The Amazing Disappearing, Reappearing Passport Trick

Ladies and gentle men, come one, come all! Gather 'round and behold the perplexing disappearing, reappearing passport illusion!

For the past couple of days I've been under the impression that my passport was missing, probably stolen. I had left my baggage unattended at the hostel I'm staying at for a couple of days and during my trip to Osaka, one of my friends wanted to see what a Swedish passport looked like. Since I had brought the bag I thought contained the passport with my I presently reached for it but lo, there was nary a passport to be found. After looking through my bags, one, two, three times the charm, it still refused to present itself. Being the calm, logical person that I am I deduced that it must have been stolen, since I clearly remembered having it when checking in to the hostel. Seeing that the next appropriate action would be to contact the local authorities and the Swedish embassy, I acted accordingly and had within a few days gone through all the red tape needed to acquire a temporary passport and blocking my old, presumably stolen one. In a serene state and with a satisfying feeling of accomplishment, I returned to the hostel and on a whim decided to repack my bags. Now, here is where the real magic happens. What falls out of a crease in my neatly folded suit if not the wanting passport. Tadaa! And that's how you make 16,500 yen disappear. Just like magic.

The Amazing Adventures of Apaman

Although they got their Swedish compound word rules just a tad mixed up and though it's really Monkeyboy, not Monkeyman, it's still obvious from this sign that the power of the monkey reaches far and wide. Today Japan, tomorrow the world! *Muahahahaha* (Cue organ music)

On the third day

Brothers and sisters, I have born witness to a miracle! The Mega Mac has risen from its grave to once again bless us mortals with its quadruple godliness! Oh, great Mega Mac, my faith in you was not misplaced! It was in no other place than the sin-riddled streets of Akihabara, the Sodom of Tokyo, where I was humbled by its presence, as it was absolving sinners left and right.

For ye of little faith I have picture proof below. Also, this time the burger came with ketchup, the blood of Mega Mac, completing the Holy Communion. Hallelujah!

These are not the ninjas you are looking for

I'm just going to pretend like I haven't been missing for a week and get on with posting as if nothing had happened. I'm definitely not going to suggest that I was kidnapped by a secret group of Yakuza financed super ninjas and had to fight my way out with a toothpick, dismembering a virtual army of the bloodthirsty über-assassins in the process, impressed the grand master to the point of being made an honorary super ninja and ultimately was sworn to secrecy on the existence of the clan on pain of death by imploding heart. You won't hear me say anything like that.

Soooo, let's move on. In the spirit of previous posts I have yet again found something in Japan that tickled my fancy. No, that's fancy, with a C. Get your mind out of the gutter. The sidewalks of all but the tiniest streets in Japan are paved with a special kind of yellow, patterned stones. At first I thought they were used to separate the sidewalk between pedestrians and bicycles but upon further study I realized that their purpose was guiding blind people. The stones are patterned with groves in the direction of the road and with a dotted pattern where the path splits or at a crossing. It all seems very useful, but I have to ask, if their purpose is to guide *blind people* why are they *painted yellow*? Except for giving them a distinct Oz feel it seems like a waste of good paint.

春夏秋冬

I've just realized that the names of my four best friends in Japan for some reason correspond to the four seasons. The names of the seasons in Japanese are 春 (haru/spring), 夏 (natsu/summer), 秋 (aki/fall) and 冬 (fuyu/winter). Now the spring is obvious, since one of them is called 春菜 (Haruna). Summer is clearly 美夏子 (Mikako) even though the reading for summer is different in her name. Fall would be my friend 亜希子 (Akiko), whom I call Aki. Although the meaning of her name is different, it sounds the same as the name of the season. Winter is a bit of a stretch, but my fourth friend who is called 由佳 (Yuka) would at least in a game of 尻取り (shiritori, a Japanese word-chain game) be connected to winter. Did I just blow your mind?

Farewell, dear Mega Mac, we hardly knew thee

It pains me to have to write an eulogy for the king of hamburgers after only trying it once, but the sad truth is that the Mega Mac is no longer available in Japan. It has been cowardly backstabbed and replaced by the seemingly disgusting Ebi (Shrimp) Fry Burger. Foul Ebi Fry, you will never live up to the greatness of your predecessor. Oh, the humanity!

To infinity - and beyond!

Japan is one day into the future alright. Paper menus and annoying waiters reading you the daily specials become a thing of the past with the advancement of technology, as seen at this izakaya (Japanese style pub).