Days 1796 - 1802
( Sunday, February 17 - Saturday, February 24, 2013 )
Day 1796 ( China - The World's Largest Trader in 2012 )
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Went to church this morning then to a restaurant afterwards with some Jamaicans and others.
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China world’s largest trader in 2012
China overtook the United States as the world’s largest trading nation in 2012, with two-way trade in merchandise totaling $3.867 trillion, according to data released by China and the U.S.
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| They are slowly and carefully taking over the world |
China logged $3.9 billion more in trade with the rest of the world last year than did the United States, which logged a 3.5 percent rise to $3.863 trillion.
China’s trade has been expanding rapidly since it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, a move that allowed it to enjoy the same trade rules that govern most global trade.
Cash-rich China steps in where other lenders fear to tread
When Venezuela seized billions of dollars in assets from Exxon Mobil and other foreign companies, Chinese state banks and investors didn’t blink. Over the past five years they have loaned Venezuela more than $35 billion.
Elsewhere around the Caribbean, as hotels were struggling to stay afloat in the global economic slowdown, the Chinese response was to bankroll the biggest resort under construction in the Western Hemisphere — a massive hotel, condominium and casino complex in the Bahamas just a few kilometers from half-empty resorts.
All over the world, from Latin America to the South Pacific, a cash-flush China is funding projects that others won’t, seemingly less concerned by the conventional wisdom of credit ratings and institutions such as the World Bank.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/02/10/business/china-worlds-largest-trader-in-2012/#.USx-_6LqjoJ
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/02/21/business/cash-rich-china-steps-in-where-other-lenders-fear-to-tread/#.USyCs6LqjoJ
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Day 1797 ( Meeting The Missionaries / Guy Who Shot Bin Laden Speaks Out)
Monday, February 18, 2013
After work, I met with 2 Baptist Missionaries today to discuss how I could get more involved with mission work in Japan. We ate at Fridays near the Yokohama station and chatted for a long while. One of the missionary guys can speak like 5 languages and he is really good at drawing. He drew this picture in like 3 minutes seriously.
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Navy SEAL who killed bin Laden breaks his silence
The U.S. Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden broke his silence Monday, recounting the night he shot the al-Qaida leader three times and the financial anxiety he now faces as an unemployed civilian.
The commando kept his identity secret in the Esquire magazine interview, but revealed his role in the daring May 2011 raid for the first time, as well as the worries he has for his family’s security.
“He looked confused. And way taller than I was expecting,” the SEAL said of bin Laden.
When the commandos came upon bin Laden in the dark on the third floor of his hideout in the town of Abbottabad, Pakistan, the al-Qaida mastermind had his hands on his youngest wife’s shoulders, “pushing her ahead.” An AK-47 assault rifle was lying nearby.
“I don’t know if she’s got a vest and she’s being pushed to martyr them both. He’s got a gun within reach. He’s a threat. I need to get a head shot so he won’t have a chance to clack himself off (blow himself up),” the commando said.
“In that second, I shot him, two times in the forehead. Bap! Bap! The second time as he’s going down. He crumpled onto the floor in front of his bed and I hit him again, Bap! same place.
“He was dead. Not moving. His tongue was out.”
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/02/13/world/navy-seal-who-killed-bin-laden-breaks-his-silence/#.USyDwqLqjoJ
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Day 1798 ( Why Are So Many Hentai Guys / Perverts In Japan? )
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Wasn't feeling my best this morning so I took another day off. But I still ended up going to bed at 2 am. Why??? Very bad habit I am trying to change.
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Why Are So Many Hentai Guys / Perverts In Japan?
Anyone living in Japan will notice that if you pass any convenience store at anytime, you will almost always see some Japanese men reading at the glass. Do you think they are reading novels?? NO! They are reading porn. And they don't care if you see them or not.
It is the strangest thing that many of these guys read stuff about sex, but they are not doing it with their wives I gather.
I decided to ask a Japanese friend of mine about why do many Japanese men read these books. He said that it was just to waste time. Nothing else. Not that I have a deep concern anyway. I also wonder why the convenient stores allow these books to be read for free??? I guess again that's just the Japanese way to do things.
