tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39298672011-12-14T21:56:12.822-05:00Gaga's Japan AdventuresGagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1102235269754546392004-12-05T03:26:00.000-05:002004-12-16T23:30:46.453-05:00

Charisma Man If you have taught in Japan, or know someone who has, this collection of the comic strip Charisma Man is for you.

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1064069689958313382003-09-20T09:00:00.000-05:002004-09-11T08:08:40.120-05:00

To Mickey, with love... There are moments when I look around at Japan and things Japanese and I recognize the sheer beauty of it all. Much of it has been shipped off and is now world-reknown-- Ikebana (art of flower arranging), Chado (tea ceremony), Washi (paper making), Origami (paper folding), Ukiyo-e (Edo period printmaking), Shoji (Japanese screens), Kimono (literally "wear thing") and

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1063817848322704952003-09-17T11:54:00.000-05:002003-09-20T00:39:13.470-05:00

Divorces Hit All-Time High in Japan I don't usually take articles written by others and post them, lock, stock, and barrel. But since I'm interested in things to do with Japan, I thought this was a useful post. By GARY SCHAEFER, Associated Press Writer TOKYO - Japan's divorce rate rose to a new record high last year, reflecting an increasing number of middle-aged and older couples who are

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1062944076584079202003-09-07T09:14:00.000-05:002003-09-20T00:39:44.546-05:00

Is Saying "I love You" in Japan a Problem? More on "Love and Japan". This is a comment from a Gagaite with the mandatory Gaga sez that follows. Useful? Enjoy! ~~~~~~~~~~ Hi Gaga! "...When I taught in Japan, I asked the students if they ever saw their parents kiss. They said no. I asked them if they ever heard their parents say "I love you". They said no. I felt sad for them." The roles of

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1062878984894165732003-09-06T15:09:00.000-05:002003-09-20T00:40:19.733-05:00

Fake tits and other contemporary concerns on a 42-year-old Japanese woman's mind. Another insert from M, the 42 year old woman from Japan, who asks me inane questions. Gaga follows suit. Useful? Enjoy? M: I sometimes watch Beauty colloquium on TV 8 channel (Fuji TV) on Friday night. Maybe you remember this program. Gaga: I remember such a show on Sunday mornings (in Nagoya). M: Do you

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1062721245806682312003-09-04T19:20:00.000-05:002003-09-20T00:40:56.546-05:00

Youth, beautiful youth... This one is a dialog with a 42-year-old Tokyo woman I recently met online (in my research on the "Online Dating" piece I'm still working on!). Useful? note: I fixed up a bit of the English...it was really bad before, now it's just ok... ~~~ M: I am serious think about my future what I have to, want get. Recently I don't have self-confidence a lot when I failed in

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1058825598148334862003-07-21T17:13:00.000-05:002003-09-03T20:37:30.033-05:00

Semantic error of measurement Things are hectic as I still don't have a place to live, but besides the loathing facet of dealing with cramped quarters, long commutes, a propensity for the Japanese to be overly proprietous and superficial, recalcitrant about communicating, well, what more can I say? I had a nice chat with M again. He seems to be doing wonderful things at the university as you

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1058824803411768152003-07-21T17:00:00.000-05:002003-07-21T17:00:50.350-05:00

Kyoto People If you feel I've been a bit harsh about my exploits here in Japan, perhaps the letter below will suggest it's not just me. This letter was written by my friend from Kamakura, who is currently doing a masters in fine art in Kyoto. Anyway, her last name dates back to the Kamakura period of Japan's history (1192-1333 A.D.). This might be odd to point that out, but for the vast

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1058824238619162842003-07-21T16:50:00.000-05:002003-07-21T16:51:18.783-05:00

Stinky Pants For all the fuss made about how well groomed the Japanese are, there seems to be a trend these days of people walking around like real cretinous stinkees. I notice this on the train in the morning. I made comments a while back about how the smell of moth balls and bad breath assaults your nose in the "crowdy" train in the morning. But recently it's more than those usual scents of

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1058479625848323592003-07-17T17:07:00.000-05:002003-07-17T17:07:05.806-05:00

Bigmouth Strikes Again "I feel great." --"Pistol Pete" Maravich, 40, basketball legend, shortly before dying of a massive heart attack after a 3-on-3 pickup game. Well, notwithstanding the fate of Pete, I do feel great. Now I don't have to teach, and besides some inane meetings that will divide up the long break between now and April, I basically get paid to go and hang out in Thailand and

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1058478457163966372003-07-17T16:47:00.000-05:002003-07-17T16:47:36.976-05:00

