Tsutaya Nights

How I miss those Friday movie rental nights in Japan. Especially during the winter. I would ride my enormous Japanese bicycle (complete with bell ringer and wire basket) along the train tracks and several blocks up the main street. I rode to Tsutaya, a local movie rental store in the little town I lived in. There I'd find a modest and mostly outdated selection of American movies on VHS. This was before DVDs became the standard format. All of the films had Japanese subtitles. That was a fantastic way to learn Kanji. I used to have a complete list of all the movies I had ever rented there. I kept a log on a crumpled piece of ruled paper and kept that in the china cabinet of my house. Unfortunately, that list is gone. Most of the films I had rented were several years old. Some were from the 80s. I only recall a few of the movies I rented. Why is it the only filmI recall seeing is Lexx (the original 4-part mini series)? Those were desperate times. I didn't enjoy Japanese television very much. They rarely played American programs. However, they sometimes played early episodes of Ally McBeal. Only thing it was called sometthing like "Ari My Rabu." On certain nights, they would play a U.S. action film like Point Break or Batman. But I really can't remember which movies. Sometimes, it was just nice to hear English voices in my apartment. Looking back now, I really was pretty lucky. My family often sent me VHS recordings of Saturday Night Live Seinfeld and Friends. I had a friend who would send me movies he taped off HBO like Disturbing Behavior. I should also mention that my predecessor left a few tapes behind for me to watch. I remember these two tapes. Delta Force and Grumpy Old Men. Did I leave my successor anything? How about a mountain of NBC's Must-See Television. That's worth it's weight in gold.