The challenge in finding English Language entertainment:

This past weekend, I decided to see if I could get my hands on a copy of the DVD of Syriana since it just came out on DVD and I've been wanting to see it. First I tried visiting a Japanese movie rental place, which I found mostly carried cartoons that cause children to have seizures and it was clear that without residency papers and a local credit card that I would never be able to set up a rental account. (see my cell phone post)

There is a book store/music store/movie store in the shopping complex attached to our office that caters to expats, so I decided to go there to see if I could buy syriana. First thing I forgot that hollywood doesn't use the same title around the world and second thing I can't read the title anyway because it's often written in Japanese characters. So, I asked a staff member who of course couldn't understand what I was saying so she had me write down "SYRIANA" on a hello kitty note pad that she pulled out of her pocket (it really was hello kitty), and of course Syriana is not the name used for the movie, so we tried talking back and forth until I said it stars George Clooney at which point she said "George Clooney-san!!!!!" and got all excited and pulled up a list of all his movies, and of course the DVD is not out in Japan yet, although Amazon will deliver it here for the small price of 10 billion yen or something like that.