kintaro

thank you It's always good to learn!

what is ad-hominem?

Hana is also a name used in Hawaii....where I come from. You're a bit of a prick aren't you Ocean? Why would you diminish any child's name?

SPAM is a joke in the US...sort of a poor people food, but it's popular and chotto expensive in Hawaii. Go figure!

Word!

Nai! but I actually heard a guy at some bar in Roppongi tell a girl "You like to party? Well, climb up my leg and have a ball." Cheezy!!!

Good question! We haven't actually had kids yet but have named our potential son/daughter. They are English names but we fully took pronunciation for both Japan and US into consideration. Boy: Justin. Girl: Hana (could be Japanese....for flower).

The Shining, One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest, Texas Chainsaw Massacre II. Jaws and Rocky I-III. The Bad News Bears.....people say I look like Turner...Hmmmm? Turbo and Ozone! Remember that one?

Indosnm, I do! I also hear a lot of "ookii ne!" to which I reply "chiisai ne!"

Fuji Q Highland's got a good one...used to be Guiness book. The "Fuji Yama"

Texas Chainsaw Massacre II is hillariously scary. Nah, not scary but I get a kick out of it. I love it! I rent it about once a year..for the past 10 years I'd guess.

Inaka gaijin - what do you do? English teacher? Do kids (maybe adults, too) point at you and say "ara....gaijin da!!!" It's happened to me many times!

Gambate AET!

Spam musubi!! Nothing, and I mean nothing beats a spam musubi after a day of surfing! In Hawaii thats what we eat.

"shoganai" used to drive me mad...sooooo many things are shoganai that I finally got used to it. The cops in Japan seem to be the biggest 'shoganai' guys of all! Regular guy parked in a handicapped spot in front of a nursing home...eh, shoganai!

Not a "ko" name..I like Chiemi

I make fun of my buddy in Konan - a suburb of Nagoya in Aiichi-ken. He's amongst the rice fields.. Used to live in Fujinomiya-shizuoka. Pretty inaka!

"Tokyo Underworld" by Whiting was a good train read. Anything John Irving is also a good read in my opinion..Japanese books translated: Wagahai wa neko de aru AND!! Bochan are fabulous!! They are both written by the guy on the Japan 1000 yen bill (for your info.)....excellent reads!

Yes, about a guy who makes it big doing class action suits...typical Grisham.

My last post made me think...Hmmmmm, what should I read next: fiction or non. Anybody read something good lately? My last novel was "The King of Torts" John Grisham. Not that good but a quick read. I'm also working on "Hirohito and the making of modern japan." by Herbert P. Bix. Not a fast read....but historically speaking, interesting.

I don't think it's a fad but YES, it is something I've read. Book is "Protein Power" by Michael R. Eades, M.D and Mary Dan Eades, M.D. It's a diet sort of for type II diabetics (which I'm not) but interesting nontheless.. I bought the book in Japan..maybe at Kinokunia but Amazon.com has it as well. Also has a lot of low-carb recipe's.

Big Congrats!!! What a blessing...yeah!!!

You can get your energy from fats and proteins. Distilled spirits have nearly no carbs...it's all been turned to alcohal. If your cutting carbs you should forget about beer though.

The body does not need carbs at all. It's all excess. But good luck cutting them out. 50 grams per day is OK. If you drink, red wines are best. I read a book called Protein Power. It gave a lot of info on this topic. Check it out and good luck

would like to see the photo! These guys are unbelievable aren't they? Really pisses me off!