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Jul 9, 2009
Wakasu Kogen Video...2 Years Late (笑)
I took this video back in October of 2007*, but I thought the video footage was minimal and it wouldn't make a very interesting vid for anybody but me to watch. But, last fall I was playing around with some of the video editing programs in Ubuntu** and began dubbing music over the parts where I actually filmed while riding with the camera attached to my helmet or in my hand. The sound in the riding parts is nothing but extremely LOUD wind, so I messed around with adding a soundtrack. This video is one of those where I later added music to make it more fun. I think it turned out pretty good. Oh, and by the way, in the vid I say that it is 14C degrees out and that I will tell you what that is in Fahrenheit "later". Well, it is later now, and 14C is 57F. It was October when I visited this place.
*Part of the reason it took so long to post this vid to my blog, is that it is 470Mb. At the time I made it, I was still using a video upload site that would not support such a large vid. Vimeo has a 500Mb per week limit, so I am free to post it. Also, I am thinking that as soon as rainy season is over I will go back to Wakasu and camp again. Maybe in a couple of weeks (July 18-19), so the video will be relevant to a "current event" again. I imagine that such a high altitude camp area will be much cooler than Osaka, and quite a refreshing retreat from the summer heat.
**Probably used Kino, maybe a little bit of Kdenlive?
若杉（わかす）高原はメッチャ良かった。冬はスキー場やねんけど夏は一応キャンプ場や。ホームページ見ると込んでいそうけど、俺行ったときはワシのテントのみやった。温泉は気持ち良かったし、夜メッチャ雨降って、テントのレインフライたりなくて、少しテントなかに雨入ったので、暫くは自販機とトイレがある建物に逃げたから。。。何か開けぱなししてくれて嬉しかった。ハハハ。
*Part of the reason it took so long to post this vid to my blog, is that it is 470Mb. At the time I made it, I was still using a video upload site that would not support such a large vid. Vimeo has a 500Mb per week limit, so I am free to post it. Also, I am thinking that as soon as rainy season is over I will go back to Wakasu and camp again. Maybe in a couple of weeks (July 18-19), so the video will be relevant to a "current event" again. I imagine that such a high altitude camp area will be much cooler than Osaka, and quite a refreshing retreat from the summer heat.
**Probably used Kino, maybe a little bit of Kdenlive?
若杉（わかす）高原はメッチャ良かった。冬はスキー場やねんけど夏は一応キャンプ場や。ホームページ見ると込んでいそうけど、俺行ったときはワシのテントのみやった。温泉は気持ち良かったし、夜メッチャ雨降って、テントのレインフライたりなくて、少しテントなかに雨入ったので、暫くは自販機とトイレがある建物に逃げたから。。。何か開けぱなししてくれて嬉しかった。ハハハ。
Labels: touring, Wakasu Kogen
Jul 6, 2009
安室奈美恵＆Doubleの歌が気にいった！
珍しい！オリャいつもメタル、テクノーかインダストリアル音楽ばっかりのにこの曲が好きのは不思議やと思う。やはりアムロに弱いもんねぇ。1995年にBody Feels Exitのパフォーマンスを見てからホレちゃったんよ。95年は日本の音楽に良かったが、最近は全部あまいんやと思う。Mad Capsule Marketsはいいけど、Popやないね。「ダブル」という子も知らんかったし、R&BもPopも全然好きちゃうのにアムロとDoubleの「Black Diamond」Video見てもっと聞きたくなる。まぁ、もっと見たくなるか？（黒い皮とラテックスはいいねぇ〜♪）。まぁ、ビデオ見てごらん？ペアの歌は上手くできていると思う。歌もキャッチーやし（ハマりやすい）、二人はセクシーやし、踊りもうまいねん。よし、惚れた。German- French-Scotch- Irish-Welsh-Norwegian
I have lived in Asia now for 7 years. OK, Asia might be a loose term in Osaka, but technically I live in an Asian country. Before coming here I met and became acquainted with hundreds of Asian looking Americans. After living here, I can say those guys over there who look Asian, black or anything else, are only and wholly American. There isn't any more Asian in them than in me...even less actually because I live IN Asia. When I was teaching English, I also met lots of foreigners from Australia, England, France, Germany, Spain, and other Western countries too. I realized that us "White Americans" have a stupid fucking habit of saying we are "German- French-Scotch- Irish-Welsh-Norwegian" or spout off other similar combinations that exemplify our ignorance. "French Americans" aren't any more French than McDonald's fries.
I put considerable thought into this and realized that it was "Grandma and Grandpa's" fault. THEY are the ones who say "Never forget that you are Irish" because they, or their parents had a rough time when they were foreigners in a new land. I have done this to my kids, "You aren't Japanese, you are AMERICAN" But no, they are American citizens by default, but have only a little bit of the culture from me. They are currently Japanese. Race and culture can be irrelevant, and in the US especially, this is often the case.
Now, someone who IMMIGRATED from Japan or Laos or China to the US could call him or herself Asian-American, but anyone born in the US should just get over the fact that their face is different than some part of the population and learn how not to try so hard "not to be like them over there". Of course, there are at least some of my ancestors who made it hard for non-whites to come live in America peacefully, so there is that. But in modern times, there is absolutely no need for a term like African-American, Italian-American, etc. Wake up, be here, be glad to be where you are now.
I put considerable thought into this and realized that it was "Grandma and Grandpa's" fault. THEY are the ones who say "Never forget that you are Irish" because they, or their parents had a rough time when they were foreigners in a new land. I have done this to my kids, "You aren't Japanese, you are AMERICAN" But no, they are American citizens by default, but have only a little bit of the culture from me. They are currently Japanese. Race and culture can be irrelevant, and in the US especially, this is often the case.
Now, someone who IMMIGRATED from Japan or Laos or China to the US could call him or herself Asian-American, but anyone born in the US should just get over the fact that their face is different than some part of the population and learn how not to try so hard "not to be like them over there". Of course, there are at least some of my ancestors who made it hard for non-whites to come live in America peacefully, so there is that. But in modern times, there is absolutely no need for a term like African-American, Italian-American, etc. Wake up, be here, be glad to be where you are now.
Jun 20, 2009
Yeeaaaahh!
Today you are you! That is truer than true!There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
Shout loud, "I am lucky to be what I am!"
Thank goodnes I'm not just a clam or a ham
Or a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam!
I am what I am! That's a great thing to be!
If I say so myself, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!"
- Dr. Suess
Super b-day today. I am now 1/3 of my expected lifespan, as I intend to make it to no less than 120. After that I will have to rethink my plans.
Early this morning I got up, taught 2 classes at home, then we all went out for lunch at the Asian Trade Center -- a common haunt for us when we want to make a full afternoon of an outing. The kids love this "Taiko Tatsujin" drum game, but I had to take a video this time because Luna was just jammin' out to the kid's songs -- dancing, hopping and clapping. I was just like a live-show. I got a future vision of her dancing at the finest night-clubs. You know, those kind with the big ol' Sith opera house bubbles (Star Wars III ref.) and some kind of music that I will probably find really cool, but look "Old" dancing to.
Anyway, everything was just as I would like it to be today. Did the only job I want to do...ever, spent the day with 3 super kids, saw my original logo emblazoned upon gold when I picked up the t-shirts for the new kids' Healthy English (kungfu taught in English) classes, had all kinds of fun at ATC, drank coffee, ate a smashing Pizza Hut pepperoni pizza and had a seriously fabulous chocolate cake. To top it off, my daughter played "Happy Birthday" on the piano while Alex and mama sang the words! Actually, Mika sang as she played, which is something that I find pretty damn impressive. Mika even presented me with a letter, art, and the finest aluminum-foil bracelet you ever saw!
Tomorrow gotta wake up early for the first "Official" Golden Seniors health and fitness class! I am teaching it, not attending it in case you were thinking of getting funny. Tomorrow is actually Father's Day too, so we will go to Mika's school (yes, on a Sunday...sick huh?) and watch her in school. Japanese are seriously twisted. They think that dads can't come and visit the kid's class during the week, so make them show up for school on a SUNDAY just so dads can see them study...wtf? My dad never saw ME in school, neither did my mom, and I was pretty happy about that. Fuckin' SUNDAY. Oh well, guess the Japanese won't mind BURNING for eternity for foiling the lord's day. (And Ty SPITS a full glass of tangeray-n-tonic out his mouth!)After all that, the wife and I are going on our first no-kids date in...? well, a long time. Naturally ol' grandma is coming over, we aren't just going to leave all the kids alone...
Jun 14, 2009
Pow Wow Weekend at Kaze's Place!
Well shoot fellars, I just had to pipe in here to say that Tomahawk's "Sun Dance" is my new favorite song. Great album, "Anonymous" full of Native American themed Pattonisms. It takes time to get used to some music, but the more I hear this song, the more I have to hear it again.
Candi, Ty and Bee I think you all know I like PowWow tunes a lot. But maybe you didn't know that I used to drive round Seattle with my windows all open blasting PowWow tunes out from my car stereo. Once during PowWow weekend I was blasting the Black Lodge Singers while waiting for the light and a native couple pulled up along side me. My embarrassment quickly changed to gladness when the driver gave me a smile and approving nod. Tomahawk reminded me of that. Good times them.
When the shit is PowWow weekend in OSAKA damn it!?! Might feel a bit weird here...but that just means I would feel at home. Next time I take a trip to Seattle with the family, I will make sure to go back during ...Seafair? and take my kids to PowWow. Well shit, it wasn't as if I wasn't out of place there already? Why not bring my half Japanese kids there? They look more native than me anyway!
Candi, Ty and Bee I think you all know I like PowWow tunes a lot. But maybe you didn't know that I used to drive round Seattle with my windows all open blasting PowWow tunes out from my car stereo. Once during PowWow weekend I was blasting the Black Lodge Singers while waiting for the light and a native couple pulled up along side me. My embarrassment quickly changed to gladness when the driver gave me a smile and approving nod. Tomahawk reminded me of that. Good times them.
When the shit is PowWow weekend in OSAKA damn it!?! Might feel a bit weird here...but that just means I would feel at home. Next time I take a trip to Seattle with the family, I will make sure to go back during ...Seafair? and take my kids to PowWow. Well shit, it wasn't as if I wasn't out of place there already? Why not bring my half Japanese kids there? They look more native than me anyway!
Jun 9, 2009
Bright Summer Fashion...365 Days a Year
Nothing to say other than "These dudes have some phat rags". Shoot, I wish I were going down to the beach and MY buddies all wore various shades of brightly warm colored, suits...with funky matching colored parasols? Shit yeah.
Jun 8, 2009
HBR1.com: Tracking Down my Favorite "Radio" Station
I guess the correct term would be "Streaming" music, since this music is not coming to me via radio waves, but at any rate, my favorite channel (another dated term I suppose) is I.D.M. Tranceponder from HBR1.com (located at http://ubuntu.hbr1.com:19800/trance.ogg if you wanna add it to your own internet station list). This represents what I think techno should be!I first heard this station in the Ubuntu version Feisty Fawn, and it was preprogrammed into the "Rhythmbox" player that Ubuntu uses. But an upgrade to Hardy Heron took away my station and replaced it with 10 or so various Norweigian stations that play American rock...wtf? But! The station is back in Jaunty Jackalope (the newest version of Ubuntu which sucks big time) and so I quickly grabbed the URL and plugged it into my player! (I do not use Jaunty because it freezes up on me when I use it , but it is one of the 3 systems I have installed on my PC now, and atleast it was good enough to have the HBR1 links!)
Along with I.D.M. Tranceponder there is also Dream factory, another techno station from HBR1.com. The location for this to add to your player is http://ubuntu.hbr1.com:19800/ambient.ogg
Labels: radio
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様はこういった... -
Are you Human?.........robot.........
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Ol' Wisely 様はこういった... -
I am human. Took me almost a month to answer this.
Jun 7, 2009
Angels and Demons
AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME. Angels and Demons was pretty dern good alright! Not at all a "Part II" movie, but a wonderful film all by itself. I love religious thrillers, and I like some conspiracy type movies like the one Nick Cage was in that rode on the wake of DaVinci Code. This movie was so good I am going back to watch it next weekend too I reckon.Star Trek, Wolverine, and now this. Shit, I think I have used up all my good movie luck! Maybe Iron Man vs. Hulk will magically appear next week...
Jun 2, 2009
丹後1000のビデオできました！Tango Ride Video
Jun 1, 2009
Visual Reminder Not to be Afraid of the Dentist
Now here's a photo to knock you off your rocker.I have spent the last 4 Thursday going to the dentist here -- or rather across the Yodo River into Hyogo Prefecture. The silver bullet here took 3 visits because she (my dentist is a woman) had to send out to have it made. It really stands out when I open my mouth THIS wide, but that will teach me to mess around being afraid of dentists so long that a simple cavity ends up being a tooth that needs a crown. (Actually the 4 bottom back teeth all have crowns, but they are much more expensive porecelin ones.
So, I started out with this post not to scare the crap out of you with my jaws of doom, but to write a small comparison between American and Japanese dentist practices. In Japan, the dentist does NOT use Novacaine for simple fillings. In fact? This crown here was done with NO Novacaine, gas, or any drugs of any kind. The most pain I felt was the cold. Drilling produced ZERO pain!!!
This brings up some obvious issues in my mind. Since American dentists give you a shot in the mouth for even the simplest filling, I am forced to presume that
1. Americans sue doctors almost instinctively these days, so I am thinking that the #1 reason for drugs is so that there is absolutely no question that "It didn't cause pain or grief".
