A couple months ago I placed two new traditional caches around our neighbourhood: Haikyo Stairs #1 and (un-originally) Haikyo Stairs #2. As their names imply these caches were made to highlight a couple of haikyo (urban ruin) type structures in our area; the “stairs” in this case being pedestrian overpass bridges.
Both of these overpasses were completely unnecessary. They provided those on foot the option of a gruelling stair hike over a very quiet street with plenty of simpler un-elevated cross walks as alternatives. Why did Kitaku (our local ward) bother constructing them? Who knows. Clearly they had been there for several decades and their lack of use and maintenance was evident.
So is it purely coincidental that after just a few weeks of placing said caches at these locations that the city decides to take the overpasses down? The timing is unbelievable. If you ask me, it’s a little too coincidental.
Indeed – I am taking credit for this. Kitaku is a cleaner place thanks to genfab.
Now I need to find some new hiding spots…
Haikyo Stairs Caches RIP
In other geocaching news:
You may (or may not) have noticed the new menu item up top labelled cache map. I’ve put together this nifty WordPress plug-in that will map geocaching finds onto Google Maps! Pretty cool, eh? Take a gander at all our finds and see where we’ve been doing our geeky little hobby.
Should there be any interest in distributing the plug-in, I may be persuaded.
Like most males of my generation, when I was in junior high school I loved video games. Truth be told I still do – although now a days I have little time for them. On many a school lunch hour – I would hang out at a nearby convenience store with my friends, huddled around a stand-up console version of Shinobi, Karnov or Ninja Gaiden feeding them quarters like we were getting somewhere. Back then a quarter in your pocket was a great feeling: you’re guaranteed a good two minutes of adrenaline pumping excitement.
Ahh – the good old days…
Today’s youth will not experience the evolution of gaming the way we did: seeing the latest gaming technology at Quikmark next to the milk fridge and racks of pornographic magazines … not in your living room! While Japan is unique in that it still has a healthy “game center” industry – for the most part such business ventures are dead thanks to consoles and hand-held gaming.
A prime example exists on Azusawa-doori in our neighbourhood. If you didn’t look carefully – you’d swear this shop is just someone’s trash – certainly nothing worth investing any time and money into. It’s almost worthy of the title “haikyo”. Nine times out of ten, when I walk by this place it’s as depicted below…
If you do know Ooner – well – you’re in for a treat! The original Ooner vs. The Fly is back – in all its glory – remixed! I had to overcome some technical hurdles – but I got there. I also took it as an exercise in getting to know my video editing software a bit better.
Enjoy!
Naoki fans – keep your shirts on. There’s more on the way.
Finding myself unsatisfied with the selection of rather normal looking items at Australian stores – I’ve decided to get my fix of Japanese weirdness online.
First off – I needed a new watch. Not just any watch – it needs to be cool. Original. Unique even.
A few months ago, I came across Tokyoflash. It stuck in my mind – in particular the Kyokusen model was pretty sweet looking. Pondering over it for a few months, I decided to take a gamble and purchased one online:
Satisfied? Very! It’s so cool, most of the time I don’t even know what time it is.
Next – how about a new hat? Again – not just any hat. Most importantly, it needs to be the right shape. No flat fronted trucker style hats for me – I don’t care what teenagers are wearing nowadays. Next, it needs to be subtle. Too many hats in Australia have advertising and crap all over every side. I’ll have none of that either. The ideal hat also needs to portray my lack of maturity to some degree…
I found just the thing:
A Domokun hat! Oh what a glorious day it was when I came across this on J-List.
If you haven’t been snoopin’ around, you may have missed out on the new photos I uploaded from my trip to India a week or so back. They are mainly food photos, cause well – all I did this time around was eat, sleep and work. It wasn’t bad at all though – I’d say if anything it was almost enjoyable compared to my previous couple of trips. I guess I’m getting used to it in a way… perhaps my tune would change if I managed to get diarrhea there like everyone else seems to.
In other news – there’s some minor updates to Kanji Star, for the very few of you that are interested. I’ve added a high score board so you can keep some check on your progress. There’s quite a few items on my TODO list before I consider it complete, but it’s coming along. Just in the nick of time too… I’ve signed up to do my JLPT 3 in December.
Comments Off 
Entries (RSS)