An interesting article I just spotted on Free Internet Press notes that although there are more than five times as many English speakers as Japanese speakers, there are more Japanese-language blog posts out there than English-language ones. In other words, the average Japanese blogger posts at least five times as awesome as the average English-language blogger.

Which is kind of obvious when you consider how much more advanced Japan’s mobile phone services tend to be– blogging from your cell phone is easy there and makes up an estimated 40% of Japanese blog posts. It’s a bit trickier and less common here, usually because it’s a hassle.

The post also makes some comments about the nature of Japanese blogging, saying it’s “tamer” than American blogging, which is also not too surprising. Kinda neat, eh?

Posted by gia in Misc • Comments (2)

Japan Probe (who is very slow right now– maybe they’re getting too many hits again?) reports that NOVA, the most well-known chain of private English schools in Japan, has filed for court protection against creditors. NOVA schools have closed their doors and no one knows if or when they might reopen.

So let’s sum up NOVA’s difficulties over the last year, shall we? One teacher was killed (and for a while they thought it was by a NOVA student), other teachers were arrested for possession of marijuana, then NOVA itself lost a lawsuit regarding its refund policies. More recently, NOVA teachers reported not being paid on time or at all– and now, basically bankruptcy.

Insert generic joke about novas and explosions here!

Posted by gia in Gossip, JP News, News • Comments (3)

The Nothing To Do With Arbroath blog has an interesting article up: apparently some businessmen in Japan go to school to learn the most effective way to smile. Smiles can apparently “can serve as a lubricant in business.”

And we all know how much Japanese men love their lubes!