Victory Manual

This is a thought that just occured to me, but it seems that an increase in crime has a direct correlation with materialism in society. People want stuff, and to get stuff you need cash.
With an increasingly short attention span, thanks to the influence of things like music videos where any given scene is [...]

Dear Pacific-right-siders and others interested in our humble existence,
We recently acquired a tool that enables us to document images and sound. We’ve put the mechanism through a series of tests and would like to share a few of the results with you here.

I created a new dish this evening: Sun-dried tomato and gnocchi [...]

I know all of our family and friends out there are in dire need of some LL (Lani Lee) pictures and videos. But here’s the thing - Our cameras have been exceptionally nonfunctional since our big international move.
We’re going to get a new one. I’m not just saying that. We’ve been down [...]

Got my Japanese license. It took 3 hours of paperwork and explanations of my driving history in California and Korea, an eye exam, a picture, and ￥4000 (about $40 USD). There were no written or driving tests because of the exchange agreement between Korea and Japan, and I was lucky enough to have [...]

I’m a fan of creativity, even in advertisements. I won’t necessarily buy a product because of a well thought out commercial, but I appreciate their efforts. One thing I can’t stand, though, is contradiction in advertising, whether intentional or mistaken.
I absolutely couldn’t stand* the Sprite campaign, “Image is nothing, thirst is everything.” [...]

Mrs. Victory Manual, who has passed both JLPT level one and the JETRO Business Japanese Test, shared her very own manuel de victoire with moi.
In very scientific terms, she told me that the secret winning study strategy for the JLPT is, “choosing one textbook and studying it from cover to cover.”
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Very anticlimactic. But, I’m [...]

Among the non-Asian foreign community living in an East Asian country, there are heaps of remonstrations touching on discrimination. Whether it’s over the perceived notion that the media focuses its fire on foreign criminal activity, or the claim that “4 out of 5 landlords will not rent to a foreigner,” there is an abundance [...]

I came across a blog which asserts that living in Japan is expensive, despite what other foreigners may have to say on the issue. Based on my own view and experience, I still insist that it’s actually more affordable than living back in the States.
The author of the above-mentioned blog presents her arguments with [...]

I’ve been browsing, comparing the prices of, and poring over the details of sites like shopping.yahoo.co.jp, amazon.co.jp, and yamada-denkiweb.com, trying to find the cheapest way to stock a house with all the necessities for daily living in a household of three.
Of course, there’s always 中古 (used), but you can’t really judge the goods unless you’re [...]