Bloggy Brad

2010 New Years Resolutions

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:23:00 +0000

Happy New Years everyone! I know I've been shocking with this blog in 2009! Will hopefully be revamping it soon with a new aim and look (how many times have I said that?).

If you haven't already you should follow me on Twitter. I tweet almost daily and it's a great way to interact with me.

To get you up to speed, I'm now a certified Kids Yoga Instructor and trying to kick start a new career in Tokyo in that field! Still living in Numaburo, Tokyo and also English teaching to kids though have recently taken a 6th day (Saturday) job at an international school to earn some extra cash.

Recently went on a trip to Osaka and Kobe and will be posting about those trips in the coming days as well as the relevant Starbucks Mug purchases and Pokemon Center visits.

Anyway, 2010 is a new year and with it some new aims and goals. Here are mine. What are yours?

* Study Japanese more
* Study Mandarin more
* Get a good job with good hours and benefits
* Travel internationally at least once in 2010
* Yoga and other exercises daily
* Organise 200hr Yoga Teacher Training by end of 2010
* Start teaching Kids Yoga classes again on a regular basis
* Get a new apartment

It's alive! ALIVE!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:06:00 +0000

Hey there! I know I haven't posted any non-mug content lately and I'm way behind in writing about my Yoga Training (part 2!) so I just wanted to expain why:

I'm lazy

That and this time of year in Japan a lot of language schools enter "sales period" where they try to enroll students for the new school year. This is when I actually miss NOVA who had a set schedule for the entire year. My current job though forces us to work several 6 day work weeks around this time which saps any will to live right out of it's employees.

On top of this my laptop of 6 years that my generous Dad got me before I came to Japan decided to die on me two weeks ago! The Hard Drive (one word? two?) died and took all my photos to the other side.

Thank God for Facebook and Youtube where I uploaded heaps of videos and photos. Still quite a few missing though but it is refreshing to have a clean slate.

[For reference I went to "Andy's Computer Repair" in Hamamatsucho to try and recover my HD. 5000 Yen just for diagnostic and I was reminded very quickly how rude some people can be in a non-Japanese business: "We know what we're doing man!" I don't recommend them.]

You may have noticed that I've started using my Twitter account again which I've embedded on the right hand side menu of this blog. Will try to Twitter daily so you'll have something to read between more substantial posts.

Hope you're all well!

Oo Roo!

Beijing Starbucks Mugs

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:00:00 +0000

New Yokohama Starbucks Mug

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Yokohama Starbucks Mug

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Tokyo Starbucks Mug

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Roppongi Hills Starbucks Mug

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Okinawa Starbucks Mug

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Kyoto Starbucks Mug

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:57:00 +0000

Chiba Starbucks Mug

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:00:00 +0000

My friend, Katie got me this mug as a present. Normally I don't like Starbucks mugs as presents but I'd been to Chiba several times and just never seen the mug for sale so gladly accepted it (and love it!).

Notice the Ferris Wheel and the surfers. Chiba is a very popular surfing destination.

Saitama Starbucks Mug

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Bought this mug several years ago, in my first year in Japan when I was working at the NOVA in Shin Koshigaya, Saitama.

Upon closer inspection you can see the Saitama Super Arena and some butterflies as well as the Starbucks siren.

Japan 2007 Starbucks Mug

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Well I wrote about this year's new Starbucks mug but I never got around to writing about 2007's! Here's a photo of my mug here:

Not the most interesting design but I do like the Japanese artwork (commissioned by Starbucks).

Strangely this mug seems to be made out of a different material from the other mugs.

Japan 2009 Starbucks Mug

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Not wanting to miss out on the special yearly Starbucks Mug for 2009 (like I did in the great "forgot to buy the mug" instance in 2006) I once more headed out to the Southern Terrace Starbucks in Shinjuku on Boxing Day to grab one before they sold out.

The design really surprised me. 2008 and 2007's mugs had been very Japanese in style. 2008 even had Japanese characters for "2008".

As you can see, 2009's mug is also very Japanese, featuring a computer rendering of a a traditional Japanese panorama. Very unusual to have a black colour scheme for a Starbucks mug, though the Starbucks 2009 Tumblers came in two designs, the one on the mug and a bright blue daytime variant. I wonder why they didn't make a mug variant as well?

