I’m thinking of the good old days

Remember when this show used to be good?

Remember when the next episode was something one used to look forward to?

Remember when the adoring masses wanted to heap bouquets on KyoAni’s doorstep, instead of burning tyres and Molotov cocktails?

Yeah, I do too.

So here, for a limited time only, is a reminder of happier times.

And now for a brief update . . .

. . . on my present circumstances.

Not much to say, really. Work is proving a major drain on both my overall enthusiasm and my time at leisure, but that’s all par for the course – and the not-inconsiderable pecuniary fruits thereof are regularly being converted into fresh acquisitions for my manga shelves. If all goes well I may even be able to put away enough for a return journey to the Land of Raw Fish on Rice next autumn, a year ahead of schedule.

This blog will continue to be updated when time (and mood) permits, so no announcement of a hiatus is forthcoming. On the other hand, do expect a slower rate of publication than before, thanks mainly to my full-time commitments as a white-collar slave but also because I don’t see much worth blogging about in this year’s disappointingly bland fall anime lineup. (The good people at Random Curiosity will happily bring you up to date on that.) It’s not a good sign for the upcoming season that the only show with a reasonable chance of going on my viewing queue – for now at least – is about a chap who can understand catspeak.

Cheerio.

Japan 2009 Highlights: Koishikawa Kōrakuen

Let’s go for a stroll through one of Tokyo’s finest traditional gardens.

Owning a piece of (virtual) Tokyo

View Larger Map

Since it was launched on 9th September, Monopoly City Streets has seen thousands of armchair real estate magnates snap up hot roadside – or should I say on-road – property all over the world. Built upon Google Maps and the OpenStreetMap database, the free online game gives players $3,000,000 in site currency with which to start purchasing the digital equivalents of the world’s streets, put up buildings on them, accumulate profits from rent and capital gains, and in due course establish a global real estate empire worth billions.

09:09 PM, 09/09/09

Last year, I said I didn’t believe in luck.

I still don’t.

But I still like the way the numbers line up.

In Diegospeak, “Kinokuniya” is a verb.

The feeling one gets after spending way, way, way too much

It means “to drive oneself into penury”.

Japan 2009 Highlights: Kinkaku-ji

I spent a good few minutes trying to think of a pithy introduction for this post. I failed.

And that pretty much sums up the sort of reaction seeing this national treasure for the first time can evoke in a person.

Don’t talk. Just look.