"John W." <worthj1970@yahoo.com> wrote ...
>>
> The oddest thing I've done to learn Japanese was to observe
> advertising. 

Oddest thing I've ever done to learn Japanese was to visit 2ch.
... and I'm still there. ^ ^v

> The ads on trains really helped with my kanji. I'd see an
> ad, write down the kanji I didn' tknow (usually a lot, particulary at
> first), then go home and study them. The next day I'd see the same ad
> and I'd try to read it, and then I'd study the kanji I still didn't
> know, and so on. I did the same thing with TV ads for listening;
> usually the same ad will be on during the same shows for a few weeks at
> a time.

So did you find yourself buying more useless crap than you normally
would?