Minako made a good point about the new world map addition to the WCS 2008 web page in a comment she made in the "USA to take part in WCS 2008!" blog entry. It is a neat new way to get information on each participating country, you can check it out here! As events come up and new countries send representatives you will see the countries outlined on the map and you can get information by clicking on them.

As I mentioned before I will be including more general things that I see around me that may not be directly related to manga/anime/cosplay. Depending on how culturally related manga or anime is you may see some of these things in background of the work. Usually culturally relative manga or anime do not translate well into other languages or cultures.

The four seasons are very distinct in Japan and there are many indicators for the arrival of autumn. 2 of those are the fluffy fall clouds and the blooming of the cosmos flower. I took a picture of them here.