Beware the tall, bubbly grass/恐ろしい背高泡立ち草

Japan's attention to the seasons is well known, and though fall is lovely, it's sneezing season for me!

In early spring, the vast amounts of cedar pollen fostered by Japan’s postwar reforestation efforts increase yearly, and the ‘pollen forecast’ is announced on the nightly news along with the weather, just like the cherry blossom forecasts in late March.

Autumn, however, is increasingly difficult for the allergic thanks to invasive goldenrod, 背高泡立ち草 setaka awadachisoo (lit. ‘tall, bubbling grass’). A friend told me yesterday that it came in about twenty years ago, and that at first people thought it was lovely. I’ve also heard that it was brought in as a potential cultivar for grave decoration bouquets.

Is language learning that easy? 言語を勉強することはあんなに簡単？

I'm intrigued by Tim Ferris' post on how to learn a language, though he characterized Japanese as simple phonetically and deftly avoided the greater challenge of the writing system (which I'll expand on later). Learning only one of the phonetic systems wouldn't take you too far. In fairness to Ferris, he was originally focused on spoken structures, but then he digressed, which reminds me, Uniqlo opened a store in Oxford street!

Gas Prices near 150 yen/liter

Varying from ¥147 ~ ¥157 per liter depending on local taxes and sales competition, gas prices in Japan have hit new highs (though our European friends are still paying a lot more)!

What does that mean in lifestyle terms? In 2001 it took ¥3500 to fill the tank of my 12-year-old jalopy, and now it's around ¥5000. That lasts about three weeks, unless I take a trip or have too many errands.

Still, that's direct costs. Since Japan is such a heavy importer of goods, the price of oil will affect the prices of just about everything. I doubt people would respond by taking to the streets here, more likely, they'll turn more and more to hybrids.

NOVA explodes! NOVAの爆発

The NOVA English conversation school bankruptcy scandal is just the latest bad news about a company whose troubles have been mounting for some time. Back in the late 1990s when I was working in a private conversation school, we always felt pity for fellow foreigners employed in their factory-style scheme. Now their teachers are stranded without compensation, the students are out of pocket for untaught lessons, and the teachers union has even launched a 'teach for food' campaign.

As that last link mentions, another chain school GABA has apparently reached out to the survivors of this debacle, but I note that their teachers are considered 'independent contractors' rather than employees. Disposable sensei! None of this is unusual, just symptomatic of Japan's reluctant globalization, which in this case may work to China's benefit.

Def by chocolate?

Hello world, you have got to taste this ~ Ice cream, a little syrup, and eskimo-pie style topping!

In the TV ad, Aoi Miyazaki 'dissolved' in a rocking chair surrounded by cuckoo clocks:
http://www.glico.co.jp/ice/cm/index_df.htm

By the way, a word that sounds like 'Def' (デフ) is a term used by Japanese people with hearing impairment to describe themselves.