American Gaijin
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Look for the Helpers
I am a misanthrope. It’s really easy to beat around the bush and prevaricate a little, but at the end of the day, I generally neither like nor trust people. Honestly, at the end of the day, I think if a person has the chance to screw you, they will, and not think twice about…
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Japanese Books I Bought Today
So today I went to Half Price Books, and I bought some Japanese language books. Let’s take a look at what I found. I spent less than $100 on everything you see. First, I found some dictionaries. I like dictionaries. I’m not sure why, as I can find everything I need online, but these are…
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I Love how Japanese Women Talk
It’s funny how, in all my studies of Japanese, and their obsession with all things cute, the thing I love the most is how some Japanese women say “ka”. They pronounce it “kaw”, and it’s the cutest thing ever. It’s funny because the Japanese have built entire industries on being cute. Idol culture, schoolgirls, kawaii…
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Systems Vs. Goals
As you might have gathered at this point, I listen to the Scott Adams podcast. He’s a pretty intelligent guy and generally I respect intelligence. Of course he has a few blind spots of his own, but he’s only human, I suppose. His opinions in theology and philosophy are generally useless, but he makes up…
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Texas
Probably one of the most frequent questions that’s never been asked of me, but probably would be if people felt comfortable asking me questions, would be “what’s it like living in Texas”? Well, specifically for my foreign friends, let me answer that question. Texas is big. I mean really big. It’s one and a half…
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Akimoto Yasushi – a Second Take.
A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about Akimoto Yasushi, the guy who founded the AKB48 jpop empire. Akimoto Yasushi – Good or Evil? I want to revisit that post now. As I’ve become more familiar with Japanese culture, I’ve begun to see nuances that I didn’t before. Are my previous criticisms valid?…
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Ants
I have a bit of an ant problem in my house. Dunno where they came from but I started finding them everywhere. Little blighters that get into everything in search for that next bit of food. Harmless but annoying. So I got some Terro. It is a sweet liquid that ants love, mixed with borax.…
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Liminality
This is the third post I’ve written on this topic. I abandoned the first two. Hopefully this one works out. In my life, I have had several times when I experienced something I could not put a word to. It is a feeling of unreality, of crushing loneliness, like something is subtly but catastrophically wrong.…