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.”

As Stephanie said, I picked up a Pacific Rim gachapon for myself, because hell yes I did. What did I get? Well here’s the orb, unopened: And opened and assembled: Yep, Gipsy Danger! The machine said it was vending toys from Vol. 1 of the PR set. From the manual inside, looks like other possibilities…

– shiny puffy quilted coats – “toggle” buttons on coats – uggs – ankle boots with heels – opaque black or grey tights – seriously mini skirts – inappropriate footwear in bad weather. Seriously – 4″ heels in cold and rain?

I was pretty surprised to see so many iPhones in use by people on the train and walking around Japan. I was under the impression that while Apple had done a lot to make their products into a desirable fashion brand here, market penetration was still pretty low. But just informally surveying the people I…

Latin/lounge cover of Manic Monday, with a mariachi breakdown. WTF, Japan?

Taking the Oeda line now from Daimon. We’re deep enough I’m a tad worried about Balrogs.

You can stay in a hostel-like setup in one of the Gassho-style houses in Shirakawa-go. Stephanie’s comment on that possibility: “I don’t need that much charm in my vacation.”

I’ve seen them by doors and I think windows in several places.

The U.S. may have some catching up to do with Japan when it comes to hotel amenities. So far we’ve seen: