BACKGROUND The anti–programmed cell death 1 (anti–PD-1) antibody pembrolizumab is clinically active against non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In addition to T cells, human natural killer (NK) cells, reported to have the potential to prolong the survival of patients with advanced NSCLC, also express PD-1. This study aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of pembrolizumab plus allogeneic NK cells in patients with previously treated advanced NSCLC.METHODS In total, 109 enrolled patients with a programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) tumor proportion score (TPS) of 1% or higher were randomly allocated to group A (n = 55 patients given pembrolizumab plus NK cells) or group B (n = 54 patients given pembrolizumab alone). The patients received i.v. pembrolizumab (10 mg/kg) once every 3 weeks and continued treatment until the occurrence of tumor progression or unacceptable toxicity. The patients in group A continuously received 2 cycles of NK cell therapy as 1 course of treatment.RESULTS In our study, patients in group A had longer survival than did patients in group B (median overall survival [OS]: 15.5 months vs. 13.3 months; median progression-free survival [PFS]: 6.5 months vs. 4.3 months; P < 0.05). In group A patients with a TPS of 50% or higher, the median OS and PFS was significantly longer. Moreover, the patients in group A treated with multiple courses of NK cell infusion had better OS (18.5 months) than did those who received a single course of NK cell infusion (13.5 months).CONCLUSIONS Pembrolizumab plus NK cell therapy yielded improved survival benefits in patients with previously treated PD-L1+ advanced NSCLC.TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02843204.FUNDING This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) – Guangdong Joint Foundation of China (no. U1601225); the NSFC (no. 81671965); the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory Construction Project of China (no. 2017B030314034); and the Key Scientific and Technological Program of Guangzhou City (no. 201607020016).

BACKGROUND Since December 2019, an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in Wuhan, and is now becoming a global threat. We aimed to delineate and compare the immunological features of severe and moderate COVID-19.METHODS In this retrospective study, the clinical and immunological characteristics of 21 patients (17 male and 4 female) with COVID-19 were analyzed. These patients were classified as severe (11 cases) and moderate (10 cases) according to the guidelines released by the National Health Commission of China.RESULTS The median age of severe and moderate cases was 61.0 and 52.0 years, respectively. Common clinical manifestations included fever, cough, and fatigue. Compared with moderate cases, severe cases more frequently had dyspnea, lymphopenia, and hypoalbuminemia, with higher levels of alanine aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein, ferritin, and D-dimer as well as markedly higher levels of IL-2R, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α. Absolute numbers of T lymphocytes, CD4+ T cells, and CD8+ T cells decreased in nearly all the patients, and were markedly lower in severe cases (294.0, 177.5, and 89.0 × 106/L, respectively) than moderate cases (640.5, 381.5, and 254.0 × 106/L, respectively). The expression of IFN-γ by CD4+ T cells tended to be lower in severe cases (14.1%) than in moderate cases (22.8%).CONCLUSION The SARS-CoV-2 infection may affect primarily T lymphocytes, particularly CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, resulting in a decrease in numbers as well as IFN-γ production by CD4+ T cells. These potential immunological markers may be of importance because of their correlation with disease severity in COVID-19.TRIAL REGISTRATION This is a retrospective observational study without a trial registration number.FUNDING This work is funded by grants from Tongji Hospital for the Pilot Scheme Project, and partly supported by the Chinese National Thirteenth Five Years Project in Science and Technology for Infectious Disease (2017ZX10202201).

The pandemic coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is rapidly spreading across the globe. In this issue of the JCI, Chen and colleagues compared the clinical and immunological characteristics between moderate and severe COVID-19. The authors found that respiratory distress on admission is associated with unfavorable outcomes. Increased cytokine levels (IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α), lymphopenia (in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells), and decreased IFN-γ expression in CD4+ T cells are associated with severe COVID-19. Overall, this study characterized the cytokine storm in severe COVID-19 and provides insights into immune therapeutics and vaccine design.

Treating neuropathic pain is challenging and novel non–opioid-based medicines are needed. Using unbiased receptomics, transcriptomic analyses, immunofluorescence, and in situ hybridization, we found that the expression of the orphan GPCR Gpr160 and GPR160 increased in the rodent dorsal horn of the spinal cord following traumatic nerve injury. Genetic and immunopharmacological approaches demonstrated that GPR160 inhibition in the spinal cord prevented and reversed neuropathic pain in male and female rodents without altering normal pain response. GPR160 inhibition in the spinal cord attenuated sensory processing in the thalamus, a key relay in the sensory discriminative pathways of pain. We also identified cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript peptide (CARTp) as a GPR160 ligand. Inhibiting endogenous CARTp signaling in spinal cord attenuated neuropathic pain, whereas exogenous intrathecal CARTp evoked painful hypersensitivity through GPR160-dependent ERK and cAMP response element–binding protein (CREB). Our findings de-orphanize GPR160, identify it as a determinant of neuropathic pain and potential therapeutic target, and provide insights into its signaling pathways. CARTp is involved in many diseases including depression and reward and addiction; de-orphanization of GPR160 is a major step forward understanding the role of CARTp signaling in health and disease.

IL-17–producing RORγt+ γδ T cells (γδT17 cells) are innate lymphocytes that participate in type 3 immune responses during infection and inflammation. Herein, we show that γδT17 cells rapidly proliferate within neonatal lymph nodes and gut, where, upon entry, they upregulate T-bet and coexpress IL-17, IL-22, and IFN-γ in a STAT3- and retinoic acid–dependent manner. Neonatal expansion was halted in mice conditionally deficient in STAT5, and its loss resulted in γδT17 cell depletion from all adult organs. Hyperactive STAT5 mutant mice showed that the STAT5A homolog had a dominant role over STAT5B in promoting γδT17 cell expansion and downregulating gut-associated T-bet. In contrast, STAT5B preferentially expanded IFN-γ–producing γδ populations, implying a previously unknown differential role of STAT5 gene products in lymphocyte lineage regulation. Importantly, mice lacking γδT17 cells as a result of STAT5 deficiency displayed a profound resistance to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Our data identify that the neonatal microenvironment in combination with STAT5 is critical for post-thymic γδT17 development and tissue-specific imprinting, which is essential for infection and autoimmunity.

BACKGROUND Preclinical experiments have shown that donor blood cells, modified in vitro by an alkylating agent (modified immune cells [MICs]), induced long-term specific immunosuppression against the allogeneic donor.METHODS In this phase I trial, patients received either 1.5 × 106 MICs per kg BW on day –2 (n = 3, group A), or 1.5 × 108 MICs per kg BW on day –2 (n = 3, group B) or day –7 (n = 4, group C) before living donor kidney transplantation in addition to post-transplantation immunosuppression. The primary outcome measure was the frequency of adverse events (AEs) until day 30 (study phase) with follow-up out to day 360.RESULTS MIC infusions were extremely well tolerated. During the study phase, 10 treated patients experienced a total of 69 AEs that were unlikely to be related or not related to MIC infusion. No donor-specific human leukocyte antigen Abs or rejection episodes were noted, even though the patients received up to 1.3 × 1010 donor mononuclear cells before transplantation. Group C patients with low immunosuppression during follow-up showed no in vitro reactivity against stimulatory donor blood cells on day 360, whereas reactivity against third-party cells was still preserved. Frequencies of CD19+CD24hiCD38hi transitional B lymphocytes (Bregs) increased from a median of 6% before MIC infusion to 20% on day 180, which was 19- and 68-fold higher, respectively, than in 2 independent cohorts of transplanted controls. The majority of Bregs produced the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10. MIC-treated patients showed the Immune Tolerance Network operational tolerance signature.CONCLUSION MIC administration was safe and could be a future tool for the targeted induction of tolerogenic Bregs.TRIAL REGISTRATION EudraCT number: 2014-002086-30; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02560220FUNDING Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Technology, Berlin, Germany, and TolerogenixX GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany.

Regenerative pain medicine, which seeks to harness the body’s own reparative capacity, is rapidly emerging as a field within pain medicine and orthopedics. It is increasingly appreciated that common analgesic mechanisms for these treatments depend on neuroimmune modulation. In this Review, we discuss recent progress in mechanistic understanding of nociceptive sensitization in chronic pain with a focus on neuroimmune modulation. We also examine the spectrum of regenerative outcomes, including preclinical and clinical outcomes. We further distinguish the analgesic mechanisms of regenerative therapies from those of cellular replacement, creating a conceptual and mechanistic framework to evaluate future research on regenerative medicine.

Infection with the Gram-negative bacterium Helicobacter pylori remains the most important modifiable risk factor for the development of gastric cancer, a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. How the interactions between H. pylori and its host shape the gastric environment during chronic infection warrants further investigation. In this issue of the JCI, Palrasu et al. used human cell lines and mouse models to provide mechanistic insight into H. pylori’s ability to delay apoptosis in gastric epithelial cells by actively driving the degradation of a proapoptotic factor, SIVA1. Their findings suggest that promoting the survival of gastric epithelial cells has implications not only for H. pylori pathogenesis but for host tumorigenesis.

The mechanisms by which prostate cancer shifts from an indolent castration-sensitive phenotype to lethal castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) are poorly understood. Identification of clinically relevant genetic alterations leading to CRPC may reveal potential vulnerabilities for cancer therapy. Here we find that CUB domain-containing protein 1 (CDCP1), a transmembrane protein that acts as a substrate for SRC family kinases (SFKs), is overexpressed in a subset of CRPC. Notably, CDCP1 cooperates with the loss of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN to promote the emergence of metastatic prostate cancer. Mechanistically, we find that androgens suppress CDCP1 expression and that androgen deprivation in combination with loss of PTEN promotes the upregulation of CDCP1 and the subsequent activation of the SRC/MAPK pathway. Moreover, we demonstrate that anti-CDCP1 immunoliposomes (anti–CDCP1 ILs) loaded with chemotherapy suppress prostate cancer growth when administered in combination with enzalutamide. Thus, our study identifies CDCP1 as a powerful driver of prostate cancer progression and uncovers different potential therapeutic strategies for the treatment of metastatic prostate tumors.

Immunosuppression continues to be a necessary component of transplantation, despite its association with a multitude of adverse effects. Numerous efforts have been made to circumvent the need for immunosuppression by using various techniques to achieve donor hyporesponsiveness. In this issue of the JCI, Morath et al. take this endeavor forward. Prior to transplantation, the researchers infused recipients with donor-modified immune cells and achieved immunologic hyporesponsiveness. This successful phase I trial also provides a possible avenue for achieving transplantation without the requisite immunosuppression.

Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is strikingly upregulated in many types of cancer, and there is great interest in applying inhibitors of HIF as anticancer therapeutics. The most advanced of these are small molecules that target the HIF-2 isoform through binding the PAS-B domain of HIF-2α. These molecules are undergoing clinical trials with promising results in renal and other cancers where HIF-2 is considered to be driving growth. Nevertheless, a central question remains as to whether such inhibitors affect physiological responses to hypoxia at relevant doses. Here, we show that pharmacological HIF-2α inhibition with PT2385, at doses similar to those reported to inhibit tumor growth, rapidly impaired ventilatory responses to hypoxia, abrogating both ventilatory acclimatization and carotid body cell proliferative responses to sustained hypoxia. Mice carrying a HIF-2α PAS-B S305M mutation that disrupts PT2385 binding, but not dimerization with HIF-1β, did not respond to PT2385, indicating that these effects are on-target. Furthermore, the finding of a hypomorphic ventilatory phenotype in untreated HIF-2α S305M mutant mice suggests a function for the HIF-2α PAS-B domain beyond heterodimerization with HIF-1β. Although PT2385 was well tolerated, the findings indicate the need for caution in patients who are dependent on hypoxic ventilatory drive.

BACKGROUND Mirabegron is a β3-adrenergic receptor (β3-AR) agonist approved only for the treatment of overactive bladder. Encouraging preclinical results suggest that β3-AR agonists could also improve obesity-related metabolic disease by increasing brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis, white adipose tissue (WAT) lipolysis, and insulin sensitivity.METHODS We treated 14 healthy women of diverse ethnicities (27.5 ± 1.1 years of age, BMI of 25.4 ± 1.2 kg/m2) with 100 mg mirabegron (Myrbetriq extended-release tablet, Astellas Pharma) for 4 weeks in an open-label study. The primary endpoint was the change in BAT metabolic activity as measured by [18F]-2-fluoro-d-2-deoxy-d-glucose (18F-FDG) PET/CT. Secondary endpoints included resting energy expenditure (REE), plasma metabolites, and glucose and insulin metabolism as assessed by a frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test.RESULTS Chronic mirabegron therapy increased BAT metabolic activity. Whole-body REE was higher, without changes in body weight or composition. Additionally, there were elevations in plasma levels of the beneficial lipoprotein biomarkers HDL and ApoA1, as well as total bile acids. Adiponectin, a WAT-derived hormone that has antidiabetic and antiinflammatory capabilities, increased with acute treatment and was 35% higher upon completion of the study. Finally, an intravenous glucose tolerance test revealed higher insulin sensitivity, glucose effectiveness, and insulin secretion.CONCLUSION These findings indicate that human BAT metabolic activity can be increased after chronic pharmacological stimulation with mirabegron and support the investigation of β3-AR agonists as a treatment for metabolic disease.TRIAL REGISTRATION Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03049462.FUNDING This work was supported by grants from the Intramural Research Program of the NIDDK, NIH (DK075112, DK075116, DK071013, and DK071014).

The editors of JCI and JCI Insight are revisiting our editorial processes in light of the strain that the COVID-19 pandemic places on the worldwide scientific community. Here, we discuss adjustments to our decision framework in light of restrictions placed on laboratory working conditions for many of our authors.

Increased microvascular permeability to plasma proteins and neutrophil emigration are hallmarks of innate immunity and key features of numerous inflammatory disorders. Although neutrophils can promote microvascular leakage, the impact of vascular permeability on neutrophil trafficking is unknown. Here, through the application of confocal intravital microscopy, we report that vascular permeability–enhancing stimuli caused a significant frequency of neutrophil reverse transendothelial cell migration (rTEM). Furthermore, mice with a selective defect in microvascular permeability enhancement (VEC-Y685F-ki) showed reduced incidence of neutrophil rTEM. Mechanistically, elevated vascular leakage promoted movement of interstitial chemokines into the bloodstream, a response that supported abluminal-to-luminal neutrophil TEM. Through development of an in vivo cell labeling method we provide direct evidence for the systemic dissemination of rTEM neutrophils, and showed them to exhibit an activated phenotype and be capable of trafficking to the lungs where their presence was aligned with regions of vascular injury. Collectively, we demonstrate that increased microvascular leakage reverses the localization of directional cues across venular walls, thus causing neutrophils engaged in diapedesis to reenter the systemic circulation. This cascade of events offers a mechanism to explain how local tissue inflammation and vascular permeability can induce downstream pathological effects in remote organs, most notably in the lungs.

Lipid-rich myelin forms electrically insulating, axon-wrapping multilayers that are essential for neural function, and mature myelin is traditionally considered metabolically inert. Surprisingly, we discovered that mature myelin lipids undergo rapid turnover, and quaking (Qki) is a major regulator of myelin lipid homeostasis. Oligodendrocyte-specific Qki depletion, without affecting oligodendrocyte survival, resulted in rapid demyelination, within 1 week, and gradually neurological deficits in adult mice. Myelin lipids, especially the monounsaturated fatty acids and very-long-chain fatty acids, were dramatically reduced by Qki depletion, whereas the major myelin proteins remained intact, and the demyelinating phenotypes of Qki-depleted mice were alleviated by a high-fat diet. Mechanistically, Qki serves as a coactivator of the PPARβ-RXRα complex, which controls the transcription of lipid-metabolism genes, particularly those involved in fatty acid desaturation and elongation. Treatment of Qki-depleted mice with PPARβ/RXR agonists significantly alleviated neurological disability and extended survival durations. Furthermore, a subset of lesions from patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis were characterized by preferential reductions in myelin lipid contents, activities of various lipid metabolism pathways, and expression level of QKI-5 in human oligodendrocytes. Together, our results demonstrate that continuous lipid synthesis is indispensable for mature myelin maintenance and highlight an underappreciated role of lipid metabolism in demyelinating diseases.

BACKGROUND The live attenuated BPZE1 vaccine candidate induces protection against B. pertussis and prevents nasal colonization in animal models. Here we report on the responses in humans receiving a single intranasal administration of BPZE1.METHODS We performed multiple assays to dissect the immune responses induced in humans (n = 12) receiving BPZE1, with particular emphasis on the magnitude and characteristics of the antibody responses. Such responses were benchmarked to adolescents (n = 12) receiving the complete vaccination program of the currently used acellular pertussis vaccine (aPV). Using immunoproteomics analysis, potentially novel immunogenic B. pertussis antigens were identified.RESULTS All BPZE1 vaccinees showed robust B. pertussis–specific antibody responses with regard to significant increase in 1 or more of the following parameters: IgG, IgA, and memory B cells to B. pertussis antigens. BPZE1–specific T cells showed a Th1 phenotype, and the IgG exclusively consisted of IgG1 and IgG3. In contrast, all aPV vaccines showed a Th2-biased response. Immunoproteomics profiling revealed that BPZE1 elicited broader and different antibody specificities to B. pertussis antigens as compared with the aPV that primarily induced antibodies to the vaccine antigens. Moreover, BPZE1 was superior at inducing opsonizing antibodies that stimulated ROS production in neutrophils and enhanced bactericidal function, which was in line with the finding that antibodies against adenylate cyclase toxin were only elicited by BPZE1.CONCLUSION The breadth of the antibodies, the Th1-type cellular response, and killing mechanisms elicited by BPZE1 may hold prospects of improving vaccine efficacy and protection against B. pertussis transmission.TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02453048, NCT00870350.FUNDING ILiAD Biotechnologies, Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation.

BACKGROUND Beige adipose tissue is associated with improved glucose homeostasis in mice. Adipose tissue contains β3-adrenergic receptors (β3-ARs), and this study was intended to determine whether the treatment of obese, insulin-resistant humans with the β3-AR agonist mirabegron, which stimulates beige adipose formation in subcutaneous white adipose tissue (SC WAT), would induce other beneficial changes in fat and muscle and improve metabolic homeostasis.METHODS Before and after β3-AR agonist treatment, oral glucose tolerance tests and euglycemic clamps were performed, and histochemical analysis and gene expression profiling were performed on fat and muscle biopsies. PET-CT scans quantified brown adipose tissue volume and activity, and we conducted in vitro studies with primary cultures of differentiated human adipocytes and muscle.RESULTS The clinical effects of mirabegron treatment included improved oral glucose tolerance (P < 0.01), reduced hemoglobin A1c levels (P = 0.01), and improved insulin sensitivity (P = 0.03) and β cell function (P = 0.01). In SC WAT, mirabegron treatment stimulated lipolysis, reduced fibrotic gene expression, and increased alternatively activated macrophages. Subjects with the most SC WAT beiging showed the greatest improvement in β cell function. In skeletal muscle, mirabegron reduced triglycerides, increased the expression of PPARγ coactivator 1 α (PGC1A) (P < 0.05), and increased type I fibers (P < 0.01). Conditioned media from adipocytes treated with mirabegron stimulated muscle fiber PGC1A expression in vitro (P < 0.001).CONCLUSION Mirabegron treatment substantially improved multiple measures of glucose homeostasis in obese, insulin-resistant humans. Since β cells and skeletal muscle do not express β3-ARs, these data suggest that the beiging of SC WAT by mirabegron reduces adipose tissue dysfunction, which enhances muscle oxidative capacity and improves β cell function.TRIAL REGISTRATION Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02919176.FUNDING NIH: DK112282, P30GM127211, DK 71349, and Clinical and Translational science Awards (CTSA) grant UL1TR001998.

It’s no secret that I love Japan. I mean, I really, really love Japan. I felt more at home in Tokyo than I ever have anywhere else, and I think about going back all. the. time. I’m even thinking about it right now. You’re probably reading this right now because, at the very least, some tiny part of you is curious about whether you should do it. It might be the tiiiiiiiniest little part, but I’m sure it’s there. Maybe you don’t want to admit it because it seems pretty impossible, and yeah, I will admit that if you have a job that you don’t want to leave, strong family ties, kids, pets, or no money (among other things), it must seem like a distant what-if that will never happen. Here’s the thing. If you’re really, honestly interested, then make it happen. Because guess what? You freaking can make it happen, and don’t let anybody tell you no. If you’re coming up with a “But…” right now, I’ll stop you right there! “But I have kids/pets…” Figure out how to take them with you, because you can! “But I don’t want to leave my job…” Take a sabbatical for a year, look into transfers to a branch abroad, look for a better job in the same field in Japan, or look into whether this job is really worth giving up on this dream (maybe it isn’t). “But I can’t speak the language…” So? I moved to Japan and didn’t speak a word. Some people learn before they go, some people learn while they’re there (me), and some people never learn (I don’t recommend this). I could go on forever, but the whole world is at your fingers if you really want it! I seriously believe that. It’s not always easy, but if you want something badly enough, don’t you owe it to yourself to at least try? Anyways, let me give you the top reasons why I think that you should give living in Japan a try! 1. Living in a different culture opens your eyes. This especially is true if you immerse yourself in as much of the culture as you can. Make Japanese friends, learn about what people do on a daily basis and what they believe in. Try doing things in ways that are new to you. Try new foods! Mochi is the schiz, by the way! Once you’ve experienced doing new things, it will change how you do things even if you return back home. I will always have a no-shoes policy in my house (it’s so much cleaner!), I absolutely CRAVE a train system (if only!), and I have a newfound respect for walking and cycling. I never did this when I was little, but now, if I can, I walk! 2. You’ll have a fresh start. In your new home in Japan, you won’t have any of the drama that surrounded you in your old one. Thanks to the internet, we can still keep in touch with friends and family, but being a few thousand miles away from them will keep a lot of the drama to a minimum. Take a chance to stretch your wings and see what kind of person you are when you have the freedom to be you without their judgement. Trust me, it takes a weight off being in a new place where nobody knows who you used to be (or who they thought you used to be). Oh, and you know what? I bet that you will love yourself more than you ever did before. 3. Japan is a magical place! Seriously. Cherry blossoms, gorgeous temples and “castles” (I wouldn’t call them castles, but they’re called that nonetheless, and they’re really cool anyway), a rich history filled with Samurai and ninjas (who doesn’t love ninjas?), seasonal treats, and an entire culture that grew up reading manga. How does this not sound like an amazing place to live?!  And no offense to any other country, but Japanese trains come quickly, go almost everywhere, are extremely punctual, and pretty clean, which makes them (Tokyo especially) easily #1 in the world in public transportation. Now that sounds magical to me. 4. Universal Health Care. If you’re American like me, this will make a HUGE difference in your life. Trust me. If you come from pretty much any other 1st world nation, it probably won’t matter as much, though. But at least it’s good! 5. Japan is safer than where you came from. There’s no gun violence. There’s very low crime in general. You can walk in the dead of night in the seediest parts of town, as a woman, alone, and still feel perfectly safe from other people. From earthquakes is another matter, but you’ll get used to them really fast, and Japan is built to withstand all but the biggest. 6. Wa. There is a concept called wa in Japanese society, which essentially promotes practicing peace and harmony in your daily life. Wa is obvious in everything from traditional architecture and decor to the way that people act around each other– courteousness, quiet, and respect are what you expect most from your neighbors. You’re never going to wake up to your neighbors blaring music at 3am having a raucous party. Even drunken people wandering the street are more polite than not (although most of them just sort of stumble home or sit down where they are for the night– but remember, Japan is safe so they only thing they have to worry about is getting chilly). We could all use a little bit of harmony in our lives, and that’s something that Japan taught me to value. I’m surprised that yoga isn’t more popular, since they’re pretty in tune with each other. 7. All the new gadgets, and all of the old culture. Sure, Silicon Valley is where a lot of new apps are coming out, but if you want lots of little weird but useful gadgets to make your life easier (or more interesting), take a stroll through Akihabara. Plus, there are tons of cheap versions of what you’re used to, like large-capacity flash drives and SD cards. And I would be remiss in not mentioning the used electronics! Smartphones! Right next to small neighborhood temples, btw. It’s the only place to find Ayanami Rei in a kimono, wandering the street. The best of both worlds! 8. MANGA AND ANIME EVERYWHERE. This should be your main reason. This should be enough of a reason. Not only is it available everywhere, but events abound. If you wanted, you could go to an anime-related event every weekend of the year. Also, let’s not forget that it’s the only place to see all of the anime movies released in the theater, go to the official events (like Jump Festa, Comicket, World Cosplay Summit, and Anime Japan, among others), and see the musicals, seiyuu radio shows, and stage plays. If this isn’t reason enough, you’re probably in the wrong place. 9. It’s cheaper than you think. I lived in Tokyo, and then I moved back to the US, thinking that because I was living in a place often called “The Most Expensive City In The World,” it would be cheaper here. Nope.. Apartment rents, even in small cities, are at least the price that I was paying in Tokyo (~$600/mo). And try finding that in LA. So far I haven’t had any luck, and especially not in the areas that are actually sort-of-kind-of safe. Food is also about on-par with the US, especially domestic food. Considering that it’s an island, it’s actually really, really cheap. Food in Hawaii cost sometimes 3-4 times what I was able to get it for in Japan. Then, when you factor in healthcare, which is pretty cheap (what you pay for the insurance is based on your income, and then it covers 80% of all your bills — this is a simplification, but generally holds true), and transportation costs (you don’t need a car, therefore no gas, no insurance, no car maintenance fees), it’s downright cheap. Even living in Tokyo. 10. You will never run out of things to do. In nearly a decade, I never ran out of cool things to do. Can you say the same about the city that you live in now? Thought so. Ah man, I kinda feel ready to jump back on a plane and move across the ocean… three cats and all! Somebody hold me back… resistance is fading……………….  

Cats. Cats are the best, and I can’t seem to settle down in any one place for too long, so my cats (possibly to their dismay) have had to move around with my silly butt. I don’t own a boat that can cross the Pacific Ocean, so that means taking them on a plane. BUT! While it’s no fun for anyone, it’s not really as hard as you think! Really really! My cats are my family, and if you’re here then you probably also have furry family members, and you are worried about flying with them. I’ve both taken my cats in the cabin and had to check them into the pet cargo hold (to my terror), but they not only survived, they are all flourishing wonderfully. While things do happen (and if something happens, raise a ruckus and make sure that whomever hurt your baby knows it), for the most part, flying is actually pretty safe for cats. Not that you want to take them. It’s just that sometimes you have to. So read on for my personal tips on how to make the flight go as smoothly as possible for all of you! Trust me, you’ll want it to be this way. My cats at the vet for their checkups and vaccinations. 1. Do Your Homework. This might seem obvious, but that being said, let’s put it out there anyway. Know your stuff! There are two things that you’re going to need to find out as soon as you decide to fly with your pets:      a) What paperwork does the airline require for me to bring my cat on the plane?      b) What does my arrival location require for me to bring my cat into the country/state? Usually, a) is the easiest part. It’s usually just a health certificate from your vet, issued less than a week before travel. Just book an appointment at your vet for less than a week before departure, and tell them that you’re flying to (wherever). All of my vets, even my one in Japan, either knew what they needed, or looked it up beforehand. Check your airline’s webpage (my absolute favorite for flying with pets is Alaska Air, btw. You can take two in the cabin by yourself, and it’s the only airline I know of that allows this!), and follow the instructions. I keep all of my paperwork with my passport while flying, so that I can show it to the ticketing agent or anyone else that asks (sometimes, nobody has, but at least I had it). In all of the cases where I’ve flown, my plane required a current health certificate to board, and when I left Japan, they required an inspection from the on-site team, which I just asked for when I arrived in Narita. b) can be easy, or it can be hard. In order to enter the US from Japan, I had to check the US Customs website for the country’s official regulations, and Washington State for its regulations.  The US didn’t have any regulations at the time, but Washington state required a health certificate (same as the plane), and current rabies vaccination, both of which I had done within the week before I left. Funny enough, nobody checked my paperwork after I landed, since it was the 4th of July and the Agricultural Inspections office was closed. When I went to Hawaii, it was another story. It was a long, long, long process (more than 6 months) to get all of my testing and paperwork done for Sansa to enter the state, but I did it, kept all of my paperwork in order, and was able to leave the airport in Hawaii with her in my arms without any fuss! There was a lot to do, but I just made sure that I knew what I needed, did it, and had the documentation, and things were pretty smooth sailing afterward! You should always check the official government pages to make sure that you have the correct information. In Hawaii’s case, it can be found here. All of my cats reacted differently to being examined. 2. Get your stuff in order! Once you have your list of things that you need (vaccinations, health checks, etc), then CALL the airline to make your reservations (you always need to call them in order to add pets to your tickets. They usually cost a little bit extra, and try to get them in the cabin if you can). Then, check your airline’s website to find out what kind of carrier you will need, and whether you will need anything else. When I flew to Washington the first time, and to Hawaii, I only had one cat, so I didn’t need any food (I brought some anyway, and a little bowl in my carryon just in case), and a soft-sided carrier that would fit in the dimensions they specified on their websites (it’s usually in the pet section or the carry-on section, and every airline is different). When I flew to Washington again, it was with three cats, so I needed two large hard carriers that met certain criteria for my babies flying underneath, and one soft-sided one for the baby going in the cabin. The website for the airline was very specific, but it was easy to find what I needed at Petco. Check, check, and check. I had my carriers, my paperwork, and I was ready! When your cat isn’t too happy about getting her shots. 3. Getting ready for the flight. A week or so before my flight (or days in my last case), I set all of my pet carriers out in the living room and set them up how I was going to have them for the flight — I lined the bottoms with puppy training pads (in case there was an accident in-flight), then a towel for absorbency (in the large hard carriers only), and finally, on top of that, a blanket that I had been using a lot (so that it had our scents on it, and would comfort the cats). I sprayed the interior of all of the carriers with Feliway, and left them out for the cats to get used to them. The carriers sitting out for the curious kitties to explore. They all took turns exploring the carriers, and after a few days, got comfortable with them and would lounge around inside, play with them, and rub up against the sides. This was all in order to reduce the stress of travel on them as much as possible. I continued to spray them with Feliway at least once a day until we left. There is no hard and fast rule on this, but I took away my cats’ food and water the morning of the trip, and waited until just before we left to toss out the litter boxes. There was some satisfaction in being able to stuff those nasty things in a giant garbage bag and haul them to the trash without scooping! Hey, take pleasure while you can– you’re about to undertake something pretty stressful! After I called my Uber, I rounded up the cats one by one and deposited them in their carriers. Nobody was particularly happy about this, but just be patient. Two of my babies at the airport waiting for inspection. All of them were champs! 4. The Flight Be calm, patient, and as rational as possible. I know that it’s pretty scary (terrifying, to me) to let your precious babies our of your sight, but once the porter had helped me to the ticket counters (I actually needed two the last time, and I tipped them very well), I just reminded myself that it would all be over soon, and that the calmer I was, the better the kitties would feel. In order to pass through security, you will need to remove the cats one-by-one from their carriers and hold them while the crew puts your carrier through the scanner, or manually scans by hand (two of mine were too large to fit). Sometimes, they will let you do all of this in a separate room so that the cats are calmer, but there isn’t always one available (it will say that you can do this on most websites, but I wasn’t allowed a separate room the last time and had to hold three wiggly cats in the middle of the airport). BRING A HARNESS FOR THIS. I can’t stress this enough. My cats don’t like harnesses, but I fastened one to them before I brought them out of the carrier, and removed it right after, and it brought me a lot of peace of mind. None of my cats tried to run, but I have heard that some cats do, and you don’t want to take that chance. Look for a harness like this one— thick and really hard to pull out of. Better safe than sorry. I only brought one harness for three cats, since I would only need to take out one cat at a time. By the next morning, everyone was already claiming “our” new bed as their own. And that’s it!  Once you’re on the flight, it’s mostly a waiting game. I honestly am not sure whether the cats or I were more stressed about the trip, and they were certainly shaken and scared when they arrived at our new home. However, within a few days, my cats were all behaving as if they’d never lived anywhere else. They rebound quickly as long as you shower them with love and affection. ???? Well, those are my tips for making the smoothest ride possible! It helps to have litter and litter pans, food, etc, sent to your new place before you arrive, as well, so that everything will be easy to set up for you. Make sure that your kitties are confined to one room for at least a few hours, and let them hide for as long as they need to. They’ll get curious and hungry and come out on their own. I hope this helps someone! If I did it, anyone can! Remember, I took three cats on a flight overseas BY MYSELF! Nobody to even drop my off at the airport but an UberXL driver! =^-^=