2. Dental work USED to really, really hurt and so the numbing of the gums is probably just an outdated process.
3. Perhaps some people really are afraid, so it is just safer to shoot everyone first and ask questions later.
4. They must make more money if they shoot you full of drugs first.
But anyway, I have spent some serious time in the dentist's chair in my day and I can say firmly that the Novacaine shot hurts far worse than my current dentist's drill. We talked about the shot vs. no drugs and she said yes, she was surprised that Americans are such babies about their teeth, and that most dental work goes nowhere near any nerves, so use of drugs is just going overboard. Before I started fixing up my mouth last month, I would have chosen a US dentist any day, but NOW I think I could never go back to an American dentist, knowing that they are just going to give me unnecessary pain, drooling and swollen cheeks.
A typical filling (nothing like removing old fillings like she is doing with me) takes just 15 minutes with my dentist, and there is no pain. I spent at least 15 minutes just sitting in my old dentist's chair waiting for the numbness to kick in. I just find it amazing that each time I have left Dr. Nishimura's office I have been in a good mood, and felt "repaired" whereas in the US I felt something had been "done to me".
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Cheaplightning 様はこういった...
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I find this very encouraging. Could you give me the address or website of your Dentist. I have not visited once since landing here I am sure I need a filling as well.
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Kaze 様はこういった...
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Oh hoho! Weelllll she is in Inadera, Hyogo. From Osaka JR station, take the #5 platform and take any of them thar trains to Amagasaki. At Amagasaki you want the #3 platform, which is the Takarazuka Line. From Amagasaki you go to Inadera station.
Just soes you don't get lost, it goes, "Amagasaki, Tsukaguchi, Inadera".
From Inadera, go up and exit the turnstiles, take the LEFT flight of stairs down. At the base of the stairs do a 180 and walk on the very fine, fine sidewalk provided until you cannot walk straight anymore (there will be a wall) Turn right there. You will walk past an apartment building with a very small play area in front. Walk all the way down that street until you come to the busy street. In front of you will be the Tsukashin Department Store. Cross the street, and walk left to the next intersection. Cross the street there too. A "kurukuru" sushi place will be right in front of you there, turn right and walk another block. Here is where is becomes a little tricky. You need to keep your eyes on the signs, up to the left hand side for "Nishimura Dentist Clinic" conveniently written in English. I will try to remember to bring my camera with me on Thursday and take a photo of her building, if not a video of the whole thing.
Her address is 3-22-7 Tsukaguchi Honmachi, Amgasaki-shi 661-0001 and her office number is 06-6426-3828. The receptionist will make a good effort to speak English to you. And will try her best to read instructions on how to get there if you want. Just so you know, in my book she is utterly gorgeous. Of course I have several chapters in this book, but I digress.
(Technically speaking, you COULD get a local train directly from JR Osaka, using the #4 platform, Takarazuka line, but trains don't come anywhere near as often from there and it is just faster to change trains at Amagasaki.) -
Cheaplightning 様はこういった...
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Thanks for the info!
Gorgeous is a very good quality to have. However being gorgeous and married disqualifies that.
If she is single then its "GAME ON!"
I have one tooth that certainly needs a fixin so perhaps I can hit on her soon.
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Kaze 様はこういった...
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Schucks, I was focused on my new class curriculum and forgot to take the camera. However, Emi the receptionist did give me a map with directions...though I already wrote them for you. BTW, the sign to her office on the street is not actually in English as I thought it was. The sign is white with blue-green font that reads "西村歯科". It isn't until you turn left into the front of the building that the sign is in English. Her clinic is on the 2nd floor.
May 26, 2009
丹後1000
無事にスプレンダーの「丹後1000マイル」ツーリングから帰って来ましたぁ〜。っていうか...ツーレポが遅れたし。ごめんけど、英語ツーレポを書いてから日本語もかく気がなくなった。両語で書くと「もうその話書いたから」という感じになってくる。日本語で先に書けばエエやんって？そうやな。ツーリング前はマジで行けない状態やったから22日金曜の夜までに調子乗ることがとても無理やった。そうそう、いつものような問題は「カネ」やねん。その上に美花ちゃんが微熱ちょっと出たから「あっ、水疱瘡きたかぁ」との心配もあった。土曜日の朝は美花ちゃんの熱が下がっていて元気そうやったがやはり水疱瘡。まぁ、変なこというけど、新型インフルエンザーやなくて水疱瘡で安心した。自分勝手かもしれんが、水疱瘡になっているならべつに薬飲んで寝るしかないからおっても何もできん。一泊だけやし。
Splendorのイベントに本当に久しぶりに参加しなかった。マーシとHiroshi君が「頑張ってツーリングにお出でや」と言ってくれたし、奈美も「行った方が絶対いいよ」と言うから魔法をかけて金を実現して、何とか行けるようになった。
「あんなに厳しいならなんで行くのか？」と言われると「ダカラよ」と答える。最近色々考えたり悩んだりしているから、家でて「道路座禅」も必要やったけど、やはり友達にあって笑ったりするが一番必要な薬だった。Splendorの皆大好きやな。心を落ち着かせてくれますね。一つ思うのは「なぜ日本人の皆はあんな感じちゃうか？」皆あんなに仲間になりやすかったら世界は簡単に幸せになれるさ。
土曜日朝10時家出て兵庫へ向かっていた。必ず「仲間に会いにいく」とか「ツーリングがはじまったぁ〜」気持ちはいいよね。思ったより西紀SAに早くついた。まぁ、スピード違反のお陰様でね。家からあっちまで一時間ちょっとで着いた。SAで新しいBMWに乗っているオジサンと話をして、久しぶりに「こりゃバイキング」やと思った。エッ?「Viking」ちゃうよ？「Biking」だよ！もう。バイクに乗る人たちの触れ合いのこと。因みにあの人は歯医者やったからバイクより最近こっちの「日本での歯医者経験」の話になった。まぁ、俺はオシャベリやから30分以内に色んな話は出来たと思う。でもさすがにちゃんと仕事しているからBMなんか買えるよねぇ。。。一番仕事に儲かってへん俺だってBMW に乗っているけどねぇ。皮肉が溢れれますねぇ。皮肉バイキングやわ。（ちゃうし！）
とにかく千マイルと言っていても僕には337.4マイルでしたね？ピースピース！今までSplendor・1000マイルツーリングは3回参加したが2回は約300マイルでした。でも喜多方は1000マイル以上やからなんとかチャラにならねぇか？
今回もライディングは良かったが一番良かったのは仲間との話と食べ物！飛魚刺身は始めてでヤンキーアメリカ人の俺にはとっても不思議なもんやったのでかなり食えたのが良かったと思う。長浜のカツ丼もいつものカツ丼よりパン粉がサクサクして、卵がニュルッとしていたから珍しくうまかった。It was a horse.チャウって！
天の橋立一応みたことはみたがSea Levelから見るとショボい？やはりこのGoogleから貰った写真のように上から見へんとあかんわ。このツーリング短剣は一つだけは足りなかった。温泉や。最初はほかん男と裸になるのは「パスです」と思ったがやはり一番話やすい状態だと思ってきた。今度は温泉ありますように。平湯みたいな外で男女風呂がいいね。
写真はこっちです： http://picasaweb.google.com/carljamesson/Tango1000
Yuka & Owenの写真はこっち： http://picasaweb.google.com/ostinger/Tango1000
ビデオは6月2日！
May 24, 2009
The "Tango 1000"
I am back. When I left it was sunny and the kids gave me hugs and waved bye-bye, but by that evening Mika and Luna had broken out into the Chicken Pox, and by Sunday they were both covered in spots! So, feeling like I should be home for moral support, plus the rainfall on our second day dampening our spirits, I wasn't feeling the touring magic on Sunday. But the trip TO the Tango Peninsula was a good one. I took over 200 photos and vids, but just posted 80 pics on my web album, which is here: http://picasaweb.google.com/carljamesson/Tango1000Yuka & Owen's album is here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ostinger/Tango1000
My favorite parts of this trip involved food and talking to friends. I got to eat FLYING FISH sashimi for the first time. That was great! As were the horse mackerel and snapper. Most of the cooked fish was good too, though I don't care for turban shell (sea snails) even slightly. We had fish for breakfast too which...really is a alien idea to me, but this is my third touring event where fish was served for breakfast -- as well as raw egg over rice. Japanese sometimes seem like they are competing with China for the "What kind of odd shit can we eat today" awards. I am a relatively open-minded person, so it only took me one touring trip (the Yamabiko ride) to get-over eating what I consider "dinner food" for breakfast. That is just what there is, and Splendor doesn't stop for snacks between breakfast and lunch, so you just eat when you can. It does bring up the point that eating sweet breads, such as pastries, pancakes, french toast, or waffles is really a cultural thing. I have always said that "my stomach cannot handle lunch/dinner foods in the morning" but I guess that was cultural training. Sunday's lunch of deep fried, breaded pork cutlet over rice with eggs on top was boss by the way.Naturally seeing the Splendor guys and riding with them was good. Riding in the hills was good fun, and I was really glad to get to hang out with Owen too. Owen rocks. Hope you take time to look at the photos, though it may take a few days to make any comments on them.
Part of the fun of going to the Tango Peninsula (in Kyoto Prefecture btw) was stopping by the famous land bridge, "Amanohashidate". This photo I had to take off the net because in typical Splendor fashion, we stopped to see it from afar but did not actually go to see it close up, or visit the viewing point. Splendor is about riding and meeting each other; not site-seeing. Still, it is really famous and I would liked to have walked on at least part of it. (Too big to cross unless that was your plan for the day I think) I could have ridden back to see it from the hotel I think if I took 30-45 minutes to go back. So instead, when we arrived at the hotel and the beer began to flow, I took a short ride into the hills to see this alleged "Daibutsu" (large statue of the Buddha).
Nobody I was with ever heard of it, so I expected something not very old, and likely not very big. It was more of the type of statue you would see in a large garden, where the garden is actually the main attraction. But, the little adventure was good for me, and I took some time to calm my head, get centered and all that. And this brings up a point which is that riding in the hills of Japan is one of the few kinds of riding I really like here. Totally opposite to hwy. riding. Anyway, it was a little funny because the hotel owner who gave me a map to the "Daibutsu" said it was about 2km away, and it was 10-15km and he wrote down only 2 of the FIVE turns that I needed to make. But, even though I was in the farmlands, I managed to find just enough people to stear me in the right direction, or redirect me when I went too far. These mini-adventures really make me feel good because I drive with my sense of feeling, and I always know when I am going the wrong way. For example, I knew that I was supposed to turn right back there even though the man specifically told me that there was no turn, and that my target was on the left. (I confirmed this with a farmer and I was correct). So that part always makes me happy. (A kind of "In your face" to the people who tell me that you cannot trust your "gut" or don't believe in another kind of perception.)The down side is, after a couple of incidents with car drivers in Kansai I actually no longer enjoy riding my bike in Japan when alone anymore. There is no sense of freedom or joy just "red alert". So the ride home was not very enjoyable for me. It just isn't the motorcycle riding I grew to love. I am actually used to horns and middle fingers like in the US, but while people seem more angry there, but nobody ever deliberately TRIED to attack me with their car. I know, you wouldn't think based on the good attitudes of the Japanese people who live in the US that car drivers in Japan would be so massively aggressive but some are extreme.
In summary:1. Riding to the coast -- thumbs up
2. Riding with Splendor -- thumbs up
3. Meeting Marcy, Owen, Hiroshi, Yuka and all the guys -- thumbs up
4. Food -- 3 thumbs up
5. Small "Big" Buddha -- thumbs up
Thumbs down to rain and Japanese highways.
Side note: 2 of the 3 "1000 mile" trips I have been on with Splendor were just 300 or so miles for me (They live farther North). Yet their annual trips to Kitakata are over 1000 miles round trip for me, and the trip to Hirayu hot springs is pretty far too. ...no Kitakata 1000 patch for me though.
Financial and mileage details just in case you cared...or I care later:
Gas was 130yen/liter at most places and 123yen/liter at the cheapest. In USD that is: $5.18/gal. in town, $4.89en/gal in BFE. INSANELY expensive!
5/23 Gas 1171(9L/2.38Gal.); Tolls 3100 (2400, 700)
5/24 Gas 2000(14.24L/3.76Gal); Tolls 4900(900, 450, 2850,700)
...total 11,171en for gas and tolls for a 543km trip. ($117. for 337.4 miles)
A $158. hotel fee included 2 large meals with as much beer/coffee as one could drink. (20people drank 58large Japanese sized bottles of beer Sat. night) In Splendor, the fee is split evenly whether you don't drink or are a lush.
Total trip cost was $275. Probably the cheapest Splendor ride I have been on in Japan.
My bike got 55 miles per US gallon (23km per liter), which I think is pretty awesome.
And the odo is still at 24177km/15,023miles
Labels: Motorcycles, touring
May 21, 2009
Peace on the Porch
Just sharing pics of my porch-top "garden". Little bit of ivy, on the wall, some flowers, aloe, but what I'm mostly watching right now are the tomatoes and strawberries. This year I am more into the plants than last year, since I have been away from green for so long. Last year I tried just 2 tomato plants, and that didn't work out so well. So this year I planted 5 tomato, and 5 strawberry plants. 2 of the strawberries are already gone, but I am hopeful that at least one will produce. Got a couple of tomatoes that popped up too! Very happy bout that.
