Life and Times of a Kiwi in Japan

It's been a while...

2008-07-12T01:21:00.002+09:00

See I knew I would loose interest in this blog. I knew disclosing the details of my life on the internet wouldn't last long.

I have something else up my sleeve, which I will talk more about soon.

In the meantime, keep in touch by email.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2007-12-16T23:29:00.000+09:00

Tonight in the 1°C winter temperature I went out and took some photos of the Christmas decorations near my house. The pictures below are of the lights in the garden of the fire station and the big Christmas tree in the shopping mall at Miyahara.

Yes the supermarket is close

2007-12-16T23:05:00.000+09:00

I have told many people my new apartment is very close to the 24 hour supermarket. In fact I am even closer than the supermarket's own carpark which is on the opposite side of the road. You can see my apartment in the white circle.

The circus is here!

2007-12-16T22:38:00.000+09:00

I am very excited the circus has arrived in my neighbourhood and will be here until February. What I am worried about however is they have a few scary animals like lions and tigers. I am worried that if they escape they could end up near my house!

Yearbook published and being distributed this week

2007-12-10T21:30:00.000+09:00

My annual Christmas publication has been published and is being distributed this week.

The 40th Tokyo Motor Show

2007-11-08T00:07:00.000+09:00

This November 8th I attended The 40th Tokyo Motor Show at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture. The show attracted 1.5 million people whilst it was open and 75,000 of those attended on the day I did.

I have never seen an exhibition of such quality and flamboyance as the Motor Show. There was no detail left to chance. Every stand was of an exceptional standard and appeared as if the show had only opened 10 minutes before my arrival, not 10 days.

Below is a sample of the 253 photographs I took on my visit. The pictures are in no particular order but I have put some notes near some of them.

All of the car makers present used 'hired' females to compliment their products on display. Daimler-Chrysler with their Jeep brand were no exception.

Above, is a new style motor car from Citroen. The interior is somewhat interesting.

The new Nissan NV200. More information about Nissan at the Motor Show and the NV200 is available by clicking here.

Yes, it has been a while...

2007-09-25T03:49:00.000+09:00

Yes it has been a while since I updated my blog. I have been super busy in recent times, working 7 day weeks and not much free time to spare. But now my serge of overtime is done and I will now resume a normalish schedule which could possibly mean regular blog updates.

I know there are some people who check in regularly at my blog. People who I never would have expected to follow my adventures. There have been a couple of random comments left in the last week or so.

If you are reading the blog it would be great to get an email from you. You can email me using the information in the Interact section on the left panel of this page. I will be sure to reply to you promptly. There is so much news which I do not share via the blog so email will ensure you are even closer inside the loop.

Apple™ introduces the new iPod™ lineup

2007-09-20T15:09:00.000+09:00

This post comes live from the Apple™ Store in Ginza, Tokyo. The store I always call into whenever I am in Tokyo city.

I just can not control my love for Apple products. At the moment I only own an iPod Nano™ but I hope to change that soon with the acquisition of some additional technology made by Apple.

Their latest release of the iPod line up including the new iPod Touch™ is just amazing! I do not listen to my iPod much to justify upgrading. It was kind of a novelty when I bought it and I only occasionally use it nowadays.

Apple do what they do so well. Their latest range of products are amazing and the design style is unprecedented. I can not wait to get my hands on the Apple iPhone™ when it hits Japan in 2008.

Check out the Apple website for yourself at www.apple.com. It is like porno for the techno geeks!

Disney On Ice

2007-09-16T02:35:00.000+09:00

Today I had the day off work and saw the Disney On Ice 100 Years of Magic show at Saitama Super Arena which is not far from home.

It was a really super show. I bought a ticket in the expensive seats thinking that would be the best place to avoid all the great unwashed children, but I was a bit mis-guided in that thinking (wonder why?). There were kids seated in the low and high rent seats. Nevermind, they were pretty well behaved. There was about 15-20,000 seats.

The show went for near-on two hours and it was action packed with all the usual Disney characters but unlike I have seen before they were moving around on a ice skating rink! Pretty cool I thought.

There are seven different shows touring the world at any one time so I must keep an eye out for it in other places around the globe.

English Summer Convention at Shiga Highlands, Nagano Prefecture

2007-08-10T02:11:00.000+09:00

Three foreign friends and I were invited by the Takasaki City University of Economics English Language Club to attend their annual convention in the Shiga Highlands near Nagano City in the Nagano Prefecture.

Basically every year this group of university students have a three day summer event where they totally immerse themselves in the English language and go about having a whole lot of fun at a hotel far away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. They invite some foreigners along to give guidance and to help facilitate some of the activities.

Jacob, Brooke, Meagan and I set out on Wednesday morning with the group of 80 students in buses from Takasaki City in the Gumna Prefecture to Nagano which was about a three hour bus trip. We arrived mid-afternoon at the mountain hotel. The trip up into the mountains was simply amazing - Japanese don't build highways anywhere on the ground. If the highway is not on a bridge it's in a tunnel - standard rule it seems.

Through the event we played heaps of interesting games, some of which were uniquely Japanese and others we were very familiar with. There were competitions, challenges, study groups and general stuff aimed at promoting English communication.

What was interesting about this was it is the first time I have witnessed at length Japanese being Japanese but communicating in English. It was certainly interesting to see how they interact with each other and see them carry out their customs in the Queen's own language.

It was also interesting to fully realise the value of learning a language from a native speaking teacher. These university students hadn't and had developed their own unique style of English which was great amongst their group but for anyone external it was very difficult to understand. We were getting annoyed at them because they were so far off on their own tangent and they were getting annoyed at us because on occasion no matter how hard they tried we couldn't understand them. Us four foreigners would escape to our hotel room at night to consume beverages of the alcoholic variety to relieve our tensions.

By Friday morning we were pleased to be on our way. The event was fun but it was a strain on the patience. The students were staying at the hotel an extra night so we made our way by bus and train back to Nagano City where we spent part of the day sightseeing there before returning home on the Nagano Shinkansen Service later in the afternoon.

It was hard to believe that Nagano City hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1998. Apparently the city put on a good show for the games but returned to a modest state once the event was over. This was obvious. It was a very relaxed place.

Hiroshima to Tokyo

2007-07-27T23:11:00.000+09:00

Jacob was enthusiastic to visit another UNESCO World Heritage Site in Hiroshima but I wasn't so convinced so we did our own things. I returned back to the Peace Museum and continued to go over the material which I had missed out on the day before. I took a tonne of pictures.

I also visited The Hall of Remembrance in the Peace Park which you can read more about by
clicking here. This was a pretty moving experience.

