10 Best Things About Japan

As I look back at the year that was 2012, I want to reflect on the best and worst things about Japan, the country I have called home for the past 5 years. Today’s post will be the “10 Best” list while tomorrow’s will be the “10 Worst” list.

Message to all “hardcore” Japan fans out there…take these posts with a grain of salt!

1. Japanese food: It’s great. It’s really delicious!

2. Strong Yen (currency): At least in 2012 it was. That was good for me since I was paid in Yen!

3. Safe place to live: I know that every second joker isn’t carrying a gun!

4. SOOOO many weirdos: There really is a freaky amount of freaky people all over the place in Japanese cities. As a blogger and vlogger, that’s great for me! Free entertainment.

5. Beautiful women everywhere: I may be happily married, but I’m not dead!

6. Those beautiful women are “Pro Short Skirt”: Nuff said…

7. Smart phones still have unlimited data plans: Nuff said…

8. Treated well as a foreigner: As a Canadian living in Japan, I am treated quite well by most (sadly there are foreigners from many other countries who aren’t treated so well).

9. Fantastic history: Japan has a really fascinating history. I mean come on, these guys are the guys who brought us ninjas!!! That’s WAY cool!

10. Raising a family: As a parent in Japan, you have subsidized health care and good financial incentives and support from the government…for now.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my “10 Worst Things About Japan” list!

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

5 More Things I Hate About Japan

This is a continuation of yesterday's blog that took an ironic look at various things I "don't" like about Japan (irony folks...just in case you don't realize it).

1. The sense of safety: I can leave my laptop on a coffee shop table while I go to the washroom and when I return I know it will still be there. That pisses me off! I can leave my bag on the train and there's a very good chance it will be placed in lost and found. That's just ridiculous! Where I come from there would possibly be a fight in the coffee shop because too many people would try to steal my computer at the same time. I mean, at Christmas, when my wife bought me a Tim Hortons coffee tumbler, she was warned by staff not to leave it on a table unattended because someone will steal it. I expect the same level of thievery here in Japan, but it just doesn't exist. So disappointing.

2. Convenient and efficient public transportation: This is something that really chaps my ass. I want to be left waiting I freezing weather while unreliable buses don't show up on time. I want to live in a place where, I don't have a car, I'm pretty much screwed for getting around the city. Give me that Japan!

3. Japanese ramen: I hate it so much because it is so delicious. Every mouthful is packed with so much flavor that I want to eat it everyday. If I did eat it everyday I would most certainly die of a massive heart attack within the next 6 months!

4. Japanese green tea: Hey there Mr. Green Tea....you're full of anti-oxidants, your tasty and warm me up on cold winter nights! Get over yourself you fancy schmancy drink!

5. Really fast Internet speeds: I want the "snail paced" speeds that Canadian "high speed" Internet offers. I mean...come on, you don't even throttle people's Internet like back home. If I want to download something it happens in the blink of an eye. That's just bullshit if you ask me!

There ya go folks. 5 more things about Japan that I "hate." I you liked this post and the previous post, come on over to a new blog "experiment" mine. I'll make one short daily post about something I "hate" in life (The I Hate Project). Eventually all the posts will be compiled into a silly eBook of sorts!

10 Things I Hate About Japan

Before you get yourself all worked up in a lather thinking another "complainer foreigner" is getting down on Japan, I want to STOP you! This is a tongue and cheek post. I like Japan a lot and am just having a little fun as I lay in bed, sick as a dog. Why not write a short little blog post on my iPhone as I hack and wheeze my brains out?



So, here we go. 10 things about Japan that drive me nuts!

1. Mini Food: Food portions at restaurants are too damn small! How am I supposed to be a stereotypical "fat cat" foreigner if servings at restaurants are all under 1000 calories? Get it together folks. I want massive amounts of greasy food everywhere I go. I am a Canadian after all!

2. Speaking Japanese: What's with everyone speaking Japanese everywhere I go? Come on people. Get with the program! English is the international language of commerce. Why isn't everyone speaking it here in Japan? I mean do you really expect me to learn some
Japanese if I live here in Japan? You gotta be kidding me?

3. Heated toilet seats! That's just by as fun as the shock when you sit on a cold toilet seat in the middle of a freezing winter's night. Toughen up people and lets get back to the cold toilet seats that once dominated the fecal landscape!

