The Haneru no Tobira guys clown around tying ridiculous amounts of jump ropes together. Anyone who fails to make three jumps will face the putrid breath of the spider women:

January 7, 2008 | by James | Filed Under Discrimination, Foreigners in Japan |

A short news clip from TokyoMX about Japanese schoolchildren learning about difficulties foreigners face in Japan:

The blog Zero, where I found this video link, has already posted an excellent translation of the key points of the video.

Here is the translation of what the foreigners say:

A Chinese woman: People sometimes look down on me saying, you are Chinese, I am Japanese.

An Argentine man: When I disagree with Japanese, some Japanese say, you are an Argentine, so you don’t understand.

And solutions the children present after a brainstorming session:

Kid 1: We should set up schools to teach different customs, culture.

Kid 2: We should not discriminate if we don’t want to be discriminated when we go abroad.

Publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha has announced this year’s crop of nominees for Japanese buzzword of the year. The wide-ranging selection of 60 words and expressions — many of which come from the worlds of politics, sports and entertainment — were selected based on suggestions from the general public, and they provide an interesting look at some of the events, people and trends that had an impact on Japan in 2007.

Japanese double standards never stops to amaze me
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/face/news/20071102p2g00m0dm017000c.html

feeling somewhat better, back at work, but still a nasty cough.

KOBE -- A 58-year-old man was arrested for slashing a high school boy on the shoulder with a knife in their residential complex here, police said on Friday.

Kazuo Nishimoto, an unemployed man from Kobe's Suma-ku, stands accused of inflicting injuries. The 16-year-old student suffered cuts on the left shoulder that will require two weeks to heal, police said.

Nishimoto came home late Wednesday night after drinking and found the high school boy and two friends cutting their hair in front of an elevator of their apartment building.

Nishimoto became irritated by their presence and grabbed a knife from his apartment and slashed the boy.

"The boy often got in my way by standing in front of the elevator," officers quoted Nishimoto as saying. (Mainichi)

Click here for the original Japanese story

August 31, 2006

Utada, meanwhile, took on members of the general public head-to-head on the latest version of the classic computer game on Aug. 12. The singer screamed out a few times while playing the game, showing her frustration and desire to win.

From mainichi

Friday 16 June
After work went to Sannomiya did some grocery shopping, met up with Aki she had to go to work, i went home ate some then went to Trinity bar, very busy and some people i had not seen in a long time. around 11 Aki came we stayed until after 12 and then went to Ogi.

Saturday 17 June
Got up early watched Babylon 5 and enterprise then around 10 we went to the dentist again, got my new tooth, finally, after that we went to sunshine wharf, there was supposed to be a kind of Garage sale market but it was raining so much, that every one was loading their stuff back in. so we went home, around 6 we went to sannomiya at Seiden went to buy some new knives for my shaver 5000 yen *__*, then we went to tsutaya, i was looking for some music found Massive attacks Mezzazine but they did not had anything from Fantomas, bummer. Bought the movie the haunted mansion very cheaply, the we ate at a ramen bar it was placed in the area where all Hostess bars are so aki had never been there, after that we went to Trinity Bar, Kai played my CD and lost it, took a while to find it, they had the world soccer on TV whatched some then we went back.

Sunday 18 June

Got up early, around 9 went to JR setsumoto-yama station waited for Tatsumi san, almost  missed him, then we went to Osaka together, we went to Minami-Honmachi to for a Games workshop tabletop game meeting, met some new people, one American and a russian guy, we had not eaten anything so we looked around to eat somewhere, we ate at Brighton Cafe, very english style had some sandwiches which were very good and the went back to the meeting, looked at the guys playing (i had nothing with me.) so just looked at them playing and talked some. when Tatsumi san was finished we went to denden town (electric town) there we went to a new opened shop, by one of our gaming group, i bought to much ^__^, lots of warmachine, and some battlefleet gothic thins and lots of magazines, i missed those gaming magazines ^__^. shop next to it had a lot of cheap anime stuff so bought also some things there we ate together at another ramen shop and then went back, we hoped of at Setsumotoyama while Tatsumi-san traveled on, watched the scooby doo movie at home, crappy but fun. and then i went home, finished watching Batman the movie (from the sixties) with Commentary, it's so corney it's funny. did some washing, reading and that's it.