Jacob and I met at Hiroshima Station at 12.30 sharp and headed on a short train journey to the
Mazda factory. Mazda occupy a sub-city in coastal Hiroshima where they have their global headquarters and major factory. The tour was amazing and I learnt and saw so much but unfortunately no pictures were allowed. I am now wanting to visit the Toyota factory as that is apparently the supreme of all car plants. ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM - click YouTube Video for more...

Following the Mazda tour we caught the Nozomi Superexpress Shinkansen Service back to Tokyo. We covered near-on 1,000 km in 4 hours and 3 minutes.

Kyoto to Hiroshima

2007-07-26T22:55:00.000+09:00

Jacob had a few more places of significance he wanted to visit but I was a bit over temples, shrines and UNESCO World Heritage Sites so I headed off to Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum. The museum was really interesting. Many steam engines all housed in one of those round railway buildings with the turntable out front. I even went for a short ride on a steam train.

Near noon Jacob and I meet back at the hotel and boarded the Nozomi Superexpress Shinkansen Service bound for Hiroshima. We travelled again about 500 km in about 2 hours. We arrived in Hiroshima around 2.30 PM. We checked into the New Hiroden Hotel near Hiroshima Station.

Our major mission in Hiroshima was to visit the A-Bomb Dome and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. We promptly got on our way using the Street Car service that covers the city. The A-Bomb Dome was simply amazing. I'd seen pictures before and read about it but it was more interesting that the books and pictures. It was a truly remarkable structure in so many ways. It had a very interesting feeling about it too.

As it was getting later in the day we had to be somewhat efficient and make our way through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to the Peace Museum before it closed. We spent about an hour and a half in the museum before closing time. The museum was an amazing place. I'm never usually much fussed about reading all the material in a museum and studying the displays in detail but this museum was an exception. The atomic bomb disaster was a very interesting thing to learn so much about. I strongly recommend the museum to everyone.

75,000 people are buried beneath this small mound of soil.

Once we were outside the museum we walked through the Peace Park again and took the Street Car service back to the hotel. As our stay at the museum was cut short by closing time I was determined to return in the morning to study the entire museum.

Tokyo to Kyoto

2007-07-25T22:11:00.000+09:00

Today was the first day of my three day vacation. This morning my buddy Jacob and I travelled using the Nozomi Superexpress Shinkansen Service from Tokyo to Kyoto - 513 km trip made by train in around 2 hours (it was bloody fast - 250 km/h plus).

We arrived just prior to lunch and what was alarming when we arrived was the lack of people. Kyoto has a population of about 1.1 million but that is a small number compared to the 35 million which I am used to. Going to Kyoto was like a trip to Dannevirke in the Southern Hawke's Bay in New Zealand.

Once we'd checked into the Karasuma Kyoto Hotel we headed for the Golden Pavilion/Kinkaku-ji in the northwestern end of Kyoto. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can click on the hyperlink for more information but my opinion of it was pretty bland. It looks big in all the pictures you see but it was quite small and you couldn't get very close. The surrounding environs were quite nice though. I really like Japanese gardens.

Following Kinkaku-ji we went along the road to Ryoan-ji Temple which is a Zen Temple. Zen is quite a peaceful thing for me. When you first arrive and see the big Zen gardens you think what is this all about but after a while looking at it you kind of get a relaxed and peaceful feeling. We looked around quite a few other places in this district of Kyoto before heading back to the hotel.
I was wearing new sandals and my feet were blistered and near-on bleeding!

In the evening we headed further into the CBD from the hotel to the district of Gion. Gion is famous for Geisha which are "woman of art". You can pay over gazillions of yen to be entertained by these exclusive woman. They're pretty hard to see because they frequent areas which are hidden and reserved only for those who have money but we managed to spot a couple. They're done up in make-up and their faces a pearly white. I first thought they were the Japanese version of a prostitute but apparently they don't do that sort of entertaining - well it's not normal practice anyway.

EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN

2007-07-16T21:42:00.000+09:00

I've had a couple of enquiries today after news broke this morning of a large earthquake hitting Japan.

I DO NOT live near the affected areas.

The earthquake struck the WEST coast of central Japan at 10:13 AM. The areas worst affected are about 250 km from Tokyo which is on the EAST coast of central Japan.

The earthquake registered 6.8 and tremors were felt by many here in the Tokyo Area. The tremor in Tokyo was during my first lesson of the day.

So it happened - train accident causing death...!

2007-06-28T22:30:00.000+09:00

After a year and eight days in Japan I have experienced my first train accident involving a person - commonly referred to in Japan as a "human accident". In the first three days of being in Japan in 2006 my train hit an object but today it mowed a cyclist down on a level crossing.

I can't believe how the accident happened really. Level crossings here have barrier arms and bells well beyond what one would describe as sufficient. There would have to be something horribly wrong with you or a negligent act to find yourself in front of a train.

Anyway, I was sitting in my usual spot right up in the front of the train. We were cruising along between 85 and 100 km/h when I heard the driver in his cabin make a shouting sound as we came around a corner to the concealed crossing. I'm thinking it was the Japanese equivalent to "fuck" he shouted. Anyway there was a big crash and I could hear something bounce along under the carriages. The driver in a very professional and Japanese way gently applied the brakes and we came to a stop. I would have thought a sudden application of the strongest railway anchors would have been more appropriate but that would have equalled bad customer service! So gently it must be.

It was ages before I knew it was a human accident. In fact about half an hour or so had passed. The driver and conductor got out of the train and walked to the back. Being in search of information because I was late for work I walked to the back of the train to see what they were doing. They were out making sure the level crossing was okay and that the arms were up and traffic flowing. It was all very casual. I was starting to get shitty by this time as I was very late for work. I spoke to a Japanese man and said "too many meetings and not enough action" citing that the railway people who were standing around chatting. He translated that into Japanese and the other passengers in our area were roaring with laughter. The train staff must have a policy not to go searching for the "human accident" victim as death is almost a certainty.

After a while the rescue tender from the city fire department came and I saw them with a stretcher which then made everyone realise it was a "human accident". So by this time they had organised for us to evacuate the train and walk to the next station (bloody miles in 30+ degrees and humidity!).

You can see in the pictures below all the passengers sliding from the train. They took two of the long bench seats out and we all slid down them. It was interesting to say the least! Seats have Velvet upholstery so you slide nicely.

Trains vs humans are very clean. The body was cut up into many pieces and the bicycle was shredded. No blood splashes. Below are some pictures, although not so clear because of my camera phone. Nothing too gorry. What happens in these crashes is much of the body gets lodged up under the train carriage so it's a bit hard to see. Once we had all safely got off the train the rescue team were going to lift the train with some hydraulic equipment to get all the bits together.

