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December 2020

Mikan

Today, if this post goes how I think it will, we’re going to start with mandarin oranges and little Japanese children, and end up with deep philosophy. Last night, I couldn’t sleep well, and the song “Mikan” by Morning Musume popped into my head. So I looked it up. Mikan turns out to mean, basically, “satsume”, or a type of mandarin orange. And if Wikipedia is to believed, which is usually isn’t, the song is a reference to Japanese childhood memories, of eating mikan next to a kotatsu. Not gonna… Read More »Mikan

Japanese Rail

After writing a post absolutely excoriating certain aspects of Japanese culture (and rightly so), maybe this is a good time to post about something I really love about Japan. One of my favorite things to do of late, especially as I’ve been a little ill lately, is to watch YouTube videos of the Japanese rail system. No talking, no narration, just hours of trains going through the Japanese countryside and cityscape. America really could never make such a system work. It’s simply too big. Even as we’re planning to build… Read More »Japanese Rail

What in the Ever Loving @#$%

Okay, if you’re a weeaboo or otaku, you won’t like this post. I don’t care, but you can consider this a “trigger warning” if you want. I’m not going to pull many punches on this one. Let me preface by saying one thing, before I get into my rant: I’m not too familiar with anime. I have seen some that impressed me with its attention to detail, intricate storyline, etc. Before you say “not all anime is like this”, spare me. I know that. But it doesn’t matter. What I’m… Read More »What in the Ever Loving @#$%

Vtubers confuse me

So lately, I’ve found a subset of Japanese culture called vtubers. This really wasn’t voluntary, and they confuse the snot out of me. As near as I can tell, they are different anime-like characters that are voiced and acted by real people, they have different personalities, and they stream. Like, a lot. And people seem to like them. A lot. Now, let’s be clear: I understand this, a little bit. My favorite vtuber at the moment (and I hope I don’t watch enough of it to change my opinion, frankly)… Read More »Vtubers confuse me