Japan is a little backwards...

For those who didn't know, I brought my Wii that I bought earlier in the year, with me to Japan. At the time there was going to be no way for me to play japanese games on it, without getting and illegal modchip, so I didn't worry about it. Recently, two forms of software were released, both of which would allow me to play games from this country, without breaking the law. Andrea and I went to our local rental store today, only to discover that in Japan, renting games does not exist. Grocery stores and vending machines in the US do, but nothing in Japan. Blockbuster did at one point, so did Tsutaya, one of the biggest chains. Not anymore.

It's the same argument that game companies have in the US, that they don't make any money from rentals. Blockbuster doesn't pay them, they only make profit on the cost of the game when it is initially purchased. I guess that is why they don't do it here, because the game companies are refusing to allow it, and the rental companies just go along with it. Ridiculous. They rent DVD's and CD's everywhere, but not games.

For some awful reason, people here think that if you paid more for something, then is HAS to be better quality. In turn, all tv's are twice as much here as in the US. A 20 inch tube set will put you back $250, minimum. You can go to walmart and buy essentially the same thing for $80. 15inch LCD's cost $600+. For the land of great technology it is oppressively expensive. I know the dollar is weak right now, but it still is crazy that people pay that much for tv's. I'll deal with my 12 inch piece of junk, it'll never be worth it to me.

I love analysts

I was reading an article on how video publishers are watering down content by releasing sequels on a yearly basis, just to make money. Hmmm.....DUH!

Now this. 86% of a magnitude 7+ in 30 years huh? I'm going to predict an 80% chance of a tornado happening somewhere in South-Central Kansas this summer. Also a 75% chance that Lohan will end up back in rehab sometime in the next 2 years. I predict that OPEC will not see a problem with oil prices and make no effort to produce more oil in the next 6 months. 90% chance that MS will continue to serve XP to consumers simply because they don't want a backlash against Vista this year.

I should make a living doing this, easy money. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog~

Pictures of early morning drinking.

I went to the sake festival way back in march, remember? Well I finally got the pictures that Fiona had taken, so I put them up, here.

It would seem plans have changed for the next month as it seems we may be going to a party in hiratsuka next week, a baseball game in may, and phantom of the opera sometime before it leaves. The next month just got $600 more expensive.

Prices for airlines tickets hasn't changed in 3-4 weeks, so it's looking less likely that I'll be visiting KS in august. Who knows though, prices might nose dive if the seats aren't full in June.

News of the week.

1. Got paid late, normally it's in the morning of the 21st. Didn't show up until late in the afternoon. I have bills to pay!!!

2. Random dance festival at the central park. Old school, hip hop, and some kind of combination of the two. The traditional dances here start running together, they're all the same, even the music doesn't change much. Only the younger aged groups who incorporate some hip hop style and rock music really liven things up. Otherwise it tends to be boring. The actually hip hop dances were cool. The last group had a girl who went to Julliard in New York. They were the best by far.

3. I finally got my picture cd put together. The 4 copies I have will be going out soon. If you want one, let me know. I'll probably have someone in the US make a copy and send it to you, since shipping a CD from here is kind of expensive.

4. Golden week is coming up, but we're probably not going to do anything. It's a sat-tues(this year) when everyone in japan gets the days off basically. We'll probably stay home and keep low key, avoiding the crowds at the train station. Sometime in the next month we've got dinner with one of the english teachers at the school, and we'll spend the weekend in Tokyo soon. I'll finally get to go to the city that people from the rest of the world, think epitomizes all of Japan. The same way everyone thinks of the wizard of oz when you say 'Kansas.'

So I decided...

...I miss Kansas weather. It's windy and there's thunder. I've never been so excited to hear either. Almost never happens in Fuji. Maybe 3 times since we moved here. In 8 months I've heard thunder MAYBE 4 times. That is sad. It rains here all the time. It's just never good thunderstorm weather I guess. I'm not looking forward to rainy season here though. Rain for a month straight essentially. Cloudy for weeks at a time. From now until october.

