Kea JAPAN is honored to host an event with Brian Martin, Chairman of Japan New Zealand Business Council

This is a great chance for you to:

+ network with a business leader and innovator
+ learn how Brian worked to turn around Levis and Triumph
+ interested in doing business in New Zealand

WHEN:
Wednesday May 19th, 6pm to 9pm [ doors open at 5:50pm ]

COST:
2,500yen pre-paid or 3,000yen at the door

WHERE:
Club 57, B1F Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 4-2-35
Tel: 03-5775-7857 www.fiftyseven.co.jp

FORMAT:
standing buffet dinner with 1 glass of wine included

REGISTRATION:
Attendance at this event is limited to 150 places. Please register your
interest by sending an e-mail to judith at keanewzealand.com by May 14th.
Payments to be made by Monday May 17th by paypal.
All details will be provided on registration.
Any enquiries call Mark 080-3386-7558 or e-mail judith at keanewzealand.com
www.keanewzealand.com

Don’t go to Roppongi too often even though it is just up the hill – but will have to check this one out.

Here is a little snippet from the second innings:

The next man in was one of their chief protagonists and Goldie noticing the lack of helmet promptly put a man close in at leg slip, sure enough a bit of chin music followed and the batsman was looking rather uncomfortable out in the middle. He did manage to stick around for a few overs but never looked like troubling the scorers eventually out bowled by John for a duck. The next pair put on 18 runs before Goldie picked up the next one caught behind. Goldie claimed the 4th as well LBW and we had them on the ropes at 4-30 but with opener Graeme still in and looking dangerous we new the job wasn’t done yet.

You can read the rest of Jeff’s elegant prose here: Match report: vs. Predators, Game 1 Japan Cricket League Division One, 25 April 2010. You can also navigate your way around the site to find out how you too can have a hit out.

I didn’t make it to the game – have been a bit busy with work as per usual. Will have to get out for a hit and add to my momentous tally of about 20 runs in Japan – not bad for 10 years!

Also, had a link from long white cloud meets rising sun : Tokyo Anime Center… and Volunteering in Japan. Looks like there is a new kiwi blogging in Japan. Looking forward to some entertaining tales there. You can check him out here: long white cloud meets rising sun.

Finally – Golden week is almost upon us. Time I think to finally build my first Linux distribution!

It has always been one of my favourite New Zealand films. Classic Kiwiana.

Here is the Wellington car chase scene. Eat your heart out James Bond!

Now, I am wondering where I can find a mini in Tokyo. And a haircut like that (working on that one).

And here is a remake. Bet you never thought you would see a Goodbye Pork Pie Part 2.

And another homage video this time on the Kaiikanui Hill (Northland, NZ) (resplite with graphic possum carnage, but no fish’n'chips):

Classic. But I have to dash. Have a ferry to catch.

The photo was taken by Noface2 and the original can be found here.

That sense of humour is something I do miss about New Zealand. Here in Japan I have never seen a job post anything like that. Hope they find a good burger flipping existentialist.

And who said flipping burgers was a bad job?

Kiwiology is…

Kiwiology is a directory of kiwi blogs – the stuff that makes up the New Zealand blogosphere.

Blog topics include, but are not limited to:

New Zealand blogs, Kiwis blogging overseas, blogs about New Zealand politics, the environment and sustainability in New Zealand (or by people based in New Zealand), New Zealand’s economy, Kiwi businesses and business topics, New Zealand issues and current events and kiwis’ personal blogs.

Recent blogs (as of this posting) added to kiwiology include:

• Bwagy | Marketing Blog

• Blizzardboy A Kiwi in Japan

• Our Sport

• Oswald Bastable’s Ranting

• PhotoForum NZ

• nothing better to do

• OutdoorKnit

• Frank Observations

• Dead Sharks

• NZ Tramping

Also, if you have a New Zealand related blog, or would like to suggest one, you can add it here.

Went shopping this afternoon, to the Yamaya supermarket in Aoyama-1chome, and was quite bemused to come across this sign in their wine corner. The flag on the top is the Australian flag, then it says New Zealand under the flag, and written vertically in Japanese is… Australia!

Not sure how they ended up with that sign, but surely New Zealand needs a new flag… and Australia could probably do with a new one as well!

By the by, we couldn’t find any penne pasta, and other shops seem to be out of it as well. Prices for other types of pasta are up as well. Global warning leads to anti-penne pandemic anyone?

Will the People’s Republican Army be mobilised? Will there be an initial bamboo relief supply drop over Christchurch?