May 15, 2009
Motorcycle Jacket Repairman: Part II
If you recall, I have been working on the wife's biker jacket for awhile now. And as of today, it is FINISHED! And it is good.It was a real challenge to line this thing, and while I did not do it up as beautifully as a pro would, it is fully operational, and may very well posses enough fire-power to destroy an entire planet -- though I am assured that she will not use her jacket for evil.
No frills on this thing; no inner pockets, and since it is all hand-stitched, no two stitches form a perfect line...but I DID replace her old, ripped up, thin-ass satin lined pockets with new black canvas ones. Not shiny, but who needs shiny pocket linings? These pockets will withstand a +3 flaming vorple sword attack I tell you! I also backed the red satin liner with canvas. That made it easier to install the liner, but also will keep the satin from rubbing against the inside of the leather wearing it out faster. That is how the last hack relined the jacket apparently. Very nice, she is happy. (I liked her expression in this pic. It says, "I got my leather jacket, but I'm walkin' all the time. Got a problem with that?")
May 13, 2009
At the Movies...not quite
Recently I watched "Push", "Star Trek" and "Paul Blart Mall Cop".Star Trek: I envy Phil because over in London, he will get to watch it at Imax, whereas our Imax is still showing the same fish movie it has had for years. Lame. Very rad movie. I have not followed Star Trek since "Next Generation" after that, every spin off I saw should have been thrown into a black hole. Utter crap. THIS Star Trek was refreshing and felt as if I was watching a real movie rather than a crappy movie to placate Star Trek fans. My only complaints are that "Sylar" was the new Spock and that the old Spock, while he was very cool, reappears in THIS movie too. You just can't keep Leonard Nimoy out of anything can ya? Maybe he owns the rights to the name?
Push was like "Jumper II". Humans with secret powers chased by a scary black man. I saw that already. I still liked the movie. A good thing to watch on the PC.
Paul Blart was a classic "embarassed for the guy in the movie" comedy. Good enough to watch!
Also been watching all the old Family Guy shows. I never liked the show until just now. Now I am giggling my ass off. Must be a 40's thing.
Color codes for website templates...just in case you cared
May 10, 2009
Riding into 2009 -- 2 Years of Rebelling Against the Man in Japan
Oooo. Perdy new International Driver's Permit came in the mail today. "But the one in this photo says 2007?" Well of course. Why take a new photo when this is identical to the one I got in 2008, and 2009? Sillies.While people who actually passed the test and got their Japanese Motorcycle License have pride in the fact that they passed. And I think that is just OK. Pride is dumb in general, and I have my own brand of dumb pride. I enjoy the fact that every year I get an I.D.P. from AAA in the USA. It reminds me that I will not play Japan's "little" licensing game. I complained about this 2 years ago, but I decided after my brief and unpleasant experience with Japan's rider exam that I would not give them another yen to try for a license that actually costs MORE than if I get a piece of paper from my own country that says I can drive.
It costs me $15 for this piece of paper, and with it I can drive any size motorcycle and any car that I find with the keys in it, left running in front of a convenience store. How convenient! It cost me $100 to fail the Japanese Fascist Licensing Game. $30 just for a translation of my WDL...$10 for their rules and regs book, $33 to take the written test, $7 for my photo, some money for an eye exam ($6?) and $10 to use their bike to test (you cannot use your own). I saved $16.50 because I failed though, cuz you have to pay a PASSING FEE if you pass. All these fees REALLY pissed me off. I was waaaaaay over the gov. fucking me in the butt every time I bent over in the US, and I was just totally not ready to take anymore of it here. I was pissed off when I fell off their narrow metal beam, and did not make a new appointment to retest, but that meant when I calmed down and decided to test again a few weeks later, they told me I would have to spend another $100 to start all over again, including another translation of my license, eye test...tests to make sure I was still stupid enough to walk through the maze and get the cheese.
So yup, still holding that grudge. And while that might not be very intelligent, I am rebelling against that which I find even less intelligent. This is my badge. It is less rude than getting a bronze badge of a middle finger that reads "Japanese Dept. of Motor Vehicle Licensing" on it.
May 8, 2009
Kinako Kinako Mochi
Fat-ass mochi. I am in the process of getting a couple teeth worked on, and my dentist is pretty far away (about an hour away in Hyogo prefecture). Next to her office is a new shopping center. It is a serious den of inequity in that there is a candy store, bakery and a Starbuck's...oh my! I got sucked up into the sugar vortex last week, and yesterday was my second trip so I stopped by the mochi shop to get the kids some kinako mochi. HUGE stuff!
Kinako is actually made from powdered soy beans, and I imagine a lot of sugar. It is mildly sweet and feels like fine sawdust. Kinda tastes like...brown sugar and ...bean powder. Anyway, mochi is sticky (made from extra-sticky rice) it tends to make the kinako powder a bit moist, so usually you get a bit extra kinako to roll it around in before munching it down...but the shop lady...oh my GOD! Just LOOK at the amount of kinako powder she put in here!!! Literally you cannot see that there is anything in there but powder!That was the first thing I had to take a photo of. The mochi itself is pretty darn big. Anyone from here would say it is about double the usual size. I am not massively into it, but sometimes ya gotta get what the kids shriek for.
May 6, 2009
Birthday Present Comes a Month Early!
Wow. I know, I start many of my posts with "Wow" so, how about "frickin' WWWOOOOWWW!!!"?It has been years, and years since I had any bass in my music outside of my headphones. You KNOW I love my music -- shit, I probably love your music too -- but the last time I had any real speakers was...when I was about 20. Back then I went into debt to get some Baby Advent speakers that were very, very nice at $250 a pair, back in 1989. I went away to art school (Chicago) and...where did they go while I was gone anyway? For several years after that I survived off headphones, and the time has crept by in such a way that I have kept thinking "I need some good tunes at home". Been saying that for 15years. Since I have been living in Osaka, I've been using some old-school computer speakers that were old when my roommate gave them to me 10-15 years ago. My dad would have said "They're good enough ta run sound through" but then, he was around for the Great Depression too and that is where you get THAT kinda thinkin'.
Today I FINALLY bought a set of speakers, again they are for use with the computer, but that is where I am found these days...and they are amazing. Most speaker sets appear to have a bass box speaker that goes under the desk, and that is clearly what makes the difference for me. Gott in Himmel! Rammstein is like an entirely new band!!! My first listening choice was Daft Punk "Touch it - Technologic", then "Television Rules the Nation" and my desk was vibrating. "Wollt Ihr Das Bett in Flammen" makes my keyboard fingers tingle!!
Blessed be the Tech n' Roll!!
With the new business neighbors next door, I feel a bit...compressed?...stilted? to be able to rrrrock, so maybe this weekend I will pull out the "white trash teen" in me and say fuckit and let it rip. But even at a low level I still FEEL the music! In the evening Nami and me watched Valkyrie, and we could feel the airplanes going over head...from below, but we felt em anyway! (I know, I sound like a hillbilly who has just discovered surround sound, but I reckon it will be another 5 or 10 years before they have that kind of technology.)
There is at least one reader out there who makes me feel guilty when I buy shit "How did you afford that on your pay?" so I have a habit of explaining shit like "how I could afford it". This time it is was luck. When my sister was here she bought her son all sorts of video game stuff at Yodobashi Camera, and used my point card. She used her shopping-chi to rack up $40 worth of points on my card. With the park too rainy to play in, I took Mika and Alex downtown with me on my mission. (They got lunch, a ferris wheel ride and ice cream with sprinkles out of the trip so they were stoked too.)
I find it surprising that for $70 we can get such awesome sound. 50w speakers deliver rivers of sound power compared to old-school compy speakers, and the woofer has transformed my desk into giant speaker box. It is very nice. And thanks to my big sis' spending tons of money to rack up points on my Yodobashi card, I only paid $30 for this happiness! Yow!
May 3, 2009
このCM最高！メッチャ笑った！
"Papa mama lucky morning! My friend is unlucky. Sun is shining for me, handsome guys want me, big money hit me!!! I am a lucky girl! Because I drink Lucky Cider! Hi!"
Contacting Yahoo Small Businesses by Email
This is not usually the type of thing one blogs about, but frankly, I just spent at least 30 minutes going through the Yahoo's circular system of nonsense trying to find an email address or form to contact them about my account. Their damn phone number is all over the place...give me mail or give Yahoo death!
This all started because I wanted to cancel my Geocities Plus account. They are ending service anyway, so now that I have moved my website to another host, I no longer need Yahoo's service. BUT, even though I followed the instructions to cancel my account? I got an error message saying there were issues with my domain and had to call them. Gaaaahhh!!! In case you never thought about it? People in Japan cannot call 1-800 numbers in America. So here is the email form for Geocities, and even the email address of Yahoo Domains, in case you ever need it. I found "geo-billing@yahoo-inc.com" in my email box from 2007, but it appears to be a dead address now.
Yahoo Geocities Plus/Pro mail form:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/geocities/general.html
Yahoo Domains:
domains-support@cc.yahoo-inc.com
True, my Geocities account will be demolished in a few months, but why should I pay for it until then?
This all started because I wanted to cancel my Geocities Plus account. They are ending service anyway, so now that I have moved my website to another host, I no longer need Yahoo's service. BUT, even though I followed the instructions to cancel my account? I got an error message saying there were issues with my domain and had to call them. Gaaaahhh!!! In case you never thought about it? People in Japan cannot call 1-800 numbers in America. So here is the email form for Geocities, and even the email address of Yahoo Domains, in case you ever need it. I found "geo-billing@yahoo-inc.com" in my email box from 2007, but it appears to be a dead address now.
Yahoo Geocities Plus/Pro mail form:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/geocities/general.html
Yahoo Domains:
domains-support@cc.yahoo-inc.com
True, my Geocities account will be demolished in a few months, but why should I pay for it until then?
Apr 30, 2009
Stretching Smaller Background Images
K. This is super-ultra html geek crap, but I have to post this here since it took me a while to get it right. Basically, it turns out that there is no normal(?) way to tell a background image how big to be. I have always had to take a lot of time to properly size my background images on blogs, so that they looked right. But since I want to host my background images on Picasa Web Albums, but they automatically shrink down really BIG images, I had to find a way to trick my web page into stretching the background. It is a bit weird, but basically, you make the background into a foreground image, but then tell the rest of the page to go ahead and appear on top of it. I am posting all of the code here, but basically all I needed to add was the stuff highlighted here.
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
/* To make sure the page takes up full screen height, in the body section, get rid of margins and padding and don't forget to get rid of the former background image if you had one. */
/* Set the position and dimensions of the background image. */
/* Specify the position and layering for the content that needs to appear in front of the background image. Must have a higher z-index value than the background image. (Don't worry, I read up on z-index and still don't get it.) Also add some padding to compensate for removing the margin from the 'html' and 'body' tags. */
</style>
<!-- The above code doesn't work in Internet Explorer 6. To address this, we use a conditional comment to specify an alternative style sheet for IE 6 -->
</head>
<body>
/* The new background image will go after the HEAD section and into the BODY section. */
/* This next part is also important. Put it right between the new background code (directly above) and the rest of the body. Leave this out and the background image will become the foreground image, and you won't see a thing but the “background” */
/* Text, images, etc. appear in front of the background image because we've used CSS to layer the content in front of the background image. The background image will stretch to fit your browser window. */
</div>
</body>
</html>
That was a lot of code, but basically it means I will be able to keep my blog backgrounds the way I like them even after Geocities is totally gone, and I won't have to find another host for my images!
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
/* To make sure the page takes up full screen height, in the body section, get rid of margins and padding and don't forget to get rid of the former background image if you had one. */
html, body {height:100%; margin:0; padding:0;} #page-background {position:fixed; top:0; left:0; width:100%; height:100%;} #content {position:relative; z-index:1; padding:10px;} <!-- The above code doesn't work in Internet Explorer 6. To address this, we use a conditional comment to specify an alternative style sheet for IE 6 -->
<!--[if IE 6]>
<style type="text/css">
html {overflow-y:hidden;}
body {overflow-y:auto;}
#page-background {position:absolute; z-index:-1;}
#content {position:static;padding:10px;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<body>
/* The new background image will go after the HEAD section and into the BODY section. */
<div
id="page-background"><img
src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_jF2kwAqq3Po/SfkDOoiZejI/AAAAAAAAMqw/S8j_OcHkUMQ/s800/blog_back_spring09.jpg"
width="100%" height="100%" ></div> <div id="content"> </div>
</body>
</html>
That was a lot of code, but basically it means I will be able to keep my blog backgrounds the way I like them even after Geocities is totally gone, and I won't have to find another host for my images!
Labels: Computers
Japanese Bicycle Tire Valves
I was just writing my friend Paul about this, and thought the topic was odd enough to post here.You know what? Japanese bicycle inner tube air-nozzle thingies are UTTERLY different than the ones in America. There is no pointy thing on the outside to depress when filling a tire, there is a rubber-covered, metal venturi-valve (sounds like a legitimate term to me) INSIDE the nozzle/valve/spigot itself. A special nut on the outside of the nozzle clamps down that valve, as seen on the image to the left. Somehow, when I replaced the inner tube on Nami's bike, I must have put the old valve in the new tube, or the valve did not line up well, but when filled with air, the air just comes shooting out. The only thing for me to do other than change the tube AGAIN was to put rubber cement inside the black plastic nozzle cap, and hold it there till it dried. Basically CORKING the damn thing. Just educational news for you. I bet every foreigner here who has owned a bike in Japan has gone to fill up the tire with air and said, "What the hell?!"
