Hoping for Kokura’s Luck
Teaching you… history
Any high school student can tell you the first atomic weapons were unleashed upon Nagasaki and Hiroshima. A little known fact – Kokura, a smaller city in Kyushu, was actually the primary target for Fat Man, but cloud cover prevented proper visual confirmation of the city, and the secondary target, Nagasaki, was chosen. Since that time, "Kokura’s Luck" is known as escaping a disaster without being aware of it.
A United States nuclear submarine and Japanese tanker collided early this week in the Arabian Sea, with no injuries or reported damage.
CNN Story
These recent entries by Japan Probe are just crazy – do they actually teach Japanese girls this stuff?
As of late, I’ve been searching to expand my acting resume. This recent article about members of the US military exploring model careers was interesting, and lead me to thesesites
As I have discussed on previous occasions, English is a harsh, crude language compared to the simplicity and politeness of Japanese. If you’re a native English speaker approaching a Japanese person, you might want to keep a few ideas in mind:
1. Japanese people can be extraordinarily sensitive to comments you might find to just be poking fun. Making light of Japanese television, or even slightly critcizing everyday aspects of their culture, is not the best idea.
2. If you’re in the business environment, or in a situation which requires you to express your ideas, be sure to frame your questions carefully, the same way you would in Japanese. It’s better to state "shouldn’t I do this…?" than "I think this is right."
3. Be careful with negative words in general. Even when you’re simply alluding to a hypothetical situation (e.g. "I ate dinner at a terrible sushi restaurant"), you might be giving off the wrong impression.
3. Hand gestures, in particular pointing, are condescending. Pointing at someone, waving your finger, has the same effect as treating him as a dog.
4. Smells aren’t exempt either. Strong aftershave, bad BO, excessive perfume… all of these are probably ten times as meaningful as they might be in the west.
This article is proof beyond all else that the media is slowly moving towards inevitable pablum, and serving no other purpose than to be the world gossip column. Right up there with the Republicans defending their actions on Iraq – regardless of on which side you stand, it’s hilarious to watch them squirm.
I come not to criticize but to educate:
"Ray, people will come Ray. They’ll come to Japan for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up in Tokyo not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at the Roppongi as innocent as children, longing for the hostess bars. Of course, we won’t mind if you look around, you’ll say. It’s only ¥30,000 per person. They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and girls they lack. And they’ll walk out into the bar; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the runways, where they sat when they were teenagers and cheered their strippers. And they’ll watch the show and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The smoke will be so thick they’ll have to brush it away from their faces. People will come Ray… people will most definitely come."