☆ To see all of the parts in this series, click here ☆ I bet you thought I’d forgotten about this series, didn’t you! I never forget– sometimes I just lose steam, but I’m feeling good now, so lots of writing is coming! So, it was basically my 25th birthday. What did I write in my journal? It’s my 25th birthday in 3 days! :O So old!! I can’t believe that I ever wrote that… and also that it’s been more than ten years and I don’t feel any older. If anything, I feel younger! I have grown in a lot of ways, especially in the way that I relate to people around me and in how I take care of my health, and I guess I’ve matured in my general level of fangirlness…. No, wait. I’m still just as big a fangirl as ever, what am I saying? I’m still stalking the KuroKura tag on twitter every day, watching Lucifer mostly to see when he and Chloe are going to kiss or when he’s going to sleep with a guy again… but I digress! Let’s relive my fun first year in Japan instead! On my birthday, there happened to be a fanclub trip for Nagayama Takashi, the one and only actor whose fanclub I’ve ever been in. I went mostly because my friends A and M were going and to report on it for the internet at large, but it was really, really silly, and really, really fun! Well, silly is basically my #1 criteria for having fun, so that makes sense! We could all use more fun in our lives! The day started super early, and I was too excited to sleep, so I was dead tired. The event was scheduled to begin at 8:30 just outside of Tokyo station, where 288 girls (no boys, funny enough… actually, it’s not really funny) lined up in groups to get on one of the 7 waiting buses. Before that, we had to randomly draw for which tables we’d sit at, and were given this kind of horribly photoshopped and pixellated picture-card of Nagayan in front of Mt. Fuji that we were supposed to wear around our necks to identify ourselves as part of the tour (I wish that I still had it! How hilarious would that be!). On the back of the card were 4 empty squares and a little explanation that you were supposed to stamp them up along the way. Cool, sure! A, M, and I boarded bus 7 and ensconced ourselves in the back of the bus. It felt like everyone was staring at us, but well… we were the only non-japanese girls there. As the bus departed, a tour guide welcomed us over the PA explained how things were going to go. She said a little bit about the stamps, and then passed out fliers that we could use to order copies of the group pictures that we’d take later in the day with Nagayan (Wait, what did I do with that? I remember having a copy at some point). She also explained that our destination was going to be a mystery! Which, looking back, would have been a great setup for a horror movie! And theeeeeeen, we got the video. Oh, this video. Just watch for yourself (sorry for the bad quality, this was before smartphones, guys). There was a a short introduction from Nagayan, and then the song. And the dance. All of which he had created himself and wanted us to learn! The funny thing was that Nagayan is and was a serious actor. Outside of Tenimyu and Burimyu, his roles by and large were of and for adults. But that’s one of the things that makes Japan so great IMnot-so-humbleO– silliness is perfectly acceptable for adults! That given, I was still in the mindset of an American girl and in the beginning, my friends and I just sat there mouthing, “What the f—?” to each other. Sorry, Nagayan! It definitely grew on us, though! At about 10:15, we stopped at a rest stop for a potty break and a scavenger hunt! The tour guide told us to “get out and look for something special,” and that was it. It didn’t take long to find it, though, as by the time we’d wandered to the right location (the side of the building), there were quite a few girls lined up already! At the end of the line was Nagayan, sitting on the ground and wearing a green buddha mask. He didn’t say a word, so we followed the lead of the other girls, lined up, and said our prayers to Nagayan Buddha. For our piousness, we were allowed to choose a Chupa-Chups sucker to keep. It was so cute! Tell me if there is a single actor in the US who would do this? I doubt it! It’s certainly the kind of experience that you can only have in Japan XD Some girls looped around to get seconds, but ‘Buddha’ just pretended to be tired, slumping against the wall noiselessly. Btw, my sucker was a delicious strawberries and cream one!!! ♥ I ate it and tossed the wrapper…. which I wish that I’d kept for reasons that I’ll explain later! A and M on the bus next to me. We got back on the bus and left around 11:00. From there until the time that we arrived, there was no video, but this is where the IQ part of IQ TaiQ Barbequecame in! The tour guide administered us a timed IQ test on paper…… in Japanese! Er, yeah…. Well, I got one right at least!! Yay! Not bad for only being able to read a miniscule part of it. ^^;; I wrote “yomenai” (“I can’t read it” lit.-“It’s not readable”) in hiragana at the bottom, which later on I regretted doing! ^^;; The quiet scenery rolling by. After that, we had a bit of quiet time where I just watched the countryside and lakes go by and fell into a light sleep. At roughly 12:00, we pulled into our final mysterious mountain location! It looked a lot like any mountain location in eastern Washington or Arizona — a bit arid, but lots of trees and hills and of course a nice lake. We were lined up in lettered groups (There was from A to T, I believe. We were in group M) and we got to take the group pictures with Nagayan! It was fun– they had us sit/stand in 2 rows with Takashi in the very middle. Once we were already sitting down, he just kind of appeared and melded in with the group, and it took a while for some people to realize it, ourselves included haha! He asked us all to come closer (no problem!!) and the girls on his right completely freaked out, squealing ???? Japanese fangirls NEVER die. I love it! Right before we took the picture, Nagayan turned and asked if everyone was ready in Japanese, and then he turned to us and said loudly, “are you okay?” in English! Embvaaaarrrrasssing!! So, after that it was on to the BBQ! Outside of the BBQ, there were tables where we could turn in our order forms, as well as a special pocket mirror that you could buy with the Strawberry Meet logo on it. We entered the BBQ area, which was basically in back of a small resort, a BIG picnic-type area with numbered tables. There were 32 tables in all…. 32. Wow! On to the BBQ. To me, BBQ still meant hamburgers and hot dogs, chips and soda. To the Japanese, it meant that we cook our own yakiniku at the table! What a surprise for me at the time! My first time cooking yakiniku. Although I don’t eat meat anymore, I’d like to think that I’m a real pro at grilling eggplant now. ???? The three of us were at table 2 with 7 other girls. At first, it was a little awkward, and they didn’t really talk to us much, but they opened up when it turned out that we could understand a lot of what they were saying (A was especially awesome at Japanese), AND that one of them had done a homestay in America, so her English was pretty good. ^^ It turned out that not only was it my birthday, but it was also the birthday of another girl at our table!! Birthday twins!! So, the idea at this point was that Nagayan would randomly draw numbers and come around to visit and cook/eat with each of the tables. Ours came up surprisingly fast (I think we were the 7th table or so that he visited), and before we knew it, there he was, finding a space across the table from me (;_;) and helping us cook. Apparently we hadn’t been cooking fast enough for his liking, since we still had a LOT of meat and vegetables left, and so he started throwing all kinds of things on the grill. We told him that it was mine and the other girl’s birthday and he was like, ‘really?! Congratulations!!’ (He said it to me in English, but the other girl in Japanese) Then he told us that birthday people get priority, and put meat on both of our plates. Umm, yay. XD Soon after that, he reached over and gave me more and said “Present for me”….. Okay, that was the CUTEST thing I had probably ever seen in my life at the time! We tried to correct his English but I don’t think that he got it since he gave up really fast. He was REALLY cute, and even managed to ask us, “are you okay?” again for seemingly no reason. And then, sooner than we’d have liked, he was gone. ;__; We spent the rest of the BBQ listening to other tables talk to Nagayan and to the background music, which was of course our theme song. Some girls even stood up and started practicing the moves that had been on the video on the bus. Also randomly thrown in between the renditions were “Kokoro ga…” (his first single), and the other original song that he’d sang at his last fanclub event. After a few hours, we were told that it was time to get ready to leave, and to get back on the buses for the last part of our trip. Some girls practicing the dance… they were really good! This last part of our trip ended up being the craziest. They took us to a set of tennis courts (I’m sure this was a conscious choice) where they had us correct each other’s IQ tests. Oh man, this was HARD! But it was fun… if you’d gotten 9 or 10 right, you could get a stamp, although there were only a few girls that did. It seemed that, like me, that most people only had 1 or 2 right………. and they were native Japanese speakers that could read the test. I don’t feel so bad now. They also gave out stamps to people that had chosen strawberry suckers! This is where I wish that I had kept mine, though it didn’t really matter since I had chosen the wrong flavor. I was better suited to taking video at the time. Now, though, I think I would have just gone for it! After this, it was dance time! To my utter horror (I can’t dance ^^;;; except at Anime Expo but that’s another story), we had to get up in groups and perform the dance that we’d ‘learned.’ Nagayan led us each time, which was REALLY cute because he was REALLY into it, but it was still pretty nervewracking. It also took a LONG time to get through everyone. (almost 300 people doing it in about groups of 20). There was a lot of idle time. AND THEN, Nagayan had the best people get stamps and perform again for the little kids that had come up along the side...