Panda impersonator sought after hit-and-run
By JO McKENZIE-McLEAN – The Press | Tuesday, 13 November 2007

Police are on the look-out for an injured panda impersonator who was involved in a hit-and-run in Christchurch.

A person dressed as a panda, hanging out a front passenger window, was one of up to four occupants of a car that ploughed into a pedestrian without stopping at 2.25am on Saturday in Riccarton.

Constable Moira Wyeth said the woman was getting into her white Toyota Vitz, which was parked on the west side of Riccarton Road beside a dairy near Wainui Street when she was struck from behind.

“As she partially opened her door she was hit in the back by a vehicle.”

The impact of being hit caused the woman to be thrown into the front seat and her front driver’s door was ripped off.

The woman, who was alone, sustained back injuries. A passerby waved police down.

The vehicle is described as a red, four-door sedan, mid-1990s and last seen heading west on Riccarton Road.

There was a blonde woman sitting in the back seat, and the panda possibly sustained upper body injuries, Wyeth said.

Anyone with information should contact Wyeth on (03) 3637400 or contact her via email: moira.wyeth@police.govt.nz

Photo taken from Cousin Bujur’s From America to Turkey Blog. The entry with the Panda costume photos is here. Çok teÅŸekkür ederim!

Who would do such a dastardly thing? I hope they catch the thief and make him (or her but lets face it, him) drink fosters for the rest of his life. That will serve as a stronger lesson than anything the courts can send down.

Sounds like a great reward – and I hope the Croucher Brewing Company of Rotorua get their laptop back!

Brewery offers lifetime supply of beer for laptop

A New Zealand brewery is reportedly offering a lifetime supply of beer for the return of a stolen laptop.

The laptop was allegedly stolen from the Croucher Brewing Company in Rotorua earlier this week.

Owners were desperate to retrieve the computer containing designs, contact details and financial information, the Rotorua Daily Post said.

They have offered free beer to anyone giving clues leading to its recovery.

Co-owner Paul Croucher said the company would provide a lifetime supply of about 12 bottles a month to anyone who could name the thief.

The company has back-up copies of the material stored on the laptop but these are not up to date, the newspaper said.

The Man Booker Prize is the world’s leading book award and has been won previously by a New Zealander with South Island author Keri Hulme picking up the prize in 1985 for her classic novel The Bone People. Unlike the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Man Booker Prize focuses on choosing the greatest novel of the year, so if Mr. Jones were to pick it up for Mr. Pip it would be an honour indeed.

Mr. Pip is a delightful read. It is a story told through the world of Matilda, a child growing up on the Papua New Guinean Island of Bouganville. Named by the Australians who controlled the extremely valuable and productive copper mines on the islands, Matilda’s story brings us right down to earth at the very juncture between many different memes. During the period the story is set in – the 1990’s – the island was blockaded by the Papua New Guinea government as the island was rollicked by war.

Themes of innocence versus power, the effects of industry on an island people, intelligence versus christianity drive this book in a delicate and informed way that both intrigues and stimulates the mind. It would be easy given the themes that this book deals with to drop into glibbly patronizing the characters but Lloyd deals with the themes in an elegant manner that inspires the reader.

Those of you familiar with English dinosaurs may recognize the character from the title – Mr. Pip – as being drawn from Dickens’ Great Expectations. Mr Pip as a novel works in layers and the Dickensian Mr. Pip is several of these. On the island there is only one white man – a certain Mr. Watts who ends up teaching the children. Untrained as a teacher he teaches in a ‘novel’ way – by reading Mr. Pip to the kids. But in a sense he also becomes Mr. Pip. I really enjoyed the way this layering creates a sort of palimpsest enticing the reader to dig between the layers to create their own meanings and interpretations.

This book conjures up images of author such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Unbearable Lightness Of Being’s Milan Kundera. It does, very slightly miss the lightness that makes A Hundred Years of Solitude such a magnificent read. I think Jones is on the verge of greatness – perhaps just one novel away from creating his own masterpiece.

For a rating I will give it nine carriages of drunken salary-men on the Yamanote line out of ten.

There is a nice review from Australia’s The Age here (thats where I got the photo) and if you want to pick up a copy from Amazon then click here.

If you spend time in Japan you will experience an earthquake – this is as certain being offered natto, being praised for your chopstick use, or, whilst driving, having to dodge old ladies as they guide their walkers on random paths.

Tsukublog has a very useful post on Preparing Your Family for Earthquakes, and if you live here it is well worth reading. Follow their advice and you shouldn’t go too far wrong.

