Goemon

It may just be a matter of semantics, but I'd say if someone always goes "balls to the walls" or "balls out" or is "pretty ballsy" (not "balls pretty", mind you which does not conjure an image of beauty), then that person qualifies for the attribution "da balls". Thus, "Mifune is da balls" because he always acts "balls out", ie putting all of his effort into his acting. And thanks for correcting your tag, Mista Sparkle

I'm down for the field trip. I've been to TY Harbor before, but not the other places bm mentioned. Wouldn't mind hitting a Belgian beer bar sometime too, like Belgo or Brussels. And I see now that Billy Barew's Beer Bar offers one of my all-time favorites: Ayinger Celebrator!

Are they sweet enough to "sponsor" your boarding though? And what do you do in return?

Mifune is da balls. I have Sanjuro too; pretty funny stuff there. No Yume though. I'm waiting to buy the definitive dvd collection of Kurosawa...some day.

Enderzero: yeah, I have "Hidden Fortress" on video; apparently, George Lucas lifted alot of the plot for "Star Wars" from that classic. I have couple others if you wanna borrow; "Yojimbo" is my favorite right now.

I saw a van yesterday that didn't even have a live person waving; they had one of those plastic hands suction-cupped to the back window waving back and forth. Am I supposed to vote for the van? Is there any law that prevents me from riding next to them with a moped and an even louder loud-speaker blasting hip-hop? "FLAVOR FLAV DESU! MINA-SAMA: YOROSHIKU ONEGAISHIMASSSSSSSSU, boy!"

yeah, enderzero, don't flatter yourself!

I brush my teeth in the office bathroom, but I don't do it at the urinal. Especially not with all of that piss splattered everywhere except IN the urinal. I have a pet peeve with men carrying around those lady-boy purses. Are they keeping toothbrushes in there, db? Give us the inside scoop.

Scouser: yeah, that's the Virgin Cinema. Check the link I sent above for more info. Supposed to be able to reserve seats on-line too. Open all night on weekends. Looks good.

Ocean11: Thanks for the link; I'll check those artists out. Here's one back at ya: Ubiquity Greyboy is always good on there.

I'd say the most comfortable ones in central Tokyo are at the Shingawa Prince Cinema and the soon-to-be-opened Virgin Cinema at Roppongi Hills.

I bought DJ Yoda's "How to Cut & Paste Vol 1" yesterday to go along with Vol 2 (which I bought 2 weeks ago). Good fat beats with some funny skits in between and fine-crafted scratching. Unsolicited comments on everyone else's purchases: 1. powwwers: any Bouncing Souls on that punkorama mix? 2. Ocean11: I think TC's latest album "Richest Man in Babylon" is even better than "Mirror Conspiracy". I highly recommend you pick it up/pull it down. 3. Zwelgen: How do you like that Red Rat tune on there? That was the only one that kept me re-playing the disc originally 'cause it was s

Mogski: I've been ignored by taxi drivers in Roppongi also; I've heard the "excuse" is that they believe all foreigners live nearby to Roppongi = small fare. They would rather pick up Japanese who conceivably live further away = big fare. To combat this, the gaijin in our group are forced to hide while someone Japanese flags down a cab; then all of the gaijin rush into the taxi.

Anybody hear about this Japanese wrestler winning a local election? Says he's going to keep wearing his mask? Masked Man of the People

I'm just amazed that some of the Tokyo taxi drivers have no idea where any Tokyo locations are. And they don't make very much effort to check their map either. One trick to make the bad ones nicer: let the driver see you taking one of the Complaint cards that they have.

Enderzero: It sounds like you must live within a few yards from me...

Sunrise: They have the Tempur slippers at the Shibuya branches of Tokyu Hands and Bic Camera. Bic Camera is a little bit cheaper, especially if you have a store card (about 5,500yen).

db: that's "Bunkyo-ku, Mukogaoka 2-28-12" It's near Tokyo University ("Todai"). You can get right near there if you go to Hon-Komagome station on the Namboku line. That top mattress looks awful thick.

db: IDC is pretty expensive. They have shops in Shinjuku (near the South exit) and in Odaiba (the same station as Tokyo Big Site). I don't recall there being any membership fee, but you do have to give over all of your info. I agree with NoFakie: it's not a fun way to shop. I have a Tempur contour pillow and I highly recommend it. Although I'm not a slipper man per se, I'm even considering getting the Tempur slippers; Like walking on clouds. And if you really want to spoil yourself, there is a full size Tempur bed available too; I got to test-drive one at a furniture show last

I've heard "Onobori-san" used to refer to bumpkins before, but not by young people

Usually, the best scratchers are "officially" crowned at the DMC World Chapionship events. This includes "Singles" and battle crews. The 2002 World Champ is Japan's own Kentaro. Here are some past champs: DMC Champs Lotsa other good info in the site, including a Hall of Fame. The World finals have normally been held in Tokyo at Velfarre, but it shifts to Brixton Academy in London this year. Not sure where/when the Japan regional finals are gonna be held, but I wanna go this year. Having said all of that, a lot of the best DJs don't enter the competition because either: a) they'v

Agreed on the comments regarding "Dogs and Demons" and I should have realized that Kerr commented on this. He briefly addresses the telephone pole issue on pages 197-200 (of the first paperback edition);sorry, but I won't transcribe everything here. Can't someone appeal to the construction nation's thirst for public projects though?

You might want to check this good movie on the history of turntablism: Scratch The Movie

I'm perplexed by the power lines too. Putting them underground would seem to appeal to the government's hunger for construction projects. Aren't they the least bit enticed by the prospect? They would have an(other) excuse to dig up/re-pave/dig-up/re-pave the roads.

As I stare out my office window at the cherry blossoms beginning to appear, I'm just wondering if there are any ski areas that have sakura on the slopes. Has anyone done any spring-skiing off-piste through cherry blossoms?