Japan Post clerk’s reply when I tried to use my credit card to pay to send our souvenirs home: “No. Money.” (said with a smile) I apologized, walked 20′ to the ATM, got some cash, and paid the man.

Seems like a Japanese woman’s skirt is not allowed to be longer than her coat.

At fox shrine in Oji, Tokyo. Apparently holes into the hill are a fox shrine thing. (At Oji Inari Shrine.) Sent from my TRS-80

Despite not being much of a photographer, I accompanied Stephanie on the tour a few days back. It was still pretty fun, even if occasionally our guide tried to direct my photo taking attention in some direction, only for me to find little inspiration that way.

Some of you may remember a couple of months ago, when I was looking for cake recipes for Thanksgiving. I discovered the existence of Baumkuchen then, a cake traditionally cooked on a spit, where you coat it with layers of batter so you end up, when you remove the spit, with a cylindrical cake composed…

They have a Masamune. Fucking. Awesome.

Stephanie: “Two more days of this, then I can sit on my ass and drive around like God intended.”

We wandered around part of Akihabara today. That’s the nerd/geek/gamer Mecca district of Tokyo, full of electronics stores, arcades, maid cafés, and every fannish thing under the sun. (Speaking of maid cafés, the girls out on the streets in their frilly uniforms shilling for their cafés looked so cold and unhappy! They had coats and…

YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID…I HAVE A PAIR OF HATTIFATTENER TONGS. I also have a plushie Too-Ticky, which is totally awesome. Yes, I went all the way to Japan and bought a bunch of Finnish childrens’ book swag, but I am quite pleased at how popular the Moomins are over here. We happened upon the Moomin…

We keep running into Star Wars stuff as we travel. There are two especially cool things I want to tell you about, though. Near our hotel is a historic doll maker that mostly makes traditional collectible dolls. And some collectible dolls that are not so traditional. I give you the Dark Side Samurai displays: http://www.yoshitoku.co.jp/list/10/…