What's a Mellon Worth?

Depends if it's square or seedless.

We found this little beauty for 15,000 yen ($150) in Shinjuku. 

 Maybe a square mellon is novel enough to shell out that kind of money for,

  but these 31,000 yen ($310) cantaloupe must be perfect

 in a way I'll never bring myself to know.

Couldn't be positive, but babel fish Sandra tells me the difference between seeds or seedless will cost you  about 50 bucks.  These were in the basement of my office building. OISHI!  

So You're Thinking About Japanese Lessons...

This is the naked man who talked at me for 30 minutes straight... and the beer he bought me.

Went to an Onsen resort in Chiba with some folks where we got separated after nap time. Figured I'd just go back down to the hot springs and chill until the non-Japanese speaker in the group was discovered to be missing.

All was very peaceful, until my friend here showed up with English skills on par with my Japanese, much beer in

 his belly and baseball on his mind. I've watched enough Japanese baseball highlights to know just about every Japanese name in Major League Baseball. So I know that was one of many topics I was not talking about.

So after about 15 minutes of listening to this guy I realized how shameful it is that I've got no Japanese skills -- at all. In the 16th minute it became a test of wills between me and  the other naked guys Chatty Kathy was annoying. 

Who had the nerve, or English skills,  to tell me to take a hike or do us all a favor and tell him to zip it? NONE.

Fourteen minutes and a lot of smile-nods later, I won that test of wills. And got a few brews for my trouble.

While inspiring, I still haven't started Japanese lessons. Soon, though.