One of the pictures, although not clearly, shows really the most visible bit of the deceased being one of their legs cleanly taken off at the hip. Don't worry, the mobile phone camera couldn't capture the details as well as my eyes could so it's safe viewing! Note, the blue tarpaulin in the pictures was not consistently held up and there was more but camera memory isn't so big!

If you look directly under the dangling hoses between the two carriages you can see the remains of the victims leg. It seems to have been torn from the abdomen at the hip region.

All the passengers being evacuated from the train by sliding down the seats with the help of the able people of the Saitama Fire Department.

Looking from the front of the train towards the back. You can see how far the mangled body was strewn under the train. Back to the second carriage.

1st Anniversary Week

2007-06-18T01:58:00.000+09:00

It's hard to believe that the time has rolled around to tick off one year out of New Zealand.

The last year has gone by so quickly. At the end of last week it was a year since I finished my job in Napier and Saturday was one year since I left New Zealand. The beginning of this week marks a year since I was in Singapore and then towards the middle of the week I mark off the first year of my stay in Japan.

When it's all said and done, there isn't really much I can comment about it. It's been a pretty good year all up. I'm even confident to say I'd live the year all over again if I was given the chance.

But going forward it's all about new opportunities. Some people say that if it isn't broken don't fix it. Japan isn't broken. Japan is in fact very comfortable right now. What needs to be considered however is the fact that Japan was by no means intended as a forever thing; it was only originally embarked on as a one year exercise. Never mind, plans change [for the better] and in this case it doesn't really make much difference. I haven't really got a time line or a deadline, it's just about whatever feels right on the day.

This living overseas business is a privileged lifestyle not experienced by the masses. I know many people who I went to school with are long stranded in New Zealand: kids, jobs, mortgages; and I'm sure they'd love to be away experiencing the freedoms of the world. Need I go on any longer!

Welcome to my second year abroad.

So it's been a year without wheels

2007-06-15T23:37:00.000+09:00

So it's been a year today since I drove a car on a public road. Doesn't seem so long ago although I often wondered if I still knew what to do.

Anyway the opportunity presented itself today with my best buddy Jacob moving apartments from Takasaki to Kitamoto. Jacob and I rented a Nissan Cube from Nippon-rent-a-car Company and drove the 120 km round trip to collect and deliver all his gear to his new place.

Because I'm one of the few folks around with an international drivers licence I did all of the driving. It was so much fun. Driving mustn't be something you forget because right from when we pulled away from the rental depot all the skills were put to use in quite a natural way.

Essentially all the roads are much the same here when compared to New Zealand except in Japan it is left priority rather than right. Nearly all of the signs are in English as well but there are an occasional few which I worked out either through common sense or by their shape and colour.

I requested the man at the rental company programme in the car navigation system to guide us on our journey. I'm not sure what he put in there but it wasn't correct so we went the route we thought was correct and arrived at the destination bang on.

There are two types of roading systems here: national routes and expressways. National routes are commonly referred to as local roads and the speed limit is generally capped at 60 km/h. The nation is networked with such roads. Expressways span the nation as well but are all toll based and with tolls set at twice the price of gasoline they aren't exactly a cheap option. We opted for the national route 17 because it runs near my apartment and Jacob said he's seen a sign for it near his place so it we just followed it we'd be sure to not get lost. The theory was wise.

I estimated the 60 km journey should take roughly an hour but three hours later we arrived. The routes are littered with traffic lights and the journey is stop, start, stop, start all the way. Obviously there is an incentive to use the expressway system to speed up the journey but then they hammer motorists with the high prices.

Largely the Japanese are good drivers (in their home country). Everyone maintained some sort of order, safe following distances and no stupid changing of lanes etc.

The Nissan Cube was so cute. I especially requested it and paid a little more to have a Cube. It drove very nicely. The power under the hood was okay although I wouldn't have wanted to be relying on it to perform well on a road with steep gradients. I couldn't believe the space in the front and back though - it's supposed to be a compact car but it's amazing how they've organised the space.

Paul McCartney - Dance Tonight

2007-06-14T02:20:00.000+09:00

I'm liking Paul McCartney's new album Memory Almost Full and it's main track Dance Tonight. Check out the full official music video from YouTube here...

Found the national firearms stash!

2007-05-30T22:11:00.000+09:00

Guns are a bit outside the vocabulary of most Japanese. In fact, they really are just something that is seen in a Hollywood Movie. Well that is what I thought until I found a shop in a very ordinary part of Tokyo's Ueno. The pictures below describe very well what I saw. I'm assuming they were all real. What struck me most was how modestly priced they all were. Some of those automatic models were quite a bargain! So maybe Japan isn't as safe as the Japanese folks make out.

Sumo Wrestling

2007-05-23T20:17:00.000+09:00

Today Jacob and I spent much of the day at the Sumo Wrestling tournament in Ryogoku near Tokyo's Sumida River. The tournament is 15 days long and today was around day 10. We arrived about 9.30 am and it was all over for the day by 6 pm.

The stadium which the wrestling is held is huge and could sit many thousand people.

Before I set out I thought watching Sumo would be not much different watching lawn bowls, but I was mistaken. Bouts in Sumo only last a very short period of time, most often only seconds, and they have the next contestants in the ring rather quickly. You can get through a lot in an hour.

Essentially the idea is that wrestlers have to either get their opponent out of the circle or onto the ground. Once that is achieved then it's game over. In some bouts it was an easy transaction - one wrestler simply stepped out of the way and the other wrestler falls on his face.

The sumo in some respects is a bit theatrical. There are a lot of old style traditions still observed these days. There are some weird movements and little flexing dances they do. Towards the end they were winding the crowd up a bit to get some excitement going with some weird moves. The moves didn't inspire me so much but the crowd starting really rooting for their wrestler when they did some strange poses.

A little slice of home in Roppongi

2007-05-17T23:17:00.000+09:00

The New Zealand Government, through the Ministry of Tourism, the government owned Air New Zealand and a Japanese company, opened the New Zealand Travel Cafe in Roppongi near Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown last December.

I've been there a few times but most recently this week with Jacob. It serves New Zealand delights - food, wine and beer for starters. Of more importance though is Hokey Pokey Tip Top ice cream!

Beer is crap at the best of times. I can only consume a mouthful or two of it and I'm over it, but as crap arse as Speights, Steinlager and Tui is, it just gives you a feeling of being at home. I'd hate to pee on New Zealand's parade but all Lion Brewery brewed products including Speights is actually now Japanese beer! Kirin Breweries from Japan have recently acquired New Zealand based Lion Breweries.

