Mondai no Aru Restaurant is my favorite new dorama. It’s really fun, with plenty of small inside jokes, especially generational things that are specific to different age groups. This is a good one!
Mondai no Aru Restaurant
Category: Reviews
South of the Border, West of the Sun
Just a couple of weeks into the new year, and I have finished reading my first book! South of the Border, West of the Sun
by Haruki Murakami has been sitting on my shelf for a long time now (the receipt I found in the book showed that I bought it at Borders 14 years ago!). Actually I sort of forgot about it, but when I started reading it I couldn’t put it down! That happens often when I read a book by Murakami.
I won’t go into the plot of the story, but the one thing that I kept thinking as I was reading it is that I really miss Japan. This is normal a normal reaction with all his books. But I always can picture the scenes, especially the ones in the city and I can remember when I stood in the same locations as his characters. At least the same neighborhoods.
Like most of Murakami’s works, there are many details that get left unsaid and unexplained. It’s fascinating to read about everyone’s theories about these loose ends. There’s a nice thread on Reddit if you’d like to read them.
I enjoyed South of the Border, West of the Sun quite a bit. I’m now ready to move on to his latest work, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage: A novel which I found at my local library’s digital catalog.
Sutekina Sen TAXI – 素敵な選TAXI
Sutekina Sen TAXI – 素敵な選TAXI is such an enjoyable show! The plot is basically that this taxi can go back in time so the passengers can replay different situations and make better choices to achieve better outcomes. It’s a neat idea, but what makes is really great is that the taxi driver is such a fun character. He’s so uncool, yet likable, earnest, and innocent. Perfect casting of Takenouchi Yutaka and great acting!
In each episode, the taxi “time-slip” (when the taxi goes back in time) gags get funnier and funnier. And I love how the characters from the seemingly separate stories come back to make appearances in later ones. The Criminal Detective show is hilarious too. I love it! I highly recommend finding the torrent or the online subbed episodes.
Episode 7 is the funniest so far, with the main character Onishi Mari’s gang-leader past being revealed.
That’s Kimura Fumino above. She has the same birthday as me – 10-19! The taxi-driver is so excited about installing sound effects in his car. lol
All of the episodes are pretty funny, but episode 8 was quite a tear-jerker as well. I didn’t realize that the Yu-chan character in this episode was Yuka (in the center in the photo above) from episode 6 until the episode was over. And then the doctor from episode 5 returns at the very end. Yoshida Yo, my favorite!
The icing on the cake is that the theme song is by one of my favorite singers, Aiko.
Sutekina Sen TAXI Official site
Patagonia MiniMass Messenger Bag
I recently bought a Patagonia MiniMass messenger bag. I have a couple of bags already, so why do I need a new one? I don’t need one, but it is nice to have a new one that fills a specific purpose.
Multiple Bags
The other day I listened to a relatively new photography podcast called “Your Itinerary” whose focus is travel photography. In that particular episode, the host interviews a VP of a camera bag manufacturer. During the conversation, the thought that no one camera bag is perfect for all situations kept coming up. I agree with this thought, and am happy that I can now feel less guilty about satisfying my love of messenger bags and backpacks.
The Current Lineup
Before I bought my new bag, I had two main bags. The first is my REI Messenger bag, with a padded insert for carrying camera gear. The second is a North Face Router backpack, also with a padded insert. Both are good for carrying my dSLR and lenses, the messenger bag being more nimble since I can get the camera out of the bag quickly. The Router holds a lot more and since it’s a backpack, the heavy load is distributed between both shoulders. If I get really tired, there is also a waist strap so I can use it as a pseudo backpacking pack.
The Missing Link
The problem with both of these is that thye are large. Lots of times I don’t want to carry them. I mistakenly thought that I could carry either of these wherever I went and have access to my beloved dSLR (actually SLT, for you purists). But now I realize that a smaller bag would be better for an “everyday carry” and since I have my Fujifilm XF1, I don’t need to carry the dSLR for general walkabout photos. The XF1 and RAW can produce some great photos.
