Fried Chicken and Sushi 374 Why that cell phone ringtone?

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My wife reminded me of this story awhile back.  We were sitting on the subway train in Japan and a salaryman who looked around fifty years old and all snazzy in his serious business suit was sitting near us.  The song HOT STUFF by Donna Summer started blaring from his cell phone and we thought it was so funny!  His call was of course about something very serious in Japanese but it was an example of how people really don't care what the song is about if it's in English.  If it sounds good, use it.  Maybe he dances to Donna Summer when he's home alone.  YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE ALONE IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.  

Fried Chicken and Sushi 373 What's really up with Sato?

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Sato sensei is jealous of how wonderful Karl's relationship with Mai is.  This is not too hard to believe when you think of what marriage was like for Japanese women back in the day when she got married.  Men worked all the time and women took care of the house.  They barely saw each other and led two different lives.  For many Japanese people, it's still the same today.  Have you experienced anything like this?  Talk about it in the comments or on the FRIED CHICKEN AND SUSHI FACEBOOK PAGE!

Fried Chicken and Sushi 372 Grading Mai Many Papers!

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Sato sensei sure gets upset when Karl talks about dating Mai.  Could it be because Karl is so happy that he doesn't know when to stop going on and on about her?  Or could it be something else?  Perhaps we'll find out in next Tuesday's comic?  CLICK HERE TO LIKE MY FACEBOOK FAN PAGE!

Fried Chicken and Sushi 371 Slurping Noodles in the Right Place

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Looks like Ryan can get a little too excited to try something new that he learned.  How many of you out there slurp your spaghetti?  I'll admit that I have, on occasion, enjoyed slurping spaghetti but it can get messy.  IT'S NOT MESSY TO CLICK HERE AND FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER!

Fried Chicken and Sushi 369 The Waitress gets the Picture

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There have been so many times like this for me.  It truly is wonderful how many restaurants in Japan have menus with pictures and even fake food in a display case so you have an idea of what kind of food they serve. Ryan looks like he might be fine going out eating on his own after all!  IT WOULD BE MIGHTY FINE IF YOU CLICK HERE AND FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER!

Fried Chicken and Sushi 368 By the skin of an apple

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It always cracks me up how Japanese people are serious about peeling apples.  They seem so afraid of what might happen if they eat the skin.  I surprise people there when I just take a bite out of an unpeeled apple but no one freaks out on me.  In order to be polite, they're probably freaking out inside of their minds!  I bet they run home and tell their friends "I saw a foreigner eating an apple, without peeling it first!"  You know what else is shocking?  How much fun it is to CLICK HERE AND LIKE THE FRIED CHICKEN AND SUSHI FAN PAGE ON FACEBOOK! 

Fried Chicken and Sushi 366 Mai dream might be reality

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Oh, come on!  I'm sure some of you have asked a friend to punch you in the face when things seemed too good to be true.  I hope they didn't do it though.  One thing you can do is FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER for my funny insights on the world around us.  Every now and then, I post little comics I draw on post-its.  They're simple but funny.  

Fried Chicken and Sushi 362 Mai shares about her date

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Yumi always seems to have two reasons why Karl is the way he is.  Do you think it's because she doesn't trust him?  Maybe she's just not confident with understanding foreign men?  It's good to see that Mai was happy about the date.  This was an odd comic because I only have Mai and Yumi.  No Karl or J.  I think I'll have to do more comics with just Mai so we can get to know her better.  

Fried Chicken and Sushi 361 Mai first kiss

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This is another true to life comic!  My wife and I finished our first date just like this.  Standing together near the entrance to the subway station staring at each other.  I had no idea that it was odd to kiss in public in Japan.  I just wanted her to know for sure that I was interested in her seriously.  So, I took the chance and kissed her in front of all the people walking by!  She seemed ok with it at the time so she really must have liked me.

Khalid and Karl Hanging Out by Carlos Jackson and Khalid Birdsong

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Here's the second image Carlos and I worked together on.  This one was fun because me and Karl look like we're actually talking with each other and hanging out.  It was the same process as last week's photo where Carlos took the picture and I drew in Karl and colored him.  If you haven't yet, take a look at Carlos Jackson's photography HERE ON HIS FLICKR PAGE.

Fried Chicken and Sushi 360 The Mickey and Minnie Connection

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This is another comic strip based on truth.  Before meeting my wife for our first date, I stopped by a store and found cell phone charms of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  Mickey really was the first character I learned to draw as a kid so I told her that when I gave it to her.  She was surprised that I thought of something like that because she wasn't accustomed to a man doing that for her.  I wanted her to know that I thought she was special and for her to have something to remind her of me when I'm not around.  It might be geeky but it worked! ;)

Fried Chicken and Sushi 359 Karl and Mai's first real date

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If you haven't figured it out by now, Mai is based on my wife.  The Cat's out of the bag!  This comic strip is pretty much exactly what we did on our first date together.  It was fun to think back on how nervous I was that evening but also how much fun we had together.  We could relate on so many things, even though we grew up in different countries.  There was also something there that we couldn't explain.  A pretty strong connection that we still have to this day.  The final panel of our Purikura picture is actually taken from the real one that we still have.  We laugh over the phrase "Good Surprise!" every time we look at it.  What were we thinking when writing that?  Perhaps, it was how we felt about finding each other. ;)  There will be a few more comics coming up of our first date so stay tuned.     

Khalid and Karl by Carlos Jackson and Khalid Birdsong

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This was a fun project that I worked on with my friend and professional photographer, Carlos Jackson.  He took some great pictures of me and then I drew in Karl in Photoshop around me.  Eat your heart out Roger Rabbit!  Carlos went in and added more light and shadow on Karl to match things up.  You can check out more of Carlos Jackson's photography on his FLICKR PAGE HERE or you can just click on the photo above.  

Fried Chicken and Sushi 358 Will working late pay off?

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Way to go, J!  Let's hope this will help his boss realize that J is not a lazy foreigner.  I'm sure there will be some of you out there that will think that a Japanese person couldn't be as blatantly racist as J's boss.  Think again.  Remember, Japanese people are in the majority in Japan so being careful with how you talk to or about foreigners isn't the same as in other countries.  Of course, J's boss is a special breed of jerk as we can all see.