Point 3 of Tsukublog’s post recommends that you make an emergency pack to tide you through the aftermath of the disaster. I for my part would like to suggest 9 things that any decent space cadet shouldn’t leave home without during an emergency.

1. A Towel

All true space cadet’s will know the origin of this one: Douglas Adam’s classic Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. In Japan towels come in many forms and can be used for a wider range of things than in the aforementioned Guide. We would suggest you use what the locals call a tennugui. They can be used to make a handy 42 Below Vodka bottle carrier for picnics, to wrap up ones lunch boxes, as a hat, soaked in water to keep you cool, to fix your geta, as a bandage or as an apron. After the earthquake, when you are hanging out with the locals waiting for the Japanese self defense forces to rescue you, it can be used in place of paper: get one of your neighbors to teach you origami or paper folding with it.

2. The Collected Works of Marcel Proust

Of course, we don’t expect you to actually read these. No-one we know has read the collected works of this most verbose of French legends. And no-one they know has read them either. However, with the collected works of Marcel Proust you will have a ready supply of both toilet paper and paper with which to start fires. As an added advantage, whenever some pretentious arty type (like the author of this blog) brings up French literature you will be able to swirl your cognac elegantly in your glass and say, ‘Ah, Proust… his collected works carried me through that earthquake back in 20–.’

3. Rhombus

You will need music, and while we would suggest an ipod or some other mp3 player, there is the distinct possibility your batteries will run flat. So why not go one step further and bring along your own band or two. Hell you can even hold a charity concert to start raising funds for reconstruction. To kick things off we would recommend Rhombus,(flash website – sorry ’bout dat!) a New Zealand reggae, dub hip-hop group. They really rock and don’t require batteries! Also worth checking out is Kora. They doubly-triply rock!

4. XXXX

Next is an ample supply of XXXX. But of course you knew that! What self respecting space cadet would be without XXXX! And we don’t mean beer. New Zealanders can spell beer!

5. Inflatable Paddling Pool

This is a summer special – relax in your own inflatable paddling pool. You will have to be careful the old men from the district don’t try and wash their singlets in there. Ick. As an added bonus it can be used to keep item number 7 cool. Other uses include: hanging from a tree by string and photographing from a distance – think of all the money that you will make of your UFO sighting in the quake disaster zone! British tabloids will publish anything…

6. 12 Dozen Roses / Jars of Marmite

The human spirit is strong and diversity is no reason to forget romance. 12 dozen roses or a case of marmite for your loved one will help them forget the situation, steel {sic or not? ed.} their heart, and other cliches spurned by Umberto Eco.

7. A Case (or four) of 42 Below Vodka

42 Below Vodka is the most famous brand of vodka that hasn’t consciously registered with you yet. 42 Below Vodka comes in flavours you haven’t consciously registered yet but would like too. 42 Below Vodka is your friend. The portable paddling pool likes 42 Below Vodka. 42 Below Vodka was the inspiration for the Pan-galactic Gargle Buster. 42 Below Vodka isn’t paying for what seems like unadulterated advertising. My birthday is coming reasonably soon, so if they want to send me a bottle they can get my address by sending me a message through the contact page. You want to order a manuka flavoured 42 Below Vodka. If the bar you go to doesn’t stock 42 below vodka you are in the wrong bar. Go to a bar that stocks 42 Below Vodka. Order a 42 Below Vodka.

8. Water Blaster Cannon

You may not be able to carry this on a plane anymore, but a water blaster cannon is humankinds best friend. Water your plants with it. Liven up neighborhood meetings. You can even drink from it if you are really flexible. But best of all, if it is really realistic you can smear your face with dirt, put flowers in your hair and pretend to be Arnold Schwarzenegger fighting off marauding looters. Sound like fun?

9. Miscellaneous

The following would also be of use after such a disaster: a house (I would quite like a castle), a bank (not too fussy on origins), a helicopter, soap bubble blower, a yacht (42 foot?) and the machine that goes ping. That should about do the trick.

Well, that is my list. Did you read Tsukublog’s very useful post on Preparing Your Family for Earthquakes? If you haven’t, then maybe you should! In case you haven’t noticed, this post is not altogether serious. No disrespect is meant to people who have experienced earthquakes or other natural disasters. Is 42 Below Vodka better than being prepared? Well, they are both important -  so our advice is to prepare now and drink soon after!

What would you include in your list of stuff for the Space Cadet’s Earthquake Preparation Kit?