One of the things that bugs me about Japan is that smoking isn’t yet universally considered a habit so vile that smokers are treated as social pariahs. Maybe it’s because so many smokers here are middle-aged men, and men get respect here. Walk into a McDonalds in Japan, and wherever you sit, you’ll probably have [...]
iTunes Australia is finally out. But tracks are $1.69 each, and albums are at least $16.99. When I lived in Melbourne, I used to buy CDs from Dragonfly Discs. There, I could buy classic CDs like David Bowie’s Low for $15. On iTunes Australia, Low is $17.99. Now, why would I buy Low from iTunes [...]
About two weeks I had my first ever paid-for article published. “Are Videogames Conservative?” appeared in the September edition of The IPA Review (57:3). Today, Libby Price, a presenter on Melbourne radio station 3LO, got in contact with me to do a radio interview. I managed to schedule a break in my Berlitz training so [...]
Today, Apple released iTunes 6. This is the most gratuitous major version bump I’ve ever seen. Sure, new iPods came out today that play video. It’s about time. And the iTunes music store also carries short films and TV shows now. But little has changed in iTunes itself. iTunes has played video for ages, and [...]
Last Tuesday, I confirmed that I had a job interview with Berlitz in Ôsaka, on Thursday. I called in my resignation from NOVA, with one day’s notice, at about 11:30. By 11:00 the next morning, I’d sent my luggage to a guest-house in Ôsaka, and was on the train to Tôkyô, ready to catch the [...]
After a whole weekend in Tôkyô, I was broke, and feeling like I couldn’t wait to get out of Ôta so I wouldn’t have to spend 4000¥ every time I wanted to do something interesting. Also, I’d finally settled in: I had internet access, a mobile phone, I’d finished my training, and I was working [...]
Note: I compressed the thumbnails too much when posting this, so please click on the the images to see the full-size, full-quality versions. Saturday 17 September Even though Tôkyô was 2 hours and about 3000¥ in train fares away, I could hardly not go, given that I’m a videogames researcher and all… Makuhari Messe, where [...]
Monday 12 September The LDP won the election! Hooray! Gotta love that Koizumi Junichiro: he’s a gutsy guy, and he’s got great hair. Monday, I got up early to climb Kanayama, the local mountain, as I’d intended to the day before but hadn’t been able to because of the rain. To call Kanayama a mountain [...]
So, I’ve been slack. What started out as a series of posts on two weeks in Japan still hasn’t been finished after a month here. It’s been long enough that I’ve started to forget what days I did things on, so this may be a little bit vague. On the plus-side, the boring bits have [...]
About
Ben Hourigan is an indie novelist, the author of Kiss Me, Genius Boy (2011). He is also the manager of digital operations at a Melbourne design publisher, a freelance writer and editor, and the founder of ebook label hourigan.co.
benhourigan on Twitter
- â@lilithia: @benhourigan You're cool.â Just saw this. Can't remember if this was our spoiler discussion? <3
Friends and allies
Melbourne novelists
Benjamin Grant Mitchell
Joanna George
Iain H. McLean
Christos Tsiolkas
Elliot PerlmanOther novelists