Japanese Toilet Break

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:21:00 +0000

Before I continue with my Yoga Adventure, let's stop for a Japanese commercial break.

I've always been shocked how Japanese children (and their parents!) will scream out "I HAVE TO PISS!!!" when they have to go to the toilet. Strangely in a country that constantly likes to tell everyone that it's the most politest country there is, some things are strangely acceptable such as mentioning out loud in public exactly what's going on in your pants in as blatant a way as possible.

Ironically English is a lot more indirect (something normally said of the Japanese language) when it comes to toilet conversation. We would normally say for example "I have to got to the toilet" or "I have to powder my nose", etc.

This bizarre Japanese educational video is a little too close to reality for comfort.

Yoga Kids Teacher Training in Japan (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:59:00 +0000

Sorry about the complete lack of posting lately. As you can tell from the title of this post, my time has been occupied by something rather (though not entirely to some people) unexpected... Yoga Teacher Training.

About two months ago during a two week holiday with nothing to do but save money and study for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test I got to seriously thinking about what exactly I wanted to do with myself.

I knew I was still 50/50 about staying in Japan or returning to Oz (though I seem to always be 100% staying in Australia when I'm in Australia and 100% pro Japan when I'm in Japan) and that I had given myself the aim of getting a Level 2 on the JLPT but when I really analysed those goals I realised just how superficial they were.

A Level 2 would get me on a more level field with the average Japanese worker and would open more job opportunities for me... but I would just be as qualified as your everyday Japanese worker (maybe less so). What would I do after I got to that level? Work in a convenience store? I could return to Sydney tomorrow and do the same thing. The experience would probably be more enjoyable and rewarding too.

While I make okay money teaching English to kids, enough to live off, I didn't want to become one of those 60 year old white guys teaching English not because they'd always wanted to but because they had done so for so long that they were no longer qualified for any other job.

It wasn't until I was doing my daily Yoga that I caught myself thinking, "Wouldn't it be great if I could teach Yoga for a living?" I then quickly realised that, "Hey, why can't I teach Yoga for a living?"

I quickly surfed the net for as many Yoga Teacher Training programs as I could. I found several great ones in Sydney I was thinking about going back for but when I realised the ones in Tokyo were pretty much the same price I figured I might as well do it here.

I had pretty much decided to save up and do YogaJaya's 200 Hour Teacher Training in February next year but it was half a year away (I wanted my new life to start now!), very expensive and took place over the period of a few months (again, I wanted my new life fast!).

A few days later I went to Yoga Fest 2008 (will post on that later this week) and picked up several (well a bag full anyway) pamphlets and postcards advertising different Yoga studios and programs in Japan.

One of the postcards I picked up was for a place called Yoga Generation. It had a mixture of instructors from different racial backgrounds so I figured it'd be ideal for a person like me from outside Japan looking to get trained here.
As soon as I got home I checked out their website but it was all in Japanese! WHY?!?
Luckily I caught a banner on the main page featuring a white gal and the words in English, "Yoga Ed Kids Training". Naturally when I clicked on it, all the info was in Japanese but from what I could understand it looked like an amazing experience so I stumbled and tripped my way through the site's navigation and sent off an email asking in English if the training would be in English and if they had any English information available.

I then closed the window and forgot about it, assuming that if they had wanted non-Japanese people to partake in the program they would have offered different languages on the site.

Surprise surprise! A week later I got an email from a woman called Akiko who thanked me for my inquiry and attached a full several page English document about the teacher training and said that Brynne, the trainer is from Hawaii and doesn't speak any Japanese at all so the entire training would be in English and she would be translating everything she said for the Japanese trainees!

How perfect was that? I emailed her back and said that I would definitely love to do the training.

One problem though, it was a few weeks away (new life, yeah!) but the course fee was a few grand, which is money I could have saved up over a few months but no way was that possible in a few weeks.

Long story short: Special thanks to Dad for helping me! ;) (Seriously, thanks Dad!)

to be continued...

My Japan Travels

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:50:00 +0000

This year I've decided to really travel and see more of Japan and just do more "Japanese things" that I should have done years ago.

