Pepsi Salty Watermelon and Dwarves

Although I tend to find that serious and somewhat controversial topics (or at least ones I am very honest about) get the most views on this blog, sometimes I just have to keep it light and fun. I can't always be serious.

Here are two videos I have made in 2012 about two very odd and distinctly Japanese products. Both deal with beverages and both were fun to make!



This video was sort of a cliched video if you will. Japan is known for many weird things such as strange seasonal flavours of Kit Kat chocolate bars and Pepsi Cola. It is almost a right of passage for all newbie video bloggers in Japan to make videos about these food products. Although I am one of the most grizzled veterans of the Japan blogging scene, I decided I still wanted to make a video about Pepsi Salty Watermelon.

Earlier in the Spring, there was a type of tea sold in Japanese convenience stores that came with a rather odd omakae. "Omakae" is essentially a free gift you get when purchasing something. You can see for yourselves why I thought the free gifts were odd if not a little gross!

Influenza Weirdness in Japan

It’s an interesting thing getting sick in another country. I’ve been getting sick in other countries for years and each time, it’s an experience. Obviously, things are simply done differently in other places. Sometimes they seem normal and sometimes they don’t.

Earlier this week I unfortunately got my butt whopped by a bad case of the seasonal flu. Yup, it was my turn. Not sure how much it helps, but normally my wife and I get our seasonal flu shots in late autumn. Last year for one reason or another, we simply forgot. I know many out there will argue that the seasonal flu shot offers at best, minimal protection, but at least it is something. This year we didn’t get our shots and we both got sick.

Now of course there is nothing out of the normal about getting the flu, but what seems odd to me and many other non-Japanese living in Japan is how seriously it is taken here. People talk about getting the flu like we might talk about getting Ebola. Here, the news and citizens in general really talk it up as if it is a life-altering event.

Tapping into the far recesses of my brain, I seem to remember being diagnosed with the flu in Canada very quickly. The doctor would quickly name a list of flu symptoms and ask me if I had them. If I answered “yes”, he would make a prescription for 10-12 days of antibiotics and send me on my way.

The other day here it was quite a different story. Upon arriving at my family doctor’s office they asked me to take my temperature (standard practice for any visit to a doctor’s office in Japan). I handed the thermometer back to the nurse and once she saw my temperature was 38.5C, she gave me a mask to wear and made me sit in a back room away from the main waiting room.

The doctor then gave me an “Influenza test.” With a special kit, he took a cotton swab about three inches long and shoved it deep into my sinus cavity and swabbed. This by no means was a pleasant experience. After that, the swab was placed in a solution and within 5 minutes we had the results. He said, “I’m afraid you have Type A Hong Kong Influenza.” He made it seem so serious and dire. I was starting to get worried.

While waiting for my prescription to be filled, I Googled that strain of influenza and was quickly relieved to find out that all of that very dramatic talk meant I simply had caught a seasonal flu virus.

Amazing how dramatic people can be about something in Canada, we are so casual about.

Yup….being sick in another country can be a strange experience!

Koreans Vacuuming Grass

Life abroad can be one filled with excitement, new discoveries and often, things that make you raise an eyebrow. In different cultures, people often do things in a very different way than you might in yours. It may not be culturally acceptable to spit in one country, but perfectly fine in another.

Different cultures also have different standards and definitions for things such as beauty and cleanliness. We eat our food in different ways. We behave at concerts in different ways. We create in different ways.

Cultures are different and the following photos are no exception to this. I lived in South Korea for more than five years, but never came across something this weird. While surfing around a former colleague's Facebook page, I came across these pictures of Korean cleaning staff outside of a store in Mokpo, Korea. I almost couldn't believe what I saw. I had to email him for clarification and then permission to use these pictures.

These are pictures of Korean cleaning staff at a store vacuuming the grass! That's right! They are actually cleaning the real grass on the lawn with a vacuum cleaner.

Bizarre as it may seem to me, this sort of thing apparently happens in Korea.







You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Annoying and Dumb = Annoying and Dumb

As someone who has been a blogger and video blogger for about seven years, I have dealt with ten of thousands of comments and emails about my videos, blog posts and general questions about life in Asia. Most of the comments are supportive and kind. Some are rude and mean-spirited and some are simply annoying and dumb!


Supportive and kind comments = good!

Rude and mean-spirited comments = no worries (been online a long time and have a thick skin/don’t even notice them).

Annoying and dumb = annoying and dumb!


