The Latest kids game sweeping Japan

Yes yes I know that educational games for young children are all the rage, math games and language development games and such, but recently I discovered a children's game that makes pointing guns at your head fun. Yes Russian roulette is not just for Russians and Christopher Walken any more, now Japanese children can join in. Although you don't actually shoot yourself, you still get to pop a balloon right next to your ear. If you are interested in joining in on the fun you can purchase your own at any Toys R Us in Japan.

Obon in Hamamatsu

Well its that time of the year in Japan known as Obon, which if you do not know already it is a Buddhist holiday in which the ancestors of the living cross over from the realm of the dead to spend a week on our plain of existence. This season is usually celebrated by going to the ancestral home village and making offerings at a temple, praying, as well as by having a big feast where our guests from the netherworld can join in, and in the case of Hamamatsu the departed souls of our ancestors also get to see some Bellydancing. Yes the local celebrity Kae along with her proteges Hiroko (not pictured) as well as her sister Maho (the one in the background) performed at Act City, in downtown yesterday. The dead as well as the living were quit impressed.