Apr 29, 2009
Oops. (Google Friend Connect "Wall")
Just so you know, if you are using Google Friend Connect and change the name of your blog, or begin using or revert from a custom blog name, GFC will stop working. I changed the name of Motorhead Kaze back to the blogspot name and GFC went away. In my case, there was only very minimal use of it anyway, so I did not reinstall it.
さよならジオシティーズ ・Geocities ist Kaput!
 もう15年間になったのか？ ジオシティーズは1994年に違う名前で始まったらしいけど僕が使い始めたのはYahoo!が買った1999年ころやな。もっと前かな？使いはじめたのを特別覚えていることはナミちゃんのマックを壊したことがあったからだ。そのころジオシティーズのページビルダーという名前オンライン・ウェブサイト・ソフトがあって、マックとは余り使えなかった。なのにむりして自分のホームページを奈美のマックでアップしようとした。何回もクラッシュして自分が時間かけて作ったサイトのデータがなくしてもうた。ある日ページビルダーのせいでマックが動けなくなって、ムカついてキーボードを叩いて。。。マックのHDDをぶっ壊した。あらら。その時からいつもパソコン問題がでてくると自分の「ゴリラパソコン操りかた」を思いだしてくる。やっと去年ぐらいノートパソコンが手に入って「はい、奈美ちゃんのにしますね。」と言ったら意味は分からなくはなかったね。ジオシティーズがウェブホストとしては余り現代的なテクノロジーを使ってくれなかったから色んな問題あったが、無料で何年間も使ったからありがたい感じがする。しかしもうお終いです。5年前ぐらいから道場ようなホームページをアップするためにも毎月払っていたが、払う客が足りないみたいでジオシティーズが終わります。  問題はうちのブログのバック画像もボタンも色々ジオシティーズからリンクしているのでこのブログだってバックイメージなくなりますねぇ。道場のホームページはなんとかなりそうけど、ブログほど派手やないし。しかしこのブログもなくなりそうかな？一色バックかブログサイトのテンプレートを使うなんてオレらしくないからなぁ。しかもブログのためにウェブホストサービスを払らったりすることもしないと思う。取り合えずジオシティーズは夏ぐらい終わるというから、その時までこのブログを使いますね？ | Yup, tis true. After 15 years of service, under a couple of names, there will be no more free web hosting space from Geocities -- in fact, no Geocities at all. Yahoo has pulled some scummy moves with Geocities -- #1 is when they claimed for a short while that all content, even photos, became their property when posted on their site. And they were summarily smacked down for that one. But as lame as Yahoo has been in many ways, they kept Geocities free and gave me a place to post my crap for 10 whole years! I totally appreciate it too. In fact it is because of Geocities and Blogspot that I have learned so much about computer code, and became confident enough with computers to drop Windows and get into Linux, etc. Tangent: My first web site in 98' or 99' was a virtual gallery of my college art, then when I got more into bikes I built, and rebuilt websites on Geocities until the blog wave wisked me away.  Geocities has been invaluable to my blogging hobby, because the photos within my templates are hosted there. Photos within blog posts are all hosted by Picasa Web Albums, so that part is cool, but Picasa resizes large photos down so that I cannot use them as background images, making linking them that way a new challenge. That means unless I learn the code to stretch background images, these fine, fine (albeit silly) blogs I produce will be stripped of their pizzaz. (I actually have 7 blog pages...was 9 but I just deleted "Gairaiglish" and a page I made to sell some stuff.)For now, Yahoo is still my domain host so hopefully they will hang on there for a while longer. But Geocities Plus happens to be where the "Golden Center" website is hosted, and though I pay for the service, it will be gone soon. Though Geocities will be gone this summer or just after, I have already rebuilt that site at another location. I downsized it to just 3 pages, which is considerable since the current website has over a dozen English and Japanese web pages. When I considered moving my site to another pay host, I looked at GoDaddy and Squarespace. G.D. is affordable (same price as Geocities Plus) and Squarespace is pretty posh-looking, but a bit high-end for my needs. SiteSled and Google Sites are free, but really not up to par at all -- even in comparison to Geocities. But at this time, I don't really feel like paying to host my website. Traffic is extremely low, and with Google giving away free space I may actually be able to run a website, ad-free, for free. And with the availability of DNS records and forwarding, I may actually just be able to use free net space and rename the pages as subdomains. That is fine as long as it works. Blogspot is one of the few cool places I know that actually has a setting for using custom domain names. Google rules. Have good ideas for cheap and reliable web hosting? Free web hosting with html editing? Post ideas here! |
外来語リスト ・Borrow-words in Japan
| Schucks, I had planned to build up a list of borrow-words that are currently in use in Japan, but it looks like not only have other speakers of Japanese beat me to it, but there is a very detailed list on Wikipedia! I added a few words to it, but most of the following is from the Gairaigo Wiki. GAIRAIGO refers to Japanese vocab that is made up entirely of foreign words. As I witness the huge influx of English and other foreign words infiltrating Japanese, I cannot help but think I am looking at the way our own American English was formed. Except that ours is a culmination of languages, Gairaigo is a virus that is destroying a language that actually made sense linguistically. Anyway, this list is GARGANTUAN -- enjoy! | 外来語はもの凄く増えているからオレが知っている言葉だけでリストを書こうと思ったらウィキペディアはもうものスゴク長いリストおいてある。しかしもう綺麗なバックをアップしてブログ作ったからそっちにctrl+vしてもうた。スペースを守るためにカタカナだけ抜けたからね。ローマ字は読めますよね？ 一番左はローマ字そしてもとの言葉。難しいのは意味だね。意味は英語。でも、外来語ともとの英語の言葉を見るだけで「あれ？これは日本語ちゃうの？」と思うようになる言葉が多いと思う。 カルタとビー玉は絶対日本語かと思った。吃驚! |
| Romanized text | Original word | Meaning | Orig. language |
| abauto | about | stylish, cool | English |
| abekku | avec (meaning 'with') | romantic couple | French |
| afutāsābisu | after service | customer service, user support, after care, service | English |
| aidoru | idol | (teen) idol, pop star | English |
| aisu | ice | ice cream | English |
| aizen | (Steig)eisen (meaning 'climbing iron' or 'crampon') | crampons | German |
| Ako-deion | accordion | often used to mean “Accordion curtain”. | |
| amefuto | Ame(rican) foot(ball) | American football | English |
| amerikandoggu | American dog | corn dog | English |
| anime listen (help·info) | anima(tion) | animation, animated cartoons/films (note: refers generically to all animation) | English |
| ankēto | enquête | questionnaire, survey | French |
| annyui | ennui | ennui, boredom | French |
| apāto | apart(ment) | apartment (US), flat (UK), though apāto are usually in small two-story wood-structure buildings, not multistory complexes as in the American usage | English |
| apo | appo(intment) | appointment | English |
| ~appu | up(grade) | to upgrade or improve (something), and used in the following: version-up: upgrade (software), buy the next-better version or model of something, improve the appearance of something; image-up: improve the image of, improve one's outward appearance; manner-up: improve one's manners, learn (proper/better) manners or etiquette; power-up: an object that instantly benefits or adds extra abilities to a video game character; base-up, level-up: take to the next or a higher (basic) level of quality; also base-up (frequently abbreviated bea): to raise the base wage of the workers, a frequent goal of the shuntō | English |
| aroe | aloe | aloe | Dutch |
| arubaito or baito | Arbeit (meaning 'work') | part-time job | German |
| ārubui | RV | truck, van, SUV, Recreational Vehicle | English |
| arukōru | alcohol, álcool | alcohol, alcoholic beverage | Dutch or Portuguese |
| autokōsu | out course | outside | English |
| bāgen | bargain | a sale at a store | English |
| baiku | bike | a motorcycle, but not a bicycle | English |
| bakansu | vacances | holiday, vacation | French |
| bukkukabā | book cover | dust jacket | English |
| bakkumirā | back mirror | rear-view mirror | English |
| bakkunanbā | back number | back issue | English |
| bakkunetto | back net | a backstop (in baseball) | English |
| bariafurī | barrier free | Accessible facilities for handicapped persons | English |
| barikan | Bariquand & Marre | Hand or electric operating hair trimmer | French |
| basujakku | bus (hi)jack | a bus hijacking (possibly based on the English term "carjack") | English |
| batā | butter | butter, sometimes used on food packaging to refer to margarine | English |
| battingu | batting or butting | Swing the bat in baseball; or, to project forward or propose competitively on business or others by two or more parties, like "butt heads" by animals. | English |
| bebīkā | baby car | stroller (US), pushchair or pram (UK) | English |
| beddotaun | bed | English | |
| Beddoru-mu | bedroom | English | |
| beddotaun | bed town | bedroom suburbs, bedroom community, dormitory suburb, commuter town | English |
| bīdama | vi(dro) (glass) + 玉 (dama, ball) | marbles | Portuguese + Japanese |
| birōdo | veludo | velvet | Portuguese |
| biru | buil(ding) | building (especially modern steel / concrete buildings) | English |
| bīru | bier | beer | Dutch |
| bonbe | Bombe | a steel canister for storing pressurized gas, such as a propane tank | German |
| bōrupen | ball(point) pen | a ballpoint pen | English |
| botan | botão | button | Portuguese |
| buranko | balanço | a swing | Portuguese |
| burasera or burusera | bloo(mer) sailor | panty fetishism, especially with teenage girls wearing school outfits ("sailor suits") and bloomers. | English |
| burezā | blazer | blazer, or a Japanese school uniform that includes that garment. It usually has buttons down the front and a vest under it with a white collared shirt. | English |
| buruma | bloomers | short pants worn for exercise by girls | English |
| cherībōi | cherry boy | A male virgin | English |
| chiagāru | cheer girl | cheerleader | English |
| ~chikku or 〜tikku | the "-tic" suffix, as in (roman)tic, (drama)tic | ~esque, attached to a noun. For example, a product with cute character illustrations may be considered "Akihabara-chikku". | English |
| chinki | tinktuur | tincture | Dutch |
| chūhai | 焼酎 (Shōchū) + highball | a kind of alcoholic drink originating from Japan | Japanese + English |
| daburu | double | (noun and adjective) double; double-breasted (jacket), or turn-ups (cuffs) on trousers; (verb) to be redundant or doubled | English |
| danpukā | dump car | dump truck (US), dumper (UK) | English |
| dasutobokkusu | dust box | rubbish bin (UK), garbage can (US) | English |
| daunrōdoonrīmenbā | download only member | a computing leech | English |
| deddobōru | dead ball | hit by a pitch | English |
| dekorēshonkēki | decoration cake | a fancy cake | English |
| denshirenji or renji | 電子 (denshi) (meaning 'electron') + range | a microwave oven | Japanese + English |
| depāto | depart(ment store) | department store | English |
| deribarīherusu | delivery health | a form of prostitution, essentially a call girl or escort service | English |
| desuku | desk | an editor for a certain section of a publication, derived from the English custom of calling the job a desk, as in "the sports desk" | English |
| doitsu | Duits(land), Deutsch(land) | Germany | Dutch, German |
| dokutāsutoppu | doctor stop | when the doctor tells a patient to stop doing something | English |
| donmai | don('t) mi(nd) | "don't worry about it", "don't pay (that) any mind", "it's (I'm) OK", "no problem." Frequently used when something goes wrong | English |
| doraibā | driver | a screwdriver, motor vehicle driver | English |
| doraibuin | driver's inn | rest area, motor lodge | English |
| dorama | drama | TV drama | English |
| dorifuto | drift | drifting, in the sense of a car in the controlled skid used in drifting | English |
| eakon | air con(ditioning) | air conditioning | English |
| ēbui or ēvui | wasei-eigo AV | adult video, audio visual (audio video) | English |
| ekisu | ex(tract) | extract | Dutch |
| enerugisshu | energisch | energetic | German |
| ensuto | en(gine) sto(p) | stall (as in an automobile engine) | English |
| ero | ero(s) | erotic | English |
| erogu | ero(tic) + (b)log | erotic / adult oriented blog | English |
| eroguro | ero(tic) gro(tesque) | a loosely defined artistic movement featuring "erotic grotesque nonsense" that emerged in Japan in the early 20th century | English |
| ēru | yell | (1) to cheer on a player in a sports competition; (2) to express support for a candidate in an election | English |
| eruerushī ronguraifukūranto | LLC long life coolant | antifreeze coolants | English |
| esute | esthé(tique) | beauty salon, esthetic clinic | French |
| etchi | H (likely from the first letter of hentai) | dirty, naughty; sex (Note: the etymology of etchi is still debated by Japanese linguists) | English |
| faito | fight | often used to mean "Do your best!" or "I'll do my best." | English |
| famikon, Famicom listen (help·info) | fami(ly) com(puter) | the Nintendo Entertainment System | English |
| fanfāre | fanfare | a musical fanfare | English |
| fantajikku | fantasy + -ic | fantastic | English |
| fasshonherusu | fashion health | a form of brothel | English |
| fetchi | fetch | fetch | English |
| fechi | feti(sh) | fetish (typically a sexual fetish but sometimes just referring to a distinctive preference) | English |
| firumu | film | load it into a camera | English |
| foabōru | four ball | walk, base on balls, ball four | English |
| furaidopoteto | fried potato | french fries (US), chips (UK) | English |
| furaingusutāto | flying start | premature start, breakaway | English |
| furīdaiaru or furīdaiyaru | free dial | toll free call | English |
| furīsaizu | free size | one-size-fits-all | English |
| furītā | free + contraction of Arbeiter (or free + time) | underemployed young adults, people who opt to work (a series of) part time jobs rather than engage in permanent employment | English + German |
| furonto | front | the front desk at a hotel | English |
| furontogarasu | front glass | windshield (US), windscreen (UK) | English |
| gādoman | guard man | a (private) security guard, a person who directs traffic around work sites | English |
| garasu | glas or glass | glass (material) | Dutch or English |
| gasorinsutando | gasoline stand | gas station (US), petrol station (UK) | English |
| gattsu pōzu | guts pose | fist pump, victory pose | English |