It's so easy to get stuck doing the same thing again and again, especially if you're working for a Japanese company that you could easily find yourself (like me) having lived in the country for four and a half years and only really been to Tokyo (where I live), Kyoto (only a day trip), Mt Fuji and Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea (in Chiba).

When I first came to Japan I was planning to do a big trip every three months or so to another major Japanese city or location but saving the money and getting significant time off (was at NOVA at the time) was really difficult and when I did get time off, I needed it to re-energise myself from teaching like a machine all week.

Hopefully I'll be able to break that pattern this year. With three weeks off in August (it pays to negotiate in your contract negotiation each year, trust me) and Betty, a friend of mine who I used to work with at Starbucks in Sydney coming to visit, I'm going to buy some cheap airline tickets (I don't have the patience for overnight bus trips when a one hour flight can get you to the other side of the country) and head down to Osaka, Fukuoka and possibly Sendai (where I wanted to live when I first came to Japan but have yet to actually go there!).

It'll be great to see these other cities (especially Fukuoka which I've heard so much about) and continue my Pokemon Journey and complete my Japanese Starbucks Mug Collection.

I've used several different travel websites before to make my bookings and have posted about them (it's always good to be informed of better options). A rather unique site I just found was LowFares.com which lets you type your trip into it's search engine and when you click search it opens up three different agencies of your choice in different windows at the same time so you can compare straight away! Pretty convenient, though when I searched for a trip from Tokyo to Fukuoka most of the windows only gave me one response. Hmmm... Ah, my bad, I clicked on hotels and flight combination. Haha.

Searching again this time for a flight from Narita to Osaka I'm really surprised how cheap a flight can be! About US$200! I still can't wrap my head around how much cheaper a domestic flight is in Japan compared to rail.

Are you planning any trips this year in Japan? What do you recommend? Personally I love Nikko and would love to go there again but really want to see some places I haven't been to yet first.

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Tokyo 2016 Olympic Candidate City

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:30:00 +0000

Something that's been a little bit of a joke with me for the past few months has been all the publicity in Tokyo about it being a "Candidate City" for the 2016 Olympics.

Train stations are full of flags and signs promoting the fact that Tokyo is a "Candidate" and press conferences and PR sessions are held on a very regular basis. If you didn't know otherwise you'd think Tokyo is actually hosting the Olympics. The thing is they're not. They're just a "Candidate".

When I was living in Australia back in the 90s I had no idea Sydney was a Candidate. There was no promotion for that at all really. Of course when we actually won the right to hold the 2000 games in Sydney, the media pretty much went crazy but for simply applying... I don't remember any promotion of that fact at all really.

Doing a web search I found a small site for Chicago celebrating their candidacy. But it's literally one page.

The Tokyo 2016 Website on the other hand is massive! It offers photos, up to date news on Tokyo's progress, maps of their venues (proposed venues anyway) and even a copy of their application!

What's more, the site is in four different languages! Japanese, English, Spanish and French! When a Japanese anything offers a real English version of itself, that really raises eyebrows. But when it offers Spanish and French as well... I'm very impressed.

If I had never been to Tokyo and had just been to this site I would definitely think it's a lot more international than previously thought. But since I live in Tokyo, I do have to wonder if Tokyo does win the hosting rights if there'll be an attempt to internationalise Tokyo more.

As it is today, there are three things keeping Tokyo back from being International:

One is the simply practicality of living in the city. Most signs are still in Japanese kanji, and when English is used, only half of the sign seems to have been translated. Take a walk around Shinjuku or Ikebukuro station (two major stations) and you'll see what I mean.
Add to this the fact that the majority of non-Japanese residents in Japan are actually Chinese or Korean, one really begins to understand how incompetent city planers and businesses are here.

The second is the law and government officials attitudes towards "non-Japanese". Currently any policeman can stop you in the street and ask for your passport simply because you may be up to no good or a possible illegal immigrant. Businesses of any kind can refuse you service simply on the basis of your race and despite Japan being a part of the UN, all of this racist and offensive laws are completely legal in Japan and aren't likely to change.

