In this entry, (which is now on JapanSoc please soc it!) I will attempt to cover every general topic popular JapanSoc stories deal with in a single article, thus guaranteeing it will get so many socs that the site itself will be sucked into a black hole and the world will end, thus doing the job the Large Hadron Collider couldn’t manage.

Alright, the first thing I need to do is look at some of the most popular stories of all time. There have only been five articles that have collected 30 or more socs;

1. New Extra Social JapanSoc!
   JapanSoc manager Nick finally allowing freedom of speech. Prior to this all communication had to be done in the form of binary code, written out by hand onto pieces of paper and sent to Nick’s house.
2. JapanSoc Chooses the Best Japanese News
   An article praising the site and it’s users for choosing the most appropriately interesting news. Apparently “Japan Is Doomed author Mike loses sandwich, please donate generously to fund a replacement” isn’t suitable.
3. Japan Blog Matsuri April 2009 Edition
   The theme was ‘Slow times in Japan’, and over 30 writers wrote about what they do on their slower days in Japan. I was going to write an article, but I was having a slow day so I did what I usually do on those days: nothing, then lunch, then more nothing.
4. Japanese people know, “you’ve been living in America too long” when…
   Apparently some Japanese people cited reasons to start worrying you’ve been living in the US for too long. My personal suggestion? You understand what’s going on in Boston Legal.
5. THAT Is One Exhausted Salaryman (PIC)
   A picture of a poor salaryman who fell asleep on the train whilst rocking out to some Bon Jovi or something. Personally I don’t think it’s nice to laugh at people’s tiredness. So I refuse to post it here… alright alright I was joking.

   Read the rest of this entry »

Good news everyone! I have just launched a new blog: 怠け者マイク which means ‘Lazy Mike’ or something like that.

It only contains three updates right now, which are the three I wrote as essays for my lecturer, but I hope to update it once I arrive in Japan in September. When that happens I will probably keep posting them here as well, but it’s nice to have a place where they are all kept together.

So check it out!

japanmike.wordpress.com

That’s right! 21 years ago on March 29th, something terrible happened! But at the same time I was born! So now that makes me 21!

I was going to write a huge post with my thoughts for the year blah blah blah, but I’m having a huge party so I will be too drunk to write anything. The truth is I actually wrote this post earlier on the 28th, then set my blog to post it on the 29th. So this message is coming from the past!

Anyway, thanks for all the support. I’m going to keep blogging through my year at Sophia, so stay tuned!

A Japanese doctor has apologised after saying that people should smoke themselves to an early death to save the country money on elderly care, according to his hospital.

“It is clear that medical costs will increase if non-smoking spreads,” the doctor said last week, according to Ida Hospital in Kawasaki City. “It’s better that people smoke a lot and die early.”

I’m sorry, but when I saw this (on Yahoo! News) I realised I pretty much had to make a blog post about it. Apparently at some big meeting of leading doctors in Japan, one of them busts out this golden gem, that the only way for Japan to relieve the stress of it’s shrinking population is to have everyone smoke themselves to death to stop them claiming a pension and so on.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s taken a while but finally the US got a president who seemed to offer a whole new look on foreign policy. Being able to post that was an incredibly exciting and refreshing feeling; for the first time in at least eight years, a lot of people felt the US had a president to be proud of, rather than one that should be sent back to primary school, but made to sit away from the other children so as not to distract them.

Obama’s not let us down, either. So far, so good. But what plenty of people are wondering will be ‘What are Obama’s plans for Japan?’ Historically, Japan and the US have had a very close economic and military link, one that has caused tension particularly on the Japanese side, especially with issues like the military bases, Okinawa and Article 9.

I’ve written up a few goals for Japan that I think we can realistically hope for. Please post your thoughts / other goals we might hope to see.

1. Less American forces in Japan

I’m jumping right in and tackling a hot-topic issue here. There are roughly 50,000 US troops in Japan, stationed all over the country with lots in Yokohama (near Tokyo) and Okinawa in particular. The bases in Okinawa are a big issue, because they simply take up so much space and as a result Okinawan culture has sort of been pushed aside by the Japanese government who were and still are desperate to catch up and mimic with the US, and the Americans who sadly only speak English in general.

So Obama how about we have less troops in Japan?! I know there’s a security reason, especially with North Korea being all aggressive and so on, but the continuous expansion of US military presence is simply too aggressive – people see it as a threat rather than a protector. My theory is Obama have up to half of the soldiers in Japan retrain as builders and bricklayers, and build a huuuuge bridge between Japan and Okinawa. Before September 2009, please. I want to go during my year but it’s too expensive.

2. Better Cultural Understanding

Too many times in Japan did I hear ‘You’re from England? Isn’t that in America?” or the like. I’d like to see a closer cultural link between the US and Japan, which would inevitably lead to closer links with Europe, Australia and so on. Making it easier for people to go on holiday to Japan, do exchanges there and vice versa would help everyone and stop the immigration madness we currently go through. Here in the UK universities offering Chinese are getting extra funding as it’s seen as a key subject, why not Japanese too?

Click for bigger! It's authenti...ok, it's not...

I think of these goals this is one of the more realistic ones, so come on! Reform that education system and get Japan, the US and everyone else all working together to help me learn these Kanji!

3. An Obama-Koizumi Dance Off

With Obama being as freaking cool as he is, and ex-PM Koizumi being a great dancer, how awesome would this be?! I reckon one round of ballroom, one round of Latin and a freestyle round. Who would your money be on?