Stephen J Turnbull <turnbull(a)sk.tsukuba.ac.jp&gt; writes: sb> :-) It's easy to tell us apart. I'm the one who knows how to sb> spell `Steven' correctly. :-) That's true. :-) I'm the one who knows how to spell "Stephen" correctly, so no one could confuse us: our knowledge is fully complementary. sb> Mark Borges <mdb(a)cdc.noaa.gov&gt; writes: sb> We should go in alphabetical order regardless of the sb> convention chosen. You mean like "3776-Fuji" (which I doubt very much is on the list) comes before "8848-Everest"? ;-) That's a joke; I am disappointed, though: sb> As soon as the Mule early initialization problem gets solved I sb> do wish to see a series with Japanese names. But we can't collate in "50 sounds" order? :-( In more-or-less increasing order of seriousness: The titles under which Komuro Tetsuya has published the only song he ever wrote The names of the "idols" who sang the only song Komuro ever wrote (under different titles, of course) then disappeared from public view The names of Japanese bands who have #1 hits but no way could get a gig in any college-town club in America The soft drinks introduced and withdrawn from the market in the previous year Bad ninja flicks Anime Manga (from here on fully in earnest) Companies in the "first section" of the TSE SUMO packages---er, wrestlers Neighborhoods of Tokyo First words of haiku by Basho Base64-encoded images by Hokusai and Hiroshige (MIME theme redux) Wood-block artists Enka singers All the different kinds of sushi Famous brands of rice Famous brands of sake The 213 radicals (kanji components) Prefectures (although there are currently only 47, we could extend that by using archaic names) Train and subway stops in Tokyo Train stops on the San'yo-Tokaido-Tohoku mainline (Kyushu to Hokkaido coverage) Shrines Temples (could be limited to Kyoto/Nara :-) I guarantee at least 100 of each of the above, except for the "idols," probably the rice brands, and maybe the "mainline" train stops. "Emperors" is an obvious choice, but many Japanese and the Imperial Household itself would likely be offended (for opposite reasons). There weren't enough shoguns, I don't think. You could use era names, though, and that's almost equivalent to emperors. Chapters of Genji Monogatari (the first Japanese novel) have already been used for Mule. There aren't enough beers. Japan is only spottily WWW-ized as yet; I don't know how many of the good series would have appropriate Web sites. The consumer schlock semi-serious suggestions all do :-( -- University of Tsukuba Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences Tel/fax: +1 (298) 53-5091