Category: Living

Recently I had an old back problem come back to haunt me and if you know anything about injuries like this they are not fun especially if you’re on holiday or need to work.

Luckily a friend put me in touch …

Ruddy typical. When I left work to go to the gym this afternoon it was a glorious summer’s day. There I was getting sundrenched, lapping it all up while swishing round on my bicyclette. Well, drenched in sweat apart from anything else.

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The word for ‘absolutely bloody fantastic’ in Japanese is 最～高. If you hear this verbally, it comes out as ’saikou’, which can…oh deary me…be utterly misheard in English as ‘psycho’!!

Right now the summer is in full swing here, and it’s …

The Osaka prefecture immigration centers have merged and moved to a brand new building in Osaka Ko area.

Take the Green Chou line to the last station Cosmo Square and then use exit three. It is a 1 minute walk …

There’s nothing cuter than seeing one of those Japanese primary schoolers (elementary, my dear Watson, you were never a Yank) riding on one of those cute unicyclethingies, right?

Right.

But there’s nothing more ruddy irritating than not

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I know this might sound terrible, but one of the perks of living in a distant country from one’s own is to escape the over-hype of Christmas. Maybe I’m wrong, but when I

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 Good question!

But the answer is simple: when it’s a Japanese nashi.

Next question:  What is a Japanese nashi?

The answer is simple: it’s a Japanese pear, so deal with it, sister!

Oooh, and

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The times they are a-changin’… Besides being old enough to know better…and the vague name of Bob Dylan, I remember a time in Japan when you could call a riceball a riceball, in …

August sees the arrival of the 11th IAAF world championships to Osaka with over 200 countries and territories represented and 3,200 athletes competing in the height of Summer heat it should be a spectacular and thrilling event.

If you’re already in …

If you’re struggling a bit with Japanese then there are a couple of great bibles of Japanese grammar which you should check out.

Written in cooperation with the Japan Times, the Dictionaries of Japanese Grammar are a complete source of well …