Makiko Itoh : Not a nameless cat.

makiwi: I WANT A KITCHEN GODDAMMITTTT

Makiko Itoh, I eat and cook.
TThere are many conveyor belt sushi restaurants in Japan, but there are just as many if not more non-conveyor belt sushi restaurants too. Sushi is one of Japan's national foods after all. In most cases conveyor belt sushi restaurants in Japan are cheap and cheerful establishments where you can take all the kids to and not break the bank. The establishment saves a lot of money on labor costs by delivering the sushi on the belt. (Often other things at these places are self-service too, like water or tea.)

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Makiko Itoh, I eat and cook.
According the the Japanese Wikipedia page on kaiten-zushi (revolving sushi), the first conveyor belt sushi restaurant was established in 1958 in Osaka, when the owner of the restaurant, Genroku Zushi, improvised a way to deliver the sushi to his customers as quickly and cheaply (no extra labor) as possible. He got the idea from the conveyor belts used in beer factories. Shortly thereafter, he applied for and was granted a patent (or to be precise, a patent based on utility or usage) for a "conveyor belt food surface". But Genroku Sangyo, the company that was established by the Genroku Zushi owner after he came up with the conveyor belt idea, claims that the first revolving conveyor belt restaurant was established as a franchise in Sendai, in 1968. So maybe the early conveyor belts didn't go round and round.

Conveyor belt sushi was featured at the 1970 World Expo, which was conveniently held in Osaka, and grew in popularity thereafter. The big growth in rotating-sushi popularity came after that original patent expired in 1978, when larger manufacturers started coming up with their own conveyor belt systems and opening sushi restaurant chains.

(Additional trivia: Practically all sushi conveyor-belt systems used in Japan, and maybe even elsewhere, are manufactured in Ishikawa prefecture. In Japan conveyor-belt sushi restaurants are usually cheap and cheerful franchised sushi restaurants, but in recent times there have been a few higher-end places featuring better quality. Outside of Japan,  the leading conveyor belt sushi franchisee is Yo! Sushi, based in London. (ugh).)

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Makiko Itoh, Writer in English and Japanese
No idea what it means in Portuguese, but in Japanese kkkkkk usually is a stand-in for けけけけけ　(or one k for one け, pronounced 'ke'), and is like saying LOL or hahahaha in English online speak; kekeke is the sound of cackling laughter. (www is used too, as shorthand for 'wahaha' (a belly laugh) or to say "waratta" "warota" (basically, LOL).)

Some kids also use kkk's instead of っ　which is a character that shortens the sound of the character before it. Example, そっくり , pronounced sokkuri, meaning 'identical'; without that little っ would be pronounced sokuri. The more kkkkk's, the more the word is emphasized. So someone might write　うちの猫はマドンナにそっくり！　or うちの猫はマドンナにそkkkkkkkkkkくり！(uchi no neko wa Madonna ni sokkkkkkuri! Our cat looks juuuuuuuust like Madonna!)

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Makiko Itoh, runs some blogs
Since you may be more likely to follow blogs that are about topics you are interested in, I would suggest going to a blog directly like Blogmura http://www.blogmura.com/ and going from there. Translating the topics may be an interesting exercise for you too.

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Makiko Itoh, Writer in English and Japanese
The Japanese constitution, which was insituted after WWII, was created with the then-occupying U.S. forces breathing heavily down the necks of the ones putting it into effect. So most things are what you would expect from any westernized democracy, with a few exceptions. There is no inherent right to bear arms, including katana swords (ones you own for decorative purposes must be registered with the police) and there is a ban against forming a military. Any of those laws could have been changed since the Americans left, but they haven't been mostly.

If you are interested in the background of modern Japanese law, a decent book on post-Meiji Restoration Japanese history should do the job - I can't recommend one though since I've never read one a Japanese history book in English.

If you want to read up on complicated issues such as custody law, the Japanese Law Translation site run by the Ministry of Justice (Houmu-sho) may be useful: http://www.japaneselawtranslatio...

But as a visitor, you won't need most of that. Just use your common sense in most cases, but for some things you need to toe the line a lot more than you do in the U.S. or much of western Europe.  As Johan Miyanagwila said, guns and drugs are illegal - and I do mean very illegal. Don't even think about sneaking a joint or two in your socks in your suitcase or something. If they find it you will be in big trouble, may be detained for a long time (I've heard horror stories about being detained in a holding area for weeks), then deported and banned from entering the country ever again. If you have a past history of drug abuse or arrests that they can find out about, you may have trouble getting entry into the country. (Last year Katy Perry and Russell Brand made a big to-do when she was on tour in Japan and he tried to join her, but was denied entry.) It is practically impossible for a civilian to get a handgun legally in Japan (there are hunting guns, though getting one of those is pretty hard too) and again - don't even think about sneaking one in.

You won't get arrested for jaywalking or littering and stuff, as you might in some other countries (Singapore?) but you shouldn't do those things anyway. As in any country, speak politely to the police if you are in contact with them, to avoid trouble.

As a non-citizen, if you break the law, they will deport you (unless you commit a very serious crime like murder, in which case they might try you locally). So I guess, if you want to stay in Japan or want to keep going back, don't break the law.

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makiwi: i guess the issue is that domestic honey is so expensive :/ @mullenkedheim @mwdowns

makiwi: @mullenkedheim @mwdowns here's a listing specifically of kokusan honey on Amazon http://t.co/1ucsmopj

makiwi: @Mullenkedheim @mwdowns Nasu Kogen is known for its honey so they're prolly using it for marketing purposes

makiwi: here's a listing of 'kokusan hachimitsu' (domestic honey) on Amazon http://t.co/PRXazZnd @mullenkedheim

makiwi: @Mullenkedheim if honey is not made locally JA and michi no eki won't have them. Try Rakuten or Amazon?I got some local honey from Amazon b4

makiwi: @Mullenkedheim do you have a michi no eki near you?

makiwi: @Philomnemne watch a TLC video and you'll see what i mean ^_^

makiwi: what happened to sexy but tough girl groups, anyway.

makiwi: also, TLC. Great girl group.

makiwi: En Vogue - one of the best/underrated girl groups ever #showingmyage

makiwi: think I can recover about 90% of my music from various old backups and iCloud ^_^

makiwi: I didn't realize that I have 10 Mary J Blige albums, and just one Whitney Houston.

makiwi: it's pretty nice...the chocolate comes first with a bit of salt, then the Marmite taste ^_^ @zaailand

makiwi: inspiring before & after photos of the Tohoku area from Yahoo! Hong Kong. Love all the 加油 in comments. via @Owl59 http://t.co/bqU7I2RI