TIGER MASK 🐯 – The heat of the day wafts the city streets as the caped hero rushes into the setting sunlight of a sweltering summer evening. He flies to the rescue of a desperate woman, who shrieks in help of a petty hoodlum. He lurked her in a narrow alley way to harass her now. Arriving on the scene, the masked hero not begged twice, blows the bad guy cracking …
“Tiger! A Tiger you will become!!” – Tiger Mask’s original looks from the anime TV series in the late 60’s. The unique designs and storyline are just as fierce as the signature tiger head mask itself. Tiger Mask is one of the legendary Showa anime characters. Wherever he appears justice shall rule! Continue reading →
The power of passion and curiosity, a subject I always wanted to write about. Incidentally, the desire to do so, first emerged during my stint in Japan, quite some time ago. But having months of transition behind me and needing to lay out my future anew now, it resurfaced and I suddenly felt the urge to finally write it down. Long enough it has been sitting in the back of my head …
Sontoku’s classic image emerging during the Meiji period. Him using every opportunity to read in the Teachings of Confucius (論語;ろんご and 大学;だいがく) while carrying firewood or working the fields. Although a sort of romanticized depiction of his and not an actuality, it is this image which remains in the hearts of the people.
“You there, are you a freeter? How do you think you’re going to make your own living in the future?”, Freezer, the super villain out of Dragon Ball, challenges and mercilessly points out the differences between regular and part-time workers in Japan. The Japanese labor market is sure no bed of roses and as a freshman to the working world, you want to make up the mind well in what direction to steer your carrier – it’s all or nothing!
A work-related story from Japan I came across that I like to write about out of personal affinity. It’s about regular full-time employment known as Seishain (正社員・せいしゃいん) or Seishokuin (正職員・せいしょくいん) and part-time employment, referred to with the English loanword Paatotaimu (パートタイム) or its abbreviated version, Paato (パート).
Having some working experience under my own belt in the country, I’m always interested in topics related to work and developments, even though there are obviously more fun activities to do in Japan 😉.
I didn’t Aim For Gods, but sometimes I caught myself playing with the thought of becoming a ‘Japanese’ salaryman (サラリーマン) 💼. It’s not an easy thing to accomplish though, not for a native Japanese, not less so for a foreigner as the story will show. So I had to stick to ‘full-time’ part-time jobs during my stay. What this means and what’s it all about with the part-timers (パートタイマー; パートさん; 短時間で働く人; 短時間労働者) in Japan anyway? Well, here is my latest article:
If you are after faithfully reproduced fluffy game characters like Mario & Co., Sanei Boueki is your brand! Besides their best-selling plush toy series, the Super Mario All Star Collection, you find many more cuddly friends to gather up.
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Due to my activities in the past when living and working in Japan, I curiously started to develop a fondness for a couple of Japanese toy companies. One of those is Sanei Boueki(三英貿易・さんえいぼうえき; San-ei Boueki), which grew somehow dear to me. If you are a fan of game merchandise and Japanese popculture collectibles, the name should ring some bells, but I want to introduce it a little further with this article. Welcome to the Sanei’s plushy world!
The main characters of the NHK World Radio Japan audio drama Easy Japanese Anna (right side), a student from Thailand and Sakura (left side), her Japanese tutor and friend, at their first encounter at the university campus. In the background, the cherry trees in full bloom indicate the arrival of spring, which is also the time for new school semesters in Japan.
Are you a budding student of Japanese, looking into ways to get your Japanese learning routine off the ground?
amazon.co.jpgot you settled with everything you need, directly from Japan to your door steps!
A few months ago, back in October 2016, I posted the first version of this article, however, a change corrupted some of the settings😤 and it’s no longer appearing properly on Google (sigh, technology 😩!), which lead me to post this again. Might have been a WordPress glitch, but I hope the new article stays unaffected. The former article I left as is though, as some visitors might still strand there (see Edition History on the bottom⬇). The main content remains mostly the same except for some minor editing. Well, here we go again🏃💨!
Hold it right there!…Hear ye and come on in, you shoppers out there :). Amazon Japan published its annual category rankings – get the best of 2016 as long as it lasts! There will be more than you can carry ;).
Howdy reader, how is your Christmas shopping 2016 🎄🎁 coming along so far? Got everything together for the year-end🎉🎈 ? Or are you helplessly behind and struggle for ideas😥?
No, no it was not all that bad, the passing year, however as we are going towards the end of it, I would like to talk about the custom of year-end parties in Japan, which are the so called BOUNENKAI (忘年会・ぼうねんかい). It is yet another and last occasion of the year for the festive people of Japan to throw their parties. The country has a vibrant festival culture, but unlike many seasonal events, bounenkai has no religious connotation or specific event protocol what so ever. Nonetheless, it can be said that it still carries a not unimportant social relevance and therefore is not to be missed out.