The third is simply public attitude. Most Japanese people don't want the Olympics held in Tokyo. There is massive fear of Foreign Crime that's supported simply by xenophobia. There's also blind racist hatred which I can confidently say most non-Japanese (and Japanese of non-Japanese appearance) friends of mine have faced.

This third fact actually makes me wonder if all of this massive PR for the 2016 Olympics isn't so much to advertise it to other countries but to sell the idea to Japanese people within Japan in an attempt to change their attitudes.

If this is the case the PR people will need all the help they can get. Everyone I've asked about the Olympics who lives in Tokyo thinks the whole concept is just impossible for one basic reason: Tokyo is too small.

While the Tokyo 2016 Website promotes the fact that the trains run on time, it fails to mention that the trains are almost always dangerously overloaded with passengers. There's just no way the current public transport system would work with the massive amount of officials and tourists the Olympics would attract.

Tokyo would need to revamp ALL the trains to be at least dual storied (like Sydney trains) and make them wider, but due to space restrictions there's actually no way they can do that with the current train lines.

Come the Olympics (if Tokyo gets them), Tokyo's going to be screwed.

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Cheap Hotel Bookings and Reservations

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Wed, 28 May 2008 00:37:00 +0000

You know when you give family and friends really good advice that could save them hundreds of dollars and they thank you for telling them but in the end never really listen to you? Maybe it's telling your mum that she won't be able to take money out of Japanese ATMs with her Australian bank card only to be frustrated when she arrives at Narita with no money in her wallet and bitches for the next week about not having enough money on her.

Or maybe it's telling your friends that they should make a hotel reservation when they arrive at Shanghai airport as they could be staying in a 4/5 star hotel for what they're budgeting only to be shocked when they decide to stay in a dingy backpackers while you're in a 4.5 star double room overlooking the central park for the same price.

Despite the fact that I'm actually living in Japan, my mum (despite her best intentions) refused to change her mindset that Japan was as international as the travel shows lead her to believe and while I had been to China before and researched travelling in the country immensely, my friends were fixated on staying in a backpackers because logically that should be cheaper.

I'm sure everyone's (especially if you've ever had friends or family visit you in in a foreign country) had a similar experience.

A recurring cause of frustration for me is when I tell almost everyone that when travelling in most countries (with the exception of China. Seriously make a booking when you arrive at the hotel desks. You may get a 70% discount!) it's almost always cheaper to make your hotel reservations through an online system such as HotelCombined.com, Expedia or Hotel Club.

The sites (and numerous others) are a fast (especially HotelCombined.com) convenient way to make a booking. Most offer customer reviews of each hotel or service and provide photos of the hotel rooms. Also as mentioned before, making a booking online can end up saving you hundreds of dollars as these services don't charge extra like a travel agency would (or at least not as much).

If you're intimidated by using the internet for making purchases, try doing a Google search for information on the site you want use to see if any users have had a negative experience with it before you use it.

Everyone likes to do things their own way, but when someone with experience gives you advice, it's always good to consider it.

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Stress

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:39:00 +0000

Something that I think most people have felt, especially those living in Tokyo is stress. The insane and often illogical work hours really takes it's toll, as does the frustration of constantly being unable to achieve the simplest of things the way you would back home despite the claim that Japan is a world leader in technology and service (1 hour for a simple bank transaction?).

Add to this the reality for a lot of people that unless they speak a high level of Japanese (something I hope to achieve soon) their career prospects are pretty much limited to "teaching" English.

Just over two years ago I suffered a rather major anxiety attack in the middle of the night (thanks NOVA!) which lead to my decision to change jobs (though still trapped within the same career unfortunately. No offence to those reading this who want to be English teachers in Japan) and pursue a more natural relaxed living style.

Changing jobs was a big help but so were some other things I tried such as picking up Yoga (also for physical fitness as well) and making Sunday a computer free day (amazing how much that can change your mental state). Some friends of mine quit coffee or avoid public transport. One Stresseraser that I came across was this weird little Stress Eraser machine that actually monitors your breathing and instructs you on how to breath in order to help you relax.

The Stresseraser seems a little strange. I mean wouldn't you realise that you're feeling stressed anyway? For me it would kind of be like a hunger detector. Normally you can work it out for yourself.

