Kelly's band of teachers at Waseda University got absorbed by my band of teachers which means that she was able to cop an invite to the annual summer piss-up that is held at/near the end of the spring Tutorial English/Chinese semester.
This is a photo of her floating towards the after-party at the Cantina near Takadanobaba station.
That's Okuma Hall in the background.
Labels:
out and about,
parties,
work
I don't normally get all excited about hamburgers, but I'm so tired of McDonald's and Lotteria that little things like this make me happy.
A new Burger King outlet recently opened near Seibu-Shinjuku station. That's two in Shinjuku (by my count--I'm probably wrong though), and this new outlet, despite marking the border between the train station and the seediest part of the ward (Kabuki-cho), is 100% non-smoking. Well, except for those two tables out front of course.
This place used to be a Lotteria--located only about a hundred meters from the south exit of Seibu-Shinjuku station (go down the stairs, cross over to McDonald's and turn left).
I haven't been in there yet, but I will venture inside soon.
McDonald's still gets my 100 yen every morning when I buy coffee though.
Labels:
business,
consumerism,
food
2007 was the 10th year in a row in which the number of people who committed suicide broke the 30,000 mark.
The National Police Agency reported 33,093 suicides last year.
Most reports cite unspecified social pressures driving people to take their own lives. Very little seems to be discussed in terms of what can be done to help relieve said pressures. For years, the economy has been blamed for these unfortunate deaths. However, now that the economy is relatively stable (compared to the late 90's), it's obvious that the economy doesn't deserve the bulk of the blame.
Akita prefecture has been training its health professionals to recognize the signs of depression (isn't that a course in med school anyway?) since 2001. However, that northern prefecture of Japan has consistently had one of the highest suicide rates in the country.
Last year Akita had the second highest rate (suicides per 100,000 population) at 37.2 while Yamanashi, a prefecture nestled between Mt. Fuji and Western Tokyo, had a suicide rate of 39.
While the extra awareness on the part of doctors and nurses doesn't seem to be doing much, maybe the best way to reach people suffering from depression is to actually grab them.
Emergency technicians in the southern city of Fukuoka managed to stop a 38-year-old woman from jumping off the 12th floor of an office building in Hata-ku.
Their plan of attack was simple. They talked calmly to her until she took her eyes off them and then they lunged and grabbed her by the belt. Daring and crazy up on that ledge? Yes. Effective? You bet.
Now let's just hope she gets the help she really needs lest she climb back out there and try the same thing again.
[photo courtesy of Mainichi Newspaper]
Labels:
health,
life in Japan,
society
My good, good friend from Bristol is coming to Tokyo for a month to study Japanese!
Emily Erwin (not the one from the Dixie Chicks) is going to be here for the month of July! She lives in Kanazawa where she teaches at a university, but she's on summer break now.
Last buddy from home that came to visit was Dan Eling (2004?).
Labels:
friends
This one hasn't really been played up very much by the English media yet, but the head of the education board of Shimonoseki city in Yamaguchi Prefecture told the head of a Korean school that Japan's pre-WWII colonization of the Korean peninsula "contradicts a historical fact".
There isn't a whole lot in the way of context being bandied about yet, but it appears, at this early juncture at least, that the 44-year-old head of the city education board, Tsuyoshi Shimakura, is replaceable.
Click here for a Japanese article.
Labels:
education,
life in Japan,
stupidity
Wada, Japan, one of the last legal bastions of whaling in this country, brings the youngsters out to watch the slaughter.
Japanese children as young as ten are watching whales being slaughtered to teach them the "cultural importance" of Japan's controversial commercial whaling industry.
Labels:
business,
consumerism,
life in Japan,
politics,
society
Daniel Rios, Tokyo's only off-season acquisition that involved a foreign player, was recently given his marching orders.
Apparently only horses can get away with using that steroid.
Labels:
baseball,
sports,
stupidity,
Tokyo Swallows
