Prison in Japan: Part 2 “The Beginning”Blue on Feb 06 2007 | Filed under: Japan: Life
This is the second part of a gaijin in Japan’s (George’s) experience in a Japanese Ryuchijyo (留置場, Prison for people that haven’t yet been convicted of any crime). For better understanding of the background of his story, read Prison in Japan: Part 1 before reading the continuation below. The following was published directly out of [...]
Bone on Feb 05 2007 | Filed under: Japan: Only in Japan
Japan is supposed to be the land of conformity, a land where nobody has original ideas, where everyone unquestioningly follows the pack. But every now and then, people in Japan come up with some things so bewildering that you wonder where the idea could possibly have come from! The Hello Kitty “Snow Kitty” is one [...]
J-WOTD: ヤメ検 (やめけん)Red on Feb 03 2007 | Filed under: WOTD - Japanese
やめけん (yameken) * “J-WOTD” = “Japanese Word of the Day” The phrase “yameken” is an abbreviation of the words 検事 (kenji, member of the public prosecutor’s office (検察庁, kensatsucho)) and やめた (yameta, to quit). Quite literally it refers to someone who has quit their role as a public prosecutor. More specifically, it almost always refers [...]
Who’s your Daddy? – a love call from ShikokuRed on Feb 02 2007 | Filed under: Japan: Eating and Drinking
After eating what was potentially the worst cream puff of my life this afternoon at the local Willie Winki, I was motivated to write an article on Beard Papa. Having been relocated to the arse-end of Shikoku for the past month, I think you can safely assume that I’m missing a bunch of the things [...]
J-WOTD: 左団扇 (ひだりうちわ)Beige on Feb 01 2007 | Filed under: WOTD - Japanese
ひだりうちわ (hidariuchiwa) * “J-WOTD” = “Japanese Word of the Day” The uchiwa is a type of fan, which these days is generally made of plastic and handed out at festivals or in front of train stations for advertising during the heat of summer. Here it is combined with hidari, the word for left, to literally [...]