| gāze | Gaze | gauze | German |
| gēmusentā or gēsen | game centre | video arcade | English |
| gerende | Gelände (meaning 'site; ground; premises') | ski slope | German |
| gibu | give (up) | To give up | English |
| gipusu or gibusu | Gips | cast (sometimes gipusu means a plaster cast, while gibusu refers to a plastic brace) | German |
| gomu | gom | rubber, eraser, rubber band | Dutch |
| gōrudenawā or gōrudentaimu | golden hour or golden time | prime time in Japanese television | English |
| gosu rōrī | Gothic Lolita | Exaggerated, hybrid alternative fashion from Tokyo that combines Gothic and “Lolita” styles. | English |
| gurasu | glass | drinking glass | English |
| guro | gro(tesque) | grotesque | English |
| gyararī | gallery | an art gallery, audience, or a pool of celebrities on a program. | English |
| haikara | "high collar" | In 1920s slang, "haikara" referred to a person who was a slave to Western fashions, trends and values. See also the popular 1970s manga and anime, Haikara-san ga Tōru ("Here Comes Miss High-Collar"). | English |
| hainekku | high neck | A turtleneck style shirt or sweater | English |
| hakkā | hacker | refers specifically to a computer black hat | English |
| hamoru | harmo(ny) + -ru (Japanese verb ending) | to harmonize (when singing) | English + Japanese |
| handoru | handle | steering wheel or bicycle handlebars | English |
| handorunēmu | handle name | handle, screen name | English |
| hankachi | han(d)kerchie(f) | handkerchief | English |
| hansuto | hun(ger) st(rike) | hunger strike | English |
| hausu | (vinyl) + house | greenhouse or glasshouse | English |
| herusumētā | health meter | bathroom scales, scales | English |
| hisuterī | Hysterie | loss of (self) control | German |
| horumon | Hormon | hormone | German |
| hōsu | hoos | a hose | Dutch |
| hotchikisu | Hotchkiss | stapler (a genericized trademark of the E. H. Hotchkiss company, also used in Korea) | English |
| hōmu | (plat)form | a railway platform | English |
| howaitodē | White Day | March 14, a month after Valentine's Day | English |
| iesu or yesu | Jesus | Jesus | Portuguese |
| yesu | yes | Often used to mean "All right!" or "Good work!", or some other positive remark; rarely used to express affirmation itself in the actual English sense of the word. | English |
| igirisu | inglês | English, England or the United Kingdom | Portuguese |
| ikura | икра (ikra) (meaning 'caviar') | salmon roe | Russian |
| imēji | image | an image, often used to indicate an artist's rendering or a graphic intended to provide a conceptual image of a situation; especially in advertising and design, a conceptual description intended to conjure a mental image of an abstract situation; (the public's) impression or perception of an entity. | English |
| infure | infla(tion) | inflation | English |
| inkī | in + key | locking one's car keys inside of one's car | English |
| irasuto | illust(ration) | an illustration | English |
| iyā obu za kōchi | year of the coach (a title given to coaches by Asahi Shimbun and the Japan High School Baseball Federation) | coach of the year | English |
| jendāfurī | gender free | gender equality, gender blind | English |
| jettokōsutā | jet coaster | roller coaster | English |
| jingisukan | Genghis Khan | Mongolian style barbecue with cut lamb and vegetables | Mongolian |
| jīpan | jea(ns) + pan(ts) | jeans | English |
| jūsu | juice | often used to refer to soda or energy drinks, regardless of whether they contain any juice | English |
| kameraman | cameraman | photographer | English |
| kamon or kamōn | come on | An invitation to join an activity or event. | English |
| kan | kan | can (beverage can or tin can) | Dutch |
| kanningu | cunning | cheating | English |
| kappa | capa (de chuva) | (rain) coat | Portuguese |
| karan | kraan | faucet | Dutch |
| karaoke listen (help·info) | 空 (kara, empty) + orche(stra) | karaoke | Japanese + English |
| ｋāpetto | carpet | a rug | English |
| kariumu or kari | kalium | potassium | Dutch |
| karuki | kalk | lime (mineral) | Dutch |
| karupisu | cal(cium) + (sar)pis (Sanskrit for "good taste") | Calpis (a milky soft drink) | English + Sanskrit |
| karuta | carta | karuta (Japanese playing cards) | Portuguese |
| karute | Karte | (a patient's) medical record | German |
| kasutera or Castella | (pão de) Castela (bread from Castile) | a kind of sponge cake popular at festivals and as a street food in Japan | Portuguese |
| ｋāten | curtain | English | |
| kīhorudā | key holder | key ring | English |
| kirisuto | Cristo | Christ | Portuguese |
| kitchinpēpā | kitchen paper | paper towel | English |
| kōhī | koffie | coffee | Dutch |
| koin randorī | coin laundry | laundromat (US), launderette (UK) | English |
| kokku | kok | a cook | Dutch |
| komikaraizu | comic + -alize | to make a comic strip (manga) version of an originally non-comic strip title, such as a novel, movie, or TV show. | English |
| konbini | conveni(ence store) | convenience store | English |
| konkūru | concours | a contest, a competition | French |
| konsento | concent(ric plug) | power outlet | English |
| koppu | kop | a glass or tumbler | Dutch |
| korāgen | Kollagen | collagen | German |
| kosupure | cos(tume) play | cosplay (a subculture involving dressing up in costumes, especially from manga, anime and video games) | English |
| kurabu | club | a club or society | English |
| kurakushon | Klaxon | horn (on an automobile) | English |
| kuranke | Kranker | patient | German |
| kurisutaru | crystal | shiny or clear | English |
| kyanpēn | campaign | a sales campaign or sweepstakes | English |
| kyanpingukā | Camping-car | a recreational vehicle | French-made English |
| kyatchibōru | catch ball | the game of catch | English |
| kyatchihon | catch phone | call waiting | English |
| kyatchikopī | catch copy | tagline | English |
| magukappu | mug cup | mug | English |
| mainasudoraibā | minus driver | (flathead) screwdriver | English |
| mai~ | my | one's own. Common examples include my boom: personal taste; my car: one's own car; my home: one's own house; my pace: doing things at one's own (leisurely) pace, taking one's time (often somewhat derogatory) | English |
| majikkuinki | Magic Ink (a registered trademark of Uchida Yoko Co., Ltd.) | Permanent marker | English |
| majikkutēpu | magic tape | Velcro | English |
| mama | mamma | mom | Italian |
| mania | mania | enthusiasm, enthusiast | English |
| manshon | mansion | modern concrete apartment / condominium block | English |
| mantan | 満 (man, full) + tan(k) | full tank (as in the fuel tank of an automobile) | Japanese + English |
| maron | marron | chestnut, metaphor for brown eyes | French |
| mazakon | mother com(plex)[1] | Oedipus complex, or a strong attachment, formed in childhood, to one's mother, often used derogatorily; "girly man" | English |
| mazo (sometimes shortened to "M") | masochiste | masochist | French |
| mēru | English | ||
| mērumagajin | mail magazine | e-mail newsletter, ezine | English |
| miira | mirra (myrrh: an oil used in preservation) | a mummy | Portuguese |
| miruku | milk | milk, non-dairy creamer | English |
| mishin | (sewing) machine | sewing machine | English |
| mobairu | mobile | mobile communications, mobile communications capability, or mobile communications devices, esp. PDAs and personal computers with wireless communications capabilities | English |
| mobo | mo(dern) bo(y) | 1920s slang for young men adopting western styles and behaviours | English |
| moga | mo(dern) gi(rl) | 1920s slang for young women adopting western styles and behaviours, flapper | English |
| mōningukōru | morning call | wake-up call | English |
| mōningukōto or mōningu | morning coat | morning coat | English |
| mōningusābisu | morning service | breakfast special | English |
| moratoriamuningen | moratorium + 人間 (ningen, person, human being) | a person who, having completed education and other preparations, delays the transition from student to productive member of society, staying in an uncertain limbo of continued education, part-time work, and parental support (similar to freeter) | English |
| mūdi | moody | nice | English |
| mūnsaruto | moon + Salto | an artistic gymnastics maneuver. Also used to describe a professional wrestling maneuver. | English and German |
| naitā | night + -er | a night game | English |
| nanbādisupurei | number display | caller ID | English |
| nanbāpurēto | number plate | BrE number plate, AmE license plate | English |
| natoriumu | Natrium | sodium (Na) | German |
| nōkurēmunōritān | no claim, no return | sold "as is" | English |
| noruma | норма (norma) (meaning 'standard; norm') | quota | Russian |
| nōto | note | a notebook (It is used with this meaning in the title of the manga series Death Note) | English |
| nyūhāfu | new-half | A man that has undergone a sex change operation. | English |
| ōbā | over | overreaction to a situation or the end of a dating relationship. Can also mean “Overtime” at work. | English |
| ōdoburu | hors-d'œuvre | hors-d'œuvre | French (though probably from English, which uses the same term) |
| ōeru | O.L. (office lady) | female office worker, usually in a clerical or support job | English |
| ofu | off | a sale at a store; e.g., a "big summer off" (=big summer sale) | English |
| onanī | Onanie | masturbation (see Onan) | German |
| onrīwan | "only one" | (adjective) one of a kind or unique; e.g., オンリーワン技術 (~gijutsu: "only one technology") or オンリーワン商品 (~shōhin: "only one products") meaning one of a kind technology or products | English |
| ōpunkā | open car | convertible (automobile) | English |
| ōrai | all righ(t) | all right, OK | English |
| oranda | Holanda | The Netherlands, Holland | Portuguese |
| orugōru | orgel | a music box or any instrument that operates off of a music roll such as a calliope | Dutch |
| ōtobai | auto bi(cycle) | motorcycle, motorbike | English |
| pain | pine(apple) | pineapple | English |
| pan | pão | bread | Portuguese |
| panerā | panel + -er | panelist | English |
| panku | punc(ture) | flat tire | English |
| pansuto | pan(ty) + sto(cking) | pantyhose | English |
| pasokon | perso(nal) com(puter) | personal computer (PC) | English |
| pantsu | pants | underpants (American English), pants (British English) | British English |
| papa | papà | dad | Italian |
| patokā | patrol car | cop car | English |
| pearukku | pair look | matching outfits (usually between a couple) | English |
| penshon | pension | a resort hotel / chalet | French |
| pēpākanpanī | paper company | dummy company, shell company | English |
| pēpādoraibā | paper driver | a person who has a driver's license but does not usually drive (ie: a driver only on paper) | English |
| pēpātesuto | paper test | written examination/test | English |
| piero | pierrot | a clown | French |
| pīman | piment | sweet bell pepper | French |
| pikkeru | (Eis)pickel (meaning 'ice axe') | ice axe | German |
| pinchi | (in a) pinch | potentially disastrous situation | English |
| pinsetto | pincet | tweezers | Dutch |
| poemā | poem + -er | a poet | English |
| pokeberu | pocke(t) bell | beeper, pager | English |
| pokemon | pocke(t) mon(ster) | pokémon | English |
| ponpu | pomp | pump | Dutch |
| posuto | post | a mailbox (US), a postbox (UK) | English |
| purasuarufa | plus alpha (a misreading of "+ X") | in addition, a little bit more, with something else | English and Greek |
| purasudoraibā | plus driver | Phillips screwdriver | English |
| pureigaido | play + guide | (theater) ticket agency | English |
| purikura | pri(nt) clu(b) | purikura | English |
| puro | professional | describes a business professional or professional sports | English |
| purofīru | profil | a profile | French |
| puroresu | pro(fessional) wrest(ling) | professional wrestling | English |
| pusshuhon | push phone | touch-tone phone | English |
| rabuhoteru | love hotel | love hotel (hotel used as a private place for couples to have sexual contact) | English |
| raibaru | rival | A fellow competitor or an enemy | English |
| raibuakushon | live action | animated or comic form stories made into TV shows/movies involving real actors. It's the opposite of komikarizu | English |
| raibuhausu | live house | club with live music, rock bar | English |
| raifurain | lifeline | infrastructure | English |
| raito | light | such as a lamp | English |
| raito hukku | right hook | a punch in boxing | English |
| rakko | rakko | a sea otter | Ainu |
| ramune | lemona(de) | Ramune (a lemon-lime soft drink; hard, powdery candy like Rockets or Smarties) | English |
| randoseru | ransel | a hard schoolbag, worn on the back, carried by young children to school | Dutch |
| ranninguhōmuran | running home run | an inside-the-park home run | English |
| ranningushatsu | running shirt | a sleeveless T-shirt | English |
| ranpu | lamp | to light up your room | English |
| ranpu | ramp | something to load a motorbike onto a truck with | English |
| rentogen | Röntgen | X-ray, X-ray medical imaging | German |
| resutoran | restaurant | restaurant | French |
| ribenji | revenge | return match, rematch, chance for redemption after a failed attempt | English |
| rīdoonrīmenbā | read-only member | an internet lurker, thought to be a pun on "read-only memory" | English |
| rifōmu | reform | remodel, renovation (as in a building) | English |
| rimokon | remo(te) con(trol) | remote control | English |
| rinkufurī | link free | free to link | English |
| rinyūaru | renewal | remodeling | English |
| risaikurushoppu | recycle shop | secondhand shop (selling used or unwanted furniture, household appliances, housewares, and clothes; slightly different from non-profit or charity thrift shops in that they are fundamentally for-profit shops and perceived as one way to help reduce trash) | English |
