Author Archives: tinabot

Traveling Japan: Hakodate’s Lucky Pierrot

When I started seeing Lucky Pierrot featured in a few local travel YouTube channels, the image of the loudly colored, mismatched-eyeballed, crazy clown mascot for this equally chaotic Chucky-Cheese-reminiscent restaurant intrigued me. What was it that had caused this phenomenon … Continue reading

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Indian Rock: Bloodywood

As a teenager in the 1990s, the complaint from adults was: “Your music is too loud.” As an adult today, my complaint to young people is: “Your music is too quiet.” At some point, the music stopped getting louder. Those … Continue reading

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Pinoy Rock: Slapshock

It was in the cool shade under the outdoor Legacy Gym roof on the tropical paradise island of Boracay, Philippines where one of the MMA trainers asked me and my friends what kind of music we’d like to train muay … Continue reading

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Review of Netflix Japan’s “Our Secret Diary”

Directed by Kentaro Takemura, the main character of Japanese teen romance movie Our Secret Diary, high schooler Nozomi Kuroda (Hiyori Sakurada), is your classic Japanese shy girl next door who also adorably happens to be a bit of a closet … Continue reading

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Traveling Japan: Sakura Season at Nagoya’s Yamasaki River Kanae Bridge

‘Tis the hanami (flower viewing) season in Japan again, and I thought I’d share one of my favorite sakura stroll experiences in Japan. While the famous spots are often in popular tourist destinations like Tokyo and Kyoto, one thing I … Continue reading

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Review: Netflix’s “Let’s Get Divorced”

Sheltered third generation politician Taishi Shoji (Tori Matsuzaka) and wildly successful actress Yui Kurosawa (Riisa Naka) can no longer stand each other and want to get a divorce, but their high profile life makes it extremely difficult to do so … Continue reading

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Netflix Announces Season 2 & 3 for Avatar: The Last Airbender

The new live action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix has been trending at #1 since it was released a couple weeks ago, so it’s no surprise when it was announced that they are now planning to do … Continue reading

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Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender – Episode 1 Review

The long awaited Avatar: The Last Airbender live action show from Netflix finally released, and all 8 episodes are out. Here are my impressions of Episode 1. Story: Very good. There was already solid source material to work with, and … Continue reading

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Traveling Japan: Narita Omotesando and Shinsho-ji

When they built the Narita International Airport out in the Chiba Prefecture back in the 70s, the idea was to decongest the main Haneda airport in Tokyo and establish a more spacious, higher capacity, and cost efficient alternative to flying … Continue reading

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Traveling Taiwan: Downtown Hsinchu

Before Taipei was even a thing, there was Hsinchu, the first northern city to be developed in Taiwan in the early 1700s. Savvy international investors and world leaders have definitely heard of this rather small, unassuming town because even though … Continue reading

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Traveling Philippines: Masungi Georeserve

East of the major Metro Manila area, past Antipolo in the rainforests of Rizal is the award-winning Masungi Georeserve, a private conservation area which serves as a sanctuary for various wildlife as well as a limestone landscape and unique geo-landforms … Continue reading

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Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender out February 22, 2024

After the Shyamalan debacle Avatar: The Last Airbender film, aside from the fact that it was an awkwardly cut and executed version of the otherwise amazing and fun source material inspired by Asian culture and mysticism, there was widespread outcry, … Continue reading

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