As explained in my blog post earlier this year about my Twitter experience as a blogger I wasn’t a fan of the now super popular micro-blogging and social networking phenomenon that Twitter has grown to become now. But for about a year now I have embraced and grown to find Twitter useful with it’s reward being a place in the top five of my myriad of Firefox tabs.

Though not necessarily my personal top 10 but more like a biased list or sampling of people who make Twitter updates I find interesting enough to think my blog readers, no matter the reason for your interest in Japan, may also find interesting enough to follow. I went for a mixture of users covering all things related to Japan, like, anime, life in Japan, photography, Japanese language study, quirky stuff, news updates, Japan travel and more. Leave a comment with your twitter name and one Japan related user you recommend we follow after checking out my 10 must follow Japan related Twitter users (in no particular order) below: read full post…

Its been a while since my last blogpost about a Gundam figure from the Gundam Double O timeline as I have fallen love with the beautiful but expensive Yoko Litner from Gurren Lagann and been dazzled by the  sparkling chibi version of the Astray Gold Frame. It’s not surprising that my last Gundam 00 figure was the Arios Gundam who’s pilot developed throughout the Gundam 00 story into the love interest of the pilot of my latest Gundam model the GN Archer.

Bad girl turned good

Initially I didn’t want to get the GN Archer but after a while decided to in one of my famed impulse buy moments. GN Archer is piloted by Soma Peries who in the Gundam 00 is the not so classic case of a bad girl turned good, depending on how strong her meds are though she also likes to be called Marie Parfacy. It seems psychotic killers who have had their brains farted on are attracted to others like themselves as she eventually falls for the psycho within ranks of the main Gundam pilots, the Doppelganger named Allelujah Haptism. read full post…

My video game blog is a site I started in April 2008 that focused entirely on video games, my experiences playing them and happenings in the gaming industry. Fast forward 18 months and I am putting an end to this blog for various reasons.

When starting my gaming blog I was so serious I had a logo professionally done

Main Reasons

I have found myself having less and less time for video games especially since starting evening classes in September after work hours and focusing more time on helping my younger sister with her studies as she prepares to take an important exam before entering high school next year. read full post…

I’ve been hearing and reading on various anime blogs that the Autumn 2009 anime season is one of the weakest in a while. It’s impossible for me to watch every or most of the new anime that premiere or continue each season but I am really enjoying Armed Librarians from my list for the  Fall 2009 season and I am wrapping up and drafting a few review posts from my Summer 2009 anime watchlist. The winter season is around the corner  and having made one of the worst mistakes in my blogging career and mistaking Winter 2008 – 2009 anime for Winter 2009 – 2010 ones I decided to just go ahead and post about these anime from a year ago anyway and catch up on the interesting ones.  I have Chosen 4 series I will follow and unless its not my kind of anime I should follow them out to the end and provide reviews.

Kemono no Souja Erin – The first thing that caught my eye when reading up on this anime is that it was written by the same writer that did Guardian of the Sacred Spirit, an anime that I thoroughly enjoyed, especially the music and battle sequences. I don’t expect Kemono no Souja Erin to have as much action and so I am really looking out for the story elements. read full post…

The most popular export and one of the main reasons Jamaica is more than just a dot on the map is music. Jamaica’s dynamic, influential and ever evolving music scene is like no other and the economic contribution of music and all related industries alone is very important to Jamaica. Jamaica also has a small film industry with local and overseas directors coming to the island to make movies, making movies about Jamaica or creating movies influenced in one way or another by Jamaican culture.

Made in Jamaica enjoyed a limited release in theaters and film festivals all over the
world and enjoyed most success in Europe and Japan

Made in Jamaica is a documentary made a couple years ago that in my mind is a classic. I love documentaries or features on Jamaica that go beyond the stereotypes like just sun, sea, sand, hotels, vacations as the only good thing good about Jamaica and violence, politics and poverty the negative side of the coin. (I also like Antony Bourdain’s showcase of Jamaica). Made in Jamaica is a documentary that looks beyond these stereotypes and focuses on the taboo, hidden, misunderstood or poorly represented parts of what makes up the cultural fabric of Jamaica, free of the cream filling on the inside, sugar coating all around and cherry on top. read full post…

I am a big fan of Gundam 00 since it first started airing in Japan and I have blogged my reviews of  Season 1 and Season 2. At the end of season 2 a Gundam 00 Movie was teased at for 2010 and that date is drawing closer. A trailer has been released for the Gundam 00 movie that should tie up some of the loose ends and hopefully make up for an underwhelming ending.

