Minimalism - Online Income - ESL - Japan
The Japanese love to wear clothes with English on them because it supposedly looks cool, yet they often can’t understand what these slogans say. This week I had one student with the expression “No Time to Kill” emblazoned on her shirt, which although perfectly acceptable English, I doubt this housewife is busy enough to warrant wearing such a shirt! Clothing manufacturers take advantage of this ‘English is fashionable’ attitude and […]
Checking my feeds today, I read Japan Probe’s post (Boycott Family Mart) about an anti-foreigner magazine called Gaijni Hanzai Ura Fairu, meaning ‘Foreigner Crime File’. Along with James at Japan Probe, foreign commentators, including Arudou Debito, are bringing this publication to the attention of the masses and encouraging a boycott of any store opting to sell it. The convenience store Family Mart is one place that sells it, and it’s […]
I’ve just spent the last two hours browsing the books at http://teachershop.scholastic.co.uk/, and have come away empty-handed, but not without a fight! I registered, and went through the shopping cart procedure until the final step when I was finally able to see the shipping cost. For some inexplicable reason, the cost of shipping was 20% of the order, which in my case was over 7,000 yen! Feeling that that was […]
I had the launch of Windows Vista marked on my calendar since before Christmas, and was counting down the days until its official release on January 30th. In the build up to the launch, Microsoft ran commercials on Japanese TV… 3 days to go! 2 days to go! So, when the 30th came around at midnight on Monday I went straight to some tech sites to see what new computers […]
My first five years in Japan were spent living in downtown Nagoya, among the skyscrapers, train stations and other concrete structures. Most parks were simply gravel areas for kids to run around on. Now, nearly ten years after coming to Japan, I’m living in what the Japanese would call ‘the countryside’. So I thought I’d post a few pictures from around my neighborhood. Bear in mind that by ‘countryside’, I […]
Across from where they are building the new shopping center is a four-storey department store for baby stuff. Although I’ve passed it everyday on the way to work for the past two years, I never realized just how great it was! I was kicking myself after spending loads on teaching toys at Toys-R-Us, when I could have got them here much cheaper! They’ve got everything from diapers, milk products, maternity […]
I’m really excited about the new shopping center they’re building on the other side of town. One thing I love about Japan is the convenience of everything, and when it comes to shopping, you can’t beat a shopping center. In all honesty, there’s nothing particularly different between modern shopping malls in Japan and the ones back home, but that won’t stop me welcoming the new Aeon Jusco into my little […]
The other day, Mami and I stopped off at our local supermarket to get some bread for my toasted sandwich maker, but ended up buying a whole trolley load of stuff. Fortunately, Japanese trolleys, or shopping carts if you prefer, are tiny. Anyway, stuck on the shelves were dozens of little red demons, called “Oni”. Apparently, they were there to celebrate Spring “Setsubun“, the start of Spring, which officially happens […]