It is rather interesting though as while most people know their at rest heart rate, I'm betting noone knows their at rest breathing rate.

A curious oddity.

2008 New Years Resolutions (Finally!)

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Fri, 02 May 2008 08:27:00 +0000

Yeah, I think my New Years Resolution will be 1024 x 768. Budaboom!

Sorry, bad graphic designer joke.

Seriously though I have made several New Years Resolutions but just haven't really been in the mood to write about them. Before I share though, let's reflect on my 2007 resolutions.

Get to a conversational level in Japanese. Failed though I'm getting closer!
Work out at the gym six days a week. NA I quit the gym but am kicking arse with my next resolution, Make Yoga Today a part of my daily regime. Success! Have been doing Yoga Today almost daily and my body is so different than it was when I started. Seriously I can't recommend this program enough!
Work to live. Don't live to work. 50 / 50 Had a better year. Pass-ish.
Get my sites to a point where I can make at least US$300 a month. Failed Have increased my earnings slightly, especially within the last few months but not exactly in the US$300 a month range. ;)
Relax more. SUCCESS! Just in general I feel a lot more relaxed and pleased with myself since this time last year.

Oooo... didn't do that well did I? Well let's see how I do with my New Years Resolutions for 2008!!!

Get to conversational level in Japan and learn the 2000 or so basic kanji.

Take the Level 2 Japanese Fluency Test. I don't expect to pass it but I'm determined to try to at least see what it's like.

Continue to do Yoga Today daily.

Learn how to surf! Have been wanting to do this for years but have just been putting it off! 2008 is the year!

Learn how to dance! Was really inspired by the swing dance party in Hyde Park in Sydney during the Sydney Festival in January and have decided to start taking lessons! Even found a school in Tokyo! Will start next month sometime.

Learn the shamisen! Am determined to learn how to play this Japanese guitar! Really want to learn the Okinawan sanshin but the odds of finding a teacher in Tokyo is pretty rare.

Learn capoeria! Dance and martial arts! A school near where I live! Sounds good to me!

Save money! Currently I'm aiming to save about 50,000 yen a month (about 500 dollars). I'll really need luck with this one!

More domestic travel! Am determined to get to Osaka, Fukuoka and Sendai!

Quite a few resolutions, huh? This is the year of self improvement. I wonder how I'll do?

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Make Money with ShoppingAds

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 04:55:00 +0000

A rather new website (though by the people behind the famous TextLinkAds) that I've been trying for the last few months is ShoppingAds.

Being a new idea I honestly wasn't expecting much from it but I decided to give it a go and have been very impressed with the money I've made so far (within 3 months I got US$50 paid into my PayPal account).

Basically you place an ad on your webpage that advertises related auctions on eBay. If someone clicks on the ad you get money. If someone clicks on the ad and bids in the auction you get much more money.

The look of the code is completely customisable as is the type of auctions presented (you can enter as many keywords as you like).

You can see an example of a ShoppingAds ad on the right menu.

ShoppingAds is well worth a look. I've found it to be almost on par with Google AdSense and the fact that they pay you into your PayPal account (something AdSense doesn't do) is a huge bonus.

What have you got to lose?

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Pokemon Theme Backwards!

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:21:00 +0000

As you know, I'm a Pokemon freak so as you can imagine I got a real kick out of this YouTube video that plays the first season's theme song backwards and reveals some hillarious hidden lyrics!

If you haven't seen the opening in a while here it is.

And here's the backwards version. Note that it uses the movie version which is why it's longer.

And while I'm freaking out about Pokemon, I'll rave about the 10th movie which is coming out on DVD in the US next month, The Rise of Darkrai which will also be the first Pokemon movie DVD to be bilingual! Yeah! It'll have both the new English audio track plus the original Japanese audio and English subtitles!!! Pretty good!

I was going to buy the Japanese DVD as I really don't like the new English actors (they were recast last year) but I think I'll be getting this Region 1 Pokemon DVD! Looks like it'll also be in WIDESCREEN (the last two have also been in widescreen as well as the second, third and (in Australia and UK) the fourth.