On a plus I'm making cheesesteaks tomorrow!

New pictures

I add some more pictures to the Fuji album. A few from a Kansas day in Fuji, winds faster than the trains. One from yesterday near us. Nothing too exciting, but I wanted to let people know it's there.

Boredom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFL4MjxiMl0

I made a video of KU's games against UNC and Memphis. I was bored this weekend haha.

Keep in mind, with all the videos I post, they're public. Youtube lets any idiot comment on a video if they have an account. If there is something offensive on there, I'll do my best to take it down. Just be warned, people are rude.

I want my 4 hours back

I was online with dell tech support all morning and part of the afternoon trying to get my wireless card to work. In the end the 2nd guy gave me the phone number to dell's japan support center, without solving my problem (he blamed it on my router the whole time. Which doesn't make sense if every other device I have works on the same network). "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Give me back my 4 hours.

Pictures up, videos soon.

Pictures of the blossoms are up, and I'll be trying to post the videos soon.

Pictures here.

Video 1 here.

Video 2 here.

ROCK CHALK CHAMPIONS!!!

If you didn't watch, KU won. In overtime. In one of the great games I've ever seen. It was amazing to watch, and heartwrenching at the same time. I was sure they were out of chance when Collins was dribbling up court with 10 seconds left, but Chalmers always comes in when you need him most.

It's been an amazing year to be a fan in the Thimesch/Krauska household. Packers and Cowboys both did well in football, though they didn't get to the super bowl. KU won the Orange Bowl in january. Wisconsin and Marquette (both team I will always root for until they go against KU) both had good seasons. Oh and KU won the championship, did I mention that? (and finished the long story with Roy Williams, I hope never to hear about it again.

Andrea had me making 7 dozen cookies for her english club so they could show how much fun they have sometimes. They were trying to gain new members as well as showing off for the new, first years (yes first years, the school year here begins in April and ends in March.) I feel for school teachers, because we spent 50-60 bucks just trying to get everything for this (cookies weren't the only event). It can be rough, espcially this month, when you're running tight on a budget. If you want read about the cooking, check here.

We're planning on going to Hamamatsu way southwest of here for the kite festival in May. These are the kites that will kill you if you get hit because the lines are wires, not strings. Should be a good time.

Rock Chalk!!!

For all those that were under a rock, KU beat UNC. Happy to be a haven of KU spirit in a country so far removed from it all.

I would've posted more but I've been preoccupied with spring and computer issues. My laptops video card bit the dust for a day, a long 12 hour day. I hate trying to fix custom graphics cards with custom drivers. Just one more reason for everyone out there to avoid dell at all costs. Buy a mac, I hear they're shiny.

Cherry blossom season is upon us. I'm sure most of you saw the pictures of Washington DC with all the blossom trees they have there. It's much different actually being underneath them and smelling them from a distance. Very sweet, pretty too. There's about 6 different varieties in our area, though the ones that DC has are the most common. I'll post pictures tonight or tomorrow, maybe a video of the petals falling too.

We went to Hiratsuka over the weekend, hung out with Travis (from KU) and Willy-b(rapper friend) and his girlfriend. Good times. I ate some really spicy garlic pasta/soup. Made my eyes water, but I finished it. Also had a melon soda float. We managed to spend 3500 yen at the import store there as well (chips, cheese, brats, soups, spices). We probably spent more than we should have, but its cool, that's why we went.

This morning Andrea manage to get the NHK(tv government thing) guy off our back for the rest of the time we're here. They charge you like 25 bucks a month to you the tv service here, but we never use it. We're too busy watching US to watch the TWO channels we can actually get. Our friends get at least 5 or 6. That is why we told them our tv broke in january. We paid our due from december and they left. It's really ridiculous to pay for over the air broadcasting, imagine the FCC coming to your house because you use the basic tv that they offer and charging you $25 per tv(yes it's not per household, its per tv). Ridiculous.

We're finally going to make plans to hang out in tokyo sometime in May. Should be exciting. Look for those pictures, and maybe a video or two.