Neil Duckett

Firstly, if you’ve come here looking for a job teaching English in Japan you can find the latest listings on the Jobs in Japan Page.

Despite the idyllic dreams of hundreds if not thousands of foreigners planning on living in Japan one day, It seems it’s not all that rosy of late, for those who come to Japan to teach English.

Benesse corp,. the parent company of Berlitz reported “Net sales totaled ¥384 billion in fiscal 2007 (which ended March 31), an 8.4 percent increase over a year earlier; operating profits hit ¥34.9 billion, up 11.4 percent on fiscal 2006″ and they also boast ”the fifth consecutive year of record-breaking performance for the company.”

For the owner of Benesse Corp., Soichiro Fukutake it means he’s one fat cat, sitting at No. 843 on the Forbes rich list, with a personal net worth of $1.4 billion. At the other end of the scale there’s the English teachers earning ~250,000 Yen per month according to Japan Times.

Some chose strike action, i wonder what the outcome of that was? Did it work? Have the conditions improved? What was the expected outcome / demands of the strike?

Others have their own English Conversation schools, was this something more people could have done at the collapse of Nova? Are they better or worse off than working for the multi-national?

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It was one of the best days we’d had in a while, on the weekend anyway, so it was off to Harajuku for me for the next station on the JR Yamanote Line which is 1 stop or roughly 2 minutes from home so it doesn’t get much easier than this week.

A quiet Saturday night meant i was up and into it early, hoping to have a good look around and get plenty of pictures.

Harajuku on a Sunday is busy at the best of times, a Sunday with weather around 25 degs is definitely enough to gaurantee anyone tossing it up, would make it out.

Harajuku is a must for any tourist visiting Japan. It’s a great mix of cheap stalls and shops in Takeshita Dori to the expensive brand names and boutique stores along and around Omotesando Dori and into Aoyama.

It’s a place i’d been many a time but mostly i’ve stayed on the beaten track so this time i was determined to get a bit further a field and see what else Harajuku had on offer.

Over the bridge and you’ll find one of the more famous and popular shrines in Japan, Meiji Jingu.

I didn’t get in to Meiji Jingu this time, i’ve done the walk many times before and will no doubt do it again, next time i have a few overseas visitors i’d imagine.

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I guess this is as off topic as it gets but it’s actually the reason why this site exists today and how i got into the whole website, blog, internet thing as a hobby so you may choose to read on, or you may just want to close the browser and come back soon for the next installment on the JR Yamanote Line - Harajuku … up to you.

What’s a Babymoon ? and What’s my interest in it you’re probably wondering. First i’ll once again rely on wikipedia for the explanation.

A Babymoon is a vacation taken by a couple that is expecting a baby in order to allow the couple to enjoy a final trip together before the many sleepless nights that usually accompany a newborn baby.

Babymoons are usually take place at a resort that offers appropriate services like prenatal massage.

The term Babymoon comes from the more traditional term honeymoon, which is a vacation taken by a newlywed couple after their wedding ceremony.

The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo is offering a Babymoon and you can check the site for all the details, the view is outstanding so regardless of the occasion i’m keen to get in and stay there one night.

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In the past Triumph have come up with several bizarre bras from the Warmbiz Heated Bra, The Post Office Bra, The Anti Smoking Bra to my favourite, the My Chopsticks Bra.

Well, they’re at it again, this time with the Solar Powered “Photovoltaic-Powered Bra” which features an electricity-generating solar panel that powers a small display. Why? I don’t know and to be honest i don’t really care.

Apparently Touted as both “earth and human friendly,” the bra is also equipped with pads designed to hold beverages so the wearer can reduce usage of cans and plastic bottles, the company said.

Triumph lingerie model Yuko Ishida has once again adorned the new bra in question for all to wonder -exactly what is the point of this all?

Thanks to Lee for this titiliating story.

Popularity: 8% [?]

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An ever increasing topic in the news and blogs around Japan these days is suicide by inhaling Hydrogen Sulfide made from household detergent.

It seems everywhere i turn yet another suicide is reported with Hydrogen Sulfide being the cause or method used is probably more appropriate.

While i understand there may be many people out there in dire straits and they feel the only way out is to take their own life, the problem actually affects the wider community when they use Hydrogen Sulfide as the method - hence a greater uproar in the community.

While reading the Daily Mainichi today the headline “3 Japanese found dead in car; police suspect lethal gas made from detergent” caught my eye … only to see the “Related Articles” below it and see another 9 all relating to the same thing.

“Earlier this month a man killed himself by mixing detergent in his house on the northern island of Hokkaido, releasing toxic fumes that drove 350 neighbors from their homes”  reported the mainichi. The full article can be read here.

Suicide is a massive issue in Japan and the figures from The government said 32,155 people killed themselves in Japan in 2006, giving the country the world’s ninth highest suicide rate.

I had come across a campaign against suicide organised by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government here a couple of months ago which was specifically promoted on trains, the other most common method of suicide in Japan. Maybe they need to rejig this and target this new means to an end.

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