Dave's Japan Diary

The Twang

2012-02-12T04:46:00.000-08:00

Days 1418 - 1424
Sunday, February 5 - Saturday, February 11, 2012

Day 1418 ( Duke Powell Show )
Sunday, February 5, 2012

Went to church today then watched a few youtube videos made by this guy Duke Powell who is Jamaican/Canadian.

His shows are really funny. He comments on other youtube videos and on news worthy stuff. This one was one of my favourites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ2VlcFXMNE&feature=plcp&context=C386da39UDOEgsToPDskK6jrWpslup2SH8a2VruspV

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Day 1419 (Epileptic Seizure / Sony and Panasonic Losing Big)
Monday, February 6, 2012

Today after teaching a grade 3 class at one of my schools, I told the children and teacher good bye and was leaving. Then suddenly, I saw the teacher rushed past me and grabbed the phone in the classroom. When I looked around, I saw a child on the floor shaking frantically. This was my first time seeing a child having a seizure. And I was quite shocked.

Some years ago while going to church in Jamaica, a lady would occasionally experience it. But this was the first in a very long time I am seeing this sickness in action. I had no idea what to do, I just stood there staring with my mouth wide open. The other children were also watching in fear and was wondering what was going on. I slowly moved away and then the school nurse rushed up stairs.

This is what I like about the efficiency though in Japan. By the time I got downstairs, I heard the ambulance coming. And by the time I looked outside the window, the ambulance was already there. Basically about 5 minutes from the beginning of the seizure, to the ambulance coming. I wonder how long it would take the ambulance to come if it was Jamaica??? I don't even want to think about it. Anyway, the teacher came to me and said everything will be fine and I shouldn't worry about it. I was actually wondering if it was my class that triggered her seizure. But the teacher said that the child had this situation since she was 3 years old. But it never affected her again until today.

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Sony, Panasonic keep sliding as Samsung soars

Japan's biggest makers of phones, TVs and microchips say they'll lose about $17 billion this year, about three-quarters of what Samsung Electronics Co. will spend on research to lengthen the lead over its competitors.

Sony Corp. more than doubled its annual loss forecast for the year ending March 31 as it named a new chief executive officer, while Panasonic Corp. and Sharp Corp. predicted the worst losses in their histories. Their combined losses compare with the $22 billion that Samsung, Asia's largest consumer electronics company, said it will invest in capital expenditures.

Japanese companies hurt by a stronger yen, flooding that swamped their Thai factories and weaker demand for their TVs may not be able to regain ground lost to Samsung and Apple Inc. That's prompting Sony and Panasonic to focus on sectors including medical devices, solar panels and rechargeable batteries in an effort to revive earnings.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120207n2.html

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Day 1420 (The Twang)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012

I didn't go to work today again. This is the 5th day I used since April 2011. Don't think I'm going to use anymore for now. Staying home is boring. Although I stayed home completing the final paper for my course.

I also had an evening class, teaching English to a teacher at one of my schools. Her English level is very basic. So we communicate mostly in Japanese. But she is slowly understanding.

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The Twang

Ok I just randomly decided to post about twanging. What is a twang? It is A strongly nasal tone of voice, especially as a peculiarity of certain regional dialects. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/twang
Now, all along I thought this was a word only used in Jamaica. I had no idea it was an actual word. However, in Jamaica this word "twang" almost always means a Jamaican who visited a foreign country (some only need to get the passport or visa of that country) then suddenly loses their native Jamaican accent and start sounding like persons from that other foreign country.

This phenomenon is many times ridiculed, laughed at or at worst scorned by many Jamaicans. This is arguably though a natural thing if you are constantly around others who speak a certain way. It also depends on the will-power of a person as well. Almost all Jamaicans I know living in a foreign country or spend a long time there, has been in someway affected by this changing of the way they speak. Some say it suddenly came upon them without them even realizing it. Due to the fact they are around people who constantly speak with a foreign accent. In other words they are saying that it is a natural phenomenon. Heck, even my friend from England told me that some children I taught, spoke with a strong Jamaican accent after teaching them for only a year.Others, say they totally have control over it and change the way they speak, in order to allow people from other countries to understand them properly. But as soon as they are speaking to a native Jamaican, they will speak with their Jamaican accent. Yet still, others do it because they want people to know (or think, in some cases) that they are living in or at least visited another country. They won't say this, but we know it is the case at times. This one is a bit suspicious especially if the person visited a foreign country only for a short while.

But woe be unto the one that returns to Jamaica with that new "twang". Well actually it depends. In the rural areas you will be seen as a foreigner or at least someone who can afford to visit other countries. In other words, seen as rich or near rich. However, in the urban areas, it is possible that you will be mocked, ridiculed or laughed at. Not all the time but it is possible. Again, it is strange though when someone only visit that foreign country for a month or even less, and suddenly loses their native accent. It is even more suspicious if that person haven't even visited a foreign country before. As is the case with a good friend of mine in university, I will call no names...

My cousin told me that I was "twanging", when I went back to Jamaica to attend my late cousin's funeral in 2009 (actually tomorrow is the 3 year anniversary of his death). But no one else said it to me. She said when I went back to Jamaica again in summer of 2009, my accent sounded naturally like a Jamaican again, unlike in February????

My conclusion though is that, I think it is natural if someone lived in a foreign country for a long time, and chiefly interact with others who speak a certain way, to start speaking similarly. It doesn't matter what country the persons are from. It is however possible for others to retain their native accent if they try hard enough to. I have heard Japanese with a strong American English accent, while others have a strong England English accent, yet still others have a Jamaican English accent. Are they twanging?

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Day 1421 (Get Well Card)
Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Today I made and sent a get well card to the grade 3 child who had the seizure at the end of my class on Monday. I asked one of the English supporters to write a message for me in Japanese and I translated it in English.

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Day 1422 ( Many Airports in Japan May Close Soon)
Thursday, February 9, 2012

Just work like normal today....

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Japan has 98 airports, and most of them are operating in the red as a result of exaggerated demand forecasts and rampant, costly and arguably pork-barrel construction projects. The transport ministry hopes to mitigate the problem by selling off the management rights to 27 state-owned airports as soon as 2014. The ministry also plans to issue an airport reform blueprint by summer.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120207i1.html

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Day 1243 ( Drinking Party )
Friday, February 10, 2012

Went to a drinking party with one of my schools tonight. I was invited by the teacher who I teach English to on Tuesday evenings. The drinking party was fun but after playing a gesture type game with them, I felt bad afterwards. The game involved us gesturing like a famous Japanese character that everyone would more than likely know. But because I am not so familiar with Japanese celebrities, I asked if I could act like someone who works at the school or better yet, someone present at the party. They agreed and they were waiting for me to begin gesturing. But I asked them for someone else to go first then I would go afterwards.

So a teacher went ahead and described how someone in the restaurant with us normally reacts. About 5 of us thought of the correct person. Then it was my turn. I tried to act like a teacher and after 2 attempts, most persons knew who I tried to act like. And they found it pretty funny. Afterwards, I did another one, I tried to act like the vice principal who was sitting next to me. No one guessed it. I thought for a while that they knew, but pretended not to because they didn't want to embarrass the vice principal. So I was feeling a bit weird. I asked the vice principal if he knew who I was tying to act like. He said yes he knows. Eventually one person gave the correct answer, but the room felt a little awkward afterwards.

So I asked the lady who invited me if she thinks the vice principal felt weird that I tried to act like him. But she assured me that it was fine. I am still wondering about it though.

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Day 1244 ( Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol)
Saturday, February 11, 2012

A friend of mine who attended university with me, was studying in China through a scholarship he got from Jamaica. I was 2 years ahead of him in university and he is now visiting Japan in the Tokyo area.

Met up with my friend today and we walked around Tokyo a bit. We watched Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol. It was a good watch I think, but some parts were a bit predictable. I give it 7.5/10.

We also went to a famous Japanese store name Donkiote. Where I bought some stuff for my apartment. Afterwards we went to a restaurant in the evening. We saw these things going on in Tokyo.

Yokohama and Niimi/Extremely Cold Week

2012-02-06T06:55:00.000-08:00

Days 1411 - 1417
Sunday, January 29 - Saturday, February 4, 2012

Day 1411 ( Differences Between Yokohama and Niimi )
Sunday, January 29, 2012

Today we had another big earthquake. No stranger to Yokohama. I was in a coffee shop with my friend while she was studying for a test. Then suddenly a big tremor. But it only lasted like 5 seconds.

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Stewart that is an interesting question which lead me to write this week about the major differences I experienced between Niimi and Yokohama.

To answer you though, in Niimi I realized that initially most people were just curious. But after they got to know me, they were some of the best persons I met on earth SERIOUSLY!!! I still have at lease 5 really good Japanese friends from Niimi. One of them even referred to me as his best friend. I can't recall experiencing any kind of racist behaviour from Japanese in Niimi. So in Niimi, some people maybe a bit xenophobic. But people were interested in knowing the foreigners.

I really can't say the same for Yokohama though. I think both xenophobia and racism exist here. I get a strong feeling that some persons here in Yokohama don't know you and really don't wish to know you if you are a foreigner. Even the children I teach in Yokohama seem more xenophobic/racist than the ones in Niimi.

So here are the differences that I can think of now.

Location

The major difference is that Yokohama is in eastern Japan while Niimi is in western Japan. Eastern and western Japan has 2 different cultures in general.

Population

Yokohama has 100 times more people than Niimi. No I'm not kidding. Niimi has a population of a little over 30,000 while Yokohama has a population of over 3,000,000.

Size

Surprisingly enough Niimi is almost twice the size of Yokohama. Niimi is 793km sq (306 sq miles) while Yokohama is 437 km sq ( 168 sq miles )

People

Niimi people were really kind and friendly. But not many people are like that in Yokohama.

Popularity

Almost everyone in Japan knows about Yokohama, which is just a city in the prefecture/state of Kanagawa (Well the largest city in Japan actually). Yokohama is even more popular than Kanagawa prefecture name wise.

But ask anybody anywhere in Japan about Niimi. Outside of the people in the Okayama prefecture where Niimi is, there is a 99.99 % possibility of them never hearing about it.

Opportunities

There are more opportunities for side jobs in Yokohama but my pay was higher in Niimi. They gave us a higher pay because Niimi is in the middle of nowhere. However, at the same time, I had a TV show in Niimi. This made me immensely popular other than the fact that I am Jamaican. I signed up with 2 model/acting kind of agency in Tokyo but nothing :( too many foreigners around.

I have to say though that anywhere in Japan a foreigner goes they will be stared at. The only places I got few stares at are Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kobe/Sannomia area.

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Day 1412
Monday, January 30, 2012

Just sat in after work doing nothing.

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Day 1413 ( Blizzard Deaths )
Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Again just stayed in, playing games and surfing the internet because my student canceled today.

51 deaths laid to blizzards; more snow forecast

Blizzard conditions had caused 51 deaths nationwide as of Tuesday, and most of the victims died while trying to remove snow accumulations, the government said.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency found that 35 of the casualties were aged 65 or older and that 42 died while removing snow, including those who fell from roofs while shoveling snow.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120202a7.html

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Day 1414
Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Met a friend of mine in Shibuya, Tokyo after work today. We had dinner and talked a bit about random stuff.

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Day 1415 ( More Blizzard)
Thursday, February 2, 2012

Another Lazy day after work.

Deadly blizzards have wreaked havoc in coastal areas along the Sea of Japan, including an avalanche that killed three spa bathers.
The latest blizzards have claimed over 50 lives and snow levels are nearing levels last seen in 2006, when around 150 people died amid the bitter cold.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120203a1.html

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Day 1416 ( More Salsa and More Cold News )
Friday, February 3, 2012

I met up with a friend of mine in an area of Tokyo name Nakameguro. We ate at an expensive restaurant then we went to salsa club in Roppongi, Tokyo.

Japan experienced severe cold weather Friday and morning temperatures dropped to record lows at 38 locations nationwide, the Meteorological Agency said.

From Tohoku to Kyushu, 16 prefectures recorded their lowest temperatures ever, including the town of Kusu in Oita Prefecture, where the mercury fell to minus 14.7 degrees, and Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture, where the temperature plunged to minus 8.4.

Temperatures were below zero early Friday at more than 90 percent of 927 observation points across Japan, the agency said.

The lowest figure was minus 32.6 in Esashi, Hokkaido.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120204a1.html

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Day 1417 ( Cancel Day )
Saturday, February 4, 2012

Was supposed to go to the movies with a friend of mine but it got canceled. I was to also meet up with some friends in an area called Ofuna but that too I cancelled because I thought I was going to the movies to see Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

My Experiences of Racism in Japan / More Earthquakes

2012-01-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

Days 1404 - 1410
Sunday, January 22 - Saturday, January 28, 2012

Another relatively boring week.

Day 1404 ( My Experiences of Racism in Japan )
Sunday, January 22, 2012

Stayed in all day and studied today.

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So as far as I know, racism is everywhere. It's just stronger in more places than others. And it is especially strong in the richer countries. If you have never experienced it, then it means that you probably never decided to step out of your comfort zone into a world where your race is not the dominant one. Or never been around people where you are the only representation of your race present. We can admit that racism has been around since bible days and possible before that.

Lets face the facts, all of us have even a small amount of racist attitude in us. Whether it is unconscious or conscious. And the less we are exposed to people of other races, the stronger our innate racist attitudes are. For example, if a black guy, lives in a predominantly black neighbourhood and is constantly surrounded by black friends. Then, whenever/if ever he sees a white or Asian person, chances are he will stare at them and almost instantly start to think up all kind of stuff. The same goes for whites and Asians as well if they see someone from another race they are probably going to do same. Stereotypes will always be around and it is impossible to get rid of them.

In countries like Jamaica and Brazil where there exists quite a bit of mixed races, there are few signs of racism. Present but very small. However, class prejudice is very strong. And as far as I know, everyone is quite tolerant of each other. In Jamaica, we hardly discuss about race and even though the country is probably more than 80% black people, there are many Chinese, Syrians, whites, Indians and other mixed races very much present. And we have names for pretty much everyone, which can be argued as racism actually. For example:

Indians are referred to as Coolie (which is a racist term for poor Asians actually http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolie). But if you ask an average Jamaican if its racist they would probably say no and probably have no idea that it is or know the meaning behind the word.