Sometime over the summer, I saw a video on Facebook about a little town in Oregon where it’s Halloween all year long. Halloween? OMG YES, I LOVE HALLOWEEN! You’re not the only one dressing up for once, so it really doesn’t feel awkward to let your geek shine! Especially now that “sexy” halloween costumes aren’t the only “cool” option. I mean, as if nerdy costumes were ever less than cool, but I digress. History has been hard to us nerds. Anyways! So, I saw a video for this Halloweentown that made it look really, really cool, and I thought, hey, I have to go!  Guess what? I did! ???? Here is my report.  First off, did you know that this isn’t a Halloween thing, as much as it is a movie set thing?? I had never even heard of the Halloweentown movie until a week before I went, much less that there was an entire series of movies that I guess kids my age grew up with! I was more of an It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and The Worst Witch kid. Side note: holy cow, why is that movie so expensive now?! Maybe because it’s awesome, but still… So, in order to get myself into the mood, I watched Halloweentown the night before. It was cute, but it’ll still never mean to me what it means to people that grew up watching it. Here’s me and Joanne (my traveling companion — she and my cousin used to be an item, but she’s too cool for him now) at the “famous” gates! We let our Ravenclaw banner fly high all weekend! So, we drove from western Washington for about two hours to get to St. Helens, where all of the festivities take place. From the video, which I had bookmarked and is no longer available(!), it looked like this place would be huge and chock-full of Halloween everywhere we looked. Yay! There were events listed including coin hunts and rides in hearses, and because we went on a weekend in October, some of the movie cast would even be there taking photos (for a price)! It sounded really neat, and we planned to stay the night in the closest drivable town, which was 40 minutes away. There were only a few hotels in town and they were all booked up, boo. So, here’s where I want to mention something… St. Helens is a small town on the bank of the Columbia River. Right across from St. Helens, on the opposite bank of the river, is a town called Kalama. You can stand on the riverbank in St. Helens and look at Kalama on the other side. But there is no bridge. Nada. Nothing! So if you want to drive to that town that you can see happening over yonder, you have to either drive all the way up to Longview,  or all the way down to Portland, and then back. So it’s an hour’s DRIVE to cross the river, and you have to go through other cities to do it. WTF. I don’t understand this at all. Who planned these cities?!?! I just had to say something because it still boggles my mind! Alright, whew! Let’s look at some cute photos to feel better. ???? There was a band performing in Town Square, the center of all activity Halloweentown. Here’s the taxi from the movie. And this big steel pumpkin. It didn’t get crowded until night, but it was still hard to get a shot without people all over the place. I didn’t feel like waiting around, so this was the best that I could do. There was one huge parking lot, and this guy was there to welcome us in… Looks like he’d been waiting for quite a while! City Hall was at the front of the Town Square, and in the movie. This woman is apparently the ideal resident. Someone had a drone, and I thought it made for a cool shot. Looking at Mt. Hood in the distance! I’d love to go hiking there in the spring! Well… to be honest, there wasnt’ actually much to do. There were a few food trucks next to town hall selling noms and running charity drives, a haunted house around the corner, a street full of consignment/used goods shops, and a hair salon selling t-shirts and mugs of the event. During the day, there was also a shuttle to take you uptown where you could do a scavenger hunt and win a commemorative coin. It took Joanne and I over an hour to figure out where the shuttle came, even though you could walk the entire downtown area in 5 minutes, because it wasnt’ on any map and none of the shopkeepers or staff that we asked knew where it came to pick up people! Organization points: 0 We did find it, though, around the corner from all of the fuss, and boarded to do the scavenger hunt. I wasn’t really expecting anything, and it basically was a piece of paper asking us to go into 10 of 15 or so listed shops on the street and find a plaque with numbers on it. If we collected ten numbers and then took them to a certain gas station on the way out of town, we’d receive our coin. Alright, well it wasn’t super imaginative, but I get what they were going for. We did get to see some cute local shops (and I saw my second pot store in a town that takes 1-2 minutes to drive through… I’m not sure I could ever live in Oregon, as I despise any kind of smoking). I also found, of all things, local vegan caramel, so I bought it fully aware that I would try not to eat the entire bag, but would probably fail (I finished them all before I went to bed). It was delicious, though! Soft and chewy and so, so buttery….. yum! Well, after the scavenger hunt, we decided to get the car and drive around a little bit because we had run out of things to do and, guess what? According to a map that we picked up in town, apparently the Twilight series was also filmed there, and all of the locations were mapped! Forget Halloweentown (sorry!), I am a sucker for Edward and Bella’s tale of fated love. I’ve visited Forks and La Push, the real towns that the books are set in, but never the actual movie filming locations. This sort of made my weekend! There were also some old cemetaries marked on the map as places to visit. Both of those things will be in my next posts! After having a bit of an adventure, we returned to the town square to check out the nightly festivities. I think, honestly, that just coming at night to St. Helens would have been enough, because when we returned to Town Square it was starting to get packed. Apparently, at night is when the real town comes alive! Although there still wasn’t a lot to do, the atmosphere was really eerie and the throngs were thick enough that we had trouble getting through. There was a pumpkin-lighting ceremony at 7:30, but it started really late, so we abandoned it to go to the adults-only haunted house. I’m on a perpetual quest to find a haunted house that is actually scary, and this one turns adults-only after 7pm, so I was hoping for something great! Here’s the coin that we got for our scavenger hunt. It was plastic, not metal as I’d been hoping for, but it had been a nice afternoon looking in shops that we otherwise would have probably passed by. Jack was hanging out. You can see how thick the crowd was after dark! These girls had on mermaid-sparkle witch hats. I approve! I wonder whether they attended Ilvermorny. I had to have one of these necklaces. Can’t wait to rock them on halloween! I wore it into the haunted house, which was… well, it was very well done. It was probably the best put-together haunted house that I’ve ever visited in America, but I wasn’t scared at all. So, in terms of usual haunted houses, it gets an A+ rating! But on the honestly-scared-o-meter, it doesn’t register at all. This is probably what most people want, so give it a go when you visit, though! I just have really, really high expectations! Oh, and we did get a photo with Marnie’s actress. She was a real sweetie! Sure, I had just watched Halloweentown for the first time the night before, but why not! So that’s our little visit to Halloweentown! Final Verdict: If you’re nearby and a fan of Halloween, it’s definitely worth a stop! It’s only a half-hour’s drive from Portland, so it’s easy to take a little nip up and check out the festivities! It’s definitely kid-appropriate, and probably actually the most fun for the little ones. If you’re a fan of the movies, this place should definitely be on your bucketlist! Don’t plan for a whole day, though. It’s mostly a nighttime thing. See you tomorrow to share my photos from Bella’s!

You read that right. Joanne and I visited a Masonic Cemetary. Alone. It was one of the most calming experiences of my life. We were kind of invited, by the town, and when we arrived, we were definitely welcomed by the residents. This all started when, in the brochure listing the “town attractions” that we received in St. Helens, were two cemeteries. The addresses as well as short descriptions were listed, as well as a short missive asking us to please be respectful and not make loud noises. It sounded really creepy and really interesting, so both of us jumped at the chance to drive out there right before sunset. They weren’t what I expected at all… Well, the first one was actually roped off with a “no trespassing” sign hanging from it, so we didn’t go inside. It was right alongside the highway in Oregon, across some old train tracks, visible from the road, and named and marked on a tourist map, yet they didn’t want visitors. I wonder what happened there. In any case, we headed for the other cemetery. This one was removed from the main road, and rumored to be a lot larger. It was also known to be haunted, but visitors were welcome as long as they were respectful. Off the map it was, but when we arrived, it was also gated off. A sad Joanne looks through the gate at the second destination that was cut off from us. Ah, but unlike the other cemetery, this one didn’t have a “no tresspassing” sign. There was a clear path around the sides of the gate, the ground bare of grass and obviously well-traversed. Apparently a lot of people walked around the gate. Maybe they just didn’t want us to drive. We decided to walk. There was even a sign. And a long, winding, steep road through the forest.  It was quite a hike to reach the top of the large hill where the cemetery was supposedly located, but the view was breathtaking. It took us a good ten or fifteen minutes to reach the top, and the road was quite steep. For some reason, to the immediate right of the trail, someone had been excavating land for quite some time, and there was a deep quarry. Why someone would dig a quarry next to a burial ground is beside me. I don’t doubt that the residents were unhappy about it. I wondered if maybe I would feel some spirits, but I didn’t expect what really happened to me. As soon as I stepped off of the road and onto the grass, a calm unlike anything I’ve ever felt descended upon me. It enveloped me in a warm cocoon, and Joanne and I immediately separated and wandered quietly alone between the gravestones. I know, 100%, that not only was I welcomed, but that the residents were happy to have me there. I talked a bit with some of the gravestones, but mostly wandered about, amazed at how much serenity I felt. We must have spent around a half hour wandering quietly alone, together, before we left in order to return to the festivities in town. But I’ll never forget the experience. It was something really, really special. I took some video footage too, but I’m not sure yet whether I want to use it. We’ll see! Someday, I’ll set up a tripod and get a shot of me walking like this. But for now, have Joanne instead. ???? <3

