Haha. Indeed. Give me a bit to get my training done though. Hahaha. Need a salary before I can get crunk.

Welcome back. Lets get drunk!

My and the wife have never paid for NHK. All we do is plug the TV into the cable and we get local channels in our area.

@dasian It depends on what is being shared at the time. People have things hooked up to their television, and if nobody's watching it, then you won't get it through TVU. I got around 10 channels yesterday afternoon, so I think it just depends on when you're watching.

The Japanese police are pretty useless for the most part.

That's one heck of a video Dave. Must have taken you ages to put it all together.

It is amazing. A movie-screen-sized glass wall on one tank is the highlight. And when you're finished at the aquarium, drive a little further to a beautiful (and clean) beach that you will have to yourself. In fact, just drive all over Okinawa. Enjoy the scenery, and the feeling of being in "Little America".

Live TV? Huh? Don't understand this article. I can watch Japanese TV now. On my TV. Here in Japan.

"The mother said she was upset that Ichihashi's family merely expressed "regret" for the slaying, instead of issuing a more fulsome apology." Is this because they blame the parents for shielding the suspect from police, or because they are actually believe that parents should apologize for crimes their adult children commit?

You can't even watch NHK through that program, or any other major Japanese networks. Downloaded it and found only a Yomiuri News channel and a couple music video channels. I've already uninstalled it.

You are such a sweetie lol! Winter is the most romantic time, I secretly would like to renew our vows in the snow here so I can finally have the winter wedding I wanted lol!

Gah! I didn't want to DownSoc the comment! Nooooo!!! How do I undo a DownSoc?

Didn't we address this in a thread some months back? The NHK fee is completely voluntary. Oh, wait ... you said it in jest. Haw, haw :P

This is wrong on so many levels. First, this poor girl was beaten for upwards of a day and a half before dying. Second, the parents are helpless almost half a world away. Third, the police aren't using this heinous crime to their advantage. Nobody on the planet fears being caught by the police in Japan except for law-abiding foreigners who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. If the police in this country want to be taken more seriously, there should really be much more effort put towards catching idiots who do crap like this against foreigners. I don't mean to make light of Lindsay Hawker's horrible end, or make it out to be some kind of marketing opportunity, but when it comes to solving real crimes in this country, the Japanese Police Forces leave much to be desired. Unfortunately, the rules each police officer must follow and the protocols within the various forces don't allow for very much flexibility. By the time all the paperwork is filled out to actually get in the car and hunt a criminal, they've already moved on -_-

!!! This is also the first place I proposed to my wife! Seriously ... we were in the church, and there were lots of people looking at us because of the gaijin thing or something (perhaps it was because we were dressed pretty nice), and then I asked my Reiko to marry me for the first time :) I didn't unzip a jacket or anything, because we had gone on May 6, 2006 (with a tentative wedding for 05.06.07 ... but that didn't work out). It's scary just how small a world it is. That said, Meiji Mura is a great place to go see what Japan was like during the turn of the 20th century.

You mean we don't have to pay the NHK man? ;)

That's where I proposed to my wife! There's an old bank with a tower. We went to the top and looked over Meiji-mura while it snowed. I got on one knee, took out the ring and proposed. Then, when she said yes, I unzipped my jacket to reveal a shirt that read "Majide?" (Seriously?) :)

There are actually two gardens in the area DBR. Rikugien which is just beautiful and Furukawa Teien which has a lovely pond, teahouse and many of the stone lanterns that I love so much. I found the latter while checking out the area a month ago and really enjoyed my stroll. Thanks for reminding me Neil!

It was really my pleasure and I enjoyed reading all of the submissions. Don't forget to let Nick know if you want to host after Tae is done - it's really not that hard to do and it's a great way to help spread the word on all the great japan blogs out there.

OMG you've found the Nihongo equivalent for "who's on first"! LOL Some lovely shots - definitely makes me want to go to the gardens.

Actually yes - I didn't click it for at least a day because of that, I didn't even glance at the description!

Jason, although the original title was just a play on words, I do agree that it conjured up images of something (funny but) inappropriate for this family friendly site. Let old fogies unite. I've changed the title to something a bit more obvious.

Hmmm, not to be a downer or old fogie, but the title of this article alone is enough to make me never click on the link. I thought someone just posted about raising Japan blogs to the 2.0 level?

LOL, the picture reads "nomal" pin. :rolleyes:

Thank you, Shane!