Wednesday 9 February
At work i had my eye test, i had to fill in a sheet (in japanese off course) and do a lot of tests. Then the doctor checked my eyes and also my neck and shoulder muscles, i was home watching TV when Minami san send an e mail to my mobile phone asking if we wanted to come to Mikage and have dinner with him so, got on my bicycle, rode to Ogi station and from there to Mikage, Aki was already waiting there she came straight from work, Minami san showed up after a few minutes and then we had dinner at an izakaya near the station. There was a mother with a little boy and girl, The boy had a cute face and minami-san thought he was a girl, and asked (*__* i hated when i was small that people called me cute or mistook me for a girl, so i knew how the boy felt).
Aki aske where the father was and he was at the pachinko parlor, later he came back, and told he was lucky today Ichiman (10.000 yen) won, we left about the same time, there was a little trouble with a customer who had drunk too much. ^__^

Thursday 10 February
After work met up with aki at the taiwanese Ramen bar in Sannomiya, who was there with Minami-san and a business associate, i ate somen ramen and gyoza (dumplings?) and then we went to Japanese traditional bar (sunaku). It was busy that night, one of the girls who wanted to meet me was there, i had to sing some english songs she liked, well i am no american idol material, sometimes i song Nine inch nails - Closer witch is a hoot when the japanese do not understand english, but one of the girl could understand some english so i did not sing it. Aki was talking to a group of japanese who go to Vietnam,as Aki is from there she gave them a lot of information, while did some bad singing and talked to the ladies. we went home late.

Some japan pics

Friday 3 February

Well went home watched some TV. Not much else happening

Saturday 4 February

Woke up early, watched some Star trek enterprise & babylon 5 on cable then we went to Sports center and after wards to Rokko island for my Japanese lesson, it was unusually cold, After wards we checked Movix movie theater, but the movie i wanted to see was not playing so we went home, checked the internet and Saikano the movie would be playing in Kobe hat on the seventeenth. So we stayed at home watched some movie on TV, True Romance and relaxed.

Sunday 5 February

Like always woke up early watched some anime and went to sports center after wards went grocery shopping with aki and went home worked on a word document on my Japanese PC at home, but now it is corrupted at work bummer, i hope i can reload it again at home -__-, i did some painting and modifying on my figures Made some pictures of it.

http://dennis0bauer.multiply.com/photos/album/75

Around 5 Minami san came and together with Yuri (who was sleeping in the living room since the morning ^__^), we had Spring roles and Ramen made by Aki, Watched CSI miami in Japanese (luckily i saw it the day before in english), we talked some, Minami san went home, i did some more hobbying and then went to bed.

I have some problems accessing my multiply site (dennis0bauer.multiply.com), so i am posting here

Thursday 26 January 2006
Affter work i went for dinner with my Japanese colleagues and my dutch Boss and another Dutch colleague, They were late because of a meeting so i quickley went to SOHO department store, i saw that A new book was out from Darren shan called Demon Thief and bought it, then to the Italian restaurant, which was named Globe garden nana, very nice decorated, and the food was also good, although i normally do not eat italean.

Friday 27 January 2006
Because i had a dinner today with the West Japan Dutch society, i went early to work and left early, Aki was waiting for me at Mikage station, and hopped on the train. Not long after that we arrived in Osaka, i looked on the map, i printed out and went towards a sky scraper which resembled the picture on the map, but when we arrived, it was the Osaka international Hotel, and we were supposed to be at the Ritz carlton, the receptionist explained us that we had to walk to the other side of the station, so after we walked back, we arrived at the Ritz Carlton which is a high class hotel we had Queen Birthday dinner with the rest of the members in the presidentual suite, i talked to some people i knew, ate and so on. There was also a prize draw after the dinner, and aki won a free stay at a Dutch camping in Japan at Shoda-shima. Full from the food we left around 11 and said Goodbye.