| risutora | restru(cturing) | (noun) restructuring, but with emphasis on lowering headcounts as in downsizing, termination as a redundancy; (verb) to downsize, lay off or terminate as a redundancy. When used in the passive (～される: ~sareru), to get or have been made redundant, downsized (out of a job) | English |
| rōdoshō | roadshow (theatrical release) | premiere, especially of a film | English |
| rokēshonhantingu, rokehan | location hunting | location scout | English |
| roman | roman | novel, something that rouses one's dreams / longings | French |
| romansugurē | romance grey | silver-gray hair | English |
| romansukā | romance car (first used as a trademark by the Odakyu Electric Railway) | deluxe train | English |
| ronpari | Lon(don) + Paris | slang for Strabismus (crosseyed, wandering eye), derived from the image of one eye looking toward London, and the other eye looking toward Paris | English, French |
| rōpuuē | rope way | ropeway | English |
| rori | Loli(ta) style | Alternative young teen fashion where girls dress as dolls. Often seen with neo-goths or even combined as in “Gosurori”. | English |
| rorikon | Loli(ta) com(plex) | sexual attraction to fictional and real underage girls, or ephebophilia. (reborrowed into English to refer a genre of manga-style sexual artwork involving childlike female characters) | English |
| rosutaimu | loss time | added time, additional time | English |
| rū | roux | roux, most commonly used in describing the sauce of the popular dish, curry rice | French |
| ryukkusakku | Rucksack | backpack, Rucksack | German |
| sābisu | service | service, often used to describe something as being free of charge | English |
| saboru | sabo(tage) + -ru (Japanese verb ending) | to slack off, to shirk one's duties | French and Japanese |
| sado (sometimes shortened to "S") | sadiste | sadist | French |
| saidoburēki | side brake | hand brake, parking brake, emergency brake | English |
| saidā | cider | a kind of soda unrelated to actual cider | English |
| sain | sign | signature, autograph | English |
| sainpen | sign pen | marker, Trade name of Pentel's | English |
| sandoittchi, sando | sand(wich) | sandwich | English |
| sandobaggu | sandbag | punching bag | English |
| sarada | salada or salad | salad | Portuguese or English |
| sararīman | salary + man | salaryman: a salaried office/white collar worker | English |
| sekkusu | sex | sexual intercourse | English |
| sefure | se(x) + frie(nd) | casual sexual partner | English |
| sekuhara | sex(ual) hara(ssment) | sexual harassment | English |
| semedain, Cemedine | ceme(nt) dyne | glue, adhesive. A genericized trademark of Cemedine Co., Ltd. | English |
| sensu | sense | understanding of subtleties | English |
| serebu | celeb(rity) | used to refer to a rich person, whether or not they are famous | English |
| shabondama | sabão + 玉 (dama, ball) | soap bubble | Portuguese + Japanese |
| shāpen | sha(rp) + pen(cil) (referring to Sharp Corporation, a manufacturer of mechanical pencils) | mechanical pencil | English |
| shīemu | C.M. (Commercial Message) | television commercial | English |
| shinā | thinner | paint thinner | English |
| shinājiī | synergy | although means 2 things combined to make a 3rd new thing, in business it usually just means a good partnership. | English |
| shīru | seal | sticker, decal | English |
| shirubāshīto | silver seat (referring to the silver hair of elderly passengers) | priority seating on public transportation | English |
| shoberu | shovel | a large scoop | English |
| shūkurīmu | chou (à la) crème | a cream puff | French, English |
| sofuto | soft(ware) | video game console or computer software; also used to describe tasks or work (such as design) requiring imagination, foresight, and intuition | English |
| sofutokurīmu or softcream | soft (ice) cream | soft ice cream | English |
| sōrāshisutemu | solar system | a solar battery | English |
| subeta | espada | unattractive woman (spade) | Portuguese |
| suītorūmu | suite room | a suite in a hotel | English |
| sukai | sky | a bib, said to come from the name of an American clothing maker who sold bibs | English |
| sukebō | ska(te)bo(ard) | skateboard | English |
| sukeruton | skeleton | translucent | English |
| sukī | ski | used as a noun to refer to skiing | English |
| sukinshippu | skin + -ship | skinship (bonding through physical contact) | English |
| sukoppu | schop | trowel, spade, shovel, scoop | Dutch |
| sumāto | smart | slim, stylish, well-dressed, cool, handsome | English |
| sumūzu | smooth (transaction) | When a plan or transaction happens without incident | English |
| sūpā | super(market) | supermarket | English (international) |
| supattsu, supattsutaitsu | spats, spats tights | tights (US), leggings | English |
| superu | spell | used as a noun to mean "spelling" | English |
| supīkā | speaker | speakers on your stereo | |
| supin | spin | a ribbon or tassel on a book | English |
| supoito | spuit | syringe, dropper | Dutch |
| surīsaizu | three size | three primary female body measurements (bust, waist, hips) | English |
| suto | st(rike) | labor strike | English |
| sutōbu | stove | space heater | English |
| sūtsuakutā | suit actor | an actor who performs wearing a cartoon-character costume | English |
| tabako | tabaco | tobacco, cigarette | Portuguese |
| taimuōbā | time over | when a time limit has been reached | English |
| taimurī | timely (hit) | a clutch hit (in baseball), on time | English |
| taoruketto | towelket (towel + (blan)ket) | a type of blanket made of a material similar to a beach or bath towel | English |
| tarento | talent | TV personality/celebrity | English |
| tēma | Thema | theme | German |
| tenkī | ten key | numeric keypad | English |
| tenpura | tempero | tempura (culinary term) | Portuguese |
| tenshon | tension | a state of excitement | English |
| terebi, TV | televi(sion) | television | English |
| terebigēmu | televi(sion) game | video game | English |
| tereka | tele(phone) ca(rd) | prepaid card for using public telephones | English |
| tonakai | tunakkay | reindeer/caribou | Ainu |
| toraburu | trouble | (noun) (legal) trouble, a dispute or altercation; (verb) to encounter or experience trouble, to break down or not function as expected (e.g., a device) | English |
| toranpu | trumps | playing cards | English |
| torēnā | trainer | a sweat shirt | English |
| torēnīngupantsu | training pants | sweat pants | English |
| uinkā | winker | turn signal, a.k.a. blinker on an automobile | English |
| ūpārūpā or WuperRuper | (s)uper | an axolotl | English |
| vaikingu | viking | smorgasbord, buffet. It is said that this originated from the Imperial Hotel naming a smorgasbord after the 1958 American film The Vikings. | English |
| vājinrōdo | virgin road | the aisle (in a Western-style or Christian wedding ceremony, as followed by the bridal procession) | English |
| waishatsu | Y shirt (modification of "white shirt") | dress shirt (of any color) | English |
| wanpatān | one pattern | of (artificial or boring) uniformity or conformity, lacking of (spontaneous) variation. Used to describe behavior and responses as well as objects. Being "in a rut" | English |
| wanpīsu | one piece | (a single-piece) dress | English |
| wāpuro | wor(d) pro(cessor) | word processor | English |
| woshuretto | washlet (wash+(toi)let) | a toilet with a built-in bidet (a genericized trademark of TOTO Ltd.) | English |
| yotto | yacht | a sailboat | English |
| yan'egu | youn(g) ex(ecutive) | young executive | English |
| yōdo | Jod | iodine | German |
| yōdochinki | Jodtinktur | tincture of iodine | German |
| yunittobasu | unit bath | modular bath, prefabricated bath | English |
| yūtānrasshu | u-turn rush | the rush of traffic and people, and attendant traffic jams and crowding of transportation facilities, that occurs as everyone returns home after extended holidays, esp. New Year's, Golden Week, and the summer o-bon week. | English |
| zairu | Seil (meaning 'rope') | rope (used in a climbing context, in preference to the general term 'rōpu') | German |
| zemināru | Seminar | seminar | German |
| zero | zéro | zero | French |
| zubon | jupon | trousers (British English), pants (American English) | French |
Apr 26, 2009
Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies the way Grandma Gladys Made Em'
| 1C Margarine | 240ml マーガリン |
| 2 eggs | 卵2個 |
| ¾ C Brown sugar | 177ml ブラウンシュガー |
| ¾ C white sugar | 177ml 白砂糖 |
| 1 tsp baking soda | 5ml ベーキング・ソーダ (重曹) |
| 2 C flour | 475ml小麦粉 |
| 1 tsp vanilla | 5ml バニラ |
| 1 tsp salt | 5ml 塩 |
| 1 tsp water | 5ml 水 |
| 6 oz. Chocolate chips | 170g チョコチップ（普通のチョコを細かく切るとか） |
Mix margarine and sugar together well. Beat and add eggs, vanilla and water. Then add 1 cup of the flour, salt and baking soda, mix and add the 2nd cup of flour & chocolate chips. (There are no chocolate chips in Kujo, so we chopped up chocolate bars!)
Use a teaspoon/tablespoon to drop dough on a baking sheet, bake at 375F°/190C° for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. With the little oven range/microwave combo we have here, 170 for 10 minutes was better, but that is probably due to the rotating plate inside more than small size of the oven. Make adjustments as needed.
取り合えずマーガリンと砂糖をよく混ぜて、卵、バニラと水を一緒に混ぜます。小麦粉は半分入れて塩と ベーキング・ソーダと混ぜて、スムーズな感じになれば最後の小麦粉とチョコを入れてまぜます。クッキーの生地をティースプーンぐらいでベーキング紙においてオーブンで190C°で８〜１０分を焼きます。
今日久しぶりに焼いたらうちのオーブンはやはり中にあるお皿がグルグル回るから焼き方をちょっと合わせないとアカンかった。170°で9~10にしたらよく焼けました。自分のオーブンに合わせて下さい。
Apr 24, 2009
Water Buffalo Repair (part II)
Just before I decided to shell out some dough to fix the PC I began repair work on Nami's water buffalo. Well, I really doubt this hard leather is cow. But I sewed up a few holes in the leather, and I had patched the insides of the pockets a while back but thought "Shit, I am really going to some major effort to fix this thing, I may as well rip out the pockets and replace them with something more sturdy than SATIN. I mean, what kind of stupid jacket maker uses satin for pocket liners? Oh, the same people who put thin-ass cotton in the pockets of MY leather huh? I used black cotton CANVAS in these 3 pockets! They are gonna hold strong I reckon.But now that I am done with all of that, now comes another trickyh area...installing the liner that I made. So, before it gets all red, satiny and sexy, I thouht I would just share the last look at the shell, not to be seen for another 20 years. Nami's comment about me this past couple weeks was, "The unemployed are so busy". (Bimbo wa hima nashi)
Labels: leather
Base Ship Repaired -- FTL Drive Upgraded
Wow. I just got back from computer hardware school – or so it seems – and since the jerk-offs who just started working next door left their flourescent lights on yet again on the 2nd floor keeping our bedroom aglow all night again, I am up and here to tell you my story...As you may have read, my desktop computer died exactly 1 month ago. I have been using the laptop during this time, but if you spend as much time on the PC as I do, you will understand that suddenly using another PC every day is like becoming left-handed suddenly. Ok, maybe not that extreme, but it IS like getting off your 1000cc bike and going back to riding an old 750. Still good, but not as fast. Having those 2 19” monitors behind the laptop all that time made me fidgety. And so I started down the path that would find me replacing motherboards and learning how to swap out central processing units, etc.
A lesson I find difficult to learn, is that everything always costs 2-3 times more than I think it is, or than I think it is worth. This time it was the first one. But that is because I bought 3 times the parts, so that is fair. It started with me off to buy a used motherboard, but soon found that even used, a motherboard that my type of CPU and hard drive would actually FIT was a bigger task than I knew.Point of info: Hard disc drives commonly come with either an IDE cable, or a more modern SATA cable. Mine was the older one. Even though I bought the drive just 1 year ago, they are no longer selling motherboards that connect to them. Just like you can still buy a headlight for a 66' Ford Falcon, but you cannot buy a whole new Ford Falcon. But heck, no problem! Seems that when my motherboard failed it screwed up my hard drive enough that I could not access the 200Gb partition that was my system anyway. PAPERWEIGHT!
Next, my CPU was on the old side, so the pins did not fit the newer motherboards. Even the used, newer motherboards which were 2 years old. When I bought my desktop nearly 3 years ago, it was made from used parts so...
So, on Saturday I got a used motherboard, and a more fancy dual-core CPU, along with 2Gb of RAM. Why? My old RAM was plenty, but did not quite fit either. Turn on the computer...same problem. Bought another motherboard and a SATA hard drive on Monday. That motherboard worked, but when I plugged in my graphics card (the part that lets me have two monitors) the screens were black. So, the 2nd motherboard was garbage too. On Wednesday – and I am starting to sound like the Johnny Cash song, “I Got Stripes” – I went BACK to the shop. This time, Mr. Yamaguchi, who had helped me with a great attitude the times before, brought the 3rd motherboard to the back room with me in tow, and plugged it in with my graphics card, CPU and RAM to check it. All I had to do was see that it would connect to the Internet, or not die when I turned on a program.I now hate the term, “The 3rd Time's the Charm!” because this was the 3rd motherboard I tried before I got one that wasn't broken...and it took me THREE times to reload my operating system before Firefox wouldn't crash after loading in my Japanese language programs. Another story...
