Victory Manual

As a foreigner in Japan who currently teaches English, it’s impossible to avoid having an opinion on a policy of mandatory second-language education. Deas from rockinginhakata.com commented on bilingualism (particularly of English and Spanish in the States), but I want to take one step back, towards second-language education in a general scope.
In terms of [...]

Curiosity lead me to hunt down some numbers for my personal interest in mining statistics.
Considering a liberal estimate of 14 million Jews world-wide, and a world population of 6,707,035,007 as of July 1st, 2008, that means the world is only .2% Jewish. Out of the 574 Nobel Prize Laureates, 160 are Jews, meaning that [...]

Dear friends and family,
We’re back (in Japan). We found a place and move in this Saturday. I’ll post pictures when we fill it with furniture. (It’s 3 bedrooms, the bath and toilet are separate, has a decently sized dining-kitchen where we can actually put a dining table, and it’s about a 3 [...]

The Victory Manual will be out of service for a while (possibly up to a month!) as we’re moving back to Japan tomorrow and it’ll take a bit to get settled in. (Finding an apartment, buying a new computer [*hee hee hee*] and getting internet service up and running)
いよいよ出発！
(Finally, we depart!)

The issue of “No Foreigner” policies that some landlords in Japan tack on to their rental ads is a hot topic. On the surface it looks downright racist, and in some cases it probably is, but there is another side to the issue that has only become very apparent to me recently, having had [...]

I came across a blog which asserts that living in Japan is expensive, despite what other foreigners may have to say on the issue. Based on my own view and experience, I still insist that it’s actually more affordable than living back in the States.
The author of the above-mentioned blog presents her arguments with [...]

来日した外国人に指紋採取と顔写真提供を義務づける新入国審査の開始から１か月以上が経過したことを受け、法務省は２５日、偽造旅券で不正入国するなどの外国人９５人の入国を拒否したことを明らかにした。
Hiragana-ized…
来日した外国人にしもんさいしゅと顔写真ていきょうをぎむづける新入国しんさのかいしから１ヵ月以上がけいかしたことを受け、ほうむしょうは２５日、ぎぞうりょけんでふせい入国するなどの外国人９５人の入国をきょひしたことをあきらかにした。
In English…
Over the span of one month since the initiation of a compulsory fingerprint and head-shot data collection program of foreigners entering Japan, 95 people have been denied entry, reported the Japanese Ministry of Justice on December 25. Some of the infractions included illegal entry on a forged passport.
The MoJ needs to try a [...]