Anyway the tucker was good. Had a kiwi burger which contained a prime New Zealand beef pattie, lettuce, tomato and "something red" (as described by staff when ordering) which we later discovered to be beetroot! It was pretty yummy! Price wasn't so bad either considering it's mostly imported food.

They have a little retail section too which I took note of what was in stock. They sell a range of New Zealand wine, beer, cheese, Tip Top, preserves, music and books. I'll be sure to call in again when I'm in the area.

State of the New Zealand Nation

2007-05-17T22:00:00.000+09:00

Living away from New Zealand in some respects makes you more tuned in with the media. I have a list of favourite media sites I check into everyday.

The list includes TVNZ, The Dominion Post, The New Zealand Herald, The Gisborne Herald, Hawke's Bay Today... TVNZ allow me to watch One News, Breakfast, Close Up and Sunday just after they've gone to air. I can also stream Radio New Zealand National live through the internet. In addition, I've also subscribed to the New Zealand Police media release list so I get the news first hand at the same time as all the media. And the list of blogs I follow is endless...

So with all of these media outlets feeding into my world I've had lots to ponder about New Zealand and the state of the nation. This weeks budget has provided more food for thought.

Essentially with all this information on hand New Zealand doesn't look like such an attractive place to return home to. Taxes are very high, inflation is excessive; incomes are low; the workers are getting robbed through excessive taxes and having their income given to the unfortunate in the form of Working for Families; kids are starving; violent crime is getting worse every day; first home buyers are becoming scarce. All of these issues are overshadowed with the implications of climate change too!

John Key and his team at the National Party are starting to look like an attractive option. Irrespective of what I think Key and National are climbing up nicely in the polls. In essence no matter which type of government is more right than the next I think a change of government every few terms is essential. Each party in the government has got something to add value to New Zealand. I think though that Labour's value has dried up and it's time to go into a new phase of change with different emphasis - something I am confident National can do.

I didn't vote National the last time as I was not confident Don Brash could come up with the goods. Maybe Don wasn't a bad person and would make an excellent leader but his public relations and 'brand' was the pits. I could have just been him or maybe he had some bad advice, but he was a bit of a media disaster. John Key on the other hand is a contrast. John's got a good rapport with the media. He has his public relations skills polished too. Not to mention he is a contemporary person, young in age and outlook and is focused on the New Zealand of NOW!

I love what Fran O'Sullivan from The New Zealand Herald says about this weeks budget. "Michael Cullen's eighth Budget sports a fiscal money-go-round that would do a Virgin Islands tax-dodge designer proud."

The present government regime is a money-go-round for sure. It's collecting tax money in one hand and handing it out as 'welfare' with the other.

A favourite blog of mine Cactus Kate has a good post on the latest budget. It's worth a read and I agree with a lot of things she talks about.

I'm bound to talk more about this again soon. :)

Tokyo Midtown

2007-05-16T22:57:00.000+09:00

On the way back from Odaiba we visited the newly opened Tokyo Midtown. Tokyo Midtown is a US$3 billion development near Roppongi Hills in central Tokyo.

Tokyo Midtown is a mixture of facilities including offices, shops, restaurants and the Ritz Carlton Hotel.

Not much more information I could add other than what you'll get by clicking on the link above, but here are some photos I took.

Odaiba

2007-05-16T22:10:00.000+09:00

Today Jacob and I visited Odaiba in Tokyo. I've been to Odaiba lots before but for Jacob it was the first visit. Odaiba is a large artificial island on Tokyo Bay. More information here.

Even though Odaiba was constructed many years ago, development on the island has only taken place in the last decade. It's been well planned and all buildings and facilities are new.

Anyway, we travelled over on the underground Rinkai Line to Tokyo Teleport Station. This station is just like any other station in the area and I can't seem to work out why it has been given the name it has - it's got no relation to anything back to the future.

One of my favourite places on Odaiba is Toyota's Megaweb. It's Toyota's flagship showcase with three sections - past, present and future. It's a great place. You can even book to test drive any vehicle from the range of new Toyota's on a specialist test track. I've done the test drive before in a Toyota Camry and Prado but on this visit I didn't have my international drivers licence with me. I did however do a circuit on the E-com ride pictured below. The E-com is an automatic electric car that guides itself around a largish track. You don't have to do anything to control it, it just stops and starts by itself. Pretty magic. You can read more about it by clicking on the link above.

We then moved next door to Venus Fort. It's Japan's first themed shopping centre targeting at depicting 17th and 18th century European style streets. The ceiling changes as the day goes by to indicate sunrise, a beautiful day and then finally the sunset in the evening. There are stacks of very expensive shops here and it's all nice but the favourite and most interesting thing was the pet shop. Now the 'goods' for sale were interesting: merekats and monkeys were the best! I want a monkey! Only about NZD$3,000! Also you could rent dogs by the hour to walk around the shopping centre. It's big business dog rental in Japan. Because people can't have animals in apartments it's a favourite past-time of many to rent a dog for a couple of hours of fun on a weekend. Won't be long and you'll be able to hire kids too! :)

We also visited the headquarters of Fuji Television on Odaiba. The building is probably one of the most spectacular in the area as you can see by the photo. That ball in the middle is an observation area. We went up and the view was great. You could see around the ports and back over to Tokyo city. Below is a picture of Rainbow Bridge which we took from the ball. Rainbow Bridge is one of the many ways Odaiba is linked with Tokyo. There is a huge tunnel going under the sea too.

Japan's American influence is topped off in Odaiba with Japan's very own Statue of Liberty. It's quite dinky and I imagine is a crumb compared to the real thing in New York City.

The last interesting thing on Odaiba is the New Transit Yurikamome. The Yurikamome is a fully automated transit system, controlled entirely by computers with no drivers on board. It's a cross really between a train and monorail. What is unique is that it goes on rubber truck style tyres and there is no track. There is a kind of road way which it guides itself around. Click the link above for pictures and more information.

United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka

2007-05-09T22:18:00.000+09:00

After our trip to Kamakura as previously reported about, we stopped by the United States Fleet Activities Base of the United States Navy in Yokosuka.

I visited Yokosuka in September last year and had a good look around at what was viewable for the public, but today we only stayed around the railway station area.

It's amazing the number and size of ships in port. From our vantage point we could see three submarines and a number of war ships. The port spans a large area and many other ships could be seen in the distance.

What I was excited about was seeing a United States Navy Aircraft Carrier. The USS Kitty-Hawk is based at Yokosuka and although it wasn't anywhere to be seen clearly I am convinced I could see the top of it over some buildings in the distance. I've put a picture of what I could see below.

