What exactly is a cool, anyway?

Yeah. I miss being a koala sometimes.  Or I would, if I wasn't one.

Awesome Big Boy and Spiderman photo. And the koi one's rad too. But you're not fooling anybody with that sleeping bag photo. Welcome back. Here is my list of comments and questions:

You can get those UFO noodle bowls in America. They're amazing. I don't know about Japanese communities in Minnesota, but I've purchased UFO bowls at a few places in Los Angeles and Pasadena.

How was the Philosopher's Road? Was it full of tourists and/or locals? I was worried there'd be a hundred philosophers on it, getting in the way of my kickass wandering/wondering. When I got to Kyoto, I grabbed a map and tourist guide at the train station, and read some stuff about it and it seemed neat, but I didn't want to bump into other tourists so I flipped to the last couple pages and found the smallest bar I could find and got lost.

In my 22 nights in Japan, I saw about 5 PSPs and about 25 DSs, including toddlers, girls, and salarymen. I think you just got lucky with those PSPs.

Why'd you have to touch everything?

Nice thread. Good story. My friend's stationed in Japan right now (USAF), and I hope to visit him over there one day.

And wow @ SE stuff. I bought FFX the other day. My first FF. Now I just need to start playing it.

What?  First of all, he totally is, and second of all, he made a farewell thread so we'd remember to miss him.

The sign says "the tobacco holding hand was at child's face height."  I have no idea why it was in past tense in the Japanese.  Then there's a warning under it I can't read, but it mentions health in it, and it says something about Family Mart at the very bottom.  (Family Mart rules.)  It's really crowded in certain areas of Japan so you bump into people constantly, so I guess it's just saying to watch out if you're smoking' cuz you can burn a kid's face.

Great read, and yes I read it all but I figure most folks got the idea after 4 or 5 people mentioned the statue.

Any chance you could post some of those pics with the birds, I find the idea of someone being attacked by a flock of birds kind of amusing =P

Go watch this movie for a laugh then: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/

OT: Great thread Final-Fan.

awesome thread, loved the pics.

Thanks for posting FinalFan.. it was a very interesting read.

I've seen "Big Boy" depicted in movies and tv shows forever but I've never actually seen one of them (I assume its a restaraunt.. ) Do they not have them anymore? Did the chain die out or are they simply located in places I've never been to like Butte, Montana or Davenport, Iowa? 

Wow, that is so cool. I want to go to Japan someday, but I am quite intimidated to be honest.