The New Bag
I did some research online, watched video reviews, and then went to REI to check out the bags they had in person, specifically looking for a small messenger bag. The Patagonia MiniMass stood out as the best one, and REI had it on clearance! What great timing! Unfortunately, they didn’t have the color I wanted in stock, but I ordered it online and had it shipped to the store. After a week, I had the bag in my possession.
So, how is the bag? In a word: Great! It’s small, but not too small, comfortable, the pockets and storage are for the most part well-thought out. I can fit everything I need into it, and in fact if I wanted to squeeze the dSLR and an extra lens in there, it could do it.
Here’s a list of stuff I currently carry in it:
- Nintendo 2DS
- Fujifilm XF1 camera
- UltraPod Tripod
- Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet
- HP Bluetooth Keyboard
- Nixon Wallet
- Cellphone
- Small electronic items: Charging/USB cable, battery, card adapter, extra SD card
- Small sundries: lip balm, aspirin, pepto, bandaid, instant coffee packet, tea bag
- Small Gerber knife/bottle opener
- Thin Notebook from Muji, Letter-sized clear case for papers
- Red and blue pens
- Microfiber Cloth for lens cleaning and whitebalance
- Small Camp Towel
- Kindle
- Keys
- Sansa Clip 4+32GB MP3 player & Sony earbuds
- Morale boosters: Ugly doll and Ghibli dust bunny
As you can see from the list, there’s a lot that I carry! But in reality, it does not weigh that much. It’s a nice little kit and I can even shoot RAW, edit on my Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet, and post to Instagram all while on the go. One useful feature of this bag is that the two cover-straps also double as compression straps, so you can expand or slim down the width of the bottom of the bag. I wish I had this on my larger messenger bag and backpack!
Of course with any bag, there are a couple of things that I’d change. Well, just one in fact! There is only a single outside pocket for a water bottle. This pocket is perfect for carrying the Fujifilm XF1 compact camera, but I wish there was another pocket on the other side so I could carry my 12oz. Liberty water bottle. Since that bottle has a handle, there may be some way to attach it.
All-in-all I love the Patagonia MiniMass messenger bag. It fits into my life perfectly!
My Bag Collection
Fujifilm XF1
A new camera for me!! The circumstances of me needing a new camera were unfortunate though – I lost my beloved Panasonic DMC TS-2 camera. One day I took it to the park where we went bike-riding and to the splash pad… but that’s the last time I remember seeing it. I have no idea how I lost it. I did have the Eye-Fi card in it that day, so at least the photos were copied over to my phone automatically, but the camera itself is gone. I still have a tiny bit of hope that it will be found (probably somewhere silly), but since I did give it a couple months to show up and it never appeared, I decided to go ahead and get a new camera to replace it.
My first thought was to just get the same type of camera, which would be the latest Panasonic version in that series. Waterproof cameras are great in that they are worry-free – I can get one of the rugged cameras wet, drop it, and just not have to baby it at all. But…. I have had my eye on the Fujifilm cameras for a while so I went ahead and got one of their compact cameras – the Fujifilm XF1.
The XF1 is an older model (debuting in September 2012), but has a number of features that I wanted:
- Able to shoot RAW
- Compact size
- Full manual controls
- Fast F/1.8 lens (at wide setting)
- Silent operation
- Available at a fraction of its original price
The XF1 also has a unique way of powering up. You twist the lens from it’s retracted position and the camera will turn on. It’s really nice since it also opens the lens cap. This lens ring also manually adjusts the zoom position so you have great control over focal length. The downside to this is that it is truly a two-handed operation, whereas the traditional power button and power zoom can be done with one hand. But, it kind of suits the camera’s retro design.
The other camera I was looking at is the new Fujifilm XQ1. A couple things I like about the XQ1 is that it has wi-fi, uses the newer X-Trans sensor, and comes in all-black. However, it doesn’t have the cool power-up and lens ring. Also, being a new camera, it’s pretty expensive.
After using the XF1 for a month now, I can say that I am really happy with it! It is a solid performer, and with the lens in its fully retracted position, can easily fit in a pants pocket. I like to carry it with me wherever I go! The only option that I wish was available is the ability to turn the LCD display off while still in shooting mode. But it’s not too big of a deal since I’m not really a street or “stealth” shooter.
One final thing: it’s a Fujifilm, so it’s kind of like my namesake! W00t!
