At least at the one I went to in Tokyo, they have a whole "back room" that the cats can escape to where customers can't follow them. The staff would also prevent people from badgering the cats if they were sleeping/trying to hide. These cats are very well cared for.

Hearted, because it's true. I'll just be over here in the corner at my shitty retail job, forcing a smile at middle-aged customers who put me down for working retail instead of buying a house and working a corporate job.

I don't know about my greatest, but certainly one of the greatest:

I just want to say I really enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek of this article. Nice move, Kirk.

It really depends on where you go. I lived in a very international part of Tokyo—pretty much everyone I ever interacted with spoke at least a bit of English, and automatically used it with me. I tried to respond in Japanese as much as possible, with mixed results. Some people will gladly switch back to Japanese,…

No need to apologize! I only lived in Japan for three months, but things like that happen all the time and it's frustrating no matter what. I had a huge breakdown and starting hurling curse words (in my dorm) at all Japanese people ever because I decided they didn't know how to walk properly on the sidewalk. Yes, it…

Trust me, there's not any experience to be missed.

We had a lot of that style of housing at my college, both suite-style and apartment-style. (Differences in singles vs. doubles/triples, and apartments had kitchens while suites had no stove.) I actually asked one of the high-ups in Residence Life why that couldn't be co-ed. We had bathrooms that only one person could…

That's helpful, thank you!

This is only tangentially related, but does anyone have a link to somewhere that explains the dress of the men in this photo? I get the hair styles and hat (kinda) but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the clothes they're wearing here are not the clothes worn by Jews a couple thousand years ago in the…

Sadly, my own co-worker won't let me do that anymore. :( In fact, one former coworker threatened me with violence if I opened another kids' book to read to them. (I like silly voices, even though I'm TERRIBLE at them.)

It's so nice to have happy stories on here sometimes. :)

I just wanted to say this is an awesome article. This was so well-written, well-thought-out and very interesting. I'd like to see an expansion of this idea with character relationships in general, both in a romantic sense and in a platonic friendship way. What games are there where friendship is integral to the story,…

Parenting: your mom is doing it right.

It's not that the author had a close and loving relationship with her mom; it's that she only had that kind of relationship with her mother and no one else. It's great when parents and children can get along so well, but it's not so great when those children can't form those relationships with others closer to their…

Where does one find a two-piece like that? I am becoming more open to the idea of a bikini these days, but I most defs want full butt coverage (why is that so hard to find in any kind of swimsuit???) and would like my lady bits and large boobs full covered and not in danger of popping out. Something like this,…

I have a question that I would honestly like answered. Why do people choose the pat down over the scanner?

I may make that Wikipedia dress for Halloween. With a wand. That I would use to hit people and decree "Citation needed!" in my best imperial voice.

Romance novels are glaring exception to this. I would say that most of the trade fiction is considered frivolous as well—chick lit, for example. Maybe there's a component of women being expected to read more, and be more willing to read both "serious" books in addition to chick lit. It's not a perfect distinction,…

There is that component to it, as well. I think also men are expected to read less than women do, hence cheaper books. Kind of like the reasoning for men's clothing being priced lower. It's meant to entice them to buy more, I think.