Justin-Klein.com – Life of a Traveling Programmer

Honey, where’d you put the ‘My other car’s a taiko drum’ bumper sticker?

Holy crap I love my new camera! Such a difference! Even without all of the additional features and controls, the basic functions like flash are so much better and more powerful that it’s hard to imagine how I ever survived for so long with a little ultra-compact. Not that I don’t still like having a tiny camera – it’s wonderfully convenient for taking pictures out at night with my friends, but for actual photography it’s just…bleh.

Top Row: Me, Min-Kyeong, Chie, Bobby, Chris Suzuki. Buttom Row: Misa and J-J.

This weekend turned out to be quite a kicker. And to start a kicker off with a nice kick, nothing beats a good Halloween Party…except maybe a Halloween party followed by two afterparties.
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A cool-looking building I randomly stumbled on in Osaka

You know, it’s not like I ever really “forget” what a different culture I’m currently living among. All it takes is stepping outside of my apartment and seeing one purple-haired, three-foot tall old woman with a back so crooked that she could retie her shoes without any adjustment of posture. It’s just that every once in awhile I have a little encounter that really “drives it home,” so to speak.

A pretty street heading towards the ocean in Beppu

I’ve mentioned a number of times how Japan is a land of staggering contrasts, one of which is their efficiency. Japan offers every modern convenience including many that can’t be found anywhere else – everything from bullet trains to talking, heated toilet seats with built-in bidets. I mean…they even have beer vending machines! You just can’t get any better than that!
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The Awa Odori festival in Tokushima

As promised here is a video I put together of the spectacular Awa Odori festival that I saw during my stop in Tokushima (on the Southern island of Shikoku) this August. If you’re a newcomer to my blog, I suggest reading this post about the festival before checking out the video.

My dad getting ready for bed at the Utano Youth Hostel. He’s looking a bit blue, don’t you think?

So, picking up from the trip back to Japan. Even though the flight my dad and I took from Shanghai to Osaka landed in the early afternoon, by the time we handled all of our business and made it back to Kyoto station it was nearly dark and well past business hours. We’d have to wait until the following morning to pick up the keys to my new apartment from the real estate agent’s office. So we decided to get a room at the Utano Youth Hostel, directly across the street from the dorm I lived in last semester (Incidentally, this is the origin of the term “YHM” that I used so often on my blog last semester. It stands for “Youth Hostel Mae,” or “In front of the youth hostel.”)
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