Yesterday I was teaching English to a small group of mostly retired Japanese people, and we were discussing the differences between the English and Japanese languages. While this is certainly a vast simplification, the Japanese language tends to be more focused on ‘bang for your buck’, by trying to squeeze the most meaning possible from [...]

If you will excuse a moment of self-indulgence….. A few moments ago we had our 1,000th visitor at Guyjin, someone from Honolulu, Hawaii. Yesterday alone we had almost a quarter of those visitors, and we look on track for about the same today. We will also pass our 2,000th page view in the next couple [...]

Well it worked with the Hard Rock Cafe. And there are plenty of sports bars around. So why not put the two together. Oh, and while you are at it, lets throw in a wedding facility as well… Such will be the MLB Cafe Tokyo, which opened today in Ebisu, across from the Ebisu Garden [...]

After 30 years trying to make cars quieter, engineers like Tabata Toshiyuki of Nissan are now on a quest to make them noisier again. Bloomberg reports today on an issue that has been ‘gaining speed’ for several years, as electric cars have become more and more of a reality (and less and [...]

Do you live under a rock? You would have to if you don’t know that the Beatles are back, with a vengence… Not only have 14 Beatles albums been simultaneously re-mastered and re-released, but a new game has also been released for Xbox, in the veign of the popular guitar hero and rock band titles.

According [...]

I don’t know whether to call him our man, your man, or his own man, but probably all apply equally. Guyjin has been featured as the blog of the week at Our Man in Abiko, and this is our attempt to say thanks with a thread to shamelessly cross promote his site as well…

 
Our [...]

The top 5 non-news TV programs last week (a day later than usual…) were:

Week of Sept 7 to Sept 13

(Program, Channel, Time & Date, Rating)

1. Drama: Tenchijin, NHK, 20:00-20:45, Sept 13, 21.6

2. Variety: Nep League, Fuji, 19:00-19:54 Sept 7, 21.2

3. Variety: Gyoretsu no Dekiru Horitsu Sodansho, NTV, 21:00-21:54, Sept 13, 20.3

4. Drama: Kyumei Byoto 24 [...]

The Hatoyama Cabinet has been announced, with Hatoyama Yukio to be installed as Prime Minister by around 3PM today. The following is a list of the new Cabinet, with almost 100 links to their Japanese and English home pages and profiles, as well as links to their Ministries.

Hatoyama Cabinet
Prime Minister

(首相官邸) http://www.kantei.go.jp/
ENG:

I saw a distressing story today at Japan Today, taken from the Sept 8 issue of Spa! According to the article, legal loopholes in the Law Regulating Businesses Affecting Public Morals, are allowing establishments such as ‘ear-cleaning salons’ and ‘thigh massage’ to employ underage girls in situations that can [...]

In a classic case of giving with one hand and taking with the other, or perhaps, the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has calculated that the abolishment expressway tolls as promised by the DPJ before the election would lead to an increase [...]