Chinese and any Asian that even remotely resembles a Chinese is called Chiney, Ms./Mr. Chin and are thought of as mean in money sense. So if someone from say Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, The Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand or any country on the Asian content comes to Jamaica, they will be called Ms/Mr Chin. 100% no exception. Even if they sit with a Jamaican and explain that they are not from China, its best to save your breath because it won't help. I have told quite a few persons, quite a few times that I am not in China, I am in Japan. But alas, this won't make a difference. My Japanese friends who visit Jamaica always complain about being called Ms/Mr. Chin.

Anyway, if you have never ever experienced racism in any form or sort then feel lucky. Its not a good feeling. All the racist stuff that I have experienced here in Japan is stuck in my head. The experiences seem to pop back up in my head every now and again. Surprisingly one might think that I would experience racism from mostly Japanese people because of the simple fact that I live among them. This couldn't be furthest from the truth. Surprisingly or not so surprisingly I experience the most racism from white Americans. Some subtle, some not so subtle. I am going to attempt to list out all the experiences that I would deem as racist from both the white Americans I mentioned earlier and from Japanese.

You be the judge and please tell me what you think.

Back in Country side Niimi, Okayama, Japan.
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I must admit that one situation I probably caused on myself. One night I was walking with a white American girl from Minnesota and a half-white / half-Japanese girl and I made the mistake and said "I'm lucky I didn't wear black or else the drivers would only see my teeth and eyes". I noticed they couldn't stop laughing but what I did here was opened up about 7 cans' of worms it seem.

Situation 1 - (Enter Ms. Half and Ms. California)

I went to a restaurant and saw the same half girl and the same white American from Minesotta. Shortly after, another white girl from California came along. I don't remember what happened but miss half felt the need to use back the same "don't wear black in the night or else the cars will hit you" joke. To which Ms. Minesotta and California erupted in laughter, almost unstoppable. Then Ms. California proceeded to say "Aren't you angry? Aren't you going to buss a cap in her ass" ... I was a bit confused about what she was speaking about. As we say no such things in Jamaica. Then it hit me that this is basically how the black guys from California speak. Referring to shooting someone.

Situation 2 - (Enter Ms. Half again)

There was going to be a Halloween party. I was there with most of the foreigners again and I said "I wonder what kind of costume I should wear?" Then Ms. Half said, "Why don't you wear a white face?". Much to the amusement of everyone except me of course. I still don't get it actually.

Situation 3 - (Enter Ms. California again)

I had a birthday party back in 2008 and I invited all foreigners. We had a pretty good time actually. Two of my Jamaican friends came along as well. After we all ate at a restaurant, we did karaoke. Then one of the white Americans decided to sing a song and the confederation flag was being displayed on the screen. Ms. Cali proceeded to say "Hey Dave you see that flag". Bringing my attention to the flag. Which by the way has nothing to do with Jamaica as far as I know. Why did she feel the need to bring my attention to this flag???

Situation 4 - (Enter quite a few white Americans)

A few of us were speaking when all of a sudden some of the persons decided on a strange topic. "Whose family and friends don't like black people". A girl from New York said somethings about how some of her friends dislike black people, followed by Ms. Cali saying the same thing, followed by a guy from Indiana (actually he was cool generally), but he contributed to the topic mentioning how racist some of his friends/relatives / family members were. He then said I am allowed to say all the bad things I want to say about white people and call them cracker if I wanted to. Why in the world would I do this? As far as I know, we in Jamaica don't call white people crackers.

Situation 5 - ( Enter Mr. B from Oregon I believe )

This situation to date had the strongest negative impact on me in Japan. After reading it, you will probably be wondering if I am stupid or something. And it was like this. Five of us were playing a game known as Catan, back when I just got here in 2008. 2 white guys from the US (Mr. Indiana and Mr. B), 1 half white/half Filipino guy also from Arizona in the US, a Japanese/Canadian (whose apartment we were playing at) and myself. Mr. B who is obviously skilled in the game, was giving advice to everyone. Sometimes they would take his advice, sometimes they wouldn't. Most times they did actually. But when they didn't, it was no big deal.

At one point he decided to advise me to do something. I didn't take his advice. Then this dude got pissed and went off ranting. "You are stupid", "are all the people in your country this stupid" , "I am telling you what to do and you decide to do foolishness", "You are really just a stupid guy, maybe like the people in your country". To which all the other guys held down their heads and totally ignored it. The Japanese/Canadian shook his head in disbelief. Maybe even if you asked them now, they probably won't remember. But I will never forget it. I never had someone speak to me like this in my entire life. So I was in shock and had no clue how to reply to him. Not one word came out of my mouth. I simply totally ignored his ranting. But it has been stuck in my head ever since. Those were probably not the exact words he said but it is pretty close to that. Most people in this situation would argue back with the guy or worst case hit him. I simply ignored him. I had no clue what to say.

Situation 6 - (Enter Mr. B again)

I was walking with Mr. B and 2 other guys from England who just came to Japan. So the topic about Gaijin (Japanese for foreigner/outsider) came up. The English guys were wondering if Gaijin was such a bad word. Mr. B said he doesn't want to be called a Gaijin because Gaijin is the same as calling a black person a Nigger. The 2 English guys went silent. I told him that I disagreed with that notion. I know he said this just because I was there and he no doubt wanted to see my response.

Situation 7 - ( Enter Mr. B yet again) (Can you tell something is up with this guy???)

I was told by at least 2 persons that this guy is going around spreading negative propaganda about me. I heard he told a principal that I am a chaser of girls (which maybe true). But is seen in a negative light in Japan, especially in a small town. He told another girl who just came to Japan the same thing. And probably has been spreading negative stuff about me all over the small town. Why?

Situation 8 - ( Enter Mr. E from California)

I went to a local bar and Mr. E was sitting down talking to a mutual Japanese friend. Mr. E proceeded to say "Hey Dave, I recognized it was you because I recognize black people very easily". Jeez wow.. um ... I can recognize white people too ?

Situation 9 - (A random Japanese guy)

I went on a train and I sat in an empty seat that was in front of a Japanese guy. Only to see this guy get up from the seat and sat on the opposite side of the train while giving me a killer stare.

Those were the situations I can remember in Niimi, Okayama.

In Yokohama
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Situation 1 - ( Enter Ms. North Carolina and Mr. Michigan )

At our company training session, initially there were about 7 black persons in the training. Then when it came down to primary/elementary level training, I was the only black person. There were some Asians in the training group but of course the vast majority were white American. "Oh no, This is a bad place for a lone black foreigner to be", I thought to myself. Any way, a topic came up about being a foreigner in Japan. A girl from North Carolina proceeded to say "Foreigner in Japan simply means that you are white" or something to that effect. Everyone present gasped and she then added something to the effect of "yeah you are all white too". Addressing the Asians that were present. I kept silent. I simply do not know how to address these race things. Later on Mr. Michigan asked me twice, eagerly waiting for an answer with a smirk on his face, "So what do you have to say about Ms. North Carolina's comment Dave " I ignored him twice and went along my way. Why is he so interested in what I have to say?

Situation 2 - (Enter Mr. Michigan again)

I decided to go eat pizza with a Canadian guy, a girl from Singapore, and 3 white American males (including Mr. Michigan). Silly me I don't learn right??. I arrived late and they were almost done eating. To which Mr. Michigan proceeded "You can have some of the left overs Dave". I told him that I would buy my own it's no problem.

Then the whole being white in Japan argument came up. So Mr. Michigan said to Ms. Singapore, "You are white too", to which she said, "I actually wish I was". I knew it was only a matter of time before he made some smart comment about me. He then said "Even you are white Dave". I said "No I'm not!!" To which he said "So why didn't you say that to Ms. North Carolina in the training session?" To which I admitted that I tend to avoid the whole racial argument especially when I am in the minority. Because it is less than likely that my opinion will have any weight.

Situation 3 - ( Random Japanese old Lady)

I sat in the train beside an old lady. And after she shifted over a bit from me, she got up from beside me and moved over to the other side of the train, giving me a killer stare similar to the guy back in Niimi.

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These are all the situations I can recall. I am in no way trying to bash white Americans but this has been my experience in Japan. I went to Virginia and stayed among quite a few white Americans and got no strange treatment from them. I'm wondering if it's because they were Christians. Could might as well be.

I welcome your comments on my situations...

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Day 1405 ( Nintendo Making Big Losses )
Monday, January 23, 2012

Had bible study via skype with some friends back in Niimi, Okayama.

Nintendo losses could triple as 3DS sales sink

Nintendo Co. has more than tripled its full-year loss forecast as the success of Apple Inc.'s popular devices has eroded demand for the company's 3DS handheld player.

The net loss in the year ending in March could come to ¥65 billion, compared with an earlier forecast of a ¥20 billion loss, the world's largest maker of video game machines said in a statement Friday. The forecast was far worse than the average loss of ¥29 billion projected by 18 analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

President Satoru Iwata, who cut 3DS prices by as much as 40 percent last year, said he expects full-year sales of 14 million units for the device that shows images in 3-D, down from an earlier forecast of 16 million. The creator of "Super Mario Bros." games is predicting its first annual loss in at least three decades because of the surging yen and a consumer preference for gaming on the iPhone and iPad that helped Apple more than double profit in the quarter.

"The company faces a structural problem . . . people are opting for their smartphones and tablet PCs to kill their time," said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees about $600 million at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. in Tokyo. "I can't see Nintendo's next strategy. There will probably be a discussion about how much worse it can get."

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120128n2.html

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Day 1406 ( Student Cancel / New Student )
Tuesday, January 24, 2012

My evening student suddenly cancelled today, saying that he wasn't mentally ready for a class. But a teacher from one of my schools want to learn English, so I gave her a practice lesson today. We should have agreed on a time but we didn't. So we ended up doing self introduction for about 2 hours 30 mins. She loves to talk (mostly Japanese) and she loves to take pictures, of which she has quite a few. She does deep sea diving as an extra-curricular activity. And today for her first meeting, she wanted to show me ALL her photos.

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Day 1407 (My Worst Class)
Wednesday, January 25, 2012

I teach at 3 schools in Yokohama. In a very general sense, I have a good relationship with all the teachers at all the schools. But I do have a particular preference for the school that I went to today. The name is Kanazawa elementary school. I prefer this school for the following reasons:

1) The vice principal is really nice and she speaks some amount of English and tend to give everybody small gifts every now and again. Plus she likes to travel so we have some things in common.

2) Sometimes (like today) I have only 4 classes and I can simply leave after I have lunch. My main school started doing this just recently but more often than not, I have 6 classes that make me tired at the end of the day.

3) I have 85% control over planning my lessons. At my main school I have like only 10% control. At my other school I have 100% control but what that mean is that the teachers don't say a word to me.

Anyway the irony of the situation is that my worst class is at my best school. There is this one grade five class where about 7 children tend to not pay any attention and disturb the class constantly. And it seem as if the teacher is sometimes around the back of the class laughing and playing with them as well. Today that teacher was absent and the English coordinator who is a much stricter teacher sat in for her. It was probably the best lesson I had with this class in almost a year.

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Day 1408 ( Missed a Day at Work )
Thursday, January 26, 2012

Today would have been another one of those company meetings that we should attend after a tired day of work. I really didn't want to go to that meeting today so I called in sick and missed both work and the meeting. The good thing with this branch that I work for is that I get 11 paid days for the year. Essentially one per month. In the country side it was a whopping 5 paid days per year.

Every time I take a day from work I feel bad after I wake up because staying home is sort of boring. All I did today was play games, sit around and pretty soon the day was just wasted with me going to bed the usual between 1:00 and 1:30 am in the morning.

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Day 1409
Friday, January 27, 2012

After work I simply sat at home playing games and sitting on the internet as I usually do.

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Day 1410
Saturday, January 28, 2012

A very close friend of mine visited me in the morning. We felt 2 relatively big earthquakes in the space of like 5 minutes. One had a 4.8 magnitude, the other a 5.1. The epicenter was in adjoining prefecture and on land.

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Salsa Anyone?

2012-01-22T00:07:00.000-08:00

Days 1397 - 1403
Sunday, January 15, 2012 - Saturday, January 21, 2012

Day 1397 (Salsa Club/Yokohama Anti Nuclear March)

Sunday, January 15, 2012

This week was a bit boring.

I went to church today, first time for the new year, to get some blessings in my hedonistic soul.

I then ordered the Spanish food in the picture below, for my dinner.

In the evening I went to a Cuban style Salsa club with a friend of mine. It was in Roppongi, Tokyo, which I would say is the heart of the party life style in Japan. This is the second time I am going to a salsa club from birth. Once in Jamaica and once in Japan. This was free of cost and there were many people there dancing. As many may know, I am not gifted in dancing. However to many Japanese, I look like a dancing God. So in no time there were 2 females following my moves.

I started dancing with one of them, making my own moves. And she was looking in my eyes as if I was sent from up above. She said she is a medical doctor and she love dancing. She is also quite beautiful. So pretty soon almost every guy in the club wanted to teach her salsa. The first guy who came by asked me if it was ok to dance with her. So I indicated that it was fine. Every time a song ended and she sat down, there was some dude waiting for the opportunity to teach her the moves. It was fun though, anyone could just go and dance with whoever they feel like. Unfortunately, I don't even know the first step in salsa.

Yokohama Anti Nuclear March

I didn't even know that an event like this took place in Yokohama.

A two-day antinuclear conference kicked off Saturday in Yokohama with the aim of sharing lessons from the Fukushima crisis and fostering global momentum against atomic power.

Atomic anger: Activists stage an antinuclear demonstration in Yokohama on Saturday, in support of the two-day Global Conference for a Nuclear Power-Free World. The conference, which drew activists from around the world, kicked off in the city the same day.

"Nuclear power plants are all over the world. In order to deal with this issue, we must create a global network," said Tatsuya Yoshioka, director of the nongovernmental organization Peace Boat, during the opening ceremony for the Global Conference for a Nuclear Power-Free World.

