Showa Kinen Koen 昭和記念公園 is a huge park in Tachikawa 立川, about a 40-minute train ride from Shinjuku on the JR Chuo Line.
There are tons of things to do there, like have a huge-ass barbecue with lots of friends, take a paddle boat out for a spin on the lake, play all kinds of sports, [...]

(To the melody of “Do You Know the Muffin Man?”)
Do you know the Nick’n Roll?
The Nick’n Roll, the Nick’n Roll
Do you know the Nick’n Roll?
In Shimokita town
Ok, so they won’t be hiring me to write their TV jingle, if they ever make a commercial. That’s OK, I’ve got a decent day job.
NICK’N ROLL is a [...]

I’m going to admit, somewhat embarrassedly, that for the better part of a decade of living in Japan, I’ve been clueless about what makes sushi-bar sushi better than kaiten sushi.
That changed for me on Friday night, though.
As I’ve mentioned before, the little town of Umegaoka in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo is well-known for a sushi restaurant called [...]

You ever been to the Shimokita?
Lots of Japan noobs come to the Shimokita because they hear it’s a good place to buy vintage Levis or that it’s full of cheap drinking establishments that have cool, laid-back atmospheres. However, many a young gaijin punk-ass biyatch have come to the Shimokita looking for the next sweet Tokyo [...]

I sat there eating my bowl of noodles while Ken Hirai’s “Pop Star” played in the backround. Then, it hit me…
Déjà vu.
I’ve had this experience before, I thought. But when and where?
Lately, I’ve been having these episodes more and more. Some I can put my finger on, others I can’t. I guess I’ve been in [...]

Ok, don’t say Billy W never did you a solid, cuz he’s about to do you one now.
Are you a coffee drinker? If you are, then you know what good coffee is.
But, just like any other addict, when you need a fix, you need one. And, there’s no time to be looking around for a [...]

Behold the new, undisputed king of noodles!

Throughout my time in Japan, like many Westerners, I’ve been amused and sometimes horrified by seemingly flawless Japanese beauties suddenly smiling and revealing a snaggletoothed grin. Now, this post isn’t meant to be a feature on what yaeba are - you can see for yourself at Yaeba Superstar.com - but to find out how people [...]

…it’s beer and beef or die. That’s right, you devil; It’s yakiniku time.

If you’ve read a couple-dozen blogs or so on Japan, you’ve likely seen more than a few posts about someone’s favorite ramen here, particularly in Tokyo. Hell, there’s a whole blog dedicated to one person’s lifelong (maybe) ramen tour of the Kanto area. You may have heard of it; it’s called Ramen Tokyo. Well, rest [...]