In other Pokemon news I really can't wait for the next Pokemon movie! It looks as if it'll be the first movie to continue from the previous one with Dialga continuing to cause havoc around the world! Looks like some pretty good animation too!

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Stitch in Okinawa!

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:28:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I went to the Tokyo Big Site (it's HUGE!) to see an international anime convention. Apparently it's really famous and a must see but for some reason I'd never been there before.

It's kind of funny. Most people who know me will describe me as an anime freak but in reality I only read / watch one or two series and this became very apparent when I went with Nikki and we only recognised about 5 of the 100 series on show.

Unfortunately a lot of the shows on display looked beyond clichéd and boring and we actually found the best works on display in the University / College student areas.

There were a few official highlights, one of which (and you may think this strange) for me was the announced Lilo and Stitch Japanese spin off anime series featuring Stitch as he moves from Hawaii (where all the movies and tv episodes have been set so far) to a fictional island in Okinawa!

I'm a big fan of the Lilo and Stitch series and absolutely love everything Okinawan so I personally can't wait for this series to start later this year in October.

To help promote the series to investors and fans, Disney created a huge walk through (cardboard) Okinawan style house (notice the colour of the roof tiles and how the concrete is used to hold it together) which was decorated with pictures of the new characters and those that would be returning.

What I thought was interesting was that they're ditching the Hawaiian girl, Lilo in favour of a new Okinawan girl character and instead of an older sister they're having an old grandmother figure both of which actually look Okinawan in their features.

Stitch's alien friends seem to be following him (names escape me at the moment) as well as his rarely seen in the series but insanely popular in Japan, pink girlfriend.

Stitch was also shown playing an Okinawan guitar (sanshin) instead of his Elvis inspired guitar.

I'm loving it.

So many of the children I teach watch Lilo and Stitch and want to learn the guitar and hula because of it. While this is great, if this new Stitch series inspires interest in the lesser known Okinawan culture within Japan and Internationally I feel a lot more will have been achieved.

Currently noone even knows what Okinawa is let alone it's location or history.

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Half Arsed English Translations

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 02:46:00 +0000

One of the most frustrating things about being an English speaking person in Japan is encountering half arsed English translations that has been edited or adapted for "English speakers". A lot of the time in Japan instead of having an English translation available of the Japanese content (whether it be a road sign, pamphlet or newspaper) those behind the scenes seem to edit the content and actually change it depending on what they think English speakers would be interested in.

This becomes very apparent in road signs where there'll be a good 20 words in Japanese and only a 1 or 2 word "translation" in English under it.

It becomes obvious when dealing with a lot of Japanese companies who seem to think that all their customers in Japan speak and read Japanese and if they want an English version of their content they must be investors from overseas or general tourists.

Take Sumitomo Mitsui's Official Website for example. It has information on branch locations within Japan, internet banking information, contact information... basic customer service stuff. However if you look at the English Sumitomo Mitsui Page you'll find no support whatsoever for English speaking customers in Japan. While it's great that they list Sumitomo branches all around the world you have to wonder why they don't list branches within Japan where the company is based!

Today I've been after information on branches near where I work on the Denintoshi line and to get that information I had to use Google's translation tools to translate their page (a lot of which wouldn't translate due to their image use) and then call a Japanese customer support number and ask (in Japanese) for an English speaker.

All of this was completely unnecessary and has me wondering how many other non Japanese speaking bankers in Japan have been screwed over this way.

A perfect example of this "I can't be bothered spending an extra 5 minutes to translate the rest of this into English" is Japanese ATMs. The usual ATM here will show you about 20 options on the touch screen ranging from transfers, wiring, deposits, updates, etc. Hit the English translation option and you get 2, maybe three if you're lucky: Deposit & Withdrawl.

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Starbucks Mug Japan 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Brad) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:54:00 +0000

My collection of Starbucks mugs has been growing quite a bit since I last posted about it. One of the mugs I've gotten this year has been the Japan 2008 Starbucks mug which I grabbed on Boxing Day (the day it came out). As usual it sold out days after it's release.

It has a really nice design on it featuring some Japanese influenced artwork instead of the American pop art that's normally on a Starbucks mug. The year "2008" is also written in Japanese. Nice!

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