Yotsuba Mark

Wakaba Mark

Having passed my Japanese driver's license test last summer, this bit of news caught my eye. First year drivers in Japan have to sport the "wakaba mark" on the front and back of the car. Drivers usually choose a magnetic mark or suction cup mark. Since we have multiple drivers in the family, the magnetic ones are the easiest to use.

Momiji Mark

Older drivers in Japan, those over the age of 70, are required to display the momiji mark, so other drivers can use caution around them. However, this mark's design was not very popular among the older generation.

Most recently, this 4-leaf clover designed by graphic designer Mikio Matsuyama, was chosen to replace the momiji mark from Feb. 1st, and is apparently a little more popular than the momiji mark among the older generation. You might notice there is an "S" placed in the center to signify, "Senior."

New Yotsuba Mark

I've always liked the design of both marks, and before coming to Japan always thought it would be cool to sport the wakaba mark on my car. Now that I live here however, it's just a pain in the ass to remember to put it on and take it off when I'm finished with the car. I know the US doesn't have a aged driver designation, but how about other countries? Do you think that older (and new) drivers are being discriminated against by having to display these marks?

Texas Ver. 2.0

After what seems like an eternity of not eating McDonald's, I finally got the itch a few weeks ago. Since the Texas 2 burger was out of beta testing, I thought I'd give it a try, even though I didn't plan on it.

Opening the box, no surprise here. All I could see was a rather large patty of beef and an onion slice sticking out of the side there.

Flopping the bun over, you get a view of some "Texas" chili con carne, slice of bacon, and more onions. Doesn't look pretty, but it all goes down to the same place, right?

It's quite a big burger by McD's standards, and since I'm not a food fighter the meal with fries and drink really filled me up. For me, the Texas 2 burger was quite tasty, especially in comparison to last year's version. The chili con carne-ish sauce was had a different sort of spiciness than you might expect, very "sharp" akin to what you'd find red chili sauce, and was lacking in the "con carne" department. However, the hint of nostalgia for chili con carne on a burger really drew me in, and it was satisfying in its own right.

In the end, I think the selling point is that if I had the choice between a Big Mac and the Texas 2 (and didn't mind spending the extra 200 yen), I would choose the Texas 2.

2011 Casio EX-word Denshijiso なう!

Those of you who have been on the fence about purchasing a new electronic dictionary (denshijisho), now is the time. Casio's new EX-word XD-B series electronic dictionaries, are now in our catalog and we hope to have our first shipment ready to go sometime this month (depending on the model).

Here's our line-up (Pre-order for 5% OFF):

General Purpose

XD-B10000: The professional model, with 150 contents. Has everything, but the kitchen sink (there are probably photos though).
XD-B6800: 130 contents, including reference material for the history and haiku buff.

Foreign Language Models

XD-B7100: German language version with 72 contents.
XD-B7200: Soon to be our best selling French version with 72 contents.
XD-B7300: Chinese version with 85 contents, in white.
XD-B7400: Italian version with 69 contents.
XD-B7500: Spanish version with 70 contents.
XD-B7600: Korean version with 73 contents.
XD-B7700: Russian version with 70 contents.

XD-B9800: English version with 130 contents, including the sought after Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English dictionary.