Here is a sample of some of the war ships tied up.

A submarine dock-side.

What I understand to be the top of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty-Hawk.

Kamakura

2007-05-09T22:10:00.000+09:00

Today Jacob and I visited Kamakura in the Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.

Kamakura is a very famous area in Japan, home of the nations capital for a time in history. You can read all about the history and details by clicking here.

Took nearly two hours by train for us to get there from my house. It weather is surely heading towards summer as both Jacob and I got quite sun burnt.

Essentially, Kamakura is a precinct of temples and shrines of both the Buddhist and Shinto faiths.

Here are some pictures of what we saw.

Fatality... RIP old woman

2007-05-07T21:47:00.000+09:00

Tonight my heart took a hammering and the adrenaline was on high. An elderly woman was killed in my street after been hit and run over by a car.

I had just finished my dinner at my local Denny's when outside my attention was caught by a commotion. On closer inspection a woman lay firmly centred underneath a large Nissan sedan. It appears the car hit her, she fell and then the wheel crossed her body.

No one could do anything. The car needed to be moved, she was stuck underneath so driving it would have made the situation worse. There were no obvious signs of life. Whilst I surveyed the scene to see what had happened and reassured by the sounds of sirens of the rescue tenders approaching from north, east, south and west fire stations I stood back to watch what would happen next. It was pointless me getting anymore involved. It was a panic situation and all the other 'panicers' didn't speak my language and I didn't speak theirs. I think I made the sensible decision not to intervene as there would have been no value I could have added to the situation.

The arrival of the fire department was something they must have been rehearsing for a while. Four fire tenders pulled up from each of the cities four fire stations. One tender was a specialist rescue truck complete with crane and a lighting system. An ambulance arrived at the same time.

The rescue personnel went to work right away and with their whizz-bang equipment and skill they jacked the car and wheeled it aside. At that stage, from my view point, it was obvious the woman was deceased. Her head had no resemblance to its' former self. It was floppy and lifeless on the neck. It was obvious to me the emergency crew were putting on a show for the crowd in terms of attempting a form of CPR to whisk her away to the ambulance. The emergency folks were very professional and preserved the woman's dignity the whole time.

Been having a big reflection tonight since the accident happened. It's been over 12 months since I had to use any of my emergency medical skills, and there definitely has been no calling for them in Japan. I often worry I'll forget at least the basic stuff but being in the environment tonight has restored my confidence again that if there was a situation different to tonight I could make a difference.

Japanese fooled in poodle scam

2007-05-02T11:46:00.000+09:00

In the last week or so a funny story has been going around the global media about a scam where rich Japanese women who wanted a poodle as a pet were deceived into buying sheep. The story which I post below is bloody funny, but it has since been revealed that it's all a hoax. Find out about the hoax by clicking here.

Japanese fooled in poodle scam

Thousands of Japanese have been swindled in a scam in which they were sold Australian and British sheep and told they were poodles.

Flocks of sheep were imported to Japan and then sold by a company called Poodles as Pets, marketed as fashionable accessories, available at $1,600 each.

That is a snip compared to a real poodle which retails for twice that much in Japan.

The scam was uncovered when Japanese moviestar Maiko Kawamaki went on a talk-show and wondered why her new pet would not bark or eat dog food.

She was crestfallen when told it was a sheep.

Then hundreds of other women got in touch with police to say they feared their new "poodle" was also a sheep.

One couple said they became suspicious when they took their "dog" to have its claws trimmed and were told it had hooves.

Japanese police believe there could be 2,000 people affected by the scam, which operated in Sapporo and capitalised on the fact that sheep are rare in Japan, so many do not know what they look like.

"We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company were selling sheep as poodles," Japanese police said, the The Sun reported.

"Sadly we think there is more than one company operating in this way.

"The sheep are believed to have been imported from overseas - Britain, Australia."

Many of the sheep have now been donated to zoos and farms.

Tokyo Disneyland

2007-04-26T23:45:00.000+09:00

I never get sick of Tokyo's Disney Resort. Today I visited Tokyo Disneyland for the second time since I've been in Japan. This is the fourth visit to the Resort - twice now to Disneyland, once to Disneysea and once to Ikspiari (on-site shopping centre).

I went with friends and colleagues Jacob, Brooke and Pip. It's the first time I've been with other people but it was good though. Think it best to go alone the first time then you can spend as little or as long as you like exploring various aspects.

The thing that fascinates me most about the Disney experience is how slick they run their operations. Every piece of detail is worked out. The staff are highly trained, know what they're doing and most importantly are customer focused. There are so many things going on at one time, and the resources in a human and capital sense to make these things happen is impressive.

Anyway, about today's adventure. We set off for Chiba Prefecture/State just after the birds woke up this morning and were park side for the 9.00 am opening.

Here is a map of Tokyo Disneyland. We explored the park in clockwise to begin with and then backtracked to things we wanted to see again. Click on the the map for more information.

We spent just on 12 hours at Disneyland. Sounds like a long day but time surely flies when you're having fun.

The three highlights of our visit were the two parades and one of the shows. The grand fire works display was cancelled due to wind. Below are some pictures of each as well as links to the Disney web pages where you can find more information.

Disney Dreams on Parade Moving On

One Man's Dream II - The Magic Lives On

Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights

The trouble with Chewbacca

2007-04-23T20:16:00.000+09:00

To a lot of people Chewbacca is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. To the Japanese it's something quite different. Let me explain...

A colleague of mine was teaching a very low level Japanese woman over the weekend. The lesson they were doing was about contact details - addresses, phone, email etc.

My colleague, who we will refer to as Nigel, used an imaginary email address of chewbacca@starwars.com.

The word "chewbacca" when translated to English from Japanese has the same meaning as dumb-arse, retard, dickhead, very thick, etc... It's a very powerful and rude word in Japan.

The student is up in arms over it now. She thinks Nigel was making fun of her and her inability to learn English. Yes, granted, she's not the best student we've got - in fact she's at home on the floor of the lower quartile.

Nigel doesn't know much Japanese and was completely unaware of the offence he was causing. Now some of the powers of the company are in damage control mode because the woman has mentioned quiting over it!

If this woman doesn't pull her head in, accept and understand the explanations by the company, then as far as I'm concerned she's chewbacca all the way!

Amen.

President Bill Clinton

2007-04-21T23:50:00.000+09:00

From time to time Bill drops me an email to let me know what he and his charity, The Clinton Foundation, are up to. I really love the emails because they seem so personal. My inbox comes up with President Bill Clinton and in the email he uses my name. Makes me feel quite special, because after all Bill and I go back a long time, lol.

