Just came back from work, it’s 10:00pm now! This picture was taken in Akihabara station on my way back home. It took me a while to find out where is that MacDonald’s.

I just read a very interesting article from Magen’s Journal. Quote it here, enjoy!

YOU KNOW YOU’VE LIVED IN JAPAN WHEN…

- The thought of eating rice/ramen/miso soup with a fork/spoon is really weird.
- You have a craving for onigiri/sushi for lunch.
- A meal without rice somehow feels incomplete.
- Going to a public bath is one of the most relaxing things you can think of.
- Going to bed at 4 in the morning is pretty normal.
- You feel vaguely disappointed if the shop keeper doesn’t say "Irrasshaimase!" when you come in the shop.
- You give a slight bow to your gaijin friends when saying goodbye, sorry etc.
- You own at least three things with random Engrish on them.
- You own at least twelve things with a cute cartoon character on them.
- You find it difficult to talk about Japanese money in your native language.
- You apologise when someone gives you a present/passes you the soy sauce.
- You can sing at least one Japanese song in karaoke.
- Engrish almost starts making sense.
- You say "eeh…to.." when thinking, and start a sentence with "ano…."
- You talk about the weather all the time (mind you, this could also mean you’ve lived in England).
- You have mastered the art of saying "No no, my Japanese is still poor" every time you get a compliment on your Japanese.
- You start staring at gaijin on the street.
- When passing a gaijin who you don’t know on the street, you’ll both make eye contact, smile and nod your head (not applicable to Tokyo, where all the gaijin try as hard as possible to ignore each other).
- You take it for granted that you can buy anything you want easily from a 7-11 on the way back from the pub at 4 in the morning.
- You wouldn’t dream of mixing unburnable/recycable rubbish with your burnable rubbish.
- You own a clear plastic umbrella.
- You’ll use an umbrella if you feel even the slightest drop of rain.
- In a conversation in your native language, you refer to such things as baito, nomihoudai, keitai, kombini and baachan.
- You settle disputes/make decisions using "jan-ken-po."
- A night out means going to a bar, an izakaya or karaoke.
- You don’t even notice people wearing Michael Jackson-style cold masks/Engrish Tshirts/kimono.
- You have a spare packet of tissues in your pocket/handbag
- You don’t jaywalk.
- You hardly ever use the bell on your bike.
- You find it really awkward to refuse anything.

Photo from http://www.klogs.org

I just read from some blogs about "Adopting a Chinese Blog". It’s still a democratic issue of China. Since April 2005, there was a law on non-profit website registration came out, so even for a personal blog (like the one I am having now) still need to register with personal information. This makes me feel restricted even thought I am not writing some political things.

I do understand that China needs a stable condition for its development. That means too much political talks might lead to some unwanted chaos in China which is very dangerous! But this new law, to some extent, seems a bit overacting. Blog is a new media for people to write their opinions freely. However under this law, Chinese bloggers may have to be careful about what they write if it is regarding to political issues.

But it’s good to see this kind of activity that helping those who want to writing freely, like to express and share their point of views with others. So here I am writing this thread with a hope that whoever read this may help to adopt a Chinese Blog.

Now star feeling this way! These few days were living in a very busy routine: leave my room at 8:30AM and come back at about 9:30PM. I have classes in the morning and afternoon, after finishing the afternoon class, I have to go to work. I am kind of feeling becoming a Japanese salary man…

Actually I can just come back right after school, because the timetable for my part-time job is flexible. But I do need some pocket money for living and hand out with friends too. It’s always being a difficult choice; money or free time? But these few days, I start feeling although I can earn quite a lot money, but if I don’t have the time to enjoy the life, then what is the money for…  Saving?

Here is another good article from Wangshuojian’s blog about life balance. I am now a fan of him.

While I was playing with google, I typed my domain (www.RichardHong.com) and found an interesting link on the searched results:

http://www.btinternet.com/~deas.support/Life.htm

I am not sure who made this page, maybe some former students of my department or the administrator. But what surprised me is that I am not in that group photo (T.T) (SAD), I can’t even remember when that photo was taken! (I’m a student of DEAS!!!?) The only thing left for me is my DEAS video link and my website URL. But I have updated that video link so the one on that website is incorrect.

I think I’d better find out who is the administrator and drop him/her a line.