The conference drew thousands of participants to the Pacifico Yokohama convention center, including about 100 experts and activists from 30 countries and nearly 200 domestic groups

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120115a3.html

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Day 1398 ( New Interesting Blog I Found )

Monday, January 16, 2012

Updated my alien registration card today at the ward office for where I live. Then faxed it and my updated visa to my Company. Afterwards I went home and got some sleep then studied a bit.

New Interesting Blog I Found

My Jamaican friend in the Osaka area introduced me to a blog written by a black American guy living in Yokohama. His blog is called "Loco in Yokohama". Since I started reading his blog, I couldn't stop. This guy really writes great stuff and he has written some stuff that I am sure black persons in this area can identify with. He does some amount of cursing in his blog, but that doesn't phase me one bit.

For example this sentence from one of his blog entries, is what I see almost every day.

"Another man on the other side of me is stealing glances when he thinks I’m not looking and when I glance up purposely to test his reaction, he, as expected, darts his head away, like a fish when you tap your knuckle against the bowl."

http://www.locoinyokohama.com/2008/11/18/a-little-about-me-and-japan-pt-3a-vexation-and-vigilantism/

And most of the things in this other blog entry, I can also identify with, check it out.

"The one thing that vexes me the most about Japanese people is something I’m sure many foreigners living here don’t notice. Or, if they do, it simply doesn’t get under their skin the way it gets under mine. Because, if it did, I wouldn’t be reading so many weblogs from foreigners living in Japan gushing about how great their lives in Japan are and how wonderful the people are, in general. Maybe they’ve found some way to ignore this thing. I, decidedly, have not!

Japanese call it shyness, but it certainly looks more like terror. It’s not only that they avoid contact with me but the incredibly insensitive ways they go about this tactless task.

Case and point: Today, I was walking from the station to my job. A ten minute walk I take the same time every Monday through Friday. On this walk I must pass a couple hundred people going the way I’ve come. The sidewalks are pretty narrow on certain streets. Barely enough room for two people to pass one another without one giving a little way. And If I were Japanese that’s exactly what would happen. A little way would be given by either myself or both of us in the spirit of keeping it moving. I know this because I observe this daily. I wish I didn’t but I do. But, I am not Japanese."

"So, as a salaryman approaches me, and I’m in observant mode, like some kind of glutton for confirmation of my long since confirmed belief that the Japanese people are cowardly xenophobes and racists, I watch his every move. I watch as he passes people ahead of me, confidently in stride and uneventfully. I watch as he finally notices me. The recognition of “the other” in his eyes is plain to see. He glances across the street, considers crossing, checks me to see if I’m watching him and on seeing that he has my undivided attention puts his hand up to pick something out of his eye, turns sharply and crosses the street without checking for traffic and causes a car to have to stop a little short. The driver of the car notices me and glides his car as far away from where I’m walking – on the sidewalk mind you- as possible. I guess the suddenness and carelessness of the the other guy’s crossing made the driver sense a danger about. And upon seeing me decided I was that danger. His glide away from me causes the oncoming traffic from the opposite direction to slow, and the driver at its lead looks around to see what caused the other driver to perform such a dangerous detour, sees me, and nearly pulls on to the sidewalk."

"I shake my head and keep moving. This kind of shit goes on daily, I swear."

http://www.locoinyokohama.com/2008/10/23/like-a-movable-earthquake/

This guy wrote a book so I am planning to buy it.

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Day 1399 (Woman Attacks 5th Grader)

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Left work a bit earlier than normal today. But when I got home all I did was sleep and study.

I forgot to mention that my friend made this thing for my phone some weeks ago.

Woman Attacks 5th Grader

This level of madness is unheard of.

A woman was arrested for attempted murder after attacking an 11-year-old boy Wednesday at an elementary school in Osaka and seriously wounding him, police said.

The boy, who suffered injuries to his chest and limbs, was taken to a hospital. His wounds are not thought to be life-threatening, police said.

Rescue workers said the woman, 35, attacked the fifth-grader near the school's front gate.

Investigators quoted the woman as saying she had stabbed many children she did not know and regretted her actions.

A witness said the woman was weeping as she was taken away in a police car.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120119b3.html

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Day 1400

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Today was similar to yesterday. Left work early, went back to my apartment and slept then studied.

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Day 1401 ( SOPA )

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Another boring day. Just work then study.

I have been seeing this buzz about SOPA and PIPA all over the internet recently. With even Wikipedia shutting down yesterday to protest the bill. This is the information I found.

What Is SOPA?

If you hadn't heard of SOPA before, you probably have by now: Some of the internet's most influential sites—Reddit and Wikipedia among them—are going dark to protest the much-maligned anti-piracy bill. But other than being a very bad thing, what is SOPA? And what will it mean for you if it passes?

SOPA is an anti-piracy bill working its way through Congress...

House Judiciary Committee Chair and Texas Republican Lamar Smith, along with 12 co-sponsors, introduced the Stop Online Piracy Act on October 26th of last year. Debate on H.R. 3261, as it's formally known, has consisted of one hearing on November 16th and a "mark-up period" on December 15th, which was designed to make the bill more agreeable to both parties. Its counterpart in the Senate is the Protect IP Act (S. 968). Also known by its cuter-but-still-deadly name: PIPA.

The beating heart of SOPA is the ability of intellectual property owners (read: movie studios and record labels) to effectively pull the plug on foreign sites against whom they have a copyright claim. If Warner Bros., for example, says that a site in Italy is torrenting a copy of The Dark Knight, the studio could demand that Google remove that site from its search results, that PayPal no longer accept payments to or from that site, that ad services pull all ads and finances from it, and—most dangerously—that the site's ISP prevent people from even going there.

http://gizmodo.com/5877000/what-is-sopa

Here is a video also explaining SOPA and PIPA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzqMoOk9NWc

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Day 1402 ( Snow in Yokohama )

Friday, January 20, 2012 { 3 YEARS 10 MONTHS}

Woke up this morning to snow outside. This was my first time seeing snow since moving to Yokohama. Snow means its is terribly cold. Some of the classes that I had today, didn't even turn on the heater in the class room. So in some classes, it was a very cold 45 mins.

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Day 1403 ( Meeting some Friends )

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Did nothing in the day but in the evening I met up with some friends and had dinner. Then we went to a small pub to drink and chat. Sorry for using your picture guys, without first consulting :)

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@Richard, Yeah I use twitter to promote the blog as well. Yuh right about the hackers in MW2 but mi jus want to get all di prestige.. MW3 can wait.. But mi soon come buss yuh skull man. Don't be in such a hurry to meet your demise my good friend.

@Loco.. Thanks for your comment, I really enjoy your blog. You are a gifted writer.

1st Week of Work For 2012

2012-01-15T02:23:00.000-08:00

Days 1390 - 1396
Sunday, January 8, 2012 - Saturday, January 14, 2012

Day 1390 ( Top 5 Regrets people have before Death)
Sunday, January 8, 2012

Stayed in today and did some studying and played games.

Nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed

I found this interesting article and decided to add it.

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my [true] feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

http://www.empowernetwork.com/Caroline/nurse-reveals-the-top-5-regrets-people-make-on-their-deathbed/

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Day 1391 ( Over 30,000 Suicides for 14th Consecutive Year )
Monday, January 9, 2012

Today made a 4 consecutive day combo of not going anywhere so it was realllly boring. I never even knew it was a public holiday until last night. All I did today was played games and studied a bit. I finally ended the campaign part of Modern Warfare 3. But I'm still in Modern Warfare 2 mode. I want to get to the highest level in the multi-player section.

Suicides top 30,000 for 14th straight year

2011 figure lowest since annual tally hit mark in 1998

2011 appears to be the 14th straight year for the annual suicide count to exceed 30,000, according to tentative statistics recently released by the National Police Agency.

The latest 2011 figure — 30,513 — however, was the lowest number since the annual suicide count topped the 30,000 mark in 1998, declining from 31,690 in 2010. Males accounted for 20,867 of the 2011 suicides, or 68 percent, the data show.

By prefecture, Tokyo had the most suicides, at 3,100, followed by Osaka with 1,899 and Kanagawa with 1,824.

An NPA official said a further statistical breakdown, including ages, occupations and other details of the victims, will be released sometime later this year.

"Although the total number declined, it is still a very serious situation to have over 30,000 people a year committing suicide," Yasuyuki Shimizu, director of the Tokyo-based nonprofit suicide prevention group Lifelink, told The Japan Times Wednesday.

The statistics show declines in annual suicide counts in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures, which were devastated in the March 11 disasters. But Shimizu said optimism about the results may be short-lived, because suicides tend to increase in devastated areas after a year or so, as was the case in the wake of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120112a2.html

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Day 1392 ( Twitter Really Popular in Japan )
Tuesday, January 10, 2012

First day of work for 2012 and I actually looked forward to it in order to break my 4 day boredom streak. I had only 3 classes today then the principal sent me home.

Twitter is huge in Japan — bigger than Facebook, actually

I have a twitter account but I hardly ever use it really. However it seem as if it is a big thing in Japan. I didn't even know this.

Twitter is getting to be kind of a big deal globally, at least among marketers and the digerati.

But in Japan, the microblogging service already trumps Facebook in traffic.

According to stats from comScore, Japan sends around 25 million monthly unique visitors to Twitter. Facebook, on the other hand, sees around 15 million monthly unique visitors from Japan.

Still, until recently, neither site has been as big in the region as Mixi, Japan’s homegrown and highly popular social network. While we don’t have data for monthly uniques, Mixi had around 27 million users as of April 2010.

Depending on how much Mixi has grown since then, it’s entirely possible that Twitter could now be the country’s largest social network.

http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/09/huge-in-japan-twitter/

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Day 1393 ( Final Car Payment/ 10 Months After and Persons Still Missing )
Wednesday, January 11, 2012

After work I did my final payment for my car in Jamaica today. I took a 4 year loan for my car and its finally done. The loan was 700,000 Jamaican dollars / about 8200 US dollar / 630,000 yen.
After this, I went back home and took a 2 hour nap.

Police hunt for missing 10 months on

Police carried out an intensive search for people still missing in the March 11 disasters in Miyagi Prefecture on Wednesday, 10 months after the massive quake and tsunami wreaked havoc on Pacific coastal areas of the Tohoku region.

The death toll reached 15,844 in 12 prefectures as of Tuesday, including 9,506 in Miyagi, 4,667 in Iwate and 1,605 in Fukushima prefectures, with 3,450 people remaining unaccounted for, including 1,861 in Miyagi and 1,368 in Iwate, National Police Agency data show.

Wednesday's search was focused on the coastline of Kesennuma, one of the hardest-hit areas in the region, where bodies and belongings of victims may have been washed ashore. No new bodies have been found in Miyagi since Dec. 13, according to police.

"It has become difficult to find bodies 10 months after the disaster, but we hope to continue our search efforts," a police officer in charge said.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120112a8.html

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Day 1394 ( Japanese Visa Renewal #2 )
Thursday, January 12, 2012

I got a card in the post yesterday saying that my visa is now ready. So I went there today to collect it. To my surprise they gave me a 3 year extension instead of a 1 year extension. In Japan we can only get a 1 year extension or a 3 year extension. When we apply we don't know which one they are going to give us. I thought that because I am now in Yokohama with so many foreigners, they would only give me a 1 year extension. However I don't think I am going to stay for the full 3 years. Jamaica is calling me back home. So I think I will be heading back in about next year (2013) December or possibly sooner.

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Day 1395
Friday, January 13, 2012

They did me a great injustice today at work. I had 2 early classes from 8:40 am-10:10 am then nothing until 2:15pm. So after lunch time I was falling asleep at my desk. The person that is in charge of doing the school lunch noticed and offered me some green tea which kept me awake until my final class started.

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Day 1396
Saturday, January 14, 2012

Met a friend of mine today in Yokohama and we spoke for a while. We then went to Shibuya in Tokyo and ate at a restaurant and chatted for a while again about various stuff.

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Yea Richard that is one reason why the prime ministers change so often. I think another reason is because most Japanese take a while to make major decisions. And if they do make a decision too many people start complaining so they run away from the job. Also they are probably waiting on a miracle to make their economy grow again. If the prime minister in charge can't make the economy grow, then people start complain again and the prime minister run weh again.

Happy New Year / 2011 Review

2012-01-08T00:48:00.000-08:00

Days 1383 - 1389
Sunday, January 1, 2012 - Saturday, January 7, 2012

Happy New Year !!!

Welcome to my first blog of 2012

Day 1383 ( 2011 Review )

Ok the last 2 weeks were filled with activities, but from now on its going to get a bit boring because its time to rest a little.

However, today I went with my friend to another outlet mall name Mitsui Outlet mall which is only 30 minutes from me on foot. They were advertising stuff everywhere about have sale as much as 80% off. But when we got there and started searching the stores, not even one had 80% off. Some had like 30% and 50% off but even then the stuff were still expensive.

All I ended up buying was a Nike room slipper.

2011 Review

These are my most memorable times of 2011 for me.

January 1 -
Rang in the new year at a wedding party.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhPcSwxKlBg

January 5 - Got my 37 inch Sharp Aquos LCD TV.

February 26 - Second time skiing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYrofI5oxuE

March 1 - Season 5 of my TV show premiered in Niimi, Okayama. Here is the full version of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW8AmeT7Fso

March 11 - Major earthquake hits Japan, causing a great tsunami and messing up a nuclear reactor.

March 19-21 - Went to a Jamaican camp thing called Spring Ting in Osaka.

March 31 - Last Day in Niimi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yTSdYWYqsk

April 1 - First Day in Yokohama

April 7 - Felt my first earthquake since like 2005 and it was 7.1 magnitude, while doing karaoke.

May 3 - Visited Nara, an old Capital of Japan

May 21 - 22 - Went to One Love Jamaican Festival in Tokyo

June 4 - New friends visited my apartment

July 17-18 - Went to Gunma prefecture and visited 2 onsens (hot water baths) and did white water rafting.

July 19 - My sister had a minor accident in my car. Luckily she was fine.

July 21 - For the first time living in Japan, I did a presentation at my company meeting.

