With the 2004 Olympic Games finished, my favorite tabloid Mainichi Shimbun has settled back into its daily rhythm of revealing sights you won't find in the East Pacific. Who celebrates the 30th anniversary of Hello Kitty? The same people who make diamond-studded, platinum figurines in her likeness. Not your thing? Try her in a kimono (three colors!). Surfers, racecars, volcanoes, Cold War-era hide-and-seek, Typhoon Number 16-felled trees and an Olympian tail-end are all rolled together in this week's Japanese garnet.
FROM THOSE WHO WOULD KNOW: I sift through the Mainichi like any amateur with a smattering of knowledge of Japan and its culture. Craig Brett, on the other hand, was there.