Anyway, as a background: I've always been very fond of Bill and Hillary and have become even fonder after reading his book, My Life, and observing him in his charitable role through his foundation. Last year I became even more interested during the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) conference in September. You can click on the hyperlink to learn more details but by and large it's the charities annual convention. The reason for Bill's most recent email was for the CGI mid-year meeting.

President Clinton is one of a handful of role models who I am passionate about. Bills not perfect but he opens his book My Life by saying that he is not as good as his biggest fans make out but he's also not as bad as his harshest critics say. I don't have his book on hand to make a direct quote, but I admire its' message a lot.

It's Bill's persona that really gets me every time. He's a big man and has a magic way of conveying a message using his hands. His facial expression and signs of emotion are magic too - he can be a picture of strength in one moment and a passionate hearty man in the next. He can talk for hours and I'm glued to the whole thing. There isn't that many people that can capture me like that.

I would love to visit the Clinton Presidential Centre in Little Rock, Arkansas. It looks like a pretty magic facility which I think I would feel at home in for hours. I note in recent time there is an online gift store with Clinton merchandise so maybe I'll treat myself soon.

Life and times amongst Web 2.0

2007-04-20T01:09:00.000+09:00

The Web 2.0 phenomenon is an important thing to be part of. Web 2.0 is a term coined to describe the second and latest generation of internet communications which include blogs, social networking sites and podcasts.

I'm trying really hard this year to keep on the bandwagon. It's so easy to get left behind. I have a list of blogs and news sites I check into nearly everyday, some of which you can see down the left side of this page. I subscribe through iTunes to a number of podcasts which provide education and entertainment. I'm also a subscriber to a couple of social networking sites, most notably Bebo as that seems to be the most famous in New Zealand right now.

This blog is part of my Web 2.0 efforts in 2007. Whilst I really only have personal news to post these days, I would love to create a web presence one day which will attract a lot of attention and maybe provide some sort of income, or at least boost an existing one.

I have a mission to encourage my aged grandparents to at least become 'Web 2.0 watchers'. Firstly just to get them to keep an eye on my blog isn't easy, but secondly, my granddad is an avid reader of politics and opinion in major New Zealand daily newspapers. I am convinced if he discovers the full potential of the blogisphere he will enjoy many hours keeping in touch with a whole new perspective on the world. It's hard to teach and encourage with me living in another part of the world.

But whilst I am on the subject, what has really inspired me to become interested in Web 2.0 is an English woman by the name of Anna Farmery who has a blog called The Engaging Brand. The said blog is just one of many she passionately maintains. My favourite thing she does though is a regular podcasts which I download onto my iPod and listen to whilst riding the busy Tokyo trains.

I'm not certain of Anna's background as her personal profile is a bit vague, but she seems to know quite a lot about heaps of things or at least knows where to find it. Hardly a day goes by where she doesn't post something which gets me thinking. I like her material too because it's pretty original. Just in the last few days she came up with a whole lot of stuff which was inspired from a junk sale she'd been too. Not a trace of academic management gibberish which I'm used to.

Anna's real, experienced, to the point and delivers variety. She's the sort of woman I'd like to reserve a table with at Starbucks on a rainy afternoon to listening and learn about her experiences. I'd recommend her site, blog and podcasts to anyone.

Funny Lyric'd Song - Alfie

2007-04-18T22:45:00.000+09:00

Another shoot up in America

2007-04-17T19:51:00.000+09:00

Tragic news this morning to read there has been another school massacre in America. It's the biggest death count yet for a school massacre, far bigger than Columbine.

Over on another blog I follow an interesting point has been made about the media coverage which today's incident is getting.
News works in mysterious ways
What I can't get my head around is the tendency for all news networks to clear their schedules when something like an American school shooting happens with a few dozen casualties. Incidents like that happen every day in Iraq or Darfur or Afghanistan or Chechnya and those barely cause a mention anymore on the airwaves. American lives are obviously worth many times that of a dead Iraqi or a Darfur genocide victim.

Ben McLean

2007-04-13T00:11:00.000+09:00

I was shocked to read the news of an old school friend, Ben McLean, who was seriously injured in a speedway accident on Good Friday near Napier. Picture here is from the media and I understand if you look closely enough it is the actual accident taking place.

Ben and I were very good friends at Gisborne Intermediate but since then we went our separate ways and I didn't know anything about what he'd done since then. We'd gone to different high schools then I moved cities etc.

Shocking that the first time you hear about him again is in a graphic news article online which described details of his serious injuries and prognosis.

He's apparently popped a vertebrae which has severed his spinal cord. Prognosis is a 10% chance he will walk again, which means if you turn that around there is a 90% chance he won't walk again! Apparently he's got broken bones and he's lying in intensive care in Christchurch (assumable at Burwood Spinal Centre) after being flown out of Hawke's Bay Regional Hospital over the weekend.

It's been so long since we were in touch so today I've penned a wee message off to his mum and requested that she pass it on to him once he is well enough.

Learnt in the media too that he was married 16 months ago and was in the process of purchasing his first house. Good old media aye - all the details in the public domain.

Silly foriegner in our restaurant

2007-04-12T23:48:00.000+09:00

Tonight I had one of only a few examples of service in Japan which I could fault. Now I've been here nearly a year and the service has been impeccable largely, until tonight when I was laughed at.

Now this bad service wasn't done to me directly but I don't think the staff at Denny's Family Restaurant knew that I knew what they were up to.

Tonight I ordered a serving of gyoza and Chinese noodles. Usually you get served soy sauce to dip the gyoza but tonight they didn't bring any. The noodles come served in a huge bowl but the bowel is full of a stock like liquid. I hate noodles submerged in juice. Anyway I requested another bowel. I was observed tipping the water out of the noodles into the other bowel which they thought was funny and there was a couple of kitchen staff at the kitchen door having a good giggle to themselves.

I then got the waitress over and requested the said omitted soy sauce. I could gather from what was said amongst the gathered staff in Japanese (for which I speak very little but can gauge the drift of some sentences) that they were basically saying "what the hell is he going to do with the soy sauce." I'd already beached their noodle creation so maybe I was going to drown it in soy. Anyway the waiting and kitchen staff all sort of hung around and watched wondering what I was going to do. I was so tempted to order a bottle of ketchup because ketchup and Chinese noodles (much like the Maggi 2 minute variety back home) are tasty with lashings of tomato sauce! But I didn't on this occasion.

I go to Denny's often because it's next to my house, nutritious and cheap. I'm on a mission to go back there and butcher their food to my tasting, annihilate it with tomato sauce, separate the solids from the juices and leave a knife upright in the butter just to give the staff a thrill at the habits of the foreign community.

