I knew from my previous trip to Japan that you stand on the left side of the escalator, leaving the right side free for people who want to walk up. Except for Osaka, in which the standing and walking sides are flipped, which leads to rousing games of Spot the Osakan in Tokyo Station and…

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

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…

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/…

We’re watching the Japanese version of COPS at the moment, and the segment that just aired consisted of pulling a guy over because he had a headlight out, then searching the trunk and finding a kitchen knife, then administering a breathalyzer test and finding the guy was over the legal limit. And now they’ve pulled…

Your argument is invalid; I have Snufkin socks. Because Snufkin. (If you are unaware of The Moomins, then I am sorry for you and your deprived childhood.) On the back, just above the heel, is either The Mymble’s Daughter or Little My. I’m inclined towards the former because she looks pleasanter than Little My tends…

We spent most of the afternoon in the Tokyuu Hands, a giant crafts, DIY, and stuff store. We found several banks of gachapon machines. Toby, of course, zeroed in on the Pacific Rim one. We had to go get change, and then I stayed and guarded our loot while he fought his way back to…