Also why is chikan ( men touching females inappropriately on trains ) so common? I was watching a TV show recently where the host asked a group of ladies, how many of them experienced chikan on trains before. More than half of the crowd held up their hands. Why don't the guys just simply try talking to the females? And why don't most of the females rebel when this criminal act is taking place? The answers that most females on the show gave was that, they didn't want any attention to be drawn to them!!!! However, about 2 of the girls responded violently. With one even showing her karate skills on the dude.
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| I think the smiling dude in the gray is involved |
A stranger story yet... A Japanese lady told me that her HUSBAND!!! was arrested briefly for being involved in an "up skirt" video ring production business of sorts. She said she remembered getting a call telling her to come to the police station. Only to see her husband in hand cuffs. He got caught videoing up a female's skirt on a trains. I was shocked to say the least. That leads also to another question. Why do many Japanese females, especially the high school ones, wear these short skirts when they know many many of these strange guys are around??? I think the answer is "Because short skirts are cute "
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Day 1799 ( Boy Attends School Via Robot with Camera )
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 ( 4 Years 11 Months )
Spoke to my evening student today about my new computer as well as about marriage stuff.
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Boy attends New York school remotely via robot
In a school hallway, a teacher takes her students to the library, leading a single-file line of giggling boys and girls that is perfectly ordinary — until you get to a sleek white robot with a video screen showing the face of a smiling, chubby-cheeked boy.
Devon Carrow’s life-threatening allergies do not allow him to go to school. But the robot with a wireless video hookup gives him the school experience remotely, allowing him to participate in Winchester Elementary School’s classes, stroll through the hallways, hang out at recess and even take to the auditorium stage when there is a show.
What is most remarkable is how unremarkable this technology is viewed by his classmates. In a class of 7-year-olds raised on video games, avatars and remote-controlled toys, they don’t see a robot — they just see Carrow.
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Day 1800 ( Unruly Children )
Thursday, February 21, 2013
My most disgusting class should have done a short skit today. The class was arranged in 6 groups. But half of the boys didn't want to do anything. I am curious to know what these kids are going to be like in the next say 5-6 years. One guy even threw away the skit paper and it grazed my left leg. The Japanese classroom teacher got a bit verbal but the guy who threw the paper was just there doing his own thing, not listening. I didn't get angry this week because this is possibly the last English class I will have with them.
For the second consecutive week at this school, a teacher forgot that they had English class. I didn't even alert the vice principal or anyone else. I simply sat and waited until the time ended. While messing around with my phone.
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Day 1801 ( My Hanko )
Friday, February 22, 2013
After work, I had 3 classes at the YMCA because I had to substitute for another teacher who was sick.
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I found out just this year that I have to pay a renewal fee if I want to stay in my apartment for another 2 years. This is how apartment agencies and companies in Japanese major cities rip people off. Unfortunately it is the standard in Japan. So my renewal fee for a further 2 years is 150% of my rent. Which will equal to 70,000 yen or just under US $700. Still relatively cheap for Yokohama but still robbery. So good bye spring vacation trip to Thailand.
Anyway, I had to sign some papers and mail back some information to the company that owns my apartment then I should pay that 70,000 yen by the end of February. The apartment agency called me saying that they had some problems with thing I use to stamp my Japanese signature called a hanko.
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| Here, stamp your life away |
After 2 years, they just figured that my real name and the Japanese sign on my hanko doesn't match. So they were wondering if I BORROWED someone's hanko!!!!!!!! I have never heard such foolishness. You have to use this thing to do pretty much everything important... Like opening a bank account. Then 2 years down they are wondering if I borrowed it from some one!!!
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Day 1802 ( Black History Month Event Missed )
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Taught 2 classes at YMCA then went home. In the evening, I went to Jamaican restaurant in Shibuya then to a "Black History Month" thing in Roppongi, Tokyo. I was suppose to perform there but I got there late. Mainly because... you guessed it, I got a little lost. Well also because I was at the Jamaican restaurant in Shibuya too long. I did meet up with some Caribbean and some American friends there though.
