Despite this, many people persist in the belief that MSG causes everything from headaches to muscle weakness.

What is MSG?

MSG is short for monosodium glutamate. According to Wikipedia, monosodium glutamate is “…a sodium salt of the naturally occurring non-essential amino acid glutamic acid.” This is probably as Greek to you as it is to me, but what’s important is that MSG stimulates the ‘fifth taste’, or umami. While you’re probably familiar with the first four taste sensations (bitter, salty, sweet, and sour) – many taste authorities have begun to refer to a fifth taste sensation called umami, a Japanese word roughly meaning  ‘good flavor’. A more accurate interpretation would be ‘savory’. When you eat a steak, it’s this fifth taste sense that is being triggered.

MSG was discovered in 1907 in Japan by researcher Kikunae Ikeda and is a common flavor enhancer in many fast- and processed foods. Potato chips and flavored tortilla chips contain MSG as do packaged barbecue sauces and salad dressings. As you can see, even if you avoid Chinese food altogether, it’s very likely that you already ingest a fair amount of MSG without realizing it.

What do the experts say about MSG?

The Food and Drug Administration officially ruled that MSG is safe for consumption in 1959. The actual term is ‘Generally Recognized As Safe‘ or GRAS. Essentially what this means is that it can be safely added to food. The FDA is careful to define such usage as ‘intended use’, meaning don’t go around eating bowls full of MSG and you’ll be fine. Since then multiple reports and studies have concluded that, while a small percentage of the population may suffer minor problems when ingesting MSG, it is otherwise safe. Some side-effects were noted in lab rats being fed diets that were 20% MSG, but trust me – you could eat Chinese take-away every night of the week and not consume that much MSG.

One study conducted in the 70′s concluded that MSG can potentially be linked to obesity, but given that MSG is used in fast foods and snack foods, one wonders if the link goes the other way around.

So, if MSG is safe – why does everyone make such a big fuss about it?

Well – again…a small percentage of the population does seem to be susceptible to MSG-related side effects…no doubt about it. Insofar as Chinese restaurants are concerned, it’s notable that in 1968 a researcher actually coined a term for Chinese-food-related ickyness: ‘Chinese Restaurant Syndrome’ (or CRS). Robert Ho Man Kwok wrote:

I have experienced a strange syndrome whenever I have eaten out in a Chinese restaurant, especially one that served northern Chinese food. The syndrome, which usually begins 15 to 20 minutes after I have eaten the first dish, lasts for about two hours, without hangover effect. The most prominent symptoms are numbness at the back of the neck, gradually radiating to both arms and the back, general weakness and palpitations…

A following article entitled Monosodium L-glutamate: its pharmacology and role in the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome directly linked the syndrome with MSG, but repeated double-blind studies showed no conclusive link between either Chinese food or MSG and the symptoms being reported as CRS.

Like many such beliefs, its’ a lot easier to spread the panic than it is to stamp it out. The fact of the matter remains: MSG is unlikely to cause any discomfort. Often times reports of this nature are highly subjective, and susceptible to post hoc ergo propter hoc thinking. In my wife’s case, I think she’s simply the victim of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you worry unduly about your dinner causing headaches – that’s likely to cause you a headache.

As with many such problems, a little critical thinking goes a long way.

So I am sharing the time wastage.

There’s a Handsome Guy in This Comic

I Just Bitch-Slapped Mickey Rourke

(boy, that just sounds like the worst idea ever, doesn’t it?)

And the funniest for last:

Arthur Fonzarelli’s Got an Army of Clones

This guy has a whole Youtube channel so there are more than this that are also hilarious, but these three are my favorites.

The residents had no problem when identity cards, driving licenses and other documents could be handwritten, but now they have to be printed using computers, and their name is so unusual it does not exist in standard word processing programmes.

“Nobody wants to do it, but under the circumstances we have no choice,” villager Xian Xuexin told state television, using the new, easy to type family name he has been compelled to adopt.

“It causes a lot of problems when people see the surname on old documents and new documents is not the same.”

So how about this: a Japanese indie RPG in which you play the shopkeeper selling goods to passing adventurers? Recettear was released a year ago in Japan and is now making its’ way Stateside courtesy of Carpe Fulgar. The best part is you can grab a copy of the game via Steam and Gamersgate on September 10th (a demo is available right now).

