Extreme temperatures have broad and far reaching impacts on nations. These include illness, significant loss of life, agriculture production, energy consumption and – in the case of Japan – an increased abundance of Engrish.

This never ending summer is no exception …

If this shop owner was hoping to increase the amount of male traffic – mission accomplished.

Exactly what Pet Goods are sold here – I don’t want to know.

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Mos Burger is at it again… It seems like every month there’s a new gimmick – the latest being “let’s just throw random crap together and see how people like it”. One has to admire their boldness.

For a limited time, you can get the “Mos Naans” – Indian flatbread in two Mexican themed varieties:

Tacos Naan – flatbread topped with taco meat, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese sauce and broken taco chip pieces.

Chorizo Curry Naan – flatbread topped with cabbage, a spicy Mexican chorizo sausage and curry sauce.

Weird – yes. Appealing to us – absolutely.

We had to investigate…

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Bit off topic compared to the recent “family edition” of genfab, but perhaps a welcome change for some of you…

This past Sunday I took in just my second haikyo exploration (the first being here) with Mike and Mike. I quite like the idea of haikyo (urban exploration) – but finding the time to take part is certainly rare now with our young family. With Mike1′s time winding down in Japan – I had to make the time, otherwise it may have been my last chance too!

Mike2 has become a bit of a local authority on Japanese urban exploration. He’s visited dozens of these sites, all of which can vary immensely in age, decay, size and of course the nature of the property left behind. The one he organized for us on Sunday was certainly unique to say the least.

We visited a site north west of Tokyo in Saitama prefecture where you’ll find the “Gan Kutsu Cliff Face Hotel”. I (like probably nearly everyone in Tokyo) had never heard of it – so I had no idea what to expect. I thought “Cool, a hotel – with like rooms, a restaurant maybe a pool and whatnot…” Wrong. The emphasis here should be on the “cliff face”. The hotel was one man’s dream of carving out a hotel within the side of a rocky cliff. Yes, it was ambitious to say the least. The project was simply too much for one man to handle and has been left in its unfinished state for 70 odd years. The site is completely fenced off – barbed wire and all – with the cave entrances sealed with metal bars… that is unless you know where to look!

Here’s a short video I pieced together of our afternoon at the Gan Kutsu:

For some great pictures and a bit more background, have a gander at Mike and Mike‘s sites.

A couple weekends ago we packed our suitcases and took a short exotic getaway to…

… New York?

… Paris?

… the Moon?

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For two years it has taunted me.

One Sunday evening just after having moved back to Tokyo in 2008, we came across the most AMAZING ice cream truck parked in front of our building. At the time I was stuffed from dinner, however had I only known how elusive this truck would prove to be – I undoubtedly would have made room for desert.

Nearly every Sunday night since, we could hear its mocking jingle from our balcony: “Ice cream, Ice cream da yo~~~“. Needless to say, tracking down the source was a different matter altogether. Every effort we made at finding it turned up fruit… err – ice cream-less. It seemed as though the ice cream truck was but a figment of our imagination.

That is – until this Sunday!

I bring to you: Itabashiku’s one and only Ice Cream & Hot Dog Truck!

That’s right – ice cream AND hot dogs – two of nature’s finest foods served up in style by a single mobile vendor.

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