Here’s an interviewing technique I’ve seen used to great effect by Tim Ferriss, among others, that our more talkative friends should follow for the sanity of those around them. If you love to talk, that’s fine. But spare a thought for the people who don’t, who are tired of being suddenly thrust into the conversation, …

The buffer for stutter Read More »

Don't worry about the quality of the medium first, worry about the quality of the post. YouTube, blogs, Instagram, FB, whatever, if the content you are posting is good quality, it can and will do well. I've watched some horrendously filmed videos and thoroughly enjoyed them because the content was good quality, and I've also …

Quality over quality Read More »

When you live in another country, you start to understand different ways of life and different ways of thinking, and as a result, you can learn to understand the same issue from multiple perspectives. It’s quite interesting. It makes it easier to argue both sides of an argument if necessary, and it also makes your …

Learning to argue again Read More »

I’ve been asked to give a presentation on NZ’s response to the coronavirus for Sakata City. The presentation will be in Japanese, so I thought I’d use this blog as a way of collecting my thoughts, before organizing them into a presentation. As such, I have collected a lot of notes, but I need to …

NZ’s response to coronavirus presentation Read More »

The most technologically advanced place in the Japanese house is the toilet but besides the seat warmer, it’s not that useful. Besides the toilet, western homes are much more advanced, for example fridges that have an ice dispenser or in my sister’s case, a TV and internet connection. Google home etc. is slowly making an …

On Building a house in Japan Read More »

Just like keeping up good habits, regular exercise, healthy food, meditation, meeting your friends regularly is as important. Of course you really fathom this when you’ve been kept away thanks to some virus, but it really helps to see people who you know and who know you well. Nothing beats face to face, but I …

Meeting friends after a long time Read More »

Have you ever written an essay, gotten to the end and thought, no wait, I’m wrong, and then gone ahead and rewritten it to say the exact opposite opinion? I have. But strangely it didn’t take me that long to fix, it was just a different interpretation of the facts that I had presented, only …

The debate over age from which to learn English in Japan Read More »