Smokyo

Kagetsu's vegeramen is back. This time called Nanako. http://www.kagetsu.co.jp/menu/newitem/index.html Available 3/3 - 4/11/2010.

Hello!

We at www.macmillandictionary.com are celebrating 2010 as a year of English as a language without borders. We are interested in how English is used and adapted in different countries all around the world; how different languages and cultures uniquely influence English so that it no longer belongs to ‘native English language speakers’ but to the world as a lingua franca.

We are aware that March is a month for festivities in Japan because of the Vernal Equinox, and we thought that this would be a great time to focus exclusively on Japan and English as it is spoken in Japan.

In March we want to add words to our Open Dictionary that have come to English from Japan, or English words that you have invented in Japan or use in Japan and are not used anywhere else.

We would be delighted if you could contribute to our blog with your ideas, thoughts, and comments of the way English is spoken in Japan with us.  I’m sure you have a funny story to tell connected to the English you heard being used by the Japanese!

We would really appreciate if you could send us a post to publish or comment on the ones that will appear in March at http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com where we will have Japanese guest bloggers posting throughout the month.

We look forward to hearing from you!

-----
Barbara Kulaga
International Marketing
Macmillan Education
Between Towns Road
Oxford
OX4  3PP
Tel: 0044 1865 405 847

You guys missing the best actor in Japan. The actor whose pursue in life is acting is Satoshi Tsumabuki. And he really proves he is a great actor! He's won so many awards and has roleplay so many characters that made him the best not just good-looking man but an ideal person who has become an actor!

he's so talented. he can act just like idiot man ( Mr. Brain ) , but he also can act like a prince charming hooo~oh

You can get credit cards from Citi bank. It's not exactly Japanese but as good as. Last time I checked they have rules on income- I think you have to pay in about 350,000 yen a month. If you don't you have to pay a small charge to use the service. I haven't heard of many people being refuse credit cards. The other banks are probably more difficult and you would have to have citizenship or at least permanent residency to get one but give citibank a try.

Hers's a Citibank link to their English JP site

We are Amuse Museum, in Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan.
The museum has opened on Nov.1st. 2009. We exhibit lots of Japanese traditional textile articles, vintage quilts, and folk utencils etc. You can touch and watch our exhibits directly. On the other hand, we display HD digital Ukiyoe which be captured from the Spaulding Collection of the MFAB. Also you can enjoy Japanese tea ceremony, traditional folk dancing and musical performance everyday.

According to an Asiajin article, Softbank has set a packet limit on the unlimited Softbank iPhone plan. Asiajin reported in Oct 2009 that a packet limit has been set at 10m packets.
After recent correspondence with Softbank, Smokyo can now reveal that the packet limit has been set a staggering 1bn packets. When asked for confirmation of this limited the Softbank employee replied that it was 1 billion packets or 300GB of data transmission.
On a Softbank bill that would represent a charge of 80 million yen (or about 10 years salary if you have a half decent job) if there were no "unlimited" package plan available. This is compared to 750MB Fair usage limit for Orange in the UK.
What's the highest data usage you've managed? Mine is 29 million packets...

A UK woman has rocked into the Guiness Book of Records for having the largest collection of Pokemon merchandise with a total of over 13,000 items including stuffed toys and cards. Lisa Courtney started the collection 13 years years ago when Pokemon took off in the UK. She has been to Japan on a Pokemon-related trip.

Office Paper to Toilet Paper - White Goat Paper Recycler : DigInfo At Eco-Products 2009, Oriental Co., Ltd. exhibited a revolutionary recycling machine called White Goat, which makes toilet paper from shredded paper. White Goat also has a shredding machine in it. The shredded paper first goes into a hopper, where it is untangled in small batches, and its then dissolved in a pulper. Any foreign matter is removed in a tank, and the pulp consistency is adjusted. Next, the wet paper is thinned out and dried. The dry paper is wound into finished toilet rolls, which emerge from the outlet one at a time. All of these tasks are done automatically. White Goat won a top prize at the Monozukuri Nippon awards. It has patents pending, and Oriental is getting ready to release it in summer 2010.

Here's a short video showing how toilets in Japan (and indeed the rest of Asia) are used; how to
squat and a run down of the features on the brand new sit-down toilets available today.
As usual with these kinds of light instructional/ cultural insight videos, a fairly dim-witted foreigner gets to
"act out" his frustration with the Japanese cultural problem in a comedic manner.
He then gets to ask a sensei for some answes to his questions. The sensei is accompanied by his "daughter"

Why? Is it gonna do a dance?

Although this museum is set in the ultra-trendy fashion mecca Laforet in Harajuku, the Laforet is a fairly down-to-earth museum which hosts small film festivals, art installations and launch parties. Check it out after you have shoppeed yourself out.

 

Would you like to meet some of your favourite Sumo Wrestlers and TV stars?
Then head down to a temple near you for the annual Setsubun Bean Throwing Festivals on Wednesday February 3rd.
Here are a few details and a few bean-throwing stars:

Hasedera Temple Kamakura, Kanagawa (from 10:45am)

Sumo Wrestlers:
Takasago Oyakata (stable master)
TV Celebrity
Osawa Akane

Narita-san Temple, Narita Chiba (from 11am)


Sumo Wrestler:Yokozuna: Asashoryu
Sekiwake: Baruto

NHK Tai ga Drama
Hiroyuki Miyasako
Masaomi Kondo
Mitsuko Baisho

Check for the temples in your area at the Let's Japan Setsubun homepage (in Japanese)

jun is kawaiii..........................................

ofcourse arashi is the best............watch there tokyo dome 2007

ahmm............. i think jun is the best watch his jdorama smile you will understand me........... kawaii...........

his the best japanese actor ever

his the bet

Ai Carina Uemura: Japan's R&B Princess

An Interview in English with Japanese R&B diva Ai Uemura.