☆ To see all of the parts in this series, click here ☆ Although it seemed as if my little fangirl heart couldn’t have taken any more, the day after the Nagayan Fanclub event, I went to see the Hyoutei myu for the first time. Just in case you’re reading this and going Huh? What’s a Hyoutei myu??, I can summarize by saying that it’s one in a series of musicals based on The Prince of Tennis. Yes, the manga that I ended up working on a few years later. ???? I was such a fangirl! Before I copy/paste my report on that musical, I want to say that the reason that I’m making this public again (they’re long gone now, and a lot of it was written privately) is because I want to show how much of a “silly,” squealing fangirl I was. I went from fan to insider purely because, later on, I took crazy-sounding chances and worked hard. And I sincerely believe that you, whomever you are, can do the same! By the way, all of this is eventually becoming fodder for an online comic that I’ve been formulating for a long time! No release date, though. I’m still working on Denkiki, this blog, my Youtube channel, and a few other things. And trying to put a new life together for myself. ???? In the meantime, let’s get to it! My friends and I ready for our dreams to come true, and our dreams were to see the Prince of Tennis musical! August 11, 2005 Tenimyu ~ Imperial Match Hyoutei!! This is the most detailed report on a musical that I’ve ever written. I’m going to do my best from now on to do the same each time!! (I did, for years) As Seigaku said, ♪♪DO YOUR BEST DO YOUR BEST!! DO YOUR BEST DO YOUR BEST!!♪♪ So far I’ve went to the opening performance of Hyoutei musical last night and to the second performance, which was tonight. ^^ I waited to write my report until seeing it a second time because I took very detailed notes the second time and added things and clarified things that the other people had seen afterwards! We had a tenimyu conference. =D (a tradition afterwards!!) It was a solid conclusion that cast improved a lot between the first and second performances. I can’t wait to see the last Tokyo performance, this Sunday. My bet is that they’re going to be VERY solid before then!! Oh wow. Deliciousness on a stick!! My overall feelings can be summed up in the chant that Hyoutei led, *clap clap* “Katsu no wa – Hyoutei! Makeru no Sei-gaku!!” 勝つのは氷帝！負けるの青学！！ (‘The winner will be Hyoutei! The loser will be Seigaku!’) Well, let’s start at what happened today before the musical!! Being hungry and having little other choice in the area for food, we went to the convenience store down the block from the musical… first off, I stopped and stared at this guy who was about to cross the road– who looked a lot like Ishibashi! But I couldn’t tell for sure because he’s changed his hair recently according to his picture set. He stared back at me, but it might have been because I was a tall red-headed foreigner wearing a Hyoutei jersey and a short black skirt.. ? LOL I don’t know if it was him, but I think that it was! He turned and looked back, and I think that he recognized me? I think.. maybe.. hmm..! He definitely recognized me yesterday, but that story is at the end of this report~ In the convenience store, while we are browsing the food sections, who do I notice has walked up alongside our aisle, but quite a few of the cast members! From what I remember, it was Yuu (Tezuka), Aiba (Fuji), Adachi (Kikumaru), Konishi (Kawamura), and Araki (Inui). Araki was wearing a cute hat so it took a minute to recognize him, and while most of the boys wandered along next to me without trouble in the aisle that I was in, Adachi stayed well away by the magazines. He was wearing a mask– which likely means that he has a cold!! Poor boy!! I only talked to Yuu– because I feel most comfortable talking to Yuu out of that group… ^^;; err, sorta. I (stupidly) shouted too loudly, “Yuu!!” when he came into my aisle, and of course he couldn’t ignore something like that. ^^;;; I feel a little bad, because I think that he gave me one of those, ‘why are you talking to me?’ looks. It’s not normal for a fan to actually talk to an actor here if they see them. I said, “hisashiburi!!’ (“It’s been a while!”) thinking that it’s been a while since I talked to him at all, to which he replied, “kino mita….” (“I saw you yesterday”)… Oh yeah…….. he’d obviously seen me at demachi yesterday (more later), and I felt kind of stupid and like I’d been really fannish, so I smiled and left him to do his things with the other boys. It wasn’t until later that I realized that I should have wished him good luck. Ah well, next time!! Itte yosh~! I probably acted way too familar, since we aren’t friends or anything, but it’s the way that I’ve always been with anyone that I’m fond of, friends or acquaintences. So it naturally carries off to them, without me even thinking of it. ^^; Ah well… in any case, I wish them all good luck for the future and rest of the performances!! On to the myu itself! (again! lol) Tenimyu ~ Imperial Match Hyoutei!! KENN special guest star. For both of these performances and for tomororw’s two shows also, KENN (Yuuta) is the special St. Rudolph guest star!! After that is Shiozawa for the next 3 days and Shinoda for the last day. I have tickets to shows with both of them (Thu and Sat for Shio, Sun of course for Shino), so I’m going to note the differences in separate posts. ^^ I can’t wait to see the differences!! ^____________________________^ This is my favorite~ I think that this is the best of all of the musicals. Hands down. Hyoutei was…. droolworthy. Hyoutei rocked the world, and they didn’t even show up for a little while. I’ll start at the beginning~ Tenimyu tenimyu tenimyu tenimyu tenimyu yaaay! <—— (me) First, as in all of the musicals, the curtain wa down andthere were suddenly the sounds of sneakers hitting the pavement. Cue the excitement level to rise and everyone to quiet down suddenly. The lights went down, and the curtain raised silently. A spotlight appeared off to the side, and onto the stage walks Sengoku (Wada) from the right, who does a short introduction. “Welcome,” etc. From the other side, lit with another spotlight, Yuuta (Kenn) made his entrance. They noticed each other and started to walk towards the center, but Yuuta suddenly stops as his cell phone goes off — with his ringer being Ore wa ore no namae de!! XDXDXD Wada starts to interrupt him, but his own phone goes off — with his ringer being Oretachi Jimi-su from bukimyu!! ROFLOL!! So hilarious!! They both managed to get off the phones shortly and walk over to each other, and began to argue — Sengoku asks Yuuta ‘So, who is the coolest player?’ Kenn begins right in saying that his buchou is the coolest, just look at him! And up above them on the screen appears a rather dorky shot of Akazawa and Kaneda from an earlier musical! Yuuta was embarrassed, saying, ‘ack!! I didn’t mean to put both of them up there!!’ Sengoku corrected him, saying, ‘My team is really cool’ — ‘Hey, who put that there?!’ Up on the screen had appeared a shot from Bukimyu of the Jimis mid-dance! Definitely NOT cool! XDXDXD In the end, they couldn’t decide who was the coolest, because music started up behind them…. Cue them to run off of stage and the second curtain to raise~ Starting with Fuji, all of Seigaku minus Ryoma took their places among the strong opening beats of the new Seigaku fight song, ♪Do Your Best! They did a long typical number for the kind of song- with lots of group singing and solos, the whole team going all out on their dancing just as they’d done for Bukimyu. Then they gathered in the center and Ryoma (Yanagi) was raised above! The crowd went noticeably more silent, this was the first time that Yanagi would be performing Ryoma on his own again!! How recovered WAS he? Yanagi didn’t move too much during this song, but he did do a bit of posing, and tried his very very best at singing. He still can’t sing well, but he’s obviously working on it. Hard. (So basically, he sounded terrible, but much better than he had at graduation myu!) Throughout the musical, Yanagi did very little dancing, and mostly posing. When he walked, he mostly walked without a limp, but there were a few times when it was noticeable, especially in the second performance. He could mostly manage it though, but he could not manage any kind of turns, as he stumbled slightly pretty much every time he tried. ;__;  Ganbarou Yanagi!! He’s improved a LOT!! Though there’s still a long road ahead, I think, he really seems to be trying hard. Everyone talked about it afterward and felt the same, very very respectful of what he must have to face and what he’s going through. What a strong boy~~ After Do Your Best, the lyrics consisting mostly of the team outlining their strengths and how they would try their hardest, Seigaku exited the stage and it all went dark. When the curtain raised again, the ichinen trio were sitting at desks on the left side of the stage, puzzling over the answers to their english test. Horio kept copying Kachiro, who shouted at him for it, and when they noticed us, they started in on another hilarious song, led by Horio, and beginning with english!! Horio belted out, “Hello, good day, how are you?” while Kachiro and Katsuo start chiming in. Kachiro seems to think that Horio is copying too much, so he stands up on the desk for his next refrain, and very very slashily (to me), Horio offers him a hand down. Then…….. they start a tap dance across stage that somehow incorporates the lyrics “A B C D”!! XDXD They have their usual display of awesome and hilarious dancing and suddenly rush off stage in the middle of the test when they realize that they’re about to miss the tennis team’s ranking tournament!! Most of Seigaku’s ranking matches are glossed over quickly, with the actors coming in and out quickly, pretending to hit a few balls or so. They give special attention to Ryoma vs. Oishi, after which Ryoma is congratulated for becoming a regular again. Next is the most important match, however. Inui vs. Momo and Inui vs. Tezuka. They do both matches at once, by having Inui stand on the right in the background, and Momo on the left in the background, with Tezuka in the front center (like a triangle). There is scary data-like music playing in the background (hard to describe.. it sounds like data). Inui is hitting balls and every other time that he hits a ball either Tezuka or Momo hits it. He finishes the Momo match first, and lo and behold ~ he beats Momo, who is no longer a regular because of it. Momo can’t believe it and stalks off stage. Then the Inu-Tez match is stopped, and the stage is resituated for a proper viewing of the rest of the match. The entire team is talking about how scary data tennis is, and I agree after seeing that. Inui is powerful in the musical! On to the real InuTez match. Inui tells Tezuka that he can break him with data tennis, because data doesn’t lie. In fact, after he counters Tezuka’s zero-shiki drop shot with data, he...

Being back in a cold and rainy climate reminds me of Tokyo. No, seriously. Washington has four seasons, just like Tokyo did, and just like Hawaii didn’t. I suppose that’s what has been making me feel really nostalgic these days. I’m in a place with the weather of Japan, but way less awesome. I have seriously owned around seventeen kajillion books about Japan in my lifetime, and I’ve given away, donated, or sold back almost the same amount. Some of them I bought, some of them were given to me, and I even found one or two. But the thing is that I have moved so many times that the only ones I’ve kept are those that I absolutely, positively, do not want to live without. (Well, maybe I could live without them, but then would I really be living?) Anyays! Right now, I only own three books in English about Japan, and these are them, and here is why I really like them:   1. The Otaku Encyclopedia: An Insider’s Guide to the Subculture of Cool Japan Disclaimer: A friend of mine wrote this, but that’s not why I’m recommending it.  Pat has written a bunch of books and papers, and they’re all great, but this is the one that I wish that every single otaku in the world could have. What is it? It’s seriously a dictionary, but not the kind of dictionary that we used when I was a little kid to look up stuff for our school essays. I never had a dictionary like this. You probably know what Hatsune Miku is, but do you know what a Heta-uma is? How about a kuchi-paku? Guess where you can find all of that information that you didn’t know that you needed to have? In this freaking book. I know a fair amount about Otaku culture. I lived and breathed it in Japan for almost a whole decade. But I didn’t know half of the stuff that Patrick wrote about in his book, and that’s why you need it. Plus, it’s got a lot of color, a cute mascot, and some really cool exclusive interviews. You can even learn about Tenimyu!   2. Tokyo on Foot So. I saw this book in the book store in Japan, even though it’s written in English. Maybe that’s because although there is a story in it, it’s mostly drawings and you don’t need to be able to read to get the gist of it. It was written/drawn by an artist that came to stay in Tokyo while his girlfriend was there for an internship. He spent almost every day of his six months there wandering the city with colored pencils and a pad of paper and drawing what he saw. Not only are his drawings aces, I absolutely love his little comments about places and people and things. Right after I bought this book (years ago), I was so enamored that I tried emulating his style with less than stellar results. Me and colored pencils don’t mix, which kind of makes this book even more cool (somehow)! Part of the reason that I really enjoyed this book was because it made me nostalgic for my own first days in Tokyo. I remembered thinking a lot of the same things. I just wish that I’d been good with colored pencils (and had enough confidence to write a book). You can read about my first year here on my blog, though! Honestly, I don’t think that this book is as much a must-have for otaku as the other two, but if art and impressions of Japan is your thing, I think you will love it as much as I do. I seriously only brought two English-language books back with me when I moved out of Japan, and this was one. The other was an ancient copy of The Mysterious Island that my father got when he was a kid and passed on to me.   3. Tokyo Geek’s Guide Aaaaalright. I was really, really skeptical about this one. I’ve seen a hundred other “guides to Tokyo” for otaku, but I didn’t keep any of them. This one, though? I am not only keeping it forever, I am going to give a copy to any of my friends traveling to Japan on their own to go otaku-shopping. Holy cow, I wish this book had existed when I first moved to Japan, because it covers things that it took me years of living there to find on my own! It’s a bona-fide travel guide, minus all of the generic stuff that you can find in a normal travel guide. It doesn’t focus on hotels or nice restaurants. Instead, it lists maid cafes, anime shops, and AWESOME stuff like Swallowtail (don’t know what that is? You need to get this book and find out because it is awesome!). The book is split into districts of Tokyo, and lists otaku-related info about each area along with detailed maps and how to get to all of these places. It’s kind of big and heavy for a travel guide, but it’s seriously the only one that I’m interested in having with me next time that I travel to Tokyo. There are places in it that I haven’t even been to. Oh, and bonus? There is a whole section in the latter part of the book talking about Geeky festivals like Comicket and JUMP Festa. I REALLY, REALLY WISH THAT THIS HAD BEEN AROUND WHEN I MOVED TO JAPAN. It’s 14 years too late for that, but not too late for my next trip, and not too late for yours! It’s also in full color. If you’re reading this, I think that you will probably want this book. GO BUY IT.   This has absolutely NOT been a paid advertisement. I am just a geeky girl honestly recommending things that she likes to you that she thinks you need. :3 See you again soon la la la!

