read it. Everyone’s been buzzing about the story, and it’s great. But I also want to point out Rachel Manja Brown’s new story, also in Strange [...]
A year ago I was in Japan. Lake Chuzenji, above the temples of Nikko, with its resorts, and the surrounding mountains, reminded me of going up to Grand Lake in Colorado when I was a kid. But there is always something around the corner to remind you that you’re someplace else. I look forward to [...]
Tim Bray has a sensible approach to Yodobashi Camera. Go in the morning on a weekday with a goal in mind. During our trip last August, Cynthia and I visted the Yodobashi in Akihabara on an early Saturday evening. But then, we were on vacation, our time was our own, and the packed mob scene [...]
Typhoon Fitow makes landfall soon, the eye coming ashore to the west of Tokyo. Cynthia and I have tickets for the Nozomi Shinkansen to Hiroshima tomorrow morning at 7. The typhoon’s track cuts across the main bullet train route, so our trip may be delayed. Right now we have heavy rain and wind, and many [...]
There’s a category one typhoon bearing down on Tokyo, where Cyn and I are staying. Today we were up in Nikko, and were caught out in some severe downpours. Also, waving hello to the SVG Open folks at Keio University.
There’s a ramen museum in Yokohama. You don’t go for the musuem, but for the ramen shops. The basement’s set up as an arcade in the fashion of 1950′s Tokyo. The best noodle shops in Japan have branches set up here. You buy a ticket from a machine by the entrance to a shop, hand [...]
Kamakura’s a little town about a 20 minute rail trip from Yokohama station. Narrow streets, lots of shops, plenty of temples. Cynthia and I went there today. Several faiths represented here in this old capital. After walking around in the late summer humidity, I wanted some cold soba. We passed by a place in the [...]
Since cynthia1960 and I leave for Japan in less than three days, I’ve updated the theme to something appropriate.