4. Lack of bland food! I'm from the East Coast of Canada and if it ain't boiled potatoes and boiled steak then it's just crap. Japanese food is delicious an chalked full of so many flavors. It's not fair. I want my food hard to chew and lacking taste!

5. Beautiful women everywhere: For the love of God, what's with all the hot women everywhere here in Japan? Don't they know they keep distracting me and causing me to lose my train of thought in mid.....

6. Cosplay! I hate Cosplay. How dare you take a bunch if young women, make them dress up in revealing fantasy type costumes and have them prance around in public! It's just cruel of you Japan.

7. Earthquakes! Ok....no humor here. I really do hate them.

8. CC Lemon: A pop so delicious I want to drink it all the time. If I did drink it as much as I want to, all of my teeth would rot and fall out. I would only have Japan to blame. They created this beverage and would be responsible for Kevin's dentures at an early age.

9. Did I mention all of the beautiful women?

10. Interesting lifestyles: The final thing I hate about Japan is that it's given me an interesting and exciting life. I was really counting on a boring and mundane existence, but oh no...oh no Japan!


Nuff said...

You can follow me on Twitter @jlandkev

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Rainy season in Japan: A Survival Guide

How to Keep Upbeat and Happy During the Rainy Season in Japan: A Survival Guide


The rainy season has begun here in Japan and anyone who lives here or is thinking of moving here should know that every year, for a few weeks, we are locked in a world of constant rain and general wet misery. This bleak and dreary weather can often lead some to become depressed. If you follow my quick and easy tips though, you’ll never feel gloomy again during Japan’s rainy season!



1. Wear Hawaiian shirts everyday. It may be gloomy outside, but it will be a party everywhere you go!

2. Have loads of electric fans stationed throughout your apartment to dry the clothes you have to hang inside (no dryers here).


3. Install a large inflatable palm tree in the corner of your living room. It will give you that tropical feeling you so long for. My wife doesn’t know I plan to do this and she probably won’t like it too much, but I know my son sure will!



4. Booze! Lots of booze may help you forget this dreary period of the year. Go on a bender until rainy season is over. You’ll be just like a beautiful butterfly emerging from your drunken cocoon in the summer!

5. Quite your job and move to a desert region. Once the rainy season is over, move back to Japan and beg for your job back (it might just work).

6. If you are a runner like me, don’t let the rain discourage you. People in Japan may not run in the rain, but you sure did back home in Canada, America, U.K etc. Don’t forget your soaking wet running past!


7. Wear sunglasses everywhere you go and complain about how bright it always is! Convince yourself that it isn’t cloudy! Young women all around Japan wear large sunglasses inside, outside, during the daytime and nighttime....you'll blend right in!

8. Always keep the lights on in your apartment and buy several extra lamps. Make your apartment as bright as possible. Sure, it won’t be good for your power bill, but you’ll feel more cheery!

9. Drink heavily….ah wait…I already mentioned that one.

10. Only eat food from India, Jamaica, Korea and Mexico. Spicy food will warm you up. With that increased body temperature you might be fooled into believing it isn’t so damp and crappy outside.


Follow these tips and you’re sure to have a far more enjoyable rainy season here in Japan.

Also, don’t forget to take them with a grain of salt ;)


You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

5 things to do when you're sick

I am sick. It’s official. It came out of nowhere. Some coworkers couldn’t make it into work today because of illness, but I felt great. I suppose I did have some minor “blahs” to the heavy rain all day, but aside from that, was ready to teach and excited about hitting the road early in the morning for my first training run in several days (looks doubtful that run will happen).

I am feeling worse with every passing minute and will crawl into my cocoon (aka…bed) soon. I was however able to construct one piece of (out of 2) IKEA furniture that was delivered to our place this evening.

I decided to come up with a list of things to do when you suddenly become sick, but definitely have to go to the work in the morning:



1. Drink boat loads of water, herb tea and other hydrating fluids.

2. Take some over the counter cold medicine (not sick enough to necessitate a trip to the emergency room). Unfortuantely, cold medecine in Japan is pretty weak compared to what I am used to in Canada and really doesn’t help much. I suppose the placebo affect might be worth something.

3. Build IKEA furniture (but then realize you are too weak to finish the second book shelf).

4. Feel sorry for yourself (I’m really good at this one)!

5. Go to bed….night folks….


DOWN with being sick....especially on cold rainy nights!

You can follow me and my sick self on Twiter: @jlandkev