Saturday 28 January 2006
Got up early watched some Anime and Went with Aki to Sannomiya, for my first Warhammer 40K battle game in Japan (That is a strategic table top game with miniatures). It was in the same uilding located as Yellow submarine a toy, hobby shop but on the 6th floor, took us some while to find the room, and there were more people than i expected 10 japanese players and later a also a guy, i met before on the train, from south Africa, and off course Aki and later Minami-san joined,who was surprised because he never saw anything like this before. But back to the game, i played a game against ikeda-san a guy from near Nagoya (which is far from Kobe).

Here is a small battle report: (if this bores you just skip it ^__^)
I had only 850 points of space marined, so he put up around the same points in demon hunters (grey knights), I had 2 troops both with flamer and a devestator squad (2 missile launcher, heavy bolter and a Multimelta), further a full command squad with a company champion acting as commander and a veteran with powerfist. My opponent had 1 grey knight in power armour a few squads of grey knights with close combat weapons and pyscannon and a squad of iperial storm troopers as allies in a Chimera tank armed with a Multilaser.
we set up i on the left hand side, behind lots of cover and only one narrow pathway were the marines could walk through. He set up opposite to me on his side of the table. most of his army in the open. I one first round and the first thing i did was destroying his Chimera tank, the imperials in the back survived. The rest of the game was simple, he slowly came closer with his army, shooting every time with his psycannon and storm bolters and i jus positioned my squads so i could shoot at him and Charge him with close combat (although only me sargeants and commander had close combat weapons). I only lost a few men to shooting but i killed more of my opponents grey knight marines, He charged one of my troops, killing a few (i am always lucky with my armour saves) and i also, my commandsquad countercharged the turn after (my command squad had the furious charge skill). After his other squads and his terminator joining in, a jumble of close fighting occured, and when the smoke cleared up all grey knights were dead one of my squads had only a Sargeant left, while the command squad lost about 4 men. There was stil one squad of Imperial storm troopers moving on the hill toward my units, i killed most of them with my heavy weapon squad and the 2 who survived were charged and killed by my Command squad, my first win in a long time and in geme terms "a massacre"

Aki had bought some lunch, so i looked and watched the other battles, talked some, And went around 5 with Minami-san and Aki to eat at a Taiwanese Ramen Bar, after That i went with Minami-san and Aki to Japanese sunakku (snack-bar) but is a bar where alcohol is served by friendly ladies and Karaoke, One of the girls wanted to meet me according Minami-san, but she had a Holiday, so we stayed there a while, and then went to trinity bar run by 3 canadians. met Bryan, i guy who live in Japan for 25 years, talked and drank some (lots of english teachers there that night). And then it was time to go home.

Sunday 29 January 2006
Got up watched some TV, a new Kamen rider series started, with more classical outfits, the previous series had a latex fetish streak to it ^__^. Anyway went early to Fitness center because we would go to osaka with Minami-san and Aki daughter Yuri. When we came back from sports center, Yuri had allready left, so we quickly went to Osaka, Yuri and Minami-san were waiting at Umeda, so together we went to Namba ate at a izikaya, some japanese rappers were present because the were filmed. we walked to Denten (electric) town, walked around and reached the place Minami-san wanted to go to a shop with old rental video's for 100-300yen a piece, i went looking for some things with Yuri, while Aki stayed with Minami-san. I did not find the things i was looking for, although i bought a funny Gundam super deformed set, while yuri bought some Drama CD and some Doshini for Girls. We met up with Aki and Minami-san at a Kizaten and went back, Yuri met up with a friend in Umeda while aki, Minami-san and i went to fukae and ate at a small dinning bar who made Mexican Taco's, well cooking took ages, it was expensive and the portions were small and not really spicy, a one time experience only, Minami-san went to Fukae station to go home while aki and i got our parked bicycles and did the same, Aki made some own taco's very good but to spicy for me. Around 8 my package arrived, a table top game based on the star ship troopers (the book/series/movie), checked it out, and worked a little on my miniatures. Aki had bought also some Videoes in Osaka, some horror movies, so we watched Death factory, a crappy low budget horror with all cliche availlable. After sleeping time and weekend ended.