Acording to this pdf document intended for Misawa Air Base staff, US cordless/portable phones are illegal in Japan and if you get caught with one you can get fined $10 000 US! Does anyone know if this is true? I can't find any other information about th… more »

About two and a half years ago I was sitting in Toronto jobless when my old high school buddy Hugh suggested I sign up for the JET program. He was halfway through his first year in Hirosaki at the time and regaled me with tales of big money for little o… more »

I just got back from a short vacation to Sapporo with Kate (more on that at a later time) where I bought a bottle of Kid's Beer I found at Don Quijote. The bottle is indeed the same shape and weight of a normal beer bottle. The label is certainl… more »

Thanks to my famous economist cousin Leslie I now have some hard statistical data about beer drinking in Japan as compared to other nations. As you can see below, Japan doesn't even rate in the top 10 of beer drinking countries. Not surprisingly, Irelan… more »

Japan invents "Beer for Kids"! [Japan Times] "Even kids cannot stand life unless they have a drink," reads the product's advertising slogan. Sadly in Japan, that's probably often true. more »

I've had way too much free time lately and have been spending a good chunk of it surfing the web, looking at blogs and generally staying in a mostly vegetative state. I was getting pretty disgusted with my sloth like behavior and was about to close my l… more »

Noheji's police force have moved into their new digs next to my house. While most people are enjoying a restful and relaxing vacation, I've been stuck at work with nothing to do. Luckily for you my loyal readers, that means that I've had plenty of ti… more »

It's been over a week now since it ended so it's about time I post these photos from Hirosaki's Neputa festival. I didn't get any photos of Aomori's Nebuta parade, so unless I make it out to Noheji's exciting Gion Matsuri, this will be it for the summer… more »

Just experienced the strongest earthquake I've felt in quite some time. It wasn't quite as strong as that one that greeted me when I first arrived two years ago. Looks like it was centered in Miyagi which is a fair distance south of here. more »

Ever heard of Banei-Keiba horse racing? It's a strange type of horse race enjoyed by old farmers in Northern Japan. I mentioned it briefly before in my post about Tosa fighting dogs. I mostly forgot about it until today when I caught a race on TV. In th… more »

I'm one of only six teachers at work today. I use the term "teacher" to include myself, though technically I shouldn't. I'm not a teacher, I'm an "Assistant Language Teacher", which means that my status is unique among people working at my school. This… more »

Oh no! McDonald's Japan profit drops 57.5%. News like this can only hurt my 'Bring the Big Mac to Noheji' campaign. more »

Local Goshogawara celebrity Sorcha gets a few curious looks from the ghostly minions of Hand Cymbols Guy. Last week was time for the one thing Aomori is famous for (other than snow and apples), and that is its lavish summer night festivals. Aomori Ci… more »

I wonder if that number takes into account JET teachers? Here's a short article about it in English. If you can read Japanese, here's another version with more details. Make of this article what you will. I somehow doubt Canadian or American teachers w… more »

Even though I've now lived in Japan over two years I still can't read Japanese signs and posters to save my life. Luckily cartoons and diagrams are pretty popular over here so there are often lots of visual clues to unravel their meanings. Here are a bu… more »

If you've ever seen the propoganda film Super Size Me then you've already had a chance to learn about the amazing Don Gorske. I thought I would be remiss in not mentioning him on this site. Don, I bow down before thee. You truly are a king of kings.… more »

Since I just can't seem to stop posting stuff today here's a couple of things specifically for the latest batch of new JET teachers fresh off the plane. Unlike my last post along these lines, I'll try to keep from getting too snarky this time. TV: Ch… more »

Thousands of McDonalds workers in Japan were underpaid due the company's policy of rounding down regular and overtime wages to the nearest 30 minutes per day... read on Wow.. who knew there was such a thing as overtime wages in Japan? more »

So this morning I awoke to see once again on Japanese TV non-stop news coverage of the recent AirFrance plane crash in Toronto, complete with models, interviews with frantic passengers, and CGI simulations of the accident. The thing I couldn't understan… more »

This article is a little old, but I just found it while researching my next post and thought I'd point it out. Today I was late for work by 10 minutes, and since nobody said anything I figured it was no big deal, but after reading this article I've beco… more »

Two of Avoidinglife.com's oldest and biggest stars are leaving Japan soon and rejoining the real world. The first is Erica, who will no doubt leave many creepy old Japanese men in tears upon her departure, and maybe even me as well. Erica will no doubt… more »

Former season one contestant from America's Next Top Model and part time blogger Elyse Sewell recently posted this photo gallery of McDonald's restaurants from many of the places she has travelled to. McDonald's really should hire skinny waif spokesmode… more »