Here's an interesting article I found that does a good job summarizing the state of English education in this country. My favorite line:



'It would also be nice if we have competent teachers, not like those JET teachers or part-time housewives who come and teach English for 45 minutes once every month.'


Thank God there aren't enough competent teachers or I would be out of a job. Nothing like getting paid to be on holiday! Doin' a third year keeps sounding better and better.

Avoidinglife.com has been blurbed once again in Time Magazine. This time it's the European edition. Strange how they release the exact same story in different parts of the world months apart like that. People in Europe and Asia often have to wait for Hollywood movies to make their way overseas. Don't quite understand why millions of Europeans had to be deprived of the knowledge of my wonderful site for the past 5 months. Also strange is how they didn't directly link to this site this time. I just don't understand those Time folks.

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been busy playing with my new toy. I'm also working on a short new movie about my perilous trip up Mount Iwaki this past weekend. I climbed Iwaki the 'Patterson way' i.e. in my car. I was supposed to meet Hugh, Luke and Mark at the top but they decided to try some kind of long crazy route that took them all day to walk. Other than that, my time was mostly spent doing the usual drinking, singing & fighting.

I decided to closely watch the referrer logs for this site today and make note of all the strange search engine keyword combinations that have lead people here. I have a feeling most of these people were a little disapointed by what they found (or didn't find) on this site. Here's what we have so far...


irish girls kissing

"kerosene heater" suicide
God in the Workplace photos

bad yearbook photos
*perverted pictures*

olympics 2004 erotic photos
girls being milked galleries

girls dick photos
tasting your own semen

pimp my ride the game download
hugh penis

japanese beach sim
photos of girls with collars on

photos of seamonsters
hope was closed

mc donald s philippines official website
brook shields photos

city that produce the most ponkan in china
purple monkey dishwaser

team sukebe
ex girlfriend payback photos

a-team video clips
john tesh large photos

sukebe sensei
video clip of this guy drinking his own beer vomit

embarassing karaoke
where's waldo worksheets

SurpassHosting sucks
protect my balls

urine Videos
japanese fashion slutty

photos on the life of early man who looks like monkeys

Speaking of Ali G, some real life gangstas at Ghettocities Clothing have posted somewhat unflattering reviews of this site and many other 'famous' Japan websites. I'm not sure what these wiggers are doing in Japan, but their site has some great stuff on it like this article on Tokyo nightlife or this very handy article about how to hustle Japanese girls. Yo, respect. Here's what they had to say about me:

Avoidinglife.com is yet another replica of what seems to be the basis for every Japan site out there (with exception to Ghettocities,) this guy is the typical nerd. I hate nerds. I broke a nerd's glasses with a computer keyboard once. To fully review this site in an un-biased way it has quite the video selection, but their videos suck. I sat through three videos inbetween the massive download time and yeah I didn't quite enjoy myself watching a video of a nerd driving some back road in Japan with Britney Spear's 'toxic' dubbed on it.

Well I guess I won't be hooking up with these guys next time I'm in Tokyo. I don't need another pair of smashed glasses.


Update: Yet another new Aomori JET journal found: Profoundly silly rantings, Abby in Ajigasawa

According to the results of a study released by Nomura Research Institute in Japan on the 24th, there are 2,850,000 people considered "otaku" in Japan, with a combined market power of around $2.6 billion. More here. I'm sure members of all these different segments of Otaku society will be excited by this though.


In other news I've been downloading a lot of Ali G episodes lately. Ali G is a gangsta boy character of an unknown ethnicity played by a Jewish comedian from England named Sasha Cohen. His schtick is to get people to expose their various prejudices by acting stupid, gay or racist. I think this anti-semetic song his character Borat sings is going to be a big hit pretty soon. While Ali G has been around a long time in the U.K. he's only now becoming famous in the U.S. as his show has begun getting airplay on HBO.

The website FilmFights.com is having a contest next week for superhero themed short movies. I was thinking about making one based on the popular gaijin comic Charisma Man, since I figure I have just the right look for the part. Now where am I going to find someone geeky enough to play the part of Charisma Man as seen by western women?

Here's an interesting video I found on another JET's website that shows how many gaijin feel about living in the inaka (country side). The video is zipped for some reason, so you'll have to unzip it first.


Former Blue Forest JET David Namisato has updated his site with details of his return to the real world (i.e. Toronto). A reality that Hugh and I will have to reluctantly face in the not so distant future.


While we're posting links to other JET sites, here's a new one in Aomori for you to check out...

Dave in Kizukuri. It looks like he's into Anime and art type stuff so he'll probably make a good "New David".


Oh yeah, and Happy Bassuday Steph chan!


UPDATE: Yet another new JET blog! Check out Ajigasawa's new CIR Tyler Mitchel