A big scandal in the Japanese Pentagon, fine dining in Tokyo, and Japan and its Beverly Hills 90210 connection.
Maybe my post on Wednesday about the Japanese not seeming to care about government waste was read by someone important. ...
Month: November 2007
The plight of the poor Japanese taxi driver, finding government waste very close to home, and how to sound like a dirty old man in Japanese
I wrote a couple weeks ago that taxi fares were going to be going up 7%, a rare instance of ...
On speaking a language without using sentence subjects, the joy of funny English all around me, and a golden “Santa-san”?
One thing you don't hear very often when speaking English is someone saying, "Wait, what's the subject of your sentence? ...
All about “joshiki” (Common Sense) and the Japanese, negative aspects of this, and some thoughts on turkey
Unlike the U.S. or most of Europe, Japan is a very homogenous country, where people tend to consider themselves part ...
My family treating me like an “American,” thoughts on learning a foreign language, and the pain of sitting in “seiza” style
Being an American in rural Japan can be a challenge, and while I do my best to fit in with ...
The joy of “onigiri” rice balls, observations on cooperative elements of Japanese language, and man, that’s a really Nice Boat!
If you were to plan a picnic, you might pack a basket containing things like sandwiches, potato salad or maybe ...
Thoughts on Japan and group culture in anime, hard and difficult areas of Japanese, English etc., and various mysteries of life in Japan
Japan is famous for its cooperative group culture, and you can see this in many places, from clubs in schools ...
All about Japanese swords, thoughts on the “horse with a heart mark” and government, and, can you ski?
Japanese swords are famous around the world, up there with ninjas and Hello Kitty as a symbol of the country. ...
Foreigners’ relationship with Japanese slippers, International Pocky Day, and reading my wife’s English homework from 20 years ago
I'm often asked how I can come with so many observations about Japan, to which I usually respond that it's ...
Finding the geographic center of American English, adventures in New Zealand with plenty of sheep, and getting complimented on chopstick use
One question I've been asked by my ESL students in Japan is, just where is "standard" American English located geographically? ...
A useful Japanese slang word, changing in the Japanese savings rate, and one “key” to understanding Japan and America (?)…
Recently we took our daughter to a resort hotel in Kusatsu, a hot springs town in the mountains with more ...
Funny moments in Japan, Tokyo’s famous Asakusa district, and limitations of Japanese “humility”
(It looks like we were experiencing some problems with the site due to heavy server load, although it's fixed now. ...