August 3 - Went to FujiQ Highland to ride a few crazy roller coasters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNGM9Be9i0E

August 6-12 - Visited my previous town Niimi

August 16 - Met an old friend who I first met when I was in Brazil.

September 2 - Went to Jamaican Artist Ioctane's concert. http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17038616

September 6 - My Jamaican blogger friend who blogs about Japan, Kelroy aka Jamaipanese visited me in Japan.

September 17 - Me and Jamaipanese visited an old Japanese capital name Kamakura

September 18 - Went to Tokyo game show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF1qwVnnCcU

September 19 - Celebrated my 4th birthday in Japan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4xwqDCXGVw&feature=mh_lolz&list=HL1317031464

October 28 - Received my iphone 4s

December 24 - 27 - Went to Okinawa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdLEHFW3Mww

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Day 1384 (Captain America The First Avenger / Why Japan Change Prime Ministers so quickly? )
Monday, January 2, 2012

Stayed in all day blogging about my Okinawa trip (previous blog). Then watched Captain America the first Avenger. I thought it was going to be terrible but it wasn't so bad actually. I give it a 6/10.

Why Japanese Change Prime Ministers so Quickly?

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda (top center) took office in September 2011 after Japan had five short-lived prime ministers since 2006: (clockwise, from top right) Shinzo Abe, Yasuo Fukuda, Taro Aso, Yukio Hatoyama and Naoto Kan.

Experts ponder reasons for Japan's rash of short-term prime ministers

Divided Diet, frequent party elections, voter mind-sets, lack of political capabilities, rise of new media cited as possible cause

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda took office in September, becoming Japan's sixth prime minister in five years. One thing that people will pay attention to is whether he can stay in power for more than 12 months — something four out his five immediate predecessors failed to do.

Whether he succeeds depends in part on whether he can win the next presidential election of his Democratic Party of Japan, set for the fall of 2012, and whether he can lead the ruling party to victory in a general election that may take place this year. Since Noda is already struggling with falling approval ratings, these are by no means certain, and Japan may yet see a seventh prime minister in six years.

Short-lived administrations are not a recent phenomenon, said political analyst and writer Ushio Shiota. In fact, the average term of Japan's past 62 prime ministers is just two years.

Experts caution, however, that frequent changes in prime ministers are a major reason for Japan's prolonged economic stagnation and the decline in its international influence.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120101c5.html

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Day 1385 ( Number of New Adults in Japan Down to an all time low )
Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Again, stayed in for the entire day just playing games and doing random stuff. The most exciting thing I did was go to the super market.

Japan's Population seriously shrinking

The number of people aged 20 years old this New Year's Day is estimated at 1.2 million, falling to less than half its peak of around 2.4 million in 1970 for the first time, according to government statistics released Saturday.

Of the 1.2 million people that reached adulthood in the last year, 620,000 are men and 600,000 are women.

The total number of 20-year-olds — the legal age of adulthood — is down 20,000 from last year, hitting a record low for the fifth consecutive year, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said.

The new adults account for 0.9 percent of the total population of 127.7 million, falling below 1 percent for the second straight year. The government began collecting comparable statistics in 1968.

Meanwhile, the number of Japanese who were born in a Year of the Dragon, as 2012 will be, is estimated at about 10.2 million. This breaks down to 4.9 million males and 5.2 million females.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120101a1.html

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Day 1386 ( Immigration Office )
Wednesday, January 4, 2012

My Japanese visa will expire on March 20, 2012 so I went to the Immigration office to renew it. Last time I got a 3 year extension. But that was in Okayama where there are not many foreigners. I get the feeling that because the city has so many foreigners, they might give me only a 1 year extension.

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Day 1387 ( Entertainment / Talent Agency )
Thursday, January 5, 2012

Had an appointment today at a talent agency. Trying to put what talents I think I have to use. And see if I can get a TV break in the city. So I signed up with this talent agency called Free wave.

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Day 1388
Friday, January 6, 2012

Stayed in all day doing nothing.

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Day 1389 ( Kunf Fu Panda 2 / Three Musketeers )
Saturday, January 7, 2012

Again another lazy day. Stayed in and played lots of Modern Warfare 3. also watched Kung Fu Panda 2 as well as The Three Musketeers.

Kung Fu Panda was ok. Got some good laughs from it. Give it a 6/10

I thought the Three Musketeers was going to be much better than I thought. but it was still not so bad over all. I give it 6.5/10.

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My 5 Most Popular Blog Entries Top

I can now see how many view my blog entries. So far these are my most popular entries.

5 - http://davecollyjap.blogspot.com/2011/11/days-1320-1326-sunday-october-30-2011.html

120 views - Nov 2011

4 - http://davecollyjap.blogspot.com/2010/01/days-662-668-sunday-saturday-january-10.html

132 views - Jan 2010

3 - http://davecollyjap.blogspot.com/2009/08/day-505-jamaica-11-kool-runnings.html

196 views - August 2009 - I blogged about my second trip back to Jamaica at a water park.

2- http://davecollyjap.blogspot.com/2009/10/day-566-scottish-men-robot-cars-tuesday.html

852 views - October 2009 - Blogged about Scottish men that wear skirts. And about Robots

1 - http://davecollyjap.blogspot.com/2010/04/days-739-745-sunday-saturday-march-28.html

1072 views - April 2010 - Blogged about my trip to South Korea and looking over North Korea

@Richard is one mi friends found the deal. Since that many people asking mi how mi get that deal. It is marketed towards Japanese people though.

More on Okinawa Trip / Last Days of 2011

2012-01-02T03:20:00.000-08:00

Days 1376 - 1382
Sunday, December 25, 2011 - Saturday, December 31, 2011

Day 1376 ( Merry Christmas / Okinawa Day 2-Nago )
Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas to you all. This morning I woke up at the Miyako hotel in Naha, Okinawa and had a great breakfast there. Oh and the stares were very much present. I also thought that Okinawa would greet me with less stares because a huge US base is there. But alas, no such luck.

After breakfast, I headed out to another part of Okinawa called Nago. I drove for about 1hr 30 mins then finally got there. I visited another aquarium. The best one of the 5 that I have visited thus far in Japan. The name of this one was CHURAUMI SUIZOKUKAN ( Beautiful sea aquarium ). Here are the pictures I took there and 2 videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdLEHFW3Mww

Here is a video of the dolphin show. The first 47 seconds has no sound, I don't know why. I used my phone to do that first 47 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNoFsBJEJkQ

After spending some time at the aquarium, I went with my friend to a restaurant out in the middle of no where. The restaurant was nice but it was in some rural area that look like the country parts of Jamaica. Luckily the car had a GPS system and my Japanese friend knew how to set the directions on it.

After the restaurant, I went to a hotel name Resonex. This hotel was nice also, but I had to park across the road from the hotel because the main parking area was full.

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Day 1377 ( Okinawa Day 3 - Okinawan Village )
Monday, December 26, 2011

Had breakfast at the Resonex hotel in Nago this morning. The ambiance wasn't as good as Miyako hotel, but here, the people didn't stare at me as much. And because this hotel is by the beach side, the view from my hotel room was MAGNIFICENT.... I took these pictures before I checked out of the hotel. The bottom 2 pictures of these 4, I actually took with my phone's camera.... I had no idea they would be this beautiful.

After checking out of the hotel, I went to an Okinawan village name Ryukyu mura (village). Took some pictures in a traditional Okinawan robe looking thing and a crown. Then watched a presentation about some Okinawan snakes called habu.

Here is another video..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bYss8Dt0X4

After the village, I went to the main castle in Okinawa name Shurijo (Shuri castle). It was the main castle of the Ryukyu Kingdom, before Japan captured the islands.

After visiting the Shuri castle, I went to my final hotel of this trip. The name of the hotel is Nahana hotel, which is in the central part of Naha, the capital of Okinawa. This was also a very nice hotel. In the night, I walked to international street, the same place I went to on the first day I came here. I then met up with a friend of my friend, and we all had dinner.

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Day 1378 ( Leaving Okinawa :( )
Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Woke up at Nahana hotel and had breakfast there. Not so much stares at this hotel either. Drove from the hotel to get gas so I could return the rent-a-car with a full tank. Gas is expensive on this island. I then delivered the car back to the rental agency. They checked it, it was fine and I headed on the bus to go to the airport.

Took JAL (Japan Airlines) flight back to Osaka and it took only about 1 hr 45mins as against 2hrs 30 mins to get to Okinawa. It has something to do with the wind direction, strength and speed at the time. Eventually landed in Osaka and went to an outlet mall called Rinku town mall. I bought an Adidas sneakers there as well as a warm vest looking shirt thing.

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Day 1379 ( Back to Yokohama / Toyota's President on Watch List )
Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Took a shinkansen (Bullet/high speed train) back to Yokohama. I spoke to my dad today. Haven't spoken to him in over a year. His birthday was on December 26th.

Toyota's President on watch list

The Wall Street Journal picked Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corp., as one of 12 Corporate Executives to Watch Next Year on Friday, saying that 2012 may be a "make or break year" for the chief of Japan's top automaker.

In its Asian edition for Friday to Monday, the U.S. business daily noted that Toyoda has pledged to keep producing 3 million vehicles in Japan annually at a time when its domestic rivals are rushing to move production offshore to offset the strong yen.

"Is what's good for Japan good for Toyota and vice versa?" asked the paper, referring to Toyoda's vow to halt Japan's hollowing out and lift Toyota's low stock price.

Among other executives named were Apple Inc.'s CEO Tim Cook, Cyrus Mistry, who is set to become chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata Group next year, and Fu Chengyu, chairman of Chinese petroleum and chemicals company Sinopec.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20111231a1.html

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Day 1380 ( Another Visit to Akihabara )
Thursday, December 29, 2011

Went to Akihabara and bought an air humidifier and a heater. The air humidifier takes out the dryness from my apartment. Whenever I use the AC to heat up my apartment, it makes my eyes and my throat severely dry. So this humidifier thing should add some moisture to the apartment.

I then visited a Japanese lady who lived and worked in Clarendon, Jamaica for 2 years. She now lives in Tokyo and is married to a Jamaican. They had a child recently. Her husband is the main cook at a Jamaican restaurant in Shibuya, Tokyo.

After visiting her, I went to the Jamaica restaurant where her husband works. The name of the restaurant is "Good Wood" Restaurant. I know Jamaicans who read this will immediately begin to have naughty thoughts. But the name of the area is actually "Good Wood Terrace" and yes it is in Japan. To add to this is that, this area is actually a red light district where women will try to pick up men.

Anyway, I have been to several Jamaican restaurants in Japan, one in Okayama (Xyamaica), one in Nagoya, one in Kobe, one in Harajuku, Tokyo (Jam Rock) and one in Kyoto. This one in Shibuya has by far the best tasting food and came the closest to the real Jamaican taste. Seconded by the one in Harajuku, Tokyo.

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Day 1381 ( Another Visit to Kamakura )
Friday, December 30, 2011

When I went to Tokyo yesterday, another Japanese who worked in Jamaica for 2 years was also there. She worked in Montego Bay as an art and craft teacher for special children. In summer we also met up with her friend who is married to an American. So we all met up again in Kamakura (An old capital of Japan), not too far from where I live.

5 of us met up and had lunch, walked around and chatted for a while. I always heard rumors that we could see mount Fuji (the tallest mountain in Japan) from this distance, but it was only today I knew the rumors were true. I took the photo below as evidence.

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Day 1382 ( Back to Jamaican Restaurant in Good Wood Terrace, Shibuya )
Saturday, December 31, 2011

Went to the Jamaican restaurant again because the food was soo good. I had stewed chicken this time. Last time I had jerk chicken.

I rang in the new year at the restaurant drinking tequilla ... with about 20 other persons.

Let me see if I can recall my New Years while living in Japan:

2008-2009 - Fukuoka, Japan (at a club)

2009-2010 - Manila, Philippines (at a mall with fire works)

2010-2011 - Maniwa, Okayama, Japan ( At a wedding party)

2011-2012 - Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan (At a Jamaican Restaurant)

Wow in Jamaica it was almost always at my church.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ... More Prosperity for 2012

Last week of Work for 2011

2011-12-30T06:56:00.000-08:00

Days 1369 - 1375 ---
Sunday, December 18, 2011 - Saturday, December 24, 2011

Day 1369 ( Where is Jamaica ??? )
Sunday, December 18, 2011

Went to church and performed 2 of my dub poems. One was called "Christmas time" that had some Japanese in it. I wrote it 3 years ago in my first year living in Japan. I also did another one called "Christmas is a good time"...

After church they had a single men gathering at the pastor's house, which is actually upstairs from the church. About 7 of us went. Me, 3 guys from the Philippines, 1 from Nigeria, 1 from Australia and 1 guy from India. We spoke about several things and it was then I realized that after almost 9 months of going to this church, the pastor's wife who is also a pastor, hardly knew who I was.

I was speaking about Jamaica for a bit. Then she suddenly said, "where in Nigeria are you from ?" So the pastor and I was trying to explain to her that "no" I am from Jamaica not Nigeria. Then she proceeded "Where in Africa is Jamaica?" Then we again had to explain to her that Jamaica was closer to America than to Africa. When we thought she finally got it, she said "Oh that means you are from America!!!!" ... After about 5 mins of explaining she got it then apologized. I told her that its fine because similar things to that happen to me very often while being here. Asians living in Asia, almost always think that if you are black, then you are from Africa. No where else.

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Day 1370 ( Kim Jong-il Dead )
Monday, December 19, 2011

I got this strange citrus fruit from a teacher at my main school today. Looks like a very small orange. It is called kingu kongu and has a very strong sweet sourish taste.

I wanted to go to karate today after work but felt lazy. I especially wanted to go because my friend who I introduced to karate last year, is now one belt above me since my 9 months holiday from karate...To continue this in Yokohama is too much hassle though.

Kim Jong-il Dead

This is very late news but the ruler of North Korea, Kim Jong-il is dead. So Japan as well as South Korea are a bit tense.

Kim Jong-il, the second-generation North Korean dictator who defied global condemnation to build nuclear weapons while his people starved, has died at the age of 69, Yonhap News reported.

