Strange things can happen when things and people cross the Pacific. Fast food seems to grow in size and calories, as Taichi Kitamura relates in his latest column for Japan Infusion. Who knew that McDonald's burgers in Japan are bigger and more caloric than their counterparts in the US? Is this the equivalent of Phillip Morris pushing cigarettes on foreign countries, or are the Japanese just less uptight about fast food?

Also, koto master Elizabeth Falconer talks about how her career as a koto player flourished once she returned from Japan to the US and fell upon an innovative way to incorporate the instrument in children's stories. Check out the interview with Elizabeth here, and if you are in the Seattle area, check her and her husband John, a shakuhachi player, at the Japanese garden in the University of Washington arboretum every Sunday afternoon while the weather is good.