JapanNewbie

Coolest video ever. These sort of biker sort of Elvis rockabilly look alikes are fairly common in Japan. Twitter buddy AdySan got a vid of some himself. Check it out. - Harvey

Here is an interesting Japanese saying for you… 刎頸の友 (ふんけいのとも, funkei no tomo) Here is a Japanese explanation of the origin phrase for those interested. An excerpt at the end that gets to the point… それから２人は酒を飲みながら、お互い相手の為に頚（くび）を刎（は）ねられても悔いはないと言い、とても親しくなりました。 My rough translation: And they drank sake together and said that they would not feel any regret if they had to chop off the others [...]

Found this cool Tokyo Subway Map on WhiteRabbitPress.com. It’s designed by a Korean graphic designer who does maps of other cities as well. Notice that the Tokyo Map looks like the Japanese flag. Designer Tokyo Map available from White Rabbit Press It’s available in the following sizes from White Rabbit Press: Tokyo Railway Handy Map – 375 x 260 [...]

I found this TED Talk with Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, where he happens to mention his approach to learning foreign languages, and specifically Japanese. Pretty interesting. I had no idea he was an old school Japan-head. I think his idea of focusing on the joyo Kanji is a good idea. It certainly [...]

A friend of mine had the pretty rare experience of working in a company that still does the Radio Exercises (ラジオ体操) before starting work each morning. The video says it all. Japan is a quirky place. I once worked in a company which still had the ラジオ体操 music play over the loud speakers each morning and after lunch, [...]