BAPCPA Man #4 – The Battle of BAPCPA
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APCPA Man and Bankruptcy Bill are cartoons created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.
Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post. Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.
BAPCPA Man #3 – Enter Subprimulus
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BAPCPA Man and Bankruptcy Bill are cartoons created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.
Update: Nice mention of BAPCPA Man on the independent law blog AboveTheLaw.com.
Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post. Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.
Procrastination: TranslationParty.com
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TranslationParty.com is a simple and amusing procrastination tool that demonstrates the hilarious quirkiness of machine translation. Enter an English phrase and TranslationParty will automatically translate it into Japanese, then back into English, then back into Japanese, etc. Until a Zen-like equilibrium is reached…
From Twitter @leesean via @myGengo.
Bankruptcy Bill #18 – Pro Bono
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BAPCPA Man and Bankruptcy Bill are cartoons created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.
Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post. Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.
I Survived Watching “I Survived a Japanese Game Show” 8.5.09
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This week after watching a game involving trampolines and contestants wearing gorilla gloves and popping balloons on the ceiling, the two teams are separated into separate days’ activities.
The women’s team appeared on the Zoom In morning show. And the guys’ team had to work for a bento delivery company. Watching them ride around on bikes, making a late delivery to an irate customer after getting lost and then accept payment from an old woman of about $70 in change was actually kind of neat.
The net effect of the show seems to consistently be to make Japan feel a little more real and accessible. Kind of ironic since the gameshow part of the show accomplishes the exact opposite.
Update: Japanese Defense Minister Yuriko Koike is on the show?!
Update: Sticky floors and biting squid heads!?
Update: Cathy wins!!! Bring on the “Omedetou Mob” (same guys as the Sayonara Mob but in white suits.)
Ok, I admit it. I’m hooked just as the show is ending. Great season finale. O-tsukara sama deshita.
BAPCPA Man #2 – Automatic Stay Force Field
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BAPCPA Man and Bankruptcy Bill are cartoons created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.
Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post. Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.
BAPCPA Man #1 – Automatic Stay
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BAPCPA Man and Bankruptcy Bill are cartoons created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.
Just stumbled into “I Survived a Japanese Gameshow” again, halfway into the program. One team is learning how to be samurai and participating in a samurai parade. The other group learned how to cut down bamboo and then take the bamboo and carve it into chopsticks.
Two things occurred to me as I watch this:
- This might be the best tourism promotion for Japan they could possibly hope for. It gives people a real sense of Japan and a connection to it.
- What the hell do samurai parades and chopstick making have to do with the gameshow?
Thus far, the show seems to be a greater enigma than Japan ever was.
Bankruptcy Bill #17: BAPCPA Man (cameo by Roland Kelts)
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Bankruptcy Bill is a cartoon created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.
A twist in the plot! (Also, note the Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99) reference as the esoteric worlds of manga and bankruptcy find a rare intersection.)
*BAPCPA = Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, i.e., the 2005 Bankruptcy Law.
On the July 22 episode of “I Survived a Japanese Gameshow,” the contestants have been sent to sumo houses to where they’ll work as cooks and cleaners. What’s not clear is why they keep blurring over the wrestler’s oshiris, even from the side! It’s not like anything’s hanging out. And they’ve been showing full butts on network tv ever since “NYPD Blue.” Can anyone explain what’s with the blurring in this instance?
James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of The Order of Odd-Fish continues to redefine the standard job description for “author.” In his latest adventure, he gave a speech at the American Librarians Association where he forcibly took the Newbery Award from “Neil Gaiman.” And that’s not even the most shocking part.
After watching the video clips below, you may find yourself contemplating the young Japanese students James once taught. What has become of them and how have their lives been affected, or perhaps more appropriately, distorted? Perhaps a film-making member of the JET alum community could set out to produce a documentary on the subject.
Until then, watch and enjoy below. Or watch and read the post on James’ site: “I Win the Newberry”
Video 1: James announces his intention to strip Gaiman of his Newbery.
Video 2: Freya and Erin act out a scene from his novel The Order of Odd-Fish.
Video 3: Neil Gaiman and James fight for the Newbery.
Need a little more James Kennedy? Click here to see video of him reading at the JET Alumni Author Showcase.
By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08)
Echigo Koutsuu spoiled the ever-living fuck out of me.
If I was ever for any reason required to place myself in Tokyo, I had four options:
1) The Shinkansen. Though I will forever be devoted to the miracle and blessing of the bullet train, one way on that horse cost 9,000 yen and required a trip to Nagaoka. Fast, clean, and idiot-proof, riding the Shink is kind of like God giving you a shoulder rub as you magically transport to any major Japanese city in .14 nanoseconds-mit snacks.
2) My Taxi: This was one of a few van shuttle services that picked you up from your front door and dropped you off exactly where you needed to be. Using this option required a keitai and a fairly efficient amount of Japanese as you had to be able to make the reservation and let the driver know where to find you in the terminal. Yes, once upon a time my Japanese was serviceable.
I often used this option when I was coming home from Narita. I could just as easily have taken the Shink but Read More
Geneva Marie (Niigata-ken, 2008-09) grew up all over the U.S. but if asked will tell you she’s from Minneapolis, MN . JET Lag will recount Geneva’s experiences and thoughts as she prepares to leave the comfortable womb of her JET life and figure out her next move.
It’s been an entire month since my last JETLag post! I had an entire week of birthday activities, I did some much-needed traveling, and soon after I was…sickety, sick, SICK! Needless to say -I’m playing catch-up.
It’s no surprise. I was getting off too easy. Nearly two months with nary a cough, sniffle, or sneeze. I knew it wouldn’t last, especially given my bill of health in Japan.
I had spent nearly all winter ill. Like, totally illin’, but not in that Beastie Boys kind of way. I was told that it was probably due to the fact that I was teaching little kids for the first time. Either that, or because the whole “no heat situation” in indoor places OR the worst case scenario: there was killer mold hiding in the apartment somewhere. Whatever the case, I was sicker than I’ve ever been in my life. I got the flu which is pretty normal for the winter season just about anywhere, but I had gone out of my way to get a flu shot every winter in America for about the last five years or so. I had forgotten how freaky the flu really is: the sweating, the puking, the hallucinations. All experienced alone, in a cold apartment without a kind hand to wipe the sweat from my brow.
In any case, at least it wasn’t Read More
JetWits and Pieces: Japanese toilet training video
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Who says the JET alumni network doesn’t do enough things aimed at JET alums with kids? There are a whole slew of JET alum writers with children’s books, not to mention Suzanne Kamata’s (Tokushima-ken, 1988-90) book Call Me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultural Mothering (which I’m in the middle of reading right now and enjoying very much).
And now this helpful video (which is also good for plain old language study to boot).
Meanwhile, though the video may be unconscious satire in its own right, there are actually several parody versions of this video posted to YouTube as well.
Bankruptcy Bill #16 – GM First Day Hearings
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Bankruptcy Bill is a cartoon created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. To see more strips as well as original bankruptcy haiku, go to bankruptcybill.us.