So what do I got? Not that it matters, but now at least I know what these parts are and do. I got an Elite Group A770M-A (AMD 700 chipset) motherboard, with 6 USB ports and 6 SATA drive slots, no floppy slot at all, nor on board video card, but a PC Express slot that works great! ($50 used);AMD Athlon X2 (dual core) BE2400 processor, with a 3k rpm fan ($40 used);
2Gb of RAM (UMAX, DDR2, Pulsar) ($19 used);
2, 250Gb internal SATA disc drives (total $40 used);
All new cables ($3 new);
and I already had the ASUS Extreme AX300SE-X/TD Video Card, Radeon X300 SE, PCI-E, 128MB DDR, w/ DVI-D...which is apparently the far low end now according to Mr. Yamaguchi.
Aside from the fact that used hdd are super cheap now, the reason I got 2 of them is because in the last mess the OS I was using locked up and was unreachable. The other OS on the other partition was fine. But who wants to trust a 320Gb drive that claims it is now only 127Gb? So, from now on, I have XP on one hard drive, and Ubuntu Linux on its own hard drive.
This project cost me $160, but then...I now have a PC that is double my old one in almost every component, so I think that this was a good price. Plus, I got edumacated.
Challenging was holding the tiny power switch connectors in my fingers. About 1/4 the size of the butt-connectors used in old motorcycles. The first 2 motherboards had manuals, but the 3rd did NOT so in a way, it was good (?) that I had 2 educational test tries before trying to figure out how to hook up the USB connectors, power switch, speaker/horn and audio huh? Especially since there was no writing on the motherboard itself for anything but the power switch.And did you ever think that the little metal plate on the back of your case would need to be changed with another motherboard? I did that 3 times too! But even stranger is the goop that needs to be put on the top of the CPU before putting the fan on top of it. There cannot be any air that gets between the CPU and the fan or it will heat up and we will all die.
Apr 21, 2009
Dirty Mothers and Broken Down Slots
There is good news and bad news. And plenty of both.The good news is, I can build a desktop computer now. I also found out that it was my motherboard that was to blame for my computer's demise. Bad news is, the motherboard I bought to replace it was also broke. The motherboard I bought after that one works, but does not recognize my video card (I just get a blank screen). I cannot use my old CPU with the newer motherboard, but that is fine. I upgraded to a dual-core CPU, which I have no idea what means, but hey, it came with a new and faster fan and came out sometime around Dec.07. So it is one year old. I also got 2Gb of used RAM for 2000en ($20) so that is cool too.
More bad news, the motherboards available are for SATA (type of cable) hard disk drives, and my old hdd uses an IDE cable. But no matter, cuz my previous hdd was rendered useless in the process anyway! It seems that the 320Gb hdd that I bought brand new just a year ago got so messed up during this process that I cannot access it. It was dually formatted to run XP and Linux, and somehow I ended up not being able to access the Linux side. I am assuming that is because my computer crashed while it was running. I could access the Windows side, but was denied access to the other. On top of that, it claims that it is just a 120Gb drive. I went through all sorts of forum chats and tried many things over the past 3 days, and finally I quit. The best I could do was to reformat the former XP partition, to get 120Gb out of it, but I would not feel secure using such a schizo device. So, I picked up a used 250Gb internal SATA drive for 2000en ($20).
Buying used for cheap may bite me in the ass next year or in 6 months even, but I am pretty sure most of my former computer's parts were used when I paid my old boss $700 for it 2.5 years ago.
So, I have a working desktop again. And upgraded at that. Why ain't I happy? This motherboard will not recognize my dual-head video card. Without being able to use my video card, there is no point in keeping this motherboard, as I have two 19" monitors that I use together as one desktop. I needed them for my translation job, but now I just need them because 2 is twice as good as one, if not more like 3 times. (High math) Both my old and the faulty motherboard I bought on Sat. recognized the vid card. Even though both were broken. I could still get into and see BIOS. With this 3rd motherboard, I cannot see a thing with the monitors plugged in to that card.
Tried to load up the driver from the CD into Windows? And the driver CD won't work! So I guess that CD is dead too. It is not clear precisely what vid card this is...made by ASUS, ATI VGA card, but don't know the number. That kinda screws me a bit.
So.........I will go back to Softmap tomorrow when the dude I have been dealing with is back on the job. Man this does suck, but I have learned a shitload. This is precisely how I learned to fix motorcycles.
Final piece of bad news is, the store only had 2 used motherboards that would fit my case. I tried both. So, perhaps return them and try "Faith" (another computer store).
Labels: Computers
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tyeclectic 様はこういった...
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Good job, sounds like your almost there....
Apr 18, 2009
Daaaaamn! PC Project Failed Attempt
I was so planning to write a post about my desktop computer repair success...and it was not a success. Today, I got a used motherboard, CPU and 2Gb of RAM for a little over $100. I got it all set up did everything by the book and...the motherboard is set up to accept a hard disc with SATA cables only...my HDD uses the older type of IDE cable (the flat and wide cable).
So, I took a while to hook it all up and install it for nothing. Everything else was right on, but I cannot afford to buy a new HDD that is SATA cable friendly...I mean, by now one might be cheap but I really was pushing it shelling out $100 when my job isn't paying much for me to do it.
Fuckin' bummer man.
So, I took a while to hook it all up and install it for nothing. Everything else was right on, but I cannot afford to buy a new HDD that is SATA cable friendly...I mean, by now one might be cheap but I really was pushing it shelling out $100 when my job isn't paying much for me to do it.
Fuckin' bummer man.
Apr 15, 2009
Nostalgia Hits Again
Pulsar, Maskatron, the Bionic Man, Major Mike Power, Stretch Armstrong, Big Jim ...these were the guys that made up MY adventure team. Pulsar and Maskatron were perhaps the two most impressively put together and active toys. Maskatron came with a selection of interchangeable arms, 3 faces and the computer components in his torso could all be removed! Pulsar's heart and lungs pumped and BLOOD cycled through his abdomen when you pushed a button on his back! I really wanted "Bullet Man" but my friend had him, along with one of the big "Shogun Warrior" toys, so that I got to try them out...very neat. But what was up with the short Neanderthal buddy of GIJoe? Often times I was the kid who got the overstocked minor character who was on sale...glad I never got this guy.Alex Starts Kindergarten!...Again!
This is Alex's 2nd year of kindergarten...of 3. Why would I do this to my beloved son? Because Japanese kindergarten is actually FUN...or so it looks.Alex was in the 3 to 4 year old class last school year (which ended in March) and it is not technically kindergarten, more like...pre-kindergarten. He didn't have to go, but after watching how much fun Mika had in her 2 years of kindergarten, we decided Alex could start at 3 to make friends. Now, it may be his personality, but he is a whole lot less shy than Mika and has a bunch of little buddies now. And anyway, the optional early kindergarten was only from 9:00-11:30am anyway.
Last Friday "Actual" kindergarten began. Kindergarten starts at age 4, and last 2 years in Japan. Now he has a uniform and has a little yellow backpack. He will soon be eating lunch at kindergarten, learn to eat foods he doesn't want to eat, but do it because everyone else has to, and learn how to use chopsticks like a pro. They are still not going to learn "school" stuff, but will learn a crap-load of songs, have small plays, go on field trips, do art and have a mega fun time! Kindergarten here is called, "Yochien" and it seems to be so fun, that when kids start first grade, they all say that they wish they were still in yochien. Speaking of elementary school, Mika just began 2nd grade!More photos of Alex's first day of the new year are HERE.
Labels: Kids
Leather Jacket Project
Maaaannn...if only nostalgia weren't in the way? I would have bought Nami a new leather a year ago. But, Nami likes THIS jacket because it is beat up looking, and perhaps (?) even cuz it is the jacket she bought at the vintage shop on Broadway so that she could date me. It wasn't the only time that I got a girlfriend to buy a leather jacket so she could ride on the back of my bike, but Nami was the only one who bought chaps and her own helmet too. How's that for dedication? (And that was probably only a couple weeks into us dating...but then, I told her I was going to marry her on our first date...second time out together...yup.)So anyway, it must have been a year ago by now that I finally decided to buy Nami's jacket some red satin to make a new liner. The old one was trashed, but when I removed it to take measurements and copy it, I saw it was pieced together in a way that would only make sense to a thumb-twiddler on Thorazine, or someone under a delusion that more seams would act as spiritual armour against cookie-spitting-vorple-beasts with 3rd eye lazers and prehensile, projectile nose hair. But no, the liner was absolute nonsense, so I put the jacket and material in a closet and left it there for a long, long time.
I took it out to restart what I had begun several times, but each time that wacko construction of the old liner just bewildered me to the point where I decided I was not up to the challenge of making a new one. This week we talked about paying someone to reline it, and that pushed me to try again. I had already bought 1.5meters of red satin and it was going to go to waste if I didn't at least give it my best shot.Our sewing machine is also a fussy shard of hell, so I got smart and realized that sewing satin was going to be seriously evil (it is slippery) and furthermore, if I just put satin directly against the leather shell -- as the last person did -- the liner was just going to get trashed right away. (I am assuming the previous liner was not the original, as it was only 1 layer of thin satin, with no quilted padding at all) To strengthen the liner and to make sewing the satin easier, I decided to backup the main liner with some leftover cotton material I had. This will also keep seams from ripping out easily, and just all sorts of happy things like that.
I did the back and front tonight, and will go for the sleeves tomorrow. There is still some other repair to do on the leather before I can install the liner, and I may actually replace the pocket material while the liner is off, but this liner is the MAIN challenge. After this, it will be easy.If you are thinking "What makes this guy think he can just sew a jacket liner?", I should say that as a kung-fu student our master not only made us sew our own kung-fu belts, but fricking EMBROIDER the Chinese characters for "Shaolin Temple" on the things! Years later, I sewed my own dress-uniform for kung-fu, and then a jacket for working out, etc. So, now I can sew pretty well. Oh, and I also made both the banners for the school as well as the curtains. I'm just all kinds of skilled huh?
I will update this post when I get further along the project.
Labels: leather
Apr 14, 2009
Good and Silly!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EfTtxuiZl0&feature=related
Apr 12, 2009
The Anthropoligists are at work on me a bit early...
Found in the Moore's basement... reactions follow in order of appearance.High school. Wish I had this one, I still like it even after all this time. Never realized that the long nosed, big-eyed guys I drew looked like me, but guess that we draw people based on the faces we see most often. I have always been a big fan of the mirror.
Next, self portrait that I don't remember doing. Drawn with the back end of my brush on wet paint. It says I did it March 30th 1991. But even if it didn't have a date, I was only penning my name as "Kazetaro" for a couple years, and here I had long hair which only lasted 1 year, and buttoning up my shirts at the top button, which only happened when I was clubbing. That was a practical choice, because dancing with a button opened ended up making me feel "disheveled" and I was very much trying to look my best -- still trying to mate back then.
This last one I forgot about...rather wish it had been lost in a tragic furnace incident. But looking at it objectively, this one is about 2 ft. by 3ft. and for high school, was pretty large. That was before the 6ft. long paintings started -- a size where I could actually enjoy my long arms with larger brushes. I was still doing a lot of cartoon guys back in high school, thus the 3-fingered guy, and still using masking tape to draw straight lines as in high-school. I found that whenever I used pure imagination back in the day, there was too much freedom and my stuff ended up lacking skill. A LOT of life-drawing in college fixed that up.Art Freedom?
This was a self-realization I had in my early 20's, but did not specifically understand that it was due to a lack of skill in using the visual tools of painting properly. My best works were usually nude figures because everything was provided for me, all I had to do was give translate what I saw into paint, ink, charcoal, oil pastels, etc. and my natural energetic personality and lack of patience created the energetic line which is seen in the self-portrait above. In fact, I realized later on that there is no such thing as artistic talent. There is practice, drive and personality. My art looked like it did because of my personality and whatever level of persistence and drive I had. This realization ended my career as a visual artist. I saw that there was nothing special about the artist except as a communicator of ideas, and with nothing that I particularly wanted to communicate in that way, I was done.
However, the knowledge I attained from this study has helped me quite a bit in motorcycle mechanics, in martial arts and other areas. One must master the basics -- not just have a working understanding -- before the rules can be broken. "Freedom"for those who have not mastered basics is translated as SHIT. That is why Picasso could make a bull's head out of a set of handlebars and a bike seat and you go...bull's head. He wasn't just a "free-flowing, whatever-man" fella, he mastered the basic art of seeing, and the media he worked with so that he knew which rules could be broken and which could not. That is why his artworks got more and more minimal at certain points, just pushing and pushing finding where the limit was before someone said, "Nope, thems just handlebars and a seat Pablo."
In martial arts, the masters don't move too much and the target person ends up until his or her control with little effort. That is decades of sweat and pain there in the "correct" position, angle and form in order to understand which parts are always necessary and which are simply tools.
The guitar strings aren't rock, the brush isn't art, the fist never actually punches anything. Young artists just "wanna be free", and most of them never learn that freedom is a farce. It does not exist in any state. Freedom will always come with its opposite -- the master understands that it is discipline, the novice sees it as bondage...which is why their art sucks. We can say the same for all types of art, and more.
