U.S. President Obama was in Tokyo last week.
He had sushi dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Abё at the world-famous Sukiyabashi-Jiro Sushi in Ginza, Tokyo.
That restaurant in said to be the world’s best sushi … and the most expensive. A twenty-piece set costs ￥30,000 (about U.S.$300 ) .
And he could also meet Honda Corp.’s famous “Asimo” (pronounced “Ah-she-mo”) robot:
Today (April 22nd, 2014) is 「アース・デイ」 (“Earth Day”). It is observed in many countries, including Japan.
This is the day set aside to remind us to protect the environment, not only on Earth Day, but always.
At the very least, we should remember the “3Rs”…reduce, reuse and recycle.
In honor of Earth Day, a website has been made by Google and Time Magazine that allows visitors to upload their photos of “My Beautiful Earth
Click here to visit the “My Beautiful Earth” website.
Do you study Japanese (or Spanish or Chinese)? Or plan to?
You should look into signing up with Lexikeet.
To really learn a language, you must practice reading, writing, speaking and listening…this program helps you to do that.
Not only reading and listening, like many online study programs…but it also has a system to help you to practice writing and speaking Japanese, as well.
It’s not perfect though. I signed up for a free trial and I didn’t use it as often as I would have liked…simply because there is no mobile version of their site or Android app.
I prefer to study Japanese on my morning train commute to work…I don’t really “feel like it” after work or on weekends.
But, they’re currently running a special campaign until the end of this month (2014 April 30th)…membership is only US$9.99 / month.
So…if you like to study with your computer, and you want to learn Japanese, Chinese or Spanish…I recommend Lexikeet.
Oklahoma natives and saviours of southern-infused Hard Rock, ANTI-MORTEM are set to release their debut album New Southern on April 25th (Europe), April 28th (U.K.) and April 29th (North America), via Nuclear Blast Entertainment.
The second in a series of clips about the album is now online, in which the guys discuss their “Southern heritage, musical influences and cow tipping (obviously?!)”:
The album was produced, recorded, and mixed by the esteemed Bob Marlette (BLACK STONE CHERRY, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, SHINEDOWN, ROB ZOMBIE) and features artwork by Brent Elliott White (DEATH ANGEL, JOB FOR A COWBOY, TRIVIUM).
01. Words Of Wisdom
02. New Southern
03. 100% Pure American Rage
04. Hate Automatic
05. Black Heartbeat
06. I Get Along With The Devil
07. Path To Pain
08. Wake Up
09. Ride Of Your Life
10. Stagnant Water
11. Truck Stop Special
12. Jonesboro
BONUS TRACK:
13. A…
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Yesterday after work, my wife and daughters met me at Shibuya Station.
They had bought a number of gifts for me!
Among them was the current issue of Tokyo Journal magazine with Gene Simmons on the cover dressed like a samurai:
and the Classic Rock magazine with the members of KISS on the cover wearing business suits (like an updated version of their “Dressed To Kill” album cover):
It came with two compilation CDs.
From there, we went to a ramen restaurant for dinner and then headed to the “O-East” club for the reason we were there…to see the Skid Row “United World Rebellion: Chapter One” concert!
I did an interview with bassist Rachel Bolan last month about this concert, among other things.
After that interview, the members of Skid Row kindly gave my family and I guest tickets to their Tokyo show that included special seating…and backstage passes to meet the band after the show!
It was a great show! They played songs like “Let’s Go” and “Kings of Demolition” from their new album, as well as their classics such as “Slave To The Grind“, “18 And Life” , “I Remember You“, and of course “Youth Gone Wild” !
My wife had also bought a few 色紙 (Japanese paper boards) that are sometimes used for autographs, which the band signed for us.
My wife, our daughters and I all had an excellent time and were treated like V.I.P.s by the members of Skid Row!
Thank you Rachel Bolan, Scotti Hill, Dave “Snake” Sabo, Johnny Solinger and Rob Hammersmith!
My first car in Japan was a Nissan Skyline.
The Skyline is a nice car!
So, it was a nice surprise when I went to the shopping mall today with my family (in the car we have now, a Toyota) and I saw that they had vintage Nissan Skyline cars from the 1950s to the 1990s on display!
Here are a few photos I took:
1957 Nissan Skyline:
1962 Nissan Skyline:
1965 Nissan Skyline:
Mine wasn’t this old. I had a 1986 Nissan Skyline Turbo years ago.
“The original Fantastic Four”
I was a little surprised when I heard booing at Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer’s names. Not all fans are classy fans I guess, even if they had enough money to buy a ticket last night.
What I heard were four great speeches from four guys who absolutely, unarguably deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and as a lifelong Kiss fan I’m proud of my boys.
Here’s the new trailer for the upcoming 2014 U.S./Japan collaboration “Godzilla” movie:
Here are some of the photos my wife, kids and I took at 花見 (cherry blossom viewing) we went to yesterday.
We went to a small park, 靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine), and 千鳥ヶ淵 (Chidorigafuchi) near the 日本武道館 (Nippon Budokan).
The world-famous 日本武道館 (Nippon Budokan).
The torii entrance to the 靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine). We ate “okonomiyaki” for lunch from one of these ‘yatai’ (traditional Japanese food booths).
The 靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine).
This old sakura tree in Yasukuni Shrine is the official tree that determines the start of “Sakura season” for Tokyo. When five flowers bloom on this tree, it’s announced that the season has begun.
千鳥ヶ淵 (Chidorigafuchi) near the Budokan.
Tokyo Five 
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