Japan Trip 2026 - June 2: The Mixed Bath The ferry has limited food offerings–just snack machine and Cup Noodle, basically–so we popped into our best option for a quick breakfast that was open at the time we needed it to be: McDonalds. It’s exactly what you expect it to be.

Weird to think that Andromeda Galaxy is only about 16 Andromeda Galaxies away. Like, it's good social distancing, but still kinda weirdly close.

Japan Trip 2026 - June 1: Goodbye Sapporo We had planned for another full day in Sapporo, but unfortunately the ferry we were hoping to take around noon the next day was full. Laura was really looking forward to the place we’d be staying at that night, so we had to book an 8am ferry instead.

Well it was nice for queer people to have Deltarune this week, so i guess now it's time for 2 months of straight people being weird about GTA 6.

Japan Trip 2026 - May 31: Biei and the Blue Pool We decided to try out Cafe Gusto for breakfast. Japan has a handful of widespread “family restaurants”–often open fairly early and late, usually good group seating, with a fairly big menu and a self-serve drink bar.

I suppose this is why he had to cancel an event in Tucson this week. Can't blame him.

Japan Trip 2026 - May 30: The Ainu, The Hokkaido Museum Our hotel was by Tanukikoji shopping street. Besides Don Quijote, the street was mostly empty in the morning. It seemed like it'd be more lively at night. We did find another Bukkuri Donkey, where once again I was defeated by salad dressing...

My 7yo had to give a presentation about my grandpa, so I helped him do some research. Apparently my grandpa was thrown in jail once for destroying someone's fence. Turns out, the fence was on my grandpa's property, and the one who built it was trying to steal some extra land. Case got thrown out.

this is what any democrat (or hell, any republican with an intact brain/soul) should say (and do) about trans stuff while running for any office at any point in the coming years. i am putting it here for such uses, at no cost! such a deal. buy my fucking music.

Japan Trip 2026 - May 29: E-San The hotel's rooftop baths gave a great view of the city, the shoreline, and Mount Hakodate. As I relaxed, the clouds parted to bathe part of the mountain in sunlight, illuminating the greenery and the lighthouse. No cameras in the bath, so no pictures. Sorry.

Japan Trip 2026 - May 28: Crossing to Hokkaido I woke up hungry. In the middle of the night. Luckily, there was a convenience store nearby. I was better able to appreciate our hotel in the morning. The locals seemed to be the hotel's primary customers, for the baths. Few rooms were actually booked

Japan Trip 2026 - May 27: Matsushima and Ryusendo We crossed that bridge first thing after breakfast. The island was a park and nature preserve, boasting beautiful views at every time of year. We took a circuit around the island, out to a lookout point with views of the other nearby islands.

The weird thing about the KrisxSusie ship is that I think you're really kinda shipping Susie with yourself. Or at least the separate entity that is ❤️. Kris, afaik, isn't Susie's friend. They're a weirdo that does black magic with Catti, carries a knife, is good at piano, and has their own agenda.

Japan Trip 2026 - May 26: Great Falls, Great Shoreline We worked our way toward the coast. Japan’s tollways are designed for zooming from one place to another, but the winding coastal roads were both scenic and toll-free--perfect for our goal of a leisurely drive. The journey was the destination.

Japan Trip 2026 - May 25: Mito This morning we hopped on a train to Mito. We rented a car outside of Tokyo to avoid driving through the city, and Mito seemed like a good place to start a northward coastal road trip. Plus, it was home to one of Kairaku-en, one of the “Three Great Gardens of Japan.”

Japan Trip 2026 - May 24: Yokohama Our first stop in the morning was the local Asakusa Don Quijote, which is conveniently always open. I like to check out each one to see what they’ve got, even if I don’t buy anything. Mostly, it's just a convenient place to kill time in the morning.

Japan Trip 2026 - May 23: Design Festa I woke at probably 4:30am. Our one destination for the day didn’t open until 10am, so I took my time taking a bath, checking the Internet, etc. Once Laura awoke, we got ready and sought some breakfast. We went to Denny’s. Context for pictures in the alt text

Time to write down my memories of our latest trip to Japan. I’ve got accompanying pictures and video where relevant. Each day will get its own thread. This thread is for May 21-22, since you lose a day on the way. The first day is pretty much all travel, flying from PHX to SFO, then on to NRT.

Me: Do you like cupcakes or donuts more? 5yo: (ponders) I like donuts more. They're tasty! Me: I get that. I mean, I think the best donut I've ever had was better than the best cupcake I ever had, but I think I've had more good cupcakes than good donuts. Does that makes sense? 5yo: Umm... No?

Laura and I passed several dams while driving around Japan, and literally every time we did we'd be like

Are forums social media? Nice niche communities populated and moderated by teenagers with too much time on their hands. Or Vine. You could only get into so much mischief in 6 seconds.

Thankful to have a company that pays its employees more when we do well. It's nonsensical that there are companies that do not. It's doubly nonsensical for companies to give big bonuses to CEOs for success but not their other employees.

oh hey yeah, rock on Buddhist temple, love is love

Mountains're nice.

梅雨☂️

The layout of this hotel is like something out of an old adventure game.

Here's the serious bit for anyone who'd rather skip the 4000 words of jokes

Famously right-wing Legend of the Galactic Heroes, everybody. #LoGH #DieNeueThese #anime

Radicalized by spending literally any amount of time in another country.

Radicalized by dental bills

Radicalized by Pixar's first animated feature film Toy Story starring Tom Hanks and Tim Allen.

Radicalized when I stubbed my toe

Radicalized by autocorrect

Radicalized by a short-lived crush

Radicalized by a bad haircut

Radicalized by a space cowboy TV show

Radicalized by a dystopian sci-fi TV show

Radicalized by utopian sci-fi TV shows

Radicalized by throwaway NPC dialogue.

Radicalized by a Christian ska band

Radicalized by faint praise.

And that's a wrap on our auction! Congratulations to everyone who sent in a bid! With your donations we were able to raise more than $7,000 for the @wck.org and along with another 7k(!) on top of that in donations throughout the span of the funfest! From all of us at starmen.net, thank you!! 🙇

Live on the free feed: Earthbound fans @bobservo.bsky.social @reidman.bsky.social @charlieverdin.com & @everdraed.bsky.social speak of Mother 3, the sequel we never (officially) got to see retronauts.com/article/2510...

The cool thing about Witch Watch is that it started out as a gag manga, dipped its toes into serious battle manga for like a minute, then went right back to being a gag manga. In my old age I've lost patience for drawn out battles. I'm here to see your goofy characters being goofy.

Sometimes I have to remind myself not to advocate for a position I don't hold. WAY too often someone will say something I generally agree with, but there will be a minor factual error, and I'll respond with a "to be fair..." But I can just not! That doesn't need to be my job!

My daughter has, on multiple occasions, asked why I didn't name her "Rosa." To my knowledge, she is unaware that she is named after a video game character, much less the fact that the other major female protagonist in the game is in fact named Rosa. Sorry kiddo, guess I picked wrong.

This court invented immunity from prosecution for a president they favored.

I'm seeing a lot of people responding to people responding poorly to Star Fox, but I haven't actually seen anyone responding poorly to Star Fox. I think that's good? I mean, I know I'm in a bubble, but it feels like a pretty good bubble.