I am a professional blogger

I've started contributing to the Japan Times' trend watch blog, Pulse.  My first story is about vegetables turning up in Japanese drinks and in sweets like doughnuts, chocolate and cream puffs. Exclusive for Japandra readers: what I didn't say there that I will tell you and you alone is that the dark chocolate with carrot-orange filling tastes like vitamins.

The second is a quick overview of how Japanese companies are using Twitter. I was surprised to see how casual the official Twitter accounts of a lot of big companies are. Also surprised that some that had used pretty innovative marketing - like a sushi place that gave 1-yen-per-follower discounts to customers who tweeted about their meals - have no sign of a Twitter link on its home page.

Daniel Morales also just joined Pulse. The plan now is that we'll alternate weeks. He runs the fantastically accessible How to Japanese for anyone who studies Japanese or is interested in how it works.

Please check out Pulse. Maybe even leave a comment?