Want to meet other Learn Japanese Podders? Tired of Tokyo and want to party at the foot of mount Fuji with some amazing music? Then come to our Learn Japanese Pod weekend party in Yamanashi on 29th and 30th August. It’s going to be held at the Earth Embassy Odyssey weekend party. The entrance fee is ¥3500. You get a weekend of amazing music, DJs and live bands. There will be food stalls, a bar and cafe plus some other interesting events. (Stay tuned for more information on that)

Getting there is easy. There is a Keio bus that runs from Shinjuku directly to the Earth Embassy. For more information please contact the Earth Embassy or me directy at info(at)learnjapanesepod(dot)com. Alternatively you can twitter me at http://twitter.com/japanesepodcast We also have a facebook event for this here. Please make sure to contact me as soon as possible so I can organize bus tickets for those with no wheels.

Incidentally this Learn Japanese Pod party is our first anniversary party. Doesn’t time fly?!

View Earth Embassy Odyssey Party 29th/30th August 2009 in a larger map

[podcast]http://media.libsyn.com/media/japanese/ff20090703.mp3[/podcast]

We kicked off this week’s Fun Friday with some awesome rap from Kenjiman. Check out his Myspace page for some excellent tunes and incredible rapping from Tokyo. (If you are a band in Japan, please contact us at info(at)learnjapanesepod(dot)com if you would like your music to be considered for our podcast)

The festival season was today’s theme which is starting in Japan. Waka sensei and myself will be checking out as many summer events as we can in Japan and reporting you about it stay tuned. Check out our festival calendars for Kanto and Kansai to find some great events to attend.

We also talked about the latest Eco convenience store located in Kyoto which doesn’t sell plastic bottles or provide plastic shopping bags for customers. It’s the first of its kind in Japan and we will be waiting to see if the idea spreads. Waka sensei suggested that plastic manufacturers had try to protect the “pet bottle” in Japan which is why this idea hadn’t taken off sooner. I suggested that plastic bottle making ninjas would soon put a stop to this. Waka sensei didn’t agree…

A big shout out to Dennis for sending this photo of an ad to ask people to smoke more responsibly.

The interesting thing is, in the UK you have posters telling you to quit smoking whereas in Japan they tell you how to be a good smoker. And being good is not disturbing those around you.  The tide is slowly turning in Japan as more and more public areas are designated as smoke free areas. I’m not sure what will happen when they take the last cigarette away from the hassled and stressed salaryman. Japan could have a revolt on their hands.

Again thanks to Dennis for the picture. Please send us your own Japan related pictures, comments, questions and suggestions to info(at)learnjapanesepod(dot)com or alternatively leave a comment at the end of this post. DOMO!

I found this poster on the wall of an alley way in Kichijoji in west Tokyo. Created by Musashino city, it asks people to reduce the number of plastic bags they use when shopping.

Top title:

ノーレジ袋キャンペーン。お買い物は毎バッグ。

noh regi bukuro kyanpehn. okaimono wa mai baggu.

No plastic bag at the check out campaign. Use your own bag for shopping.

The man on the right is saying to the woman:

またレジ袋なの？

mata regi bukuro nano?

Are you still using bags from the check out?

The woman sheepishly replies:

次からマイバッグね

Tsugi kara mai baggu ne

I’ll bring my own bag next time

So they are trying to reduce the amount of plastic bags which is good. Now all they need to do is stop people obsessively buying all the plastic rubbish that goes in “mai baggu” in the first place. Added to that is the large amount of packaging used for products here.

Although it is not the only place to indulge in green washing, Japan does have more than it’s fair share. Like a lot of green campaigns I have seen, the only thing green is the lettering on the promotional materials being handed out, printed on paper and wrapped in plastic. But it’s “OK” because the ink is eco friendly. I have seen hybrid taxis with their engines running while the driver sleeps in the cab. The other day I saw a t-shirt in a shop window that read “zero carbon” next to a 40 inchi plasma TV no one was watching.

Just about every car advert on TV here tries to bizarrely link driving a ton and a half of gasoline spluttering car to being eco-friendly. It’s not. ITS A CAR ( he self righteously writes from his un-eco-friendly mac laptop).

Not to be too cruel to Musashino city, it’s a cool poster with a good message. Now ,can we accelerate things so we aren’t just arranging chairs on the titanic?