The South Korean military has been put on emergency alert with their communist neighbour now set to follow Kim Jong-il's son Kim Jong-un, believed to be 27.

The news of the death of "Dear Leader" was delivered by a weeping announcer in a broadcast at noon local time, Yonhap reported, citing North Korea's official media.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the leader ''passed away from a great mental and physical strain'' at 8.30am on Saturday (1030 AEDT Saturday), while on a train for one of his ''field guidance'' tours.

Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in August 2008 and may have also had pancreatic cancer, according to South Korean news reports. KCNA said Kim died of a ''severe myocardial infarction along with a heart attack''. It said an autopsy was performed on Sunday.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/kim-jongil-dead-20111219-1p1sk.html#ixzz1i5HCD1cC

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Day 1371 ( Wine shop )
Tuesday, December 20, 2011

After work today I went to a wine shop and a bread shop. Both restaurants are owned by relatives. But I can't take the bread into the wine shop and eat it there for some strange reason.

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Day 1372 (Evening Student's New Car)
Wednesday, December 21, 2011

My evening student bought a Toyota Crown. He really wanted this car it seem, but it has quite a few faults. He said that the gearbox area had a small fire yesterday. The reason was because it has too many electric stuff going on inside it. colourful lights, a camera to see in front and behind, plus 2 GPS Navigation things inside. So he need to increase the electric power etc.

That is one problem. The car is also insanely low with a huge muffler and huge rims, which make it difficult to turn properly. This also means that he has to turn the car diagonally to go up any slope. And this prefecture is full of slopes.

Anyway, I went there to teach this guy, but he said he didn't get any chance to do his home work. Plus he is not in the mood for any real lesson. He just wants to eat and talk. So he basically drove me around Yokohama area a bit and showed me some bad areas. Then we went to a restaurant, chatted and ate. That was my job, and I got paid for it. He then dropped me home. However where I live is also rigged with slopes. His car got stuck a bit and his muffler scraped the road several times while he was returning.

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Day 1373 ( Bon Enkai/End of year Party / Last Day of Work for 2011 )
Thursday, December 22, 2011

Left work today at about 12 noon. Today was the last work day for me for 2011. I should be heading for Kyoto starting from tonight then to the southern most part of Japan called Okinawa on Saturday.

Okinawa is a set of small islands that were actually an independent nation until 1872 when it was annexed by Japan. But was officially incorporated as a part of Japan in 1879. The islands were actually owned by China also.

Anyway, I went to the end of year party for my main school today. I had to walk with a small suitcase because of me travelling as soon as the party is over. About 40 or more teachers and admin staff were in attendance and it was pretty decent. But it cost like US $130 or 10,000 yen. Too expensive I think. After that, me and a few of the teachers went to another Japanese style bar. We stayed for about 30 mins then I had to rush to catch the night bus and head out to Kyoto.

I slept on the bus quite well, because I was a bit tipsy.

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Day 1374 ( )
Friday, December 23, 2011

Stayed in Kyoto for the entire day, further preparing for me trip to Okinawa.

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Day 1375 ( Heading to Okinawa islands)
Saturday, December 24, 2011

Woke up at about 5:30 am today and headed to Osaka in the blistering cold. I had on gloves but they hardly made a difference. I took a bus and 4 trains to the Kansai Airport in Osaka. Then got on my flight for Okinawa which took 2hrs and 30 mins to Okinawa.

When we landed, I went to a rent-a-car place and got a small car to rent for the 4 days that I will be here. I then drove to a castle initially but it started to rain so I headed back to my first hotel of the trip, name Miyako hotel in Naha, the capital of Okinawa.

The picture below is a view of the hotel. This hotel was marvelous.

After unpacking at the hotel, I went to a restaurant on a road called "International street" which is like the city center of Okinawa. There had lots of restaurants and random shops of all kind.

This entire 4 days/3 nights trip cost like US $490 / 38,000 yen but it included a 2 way trip to Okinawa, a rent-a-car and 3 hotels with break fast.

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@Richard... It is exactly what it sound like... If rain fall, they can't get to jog in the rain, but I should go in the rain to go and teach. However, if there is good whether, they can jog, but I can stay home...

Out with some Jamaicans

2011-12-18T03:32:00.000-08:00

Days 1362 - 1368 ---
Sunday, December 11, 2011 - Saturday, December 17, 2011

Day 1362 ( Jamaican Cake and Patties )
Sunday, December 11, 2011

I ordered a Jamaican Christmas/fruit cake and 3 patties from a friend of mine in an area of Japan name Nagoya. I visited her once 3 years ago in summer. I should have received the cake and patties yesterday but somehow I didn't get it. So I called the dispatch company and they said they got it but the box with the patties was partially destroyed. So basically they were afraid to give me the box that was a bit torn.

When I got the stuff, the box wasn't that badly messed up and the patties were quite fine by my estimate.

After I received the stuff, I went to have my favorite food in Japan, yaki tori (chicken on a stick), at a nearby restaurant.

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Day 1363 ( New Chair / Famous Black man in Japan in Trouble )
Monday, December 12, 2011

I had only 4 classes today and again the principal sent me home. It seem they are finally getting more lenient. Or they realize it was really a waste of time having me sitting there doing nothing and knowing fully well that the other teachers aren't going to say a word to me.

I received my new chair today that I ordered from a company name Nitori on Saturday.

Famous Black man in Japan in Trouble

So there is this somewhat famous black American guy who comes on commercials for a telecommunications company in Japan name Softbank. He is now in a bit of hot water with the police.

Tokyo police said Monday they have turned over to prosecutors their case against actor/model Dante Carver, 34, a frequent character in Softbank Corp.'s mobile phone commercials, for allegedly driving with an invalid international driver's license.

Carver is known as "onii-chan" (elder brother) in the family that hawks its products in the TV commercials.

The police confirmed a Kyodo News report that officers from Meguro Police Station pulled the New Yorker over after he executed an illegal U-turn in Shibuya Ward on July 2. He then presented them with an international driver's license that they determined to be invalid under the Road Traffic Law.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111213a3.html

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Day 1364
( No Rain No Work / Ostriches Wandering Around Fukushima No go zone )

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

My school today had a marathon IN THE COLD!!! They asked me about 3 weeks ago if I wanted to go but I declined because I hate the cold. So they basically put me on standby and said if rain should fall, then I would have classes. But if no rain, then no classes. Luckily there was no rain so I stayed home.

Ostriches Wandering Around Fukushima No go zone

The agriculture ministry is trying to round up more than 10 ostriches that ran off from a farm in the 20-km exclusion zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

The wayward birds are wandering around evacuated residential areas in the no-go zone.

Officials plan to soon start reassessing the evacuation area and may allow some residents to return home on a permanent basis. To ease their concerns in advance, the ministry started trying to catch the large birds in October, managing to bag two of them so far.

The farm where they came from, located in the town of Okuma, had about 30 ostriches before the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster crippled the nuclear plant.

More than 10 are believed still alive.

The ostriches have been seen by residents when they have been allowed brief visits to their homes.

Ministry officials are trying to catch the birds by luring them with food and then covering their eyes with blinders.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111216f3.html

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Day 1365 ( Comfort Women Statue in South Korea )
Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Nothing special today. Just went to work and did evening conversation.

Comfort Women statue

This is going to cause further trouble between Japan and South Korea but South Korea don't seem to care about that. My issue is that, the war is over years now, Japan lost, and as far as I know, they apologized for what they did. Why is the issue still being pressed?

Any way this is how it started....

During the Second World War, 200,000 women between the ages of 11 and 25 were drafted as sex slaves in ‘comfort stations’ where they were victims of coercion, rape and abuse day and night.

Even after Korean independence, some were left in such stations because of prejudice and neglect by their own government.

Of the 234 registered former comfort women, more than two thrids have already passed away without having their last will fulfilled, which was to see the Japanese government make a sincere apology.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/%E2%80%9CTreated-worse-than-an-animal%E2%80%9D:-the-%E2%80%98comfort-women%E2%80%99-issue-before-the-United-Nations-22913.html

A monument to South Korean females forced into sexual slavery during the war was set up in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Wednesday despite protests by Tokyo.

The so-called Peace Monument was unveiled on the occasion of the 1,000th weekly demonstration by the now-elderly women and their supporters calling for an apology and compensation from the Japanese government.

The protest rally has been held outside the mission every Wednesday since 1992, organized by the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, a group of former sex slaves euphemistically called "comfort women."

The monument, which consists of a statue of a teenage Korean girl in traditional costume and was reportedly erected with about $32,000 worth of donations, will become a permanent protest site.

Five former South Korean comfort women and several hundred supporters attended the rally, with riot police standing guard around the protest site.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111215a5.html

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Day 1366
( Kancho / Norman Manley Law School Defeats Yale in Debating Competition )
Thursday, December 15, 2011

After work today I went to my final company meeting of 2011. It was the same usual thing where someone gives a presentation and solicit feedback from the persons in the meeting. I made a comment about how getting angry and snapping at the children after being "Kanchoed" ( getting poked in the ass or balls ) can cause some trouble. This is not something we are used to in the west or any other country for that matter. So we may just snap at the children. but when we snap, the child might shut down for the rest of the time we are teaching. We don't really want that either. But it is still better than being poked constantly. They advised us to tell the teacher and let the teacher deal with the student.

After the meeting, I went to a TGIF restaurant along with 3 other Jamaicans and 2 others from the UK. We chatted and had a good time. This was the first in a long while I was meeting up with some Jamaicans and having good food and fun.

Norman Manley Law School Defeats Yale

I learned that the law school in Jamaica ( Norman Manley Law School ) defeated the great Yale in a debate. So I was searching the entire web to find the news. I was specifically searching for foreign based articles with the news. I only found articles from Caribbean based news papers. Maybe the US is not too pleased about it. If you find even one article outside of the Caribbean, please send the link to me.

THE Norman Manley Law School retained its World Human Rights Moot Court title last week, with victory over the famed and highly respected Yale University of the United States in the final held in Pretoria, South Africa.

Last year, Norman Manley, led by top oralist Merrick Watson, a former Kingston College cricketer, beat the world by taking the title over Sydney University of Australia.

WORLD CHAMPS: The victorious Norman Manley Law School World Human Rights Moot Court champions (from left) Love Odih, Leslie Mendez and Jermaine Case.

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Now, the Jamaica-based law school stayed on top of the competition, organised by the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, and the United Nations Office of Human Rights, and which saw three selected law schools from each of the United Nations regions in the semifinal round of the competition.

“I am ecstatic that Norman Manley has once again brought home the World Human Rights title,” said principal of the law school, Professor Stephen Vasciannie.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Norman-Manley-shocks-Yale

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Day 1367
Friday, December 16, 2011

Left work early again then went to a bank to lodge some money. I am planning to visit Jamaica next Summer. And possibly visit China in March/April next year.

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Day 1368 ( Playstation Vita is Out)
Saturday, December 17, 2011

Stayed in most of the day. But briefly went to the convenient store to get a ticket to travel to Kyoto. I am planning to go to the southern most part of Japan known as Okinawa for my winter vacation.

Playstation Vita hits the market in Japan

Sony's long-awaited PlayStation Vita hits stores in Japan on Saturday, with the company predicting brisk sales of the portable game machine even though its launch has missed much of the holiday shopping season.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. President Andrew House told reporters Thursday that prelaunch orders had exceeded the allocation made for those keenest to get their hands on the device "extremely quickly." He declined to reveal numbers.

The PS Vita goes on sale in North America and Europe on Feb. 22.

Enthusiasm for the new machine among gamers could lead to some shortages at first, House said. But he said Sony can handle the load.

"I'm pretty confident . . . that there will not be major challenges in meeting demand, even though there may be short-term," House said.

For the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant, the Vita is the biggest product launch since the PlayStation 3 home console five years ago.

A successful debut would help Sony offset the rest of its struggling business. It projects a loss of more than $1 billion for the fiscal year through next March. That would be its fourth consecutive annual loss.

The next-generation device has a touch-screen interface and motion sensors that Sony hopes will make it a strong successor to the PlayStation Portable. Gamers can connect over cellphone networks and Wi-Fi hot spots, and use GPS location-tracking technology.

The Vita has front and back cameras, a touchscreen in front, a touch pad on the back and two knoblike joysticks. The handheld will also allow gamers to play against each other using PlayStation 3 consoles over the Internet-based PlayStation Network, which was hacked into earlier this year.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20111217a3.html

A Very Cold Week

2011-12-11T04:00:00.001-08:00

Days 1355 - 1361 ---
Sunday, December 4, 2011 - Saturday, December 10, 2011

Day 1355 ( Friend's New Bike )
Sunday, December 4, 2011

Went to church today. I should be performing a Christmas poem there in the next 2 weeks.

My former student and now a friend of mine who is living in Japan visited me today. He bought a 1000cc bike recently and rode it to my apartment. He got lost initially but I went for him on my BICYCLE.

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Day 1356 ( Too Cold )
Monday, December 5, 2011

Today was extremely cold at work. I noticed that the cold and dryness in this area is causing between my fingers to get extra dry and bruised. I didn't have this kind of thing back in country side Japan even though it was really cold there. The cold here is dry and relentless. Maybe you can't see them well but check out the bruises between my fingers caused by the cold here.

I started the final course of my Masters program today.

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Day 1357 ( World's Oldest Dog Dies )
Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Nothing special today

World's Oldest Dog Dies

The world's oldest living dog, as recognized by Guinness World Records, has died at its home in Sakura, Tochigi Prefecture, at the age of 26 years and 9 months, equivalent to more than 125 years in human age, its owner said Tuesday.

Dog gone: Seen last December, Pusuke, recognized as the world's oldest dog, died Monday in Sakura, Tochigi Prefecture.

Pusuke, a male crossbreed, had been showing a good appetite and kept up with its daily morning and evening strolls until Monday morning, when it suddenly refused to eat and appeared to have difficulty breathing, owner Yumiko Shinohara said. The pooch died peacefully in the afternoon, about five minutes after Shinohara returned home from running errands.

