Random Japan

Why Korean and Japanese people can’t speak English, in their own words【Video】
KK Miller
Native English teachers who have worked in Korea or Japan have developed very strong opinions about the systematic approach each country takes when teaching English. Here at RocketNews24, we’ve previously talked about how all the focus is on test scores and how native English speakers are used as glorified tape-recorders. We’ve also mentioned that there are Japanese English teachers with limited ability to speak (let alone teach) the subject, textbooks that bore the students into a coma and students who are too afraid to try because they don’t want to make any mistakes.

We could go on and on about the issues plaguing the system, but in the end, it is just advice coming from outsiders. Perhaps the ones we need to hear more from are the students themselves. What better source of feedback is there than the people who have experienced the process first-hand and now live with the fruits of their studies, or lack thereof?

STATS
3,000
Varieties of flowers on display last month at the 25th Japan Grand Prix International Orchid Festival, held in Tokyo Dome


663
Number of cherry trees to be planted along the Arakawa river in Adachi-ku as part of a project to restore a 19th-century scenic route


1.13 million
Japanese casualties of World War II whose remains have not been recovered overseas, according to the welfare ministry

WELL, THAT EXPLAINS IT
Managers at Mitsukoshi department store in Nagoya apologized for selling nori rolls with raw meat inside. They blamed the mishap on a staff member who “forgot to deep-fry [the] pork cutlets.”

Planet Sigma, a movie by Japanese director Momoko Seto, won the top prize for shorts at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film “captures the development of such things as insects and mushrooms in slow motion.”

Police in Shinjuku say three workers at a boutique in the Lumine Est department store broke into the storeroom of a rival shop and stole apparel worth ¥1.1 million, which they then sold online.

Headline of the Week: “Manufacturers Look to Spread Less Sticky Natto Around the World” (via Mainichi Japan)

Which Is Smarter?

The Phone

This Wasn't The Space

He Meant To Teach About

Your Government

At Work, Well No

Japanese scientists make breakthrough in wireless energy transmission

AFP-JIJI, JIJI
Japanese scientists have succeeded in transmitting energy wirelessly, a key step that could one day make solar power generation in space a possibility, an official said.

Researchers used microwaves to deliver 1.8 kilowatts — enough to run an electric kettle — through the air with pinpoint accuracy to a receiver 55 meters (170 feet) away.

While it wasn’t a great distance, the technology could pave the way for mankind to eventually tap the vast amount of solar energy available in space and use it here on Earth, a spokesman for The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said Thursday.