I started to love this blog about Japan - Japundit.com. Definitely, must subscribe for Japan enthusiasts! Here I share some;

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Tamara recently posted about Japanese cuisine. This is my reply to her post. ;)

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Earthquakes... video taken during the 1995 Kobe earthquake;

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English teachers (correction Engrish teachers)
Japan is a popular place for English teachers. Well, from my own observation about these English teachers in Japan, Korea, Taiwan that these people usually are young people from English speaking countries (US, UK, Canada, etc.) who are spending some time living and exploring these countries and teaching English to pay the bills. In fact, they make good amount of money, but this opportunity is limited only to native speakers. In some cases, guys go for it just to hook up with local girls for a while, have some fun, and then to go back home. I never heard that it was done as a full-time career. Yet there may be some losers doing it who couldn't find proper job back at home.
Anyway, in Japundit Peter Payne writes about the very first English teacher that went to Japan. Things were different then;

"The first English teacher in Japan, if you’re curious, was a half-Chinook, half-Scottish man with the unlikely name of Ranald MacDonald. After hearing of the plight of three fishermen who washed ashore in Washington State but were unable to return to Japan because of their country’s sakoku (closed country) policy, he started to feel a strange kinship with the Japanese people, which is interesting since we now know that American Indian and Japanese are indeed connected by blood.

He decided to go to Japan, despite the fact that it was death for foreigners to enter the country, and booked passage on a whaling vessel that would take him close. Pretending to be a survivor from a shipwreck, he was rescued by the aboriginal Ainu and handed over to the local Samurai lord, who shipped him off to Nagasaki.

The Japanese had a long relationship with Dutch traders, but none of them could speak English, despite the recent rise in power of England and the United States, so the officials got the idea of having MacDonald teach English to a class of fourteen students. The studies paid off, and when Admiral Perry showed up in 1853, students trained by MacDonald were able to communicate."

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Japanese girls... Modern Japanese mass media created the hugely popular image of the Japanese schoolgirls with sexy mini-skirts. Unfortunately (or fortunately for some others), it gives some very different and contradictionary impression about very conservative society. Another reason to blame is the japanese porn industry.

Well, the best way to get to know them is to date with one.

Also, Japan is the place to see strangely dressed girls or with strange make up. Kigurumin (girls who wear a type of pajama-suit that resembles an animal and sometimes cartoon characters). In my next postings, I will also share an article about Ganguro girls. These are the ones with very strong sun tan, and weird make up and outfit.

Finally, her majesty - Tokyo!

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Thanks, Japundit! I really enjoy reading your posts!

p.s. Does Japan airlines need some IT specialists?...
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