Yesterday I signed up for Japanese lessons, which I'll attend on Wednesdays in addition to meeting with my language exchange buddy. Now I'll have double exposure each week, plus, of course, the whole daily immersion thing -- should definitely be helpful when paired with the effects of my unintentional visit to the shrine of students and pregnant women on January 2nd. Awesome.

Angie's mention of Pocari Sweat brings to mind the wide and wondrous vault of bizarre product names in Japan. A brief rundown of my favorites: Pocky (which comes in myriad shapes, sizes, and flavors like Pocky for Men and Pocky Banana), Calpis, Crunky and Pretz. Additionally, one brand with quite the market monopoly is SUNTORY, which commandeers a long list of alcoholic beverages, milk, fruit juices, sport teams and venues, hence links on its website to both Suntory Whiskey (For relaxing times, make it Suntory Times) and Suntory Hall. Some other interesting ones (sans English influence) are Sho-Chu (Japanese moonshine, essentially), and Chu-hi (flavored Japanese moonshine, essentially), both of which can be purchased by the can at one's neighborhood 7-11 and enjoyed, New Orleans style, in the middle of the street.

Such loose booze laws leads to scenarios like the one my housemate Michelle and I experienced a couple days ago walking home from the train station, during which we passed a Pirates-Of-The-Carribbean-like array of : 1) smiling and affected businessmen laying on the station platform and 2) smiling and affected businessmen surrounded by teams of cajoling station employees trying to clear out the train at its last stop -- yes, yes, Takao is most definitely the last stop. Sigh. This Disney World ride was doubly funny as we, too, were already smiling . . .

This, courtesy of Dave, is addictive -- especially the higher levels. Yikes. Be careful.

Cheers,
Eliz

*The title is a link to more dogs-in-sweaters related fun -- ah, there's also Engrish for an amazingly comprehensive list of wonky English use in Japanese products.