This isn’t in the photos, but it’s foggy and cold this morning in western Washington. It’s the weirdest summer I’ve ever experienced — foggy, frigid mornings, cool days, and then freezing nights! It’s not very pleasant for a desert creature like myself, but it’s quite nice to sit inside and write in my blog a least. I have to say, it sure is weird, though. It’s August and I wear a sweater or sweatshirt most of the time and then I’m still cold! ^^; There are a few sunny days here and there, though. I get out on those days, into the wilderness and bright blue beyond. Sometimes, I just drive and drive in my still-unnamed yellow bug, and other times I find something that not a lot of people know about. This is about one of them. ^^ I love to wander, to find all of the nooks and crannies of wherever I happen to be. Tourist sites? Well, they’re usually cool and I want to see them, but it’s the little, hidden things off the beaten trail that really get my soul revving. So, Johns River (no apostrophe, it was named back when apostrophes weren’t used on maps) was one of those things. I found out about it by googling and googling, thinking that someone, somewhere, must have written about something other than the two really traveled trails in Grays Harbor. I mean, this area is the gateway to the wild peninsula of Washington, where according to Stephanie Meyer and Patricia Briggs, vampires and werewolves run wild. I also loooooooove mountain meadows. Johns river is not in the mountains, so I suppose that it mostly qualifies as grassland surrounded by trees? It’s just a little concrete path, and it’s not even a mile (0.6 miles one way) long, but with the river on one side and a huge expanse of pasture to the other side, it took my breath away.   Just look at this. Elk supposedly graze around here a lot, and I didn’t see any since I went during midday, but I bet it’s really a sight at sunset. It’s not far, so I will definitely have to come back. Can’t you just imagine little river sprites lounging on the bank, cleaning themselves? And little fairies flitting through the air? I bet this is a really magical place at sunset.   The little shack in the distance is off the trail. It’s supposedly for hunters (YUCK) and photographers. It would make a wonderful place to watch the sprites from. This shack is at the very end of the trail, and the same thing. It’s boring inside. I didn’t see any geldings, but I saw a few mosquitoes and a spider. If you’re lucky enough to have a horse that loves to take you along on its adventures, you can continue. I was wearing shorts, so I didn’t go, because ticks! But I will come back. Yes, I will come back. :3 Road to nowhere. Ignore the buildings. They’re only there for magical curse removal. Here’s a panorama of wildness. I’m feeling really magical today, can’t you tell? I think it’s because I have Daniel Waples playing in the background, and it’s all foggy outside. That reminds me that I want a handpan so badly. I need to find a handpan that I can afford soooooo badly, because I think it’s a music that speaks to my inner essence. Does anyone know what these gorgeous purple flowers are? They’re not lavender. The River People watch over this creek. Be careful to please them. It’s me. Sometimes I wear bright colors, sometimes I wear pastels. I don’t think that a magical being has to stick to  neutrals. (That hand thing is a shaka, a very cool gesture that I learned during my time in Hawaii that means “hang loose.” I like to think that it also means that you should be yourself and follow your instincts.) I think that I’ll go research handpans again. I should write down how much they cost so that I can be sure to stock my Airstream with one when I get it. ???? Here’s to the future! Excelsior! (Is that a good “to infinity, and beyond!!” kind of quote? If not, what should I use instead? I feel like “banzai!” is overused) Oh, and I’ve been arting on my Tumblr lately. I’ve been writing a serial ficiton that is mysterious connected to my soon-to-come comic, Denkiki on my other tumblr. Go check them out!  I’m going to start using my mailing list soon, too, to keep people updated, so stay tuned and I’ll post the link soon! Or make it a popup, I’m not sure. But I want to offer something cool for when people sign up. ???? Chaoness!

iFixit hasn't yet done a full teardown of the new Magic Keyboard designed for the new iPad Pro models, but the repair site today partnered with x-ray company Creative Electron to create Magic Keyboard x-rays that give us a view of just what's inside.


The Magic Keyboard uses scissor switch keys instead of butterfly keys, which have now been effectively eliminated from Apple's product lineup. The scissor switch mechanism is clearly visible in the x-ray view, and iFixit calls it the simplest mechanism in the accessory, but the biggest improvement compared to the Smart Keyboard.

Below the keyboard, there are metal plates that iFixit believes are for reinforcing the keyboard's body against bending, and the trackpad is a new design that's different from MacBook trackpads.

There appear to be multiple buttons under the trackpad to capture presses, while the MacBook Trackpads have no buttons and simulate presses with haptic feedback.


There are at least two spring loaded hinge designs at the folding point, featuring both a small coil and a larger coil, plus there are two cables for connecting the Smart Connector to the keyboard for power and data transfer.

Lots and lots of magnets are visible in the x-ray, with the magnets used to hold the Magic Keyboard on the ‌iPad Pro‌. There's a whole ring of tiny magnets around the camera cutout, which iFixit said was a "lot of little polarized bits" to line up, space out, and configure with the ‌iPad Pro‌ components.

According to iFixit, there's more going on in the Magic Keyboard than there is in many laptops, which could explain its price point. Apple charges $299 for the 11-inch Magic Keyboard and $349 for the 12.9-inch version.

This article, "An X-Ray View of Apple's Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple has launched a new web page that brings together links and information about its online services for customers shopping from home during the global health crisis.


Titled "Everything you love about our stores is online," the new catch-all page links from the Apple.com home page and includes details about no-contact delivery options, Apple Specialist help, financing and credit options, Apple Trade In, Apple Card, order status checking, service and support.

The page also links out to "Today at Apple - At home," a series of fun how-to videos to help users get creative during the ongoing stay-at-home measures, and there's a series of category links for customers to explore products on Apple's online store.

Apple has been gradually re-opening its retail stores in countries where lockdowns have eased, although some are operating on limited hours.

Apple CEO Tim Cook last week said that Apple was going to reopen stores in Austria and Australia this week, and Apple's sole Apple Store in Vienna will be reopening on Tuesday, May 5.

We're still waiting to hear exactly when stores in North America will reopen, but Cook also said that Apple is planning to reopen a few stores in the U.S. starting in May. Store openings will be staggered, with Apple evaluating data that includes local guidelines and recommendations before reopening.
This article, "New Apple Web Page Directs Customers to Its Online Shopping Services" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Popular journaling app Day One today updated to version 4.13, adding support for trackpad navigation on iPad, a new Day View interface, and other improvements.


This release comes after the launch of iOS and iPadOS 13.4, which added support for trackpads and mice on ‌‌iPad‌‌.

After updating, Day One users on ‌iPad‌ can use various trackpad actions to interact with the app, including two-finger swipe down to dismiss, and two-finger horizontal swipe to open and close the journal drawer.

• How to Use a Bluetooth Mouse or Trackpad With Your iPad

The new Day View offers quicker access to daily entries by tapping on or clicking dates in the calendar or the timeline.

Also in this update, Daily Reminders now include additional information like the number of photos taken and locations visited on a given day, and the Settings pages now provide links to Day One feature documents.

Elsewhere, several bugs have been fixed, including one that caused video thumbnails not to display in the media timeline, and one that prevented photos in the activity feed from showing location or calendar events.

Day One is a free download for iPhone and ‌iPad‌ from the App Store with in-app purchases for premium features. [Direct Link]
This article, "Day One Journaling App Update Adds iPad Trackpad Support, New Day View, and More" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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We're still waiting to hear news about Apple Card's performance relative to the major card issuers, but that hasn't stopped Samsung from announcing plans to launch an "innovative" debit card as part of a new mobile-first money management platform the company has been developing over the last year.


Announced on Thursday in a blog post by Samsung Pay vice-president Sang Ahn, the forthcoming debit card is in partnership with finance company SoFi and will be backed by a cash management account.

"In 2020, Samsung Pay will be expanding our service from being a rewarding way to shop and pay, to also being a rewarding way to manage money," writes Ahn. "Over the past year we have been busy developing a mobile-first money management platform. Our vision is to help consumers better manage their money so that they can achieve their dreams and goals. Now more than ever, mobile financial services and money management tools will play an even bigger role in our daily lives while also opening up new possibilities."

The debit card is scheduled to launch this summer. Other than that, Samsung hasn't offered any details on how it will work, but expect it to integrate with Samsung's existing mobile payment system.

Launched in August 2019, ‌Apple Card‌ is a credit card linked to Apple Pay and built into the Wallet app on iPhone. Apple partnered with Goldman Sachs to launch the card, and in October the investment bank hailed it as "the most successful credit-card launch ever." Nine months later, neither Apple nor Goldman Sachs has offered any concrete details on its performance.

During the global health crisis, Apple has introduced an ‌Apple Card‌ Assistance Program that allows ‌‌Apple Card‌‌ holders to skip their March and April payments without incurring interest charges for that billing cycle. For more details on how the card works, check out our comprehensive Apple Card guide.
This article, "Samsung Announces 'Innovative' Debit Card Launching this Summer" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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A nationwide class action lawsuit filed against Apple in Northern California court this week accuses the company of knowingly concealing a defect with a display-related flex cable on recent 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models.


As discovered by repair website iFixit last year, some MacBook Pro models released in 2016 and 2017 have experienced issues with uneven backlighting caused by a delicate flex cable that can wear out and break after repeated opening and closing of the display. Impacted notebooks can exhibit uneven lighting at the bottom of the screen, which has been described as a "stage light" effect, and the backlighting system can eventually fail entirely.

Since the issue often takes time to manifest, the affected ‌MacBook Pro‌ units can be outside of Apple's one-year warranty period when they start exhibiting symptoms, resulting in an out-of-warranty repair fee of up to $850.

"Imagine spending more than $2,500 on a laptop only for it to fail shortly after the manufacturer's warranty expires," said PARRIS Law Firm attorney R. Rex Parris. "What's even more appalling is Apple requiring customers to spend an additional $600 to $850 to replace the screen."

Apple seemingly fixed the issue by extending the length of the flex cable by 2mm in the 2018 MacBook Pro. It also launched a free repair program in May 2019, but the program only applies to 13-inch MacBook Pro models released in 2016.

iFixit found the 2018 MacBook Pro flex cable on the left to be 2mm longer
The class action lawsuit seeks restitution for all costs attributable to replacing or replacing the affected MacBook Pro units, and calls for Apple to expand its repair program to cover the 15-inch MacBook Pro. The proposed class is defined as all persons within the United States who purchased a 2016 or newer MacBook Pro.

Related Guide: "Flexgate" Display Issues Affecting 2016 MacBook Pro and Later
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Apple has been selling audio accessories since December 2016 when the original AirPods launched. We now have the ‌AirPods‌ 2 and the AirPods Pro, and Apple is planning to add to its lineup with new over-ear Apple-branded headphones.

Apple already sells over-ear headphones under its Beats brand, but as with the ‌AirPods‌, Apple is also working on headphones that will be Apple branded rather than Beats branded. These headphones are said to be aimed at the high-end market.

Design

The headphones will feature an all-new design, and while we don't know a lot about it, we do know some details shared by Bloomberg.

Apple is said to be working on two versions of the high-end over-ear headphones, including a premium version with leather-like fabrics and a fitness-focused model that uses lighter, breathable materials with small perforations for better airflow.

Prototypes of the headphones have been described as having a retro-like look with over-ear cups that swivel along with a headband connected with thin metal arms.

Apple is planning to attach the ear pads and the head padding to the headphone's frame magnetically, allowing users to swap different colors and variants in and out for customization purposes.

An icon representing the headphones was found in the code in a leaked version of iOS 14, but little detail can be gleaned from the imagery.

Rumored Features

According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple's over-ear headphones will feature Active Noise Cancellation, a high-end feature baked into the Beats Studio 3 headphones, Solo Pro headphones, and the ‌AirPods Pro‌.

Active Noise Cancellation is designed to cut down on ambient noise so you can focus on what you're listening to. If it mimics ANC on the ‌AirPods Pro‌, there will be a transparency mode that will enable noise cancelling features, but with an option to continue to hear what's going on around you.

Sound quality is expected to be better than the sound quality of the ‌AirPods‌.

Pricing

Apple could price the new headphones at around $350.

Launch Date

Current rumors indicate the headphones will launch at some point in 2020, though a specific date has not yet been nailed down. Mass production on the headphones is scheduled to begin in mid-2020, which perhaps suggests a fall 2020 launch.

There were rumors indicating that Apple initially planned to launch the headphones at some point in 2019, but that did not happen.

