The bigonjapan.com Year-End Zeitgeist 2008

Every year the words and phrases that are most searched for by internet users around the world are published in Google’s Year-End Zeitgeist. As the name suggests, the report is a snapshot of where the world’s curiosity and interests currently lie, and as such offers a fascinating insight into global internet usage and the national psyche of the countries that are also listed individually.

Thanks to Google’s awesome Google Analytics software I have installed on Big on Japan, I too can take a peak at what internet users around the world are searching for and how they arrived at my site. And as with Google’s report, the bigonjapan.com year-end zeitgeist indicates the popularity of a number of topics, albeit generally restricted to ones relating to Japan. The top 10 for 2008 follows, with last year’s position in brackets: (more…)

After five wonderful years spent living in Japan, I’ve now returned to the UK to live. To a certain extent this won’t affect the contents of Big On Japan: I’ll still be posting the same mix of articles I wrote whilst living in Japan, along with photos I took there. I’ll also continue posting the best Japan-related photos and videos I find on the net too.

But additionally, there’ll be more articles examining similarities and differences between British and Japanese cultures, especially those focusing on life in England from someone who’s gotten used to living in Japan. (more…)

1) What is the picture on the right?

a) A fish egg-sac
b) A dancing kidney
c) A character from a kids’ toilet training video

Answer

2) Milk + Beer = what?

a) Meer
b) Bilk
c) A foul, undrinkable liquid

Answer (more…)

Here are the photos from the Photo of the Month series, in case you missed any of them. Other photos that’ve been getting a lot of hits this year include samurai Colonel Sanders, the claw machine with live lobster prizes, the ‘ultra big’ condoms, the vomit bar, Tsuruhashi (Osaka’s Korea Town) and Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (my favourite skyscraper). Just click on the thumbnails below to check out the original photos.

The Last 12 Months
It’s exactly a year since Big On Japan first came online. Over the past year articles I’ve published here have included the Toilets In Japan series, the Website Review series, and the My Favourite Slang series - if you want to know the definition of expressions like runway futon, Gameboy dropper, Flying While Gaijin and mentalist, then you’ve come to the right place!

Other articles have included The Axe Effect (about deodorant in Japan), Beer And The Mother Tongue (about beer vocabulary in the English language), The Sasebo Burger Nazi (about a hamburger restaurant owner), Around Osaka (about the Tsuruhashi area), Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (about Tokyo’s best skyscraper), Sampling Sake (about a Sake Museum), Big In Japan - Kiku (about Japan’s national emblem) and Kure Kure Takora (about an insane kids’ TV show from the 70s).

As well as articles, I’ve also been posting photos on this site as part of the Photo of the Month series, plus other interesting and unusual photos such as samurai Colonel Sanders, the Harajuku oddball, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the vomit bar, Tsuruhashi (Osaka’s Korea Town), the claw machine with live lobster prizes and the ultra big condoms. I’ve also put a few bizarre Japan-related videos on Big On Japan - Survival English, Kure Kure Takora episodes and a toilet training video.
(more…)

Regular Big On Japan readers may have noticed that the time between posts on this site has slowly been getting longer. This is not because of a lack of material to publish, rather a lack of time to write and edit material as I’m currently on holiday. I’ll be on holiday until August or September and during this time posts will most likely be appearing every 2-3 weeks. After September I hope to be posting more regularly again (maybe every 1-2 weeks).

Majestyk.

この記事の日本語版はこちらをご覧下さい

Welcome to my new blog! I’m currently teaching English in Japan, and in the coming months I’m going to be sharing my experiences and observations with you. In future posts I hope to give you an insight into what life in Japan is like (for me anyway), focusing on my interaction with the people and analysis of the language and culture.

As the title Big On Japan implies, I love this country. That doesn’t stop me from viewing things around me with a critical eye however, and I’ll be writing about both the positive and negative aspects of living here, regardless of whether they show the country in a good light or not.

Because of the subject matter I’ll be focusing on, Big On Japan will probably be of most interest to other gaijin (foreigners) living in Japan, as well as anybody with an interest in the country’s language and culture.

As this blog is about Japan though, I’d also like Japanese people to be able to read it and will therefore be including Japanese translations of my posts, as well as focusing on some aspects of English language and western culture that will hopefully be of interest to Japanese readers.

Of course, the risk of trying to write for two audiences is that as the old saying goes, ‘you can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time’. Never mind, I’ll just have to try my best.

Enjoy…

Majestyk.

Your homework:

What are the best and worst things about living in Japan?

Post your replies here, or email me at bigonjapan(at)gmail.com