things i never hear in japan

oi oi!; spare any change?; big issue?; mines a pint please; did you split my pint?; what the fuck you looking at?!; got any ID?; she's well fit; are you on the pull tonight?; chilli sauce?; time gentlemen please.


one year

i have been in japan one year since the 20th aug. i don't feel any big reason to celebrate. let all that want to know, know: that i am doing my thing out here.


kids

i went to osu the other day. it is a popular place in nagoya. it has a big red temple and shops. something interesting happened when i went to take the subway back home. i was walking down the stairs to the platform. it was a long flight of stairs, maybe 30 steps. as i was walking down, i saw a father holding a baby. this father had bleach blonde hair, in a bouffant style. he was holding a baby, and his son was kicking him. his son was about 12 years old. the dad just took all these roundhouse kicks; not saying a word. then mum stepped in. you'd expect mum to pull the kid away, or have a stern work to make him stop. but instead mum lifts her pointy black stiletto into the kid's groin. the kid folds like a bad hand at caesar's palace. the mother smiles at the kid, and gives a "what have i done" kinda smiles. the kid is doubled over until the train comes.

all i can thing is when this kid becomes a serial killer, the parents will say: "we loved him so much" and all kinds of bullshit. they won't realise that they have created this monster: a monster that thinks kicking people is the right kind of discipline.