"I think (Pusuke) waited for me to come home," the 42-year-old housewife said, adding she was grateful for the many good memories the dog brought her over the years.

Pusuke received the Guinness certification last December.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111207b3.html

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Day 1358 ( Too Tired After Work / 16 Year Old Boy Stabs Random Girl )
Wednesday, December 7, 2011

After work today, I dragged myself home because I was exhausted after teaching. I also feel like I am catching the cold AGAIN!!!! I was suppose to have evening lesson but I was thinking to myself that I wanted to cancel. However a little extra money in the pocket while just chatting random stuff is good motivation. So I was thinking that I was going to do the lesson anyway. It so happened that my student said he couldn't make it to class this evening because he had work. That was good news for me.

Boy, 16, held in girl's stabbing attack

Youth says he wanted to kill at random

A 16-year-old boy arrested in the stabbing of a 15-year-old girl in Misato, Saitama Prefecture, has said he did not know the victim and was carrying blades to kill pedestrians at random, the Saitama Prefectural Police said Tuesday.

The boy, a high school student in Misato, was arrested Monday evening on a street for illegally possessing a clasp knife with a 15-cm blade and a hatchet with a 17-cm blade. Police later added the charge of attempted murder after he admitted stabbing the girl Nov. 18.

The youth also indicated he may have been behind the stabbing of an 8-year-old girl in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, last week.

The boy, whose name has been withheld because he is a minor, told police that he stabbed the 15-year-old Saitama girl with a kitchen knife, which he was not carrying at the time of his arrest.

Police found more than 20 blades in the boy's home Monday. They are looking into why the youth apparently had a desire to kill people at random.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111207a2.html

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Day 1359 ( Send me Topics Please )
Thursday, December 8, 2011

Earlier this week I asked my company to ask the English coordinator at my school today about what topics I should teach today (or at least where to look in a particular book that we use for lessons). I didn't really want to do this because I knew what was coming next. But I had no choice. I had no choice because last week I had no idea what to teach, because the information the coordinator gave me was not in the book we normally use. So I took a chance, went to school, then asked a grade 6 teacher what the heck I should teach. He looked up in the air then told me what it was. I searched the English room ( A room where English picture cards a kept ) for pictures relating to the topic I should teach today, but alas, there was none. So I created a similar topic and used the cards that were available.

I decided that this situation ain't gonna happen to me again. However I knew what the result was going to be and I was correct. The English coordinator came to me apologizing like crazy. So I explained to her what happened and told her that the best thing to do is to write the topic on the schedule. She said she will start to do that now and apologized again. Now she is starting to look as if she is afraid of me or something, which I never wanted to happen.

I got a message from my other student today for a lesson. At first I forgot where the meeting place was because I haven't been there in a while. But I eventually found it after asking a few questions.
Because she is pregnant, we spoke about some family stuff and how her parents treated her as a child.

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Day 1360 ( Jamaican Christmas Cake / Crazy Nurse )
Friday, December 9, 2011

Went to work this morning in ice cold rain!!! Eventually the whether got better but it was still cold as ever. I had only 4 classes, then I was falling asleep after lunch time. So I went to wash my face quickly. I started reading one of the books for my course but the principal said to me that I can leave since my classes are over and I already spoke with the teacher for my classes on Monday.

In the evening I got my Jamaican style Christmas cake that I ordered last week. It is kind of sweet but it's good.

Nurse jailed for tearing off toenails

I have never heard of anything like this in my life...

The Kyoto District Court on Wednesday sentenced a 38-year-old assistant nurse to three years in prison for tearing off the big toenails of four patients at a hospital in Kyoto in August.

Akemi Sato "repeated the vicious, relentless act for the selfish purpose of relieving work stress while she was in a position of taking care of patients," presiding Judge Akiyoshi Sasano said.

The prosecution had sought a six-year prison term for Sato, noting she could repeat the offense. The same court gave her a 44-month prison term in 2006 for removing the nails of six patients at another Kyoto hospital in 2004.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111208b3.html

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Day 1361 ( PSVita )
Saturday, December 10, 2011

Went to purchase a chair with my "friend" today, because the chair in my apartment is killing my back. We went a few other places as well. Like I tested a game on the PSVita that will be released December 17, 2011.

We also saw the wicked looking Nissan Concept car. See picture below.

Days 1348 - 1354 --- Sunday, November 27, 2011 - Saturday, December 3, 2011

2011-12-06T05:35:00.000-08:00

Days 1348 - 1354 ---
Sunday, November 27, 2011 - Saturday, December 3, 2011

Day 1348 ( Walking around Kyoto )
Sunday, November 27, 2011

Bought a neck pillow for my trip back to Yokohama on the bus.

I then followed my friend to a shrine in Kyoto name Kita no tenmangu.

At about 10:45 I took the night bus to head back to Yokohama.

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Day 1349 ( UK The Worst Place to live )

Monday, November 28, 2011

Didn't go to work today so I stayed home and did quite few assignments.

UK the worst place to live

I could't resist myself from commenting on this article. Especially since the UK turned down my visitor's visa application in 2005. I have a couple friends from the UK and some living there now, but since that turn down in 2005, I have no interest whatsoever in visiting the UK. Here is the article.

It's miserable in the UK. That is, of course, if you believe the latest uSwitch quality of life index, which places Britain as the worst place to live in Europe. We have the highest food and diesel prices, the third lowest spent on health as a percentage of GDP, 5.5 fewer days on holiday than the European average and, the second fewest hours of sunshine a year! All of this has left 12% of British people saying they are "seriously considering" emigrating.

But is it really all that bad? Do you feel that the UK is actually the worst place to be in Europe? And whether you do or not, what one single aspect of the country would you change to make living here that little bit more enjoyable?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/29/britain-quality-of-life

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Day 1350 ( Green Technology )
Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Nothing special happened today.

Green Technology

Japanese carmakers highlighted their latest green technology concept cars during Wednesday's media preview at the Tokyo Motor Show as they bid to lead the global trend toward energy efficiency and reignite interest among young people in automobiles.

Juiced up: Takanobu Ito, CEO of Honda Motor Co., shows off the company's EV-STER electric concept vehicle at the Tokyo Motor Show on Wednesday. YOSHIAKI MIURA

Previously held in Makuhari, Chiba Prefecture, it is the first motor show in Tokyo in 24 years, and an attempt to steal the spotlight from rival motor shows in Beijing, Shanghai and New Delhi, where car markets are booming.

On display with the new electric vehicles and sports cars were the major carmakers' visions of the future.

"The time when an automaker could focus only on the vehicle is over," Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn told reporters. "Our long-term vision for a clean, connected, mobile society demands the development of both vehicles and infrastructure."

Aside from its ultracompact electric PIVO 3, Nissan also unveiled a smart house that draws power from solar panels as well as the batteries of its LEAF electric vehicle.

Nissan Motor Co. CEO Carlos Ghosn shows off the PIVO 3, a zero-emission concept car, during the Tokyo Motor Show on Wednesday. The event at Tokyo Big Sight opens to the public Saturday and runs through Dec. 11. YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20111201a1.html

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Day 1351 ( Interviewing a Pastor )
Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Ok so finally I will reveal it. I am currently enrolled in a seminary in the US doing an online Masters in Christian Education. I started in about September 2010 and I'm on my final module now. I am aiming to complete it by January or February 2012.

A part of the course is to interview a pastor and ask him to read a 3 page essay that I wrote. So I went to the church after work today to interview the pastor. He made some important point that I jotted down and added to the assignment.

After this I did my evening lesson at TGIF again. My student said he should be buying a new car sometime soon. We spoke about quite a bit of stuff unrelated to the lesson but, it went well.

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Day 1352 ( Happy Birthday to my "friend" / One Piece Sells Record High Manga )
Thursday, December 1, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the beautiful Chiyoko Kenmochi. I sent my "friend" flowers today for her birthday.

One Piece Sells Record High Manga

When I just got to Japan in 2008, I went on an anime watching spree to help with my boredom. I started with Naruto, then with bleach, watched a few others but they didn't grip me like those 2. One Piece was recommended to me and I watched about 10 episodes back in 2008 then stopped because I thought it was boring. But my friend from England living in Niimi, started watching it and said it was actually good. So to beat boredom again, I started watching One Piece when I moved to Yokohama. Bleach and Naruto were playing a bunch of fillers so I stopped watching them for a while. But I was hooked on One piece.

I recently learnt that this absolutely superb anime sold over 28 million mangas in 2011. I can understand why. It is quite interesting.

The marketing survey firm Oriconreported on Thursday that Eiichiro Oda's One Piece pirate manga set a record for the most volumes of manga sold in one year since Oricon began posting its ranking charts in 2008. During the period of November 22, 2010 to November 20, 2011, One Piece sold 37,996,373 copies.

One Piece also took the top four spots for single manga volumes sold during the same time period. Volume 61 sold 3,382,588 copies, volume 62 sold 3,207,568 copies, volume 63 sold 3,073,175 copies, and volume 64 sold 2,652,700 copies. It is the third year in a row that One Piece volumes have taken the top four spots in that category. These four One Piecevolumes were also the only manga volumes this year to sell more than 2 million copies.

In 2008, One Piece sold 5,956,540 copies, and in 2009, it sold 14,721,241 copies. Last year, it sold 32,343,809 copies.

2011's second best-selling manga series was Naruto with 6,874,840 copies, followed by Blue Exorcist's 5,223,712 copies.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-11-30/one-piece-sells-record-38-million-manga-volumes-in-2011

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Day 1353 ( Exam )
Friday, December 2, 2011

Did the final exam for one of my courses today. This course is called Interpersonal Communication and Conflict Management. After this I have a final course to complete then thats it.

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Day 1354 ( )
Saturday, December 3, 2011

Stayed in all day. I spoke to a few of my Jamaican friends in Japan. But that was pretty much it.

Days 1341 - 1347 --- Sunday, November 20, 2011 - Saturday, November 26, 2011

2011-12-03T23:26:00.000-08:00

Days 1341 - 1347 ---
Sunday, November 20, 2011 - Saturday, November 26, 2011

Day 1341 ( Sky Tree - The Tallest Tower in the world )

Sunday, November 20, 2011 ( 1 Year 8 Months )

Stayed in all day and did some reading.

The sky Tree in Tokyo has now been officially recognized as the tallest tower in the world.

Rising like a space age Eiffel Tower on growth hormones, the newly built Tokyo Sky Tree won't officially open its elevator doors until May 2012.

Yet the 2,080-foot-tall (634-meter-tall) structure has already

built a lofty reputation. Under construction since 2008, Japan's latest landmark was this month certified the world's tallest tower by Guinness World Records.

But hold on, what about Dubai's Burj Khalifa? Completed in 2010, the giant skyscrap

er measures 2,723 feet (830 meters) tall.

Tokyo's Sky Tree is a tower, the difference being "that less than 50 percent of the construction is usable floor space," explained Guinness World Records spokesperson Anne-Lise Rouse.Yes, say the records people, but the Burj Khalifa is the world's tallest building.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/travelnews/2

011/11/111128-worlds-tallest-tower-tokyo-travel/

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Day 1342

Monday, November 21, 2011

Nothing Special today.

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Day 1343 ( Dancing Children )

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

I had lunch with the

grade 1 students at my school to

day. And the teacher made the students do a special dance for me after lunch.

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Day 1344 ( Sex Deficit in Japan )

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Today was another holiday so I stayed in and studied.

From an economis

t’s point of view, the rallying cry to cure Japan’s ills the pa

st two decades has often been, “Spend, Japan, spend!”

From a demographer’s point of view, the cry is more: “Procreate, Japan, procreate!”

A survey last week underscores the growing p

roblems of the latter point.

The number of single men has reached a record high in the aging nation of 130 million, according to a survey by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Resear

ch.

The number of single men aged 18 to 34 rose 9.2% from the previous survey in 2005. About 61% of unmarried adult men don’t have a girlfriend, while half the adult women surveyed don’t have a husband or

a boyfriend. Worse still, 45% of the men and women who don’t have a girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse are not interested in finding one, either.

One in four unmarried men and women in their late 30s have never had sex, the survey found. A vast majority of the single men and women surveyed - 86% and 89%, respectively - say they one day want to tie the knot. The largest roadblock, according to the survey authors, is financial concerns - more than 40% of the singletons surveyed said money worries are a top reason they don’t marry.

But is that really the case? In the survey, 90% of unmarried

young Japanese women preferred to stay single.

That compares to a study earlier this year by Japan Family Planning Association that showed 36% of males aged 16 to 19 were “indifferent or averse” toward having sex, a 19% increase from a 2008 survey. Meanwhile, 59% of teenage females surveyed said they weren’t interested in sex, a nearly 12% increase in two years.

http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/29/sex-deficit-bad-for-japans-bottom-line/?hpt=hp_c2

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Day 1345 (Test Subject)

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Had company meeting today. Of course myself as well as everyone else who went to the meeting were tired. Our activity today was to read someone else's pre-written instructions for an activity, then perform it. I think it all went pretty well over all.

One of the English teachers with my co

mpany told me he signed for something where he got different prescription drugs tested on him. The catch is that they only ask Caucasians and Asians to be the test subjects. I heard its only like 4 days - a week but the pay is pretty darn good. Like double our monthly salary now. And our pay now is not too bad. However the risks of being a lab rat hmmmm .... I am not sure about that. Oh and they don't use black people I gather so I couldn't try it any way.

After the meeting I hung out a bit with one of the other English teachers. We had coffee and chatted a bit, then I went to do my evening lesson.

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Day 1346

Friday, November 26, 2011

Made a quick run to the Yokohama station in order to try collecting some money for my friend. But the western union was closed so I had to go back to my apartment. Then go back to Yokohama again to take a bus to Kyoto.

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Day 1347 ( Around Kyoto )

Saturday, November 27, 2011

Visited my friend in Kyoto and we met up with one of her friends. Her friend lived 2 years in Morocco and she speaks both French and Arabic. I then collected the money for me friend and sent it off to him.

We then went to a Jamaican restaurant in Kyoto called "Rasta". We ate patty and Jerk chicken. It wasn't like the authentic Jamaican thing but it tasted good.

