2009 November Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament - 14th Day

Been a good tournament in Fukuoka this month. I'm not a huge Hakuho fan, but you have to hand it to him - he fought very well and deserves the cup.

He also passed Asashoryu's record of 84 wins in a single calendar year. Asa fell apart in the last few days, and my favorite rikishi - Harumafuji - had a mediocre basho as well.

-Jason

Japanese History

A fun video made by a JET in Kagoshima.

It starts out with the ponderous voice-over, but that's done for comedic effect and soon peps up with some really funny lines throughout.

Enjoy!
-Jason

I can't stop playing this game!

For an incredibly addictive game called ESKIV - Click Here.

Click on "New Game."
USE the ARROW KEYS on your keyboard to move the circle to hit the square without letting the moving balls strike you.

What is your top score? Let me know! :)

Enjoy!
-Jason

100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers

Brilliant countdown via movie clips from 100 to 1.

I think I knew the movie names for 92 of these. :)

-Jason

Osaka Bang! with English sub

More Japanese silliness...

This video is from Japanese TV with English subtitles.

-Jason

You know you want to click it!!

For your random bit of Japanese silliness, Click Here!

Enjoy!

SUMO - Kyushu Fukuoka - Day ONE- Complete Highlights - #3 (of 3) November 15, 2009

SUMO has started again, so I'm a happy man for the next two weeks!

Enjoy coverage each day of the tournament on my All-SUMO channel: JasonsinJapan on Youtube

Thanks for watching!
-Jason

iJapan (Intermediate Japanese lessons) #1 - Let's Study! **10 questions**

I'm starting a new series on vlogs on my channel to help those, like myself, who are studying Japanese at a level slightly above the basic level.

I hope to post a new lesson every week and learn as well as teach.
My Japanese is not great, but I try, and I want to continue studying while back here in America.

Thanks for watching!
-Jason

Genki English: ESL Karuta Game for Teaching English

A good twist on "karuta" - a game I must have played hundreds of times in my schools in Japan.

Instead of the teacher saying the word and the kids simply identifying it and slapping the card, the kids have to ask the teacher a question; in this case, "Do you like....?" and if the teacher says "Yes" they can slap the card.

The video above is in Japanese with English subtitles.
このビデオは日本語でいっしょに英語字幕

ジェイソン

平岡さんの顔に殴られた跡 島根女子大生遺棄事件（09/11/07）

I'm not sure if I'm understanding all the latest details of this tragic event, but basically a 19 year old college student from Shimane ken (Hamada town) was abducted on her way home this past week, and later they discovered her head. I think they are searching for the rest of her body.

I have a friend who is also a former ALT in Shimane who taught this girl when she was a Jr High student. My thoughts go out to her and this girl's friends and family.

I would be utterly devastated if something like this happened to one of my former students. According to my friend, this girl was really interested in English and would often talk to her.

-Jason

300 Japanese HS students create a Mona Lisa

Fun stuff from a 20-year-old Japanese TV show.

You gotta love Japan! :)

Guy dancing like Michael Jackson at a bus stop

Apparently this guy used to wait for the bus outside an office and another guy in the office filmed him dancing over a 15 month period.

This just made me smile. So many of us grow up and lose our sense of freedom and inhibitions take over. Dance Bus Stop Guy - Dance!

I get some of this same youthful energy teaching in Japan - one of the reasons I want to go back.

Have a good day.

-Jason

Anti-foreigner protests in Tokyo sparked by Halloween train party

Read an interesting article on JapanProbe.com today about the annual Yamanote Halloween train party.

For those that don't know about this - basically every year a bunch of gaijin would ride the loop train in Tokyo on Halloween night dressed up in costumes and basically being noisy and bothersome to regular Japanese folks.

Ultra-right wing Japanese Nationalists, who want all foreigners to leave Japan, decided that this year they would show up and protest. So a bunch of Japanese police showed up too to keep an eye on the situation and as a result, not many foreigners showed up this year and it was a bit of a fizzle.

You can read the article and see some of the hilarious pictures of badly worded protest signs Here.

As is usually the case on JapanProbe - the comments section below the article is more entertaining and enlightening than the article itself.

If you want to see video of past year's train parties, then check out the YouTube channel of RoninDave.