自己紹介

こんいちは！

わたしはおすてんせんです。わたしはあめりかじんです。こるんびあのがくせいです。わたしのこきょ サンフランシスコです。ンフランシスコにゴールデンゲートブリッジや検索結果があります。はくぶつかんもあります。わたしはきにょうびに東京にきます。わたしはにちようびにしんかんせんで富士山にいきました。らいしゅう ニューヨークにかえります。

よろしくおねがいします！

Nakagawa Caught Red Handed

Japan's finance minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, was allegedly drunk while giving a speech at yesderday's summit in Rome. If this isn't a sign of the rough financial times for the world and for Japan, the world's second largest economy, then what is? If you were the finance minister of a major industrial nation right now, wouldn't you get drunk as well?

Here is the link to a very funny youtube clip of the speech. Of course, it might take a little bit more study for us to understand his slurred words, but notice that at one point, Nakagawa can't even find who in the audience is speaking, compelling the reporter to reply "私たしです！

The Japanese bow

I have a lot of questions about Japanese culture that I would like to explore over this next semester. One of them is the bow that Japanese people use to greet each other and say goodbye. To me this seems like a quintessential example of a cultural habit that might be in danger from the onslaughts of globalization, considering the dominance of other Western habits such as shaking or waving hands. Is there any sign of a disappearance of the bow in Japan? Are people increasingly shaking hands in Japan, or is the bow steadfastly thwarting globalization?