Over-Ear Headphones Rumor History

• Mass Production on Apple's High-End Headphones Rumored to Start in Mid-2020


• Apple to Unveil High-End Over-Ear Wireless Headphones With Magnetically Swappable Parts Later This Year


• Apple Reportedly Targeting WWDC for Over-Ear Headphones Launch, New 'AirPods X' Later in the Year


• Icon for Apple's Rumored Over-Ear Noise Canceling Headphones Discovered in Leaked iOS 14 Code


• Apple-Branded Over-Ear Headphones Said to Launch as Early as Second Half of 2019


• Apple's Upcoming Over-Ear Wireless Headphones to Target High-End Noise-Canceling Market


• KGI: Apple Developing High-End Over-Ear Headphones, Launching Late 2018 at the Earliest

Guide Feedback

Have a question about Apple's over-ear headphones, know of something we left out, or want to offer feedback? Send us an email here.
This article, "Apple's Work on High-End Over-Ear Headphones: Everything We Know" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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A new NFC specification announced this week by the NFC Froum will allow future NFC enabled devices to offer wireless charging capabilities, which means a smartphone could be used to charge a small accessory like headphones.


According to the NFC Forum, the Wireless Charging Specification (WLC) will allow smartphones or other NFC charging devices to wirelessly charge small, battery-powered consumer and IoT devices at a power transfer rate of up to one watt.

The 1W rating is much slower than the Qi-based standard used by iPhones and other smartphones. Qi-based wireless charging on the iPhone maxes out at 7.5W, but is even faster on some Android devices.

Charging over NFC would require new hardware, and it's not a feature that can be added to existing devices. The NFC Forum believes the WLC specification could be used to complement Qi-based wireless charging.

It works using a single antenna to manage communications and charging, which is convenient for low-power devices like smart watches, fitness trackers, and earbuds that already use NFC for connectivity because there's no need to build in Qi support.

"The NFC Forum's Wireless Charging Technical Specification allows for wireless charging of small battery-powered devices like those found in many of the estimated 36 billion IoT devices in use today," said Koichi Tagawa, chair, NFC Forum. "NFC wireless charging is truly transformative because it changes the way we design and interact with small, battery-powered devices as the elimination of plugs and cords enables the creation of smaller, hermetically-sealed devices."

Apple in 2015 joined the NFC Forum and participates in the approval of new NFC specifications and developments.

Rumors in 2019 suggested that Apple was working on bilateral wireless charging that would allow its iPhones to charge the AirPods and the Apple Watch, but the feature was ultimately nixed. At the time, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the two-way wireless charging feature Apple was exploring did not meet Apple's requirements.

Samsung has implemented bilateral wireless charging in its smartphones, but the Wireless PowerShare option does not use NFC and is powered by the Qi-based charging coils in the device. Samsung's smartphones can charge other smartphones or accessories like headphones that support Qi wireless chargers.
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For this week's giveaway, we've once again teamed up with Throwboy to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win one of Throwboy's plushes modeled after classic Apple products and icons.


Throwboy makes a whole range of different plush pillow options priced at $30 to $40, with each one designed to look like an Apple product of some kind, including classic Macs, the iPod, the iPhone, and more. Each pillow features detailed embroidery and careful construction to highlight each component and to accurately represent Apple's designs.

The 1998 pillow, for example, is modeled after Apple's original iMac with its bright Bondi Blue design, while the 2001 pillow modeled after the original iPod comes complete with a screen and click wheel embroidery.


The 2007 pillow looks like the original ‌iPhone‌ with black bezels and a silver backing, and the Icon Pillow looks like Apple's classic happy Finder icon.


There's even a rainbow-colored Spinning Wheel Pillow that's designed to look like the dreaded spinning pinwheel that the cursor morphs into when an application is busy.


All of Throwboy's plushes are soft, squishy, huggable, and the perfect accent piece for an Apple fan. Each pillow is the ideal size to be used as a comfortable throw pillow for a couch or a chair. Photos of the pillows in action can be seen on Throwboy's Instagram account.


We have 10 of Throwboy's pillows to give away to MacRumors readers, and each winner will be able to pick their favorite pillow: ‌iMac‌, iPod, classic ‌iPhone‌, Finder Icon, or Spinning Wheel.

To enter to win our ‌giveaway‌, use the Gleam.io widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, following us on Instagram, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the ‌giveaway‌ restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

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Apple's next-generation Apple Watch and watchOS 7 will focus on new mental health capabilities, according to leaker Jon Prosser who recently spoke on the Geared Up podcast. The mention of new ‌Apple Watch‌ features comes towards the end of the podcast.


The next-generation version of the ‌Apple Watch‌, the ‌Apple Watch‌ Series 6, has been rumored to include a blood oxygen sensor, which Prosser says Apple will take advantage of to implement new mental health-related features, such as detecting panic attacks.

What their biggest focus on is right now and I hope it comes this year, it might come next year, but I hope it's coming to WWDC is mental health capabilities. Where they can take the oxygen levels in your blood with your heart rate and determine if you're hyperventilating.

They can identify a panic attack before it happens and warn you on your watch. Especially if you're driving, they'll ask you to pull over and they'll offer breathing exercises once you get pulled over.

Prosser says that while he hopes the feature is released this year, "it might come next year." He also says he hopes for a WWDC unveiling, but if the new feature relies on a blood oxygen sensor in an unreleased version of the ‌Apple Watch‌, it's not likely Apple will unveil the capability until the fall when new ‌Apple Watch‌ models that support it are released.

There is, however, a possibility that it will be revealed at WWDC if older ‌Apple Watch‌ models have a latent ability to detect blood oxygen level, which is not clear at this time, or if the feature does not involve blood oxygen monitoring.

The panic attack detecting rumor was first shared by EverythingApplePro and leaker Max Weinbach back in April, who said that the ‌Apple Watch‌ will also be able to determine when a user is experiencing high levels of stress. Weinbach and EverythingApplePro did not suggest the feature would rely on blood oxygen monitoring, however, and said that it would be available on the ‌Apple Watch‌ Series 4 or later.

Hints that blood oxygen tracking capabilities are coming to a future version of the ‌Apple Watch‌ were found in a leaked version of iOS 14. Blood oxygen monitoring is an important feature because a drop in blood oxygen levels can suggest a serious respiratory or cardiac problem that requires immediate medical attention.

Multiple prior rumors from Bloomberg and other sources have also indicated that the next-generation ‌Apple Watch‌ and watchOS 7 will include sleep tracking features, allowing the ‌Apple Watch‌ to measure sleep quality, length, and other metrics.
This article, "Rumor Claims watchOS 7 Will Have 'Mental Health Capabilities' to Detect Panic Attacks" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple recently updated the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and the $1,299 base model remains a popular alternative to the $999 MacBook Air. To help with your buying decision, read our comparison of the notebooks below.


The differences between the base 13-inch MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air are quite nuanced, with each notebook possessing some unique features.

What's the Same

• 13-inch Retina display with 227 pixels per inch and True Tone support


• Magic Keyboard with reliable scissor switch design


• Force Touch trackpad


• 2 × Thunderbolt 3 ports


• 3.5mm headphone jack


• 256GB of SSD storage standard, configurable up to 2TB


• Touch ID


• T2 security chip


• 720p webcam


• 802.11ac Wi-Fi, also known as Wi-Fi 5


• Bluetooth 5.0


• Three-microphone array with directional beamforming


• Dolby Atmos surround sound

Advantages of Base 13-Inch MacBook Pro

• The display supports the P3 wide color gamut for more vibrant and lifelike colors


• The display is brighter at up to 500 nits vs. 400 nits on MacBook Air


• Touch Bar


• Slightly better sounding speakers

Advantages of MacBook Air

• Up to 11 hours of battery life vs. 10 hours on base 13-inch MacBook Pro


• Weighs slightly less at 2.8 pounds vs. 3.1 pounds for base 13-inch MacBook Pro


• Faster RAM: 3733MHz LPDDR4X vs. 2133MHz LPDDR3 for base 13-inch MacBook Pro


• 6K display support vs. 5K on base 13-inch MacBook Pro

Unlike the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air also has a gold color option.

Performance

Generally speaking, the MacBook Air remains best suited for lightweight day-to-day tasks like web browsing and creating spreadsheets, while the MacBook Pro is better equipped to handle more intensive tasks like rendering large video files. This is not only because the MacBook Pro has faster processors than the Air, but also because it has a more advanced thermal design for dissipating heat inside the computer.

While the MacBook Air has been updated with Intel's latest 10th-generation processors, the base 13-inch MacBook Pro continues to use older 8th-generation processors. However, the Air uses lower-wattage Y-series chips with lower clock speeds, so the Pro still has faster overall performance, as confirmed by benchmarks.

Geekbench 5 scores for the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air configurations:

• MacBook Air / 1.1GHz dual-core Core i3: 1,002 single-core and 1,998 multi-core


• MacBook Air / 1.1GHz quad-core Core i5: 1,055 single-core and 2,645 multi-core


• MacBook Air / 1.2GHz quad-core Core i7: 1,102 single-core and 2,843 multi-core


• MacBook Pro / 1.4GHz quad-core Core i5: 927 single-core and 3,822 multi-core


• MacBook Pro / 1.7GHz quad-core Core i7: 1,036 single-core and 3,909 multi-core

Takeaways:

• The base model 13-inch MacBook Pro for $1,299 has up to 91 percent faster multi-core performance than the base model MacBook Air for $999


• If considering the MacBook Air, upgrading to the quad-core Core i5 option is well worth the extra $100, as it is up to 32 percent faster than the base model and more closely rivals the base 13-inch MacBook Pro

Geekbench 5 scores are calibrated against a baseline score of 1,000, which is the score of an Intel Core i3-8100. Higher scores are better, with double the score indicating double the performance. Compare with other Mac benchmarks here.

Bottom Line

If you value portability and up to an extra hour of battery life, and are willing to sacrifice some performance, the MacBook Air is a relatively good value. Just remember to consider spending an extra $100 on the quad-core Core i5 processor option, as the $999 base model is equipped with a particularly sluggish dual-core processor.

For more intensive tasks, the 13-inch MacBook Pro's faster processors and more advanced thermal design will allow you to push the limits more without the fans running obnoxiously. You'll also get the Touch Bar, a brighter and more vibrant display, and slightly better sounding speakers with high dynamic range.
This article, "Base 13-Inch MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple's rumored high-end over-ear headphones may be called "AirPods Studio" and retail for $349, according to Jon Prosser of YouTube channel Front Page Tech.


In keeping with the successful ‌AirPods‌ brand, the rumored "Studio" over-ear headphones would significantly diversify Apple's ‌AirPods‌ lineup, which last added the in-ear AirPods Pro in October 2019. The supposed price of $349 would place "‌AirPods‌ Studio" as a direct competitor to high-end noise-canceling over-ear headphones from Bose and Sony.

Looks like Apple is sticking with the “‌AirPods‌” branding for their new over-ear headphones.

‌AirPods‌ Studio
Codename: B515
$349

— Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) May 9, 2020

Prosser has previously accurately leaked the April 15 launch date of the new iPhone SE and, most recently, the May 4 launch date of the refreshed 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects Apple's over-hear headphones to enter mass production in mid-2020, which may suggest a fall 2020 launch.
This article, "Apple's Over-Ear Headphones May Be Called 'AirPods Studio' and Cost $349" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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