Since coming to Japan and acquiring my Olympus E-P1 I’ve been getting into photography in a more serious way than ever before. I’ve been dabbling since I was 16, but more recently learning in leaps and bounds with the help of one professional photographer, Jason Collin.

The last rays of light were falling behind the trees as I exited a cursed love hotel, but my sense of excitement had yet to fade. So before wrapping up my solitary ruins exploration for the day, I decided to sweep the neighbourhood. A haikyo bus lay awaiting me in the undergrowth…

A recent trip took me West of Kyushu to a small Korean island known as Jeju, famous for its three plentiful things – wind, women and rocks. What I wasn’t expecting to find was a stunning optical illusion and ghoulish graveyard ruin full of rotting totem poles!

What does it mean to become Japanese? Can a foreigner or ‘gaijin’ ever fully integrate into Japanese society such that they blend in and are treated ‘normally’? A recent video foray into this tricky topic.

It’s that time again. Yet another spasm of tinkering, tweaking, coding, designing and, of course, consuming copious amounts of sugary goods well into the early hours has resulted in Gakuranman.com version 6. Here’s a history of the website’s design evolution!

Here are the winners to the review and contest I held recently. Philip has supplied me with two copies of his nifty little flash game that helps you learn Japanese to give away, so without further ado, let me announce the lucky people to win!

If you’re as smitten with the ocean as me, you might appreciate this little projector unit I discovered for this week’s Interesting Item (Omoshiro Zakka). It brings the soothing comfort of the deep blue to your bedroom, bathroom or wherever you choose to put it.

Ii Naomasa is known as the Red Demon. A historic figure and one of the Four Guardians of the Tokugawa in Japanese history. He is best known for his fearsome blood-red samurai armour and nasty habit of killing people over mistakes. That’s the guy I’m set to become in this year’s Spring parade.

It was only last week that I introduced Kotobukiya’s Power of the Force special Star Wars-themed chopsticks. Now they’ve gone and made chopsticks to make your feudal side salivate. Yes, you can become a Samurai at dinner time!

This week’s Interesting Items from Japan (Omoshiro Zakka) are Star Wars chopsticks. Use the Power of the Force to fight your way through a bowl of rice or slice your salted fishy meal cleanly in two. Be you Jedi or Sith, rest assured that the Empire has you covered.