I've been to Japan about a dozen times now. It's always an enjoyable trip (once you recover from the flight,) and lots of new things to see and experience when the shows are over.

    Something I find quite charming here is the use of English on products and advertising. It's the same language, seemingly, but used in ways we would just never think of back home.

    Can't resist taking photos of some of these products, just within a block of our Tokyo hotel, to demonstrate.

    Actually, those "Frisk" mints are made in Belgium, I see. The small print on the package reads "Sharpens you up."

    The Meltykiss package mentions "Gently Melts in Your Mouth Like a Snowflake - Available Only in Winter." The Ucc Coffee package opens to reveal not only packs of Ucc Instant Coffee, but some Ucc Chessmate sugar and Ucc Coffee Creamy.

    Then, there are the vending machines on the street with an assortment of drinks. Coffee seems to have become popular lately - not only are there Starbucks all over, but many other cafes too.
None of them can match the ingenuity on the vending machine cans of coffee though.

    Now, let's talk about jet lag! As usual, on this trip I arrived in the evening, dead tired after a long flight, but awoke at 1:30 am, awake enough to run a marathon. I took some Melatonin, hoping to fool my body clock - my body responded "are you kidding?" and as a compromise we didn't run a marathon, just finished the second book (since leaving New York the day before) and started writing this web page.

At 10am I was finally ready for sleep, but of course, had to go to rehearsal.

    They say it takesa day to recover for each hour of time zone difference - so at about 14 hours difference, I'm comforted to know I'll be adjusted a week or so after I'm back home. (Or, do I add on the return flight zone difference?)

Anyway, there's a zoned-out look people get when the jet lag hits - it's fun to see it overcome the band just before we go onstage. Happens every time!

    Quote from a hair dryer in Osaka: "Please do not use for the other purpose."



    Quote from a hair dryer in Nagoya: "Part time lover for my beauty."



    Quote from doorway of an amusement center: "Welcome to Stadium 1100. You forget your dairy life."