Goin' My Way? In the March 3, 2003 edition of Forbes, they went on a rant about the suffering Japanese tourism industry. Ha! I didn't even think such a thing existed. But lo, sure enough the current prime minister, Juichiro Koizumi, has got a PLAN. By the year 2010, he hopes to double the number of tourists dollars that visit the island ...from $3 billion to $6 billion. Sounds like a lot, but

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1058462586235429802003-07-17T12:23:00.000-05:002004-11-26T02:32:43.256-05:00

Another Rap ...on the flight to Kathmandu from Bangkok, there was this older kinda wigged out Japanese guy beside me. He had an Abe Lincoln kind of beard, you know, no moustache, and it was wispy and white. He had on safari gear, as most guys of his generation from Japan wear traveling, you know, a photographers vest with a gizzillion pockets, khaki pants with a gizzillion pockets, a khaki

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1058457398111172712003-07-17T10:56:00.000-05:002003-07-17T10:57:12.946-05:00

I say spank them Hey, I would really like to launch into how pathetic teaching English in Japan is, but that's a one-note theme and it must be getting tiresome for you. Ok, ok, here's the most recent crap about school: The Dean, this older, seedy Scotsman, has decided to put his foot down about the TOEIC test. The TOEIC test is a measure of your communicative ability in international settings.

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1058457178123438652003-07-17T10:52:00.000-05:002003-07-17T10:52:57.956-05:00

Speak Ill-glish The best experience I've had teaching ESL was in Montreal when I did my teacher training in in 1989. I had French Canadian kids with northern Africans and Latinos. We renacted a court trial, I assigned each student a role, gave them a description of their duties, provided a glossary of terms and concepts, laid out the protocol of how a trial worked, and they just took over and did

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1058456948026650002003-07-17T10:49:00.000-05:002003-07-17T10:49:07.873-05:00

Educational Value? Education is touted as being a very important facet of socialization--taxes are used for education and so we do pay the premium for it; and we hear day to day how important school is and how we must maintain standards of excellence and develop leadership. On the other hand, we are a bit scornful of inividuals who truly learn and think about situations, or who may not be all

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-1058455809323913712003-07-17T10:30:00.000-05:002003-07-17T10:33:18.733-05:00

Waiting for the Godot-damned lights! My brain is little soft and tender, sort of like the skin of a snake when it shirks off its outer skin every once and a while to grow. Only 4 days on Ko Phang Nan and I'm feeling pretty good about things. When the biggest thing you have to do is wake up, eat, and admire the sun and the water, life gets pretty simple indeed. I went snorkeling around that

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-887397722003-02-07T22:36:00.000-05:002003-07-03T13:04:33.703-05:00

Chaipatsu- Every Picture Tells a Story On this tour of duty, a lot of guys and gals have dyed their hair to various shades of brown--the gamut from ginger to auburn. So the old exercise wherein the students describe their appearance has taken on a bit of a twist from the usual "brack hair, brack eyes" routine. Mind you, I don't need to do that sort of description crap anymore...hey..I teach at

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-874006512003-01-13T23:47:00.000-05:002003-07-03T13:11:52.330-05:00

"You fail... so love me, OK?" In this one, I'd like to just list some of the inanities about this higher education institute which pays me a salary to do as they say. ~1~ Although not really written down anywhere, the policy of the school is that 30% of the students in your classroom must fail outright. It does not matter at all about their performance in class--that it might be possible for

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-852334142002-11-28T20:43:00.000-05:002002-11-28T20:43:49.546-05:00

Hell in a Bucket What I haven't realized until just now was that I have lots of money suddenly again. The danger of course with lots of money is that you get silly spending it. One must be always vigilant about such things...it doesn't take long to getting used to money and the things it affords, and then soon you're in above your head buying all the gizmos you think you need just to exist.

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-846069782002-11-15T23:04:00.000-05:002003-07-03T13:27:41.453-05:00

The Apartment Hunt I've been driven around to find an apartment suitable to live in by an agency the school arranged. This is a nice service indeed, and I appreciate the effort. I have several conflicting ideas about trying to find a place, notably the idea of signing onto a one or two year lease when I might not last 6 months. Those who live or lived in Japan know a more vexing problem: the

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929867.post-843013622002-11-09T23:21:00.000-05:002002-11-12T18:58:30.000-05:00

Sunday, November 03, 2002 The Squire of Gothos "Eighty per cent of life is just showing up." --Woody Allen Never is this maxim more true than in Japan. While the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and the early 90s saw the Japanese spending more time at work than, say, the Americans, it did not necessarily mean they actually did anything while on the job. Oh sure, there is a very strong work ethic in Japan.

Gagahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09510784456060371457noreply@blogger.com0