a website maintained by
an American living in
Hokkaido, Japan

about
journal
photos
drawings
recent work

Items of note!
Battlestar Galactica
Holy crap. Kate and I have become utterly addicted to this show. Far and away, the best drama on TV right now, it manages to do sci-fi the way it should be done. Timely social commentary and great suspense, and killer robots. Start with the mini-series.
Spaced
A BBC sitcom by the team who did "Shaun of the Dead," the pop culture references and jokes are still funny seven years later. Find it up on Youtube.
Osu! Tatake! Ouendan!
A Nintendo DS music and rhythm game similar to Dance Dance Revolution. The American version, Elite Beat Agents, won a bunch of awards, but Osu! Tatake! Ouedan!, which translates to "Push! Press! Support!", has a goofy, singularly Japanese feel. It's totally addictive, and can be found through import game web sites.
The Thermals -
"The Body, The Blood,
The Machine"

This is music for punk rock agnostics. If you find yourself suspicious of organized religion, pissed at American foreign policy, and you love to pogo, check it out. Plus, they've got the most rockin' song ever written about Lot's wife.

Linky Links!
Kate O'Leary.com
My special ladyfriend's site
Fuzzyco
Chicago improvisor and friend to all!
Gapers Block
Awesome-town's (or Chicago, if you prefer) best blog. Well-written updates from home.
Laura Park's Flickr site Fantastic Chicago-based artist and her pretty pictures.

The following are a bunch of photo sets, starting with my arrival in Tokyo last August. Since then, I've spent almost all of my time in Hokkaido, and I recently made a trip to Kyoto in Kansai. I'm the sort of person who takes four or five shots of a scene, when one or two would suffice, and, at times, it drives my girlfriend crazy. Needless to say, I've wittled down the multiple GBs of photos that I've taken in the last few months to what I think are the better shots.

 
Hakodate - December 2006