Minimalism - Online Income - ESL - Japan
Rather than sit in front of the TV all day while keeping an eye on Rikuto, I decided to take him to the Kakamigahara Aerospace museum instead. Kakamigahara is home to the Gifu Self-Defense Force Air Base and the Kawasaki Aerospace Division, so perhaps to make up for the noise of fighter jets flying overhead, the public are treated to a museum dedicated to flying machines. The museum was better […]
SWCMS stands for Social Web Content Management System, and it is the social news software that powers JapanSoc.com. SWCMS is open source, meaning anybody can contribute to its development, and I’ve been busy doing just that. I’m not a professional developer by any means so I usually report bugs and suggest improvements. Recently, I’ve tried my hand at making modules (the equivalent of WordPress plugins) and I’ve come up with […]
Nearly two years ago, in “Copycat Japanese“, I wrote about how I thought the media’s sensationalistic reporting of teenage suicides was to blame for spurring on more suicides. Recently, this suspicion was confirmed when I found out about researcher David Phillips’ studies from the 1970’s that showed a significant increase in not only suicides, but also car accidents and plane crashes in the days after a suicide is reported in […]
Here’s a quick video of Rikuto at the shopping center playing on the keyboard. If you missed the video of him playing when he was just 4 months old, watch it here. We think he plays like an angel. His music is poetry to our ears! If you can’t see the video, try watching it here on YouTube. IMPORTANT! I must tell you that Ricky’s granny wrote a lovely poem […]
Life for a Japanese teenager is supposedly harder than for anyone else. The pressure to study hard has driven many people over the edge, as demonstrated a couple of years ago when there were a spate of suicides among junior high school students in Japan. The Japan broadcasting corporation, NHK, has an educational channel filled with children’s programming every evening. Currently they are playing a song by Angela Aki which […]
It slipped me by this year, but on September 23rd, this blog turned two. That’s not long, but with the millions of blogs that don’t even last a year, it probably puts this site in the top 5% for blog longevity. What I’m lacking though is post longevity, as these blog posts are getting shorter and shorter.. Happy Birthday LC! Without you, I’d have no fans! 😛 If you like, […]
I went to renew my Japanese driving license and was rewarded with a gold license! What’s a gold license? A gold license is given out to people who don’t have any points on their current driving license. From what I’ve heard, this is an achievement usually limited to “paper” drivers – those who have a license but never actually drive! The card itself looks the same as a standard blue […]
My mum has been hassling me, quite rightly, for some photos and video of her grandson. Here are a couple of pictures after his accident with the lamp, and a video of him crawling, trying to walk and then trying to sleep. If you like, you can find me on Twitter at @nick_ramsay. I’d love to hear from you!