I want to take a look at some of the most annoying and repetitive comments I have found on my You Tube channel over the years. One of the most annoying and reoccurring problems is when people send you an email with a question that they could have easily found an answer to if they had just done a Google search!

A variety of annoying (so you all know, I have worked as an English teacher, elementary school teacher international school teacher in South Korea, Canada and Japan):

1. How do I get a job as a teacher in Korea and/or Japan? (Google it!)

2. How do I get a job in Asia? (What? What kind of job? Where are you from? What is your skill set? What? Be more specific and then Google it!)

3. I think Korean/Japanese girls are hot. How do I get one? (Come to Asia and try not to be a loser…then maybe you can get one!)

4. Can you recommend a recruiter? (No!....they are all scumbags!)

5. I know you said you don’t know anything about recruiter in you video/blog, but can you recommend a recruiter? (Drop dead!)

6. Which country did you like more, Korea or Japan? (Japan…my wife is from here…I’m biased.)

7. You shouldn’t make so many cuts in your video edits…it’s annoying. (I go to commenter’s channel and they have no videos, which means they know nothing and therefore I dismiss their opinion!)

8. Your walking videos are too shaky and they make me nauseas. (I go to commenter’s channel and they have no videos, which means they know nothing and therefore I dismiss their opinion!)

9. You suck! (…and I have more than 18,000 subscribers on You Tube so apparently I don’t suck as much as you!!!...that was smug…hehe…sticking my tongue out like a 4 year old!)

10. Get out of Korea! (I did many years ago….obviously you really didn’t pay attention to the part of my video where I aid I am not in Korea).

11. I hear English teachers in Korea/Japan make a lot of money. Is that true? (No it isn’t! Teacher often make very little. In Korea they make a low middle class income at best…Japan; not much better).

12. Promote my channel please. (Show me you have the goods and maybe I will. You better have at least two-dozen cool vids or a lot of great blog posts!)

13. Please make videos about anime/manga/otaku culture. (Sorry….none of these are interesting to me…I know nothing about them)

14. Make videos more like –other blogger’s name—(No! I’m not them.)



There are many more annoying and weird comments. These are some basic and very general ones. If you are a blogger or a vlogger you probably commiserate with this post.

Follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Perv tries to squeeze a cop!

There are a lot of perverts in Japan and that is no secret. Bizarre sexual stories are commonplace in local newspapers. I thought this one was particularly interesting sicne I spend a lot of time in Akashi which is a small city located a few kilometers from Kobe.

This is a tale of a very stupid pervert!


60-yr-old man arrested for trying to molest policewoman in front of police station
HYOGO —

A 60-year-old-man was arrested right in front of Akashi Police Station in Hyogo Prefecture on Wednesday night after he allegedly tried to fondle the breasts of a 47-year-old female police officer who was leaving her shift. The officer dodged Tamotsu Inaba’s wandering hands and dragged him into the police station, where he was charged with violating prefectural nuisance prevention laws.

Police quoted Inaba as saying that he “wanted to touch a woman.” The officer was dressed in street clothes at the time. Inaba told police he didn’t realize she was an officer or that he was in front of a police station. see original

Weird Japanese Wheels

Akashi Bridge

Today was another sunny and beautiful day in the Kansai. My wife and I decided to go to the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge which is the longest suspension bridge in the world. it was a gorgeous day, but the summer-like temperatures we've been dealing with all week made the day a little draining!

Some pics from the bridge:








Some weird news in Japan. The power of "crying" really can stop a crime dead in its tracks!

Univ student arrested after trying to blackmail two 11-year-old girls
TOKYO - A 20-year-old man was arrested for attempted extortion earlier this week after he allegedly tried to make two elementary school girls pay him 50,000 yen each, police said Friday.

Police said Ryunosuke Arima, a second-year student at Bunkyo University, approached the two 11-year-old girls on Aug 26 outside a Taito Ward bookstore, after he put a 1,000 yen bill on top of some books in the store. One of the girls had picked the bill up and told Arima that they were going to hand it in at a police station. Arima told them the money was his, and that if they didn’t want to get in trouble with the police, they should pay him 50,000 yen each.

Arima then tried to persuade the girls to give him some money over the next hour, but fled without success after the girls started crying. He was arrested on Sept 2, based on descriptions of his appearance. He has admitted to the allegations, saying he wanted to pull a prank on some girls.

Police are investigating if Arima was involved in two other incidents in the bookstore last month, in which two young girls were groped. See original at Japan Today