Victory Manual

Sakai Junko’s essay 電車の中で若者に注意 got me to thinking about “generation gaps” as “foreign culture”.
In the essay, Ms. Sakai rants about a few episodes where young people should have been admonished for their inconsiderate behavior. In one example, she highlights two young men riding a bullet train watching TV on a cell phone sans headphones. [...]

アメリカ合衆国は民主主義の国のように見えるけど、実はそうではない。
民主主義であるのなら国会は必要ではないであろう。建国者は共和国のアメリカ合衆国を作った。当時、わざわざ民主主義として建国しなかった。その理由はほとんどの国民がうまく制御できないからである。
そのため国会を作りました。建国者が、憲法に義務のある国会議員が国を統制するシステムを決定した。現在のアメリカ合衆国が民主主義のために戦争を起こしているというが、実は我が国でも民主主義とのシステムを使っていないので、それは皮肉ではないか。
国民を１００％統制できているとすれば、それは無政府状態ということではないか。

The over-pious think that unbelievers are in the dark, and the over-skeptical think that believers are misguided. Neither is right.

A protest to protest a protest.
Torch protests could hurt Japan’s ties with China
I might need to begin a protest of my own. A protest to protest the protest of a protest. All I would ask of you, dear readers, is that you kindly protest me afterwards. A protest to protest the protest [...]

With all this controversy surrounding Ben Stein’s new [documentary | attack | sensationalism], I was reminded of one argument, in regards to the evolution / creation debate, typically masked as a question that I absolutely can’t stand.
Let me start off by saying that I don’t claim to know any “truth”. Both the ideas of [...]

Art.
People often muse over the connotations of the term.
“What is art?” they ask themselves in quiet reserve, and their answers often lie in their own assessment of beauty; in their own favorite pieces.
“This is the pinnacle of art,” they conclude. They express themselves.
Expression is met with disagreement. They lash out in defense. [...]

If there’s anything significant about the 502nd one, it’s that it’s only 4 years after the 501st, which in turn was 4 years after the 500th. You may remember the 500th leap year as significant, because it’s the year we evaded doomsday brought on by computers that couldn’t perform the same function that my [...]

Personal experience, especially when it’s limited, can lead a person to a counterfactual conclusion. This is true in all areas of life, and particularly true for people living in a foreign culture.
In my own social involvement within the foreign community of bloggers (and commenters) who live in Japan, I’ve read countless overgeneralizations, downright stereotypes, [...]

Often, I’ll hear the phrase, “People hate change,” or, “Change is scary.” Change isn’t scary, it’s just unsettling. ‘Scary’ and ‘unsettling’ should not be confused.
Humans are animals. That isn’t a bad thing at all. It’s just the way it is. Studying psychology, you can really get a sense of the [...]

You know what I haven’t heard in the news lately? Anything about man-made global warming.
You know what I have heard a lot of in the news lately?
China freezing, having been hit with massive snow storms creating ration scarcity warnings, and rare snow-fall blanketing the Middle-East, particularly Jerusalem and Baghdad.
What else has been in the [...]