I knew it couldn't have just been me. That line totally knocked me on my ass.

Nice try, Rob.

…her?

Oh damn, I didn't realize it was that bad in Tokyo. Here in Osaka they're not nearly as prevalent so it's way more of a once-in-awhile "Oh snap! Mario Kart!" novelty as opposed to a full-on nuisance.

I work in downtown Osaka, and I see groups of maybe four to ten of these guys driving down the street right in front of my office about once every two weeks or so. It looks hella fun, and whenever they drive by the big kindergarten just down the block, all the little kids playing outside absolutely LOSE THEIR SHIT.

Almost-native Japanese speaker here:
It's hard to explain via text, but for an English speaker it may be easiest to understand to describe it as a cross between "lee-lah" and "dee-dah". Japanese people with "R"'s in their name sometimes switch the "R" out with an "L" to make it look cool when written, but this is…

In-DEED!

"The story of how instant ramen came to be" is dramatized for some TV special or another here in Japan like once a month. There's actually a pretty big segment of the population here that knows exactly how and why instant ramen came into existence and who Momofuku Ando was, yet couldn't tell you which side Japan was…

So on a side note, are you gonna be making a guest appearance when Fred Armisen hosts the next SNL?

Shit, man… It's kind of a shame that although I've been watching the news here in Japan every day for this past week and this guy died five days ago, this is the first I've heard of it. RIP.

I would also submit that a few of the kids (namely Manny and Luke, and while she's obviously much younger, Lily) are getting old enough that shitty acting stops being cute/overlookable and starts getting just plain annoying. I usually watch my regular Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday shows in one block, and watching Modern…

OH SNAP! I've been coming to the AV Club since, well, pretty much since it came into existence (but only started somewhat-actively commenting really recently), and this is my first time receiving a reply in the form of an AD/Simpsons/(insert AV Club-beloved piece of pop culture here) quote! I feel like I should get…

I thought I was the only one!

Man, with the kind of money corporations out here (edit: "out here" being Japan) pay Hollywood actors for doing commercials, Bruce Willis and Tommy Lee Jones in particular must be absolutely rolling in it.
(Like, you know, even more so than other super famous Hollywood actors, I mean.)

That sounds like the MC Hammer + David Byrne collaboration the world never knew it needed.

HANA is indeed awesome as well. I saw her with Grimes at her Osaka show in January, and HANA's one-song set was like a really nice interlude. Hope she starts getting more of the recognition she deserves!

That's what I had always thought, too, but apparently she chose that name because back in the day when she'd post her stuff on MySpace, she'd post it under the "Grime" category simply because she thought it sounded appropriate (but didn't actually know what it actually meant), and then decided to use it as the name of…

I get that at least once or twice a week. I like to fuck with people by answering with stuff like "Toontown" or "Wallyworld" or "Babylon", to which I almost invariably get a "I've been to Hawaii (because if you're a white dude then obviously you're from the US)! Do you know Steve?"

Ah, that was it! Thanks for the clarification!

Also, if I remember correctly - and honestly, there's a damn fine chance that I don't - Cooper was originally sent to Twin Peaks to look into the disappearance of Special Agent Chris Isaak (as opposed to Laura Palmer's murder), wasn't he?