Stand up! Stand up, for the Emperor!
Image via Wikipedia I used to feel sorry for these people, and I do feel a lingering sympathy, but not much and it’s ebbing away quickly. Why are these people surprised? What were they expecting? The state is often institutionalized coercion: if they can make everyone study the same subjects, from the same textbooks, why [...]
Japanese version of “The Office” and other Japan news
Thanks to Japan Probe, I discovered that the British comedy series The Office had a Japanese inspiration. Like The Office itself, people seem to either love it or not find it funny at all. And speaking of Japan news, those foreigners living in Japan may be glad to know that the term “gaijin” has been [...]
Japan’s food statistics
A friend’s shared Google Reader feed alerted me to this video created for the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). It contains some interesting statistics, and begs some interesting questions. E.g.: Japan only produces about 40% of the food it consumes. This is the lowest among all major developed nations. This is the [...]
The nail that sticks out…
I teach a writing class, for which I have the students create blogs. I have the same group of students as in the first semester. There’s one student who showed up for a few classes, but then stopped. In a brief conversation, this student said it was difficult to “join” the class, as it was [...]