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@Richard - When mi reach back mi teach yuh how fi play modern warfare.

@ Noel - I don't have Teruyo's email.

Days 1334 - 1340 --- Sunday, November 13, 2011 - Saturday, November 19, 2011

2011-11-19T22:08:00.000-08:00

Days 1334 - 1340 ---
Sunday, November 13, 2011 - Saturday, November 19, 2011

Day 1334 ( Reporters first look at the Atomic plant in Fukushima)
Sunday, November 13, 2011

Went to church then back to my apartment. I ordered Call of duty Modern Warfare 3 online, after hearing that one of my friends in Jamaica bought it.

Fukushima No. 1 tour an eye-opener

Radiation dangers temper sense of stability at scene of devastation

"Now 1,000 microsieverts (per hour)!"

The shout by a Tokyo Electric Power Co. worker, in full face mask and seamless white protective suit, sent tension high among the 18 journalists aboard a slow-moving bus inside the compound of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

As the bus moved near the badly damaged reactor 2 building, a radiation meter spiked to a level about 18,000 times higher than the everyday reading in Tokyo.

On Saturday, for the first time since the quake-tsunami disaster of March 11, reporters were allowed into the plant for a guided tour.

On that fateful day in March, 13-meter tsunami knocked out the plant's power, triggering meltdowns in three reactors and leading to massive radiation emissions.

In just one hour, had the bus not moved, the 1,000 microsieverts an hour — the highest encountered on the media tour — would have exposed everybody to a dose in excess of the annual legal limit for ordinary citizens.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111115f1.html

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Day 1335
Monday, November 14, 2011

I think I heard a rather strict teacher at my main school said something about the English class today to another teacher. I am not quite sure what she said but maybe it had something to do with an English supporter who is 70 years old. Or it could be something about my teaching style. I am not quite sure however. But I am sure if there is a problem, my company or the English coordinator will say something to me.

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Day 1336 ( Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 )
Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Received Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 today. I started playing it in the night but the other players on the server made me look like a novice...

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Day 1337 ( Restroom tapes ? )
Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Another somewhat strict teacher at my school today was trying to say something to me about the English class and what she wants me to do. However she was speaking to me really fast in Japanese so I did not quite get everything she was saying. I am wondering what I am doing wrong in these teachers classes.

Osaka man held over restroom tapes

Police said Tuesday they have arrested a 26-year-old man in Osaka Prefecture on suspicion of secretly filming women in restrooms. They allegedly seized about 2,000 videos of women from him.

Toshiyuki Morikawa allegedly sneaked into women's restrooms, including at a supermarket in Osaka Prefecture, and secretly filmed three women between July and August. He sold other DVDs to three people between November 2010 and last May and received about ¥130,000.

According to the police, Morikawa, whose case has already been sent to prosecutors, has admitted earning about ¥4.5 million from sales of DVDs over the Internet during a period of about two years.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111116a9.html

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Day 1338
Thursday, November 17, 2011

Had evening conversation this evening and he wanted to go to TGIF in Yokohama. So we went there and ate, drank and had English conversation. This student is funny though and we have good conversations. Today they had some sort of bartender show going on in TGIF ...

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Day 1339 ( Football Great Defeat )
Friday, November 18, 2011

Finally after 4 months of not even touching a football I decided to play in a football match with the elementary school teachers of my ward in Yokohama city. First let me explain how this ward thing works. Yokohama is a very big city. The biggest city in Japan outside of Tokyo actually, with 3.6 million people living here. So the city is divided up into 18 wards and I live and teach in the southern most ward name Kanazawa-ward.

Anyway I got some hints from other teachers that our ward is the weakest in soccer of all the wards. I even heard that we got defeated 11-0 two weeks ago by a ward name Totsuka-ward. What I wasn't told was that these matches are official 11 vs 11 full length football matches. I was always thinking it was 5 vs 5, small goal matches, like what we did the last time I went to training in July. And what I have been used to for the past 10 years. Yup, the last time I played a big field 11 vs 11 football game was probably back in about 2001.

I decided however to give this a try today but told the captain (who also happen to be a teacher at one of my schools) that I am going to probably be exhausted in about 10 mins or possibly less. We played against Hodogaya-ward and I managed to touch the ball only about 7 times all together. I did manage to get one kick at goal but that was it. We got defeated 8-0. A solid reminder that our team (Kanazawa -Ward) is in fact a weak team and that just maybe I am getting too old for football of this nature. I played the full first half but could hardly move my legs to go play the second half, so someone substituted for me. 8-0 is the biggest margin of defeat for me in my entire life of playing football. Got 6-0 and 7-1 before but 8-0 ???.... Never.

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Day 1340 ( Immortals )
Saturday, November 19, 2011

Watched a movie name immortals today at the theater. It was pretty decent but full of gore I guarantee you. It reminded me of the movie 300, which is one of my favourites of all time. I give immortals a solid 8/10. And I am sure they are going to have a part 2.

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@ Richard, I saw the problem and couldn't badda fix it. I finally fixed it now though....

@BJ I am not sure what you are drinking over there in Bahamas but I need some... Of course Green Lantern was better than Thor. Thor was a bit wishy washy, I was expecting much more from it ...

Days 1327 - 1333 --- Sunday, November 6, 2011 - Saturday, November 12, 2011

2011-11-12T22:57:00.000-08:00

Days 1327 - 1333

Sunday, November 6, 2011 - Saturday, November 12, 2011

Another somewhat boring week.

Day 1327 (Usain Bolt Honorary Doctorate )
Sunday, November 6, 2011

Went to church then rushed home as soon as it was over to do some reading. I am studying some stuff and hopefully I will be done by or before March 2012.

UWI conferring honorary LL.D. degrees on Bolt

SPRINT king Usain Bolt, as well as corporate executives Minna Israel and Earl Jarrett will be conferred with honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees by the University of the West Indies (UWI) in November this year.

According to the May 2011 issue of the UWI magazine Mona News, Bolt, Israel and Jarrett are among 20 "regional icons" who will be named honorary graduands for their contribution to regional advancement at the graduation ceremonies to be held on the UWI's four campuses across the Caribbean beginning on October 15

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/UWI-conferring-honorary-LL-D--degrees-on-Bolt--Israel--Jarrett_9156551#ixzz1dZDiBQGx

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Day 1328 ( Messed up Bank book )
Monday, November 7, 2011

Went to the ATM to send off some money to a friend of mine. I wasn't quite sure how to do it so I asked one of the ladies in the bank to help me out. I noticed that my bank book kept returning from the machine and asking me to re insert it. So I queried that also, only to realize that the book somehow got destroyed in my bag. They said that I have to get a replacement tomorrow. I did manage to send the money though because I had a bank card.

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Day 1329 ( Backache )
Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Went to the bank to change my bank book. They said maybe I have too many stuff in my bag that got the book messed up.

I am again having constant backaches for about 2 weeks now. I need to get a new chair. But my apartment is too small to fit a nice chair in it.

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Day 1330 ( Bizarre Foods )
Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Today one of the English supporter persons baked banana bread for me and it was quite delicious. I am going to ask her if she can bake some more.

Bizzare foods

Jamaica was featured on this travel channel documentary known as Bizarre foods. Where this Jewish-American guy (That dude in the orange shirt) travel all over the world sampling different types of food.

These are some standard fruits in Jamaica that are not common in other parts of the world.

otaheite apple or Malay apple

Star apple

Jimbilin / star fruit

Our national fruit - Ackee

Jack fruit

Nesberry

Ok there are too many of them including sweet sop, sour sop, breadfruit, june plum, cooley plum and much much more.... If you show these fruits to people in Japan and possibly other first world countries, they will be quite surprised that something like this actually exist. Some of them can be found in places like Cambodia and Thailand though.

This is the link to the Bizarre Foods show... Its about 30 mins but its very interesting I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SxTFQfrI6_g

They also came to Tokyo, Japan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmYgsd5CvEQ

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Day 1331 ( Japanese Teachers Stressed )
Thursday, November 10, 2011

Did evening lesson after work today with my student. Again we spoke about sports and strayed off in quite a few different topics.

Teachers bolt jobs over mental angst

The number of first-year teachers who left their job for health reasons has increased twentyfold over the past 10 years, with most citing apparent emotional issues, an education ministry survey has found.

According to the survey, conducted on 25,743 public school teachers who began working in fiscal 2010, 101 voluntarily left within a year for "health" reasons, mainly depression and stress, compared with five in fiscal 2000.

Ninety-one of the 101 who quit were suffering emotional issues such as depression, the ministry said Tuesday.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111110a5.html

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Day 1332 ( Nuke in Modern Warfare 2)
Friday, November 11, 2011

Normal day.

After work I played Modern Warfare 2 with my friend and we partnered for me to get a nuke.

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Day 1333 ( Thor )
Saturday, November 12, 2011

Yow Happy Birthday Richard mi bredrin...

Stayed in all day. Watched a movie name Thor. I expected it to be better but it wasn't so bad. I much preferred green lantern. I give Thor a 6/10

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@Richard .... I personally think that the US guy did a better job than her in the singing, naah lie. I do admit that Japanese in a general sense tend to favor USA over other countries in almost anything they do, maybe because the US is protecting them amongst other possible reasons.

Days 1320 - 1326 --- Sunday, October 30, 2011 - Saturday, November 5, 2011

2011-11-05T23:26:00.000-07:00

Days 1320 - 1326

Sunday, October 30, 2011 - Saturday, November 5, 2011

Day 1320
( iphone 4s Accessories /New Prime minister)
Sunday, October 30, 2011

I ordered some iphone 4s accessories on Friday and I received them today. I got a screen protector, a case thingy and a protector thingy.

New Prime minister of Jamaica

I forgot to mention last week that my country now has a new prime minister. The previous prime minister, Bruce Golding stepped down. So now we have the youngest prime minister in the history of our country. He is just 39.

History was created on Sunday (October 23), when 39-year-old Andrew Michael Holness, was sworn in as Jamaica’s youngest Prime Minister at King’s House. In a 90-minute ceremony presided over by Governor-General, His Excellency, the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, and attended by some 4,000 guests, the country’s first Jamaican Head of Government born in the post-independence era (1962), took the Oaths of Allegiance and Office, before being presented with the Instrument of Office as the nation’s ninth Prime Minister.

The changing of the guard also saw the Standard of outgoing Prime Minister, the Hon. Bruce Golding, being lowered and replaced by Mr. Holness’, thereby completing the transition.

Prior to these formalities, Mr. Golding formally tendered his resignation Sunday, and advised the Governor-General of the decision by the majority of Government members of the House of Representatives to endorse Mr. Holness as his successor.
The new Prime Minister had served as Education Minister since the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) won the 2007 General Election. He was also the youngest member of Golding’s Cabinet.

Mr. Golding, who assumed the Office of Prime Minister over four years ago, had indicated his intention to demit office in September, stating that the challenges of the last four years had taken a toll and it was appropriate for him to make way for new leadership to continue the programmes of economic recovery and transformation, while mobilising the JLP for the next General Election.

http://www.jamaicapage.com/holness-sworn-in-as-new-jamaica-pm/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+jamaica+%28Jamaicapage%29&authuser=0

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Day 1321 ( Samsung overtakes apple in phone shipment )
Monday, October 31, 2011

Normal day at work, so nothing much. After work I collected my pay then paid my tax and bought some stuff.

Yesterday and today I played a lot of Modern Warfare 2 because we were getting double Experience Points.

Samsung overtakes Apple in smartphone shipment

Samsung overtook Apple to become the world's biggest shipper of smartphones between July and September.

Research from Strategy Analytics showed that Samsung shipped 27.8 million smartphones in the three-month period, compared with 17.1 million from Apple and 16.8 million from Nokia.

The consultancy said Apple's growth was hindered by customers waiting for the launch of the new iPhone 4S.

Apple's number four slot in total handsets was taken by China's ZTE.

Nokia was the top handset shipper with a 27.3% market share, followed by Samsung with 22.6% and LG with 5.4%.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15489523

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Day 1322 ( Jamaica #4 in best ice creams )
Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Nothing special today.

Jamaica 4th in the world in best ice creams.

I don't know what these guys used to judge this thing but I find it suspicious that the top 3 are all from the USA.

1) Capogiro Gelato, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2) Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, St. Louis, Missouri
3) Bombay Ice Creamery, San Francisco, California
4) Devon House, Kingston, Jamaica
5) Helados Scannapieco, Buenos Aires, Argentina
6) Ice Cream City, Tokyo, Japan
7) Glacé, Sydney, Australia

8) A’jia Hotel, Istanbul, Turkey

9) Vaffelbageriet, Copenhagen, Denmark

10) Perchè No!, Florence, Italy

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/ice-cream-parlors/#page=1

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Day 1323 ( Japanese woman sentenced in Malaysia )
Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Didn't go to work today because I was too tired. Also I have about 10 unused days and if I don't use them, I won't be getting them back next year.

Japanese woman sentenced in Malaysia

I read this news and just can't help thinking that this was some sort of set up. But who knows the truth.

Malaysian court sentences Japanese woman to death for drug trafficking

A Malaysian court sentenced a Japanese woman to death after finding her guilty Tuesday of trafficking drugs.

Mariko Takeuchi, now 37, was found to have been carrying 3.5 kilograms of methamphetamines into Malaysia on Oct. 30, 2009, a charge that carries the death penalty in Malaysia.

Lawyer Mohamad Rafik Rahem, appearing for Takeuchi on Tuesday, said Takeuchi will appeal the conviction to the Court of Appeal.

She had pleaded not guilty to the charge, claiming the drugs found in a suitcase she brought to Malaysia from Dubai were not hers and had been secreted in a bag given to her by an acquaintance in Dubai.

But Judge Siti Mariah Ahmad of the Shah Alam High Court on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur rejected her claim, saying Takeuchi's testimony was "fabrication" and the court could not accept it.

Standing in the dock wearing jeans and a T-shirt with a brown jacket, Takeuchi sobbed uncontrollably as Siti Mariah read her judgment.

At one point Takeuchi collapsed into the bench as an interpreter translated the decision to her.

None of her family members was in court.

