Sometimes, a bag full of bite-sized, custard-filled, Hello Kitty-shaped pancakes is all you need to be happy. At this storefront in Harajuku, a woman in a pink bandanna in a… Read the rest of the article: Hello Kitty pancake shop

More random wall art from Kathmandu's Patan Hospital: two newspaper clippings circa 2002 and 2003 that remind us that alcoholism is very bad for society. According to these snippets, alcoholism… Read the rest of the article: Alcoholics and girls are bad news at discos

In Japan, February 3rd is Setsubun no hi. Technically the day symbolizes the first day of spring, but this year, with snow from Monday night still lingering on rooftops, it… Read the rest of the article: Video: Annual bean-throwing festival in Japan

What a beautiful specimen this thing called the dragon fruit is! Its skin looks like the feathers of an exotic bird or the petals of a tropical flower. Cut it… Read the rest of the article: Taste Test: Dragon fruit

I visited my friend Lara at her home in Tokyo yesterday. She just had a baby boy, who is the proud owner of this adorable little pacifier that doubles as… Read the rest of the article: Mute button

Where I grew up in Tokyo, there was never enough room to build a treehouse; I was always envious of kids in America, who all seemed to have one in… Read the rest of the article: Buy a modern treehouse for $25K

This drug awareness illustration drawn by a Nepali child is displayed on a bulletin board in Kathmandu's Patan Hospital. Aasara means "shelter"; the drug addict appears to be bottled up… Read the rest of the article: A Nepali child's drug awareness drawing

Using statistics from Reliefweb, GOOD Magazine has created a neat interactive infographic that shows who has given aid (money and resources) to Haiti so far.* Haitian Aid (GOOD) *Data accurate… Read the rest of the article: Visual representation of global aid to Haiti

In this kooky video, Finnish interaction designer Mikko Pitkänen imagines a future in which augmented reality helps us find romantic partners through a cone-shaped device called the Love-O-Scope. Perfect for… Read the rest of the article: Video: one possible scenario for the future of dating

At the Hindu Swasthani Mela festival held in Kathmandu earlier this month, I spotted a small ferris wheel that appeared to be non-functional. It consisted of four octagonal open-air cages… Read the rest of the article: Human-powered ferris wheel in Nepal

Last month, while waiting to get my typhoid vaccine for travel to Nepal at the immunization clinic in San Francisco, I found myself sitting across from a super chatty thirty-something… Read the rest of the article: Advisor: Should chatty cell phone users stick to social networking?

Kabosu is a citrus fruit that tastes kind of like a cross between a lemon, lime, and yuzu. It gets harder to find the further you get from Oita Prefecture,… Read the rest of the article: Taste Test: Kabosu

There's a fascinating exhibit at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo right now called Medicine and Art: Imagining a Future for Life and Love. It showcases 150 works of art… Read the rest of the article: Art exhibit examines ancient medical gadgets, dead babies, and George Washington's dentures

Complaints choirs are groups of people in different cities who sing about things that are bothering them. It started in Helsinki and has infected ranters all over the world, in… Read the rest of the article: Tokyo's first "complaints choir" sings of greedy bosses and balding

My parents are moving out of the home I grew up in next month, which means I have to go through all my stuff and get rid of most of… Read the rest of the article: Advisor: What should I do with my high school CD collection?

I love ginkgo nuts. They have a nutty, ever-so-slightly bittersweet flavor and a punchy-soft texture reminiscent of jelly beans that is, in my experience, quite unmatched by other nuts. They're… Read the rest of the article: Taste Test: Ginkgo nuts

In Tokyo yesterday, I bought three packs of Japanese space food at a science museum. Pictured here are a pack of daigaku imo (candied sweet potatoes) and takoyaki (balls of… Read the rest of the article: Japanese space food

A study published by the Journal of Family Issues has found that there is a link between household labor time and sexual frequency — the more men help out with… Read the rest of the article: Study finds link between house chores and sex

A French design firm has created a series of flower vases inspired by plumbing. They're made of PVC, and really beautiful — I'd love to have a set like this… Read the rest of the article: Vases that look like plumbing pipes

At the Eiffel Tower's official web site, you can check out scans of the original blueprints created by Gustave Eiffel in preparation for the 1889 World's Fair. The famous tower… Read the rest of the article: Original blueprints of the Eiffel Tower