誰？ああ洗濯機だ。

昨日洗濯機から電話した。ほんとにびっくりした！

パンツ！

とてもかわいいじゃん？.

俺はこれからDVDを絶対買わない。今朝パソコンで一つ複製不能DVDを見えないからほんとに面倒臭いですよ。二時間ぐらい直してみたけどなにも出来なかった、映画を見えなかった。複製不能ソフトが大嫌い！

プリッツ持ってるくんと麻雀と羊

プリッツ持ってるくん：すごい紙だ！

写真で麻雀も見える。

In 'I didn't have a camera handy' news, I'm regularly amused by the way people react at the pedestrian crossings on my way to work. There's one in particular where there's a period during which all the lights are red, and a tiny side street flashes green for a bit (so many drivers miss that, and sit there for several cycles, but that's beside my point). Anyway, if there's no traffic merging from said tiny street, I usually cycle over the crossing while everything is stationary and red-lighted.

The number of people who will automatically start across with me, then see the red lights, catch themselves, and leap/stagger/fall backwards towards the perceived safety of the pavement they just left is just staggering!

The other day two old Japanese ladies in kimono at another crossing did exactly this after some young Japanese cyclists bombed it over the crossing ahead of an oncoming tram. As it thundered slowly towards the crossing these two ladies were heads down shuffling after the cyclists, totally oblivious to the tons of oncoming metal and the red lights. About halfway across it clicked, and I bet they haven't had occasion to move so fast in decades...

Thankfully they were laughing about it once they got over the shock =)

無益なTシャツ

This has to be the best Japlish T-shirt I've ever seen, courtesy of a teenage student who had no idea what it said. I know this would sell well in the UK. Not much to add here, except that it's snowing again...

俺の宝物

An impressive haul last weekend, the likes of which has never been seen collected in one place before, but displayed here for your viewing pleasure!
Finally, a Japlish T-shirt of my own! My favourite bit is the 'serial number No...................' on the label.
More sake than you could shake a dozen sticks at, mostly consumed and discarded, these two kept for posterity.
Candied crabs and squid strips, the perfect accompaniment for sake consumption.
A fine strawberry hat, for those ichigo moments in life.
A PMX-001 PALACE-ATHENE, complete with "Mega Beam Cannon, Double Beam Gun, Diffusion Beam Cannon, Beam Saber etc. [sic]" in a dynamic pose.
A long-overdue manbag, with all the brand labels recently picked/filed/cut off, to replace the carrier bags I usually tote my junk around with.
Yay! A rare delicacy on this side of the world.
Last but not least, cuter-than-cute cards, a handkerchief (which as Andre pointed out is quite handy given the lack of towels, soap, or just about anything else in most public/restaurant toilets) and a killer hangover which still lingers a good 30 hours after I stopped drinking (60 hours since the session began!).

ジャプリッシュ

Just a random selection to illustrate the varieties of English mauling over here: the verbose, the word collisions, and the wonderfully nonsensical.

Got a shiny quiet new computer as a birthday present to myself, realised I didn't have a hub and the hard drive cables weren't compatible with each other so spent a good half-day transferring all my music over in itty bitty chunks using my iPod nano. Joy.

Having said that, silent running makes it all worthwhile!

六人が寝てる

Proof that I can sleep six in my cavernous mansion!

Great people, all met through Couchsurfing.com.

I hear people in more popular locations get overwhelmed by emails, but I enjoy playing host to visitors every month or so in remote Hakodate.

聖パトリックの祝日

These images courtesy of Tomoko, the happiest camper! My earlier shots didn't really do justice to how beautifully lit the whole festival was at night, so these pictures plug the gap nicely.

It's funny how the one 'Irish' pub in town is plastered with exactly the same Guinness images that I always think of in relation to James, Kelly et al from university. It's like a taste of home, with extra nostalgia value. Shame the beer is crap and overpriced though.

A moment of Japanese-ness: You go to a pub on St Patrick's Day and find that the majority of table space has been reserved, and that the people who later arrive, who made the reservations in the first place, are all old guys wearing suits who wouldn't recognise a Patrick's Day party if it slapped them in the face with a wet fish.

雛祭り

The princess/doll festival that takes place on the 3rd of March (note: the boy's festival is held on the 5th of May, so rather enterprisingly the gay community has claimed the 4th of April as their own!)

This particular set belongs to the mother of the owner of a noodle shop I frequent, the same noodler who discovered my bike two days after it got stolen, minus a saddle but basically OK.

Bike thieves and mutilators, may their consciences be forever wracked with guilt, or their organs with cancer... either would suit me fine.

雪祭り：雪

Finally, we got to fulfill our ostensible purpose in visiting Sapporo! Here's a selection of the awe-inspiring work on display: The popular golfer, Aiko-chan, with anime-sized head; Taiwan's offering, complete with giant buddha, peace memorial arch, the same tower I was at for New Year and the weird teapot-head family; A well-lit peacock in the nightclub district; A dragon, in the same area; Australia's offering (some railway station); Other stuff, including two cute kids and the amazing Tottoro!

Well worth the trip, as always.