About Mutant Frog Travelogue

For some of our readers, it might not be immediately apparent what Mutant Frog Travelogue is all about. None of us actually does much “travelling” per se, nor do we have much to do with Mutants or Frogs. This has caused the occasional misunderstanding.

Curzon at Coming Anarchy sums us up pretty well, though:

“Mutant Frog Travelogue” started as a site for Roy Berman’s online travel photos. He then joined forces with translator Adamu; later teamed up with Saru, who shuttered his East Asian economics blog to join; and most recently, Joe left his blog “NichiNichi” to sign up as the fourth contributor to the what is probably the quirkiest blog on the Far East.

I’m friends with all the boys at MutantFrog, and their stuff from the past few days has been even more awesome than usual. So here’s an introduction for those of you who aren’t regular readers. All have a background in East Asia with a focus on Japan. They’re based across the globe: Adamu and Saru are in the US, Roy is in Taiwan, and Joe is in Japan. All have professional expertise to boot: Roy gives us the lowdown on unusual topics of interest and beautiful photography; Saru is the econ guru; Joe focuses on law topics and Adamu, a translator by trade, writes about everything else (lots of juicy current event analysis). Educational and entertaining in one healthy dose, it’s probably the best East Asian blog around.

One correction: We’re men, each and every one of us.

Like anyone else, we write what we feel, post what we see, bleed when we’re cut, cry when our children die, donate our spare change, and laugh when people fall on their asses.

One reason we have avoided an about page for so long is because we basically post whatever we feel like. Very often it is about East Asian/Japanese affairs, but you can’t pin us down!

To get a better idea of where we come from, here are some offerings from each of MFT’s authors:

Roy

Roy’s posts center on current events, technology, and photography.

Adamu

Adamu’s interests include applied translation, Japanese politics, and culture. He reads Japanese tabloids way more often than he should.

Inspirations:

“Debaser” by The Pixies
Uzumaki by Junji Ito
somethingawful.com

Survey!

Four jobs I’ve had:

  • Corporate spy for hotel marketing depts—I drove around DC at 5am every day surreptitiously photographing hotel event boards… didn’t pay much but at least I learned how to get around the District.
  • Babysitter for rich kids at a local quaker school – kids in my charge included a the daughter of a governor from a midwest state, the boy genius son of a Chinese scientist, and a young prince of a middle eastern nation. Snack time often featured pitas and hummus.
  • Translator for a company in Canada. They didn’t seem to care that I had zero experience or any background in the subjects I was translating. But hey who am I to question?
  • English conversation instructor for Japanese businessmen, bureaucrats, and their wives (in DC).

Four places I have lived:

  • Somers, Connecticut – Home of tag sales, getting cocked (wasted), and wicked hot chicks.
  • Kawanishi, Hyogo – Where I tested my host families’ patience at every turn and shocked them with my ability to finish two big plates of curry.
  • Washington, DC - When I first got here, I spent most days wasting time studying Japanese in front of my PC —Now I spend them getting paid to basically do the same thing. I’ve gotten older, but my life hasn’t changed much!
  • Kyoto – Where I lost lots of weight but nevertheless found time to utilize my curry-eating skills by completing the Coco Ichiban Curry House Challenge in 10 minutes.

Four TV shows I love to watch:

  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force
  • The Office
  • South Park
  • Law & Order – best show ever made!

Four of my favorite dishes:

  • Okonomiyaki
  • Eel
  • Curry
  • General Tso’s Chicken

Four places I’d rather be right now:

  • Bangkok
  • Living comfortably in Japan
  • Some sort of onsen resort – they’re all the same really.
  • On a road trip with Mrs. Adamu

Saru

Saru’s interests are mainly in economics, high art, and shifting the American academic focus on Japan from security relations to trade relations.

Survey!

Four jobs I’ve had:

  • Sandwich Artist at Subway – No matter how many times I showered, the “eat fresh” smell just wouldn’t go away.
  • Produce clerk at a Farmer Jack’s supermarket chain store somewhere in the Shenandoah Valley – Finally, I learned what Anise looks like.
  • Administrative Assistant at a public relations firm – A full year of misery that in hindsight had less to do with the job itself and more to do with the fact that it was my first just-out-of college-real-world-job-experience.
  • Handing out fliers on election day for a local school board candidate – The guy I worked for was hit by a car while jogging the week after the election. He died; I never got paid.

Four Places I’ve lived:

  • Osaka, Japan – Like Joe, this was my introduction to Japan and I still consider it my Japanese home.
  • Kyoto, Japan – Met Adamu and Roy here.
  • Somewhere in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia – “Welcome back to Farmer Jack’s, ei, ai, ei, ai, ow…”
  • Silver Spring, MD - Where I brooded for a year over how I deserved something better than a $20,000 per year job at a public relations firm.

Four TV Shows I love to watch:

Don’t have a TV anymore, but some childhood favs were:

  • Pink Panther
  • Scooby Doo
  • The Electric Company
  • 321 Contact

Four of my favorite East Asian dishes:

  • Sanzai Soba
  • Hiyayako
  • Ishiyaki Bibinba
  • That really, really hot stuff Roy, Younghusband and I ordered in Urumqi

Four places I’d rather be right now:

  • A good used book store
  • Having beers with friends at Anpontan
  • Having dinner with any friends anywhere
  • Staring out the window of a bus or a train while travelling somewhere I’ve never been before

Joe

Joe posts on Japanese law, the commercial air industry, and politics.

Inspirations:

everything2.com
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
“Synthesizer” by OutKast

Survey!

Four jobs I’ve had:

  • Barrista in a nursing school – one of my all-time favorites because I could experiment with coffee and flirt with cute girls all day.
  • Busboy – This was back in high school. The highlight of that job was when a half-eaten shrimp cocktail fell off a tray and landed on my head.
  • One of the guys who approaches you in the mall asking to clean your glasses. I think that job was one step up from washing people’s windshields.
  • Internet director for a large political campaign – I’m still not sure how I got this one, but hey, no complaints.

Four places I’ve lived:

  • South Florida – I used to hate this place, but now it seems all right. It manages to be very diverse without hating people too much, which is more than you can generally say about Northern cities.
  • Philadelphia – Um, it’s close to NYC and has good greasy food. That’s about all I can say about it.
  • Osaka – The city that introduced me to Japan. I went to school a stone’s throw from Umeda. I got a monthly allowance and had next to no responsibilities. Those were the days.
  • Tokyo – Probably my favorite city in the world, but I really have to get out of Minato-ku because it’s a freakin’ gaijin ghetto down here.

Four TV shows I love to watch:

  • The Daily Show
  • South Park
  • Family Guy
  • Rome (almost makes me want to get HBO)

Four of my favorite dishes:

  • Katsu curry
  • Shabu-shabu
  • Eel
  • Burgers from Wendy’s

Four places I’d rather be right now:

  • On a beach somewhere by the Gulf of Mexico
  • An onsen in the mountains
  • Reading a book and abusing the drink bar at Jonathan’s
  • Wandering around an airport