Please excuse the episode’s long intro; I’ve been up to things and I talk about them.
This one gets heated in the best possible way as Stefhen and I discuss Black/African identity vis a vis Japan and what it means to live a biracial/multicultural life and so on.
Stefhen’s done some cool things, so check out these links to his book and one-man play:
Black Passenger Yellow Cabs
Doodu Boy

Another day, another ep! This one is some rough and easy (just how I like it?) Japan talk with good friends Simon and Gus from
San Francisco about our numerous adventures in Japan. Drinking competitions, jail, girls, more jail… enjoy!
Please forgive my vocals. Due to technical difficulties, Simon and Gus sound fantabulous but my voice is a recording straight to my iPhone mic.

Tim Andersen is back to talk more startup in Japan. We get the update on what happened to his startup project Musby. Spoiler, it didn’t go as planned. However, it’s all good. Tim has no quit and continues to apply lessons learned as a project manager at Edocode.
If you didn’t get a chance to catch the original Musby talk, here it is.

Excited to have my akogare (we talk about this word) Terri MacMillian on the show.
We talk about her music management experience (Pizzicato Five?!), life in Japan in general, her favorite actor (super cool), and of course we get a touch ornery about Black Lives Matter.

A quick primer on ways to say Black Lives Matter in Japanese.
[Kokujin no inochi wa taisetu] – Black Lives Matter (are important with no implied too)
[Kokujin no inochi koso taisetu] – It is Black Lives that Matter, Black Lives Matter! (Indeed!), more so than others
[Kokujin no inochi mo taisetu] – Black Lives Matter (too), closest to English in implication, and nuance
Note: I am an advanced speaker, but Japanese is not my first language. Constructive feedback welcome.

Thank you to those of you who have been listening to the shorter quickiesodes. More are coming but for now, here’s a full-length episode!
Host emeritus Chris is back with me (socially distantly) to discuss these unusual times with comparisons between the US and Japan.
And everyone’s favorite bovine friend gets a mention.

Eew wee, indeed. Today’s episode is about natto or fermented soybeans!
Get some more smelly, slimy, and stringy info here!

This time its the racial sexually amped duo of Bedtime Eyes and Almost Transparent Blue.

Another quick episode for these Corona times… the 1962 classic novel The Woman in the Dunes
.

A quick episode for these Corona times… the 1960 classic film The Naked Island.

Join Terrance and Christopher for a conversational reconnect as Terrance braves the wintry tundra of Connecticut for a long overdue in-person recording from our two hosts. Get some insight on what residency in Tokyo feels like after many years and the challenges that returning to the United States presents after many years in Asia.
Special bonus: If you listen long enough, you may even get to hear the resurrected segments from podcasts of long ago and be treating to a special guest appearance.
So get ready for live and uncut, long and unfiltered discussion. Enjoy!

It’s been a long time in the making, but we’re finally reviewing one of Japan’s most famous novels: Kawabata Yasunari’s, “Snow Country”. As one of Terrance’s absolute favorite books and only recently read by Christopher, we discuss the finer points of the novel, its context, and what we make of the imagery and plot.

Join Terrance and Christopher with dualing audio as they journey to the summit of Mount Takao, a small mountain just west of Tokyo.
This sound-seeing (sound scene) tour includes some lively discussion on Japanese films, accents, future nature sabbaticals, and disaster scenarios. What more could you ask for?

On this episode Terrance sits down with a Kobe friend, Tim Andersen to talk about his startup Musby. They catch up a little and go over their common background of being halfies growing up in Japan. They talk Musby’s goal of bringing language learning together with other interests – it really is a great idea and can’t wait to see what it develops into. Find out more at Musby

It’s Finding Japan’s 80th show! Terrance is joined in celebration with his friend and veteran Japan raconteur Todd Rucynski. Todd’s been in Japan for a long time has done everything from the good ol’ gaijin mainstay of teaching English to owning video stores (wuh?) to appearing on Japanese TV. They sat down at his secret office on a secret university campus to talk about what got him to Japan and some adventures since arriving more than 20 years ago. Note: The conversation was pretty long and Todd and Terrance could’ve kept going, so we’re sure there will be more, whether you all want it or not.

It’s been awhile but we’re excited about this episode. Terrance’s guest is the always hungry, always charismatic Shaka Haynes. Shaka works with Terrance at the world famous fruit shop. More importantly, he’s making moves in the world of entertainment bringing his experience producing and promoting artists to the Japan scene. They talk about how he “found Japan” and his current experiences and future plans. Plus, they take an interesting detour and Shaka makes his case for why Boston is the most American of cities.

This is a very personal and special episode in which Terrance talks about his experiences in the Japanese slammer. Many of you may know what happened but just to make things clear, the matter is settled, he’s ok, he doesn’t have a record, and technically it was detention, not imprisonment.
Chris Rock has a joke about low expectation boasting. “I ain’t ever been to jail.” “You ain’t supposed to go to jail, you low expectation having…” Sadly, he can no longer laugh at this joke. He’s been to jail and here is the story.

It’s been awhile but the Godfather of Finding Japan, Chris, is back in the land! Chris and Terrance have teamed up to continue bringing our discoveries and observations of this sometimes mystifying, almost always interesting country. In this episode we get you caught up with what’s been going on with our lives, as well as where we plan on taking the show.

The co-host on today’s show is the Artistic Mr. Mertens. Craig and Terrance talk about the Oscars, do a bit of a detour into the LGBT situation in Japan and in general, and most importantly pimp his current art exhibition Ladies First.
If you’re in the Osaka area check out Ladies First at Cafe Absinthe:
http://www.absinthe-jp.com/cafe-absinthe/news/578
And pick up Craig’s artistic wares at Society6:
http://society6.com/CraigMertens/Ladies-First-Exhibition-Poster_Print#1=45
P.S. Sorry if the sound levels are a bit high and we hope
we don’t blowout your eardrums – every episode is a learning experience f^_^;

Another day, another episode. This time it’s a laid back interview over wine and cheese with Brian J. at Freestyle in Shibuya. Brian’s had a few adventures around the world and we talk about how came he from Italy to the US and then to Japan and how music shaped his journey.