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Ex-Nova Boss Kidnapped By Yakuza From
silentjim
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in Balloon Shapes by cops!
(39 days old)
Exciting developments in the life of Monkey Bridge (ex-Nova boss and now convicted criminal)...apparently while waiting for his appeal to start he's been staying in a hotel in Tokyo. Well some member… more
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Are you sure that's juice? From
silentjim
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(57 days old)
I had my yearly medical checkup last month and suffice to say the results came back and weren't too good. I'm fat according to the Japanese medical profession. "METABO" it said in big letters (it's … more
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I'm Feeling...Grad All Over... From
silentjim
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(57 days old)
I was walking through Umeda in Osaka yesterday after work when I spotted this shop and had to take a photo of it... Now it's very easy to make fun of some of the bad English that you see and he… more
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Ex-Nova Boss Gets Jail Time! From
silentjim
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(72 days old)
Just a quick one this time, but wanted to post some happy news... Monkey Bridge (my old boss at Nova - the head honcho embezzler) has finally been sentenced to 3 and a half years in Jail! yay! :) I… more
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SCF at the Urban Guild Kyoto From
silentjim
Pro
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(106 days old)
A few weeks ago we went to see a friend of ours "perform" in his multimedia-electronica art performance duo "S.C.F." (Click the link for their Myspace page if you want to have a listen - it's not for … more
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Gaijins to be electronically tagged? From
silentjim
Pro
in Balloon Shapes by cops!
(128 days old)
In some other news that has not yet reached my English language paper is that the Japanese government has passed (or in the process of passing, not sure) a bill that will put an IC chip in the gaijin … more
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Nova Crimelord Monkey Bridge in the Dock From
silentjim
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(128 days old)
Finally, after about 18months since Nova (the English conversation school in Japan) collapsed due to, shall we say, mis-management of funds, the arch villain of the piece, Monkey Bridge (Nozomu Sahash… more
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Shinkansen to Tokyo From
silentjim
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(147 days old)
The other week I had to go to Tokyo for a business trip, which meant I had to take the early bullet train (shinkansen), and get up at the ungodly hour of 4:30am! I wrote this on the train on that m… more
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Swine Flu in Kobe From
silentjim
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(175 days old)
Panic seems to have set in in Hyogo, as 8 High school students were diagnosed with Swine Flu over the weekend. They're from a school just 2 train stops away (between us and Kobe), and so schools and … more
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USJ and ET From
silentjim
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(182 days old)
We were shocked to discover that Universal Studios Japan were closing down the ET ride in May after 20 or so years! Guess he was finally going home (ahem) Well we had to check it out one more time … more
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Ashiya Festival and some Wine Tasting From
silentjim
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(186 days old)
We're heading into festival season now and it kicked off for us with the yearly Ashiya festival. Unfortunately the weather was against us this year and it poured down on the Saturday so we held of… more
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Swine flu precautions From
silentjim
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(194 days old)
With the swine flu pandemic spreading round the world it's interesting to see different peoples precautionary measures from around the world. I found this wonderful quote in the Daily Yomiuri (Englis… more
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Kayaking and a bit of raw meat From
silentjim
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(201 days old)
Just last weekend we finally got around to trying out the kayaking down at Ashiya Marina. For those that don't know, Ashiya is on the sea and although it's not like a beachy resort type of place (as t… more
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My Wine Review website From
silentjim
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(225 days old)
I love a bit of wine, and since I've been in Japan I've been keeping notes on the wine I drink (and taking the occasional photo). We've been going nearly every week for 3 years to a great wine bar in … more
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Nova News: Monkey Bridge was innocent! From
silentjim
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(229 days old)
I just discovered in the newspaper today, that my old boss, Monkey Bridge from Nova was let off criminal charges last year by the Osaka police. Don't know where I was when that news was announced! … more
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Sake tour of Kobe From
silentjim
Pro
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(238 days old)
The other week we took a 15 minute ride on the train to our local sake brewery area, and did a very pleasant tour of some of the breweries and their bars :) I blogged about it at the gaijinpot blog h… more
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Another post....Ame I and JLPT From
silentjim
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(247 days old)
I don't know, there's no posts for ages then 2 come along at once, typical. Japanese is an odd language. It has many levels of politeness (5 apparently) each having different words, of increasing c… more
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Free stuff From
silentjim
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(247 days old)
Haven't updated in a while and lots to tell, but lets start with the bizarre free stuff you get given in Japan. I may have mentioned this before, but companies love to give people free stuff either a… more
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Semi professional blogger? From
silentjim
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(276 days old)
Just started writing for a website here in Japan for gaijin called gaijinpot. My first post went up today, so thought I'd give it a blatant plug - the more people view it and vote for it, the more cha… more
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Lucky Bags! From
silentjim
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(276 days old)
At New Years shops, etc sell what are called Lucky Bags. Basically a closed bag containing who knows what, which you buy for a set price and hope to get lucky! Similar to those bags you get at dodgy … more
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Ebisu festival, Nishinomiya and the big tuna... From
silentjim
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(288 days old)
Every year, around January 10th there's a festival held at the Ebisu branches of shinto shrines throughout Japan (well at least I think it's throughout I've only ever been to the local one in Nishinom… more
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And the Winner is... From
silentjim
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(288 days old)
Every Saturday in the Daily Yomiuri (English language daily newspaper I get) they have a "giveaway". This ranges from free tickets to museums (usually in Tokyo), restaurants, free calenders, books, et… more
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New Sony Walkman (NW-S738F) From
silentjim
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(297 days old)
Thanks to my family, I got this new Sony Walkman MP3 player for Christmas :) Very cool it is too. And unbelievably light! About the same as a pound coin (or how I remember them to be). Things mo… more
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The Neatbeats Shangri-la Osaka Dec 20th From
silentjim
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(320 days old)
Last Saturday, checked out the Neatbeats at Shangri-la in Osaka (previously saw Scouting for Girls there - kinda different gig, especially in terms of numbers! This time I was definitely the only gaij… more
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Merry Kurisumasu and Yoi otoshi o! From
silentjim
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(323 days old)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The New Years break is nearly upon us (New Years is big here, Christmas not so, everyone still works on that day). Although they do enjoy Kurisumasu, as I've me… more
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JLPT 2008 From
silentjim
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(331 days old)
Last Sunday was the Japanese Language Proficiency Test which I seem to have been studying for, for years. Or at least the last 10 months of this year. It's over now! Yay! (At least until next July whe… more
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No! Not my ear again... From
silentjim
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(341 days old)
Doh! Got hit by a cold last week, and then woke up Friday morning with a muffled right ear, again! One week before my Japanese exam which includes a listening section. Bloody marvellous. I don't kn… more
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Are you sure you need 12,000Yen? From
silentjim
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(354 days old)
Some developments have been occurring over the Japanese Governments free handout of 12,000Yen. Basically they've been squabbling over it in the Diet (Japanese parliament), mainly over who's going to p… more
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Global Financial Crisis and the Japanese Answer From
silentjim
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(372 days old)
In case you haven't read the news there's a bit of a financial crisis going on, shares going down, people losing jobs, houses, vast fortunes, small fortunes, etc. Some countries are doing drastic th… more
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Hiking??? On a Monday? From
silentjim
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(373 days old)
The other week we went hiking! This is not something I would usually do, due to it being tiring, and, well tiring. But hiking we did. (We had a bank holiday monday so what else are you going to do?) … more