I hate being watched and giggled about!

Welcome to Fiscal 2007

2007-04-10T21:13:00.000+09:00

The Japanese are quite funny sometimes. One such occasion is the build-up to April 1st.

Like in a lot of countries, the fiscal year begins on April 1st. In Japan even more things revolve around this date.

This is the start of the school year too and children who have turned six in the previous year begin school. In New Zealand, I started school on my fifth birthday. Here, kids have to wait so all the new kids start on the same day. I'd be pretty mad if my birthday was in May and I had to wait a whole 11 months (until nearer the 7th birthday) before I could enter school.

Also lots of people start new jobs on April 1st. University ends in February and March and the new graduates enter the companies in large intakes. You can spot the new workers on the train now. They have brand new suits and matching bags, shoes are new and shining and they have white shirts and conservative ties on. Apparently it's a custom that in the first year of your career graduates are required to wear a white shirt everyday and a conservative tie. After the year is up the ties can be less conservative and then after a while it's okay to wear say a blue shirt.

This is the season for burying budgets as well. Departments in the corporations who have money left over from Fiscal 2006 splash out in March because they know if they don't consume their allocation the purse will be tighter next time round. With the opening of new budgets departments have fresh buckets of cash in April.

It's tax season too so the frequency of suicide is at the yearly high.

Colleague murdered

2007-04-06T19:25:00.000+09:00

On my return to work today it was sad to learn of the news that a teacher working for my company in Tokyo was murdered during the time I was on holiday.

Whilst I never knew the girl and she worked at a school in Tokyo which I had never heard of, it drives home the message that although Japan appears a very safe country people are not spared the threat of nutcases.

The girl was found dead and buried in a balcony bathtub filled with sand. The police have a strong lead in the case and are looking for he owner of the apartment where her body was found. It is believed the owner of the apartment was a private student this girl gave tuition to on a Saturday morning.

More detailed story can be found by clicking here.

Sun setting on a great holiday

2007-04-06T00:01:00.000+09:00

Today marks the end of my holiday and the start of work again.

It's been great to have a whole nine days off in a row.

As previous posts in my blog indicate, the main reason for this break was because Jacob was arriving. He's now safely settled into his new place, completed his work training and will be fronting his first five classes later this afternoon.

Work is pretty good really. There isn't much stress. It's all well organised, everyone knows what they're doing (mostly).

I think it'd just be nice to be kind of retired - everyday a Sunday type thing.

I've just realised it's Good Friday too. Easter is something that Japan miss off the schedule completely. They don't even attempt to milk its' commercial value like they do for Christmas and Valentines. Easter isn't even in their vocabulary. Can't even buy chocolate eggs!

Red tape - the 'belts' in Japans' engine

2007-04-05T23:04:00.000+09:00

How the Japanese love red tape and long-winded processes!

I don't mind a good sensible system with forms and checks but today I relived the experience I had with Vodafone, now Softbank, when I helped Jacob and his new room mate get mobile phones.

In brief, when I got my phone from Vodafone last June I had to go through all sorts of hoops, fill out forms in octicate, wait five days and shout at the staff to pull their fingers out.

Apparently as of 1 April there is a new policy in place at Softbank regarding ID requirements. In the past you just needed your passport, now you need your passport and Alien registration.

Now when you first arrive here you have to register as an Alien. You get a certificate issued which you use before your official plastic card thing arrives two weeks later. The guts of the dispute with Softbank today was they were asking clearly for the card and I was arguing with them more than clearly that their English material stipulates they require a certificate. Now the chap was being a bit Japanese and exercising his sphincter muscle over the fact I was laying into him.

He was quite good at English and I asked him the star question - "Do you know what the English word 'bullshit' means?" He said yes. I told him that what he was saying was 'bullshit' and that we would not be accepting their policy because their argument was flawed. I also leaned on him about how many people we could tell about the bad Softbank service considering how many new teachers Jacob and I have contact with.

Anyway, as Japanese do, a short natter on the phone to someone (?President?) and wallah we had phone services coming out our ears!

In true Cole-style, I had ensured Jacob and his new room mate had all the paper work in perfect order before we went. I'd already been through a five day trauma last year with this company and knew that if you went in there with your homework done they couldn't stuff you around.

You've gotta get ballsy with these folks. They'll give you the run around if you let them. Don't accept their nonsense and their inability to be flexible in a process. And a final warning, if a company is going to print English marketing material then they best have their English pretty clear otherwise they could find themselves in a dispute over the difference between a card and a certificate.

Harajuku

2007-04-01T23:10:00.001+09:00

Today Jacob and I visited the district of Harajuku in Tokyo. Sunday is famous in this area for the interesting people which frequent it. As you can see by the video and photos below some of the patrons can only be described as 'interesting'.

Apparently it's an intended place where people from near and far can be expressive. It's a hot place for foreign folk to gather to see what could be commonly described as a freak show.

This chap is an interesting character. He was dancing to a small radio for hours. Didn't really fit in to the area for his lack of expressive clothing, but his movements were somewhat unique.

I love Ikea

2007-04-01T23:00:00.000+09:00

In our adventures today I took Jacob on his very first visit to an Ikea store in Kohoku near Yokohama in the Kanagawa Prefecture. I simply love Ikea. It's big, it's well done, well stocked and above all well priced.

Jacob bought a whole lot of stuff for his new apartment then we sampled the Swedish cuisine at the Ikea Bistro on the way out.

Here is a YouTube video about Ikea. They're a bit strict about people taking photos in-store so this video I've robbed off someone else is a good representation. And the music is great.

Spring cherry blossoms

2007-03-31T23:59:00.000+09:00

Japan's spring trademark is the cherry blossom. It's a significant thing for the people here, indicating the start of new-life and the more favourable seasons.

I tried to take some pictures of blossom lined banks from a river cruise I took a few days ago but they didn't turn out very well. Here is one random picture I took of a line of cherry blossom trees on the lawn outside Mr Abe's Prime Ministerial Residence in central Tokyo.

Food! Food! Fantastic Food!

2007-03-30T23:59:00.000+09:00

It's official. I think I'm getting a real taste for Chinese food. Although I'm not exactly living in China, Japanese folks serve up a lot of food with a Chinese origin. What's more is that you can easily procure Chinese food at a convenience store.

Jacob and I, on the occasion of a belated birthday outing for myself, visited a renewed Chinese restaurant on the 12th floor of Times Square in Shinjuku. This was a great chance for us to indulge in some of the fine Chinese delicacies I have come to enjoy.

