You carry a Coach bag? Or maybe Louis Vuitton?

In Our Same Boat (with State)

Beyond the Cornfields
Brand-new State Department family in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Love their two little girls (she just recently had a baby while being posted in Dhaka), horticulture, traveling and adventure!
Email From The Embassy
State Department family formerly in Beijing, China, and recently posted to Amman, Jordan. A trailing spouse, she's also a writer, and frequently publishes articles with major news sources. A very experienced State family, this new post is something like overseas post number six or seven for them.
Just US
A beautiful family of seven - they have arrived at their new post: Jerusalem! They just finished off an unaccompanied tour to Iraq and are very much looking forward to sightseeing around the middle east.
Our Life
State Department family on their second post...Tijuana, Mexico. It's their first overseas assignment and they have two little boys. They love Tijuana so far and post pictures frequently! They also get to enjoy the best of both worlds for they can sneak over the border into San Diego when they want to!
The Dinoia Family
State Department family formerly in California, now in DC for a DC tour. Next, the husband will do a one year unaccompanied tour. A very experienced State family (formerly in Iceland and Caracas) with a blog that has been around quite a while and has great archives. Jen has a sweet heart and a lot to give!
The Perlman Update
State Department family formerly in Chennai, India, who then did a year-long unaccompanied tour in Iraq. They are now on a DC tour and after that will do another unaccompanied tour (Afghanistan). She totally tells it like it is and doesn't sugar-coat what life is really like. Witty, snarky, funny and down-to-earth. Look elsewhere if you want fake. Read if you want REAL.
Where in the World Am I?
State Department family formerly in Bujumbura, Burundi and now in Hyderabad, India. They just had their first baby this summer - a beautiful little girl- (there's a separate blog about this) and she also eats gluten-free (with a separate blog, also).

Can't Live Without (non-State)

Crass-Pollination: An ER blog
The best ER nurse blog EVER!
Doctor Grumpy in the House
The best doctor blog EVER!
In Which...
My IRL friend, a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of seven. Her darling daughters are, goshdarnit, probably too young to be hoped for as my future daughters-in-law.
The Crib Chick
My IRL friend, a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of five. Hopefully two (Any two! I'm not picky!) of which are my future daughters-in-law.
the underwear drawer
An anesthesiologist who is possibly the most talented & entertaining writer ever. I've read her blog ever since she started medical school. No, don't know her in real life. Wish I did.
The Bloggess
This blog is both hysterically funny and hilariously irreverent. I actually let my 17 year old son read it (who loves it as much as I do!), but wouldn't even CONSIDER letting my 12 year old son read it. Which is about all the description it needs!

06/07/2014

You carry a Coach bag? Or maybe Louis Vuitton?

Yeah, well, I've got something waaaaayyyyyyyyy more fashionable. Eat your heart out, y'all:

Here we have my pasty white bread kid modeling my new purse that I just bought today. It was literally handmade by Japanese prisoners. As in: Japanese people IN PRISON IN JAPAN. There is pretty close to a ZERO percent chance that you own a purse made by Japanese prisoners. And look how pasty white my kid is. He's so white he's almost translucent.

So there are a whole lot of things you don't want to be in this world. No, seriously.

Like how you don't want to be the guy who goes into a city's backed up septic system and unclogs it with his hands. Or how you don't want to be the guy who works in, I don't know, a slaughter house or a meat packing plant.

You also don't wanna be a prisoner in Japan. No, like for realz y'all.

Now, since this is Japan and not America, the prisoners DO STUFF. They aren't forming gangs and beating the hell out of each other in all of their spare time like prisoners do in America. Instead, prisoners in Japan are busy MAKING STUFF. They WORK. As in: prison here comes complete with forced labor. Prisoners make stuff that people can buy. And I did.

I even bought a little clip-on cell phone carry pouch! You can see it on the right side of the trendy Japanese-prisoner-handmade bag. Because every Japanese-prisoner-made bag should come with a matching cell phone pouch. Don't you agree?

But you know what else? IT GETS BETTER.

(I know, I know - you're trying to figure out what in the world could possibly make this bag any better! But I'm about to tell you!)

When you flip open the front flap of the bag, NOT ONLY is there a FANTASTIC label that reads "PRISON" (just in case you wanted to be able to show your fashionable bag's label off to all of your friends), but also, the lining of the bag is replete with the words "Brand Impregnated Safety Matches" All. Over. The. Place!!!

So yes, I am beside myself with joy over my fantastic aquisition!

And just because I haven't blogged in about a zillion years, I give you something else that you will only find in Japan:

Yes, my friends: this is a Pokemon airplane. And not just ANY Pokemon airplane: it's the Pokemon airplane that James flew in the last time he went on a business trip! Because Japan.

But wait! There's more!!

Because what would flying on a Pokemon airplane BE without also having Pokemon seat covers?

Tune in next time when I blog again sooner than a whole month from now!

(And just in case you were wondering, the answer is NO.

NO, the prisoners do NOT get to keep the money from the stuff they made that gets sold to the public. The money goes toward buying more materials so that more products can be made!)

Posted on 06/07/2014 at 07:15 AM in James - State Department, Tokyo, Japan, Travel, Travel with State | Permalink

Comments

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My boys are uber jealous over the plane! And I'm loving your purse!

Posted by: Jeanae Davidson | 06/07/2014 at 11:53 AM

OK. I'll bite. I know I'm never going to know what "Brand Impregnated Safety Matches" might suggest to any other English-speaking person who isn't me, but what is it supposed to mean as far as the brain of the translator? Even transposing the words makes no sense. Does the purse contain an actual box of matches?

Posted by: Mom | 06/08/2014 at 12:59 AM