As most people know by now, Japan is not a country prone to protests and demonstrations. In fact, there simply hasn't been any major protest going on in the country since the 1960's student demonstrations against the Japan-U.S. security treaty. The post-World War II Japan is indeed a country where most people are fiercely attached to compromise, self-sacrifice and moderate views. This added to the more ancient cultural tradition of hiding one's feelings has resulted in this seemingly passive, sheep-like attitude that tends to irritate most of the international community when crisis such as the Fukushima debacle occur. Since the March 11, 2011 earthquake and the following nuclear accident however, demonstrations, even though they are still relatively limited in scope and duration, have been more and more frequent in the streets of Tokyo. The legitimate question that one might ask is: Is Japanese mentality changing in the face of manifest governmental inaction and TEPCO's irresponsible behaviour?

Even though firearms had been introduced in Japan from China as early as the 13th century, these were rather primitive and pretty impractical on the battlefield as they consisted of nothing more than a metal tube that was either mounted or hand-held. It took the arrival of the Portuguese in 1543, the first Europeans ever to land in Japan, to bring a significant improvement to these weapons. This technological change would trigger radical changes in the way warfare was conducted and it can be argued that the whole history of Japan was changed because of the advantage that these new weapons provided to those who equipped their armed forces with them. This led the way to firearms frenzy and the development of a whole range of techniques, formalised within the discipline of Hojustu in order to improve their effectiveness.

The Tokyo Koenji Awaodori is one of the largest Awaodori summer dance festivals and it is usually held on the last Saturday and Sunday of the month of August. Each year, almost 200 groups (ren, 連) gathering over 10,000 dancers perform in the streets of Koenji the traditional Awa dance to the sound of flutes, drums and bells. The performers travel through nine routes departing from Koenji JR Train Station.

Besides being the fifth most powerful earthquake in the world overall since modern record-keeping began in 1900 with its magnitude of 9.0, the undersea megathrust earthquake that hit the Pacific coast of Tohoku in Japan on Friday 11th March 2011 is by far the most well documented in history. The data is still coming in but the body of evidence that is already available has allowed the making of very interesting documentaries. I would like to present two of these that were made respectively by the BBC and Channel 4. I use them regularly in my teaching of earth dynamic and thought they might be of interest to you.

Enoshima is a small island off the eastern coast of Japan in the Sagami Bay, not far from the city of Kamakura in the Kanagawa prefecture. The island has a circumference of about four kilometres and it is linked to the main land by the 600m Enosima-ohashi Bridge which runs parallel to the Katagase-gawa River. From Kamakura, the Enoshima Dentetsu train bound westwards for Fujisawa will bring you to Katase-Enoshima station in less than half an hour while allowing you to enjoy the coastal scenery at a relatively measured pace. From Katase-Enoshima station, you will just have to walk south-west for a few minutes and cross the Enosima-ohashi Bridge.

One thing for sure about Japan is that it isn't short of enchanting places. While most of the notable attractions are fairly well documented on the Internet and in tourist's guides, every now and then, you can unexpectedly discover one of such beautiful places. This happened to me on a Sunday evening while I was driving back from a trek near Mount Fuji. I was eager to get back to Tokyo early enough in order to avoid traffic jams but on the way, I spotted a peculiar place which inspired me to stop and take a look at. As I exited the car, I realised that I had indeed stopped in front what looked like a Shinto shrine, so I took my camera and decided to take a few pictures from the roadside. I soon figured out that this place was well worth a proper viewing.

A massive earthquake of a 8.8 magnitude (the biggest ever since Japan started recordings 140 years ago) occured in the Pacific Ocean at about 160 km from North-eastern Japan at 2:46pm on March 11 (JST). Significant damages occured and an up to 10 m tsunami hit the coastal areas. The death count keeps rising as the water clears. Below are the post I gave at the time.

In a previous article, I covered the main requirements for obtaining a working holiday visa in Japan. I would now like to go through the job hunting process which should logically follow. Like in every country, finding a job in Japan can be difficult, particularly at the moment, in a time of economic moroseness. But take heart however, it is not impossible and on many aspects, if you have the right profile and the right approach, you might find the Japanese job market more flexible and full of opportunities than the one of your country of origin. In some cases, some people have been able to completely reinvent themselves professionally in Japan!

I got a lot of demands for an English translation to this one. It took some time but here it is, the translation of my original article. While I was preparing my application for a working holiday visa, I obviously had to read through a great deal of web pages, blogs and forums only to find very inconsistent and contradictory information. In this article, I would like to sum up the main points that I think are essential to make your application successful.