I’m not sure this’ll make my brother respect the genre any more than he does now, but I’m madly curious to see how it turned out.

Since then Pop Japan Travel has had samurai-oriented and yaoi-oriented tours. But now they offer something new: Studio Ghibli tours!

PJT Ghibli Tour

This. Looks. Soooooo. Fun.

I really hope Gohan grows up geeky so we can take him to Japan on a pop culture tour like this.

You people in China better listen up too.

CNN Article

Dying your dog makes you look lame, and it makes your dog look lame. And if you look lame that’s your choice, but your poor dog doesn’t have a choice. So recognize it for the animal cruelty it is and let your dog be a damn dog.

All in all it’s been pretty fun so far, and I can’t wait until they see print…

Sorry for the inconvenience…

What Do I Do With Those Damn Anime Kids?

Excerpt:

Introductions were made, and more chitchat was had about the problem at hand, namely, the Damn Anime Kid.  “They just wanna draw the same stuff over and over again.  The big eyes, the tiny chins, pointy hair.  Whatever.”  Others commiserated.  “I can’t tell when they’re copying other stuff or when it’s their own characters or what.  And even if they say it’s their own characters, all of it looks the same anyway.  It’s all virtually identical.  So even if it’s technically original, they’re not learning anything anyway.”

At the time I just sat back and took it in, unbelieving.  What do you do with those damn anime kids, huh?  You mean, the kids that are interested in drawing?  The ones that are interested in learning concrete skills that will help them tell stories, with an interest in the human body, in posture and proportion?  Gosh, what is an art teacher to do with such challenging students?

Being an expatriate of the 80′s hardcore punk rock scene I can empathize – some of the tragic shit that passes for ‘punk’ these days is sad, but who am I to judge? Today’s youth are expressing themselves through culture in the exact same way I did – I can’t fault them for being born two decades too late to have the same context. Truth be told, I’m sure there are plenty of 70′s punk or proto-punk scenesters who thought the stuff I’m into is shit. Fair enough. Instead of writing the current generation of fresh minds, we should find out what makes them tick (hint: it’s probably not that different than what made you tick at that age, you old fart…) and treat them like people instead of writing them off as a hopeless cause.

(Spotted at Deb Aoki’s Twitter feed.)

BBC Article

I guess they must have the same problem when they try to make phone calls too. But you can’t make calls on an iPad, so I guess they just have to bring back rotary phones for these guys.

Well, at least I’m not going anywhere in Inner Mongolia. I’d be stuck on the highway for freaking DAYS. I’d probably murder someone.

Massive Chinese Traffic Jam

At least it’s a good excuse for your boss as to why you haven’t come in to work. “Um, I was stuck in a traffic jam for nine days.” “Bullshit. FIRED!”

About 25 meters beneath the waters off Japan lies a stepped pyramid. We don’t know who built it, or when; but there it is, plain as day, available for anyone to go down and inspect. Even now at this very minute, the current washes past sharply squared stone blocks standing dark and forbidding, rising nearly high enough to break the surface. It is called the Yonaguni Monument.

The Japanese archipelago stretches for nearly 4,000 kilometers, from Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula to the island of Taiwain, off the coast of mainland China. At its extreme southwestern tip is the small island of Yonaguni, Japan’s most western point, just a scant 100 kilometers from Taiwan. It’s quite small, less than thirty square kilometers, with only 1700 residents, but it’s famous for something found in its waters: Hammerhead sharks.

Lots of hammerhead sharks. They’re so ubiquitous that divers come from all over the world to swim with them. And wherever you have a lot of divers, things under the water tend to be found. And that’s just what happened in 1986, when a representative from the Yonaguni tourism board was out exploring off the southernmost tip of the island, looking for a hammerhead diving spot to promote. What he came across was not what he set out to look for, though.

You can hear the whole thing here…

I don’t have time to properly eulogize him, but I was shocked to learn via Twitter that anime director Satoshi Kon (Paranoia Agent, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika) died today at age 47.

Rest in peace, sir…

Cheat Codes

Mario

Mario in French

Extra Lives

And a couple Japanese-type ones:

Tokyo Skyline

Loooove This One But They\’re Sold Out in Adult Sizes!