Tag Archives: Japan

Tokyo most expensive city for Expats – CNBC
By Andrew

Just came across two articles where it appears that 3 out of the top 10 most expensive cities to live in for expats are in Japan. I suppose that’s no real surprise for those who have traveled to Japan – the country itself is notorious for its high prices for everything from cars, rent, to even fruits. This study was originally done by the international human resources consulting firm, Mercer.

Several things that struck out to me:

  • The categories for this list: one of the standards used was a “luxury two bedroom apartment”. Honestly, as a possible expat, I will most likely not be living in a luxury two bedroom apartment
  • Some of these cities are in Africa – isn’t Africa still a primarily developing continent? To have some unknown city in Angola be toe to toe with Tokyo is pretty cool yet very “left field”.
  • This doesn’t stop my future aspirations to travel!

Here’s the first article from News on Japan (dot) com. The second being from Yahoo!, who in turn got it from CNBC. Till next time, but for readers’ sake, here are the top 5 most expensive places to live for expats:

  1. Tokyo, Japan
  2. Luanda, Angola
  3. Osaka, Japan
  4. Moscow, Russia
  5. Geneva & Zurich (tied), Switzerland

 

Bunny Cafes
By Andrew

I don’t know about you guys, but this comes off as a little unreal. I’ve heard of the famous cat cafes in Japan, but this takes…fun to a whole new level. I like the one part where the it is discussed that begin around bunnies is a great stress reliever – I remember reading the article here of bunny cafes helping people cope with the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake. My question is: wouldn’t most domesticated animals be sufficient for stress relieve? I apologize, I’m a dog person talking.

My apologies for the long hiatus; since April I’ve been concentrating on my final project for graduate school. Now that I’ve graduated, I’m free! (for the most part). Till next time.

OHANAMI at Yoyogi park – 1
By Shinji

Hey guys! Guess who’s baaack??

Haha. It’s Shinji. Sorry for not updating for a while.

I’ve been running around looking for a job and such…

 

Well anyway! What is Ohanami??

Well it’s basically a huge outside party in parks full of cherry blossom!

The good part is that we get to drink alcohol outside in the public haha.

 

The place I’m heading is THE largest park in Japan (134 acres).

There will be park full of drunk people hanging out all day.

Getting hyped!

 

Will update later today if I’m not too wasted ahaha.

Shinji

Youtube Personality Spotlight – Busan Kevin
By Andrew

Busan Kevin – real name Kevin O’Shea is originally from Canada and has taught English in both Korea and Japan. Still residing in Japan, he has a huge following on Youtube, detailing his life as a teacher since 2006.

I’m subscribed to him on Youtube and although I’m not a *regular* viewer of him, I have seen his videos and I’ve found that his honest, down-to-earth, cheerful yet straight-talk has convinced me (or rather has become one of the reasons) I’m looking into working abroad again.

Since he has been abroad for so long, his videos are a mix of public journals, advice, cultural information, as well as opinion pieces (sometimes a mix of all of the above). Here are some of his videos that I’ve liked and seen in the past.

Teaching in Japan – Starting Fresh

All Foreigners Leave Japan (?)

Yakuza and Seafood

Teaching in Korea: Your Apartment (He’s talking about his experience teaching in Korea here).

As I’ve mentioned before, I haven’t watched all of his stuff extensively, but I’ve come to find him a very good source of information. If any of you interested in moving abroad to the land of the rising sun (such as myself) for work, new life, travel, etc. I highly recommend this guy.

Here is his info: blogspot, Twitter, and Youtube. Enjoy!

“Arigato from Japan”
By OnikazeKenta

On March 2nd, I went to the “Arigato from Japan” appreciation concert in Los Angeles, presented by the Consulate-General of Japan in Los Angeles and the Japan Foundation, where we watched performances by the Tohoku Folk Performance group and the world famous Ondekoza taiko group and other musicians.

I’ve always wanted to see Ondekoza perform, ever since going to Kodo’s “One Earth Tour” concert.  The original Kodo members were all part of Ondekoza at first, until they split from Ondekoza to make their own group.  Kodo remained in Sado Island, while the founder of Ondekoza moved to Shizuouka prefecture to continue Ondekoza.  So seeing the roots of Kodo was very exciting, especially watching the performers playing on their Oodaiko (large taiko) on their well known yagura (the platform that the oodaiko is played on).

Below, you can see both Ondekoza’s and Kodo’s Oodaiko on their Yaguras.  They may look the same, but the Chouchin (Lanterns) have the name of each group written on them.

Ondekoza's Oodaiko on their Yagura

Kodo's Oodaiko on their Yagura

 

In addition to the awesome taiko drumming, there was a nice clip that was shown at the beginning of the concert.  The clip summarized the devastating events that occurred on March 11th, 2011 and then showed the progress Japan has made since the disaster.  It’s a nice heartwarming clip, especially for those who have contributed to any of the relief fundraisers for Japan.  I’ll post a link to the clip below and hope you all enjoy it.

I love taiko drumming and there will be a performance by Kishin Daiko coming up at the end of March at the East San Gabriel Valley Japanese Community Center’s annual Chery Blossom festival, so expect more posts about taiko from me soon!  =)

Happy March everyone!