Back in the early 90s on Japanese TV there was a lot more surreal comedy skits like these exercise cum engrish lessons.
Of course, the tongue-in-cheek joke is that every Japanese has studied at least six years of English yet few can speak a complete sentence…..and every Japanese is willing to try silliest crackpot English teaching method.

Poke image for the vid

It was Bob Geldof who wrote the immortal words, “It’s Christmas time. There’s no need to be afraid.” But here in Japan there is reason to be afraid, for it’s around this time of year that the streets become extremely hazardous, awash with stumbling salarymen swaying hither and thither, having consumed far more alcohol than their vital organs can handle.

The reason for this common sight is because December is the month when companies hold their forget-the-year parties. Unfortunately, many workers drink so much that they also forget their names, their way home, and how to control their bladders.

It’s known as the bonenkai party, which is almost an anagram of “bonkers”, a word that accurately describes the anarchic antics that often occur at such events.

The bonenkai is the one time of year when employees have a good chance of seeing their boss tanked to the eyeballs. However, they won’t ever remember this entertaining episode because they themselves will also be mullered beyond recognition, helpfully ensuring that the all-important wa is maintained.

Wa, or social/group harmony, is the most fundamental of our cultural concepts affecting interpersonal and business relationships. The unity and stability of the group, and harmony within that group, are central to our mentality.

..where was i ?

oh…

bonenkai

A bonenkai typically involves downing a lot of these

travelling home like this

and, just outside the front door, doing something like this

omfg..  hahahaha

The president of Microsoft is “Steve Ballmer”, that’s why in the joke they talk about a supposed “Ballmer Peak”. Steve Ballmer is a man who sometimes cannot control himself, he can transform into an “animal”. Even though he can’t control his nerves and he likes to insult Microsoft’s competence, he was intelligent enough to become one of the richest men in the world.

Here there are some Steve Ballmer’s videos that are pretty popular on the net.

Last Saturday i went with sayu to a “ninja” restaurant, where the waiters are totaly “real” ninja XD. When you enter the restaurant you to go through some dangerous narrow passages with mysterious ninja stuff. At the end you arrive to a little ninja village and you enter a house/cave with your table.

In order to call your waiter you have to press a hidden button that is at the bottom of the table. Then a fast ninja will come running and shouting weird stuff ending his performance next to your table doing a ninja salutation (Both hands together with index fingers pointing to the roof) and giving you a scroll (The restaurant’s menu).

Food was pretty good but it was a little bit more expensive than in restaurants of the same level. From 6.000 until 10.000 yen per person.

Ninja Scroll formated menu

Detail of the scroll where they suggest you to ask for ninja help. During the dinner a “special ninja” comes to your table and performs a show with pretty amazing little magic tricks. Then you can talk about the tricks during the rest of the dinner time. At the end of the dinner, a ninja goes with you till the street and…

There was not many people walking over there at that moment.

For the people interested here you have the restaurant’s website with a map , it’s next to the Akasaka Mitsuke metro station at Tokyo. You can even celebrate a ninja wedding party! here you have the special plan for weddings.

Yunessun is a well known spa located in Hakone. It’s an interesing spa because they add common drinks to the baths/ofuros. The most well know are the wine and the sake baths, but there are also ofuros with beer, green tea or even coffee. I would try the green tea one, but I don’t know if I would like the one with coffee.

obviously…wine

Green tea bath.

and coffee

i would not park my car there , who knows whats in that canister…

hey…you never know.. maybe this guy already prepared some flamable liquid to set your car on fire… peoples do crazy stuff like that

One year ago I took this picture:

Some days ago I walked by the same bench and this is how it looks like right now :(