Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2012

STAYCATE THE PREMISES

Regarding “Home But Away” (Feature, November 23): So the Shangri-La and Mandarin are high-end love hotels, the Grand Hyatt is for gaijin who don’t speak a lick of Japanese and/or are intimated by the public transit system and the Four Seasons for parents who want to ditch their kids for a night on the town.—honyaku

It is important to have hotel rooms that are soundproofed. One hotel I work with has elevator noise in rooms located near elevator shafts. There are ghost noises when the elevator car and counter weight pass the room floors. A good design is to have isolated elevator shafts away from the rooms. Thanks for posting.—Shaun Kwong. Home Elevator Malaysia.

SPANNED OUT

Regarding “Tony Hadley” (Music, November 2): Brilliant show last night at Billboard Osaka—all the classics (well, not all of them), some cool covers, and the new song played, “My Imagination,” was excellent—John Keeble is indeed a rock god on drums, too. Had the pleasure to meet the man himself after the show, too. Last time we met was 30 years ago.—Alan Gibson

COUCH POTATOES

Regarding “Method to the Madness” (Feature, November 9): The “Class Rules for Japanese Comedy” segment was a good idea, but it would have been more insightful to include two major underpinnings of Japanese comedy/variety TV: 1) Political satire is virtually taboo, despite fledgling attempts in that direction by a few comics. 2) Faked content known in Japan as yarase—situations that appear spontaneous and natural but have actually been pre-scripted. The comics deserve praise for their skills, but that’s all the more reason to mention the restrictions they operate under.—G. Fitzpatrick

What? No Ame-Talk?—Jon

SAPPY

Apologies to Jeannie Gan for hijacking her article with this comment, but I’ve been on the new Metropolis iPhone app for a frustrating 20 minutes looking for some listings. Can’t find them and can’t find any other way of contacting Metropolis to tell them that this app blows.—Metappblows
Thanks for your feedback, we’re working on it.—Eds

WE ASKED…

There’s a tiny bit of a bite in the air, but the heating on the train is already set to “hellish high.” How do you deal with the transition?

What is it with the Japanese and their intense sensitivity to cold? it was about 35C in the post office the other day..!—Luke Badman

Layers!—Sarah Brave

Since the train is the longest part of my commute, I just skip wearing a sweater. I can deal with the cold between home and the station.—Gabriel Blanchfield

You stand as close as possible to the sliding doors, to catch that breeze in between. Then notice how oncoming passagers are getting annoyed by you, because you’re in the way. You can’t win!—Becky Percz

True! It’s hot as hell on the train. Nothing you can do with it. Just sweat a lot and hope it would lose weight.—@chaharu_1rom

I ride a bike. That way I can control the temperature on my temperature year round.—@tokyobybike