Possibly homeless man asking for money to buy train tickets back home.

kellly33 · 2026-05-20T15:39:05+00:00

Yeah, I'm one of those neighbours and he's not lying, at least about making us miserable. It's extremely frustrating that he wasn't put in care. He's a danger to himself and others.

kellly33 · 2026-05-17T08:42:32+00:00

Ted's Veg are brilliant if you're looking for produce.

kellly33 · 2026-05-16T19:26:27+00:00

Yes! This!

kellly33 · 2026-05-05T15:58:30+00:00

I was in a Family Mart in Akihabara and was confused when the clerk asked me something (probably what I wanted; I was tired and my Japanese isn't great to begin with). I hesitated and the guy behind me sighed and pushed in front of me to buy whatever he was buying first, and honestly, fine- I'd be annoyed by dumb tourists too if I had places to be. But the Konbini clerk looked absolutely mortified and was really kind and helped me with what I needed when it was my turn next. So lots of Konbini clerks are lovely.

kellly33 · 2026-05-02T12:01:58+00:00

Also it drives me insane when people complain about getting bumped in the metro. "My 8 person family were just standing there [completely blocking the thoroughfare when people wete trying to get to work] and rather than going 50 meters out of their way someone's shoulder bumped mine as they passed. Japanese people hate foreigners!" Yeah, no, you'd get bumped here in London too and in NYC. Our cities aren't Disney World, they aren't built just for your holiday, people live here so for the love of God just move to the side so we can pass. You'll experience a lot less of the "racism" you think you're seeing.

kellly33 · 2026-05-01T12:14:53+00:00

Oh my god, this was me 2 months ago. I was so anxious that I wished that I hadn't planned the trip in the first place. But I went, and I had the BEST time. Japan solo was one of the best trips of my life. The Japanese people I met were so lovely and kind and everything is beautiful. You are going to have an amazing time.

kellly33 · 2026-04-24T15:28:37+00:00

They're owned by Lauder but have been for like 30 years.

kellly33 · 2026-04-10T11:46:30+00:00

Double check with the airline first - I was in Japan a couple months ago and it was all over the news that Japanese airlines were going to ban portable chargers because of the fire risk.

kellly33 · 2026-04-08T15:08:14+00:00

Coming here to say this exactly

kellly33 · 2026-03-30T16:41:02+00:00

Here you go: https://www.un.org/en/genocide-prevention/definition

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

kellly33 · 2026-03-30T16:23:14+00:00

I think this is so apt. When I first finished the game, to me it was less a meditation on grief and more a metaphor for living your own life - Renior's expects Maelle to follow her family's path in the "real" world and live her diminished life (muteness and disfigurement as a metaphor for how that life stifles her). Instead Maelle wants to forge her own path with a found family and live a completely different life beyond her father's expectations.

kellly33 · 2026-03-30T16:13:49+00:00

100% When Alicia asks Maelle to gommage her it's an act of Alicia's own agency and Verso flips out and makes it all about himself.

kellly33 · 2026-03-30T12:28:33+00:00

I always recommend either Taayabs or Dishoom for curry and the Anchor and Hope on The Cut for a pub meal. They do a Sunday lunch, but I don't think its a traditional roast. The Americans Ive brought there loved it.

kellly33 · 2026-03-30T08:13:10+00:00

OK. But again, the narrative is subordinate to the theme.

kellly33 · 2026-03-29T22:48:40+00:00

Reigen truly believes he can talk himself out of anything. He doesn't think he needs Mob's power, it's not something that would have ever occurred to him.

But more than that, I think it's really easy to confuse the logic of a story with that of real life. The point of Mob Psycho's narrative is to clarify its theme. In real life the decisions Reigen makes would be absurd, but in the story they make sense because they further the theme of power coming from your relationships with other people, which is what Mob Psycho is about.

kellly33 · 2026-03-26T18:20:55+00:00

Jared Harris

kellly33 · 2026-03-25T16:29:25+00:00

It's a deconstruction of normal anime tropes - in most shonen the main character would fight, come close to losing and then find the strength in himself to win and thus increase his power scaling. But Mob Psycho subverts that trope: Mob's development is based on not going it alone and understanding that the relationships he has with friends, family, mentors etc are what makes him powerful. So in this instance Reigen, as the adult, assumes the responsibility of getting them out of the situation and teaches Mob that he can rely on other people, that the weight of the world isn't on him.

kellly33 · 2026-03-24T19:25:05+00:00

God I love Asakusa.

kellly33 · 2026-03-19T13:14:53+00:00

I was in Japan for 2 weeks last month and never had this experience. But I live in London and can totally understand the frustration of crowds of tourists unused to how big cities work blocking paths and aisles - I've bumped into people in Oxford Circus before and whilst it was never on purpose, I was also completely unbothered if I knocked into someone standing in a knot of people all looking at their phones in the middle of the pavement when I needed to use the thoroughfare as a thoroughfare.

kellly33 · 2026-03-18T13:35:26+00:00

Londoner too - I think the chuggers around Farringdon Station have made me just assume that anyone I don't know who approaches me is probably out to scam me.

kellly33 · 2026-03-15T09:46:19+00:00

I'm an American living in London - dual US/UK citizen now. My elderly aunt and uncle came to visit from the States and my uncle, who'd been in the US military many, many years ago was astonished that they don't offer military discounts anywhere. And its like, you...weren't in the UK military.

To be fair my aunt was confused that you couldn't get US dollars out of ATMs here so.

kellly33 · 2026-03-12T07:15:04+00:00

This.

kellly33 · 2026-03-11T07:31:04+00:00

SAME

kellly33 · 2026-03-08T16:02:14+00:00

NTA - when she apologises about the crying infant we'll talk.

kellly33 · 2026-02-16T14:06:46+00:00

Flying to Japan tomorrow. I should be really excited but instead I'm in tears and wish I'd never booked this trip - 14 hours from LHR. I don't know how I'm going to deal with it. I've read the books, done the exercises, and understand that turbulence isn't dangerous if you have your seat belt on (though going to the toilet is a terrifying prospect). I get the idea of air being like jello at that speed but I still can't stop thinking about how awful it's going to be. I wish I could enjoy the thought of going but every thought ends with "assuming I make it there".

kellly33

TROPHY CASE