One such thing is gyoza (as pictured) which is a dumpling style thing which you dip in soy sauce. It's simply devine. I could order plate fulls of them. We ordered a steamer with six of them and enjoyed every one of them all the same. We also had the most devine steamed bun things (the official name I am not sure of) stuffed with a pork mix. We finished off with a generous helping of rice that had egg mixed through.

I suppose, if it was more carefully analysed, the Chinese things which I've developed a love for are only a small sample of the wide range of Chinese cuisine available. There are probably many things that I wouldn't even consider sampling, but what I've tried so far I've become quite addicted to.

Cruising the Sumida River

2007-03-30T23:58:00.000+09:00

Friday was an amazing day here in Tokyo. In fact, I would have to say it would have to be one of the highlights of my tour of duty here.

My sensational friend Jacob and I visited the Asakusa area of Tokyo before taking a leisurely cruise along the Sumida River to the Hamarikyu Gardens where we partook in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.

This was my second visit to Asakusa. It's home to the Senso-ji Temple - Tokyo's oldest with history dating back to 628 AD. I'm not much of a fan of temples as one is pretty much the same as the next, but Senso-ji and it's surrounding environs are an exception. This is where you'll find some traditional style commerce taking place with lots of knickknack souvenir stores. Asakusa is a place where tourists here on a short-stay are recommended to visit - it's largely a high concentration of the uniqueness that is Japan.

Again, this was the second time I've done the Sumida River cruise from Asakusa to Hamarikyu Gardens. This time however because it is cheery blossom season there was a cruise-extension which took us to parts of the Sumida which were lined with cherry blossom trees. This 45 minute tour is pretty impressive. The boat passes under about a dozen or so unique and stylish bridges which all rest only about 5 metres above the water.

It was good to see Hamarikyu Gardens in a different season. Last visit on December 13 was at the end of the autumn season. This season, spring, there is lots of new growth and the park is a whole lot more greener. One can't go by the gardens without partaking in a tea ceremony in the tea house in park central. For 500 yen (NZ$6) you can enjoy some greenish tea brew and a sweet thing served to you in a Japanese kind of way (very hard to describe). I think a Japanese tea ceremony is probably on par with afternoon tea or low tea in England.

He has arrived!

2007-03-29T15:21:00.000+09:00

Excitement all around yesterday morning when I met my good friend Jacob at Narita International Airport.

I did not sleep so much in the airport hotel on Tuesday night because of the excitement. Anyway, I trekked off to the airport early and he arrived through the arrivals hall just after 8:00 am.

Was great to spend all day yesterday with him. We went to a few random places but after nearly 24 hours of flying for him, one can expect him to be a tired engine.

Today we are exploring areas around Tokyo-ku and Ginza. Who knows what we will do Friday.

Still another 7 days of vacation left after today!

3 more sleeps!

2007-03-25T04:00:00.000+09:00

It's just a few short days now until my sensational buddy Jacob arrives in Japan from Wellington, New Zealand.

When he arrives in on Wednesday morning it will be the end of a long wait for his arrival - it's been on the cards since August.

It's great news that a good friend of mine has got a job with the same company as me. I have some great friends up here but I've been hanging out for ages for a fellow kiwi to join the closer ranks.

Been busy planning for weeks. I have said to him that I've even organised a National Guard brass marching band to be on parade at the airport for his arrival this Wednesday. I'm a bit worried I'm not going to be able to pull it off as planned and am fearing being seen as some sort of let down by him. Never mind, I'm more than confident I'll be able to make his arrival equally as welcoming with my other plans.

Jacob's arrival also marks the start of 9 days holiday for me!

Nine month Christmas warning

2007-03-25T03:45:00.000+09:00

That's right... it's exactly nine months until Christmas today.

We're a quarter of the way through the journey between last December 25 and next already!

Gee wizz I'll be 40 soon at the rate time is passing these days. Yikes!

Atomic Sushi

2007-03-24T23:59:00.000+09:00

Oliver, a good quality Londoner and colleague of mine, has kindly lent me a book to read called Atomic Sushi. As the name suggests it has something to do with Japan in one form or another.

It's written by an English chap by the name of Dr Simon May, a crystal-ball-gazing professor of all things philosophical in London. He spent a year in Japan working at Tokyo University.

The book provides some sort insight into May's time here. He clearly explains some truths about Japan - especially with his examples of the bureaucracy and red-tape that oils the cogs of this nation.

I dispute some of the details of his stories however. He just seemed to walk in on some very interesting situations like a wedding, a death and a funeral (all incidents very much independent of each other) - all involving people he didn't know but suddenly become a part of proceedings.

The book is some 200 pages and I read it over two nights. It's a quality read, but most of the quality was packed into the first night/half, the second nights read wasn't as exciting.

I'm sure it's available to purchase on Amazon. I might get myself my own copy for nostalgic reasons.

People as a commodity

2007-03-24T00:31:00.000+09:00

Over at The Engaging Brand blog, Anna Famery for whom I admire most for her commercial wisdom and infotaining podcasts, has made some very interesting comments about a saying I hate...

"People are our most important asset"

Aagghhhh I hate this phrase with a passion - usually because the people who use it don't believe it. The good leaders don't even have to say it because people feel it. But I have realized why I hate it. The flaw is that you own assets and you don't own people. They are leasing their career to you, they are offering their talent but they can take it away as easily. I prefer the phrase "Our people are our competitive advantage."

Too bloody right Anna. How many times have I heard a CEO use the above cliche.

Birthday thanks

2007-03-23T23:59:00.000+09:00

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes received in the last few days. The deadline for gifts and wishes has all but passed now unless prior arrangements were made :-)

Very low key day today with work however tonight my good buddies Teresa, Helen, Erin, Matthew and I went to the Hardrock Cafe at JR Ueno Station.

As I'm a member of the said cafe's club I got a special birthday invite, a cake as pictured and the staff sung happy birthday. They also took my picture with a trusty polaroid and made the picture into a nifty birthday badge. I paraded the badge proudly on my shirt on the train home but for some reason no one felt charitable enough to give up their seat to the birthday boy. I believe in karma commuters - you just wait!

23rd anniversary special edition blog. Welcome!

2007-03-23T19:30:00.000+09:00

Today, 23 March, is my birthday. Now 23, I have resolved that in my ripe old age it is time I had a shot at a blog of my own.

I follow many blogs. Most nights when I get home I go through a set list in my favourites to find out what's new in the world today. I enjoy the opinion, slandering and humour of the blogs I read. Foremost my blog following is to keep in touch with news and the general feeling on issues back home in New Zealand. My favourite at the moment is Cactus Kate.

Hope this isn't some five minute wonder.