Hey, wait for me!

An emergency train stop button on the platform to stop the subway. Right out in the open. I don't think they would ever consider this in other countries.

Maybe I should stop carrying this around

Because I got that alien registration card, Japanese immigration almost stopped me from coming back into the country. Before Incheon would hand me my ticket to Narita, they made me buy another ticket out of Japan - with a warning, of course, not to use it. The immigration officer in the interview room finally welcomed me with "Ok. You can stay. But don't come back too soon."
Heller, call me.

Being an immigrant is, like, totally hard

Americans get tourist visas automatically by entering Japan.
Because these 90-day visas can be renewed an unlimited number of times, they can not be extended. Follow that? You can stay as long as you want, as long as you leave occasionally.It matters not where you go or for how long. (Surprising nobody runs a visa toe-touch ferry to nowhere.)

The processing of my application for a real visa became a game of chicken against the expiration of my 90 days.

Now I am at the airport on my way to historic Incheon, South Korea.

Train fan

Some cars have regular vents, and some have overhead desk fans. They whip hair and ads around without disturbing the stagnant air outside their swirls.

Because why not?

This shop sells high-end wallets, pens and bags, and those doll-house Eames chairs that cost multiples more than real chairs.
Not a bad name, actually.

How you might almost end up with green tea in your coffee

Like putting face wash on your toothbrush. Not that I would know.

And then an otter pops out.

A laxative ad.

In the live-action TV version, the otter, like a perverted orderly, massages the abdomen of a sleeping woman.
I used to think the Rozerem ad was creepy.

"English R Us" was taken

Beats Give me your seat, you jerk.

This is a subway ad for the Maternity Mark, a pink button pregnant women can wear to alertother subway riders that there is a Baby in the Belly.

Are your crab legs running?

There's a new telephone scam to separate credulous old folks from their money. (Perhaps people got hip to the one where a stranger calls and says, "It's me! Wire lots of cash! Now! It's me!")

According to the morning news, and explained with nifty little flip boards with cartoons that even a groggy foreigner can understand, someone calls grandma and asks, "Do you like crab?"

Grandma, apparently, says, "Well, yes..."

And then, the next day, a box of fresh crabs arrives COD. And grandma is confused and thinks she ordered it, so she gives the delivery guy a bunch of money and is stuck with a box of fresh crabs. The end.

I think we all saw that one coming.

So enjoy it.

Calorie Mate Jelly

Another great way to start your day.

Breakfast of champions

Mmm. Bifidus Bacteria 536.
This package says "bifidus" on it at least five times, and "bacteria" four. The copywriters were working overtime to make it sound delicious - "It's alive, so it's easy on your stomach!"
They even added some English to tempt our foreign friends: "Enjoy Morinaga Bifidus Everyday."

It's only a hundred meters or so

Just a little rattle

Those of us not raised in southern California find it unsettling to be awakened in the middle of the night by furniture banging and walls swaying.

Strategy