sydenham said...

sydenham at 10:19 AM JST - 27th July

Potsu, I did a double take on this too.

I mean I thought "besides Hamamatsu, Yoyogi, Shinjuku gyouen, Hibiya, ok and the palace, Ueno, Kasai Rinkai, Rikugien, Shiba all those Teiens," and then the list started to grow. The big rivers have their green spaces too, not just concrete embankments.…

Posted in Most expensive, most livable … with Tokyo, it’s all about who you ask at 10:19 AM JST - 27th July
sydenham at 07:07 AM JST - 23rd July

“Professor, give me my credits,” exclaimed another.

No.

Posted in Burger King adds 'angry' burger to Japan menu at 07:07 AM JST - 23rd July
sydenham at 07:30 PM JST - 22nd July

An agreement was reached. The police dropped their disorderly charge in return for Gates to not use his self-described magical powers of professorship on them.

In effect it was free-go for ego.

Posted in Charges dropped against black Harvard scholar at 07:30 PM JST - 22nd July
sydenham at 11:34 AM JST - 21st July

JoeBigs,

When in doubt, go with the simplest answer. A woman saw a black man trying to shoulder his way throw a door in her neighborhood. She thought this was suspicious and called the cops, and after the man refused to identify himself, they arrested him on suspicion of breaking…

Posted in Renowned African-American scholar Gates arrested; claims racism at 11:34 AM JST - 21st July
sydenham at 02:33 PM JST - 20th July

lordomni

These officers were harassing people needlessly, and should be penalized for it.

Pardon me for asking the obvious, but did you even read the article? They ran a red light. This is HARDLY needless harassment.

Have you ever been stopped by cops in your own country? It's their business…

Posted in My first run-in with the police at 02:33 PM JST - 20th July
sydenham at 10:22 AM JST - 20th July

Thon, gotta agree with Cleo.

as i said above, if a cop doesn't ask questions about what color you think the sky is, they aren't doing their jobs. you might be drunk, among other things, and it's their job to find out.

Posted in My first run-in with the police at 10:22 AM JST - 20th July
sydenham at 10:12 AM JST - 20th July

yeah, this story is a little much. a guy watches a complete stranger slap his kid, but doesn't press charges AND stays to watch the rest of the game. not credible.

if it were me, that woman would have gotten punched, or been in police custody. probably the latter, but…

Posted in The cheering gets nasty at a pro baseball game at 10:12 AM JST - 20th July
sydenham at 11:35 AM JST - 19th July

sk4ek, i wouldn't worry about it too much. I've never been stopped here in 12 years, and I've ridden a bike and diven a car for 10 of them. If anything, I'd say I'm well overdue. either that, or I'm just the best bloody cyclist/driver on the planet... I think…

Posted in My first run-in with the police at 11:35 AM JST - 19th July
sydenham at 12:14 AM JST - 19th July

been done before...in most eikaiwa schools across the land.

"ok, Mika. Let's pretend you're a student and I'm an English teacher. I'll pretend to ask you for a date, and you pretend to fend off my advances, which I'll pretend to ignore, due to cultural and linguistic miscommunication, and if…

Posted in MIWA program combines English education with drama at 12:14 AM JST - 19th July
sydenham at 12:04 AM JST - 19th July

ok mistersmarmy, i'll field that one.

to see if you need to be taken to the station to have your visa situation examined a little more closely. if you can't come up with an answer pdq it might be because you're deserving of such scrutiny. why do folks at immigration…

Posted in My first run-in with the police at 12:04 AM JST - 19th July