The Japanese Language Unknown to Even the Japanese

A few weeks ago, Cerg and I happened to watch the initial episode of the TV comedy-drama series Nihonjin no shiranai nihongo, translated in English as "The Japanese Language Unknown to Even the Japanese".  Many foreigners living in Japan will surely be able to relate to this drama series.

The drama depicts the experience of Haruko, a former "charisma" shop assistant who is looking for a teaching position at a regular high school.  Haruko's former teacher who is temporarily admitted in a hospital promised to introduce Haruko such a position on the condition that Haruko would first handle a class for her for three months while she is still in the hospital.  Haruko accepted the deal not knowing that the class consisted of foreign students.

English

Topics:

Hello blog!

Wow, it's been a while since we last updated our blog.  We've been busy these past few weeks and so much has been going on at work, at the church, and with our personal lives.

So what have we been up to?  Mister and Misis traveled around the world, met a 9th-generation medicine man who told us we would come back and study with him, and spent four months in Italy, eating and enjoying life.  Ok, just kidding!  (I just saw the trailer of Julia Roberts' Eat, Pray, and Love so I've included its short plot here. hehe.)

English

Topics:

The color of forgiveness

"'Come now, let us reason together,' says the LORD. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." - Isaiah 1:18

The preceding passage is considered by many Bible readers as one of the most powerful Bible verses about forgiveness.  Through beautiful use of imagery, it deeply illustrates the graciousness of God in forgiving even the most undeserving sinner.  The contrast between the colors white and crimson red effectively shows the loving-kindness of God and His ability to remove even an extreme degree of moral blemish.

English

Topics:

INC buys Lutheran Church facility in Sacramento California

The Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) is purchasing the 7-acre church property located at Lemon Hill Avenue Sacramento, California, from a 57-year-old congregation of the Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.

English

What to do when your Yahoo email gets hacked

Recently, some of my friends have been unknowingly sending strange emails from their Yahoo accounts.  The emails, which contain a link to a suspicious website, are being sent to all email addresses registered in their contact lists.

English

Topics:

'Out of sight, out of mind' in Microsoft Word

Two of our client companies have reported a problem regarding the financial software that we are providing them.  We had not been able to reproduce the problem in any of the computers in our company so we had a hard time fixing it.  It was not until after 3 weeks and lots of coffee and tea, that we were able to finally solve it.  The culprit? Microsoft's design of the new Ribbon interface in Microsoft Office Word.

English

Topics:

Chorei Leading

Yesterday, it was again my turn to lead our Department Chorei.  In case you didn't know, chorei is the Japanese term for the morning assembly or ceremony that is popular among many Japanese companies.

Basically, chorei is like the flag ceremony in Philippine elementary schools.  There is, however, no flag (and flag-raising, of course), no singing of the national anthem, and no reciting of panatang makabayan.  These are replaced instead by the reciting of the company vision and mission, attendance checking, and countless bowing.

English

Applications for 2011 Japanese Government (Monbusho) Scholarship

Did you know that for more than 54 years the Japanese Government through its Ministry of Education (Monbusho) has been sponsoring foreign students, including Filipinos, to study in Japan? 

Hundreds of Filipinos, including this author, have been sent to Japan for the past several years to study under the following six different scholarship programs.

English

"Ikaw ang buhay ko (You are my life)"

Last Sunday (May 9), Cerg and I attended a special gathering of members of a Christian Couples organization in Tokyo.  The programme was composed of two parts - a lecture and a "socializing".

English

Topics:

Data that remain until the end shall be safe

That everything we see now shall sooner or later perish is a fact that theists and non-theists alike can both agree with.  The bible teaches that "things that can be seen are temporary". Scientists teach essentially the same.  The cosmological theory that is currently held by the majority of the scientific community is that of a universe expanding at an accelerated pace. Once the universe reach maximum entropy, all usable energy will be lost as stars burn out for all eternity.

English

Topics:

Pages

Subscribe to Mister At Misis RSS