We Are Stars!

I’m sure you’ve heard the USA For Africa charity song from the ’80s that raised money for starving children in Africa called “We Are The Children”.

I know that song was popular but, honestly, I never liked it.

You may not be aware of a much better charity song for African children that was recorded 28 years ago today by some of the biggest names in 80s heavy metal.

On 1985 May 20th, members of Dio, Judas Priest, W.A.S.P., Twisted Sister, Dokken, Queensryche, Quiet Riot, Rough Cutt, Motley Crue, and more got together and called themselves Hear ‘N Aid to record the song “(We Are) Stars “!

“(We Are) Stars“, twenty-eight years old today, is the heavy metal answer to We Are The World.
And it’s much better!

Check it out:

Japanese school lunch is excellent

I wrote a post about three years ago comparing Japanese and American schools.
(Click here to read it.)

Well, the Washington Post newspaper wrote an article fairly recently about Japanese 給食 (school lunches).

The article is here.

Basically, it says that school lunches in Japanese schools are healthy and delicious.
They are like home cooked meals made with locally grown ingredients, unlike the fast-food type of lunches that I ate in schools in America.

Also, the students serve the food to each other in Japanese schools.

having raised three kids in Japan, I know that students in Japan eat proper food in school.

OzzFest Japan

Yesterday (2013 May 12), my friend and I went to OzzFest Japan.

It was great!

We went the second day of the two-day heavy metal festival. There were bands on the first day that I would’ve like to see…namely Slipknot, but I mostly wanted to see Black Sabbath.

Here’s the line-up of bands that I saw:

Black Sabbath played:
“War Pigs“, “Into the Void“, “Under the Sun“, “Snowblind“, “Black Sabbath“, “Behind the Wall of Sleep“, “N.I.B.“, “Fairies Wear Boots“, “Symptom of the Universe“, “Iron Man“, “God Is Dead“, “Children of the Grave“
and the encore was “Paranoid“.

Here’s a photo that I took of Ozzy Osbourne:

(A bit blurry…)

 

BBQ Whopper “from Miami” ?

I’m from Florida.  Is Miami, Florida well-known for BBQ sauce?
I haven’t lived in Florida (or even in America) for quite some time…but I don’t recall ever hearing about any “Miami BBQ“.

Well, anyway, Burger King in Japan has recently begun offering “BBQ Whopper Burgers…from Miami“.

Does Burger King offer this in America too?
Have you tried it? How does it taste? “Citrusy”?

Kabuki

Yesterday we watched this famous 日本舞踊 kabuki dance.

Wisteria Festival

Last weekend, we went to a 藤祭り (Wisteria Festival) in Tokyo.
藤 (Wisteria) is a type of flower that is purple and blooms around this time of year.

Here are some photos that I took:

We also saw the new Tokyo Sky Duck bus.
Here’s a photo that I took of it:

The Tokyo Sky Duck is a new bus service that just started in Tokyo last March.
It gives passengers a tour of Tokyo both by street…and then by river cruise because it’s both a bus and a boat!

Here is a video of the Tokyo Sky Duck bus getting into the river:

Next-generation vending machines

In your country, do vending machines give weather forecasts and recommend a drink for you based on your gender and estimated age ( using facial recognition software) like here in Japan?

We can also pay for the drinks by using our train commute IC cards.

Super Collider

Do you like Megadeth?

They have a new album coming out.

Did you know that their former guitarist, Marty Friedman, is fluent in Japanese and that he quit the band some years ago and has been living in Tokyo since?

Marty Friedman is on TV here as I’m writing this post.

Anyways, here’s the title track from the upcoming Megadeth album “Super Collider” :

The Happiness Year

Tokyo Disneyland opened on 1983 April 15th … thirty years ago today.

I can’t believe how fast time flies!
When I first came to Japan, Tokyo Disneyland was only seven years old.

Tokyo Disneyland is calling this year, 2013, the “Happiness Year”.

Have you ever been to Tokyo Disneyland or any of the world’s Disney parks?

McDelivery

More and more McDonalds in Japan have begun offering delivery service called “McDelivery“.

Does McDonalds offer delivery service in your country? Have you ever used it?

I have used pizza delivery, ramen delivery and sushi delivery…but I still have never used Kentucky Fried Chicken or McDonalds delivery?

What types of food can be delivered in your country?

And, just like the pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken and other delivery services in Japan, McDonald’s McDelivery have company mopeds that are used to deliver the food.