A nurse in a clinic in Tokyo, Takeuchi had told the court she went to Dubai as a favor for a close colleague who wanted her to talk to "Alex," the colleague's Iranian boyfriend, to see if he could help her out of financial difficulties.

Takeuchi said Alex's driver, also an Iranian, asked her to deliver the suitcase to Malaysia.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111025p2g00m0dm004000c.html

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Day 1324 ( Super computer breaks its own record )
Thursday, November 3, 2011

Another Japanese holiday today. But I did absolutely nothing. Yeah this week was sort of boring I know.

Supercomputer demolishes its own speed record

A supercomputer being developed in Kobe has broken its own record as the world's fastest computer, achieving its performance goal of 10 petaflops, or 10 quadrillion computations per second, its developers said.

The 10.51-petaflop performance in early October by the supercomputer being jointly developed by Fujitsu Ltd. and the Riken research institute, exceeded the mark of 8.16 petaflops it set in June to capture the top spot in the global ranking of computing speeds, Fujitsu and Riken said Wednesday.

The latest performance results have been submitted to the world ranking to be presented at an international computing conference in Seattle that starts Nov. 12, they said.

The supercomputer, nicknamed K, has about 88,000 central processing units. The system's final configuration was set in August and its software is now being adjusted before its planned completion in June. The supercomputer's shared use is slated to begin by next November.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111104a5.html

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Day 1325 ( Karaoke for English conversation )
Friday, November 4, 2011

I was tired after work today but I still had to do my English conversation in the evening. Today was my student's birthday and he wanted to do karaoke so I accompanied him. We sang a couple of Japanese and Jamaican songs and spoke about all sort of stuff. I didn't even look at what I initially planned to talk about. He also purchased one of my books.

We bought some food there but it was some of the worst chicken I tasted. It had no taste and it was cold. My student complained to them afterwards. Clearly it was because too many persons were around and they couldn't manage to cook the food properly.

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Day 1326
Saturday, November 5, 2011

Stayed in all day.

A couple of my friends in Niimi are now taking over the TV show I had. So one of the girls involved asked me a couple of things about the show today. She is a bit nervous but that is normal for the first couple times.

Days 1313 - 1319 Sunday, October 23, 2011 - Saturday, October 29, 2011

2011-10-29T18:06:00.000-07:00

Days 1313 - 1319

Sunday, October 23, 2011 - Saturday, October 29, 2011

Day 1313
Sunday, October 23, 2011

Went to watch a famous festival in Kyoto known as the Jidai Matsuri ( Festival of the ages ). This festival depicted the different era's in Japanese history, using authentic dress patterns, weapons etc. for each era.

For example they displayed the Heian era (Kyoto Era) when the cap

ital of Japan was in Kyoto. The Kamakura era when the capital was in the prefecture that I live now, but in a city known as kamakura. They also showed the Edo era, when the capital just moved to Tokyo.

The festival wasn't too bad but the problem was they closed off one side of the road for the matsuri, while the other side had bus, trucks, cars and everything driving along. Me and my friend just happened to be on the side where the vehicles were.

I then took the high speed train (shinkansen) back to Yokohama and got to my apartment at about 11pm.

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Day 1314 ( Tokyo Workers get less sleep )
Monday, October 24, 2011

Just normal work today. Got home and did devotion via skype with some friends from Niimi.

Tokyo workers sleep less

I'm not in Tokyo but near enough for this apply to me as well. I am not getting enough sleep at nights I think.

Tokyo office workers sleep at least 30 minutes less than their New York, Paris, Shanghai and Stockholm Peers each night, averaging six hours, or 14 percent less than the recommended minimum, a study said.

Tokyo workers went to bed at 12:18 a.m. on average, the study by Stanford University and foodmaker Ajinomoto Co., which sells Glyna, a sleep supplement, found. The U.S. National Sleep Foundation urges seven to nine hours a night.

The study was presented at a meeting of the World Sleep Federation in Tokyo Wednesday along with other research that highlighted sleep deprivation among Japanese. A separate study presented at the forum found an "extremely serious" lack of sleep among junior high school students in Japan.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111021n1.html

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Day 1315 { Happy Birthday Mom/ 11 Million yen found in the Ocean }
Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Happy Birthday Mom!!! I love you more than words can say.

Today was another normal day at work.
Called my mom for her birthday after I got home.

11 million found in the Ocean

An overnight bag containing ¥11 million in cash has been recovered from the ocean floor 23 km off Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, the municipal government said.

The bag, raised by a trawler Oct. 8, may have been swept out to sea by the March 11 tsunami, local officials said.

It contained 1,100 ¥10,000 bills, but nothing to identify the owner, they said.

The cash will go to the person who found it if the owner doesn't come forward by April 27, six months after the official notification that was posted Friday, the officials said.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111030a7.html

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Day 1316 ( Siri for iphone 4s/Myth about Japanese Women )
Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The Vice principal at my school today showed me that she has an iphone 4s. She showed me the siri application that you can speak to and it executes some of your commands. It also writes your messages if you speak properly. The vice principal said she got her phone DIRECTLY from an electronic shop????? So why am I waiting for almost 2 weeks now for mine?

Had my new English conversation student today after work. We spoke mostly about sports but also about some other random stuff. He didn't do his home work but that's no problem. That is his duty. I think he speaks English pretty well, he just needs some new vocabulary words and more speaking practice.

Myth about Japanese Women

I found this article on the internet. Its an interesting read about Japanese women.

I visited my friend in a small town in Quebec, Canada, for two weeks in summer 1995. It was such a tiny town that no one seemed to know so much about Japan.

One night, my friend’s dad who worked at a paper factory came home and said, “My co-workers told me that I am lucky to have a geisha at home!” My friend and I looked at each other and we laughed. It’s really funny to even think that people in small towns think that all Japanese women are geishas (hey, don’t get a wrong idea and buy an airplane ticket to go to Japan tomorrow!) and there are samurais still living in Japan. But, to be honest with you, before I moved to the U.S., I thought all American people are like the ones I see in Hollywood movies.

When I lived in Japan, I didn’t give so much thought to geishas. Geishas are very foreign even to us, the Japanese. I remember: my family and I were watching a documentary about geishas on TV, I said to my parents that I wanted to be a geisha because they were pretty, and my mom got upset.

Geishas live in a certain area in Kyoto. Unless you live there, you don’t see them and I haven’t seen them in person. After I started living abroad, I started hearing about geishas more (even Halloween costumes for kids!) and people have asked me about them, too.

Sometimes people tell me that they heard that Asian women are submissive. I can’t speak for other Asian women because I don’t know so much about them. Japanese are more liberal, so it makes a difference. But, is it true? Are we submissive? I don’t think so. Most Japanese women I have met in the U.S. don’t give me that impression. They are working hard to support their family in a foreign country still they are very cheerful and friendly.

http://injapan.gaijinpot.com/2011/10/10/a-myth-of-japanese-women-are-we-really-geisha/

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Day 1317 ( Head Teacher for a Day )
Thursday, October 27 2011

So there are about 150 English teachers with the Yokohama branch of my company. The parent company is known as Selnate. But the main company under selnate is known as interac. The Yokohama branch which I work for is known as Maxceed. There is however a little trick involved in all of this. ( Actually I shouldn't be writing about my company but I will let it stay and if they have a problem with it I will take it down).

So yes there is a little trick involved. The Yokohama branch that deals with elementary schools (That I work with) is known as Maxceed. But the Junior high school section is known as Interac Yokohama. It is the same staff, the same phone number for both the same office, basically everything is the same, except the name. I heard it has something to do with dodging tax and excessive payments but whatever. I have a job with them and it pays the bills.

Anyway, as I said earlier, there are about 150 English teachers (I think) with Maxceed (The elementary section). They split us up into groups of about 7-10. Each group has a head teacher. I was asked by the head teacher of my group, if I could monitor the group for him Today. He asked me because He has to leave Japan for a bit. I was a bit hesitant at first but hey, this can only help me to develop as a teacher and as a person. So I did it. I think it went pretty well overall.

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Day 1318 ( Got My iphone 4s / Halloween Party )
Friday, October 28, 2011

While in my apartment yesterday, I got a call from softbank (a mobile service provider in Japan) saying my white iphone 4s, 64GB was ready. So I went to collect it after work today. I had to wait for over a hour though. I also need to order some accessories for it like a case and a screen protector.

After picking up my new phone, I went back to my apartment then to an area in Tokyo name Akasaka, to go to my first ever Halloween party in Japan. It was organized by teacher-student.com, the company that gets me evening students. The party was ok but the place where it was held was a bit small.

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Day 1319
Saturday, October 29, 2011

Went to Yokosuka today, where the US navy has a base. Surprisingly, this is only 4 train stops away from where I live, but I have never been there before. In Yokosuka, there are foreigners galore. Young, old and in between. Also quite a few half Japanese are there as well. I went to a restaurant there and the food was great!!!

There is still kind of a weird feeling here though. I think because most of the Japanese in the area will automatically think that I am in the US-Navy. And they have a bad reputation in Japan.

There were some Halloween concert things going on with some Japanese kids dancing to hip-hop music. Also some dogs dressed in Halloween costumes (Check out Super dog). I should visit this place more often, the people still stare but not as much as where I live now.

Days 1306 - 1312 Sunday, October 16, 2011 - Saturday, October 22, 2011

2011-10-22T06:33:00.000-07:00

Days 1306 - 1312

Sunday, October 16, 2011 - Saturday, October 22, 2011

Day 1306 (SamSung Suing Apple)
Sunday, October 16, 2011

Went to church then back to my apartment to do some reading.
I finally ended Assassin's creed 2.

So Samsung is suing Apple to try get them to halt selling the Iphone 4s. I wonder if that has anything to do with why I still can't receive my phone after a week of ordering it.

Samsung Electronics Co. filed suits against Apple Inc. in Japan and Australia to stop sales of iPhone 4S, adding to similar complaints in France and Italy.

Injunctions against the sale of iPad2 and the previous generation iPhone 4 in Japan were also sought, the Suwon, South Korea-based company, said in a statement Monday. Samsung cited one telecommunications and three user-interface patents in the Japan case, and three covering wireless communications technologies for the Australia suit.

Monday's filing escalates the legal battle between the world's two biggest makers of smartphones and tablet computers.

An Australian court last week ruled to block the sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, while the South Korean technology company filed motions in Europe to prevent sales of Apple's latest handset.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20111018n3.html

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Day 1307
Monday, October 17, 2011

Nothing special today. Just came back from work with a headache.

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Day 1308 ( New Student / 19 yo kill 44 yo girlfriend )
Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Someone interested in learning English looked at my profile and decided to sign up and learn English with me. The person in charge of getting the students told me that I have to do a trial lesson first, then the student will decide if they want to use me or not.

So I did the free trial lesson this evening and it was a success. My first actual lesson will be this Friday.

19 year old kill 44 year old girlfriend

A 19-year-old male was arrested for stabbing his 44-year-old girlfriend to death in a west Tokyo park Monday, claiming he wanted to "rescue" her from an illness she was suffering from, police said.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department, they received an emergency call from the boy after noon Monday that he had stabbed his girlfriend in her stomach at her request in Koganei Park.

Police officers rushed to the scene and found Keiko Nitto laying face up on the ground, they said. Nitto, who lives near the park, was confirmed dead at a hospital later in the day.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111019a9.html

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Day 1309 (Toilet Bike)

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Normal work day. Nothing special.

The toilet bike

Toilet Bike Neo, a three-wheeled motorcycle with a toiletlike seat, is not a "poop-powered bike" as reported by Huffingtonpost and other English-language websites, toilet maker Toto Ltd. said.

Loo rider: The Toilet Bike Neo runs on biogas. TOTO LTD.

Toilet Bike Neo, the sole purpose of which is to advertise Toto's environmental activities, is powered by biogas fuel made from livestock waste and household wastewater. The trike carries two tanks containing biogas behind a toilet lid.

However, a rider sits on the pottylike seat, which may have misled online journalists and bloggers.

"Lots of English websites wrote misleading articles," Toto spokesman Takuji Yano said.

Headlines on online news websites include "Poop-Powered Bike: TOTO Releases Motorbike Toilet That Runs On Feces" and "Japanese toilet company creates poop-powered bike" and "Toto Toilet Bike Neo, powered by poop, will tour Japan."

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111018a5.html

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Day 1310 ( Wrong topic / 1 Year 7 Months )
Thursday, October 20, 2011

Initially at my school today, the English coordinator would kindly put the topics that I should teach to each grade. Recently I noticed that she neither put the topic nor do the other teachers meet with me to tell me what's the next topic. The only information I get is what grade and the time that I should teach that grade.

So I ended up teaching the wrong thing to one class. It was afterwards I decided to ask the teachers what should I do.... According to the ministry of Education in Japan, we shouldn't really communicate with the teachers. Unless they want to communicate with us. I am not sure how this will work but I am trying my best, and this is what the result is like.... teaching wrong topics because of lack of communication.

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Day 1311 ( Evening Student / Going to Kyoto )
Friday, October 21, 2011

Had my evening conversation lesson today with my new student. He likes reggae music and seem to be well informed about the Jamaican culture. I am guessing that is why he chose me to be his teacher.

The lesson was to start at 6:30 pm at a Starbucks in Yokohama. But when we met at the starbucks, it was too full, so we went to a restaurant. I went with the intention to teach him about hobbies but we ended up talking about his job, about clubs and a hold host of other unrelated stuff. But it was an interesting conversation. We ended up staying at the restaurant until about 10:30pm when it was almost time for me to go and get the bus to go to Kyoto.

He paid me for the talking, because that wasn't really a lesson. Then I headed out to take the bus. The bus was 30 mins late because of rain and traffic.

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Day 1312 ( Shrines in Kyoto )
Saturday, October 22, 2011

Met my friend at the bus stop in Kyoto this morning. We then visited 2 famous shrines in Kyoto. One is Heian Jinguu ( Heian is the old name of Kyoto )...

The other one is Fukimi Inari Taisha.

This is the Heian Jinguu

This is Fushimi Inari Taisha

It has over 1000 of those orange gate thingys...

Oh and it is protected by a fox statue with a knife in its mouth.