So, you can see from my rambling the reason why I left behind the brushes and chose the path I did. I could not honestly master both painting and my chosen discipline. I am a smart guy, but I still have limitations, and I need all my attention to master one thing.
Old art is a good thing because if we look at it honestly, we can see that which lead us to success, the potential where we could have gone and the dead ends. Glad I was sent these photos today.
Labels: art
Battery Charge$!
What? $230.oo?? Ty? How much are motorbike batteries over THERE now? I didn't ride my bike for a while, and it appears that starting it once a month throughout the winter, and holding the rpms at 2k for 10min. or so wasn't enough to keep a good charge. So, now my battery is so low that only dash lights come on, but dimly. Cannot bump start im' either. I did try that several times, but after 5 or 6 tries, the thing is REALLY heavy.A Yuasa battery costs $230, a charger is about $130. My only issue with going the charger route is that I have no idea how old the battery actually is. I have had the bike 2 years now, and have to asusme that it was a little old when I got it. Eat the $230 or eat the $130?
The more I own this bike the more I miss having a 70's Japanese bike!!! (Kick starts and simpler mechanics!)
For my future info: Current battery is a "Yellow Hat (Galdar) 30A19R"
Autobacs sells a compatible one for 6000yen, serial number "32A19L"
Apparently these are small CAR batteries, but fit my bike.
Labels: Motorcycles
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tyeclectic 様はこういった...
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Batterys in cycles are very ficcle things. I have had to buy new batterys often. Some charge well but most just dont hold it well... for long. My Ninjas usually lasted two seasons with occational charging. Bikes do weird things with low batterys, stop running well, electrics do funny things and on and on. I have had trouble with starting bikes - a new battery and boom start right up. I have had bikes running fine but the electrics do funny things. A battery for my Ninja costs about 60 to 75 bucks. For the cl350 about 45 bucks. A good charger can run you (trickel-25 bucks) My charger is much better at amlmost 200.00. and will charge fast slow or Jump at dif amps and volts. Take the time to slowly trickel-charge a new battery fully! If it is not charged correctly from the get-go, it will not last, or recharge well. My two cents...LATE FOR WORK GOTTA GO!!!
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Kaze 様はこういった...
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Ok good. Sounds like my pal Hiroshi tracked down a battery that fits my bike for about $60! If it fits, I will be super-duper pleased! It is a battery for a small CAR! But, it appears that is what is in my bike at the present time, so fine. Hiroshi looked up the info at a car parts store called "Autobacs" which is the equivalent of Schuck's or one of those car parts shops that sells only a few things that motorbikes can make use of. This is a major price difference and I wonder who thinks this is ok? I often wish that Japanese people were more annoying in one particular way that Americans are really good at, which is to say "HOW MUCH?!? YOU PEOPLE ARE THIEVES!" In general, only old ladies say that kind of thing here and people just blow them off as being "old". I wish we could just say, "Really? No. That is too high. Lower the price or my 10,000 friends and I will shop somewhere else." But then I woke up.
Too often Japanese are the "Nothing we can do about it." And bike people just say "Well, it is either pay or don't ride, so I pay." Which is what I am forced to say. Americans will complain, but there isn't enough of a coalition to get things to change.
Anyway, I would much rather pay $60 than $200 for a battery. Vvroom. -
Kaze 様はこういった...
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STOP the PRESSES!!! In a stroke of intelligence beyond the usual amount needed to scratch one's own butt, I realized that approximately 1/3 of a block from my house is a very small garage...they have a charger. So, I had to take my battery out anyway to go buy a new one/dispose of the old one, and I thought...I would rather pay these guys to charge my battery over night than get a new battery today.
2100yen/$20 is kinda much just to charge a battery, but hey, I am cool with a battery that starts my bike.
VVVVRRRROOOOMMMMM!!!!!!! Sorry, I exaggerated, it's a BMW...(whisper) vvvrrooommm.
But anyway, it starts great. I will take a ride perhaps this weekend to Kobe or somewhere, and get the bike some action. Not that worried about it "Not starting again" because I will have to start it once more to actually leave the house, and I am going to assume that if it can start up again in 4 days, it will charge up during my ride enough to get back.
Still, I may get a new cheap battery before touring starts.
That reminds me, time to get another international driver's license. I need to get one every year since it is not actually renewable. But there is NO vehicle license in Japan that is cheaper than $15 a year. (And with the I.D.L. I could technically drive a car, small truck or any size bike I feel like...legally.)
Apr 9, 2009
Kid Photo Opp
Alexander seemed to really like this hairstyle, so we did it up right with some styling wax and he wore it all over town. Interestingly, other kids usually treat my children as if they were just Japanese kids -- even with the big ol' American flag patch on his jacket -- but with Alex's hair up like this, I heard kids saying "Look at the American family" a couple times yesterday. Guess a mohawk makes him look more white than usual. Luna was incognito and Mika had her usual movie-star shades. No, I don't think she is flipping anyone off on purpose. Now if it were Alex...
He did make sure to put BOTH fingers up his nose for our "first BBQ of the year" photo however.Labels: Kids
Mar 30, 2009
Broken Heart Syndrome
Hey there. I had never read the news in the 90's about the "discovery" that a broken heart was actually a clinically definable medical condition. There are things like this that some of us already know and accept as part of life, because our heart have been broken, but others need a definition before they accept it.
Medics 'can mend a broken heart was a BBC news headline this morning that I found interesting. Rather than linking to the story, I am just going to re-post it here.
[Scientists have found it is possible to mend a broken heart.
US researchers studied 70 patients with "broken heart syndrome", a recognised condition linked to stressful or emotional events.
All these patients recovered, most after being given aspirin or heart drugs, even though 20% were deemed critically ill.
The American Journal of Cardiology study says the condition is probably caused by a surge in stress hormones.
Broken heart syndrome, known medically as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, was first described by Japanese researchers in the early 1990s.
Even though symptoms mimic those of a heart attack such as chest pain and shortness of breath, broken heart syndrome does appear to be temporary and completely reversible - if treated quickly.
The patients studied by the researchers from two hospitals in Providence, Rhode Island were diagnosed with broken heart syndrome between July 2004 and April 2008.
Spring breaks
Around 67% of patients had been exposed to some sort of physical or emotional distress - such as bad news about a family member, a domestic argument, severe physical illness or a car accident - just before the onset of symptoms.
There does seem to be an association between this condition and a very stressful event
June Davison, British Heart Foundation
Six patients presented with heart-induced shock and three had abnormal heart rhythms which required emergency treatment.
Two-thirds of the patients - almost all post-menopausal women - had experienced a very stressful physical or emotional event just before arriving at the hospital with heart attack-like symptoms.
Overall, the majority of those in the registry were prescribed aspirin or heart drugs such as, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors and statins while in hospital.
Even though a fifth were were critically ill and required emergency treatment to keep them alive, all the patients survived the first 48 hours and experienced a full recovery.
The researchers also discovered that, unlike heart attacks which tend to occur in winter, broken heart syndrome cases tend to occur in the spring and summer months.
'Rarely fatal'
Dr Richard Regnante from the Miriam Hospital, who led the research, said this seasonal pattern could help understand the condition.
"Some believe it is simply a form of a heart attack that 'aborts' itself early and therefore doesn't leave any permanent heart muscle damage.
HAVE YOUR SAY
A broken heart just needs time to digest the pain and get back on track with the help of friends, relatives and some shopping
Maeth P, UK
Send us your comments
"Others say that the syndrome has nothing to do with the coronary arteries and is simply a problem with the heart muscle.
"Since the seasonal pattern of broken heart syndrome that we observed is opposite of what it seen with heart attack patients, our findings suggest - but certainly do not prove - the latter theory may be correct."
He added that the study could help heart specialists and A&E doctors manage patients with the condition.
"Although there is much we're still learning about broken heart syndrome, we do know that it is rarely fatal as long as patients are fully supported with medications, respirators and other critical devices in the first 48 hours."
Dr Regnante and his team are now recruiting patients with broken heart syndrome for a new study which will use ultrasound images to look at whether the condition causes internal damage to the heart.
June Davison, a spokeswoman for the British Heart Foundation, said: "There does seem to be an association between this condition and a very stressful event.
"But not enough people have been affected to provide hard evidence of what happens and what actually causes it.
"However people do seem to make a full recovery."]
Medics 'can mend a broken heart was a BBC news headline this morning that I found interesting. Rather than linking to the story, I am just going to re-post it here.
[Scientists have found it is possible to mend a broken heart.US researchers studied 70 patients with "broken heart syndrome", a recognised condition linked to stressful or emotional events.
All these patients recovered, most after being given aspirin or heart drugs, even though 20% were deemed critically ill.
The American Journal of Cardiology study says the condition is probably caused by a surge in stress hormones.
Broken heart syndrome, known medically as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, was first described by Japanese researchers in the early 1990s.
Even though symptoms mimic those of a heart attack such as chest pain and shortness of breath, broken heart syndrome does appear to be temporary and completely reversible - if treated quickly.
The patients studied by the researchers from two hospitals in Providence, Rhode Island were diagnosed with broken heart syndrome between July 2004 and April 2008.
Spring breaks
Around 67% of patients had been exposed to some sort of physical or emotional distress - such as bad news about a family member, a domestic argument, severe physical illness or a car accident - just before the onset of symptoms.
There does seem to be an association between this condition and a very stressful event
June Davison, British Heart Foundation
Six patients presented with heart-induced shock and three had abnormal heart rhythms which required emergency treatment.
Two-thirds of the patients - almost all post-menopausal women - had experienced a very stressful physical or emotional event just before arriving at the hospital with heart attack-like symptoms.
Overall, the majority of those in the registry were prescribed aspirin or heart drugs such as, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors and statins while in hospital.
Even though a fifth were were critically ill and required emergency treatment to keep them alive, all the patients survived the first 48 hours and experienced a full recovery.
The researchers also discovered that, unlike heart attacks which tend to occur in winter, broken heart syndrome cases tend to occur in the spring and summer months.
'Rarely fatal'
Dr Richard Regnante from the Miriam Hospital, who led the research, said this seasonal pattern could help understand the condition.
"Some believe it is simply a form of a heart attack that 'aborts' itself early and therefore doesn't leave any permanent heart muscle damage.
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"Others say that the syndrome has nothing to do with the coronary arteries and is simply a problem with the heart muscle.
"Since the seasonal pattern of broken heart syndrome that we observed is opposite of what it seen with heart attack patients, our findings suggest - but certainly do not prove - the latter theory may be correct."
He added that the study could help heart specialists and A&E doctors manage patients with the condition.
"Although there is much we're still learning about broken heart syndrome, we do know that it is rarely fatal as long as patients are fully supported with medications, respirators and other critical devices in the first 48 hours."
Dr Regnante and his team are now recruiting patients with broken heart syndrome for a new study which will use ultrasound images to look at whether the condition causes internal damage to the heart.
June Davison, a spokeswoman for the British Heart Foundation, said: "There does seem to be an association between this condition and a very stressful event.
"But not enough people have been affected to provide hard evidence of what happens and what actually causes it.
"However people do seem to make a full recovery."]
Mar 27, 2009
Shirl and Zach Arrived Safely
My sister and 16-year old nephew got here without a hitch, with more gifts in hand than we had at Christmas a few months back. No really, the amount of stuff they brought borders on historic. In fact, they brought 3 big suitcases and 2 carry-ons, and 2 of the suitcases and 1 carry-on were stuff for us!I am going to post a photo of this stuff because otherwise I don't think anyone could comprehend just how vast this pile of stuff really is. Let's see here, we have: a stack of kid's books, Easter candy and other sweets, toys, including an awesome black Barbie and some other dolls, an X-Wing fighter, stuffed animals, some baby clothes, an entire BAG of taco seasoning packets, several boxes of mac n' cheese, etc. etc.
When preparing to come here, my sis asked if I needed any shirts...I said I would like a black wool shirt and a denim shirt if she happened to see one or the other...she brought 4 denim shirts and 3 black shirts. All of them are boss. Perhaps the most precious article of clothing though is the most mundane to everyone else...8 pairs of socks THAT FIT MY FEET! The biggest shoes here are size 10, and with size 12 feet, socks never fit right. So I can take them strolling around western Japan now with happy feets!
Anyway, for dinner we took them out to yaki-niku (Korean BBQ, but so popular here it may as well be Japanese). They seemed to think it was alright, but did not eat that much. My kids and I on the other hand ate double our usual amount. Alex had FOUR small bowls of rice...where he put it... is a mystery. I am going to have to get a lot more cash here with Alex eating like that!
After dinner we stopped by a convenient store and I was so zoned out from eating all that beef, and my family coming to town, that as we went into the store together I almost went in STILL ON MY BICYCLE! Had a woman not been coming out of the store at the same time, I don't know how far in I would have gone before I snapped out of it. That is the kind of shit that happens when I am talking to my sister.
Tomorrow I will take them to a couple of awesome temples in Kyoto, one of which has 1000 human sized statues of the Buddhist figure "Kannon" which are gilded wood. Very cool.The one good thing about Osaka is, it is in the center of western Japan and has several major cities nearby. Kyoto, Nara and Kobe. This will be a busy week!
But that is all for today. They fell asleep at 10pm and the kids got sent to bed at 10:30 even though they were in the midst of trying their best to examine the gargantuan stack of new toys.
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tyeclectic 様はこういった...
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Holy Macarony bat noodle! Unreal.....sombody loves you......
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tyeclectic 様はこういった...
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After re-reading my statement- I did not mean "unreal someone loves you" I ment "unreal look at all the goodies"!!
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