Today I wrote about time, but what I’d thought would be a short post has grown to over 1200 words so far. It’s in need of some major editing so I’m going to file it and take another look at it in a few days. Meanwhile, just when you thought statistics were boring, I’m going to demonstrate that they don’t have to be that way. As with most things, it’s all about how you choose to interpret them.

In the spirit of my 13 Views Near Yatsurugi Shrine post, I’ve got thirteen search engine phrases that have brought traffic this blog. They’re in reverse-chronological order, which means that the top one is the most recent, and the bottom one is the oldest. So, without further ado, here are of the more unusual ways people have found my blog via search engines.

1. kitakyushu body to body massage: Someone searching Google France found my post about earthquakes. Probably not quite what the Francophone in question was looking for.
2. rokusaburo michiba: This returned my post about seeing posters of Michiba promoting a new line of deli foods at the local 7-11 store.
3. photos women in miniskirts : Predicatably, this directed the searcher to the introduction to my 2005 Kokura fashion report.
4. fertility temple with penises in japan : I’m not sure where this came from but again, I think this was a false hit. I don’t think I’ve ever written about male genitalia here. But apparently I do mention the “p” word when talking about my visit to Nishi Ono Hachiman Shrine. Incidentally, this search returns stuff like “Is God Gay,” among other fascinating things that I might write about if I ever run out of ideas.
5. japan armwrestling blog: This goes to School Cleaning, where I talk about one aspect o life at a Japanese high school.
6. giant singing bobbleheads: A google search which yields the infamous bobblehead post, where I rewrote the lyrics to “Yellow Submarine” to describe life among large-headed, small-necked folks. And yes, I am the #1 Google search result for “giant singing bobbleheads.”
7. Japan blog heeled boots: I appear to be the #1 Yahoo search result for this phrase, which takes you to day 2 of my Kokura fashion report.
8. “25 letter alphabets”: This really crappy post is unlikely to have been anywhere near what the searcher was looking for.
9. bog spycam: I’m not sure why anyone would need such a thing, but if they actually too the effort to read through the dammed rivers post, all they would’ve found is water and bridges and Lia.
10. numerology “apartment”: This person needs to learn a thing or two about how Google’s search phrases work. Hint: you don’t need quotes around single words. The search links to my post about, how the numbering system of our address is fudged in order to allay Japanese superstitions.
11. coin operated retro binoculars photos: Who would’ve thought people would be interested in this? They probably weren’t looking for a skewed tour through Kokura Castle.
12. amida buddhist assassins: They sound rather sinister. But in this case the visitor merely ended up at a description—with photos—of a small Buddhist temple near our apartment.
13. factory housekeeping cartoon pictures: This also sent the searcher to the Kokura Castle post that the retro binoculars person found. I wonder if they were looking for animated educational films about workplace cleanliness.