Kid Ethnic: Mixed-Race Adventures in Japan, Now on Rather Long Boat Trip

En Route to Namibia, My Knowledge Knows Bounds · 16 days ago

I sat down to write a list of things I knew about Namibia.

But first, South Africa.

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Photo: Media Killings, A Poster · 33 days ago

Spotted in a Manila train station, day-glo as a skating rink.

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Manila: About the Crinkles and the Ube Bar · 33 days ago

I saw the Ube Bar.

And then I saw the Crinkles.

We bought them from a lady.

And they were good.

Donut-like.

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PHOTOS: The Keelung Shine · 33 days ago

Keelung shine on for always please.

For we love cities that love themselves.
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MEANWHILE: Across the harbor…

Our ship waits, never sleeping.

SIDENOTE:
A ship-tour of the world is, of course, a tour of port cities. A tour of noise and scrambled grit. Which I love.

NEXT UP:
Manila, Philipines.

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And I Am Now Officially On A Boat Trip Around the World · 40 days ago

Yes, I am working on a boat, a circumnavigating boat.

If you are unsure of what a boat looks like, do not worry. For even you will know that our boat is a boat. It is clearly marked as such:

The boat departed from Yokohama, and it is large, too large for my camera:

The ticket takes me from Yokohama, Japan, to Yokohama, Japan, by way of the Southern Hemisphere. Highlights include Namibia, Kenya, Tierra Del Fuego, Easter Island, and a ride along the coast of Antarctica. I am very happy to be a part of all this.

You may be wondering to yourself, “Self, how should I express my emotions upon embarking on such a journey? How should I show my happiness?”

I would like to suggest that you copy the emotions of this man:

Let that be the mood for all which shall be documented here.

NEXT UP: Taiwan.

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Father and Sign: A Flyer Design · 85 days ago

The fruits of an afternoon spent arranging furniture and directing my father around the living room below:

… a flyer for Onika’s Art ShO event in NYC.

Incidentally, I am in America for the next while, back to Japan at the end of the month. Next up, if all goes well, a 4-month stint working on a ship…

—— – MEANWHILE, ACROSS THE PACIFIC:

h_a_n_a attempts to make cameras out of cakes, mere blocks from my old house:

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IN CHICAGO: Little Brother, Full of Light · 119 days ago

In Chicago, the light hit my brother and shone straight through:

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We walked among construction, bright like twin suns.

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Bricks towered and blurred and unblurred.

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Things fell in unexpected ways.

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Little Brother tried to understand it all.

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But the sidewalk symbols were no use.

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No, seriously, the blue caduceus on the sidewalk in the night? It confused me. But overall, our blue and orange day made me love Chicago plenty. In America for the next month, and then back to Japan and then on to the ship…

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AT THE ZOO: The Greatest Thing Was Not the Rhino · 150 days ago

I wrote it because it is true. The proof is at 1:10 (feel free to skip ahead).

All at the Kumamoto Zoo, kindly filmed by manafilm .

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The Place Where Pretty Girls Think You’re Smart And Funny · 186 days ago

The story is true, it takes place in a Japanese hostess bar, and it starts like this:

The woman who is being paid to flirt with me is very good.

She’s sitting in front of me, batting her eyelashes and playing with the translucent boa that hangs around her neck. She wears a form-fitting, purplish-red dress that looks like a prom outfit from a sultry alternate reality. Her eyelashes reach up and out, exaggerating her blinks and laughs. Those eyelashes can’t be real.

“You’re very handsome,” she says, leaning slightly toward me. I’m not inclined to argue. At that exact moment in time, I certainly feel very handsome.

But there are complications.

You should totally click here to read the rest on Glimpse’s site.

Because it turned into a pretty dang weird night, in which I am either A) kind of neat or B) a total clown.

Up to you.

Photo taken on the streets of Kumamoto while working for Glimpse.org . Show them love for they have paid me to attempt to make wonderful things for you.

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An INVENTION: Anti-Twitter (aka The Status Game) · 190 days ago

PERFECT FOR A LAZY DAY!

For 2 or MORE players (who enjoy each other’s company, but are kind of bored)

Object of Anti-Twitter:
Without using a computer or cell phone, contestants attempt to guess what friendly-non-contestants are currently doing.

The person with the most correct guesses is the winner.

BONUS: In doing so, contestants often fish out invitations to do interesting things with people they may not usually do interesting things with.

Required Materials:
Gameplay Phase: Pen and paper, and perhaps a timekeeping device

Scoring Phase: A phone

Game Preparation:
The contestants make a list a list of friendly local folks who are not playing the game (aka Friendly Non-Contestants, henceforth FNCs).

Each player copies the list onto their own paper, leaving a space of, oh I don’t know, approximately 140 characters open to the right of each name.

Game Play:
A timer is set for some reasonable amount of time.

Each player writes in what they think each FNC is currently doing.

When the timer buzzes, players stop writing.

Scoring Phase:
The players go through the list, calling or texting each FNC. Suggested opening line, “Hey, I was just hanging out with [name of most popular other player], and we were wondering what you were up to.”

Each correct written answer receives 1 point. At the end, the person with the most points wins.

VERY IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATION:
If, at any point, an FNC invites you to engage in something other than the Anti-Twitter Game, please do so.

My friend Lloyd and I invented this game by accident. Actual game sheet photographed above. Please let me know if you try it. NOTE: I’m not anti-Twitter, that’s just the name of the game. “Anti-” like “anti-matter,” you know, the opposite of.

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