While some Japanese vending machines are under fire for offering sexy good times, the vast, vast majority of vending machines offer only beverages.

If you live in Japan (or, well, Asia), you have a rice cooker. If you don't own one, get thee to a store and buy one. But, if you want something non-tech and have access to lots of firewood, there's a work around.

This week is Golden Week in Japan—a series of holidays. Because it's Golden Week, Japanese game news has pretty much come to a halt. The entire country is on vacation.

May 5 is Children's Day. Since my wife and I have, well, children, we get out a set of miniature "yoroi" (armor) so that our sons grow up healthy and strong.

A perfect pour in Japan has just the amount of right amount of head. This beer tap (beer fountain?) tilts the glass, just so. At after the beer is poured, foam jets out, and a creamy head is poured.

Growing up in Texas, I always looked forward to fall. September was back-to-school time. New pencils. New notebooks. New backpacks. But in Japan, back-to-school time isn't fall. It's spring.

In Japan, you are either an udon person or a soba person. You cannot be both! This is serious Beatles-Stones kinda stuff.

One of the most popular things to do on vacation in Japan is head to an onsen or "hot springs". They're dotted all over the country, and people—both young and old—enjoy visiting onsen towns, where they eat delicious food and bathe.

Soon where I live in Osaka, Japan will be bathed in cherry blossoms. The plum blossoms are blooming, but the cherry blossoms haven't quite started yet.

It is for little kids. Above is a lunch my eldest son ate late last year. And it was pretty cute!

So my eldest son, who is 8, loves reading biographies. But most of the biographies he checks out from the library are in manga form. He's read about John F. Kennedy, Babe Ruth, and Honda founder Soichiro Honda—all in manga form.

One of the best things about Japan is the service. The service is generally great. One of the things that makes it so great? Call buttons.

Tomorrow is White Day in Japan. I'm supposed to give sweets to women who gave me chocolate on Valentine's Day.

It really feels like spring here in Osaka—finally! Flowers starting to bud, bees buzzing, and birds chirping. But that also means, no more winter food.

Holy crap, I love plastic models. I'm not very good at them, but ever since I was a kid, I adored building them. My favorites growing up were airplanes (I blame Top Gun) and World War II tanks (I blame cool tanks).

Panasonic makes a 103-inch TV—it's apparently the biggest plasma in the world. It's on display at electronics shops throughout Japan. Seeing one isn't a big deal. Playing Kinect on it just might be.

Tomorrow is the Hinamatsuri, or Japanese Doll Festival. During the festival, dolls are displayed on stands against gold leaf backgrounds.

No, you are not reading Hideo Kojima's Twitter (though, I think it's silly that guy gets heat for posting pics of his food—he should be able to post whatever he wants!)

I've actually never thought that I needed an instrument to clean my tongue. I thought regular tooth brushing (and occasional tongue brushing) would handle that. I guess I was wrong.

In Japan, "omimai" (お見舞い) is when you visit folks in the hospital. My mother-in-law broke her back, so we've been several times. But it's not only family members—like elsewhere, friends and extended family visit, too.