A place for people to brainstorm and experiment with new (and existing) Japan-related websites, blogs, projects, etc. Have Fun!

JULY 2009
* July 25 (Sat), Sumidagawa Fireworks
AUGUST 2009
* Aug. 1 (Sat), Edogawa Fireworks
* Aug. 6 (Thu), Jingu Gaien Fireworks
* Aug. 8 (Sat), Tokyo Bay Fireworks 


This weeks Conbini Monday is presented by Rilakkuma, Mameshiba and Jiji, the cat from Majo no Takkyubin (魔女の宅急便).
Morinaga have two cornflake based products, the first flavored with strawberries, the other with orange and cacao. If you have been following the last sets of Conbini Monday, you have probably noticed there is a bit of a trend to have cornflake products and also chocolate with salt. This trend seems to be continuing on both fronts.
Pretz from Glico have been popular for a long time in Japan and there are many flavors to choose from. Here are two I found at today’s conbini.
These camu camu カムカム candy are very tasty and contain a high amount of vitamin C. The camu camu fruit contains the highest amount of vitamin C of any fruit group and is native to the Amazon area. It has 2780mg of Vitamin C per 100g, compared to Acerola which has 1700mg / 100g, Kiwi which has 69mg per 100g, strawberry with 62mg / 100g and lemon at 50mg / 100g.
Eating one packet of these is said to contain 5000mg of Vitamin C which is equivalent to the amount contained in 250 lemons.
This Herbal Clear drink from Suntory contains a mixture of 28 herbs including Rose Hip, Omugi, Hatomugi, Lemon Balm and Honey Bush to help soothe your body! Sounds like a good pre-dinner drink for summer.
Related posts:
For the last several years, I’ve renewed my visa at the Yokohama Immigration Office in Motomachi. While the process was fairly painless for me until last year, I was always disappointed to receive a one-year visa each time. Several friends and acquaintances had received three-year visas through the Shinagawa office by that time and I wondered if getting a one-year stamp vs. getting a three-year one was simply a matter of where you dropped off your application. Had I been able to last year, I would’ve at Shinagawa. However, my official address was in Kawasaki City (right on the border of Tokyo) so I had to go to a Kanagawa Prefecture branch of Immigration.
Last year, the renewal process was particularly painful because, due to a nasty phone call, there was an investigation concerning my eligibility to remain in Japan on a work visa. I sweated for over two months wondering whether I would lose my permission to reside in Japan and would suddenly be sent home. It was like my life was frozen at that point. I couldn’t make any plans at all. I just had to sit and wait. It dragged on through my summer vacation, which sucked ass because I was afraid to spend any money on travel or entertainment for fear of having to have as much in savings as possible in case I was suddenly required to return home. I won’t go into details about the circumstances surrounding the fateful phone call, but let it be known that immigration horror stories do happen.
Anyway, since I had changed my address last year to a downtown Tokyo one, I was able to apply at Shinagawa this year. I applied this year with confidence, thinking I would likely get a three-year visa this time, allowing me to not have to hassle with Immigration until 2012. Part of the reason I was so confident comes from a co-worker’s experience with both Yokohama and Shinagawa. He had told me that every time he applied with Yokohama, he received a one-year visa, but the first time he applied at Shinagawa, he got the three-year number.
Well, I’m here to tell you today that I now have the same experience my co-worker has; I received a nice, fresh three-year stamp in my passport today.
I guess in the long run, going the immigration office once a year vs. once every three years isn’t really worth much discussion, but I am definitely relieved to not have to worry about the visa renewal process until 2012.
Anyway, for those of you who are now residing in the land of the rising sun, or who have done so in the past, here’s a poll to see if there is some merit to my assumption that you’re more likely to receive a three-year Japan work visa at Shinagawa than Yokohama.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.Regardless of whether it’s in a really fancy or more run of the mill restaurant, sharing a plethora of dishes is always a pleasure, as not only is it social, but it also affords a super selection of food.
However, that said, sometimes it’s equally nice to get something more simple, and it doesn’t get any more basic than a load of meat and a lager.

A Japanese parody of the Scatman John’s “Scatman” song, starring Ultraman:
[via Tokyo Five]

A British man has sold a piece of burned roof tile from a temple in Hiroshima that was damaged by the atomic bomb:
John Watts, 81, said he had been given the roof tile by the priest of Sairenji Temple when he visited Hiroshima in 1952.
“I’m 81 now, single, and nobody from my family seems to want it,” Watts said last week when contacted in his Lincoln home. “Somebody might like it as a memento, and I didn’t want to throw it away.”
When news broke about his plan to auction the roof tile, there was a negative reaction from groups in Hiroshima who thought it was “not something you should sell or buy.” The tile ended up selling for only 42 pounds, but Watts plans to give a 200 pound donation to support groups for A-bomb survivors.
Today and tomorrow are the days for the 1st game of 50th Oui-sen best of seven match between Oui Fukaura Koichi and Challenger 8-dan Kimura Kazuki. As a result of Furigoma, Fukaura became Sente. It started at 9:00 am today at Suimeikan in Gifu prefecture. The official site of the match is here.
You can watch and replay the game on the virtual board here.
And you can watch the frequently updated webcamera shots in the playing room here.
Webcamera shots (left = Kimura)
The Day 1 will finish soon. The day 2 will start at 9:00 am tomorrow(Japan Time).
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