[podcast]http://media.libsyn.com/media/japanese/ff091127.mp3[/podcast]

Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes

Download the MP3

Natccu

Today’s Fun Friday was recorded at Agave in Roppongi with the lovely Liz and Kelly, authors of the “Tokyo in Heels” blog which can be found at the Tokyo Weekender Website. The music at the beginning was “Command Z” by Natccu.

The podcast was spiced up a little with a few frozen margaritas and delicious Mexican food. It’s a hard job but someone has to do it. We mostly talked about fashion in Tokyo and the sorry state of my current wardrobe.

Here is a basic timeline and list of topics we touched in during the podcast.

(00:00)
Intro music: “Command Z” by Natccu

(02:42)
Shout outs: Congratulations to Daniel and Yukki on their wedding day. I wish you both health and happiness for the future.

(03:07)
Get involved with the Learn Japanese Pod community:
LJP Facebook group
LJP Mixi group
LJP Forums

(03:32)
Clothes Shopping in Tokyo:
Kelly, Liz and I talked about the sad state of my current wardrobe. We also discussed some points about the ease of using the Uniqlo website to buy clothes. The general consensus was that knowing kanji would help you but it wasn’t absolutely necessary to work out how to use the website. They bought me a purple shirt. People…help.

(05:30)
Tokyo In Heels:
Tokyo In Heels is a new blog written by Kelly and Liz that will soon be up on the Tokyo Weekender website. It’s about fashion, shopping, cool gadgets and more for your discerning lady around Tokyo town. Tokyo Weekender is a magazine and website for expats living in Tokyo. It has lots of event and lifestyle information in it so check it out.

(06:11)
Shout out to Danny Choo

(06:44)
Shout outs: To Leviathon, Nick, Zombiehead and Isacksen for writing some awesome blogs entries on Learn Japanese Pod.

(07:19)
Sin Den: Sin Den is simply a wickedly good hair salon in Tokyo. It came up in discussion as I may be forced to get a hair cut as well as new clothes…

(07:47)
Japanese Lounge: The Japanese Lounge is an event where you can hear some great traditional Japanese music live. The venue is The Pink Cow in Shibuya and it will be held on 20th December 2009. This is also being held in conjunction with the Learn Japanese Pod Get-Together. So come along and enjoy the fun.

(08:36)
Liz’s story: According to Liz, she met an Australian friend who came over to Japan. Apparently he had listened to Learn Japanese Pod. So that’s who our listener is…
A big shout out to Matt Johnson and thanks for listening.

(10:23)
Cool blogs and websites from Japan:
Tokyo Weekender
Japandra
Tokyo Werewolf
Transit Lounge

(11:17)
Natccu live dates in Tokyo:
Thursday 3 December
Sangenjaya Heaven’s Door
With Seiji Kimura (ex-Zeppet Store/Hurdy Gurdy/Pale Green), Prague (new Sony signing) and more!
From 6.30pm; 2,000/2,500 yen

Friday 18 December (all night)
Green Green Cyclone @ Shibuya Cyclone
Rock out all night, with The Great Funny Pant Sounds, Danny Blanco, DJs and more!
From 12am (midnight) till first trains; 2,000 yen

Thursday 14 January
Chelsea Hotel, Shibuya
with GURUGURU (ex-Softball) and others!
From 6pm; 1,500/2,000 yen

Friday 22 January
Club Mission’s, Koenji
‘Three-man’ live show, with BAKUBENI and more
From 6.30pm, price tbc

Well, that’s it for now. Thanks to all those who were involved in this week’s podcast.

A wise man once said, there’s nothing social about social networking. As we got tired of going outside, facebook slowly dumbed us down and then twitter went in for the kill. The word interactive now probably means not actually interacting with anyone.

However, this may all change with a new little invention called the Poken which sounds like a cross between Pocky and Pokemon. But I digress. It’s basically an electronic business card or “meishi” as they say here in Tokyo. It comes in various cute animal shapes and easily fits in your palm. Simply touch it with another one and you can instantly transfer all your social networking data such as your facebook and twitter accounts. This might be useful  when, after a few hot Kirishimas, finding a pen and paper suddenly doesn’t seem like an easy idea anymore.

Will it take off here in Japan? Japanese people aren’t really that into social networking. Mixi is popular but obsessively emailing your friends via mobile is where it’s at. What else can you do on long train rides into work in Tokyo?

It’ll probably be a big hit with the Gaijin folk here (foreigners) first as was the  case with the iPhone. The Japanese slowly and cautiously started to take it up. I personally think it is a great idea which is well timed. It could be Poken mania soon…

We shall see. Will the Pokemon Poken?

Main site: http://poken.jp