Appropriate Attire 101

When you find yourself in the middle of weather like this,


It's best not to wear something like these,


And while a feast like this

definitely lifts the spirits,
it does not cure frost bite.

Just a few survival tips from the Hokkaido blizzard of 2008.


Excuse me while I thaw.

Nagasaki Lights

Call it fate.
Call it luck.
Call it absolutely enchanting.
I stumbled upon this annual festival of lanterns in Nagasaki's Chinatown. As Chinese New Year's revelers descended upon this quaint historic town I followed suit and took the keitai tour of this...

...the oldest and largest Chinatown in all of Japan which puts Yokohama to shame but I must admit that all I really wanted to do amongst all these meticulously hinged and unabashedly romantic lights was grab an LED Hoop and hoop it up under the moonlight and lanterns.

soon friends
soon.

10 minutes in Okinawa

So technically I was there for 17 hours but given that this was a business trip it truly felt like 10 minutes.
What can you see in such a short time???
I found a flautist turned chimney sweeper and ¥40,000 venomous snakes soaked in sake. Apparently it's an island delicacy.
I will never know why for reasons that can probably be found on the CDC FAQ page about the hazards of consuming venomous snakes in sake jars.

First Class

Riding on trains just never gets old. After a particularly mediocre day in Fukuoka I was just one half hour train ride away from a bed at the Toyoku Inn. And then the universe sent me a gift a luxurious ride on a super deluxe Semi-Express Shinkansen in Fukuoka called the Kamome which means Seagull in Japanese. This train comes fully equipped with executive style spacious leather seats, hard woodfloors and several train hostesses catering to your every whim. It truly felt like gliding on air.