The majority of my Gundam figure collection consists of mobile suits from the Gundam 00 universe with a couple of my favourite gunpla figures being Seravee, Exia and Astraea Type-F. Setsuna, Lyle, Alleluyah and Tiera will star in the Gundam 00 movie, check out the trailer and descriptions of their updated mobile suites below. read full post…

G’day good people of Jamaipa. I’m reesan from loneleeplanet and I am honoured to be here writing a guest post on jamaipanese.com. Inspired by Jamaipanese’s coverage of the Tokyo 2016 Olympic bid, in this guest post I explore Tokyo’s contribution to the Olympic Movement when they played host in 1964 to the Games of the XVIII Olympiad.

Tokyo was the host of the 1964 Summer Olympics winning the rights to the Games in 1959 in the IOC’s first round of voting over bids from Detroit, Vienna and Brussels. It was the first time that the Olympics were hosted by an Asian country. Originally Tokyo was awarded the right to host the 1940 Olympics however due to rising world tensions and Japan’s war in Asia the 1940 Games were rescheduled to Helsinki and then eventually canceled altogether due to the outbreak of World War II.

Japan’s rise from the atomic ashes of war

The 1964 Tokyo Games were a proclamation by Japan that they had emerged from their post-war reconstruction and were now a major economic power and technological leader. This proclamation was embodied in the selection of Yoshinori Sakai to light the cauldron with the Olympic flame. Yoshinori Sakai (also known as ‘Atomic Bomb Boy’) was born on the outskirts of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, the day that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. As the final torchbearer he symbolised Japan’s rise from the atomic ashes of war. read full post…

My quest to rediscover my reading mojo has been proving quite successful, the last Japan related book I read through was Japan: An Illustrated History and a few school and non Japan related books later I decided to get two more books, they are Crazy for Kanji: A Student’s Guide to the Wonderful World of Japanese Characters and The Otaku Encyclopedia: An Insider’s Guide to the Subculture of Cool Japan.

Otaku Encyclopedia and Crazy for Kanji being inspected

While cleaning out my man cave recently I dug up some Japanese study material that weren’t being used and decided to put them to use now. I have been stuck at Hiragana and Katakana only for whats seems like forever with knowledge of about a dozen or so basic kanji like mountain, gate and 4 -_-. I’ve been using Smart.fm on and off to help with my Kanji study but through research I decided to get a book help me understand the world of Kanji better and Crazy for Kanji is that book which will add another layer to Kanji study and practice. The Otaku Encyclopedia however wasn’t necessarily an impulse buy as I have been hearing about it for months and have been seeing it on many Japan blogs but it only became available in the States (and by extension Jamaica) last month, so I bought myself a geektastic gift online. read full post…

Innocent Love is the 6th Japanese drama I took the time to watch in it’s entirety and the second most recommended one behind Great Teacher Onizuka. The main reason I didn’t watch it earlier is because I judged it from just looking at the advertising poster (seen below) and the name, I expected some kind of shallow, generic love story but it turned to have much more depth than I expected and almost joined My Boss My Hero as one of my favourite doramas.

Innocent Love Plot Synopsis
A mysterious fire destroys the home Akiyama Kanon killing her parents and leaving her homeless and her brother, Akiyama Youji locked up for arson. She defends he brother’s innocence and due to that is shunned  by her neighbors and forced to move to the city to find work and escape from it all. Not long after moving to the city she falls in love with Nagasaki Junya and that is where things start to get interesting. read full post…

Joker Racer is a service by a Tokyo based company called Joker Works that allows users to control RC cars and  model trains over the web. I have been follwing the progress of Joker Racer and should have made a post a long time go. All the function of the vehicle is controllable from a simple easy to use web interface that allows anyone, anywhere in the world to control the vehicle using just their web browser.

I took the monster trucks for a spin two weeks ago and had fun crashing into everything. Whats cool though is that you can also watch other users take control of the cars and join the line to wait your turn. I actually found myself watching more that driving. I remembered of Joker Racer earlier today and logged on to see what was happening only to realize that all the cars have been taken offline till mid November when a the service will be revamped. The announcement will come on November 6th at TechCrunch Japan’s Tokyo Camp. read full post…