My mother was a Chinese trapeze artist

December. December started with me doing something I'd vowed never to do, and had avoided doing for 2 and a half years.


Universal Studios Japan is Osaka's answer to Tokyo Disneyland. One surprising difference is USJ has even more characters than Disneyland. This is no minor feat, as Disney has a veritable army of cute Japan-friendly costumed characters. USJ accomplishes this by dipping into other sources of characters. The most popular addition has to be that of Sesame Street. Elmo could run for prime minister on the communist ticket and win in a landslide of 30 year old OL votes. Other's include the Snoopy gang, Hello Kitty, Popeye, the somewhat confusing Crash Bandicoot, and the extremely confusing Break Dancing Pirates of Peter Pan.


I never had any desire to go to USJ, and in fact an intense desire not to. Of course USJ is THE date spot in Osaka which means its only a matter of time. Depending on how much you are swooning, you might end up in the sorry state I did, with a year long pass. God Crash Bandicoot save me.