I forgot to thank the English-Speaking Union of Japan for inviting me to give a speech to their "English Club". I talked about eigoTown and podcasting, and the speech was apparently well-received. The ESUJ is a great organization that has activities every month for those interested in English and internationalization. It also organizes an annual University Debate Competition each year (for which I am a judge). Last year's winners were Keio university. The ESUJ has also organized a debating competition for "shakaijin". This year's event is held on June 10th. The ESUJ is open to new member. Check out their Web site for more information.

Me presenting to the ESUJ at the Japan Press Club.

I've been neglecting my blogging duties of late. Gomen. I'll make up for it in the coming weeks, promise.

I'm happy today as the Asahi Shinbun ran a piece on English and podcasting and featured eigoTown quite prominently. It even included a quote from me, challenging NHK to a broadcasting duel to the death... well not really, but I did say that the Internet allows companies like eigoTown to compete on quality, as we have as much access to a mass distribution medium as NHK does. Lots of other factors, but at least we can play the game, which simply wasn't possible before.

Our TIME podcast which was hovering around the no. 10 mark in Apple's iTunes ranking shot up to no.2 which was nice, but those bloody TBS people are still in the way, preventing us from claiming our rightful spot at no.1. Bah.

Steve Jobs of Apple has always admired Sony. The integration of cool technology with style was something that Sony had become famous for and which Jobs wanted Apple to emulate. Around the world there was no doubt that Sony was the coolest company in Japan. It's probably still true, but as Sony turned 60 yesterday it I wondered whether a revitalized Apple (not "Apple Computer", any more) will one day take over Sony's role as the leader in stylish consumer electronics, in the way that its iPod has overtaken the Walkman.

Strangely, a Brit is now the head of Sony. When I see Howard Stringer described as the CEO of Sony, it somehow doesn't compute. How do long-time Sony veterans feel? I should ask Shiro Koriyama the former President of PCL and, before that, personal assistant to Akio Morita. A great guy who gave his time free to young Japanese and foreigners interested in business through the Japan Market Entry Competition. (He was so modest, that he originally applied to the scheme as a student -- the Preisdent of Sony PCL! -- and was immediately promoted to mentor!) eigoTown joined the competition and we were lucky enough to have Koriyama-san as our team's mentor. We didn't win, but it was a great experience.

Tea plays an important part in the lives of most people from England. For me, the offering and acceptance of tea is an important social ritual, which shows friendship and respect, even if the dialog is informal, e.g: "Fancy a cuppa?" ... "Love one!"

Watching the film Star Trek Generations the other night (where Picard meets Kirk) it was gratifying to note that when Picard is thrown into the Nexus (a place where all your desires come true and you can be perfectly happy), almost the first thing that happens to him there is that his wife offers to make him a cup of tea... Ah...true happiness, indeed.

PG Tips, hot! :-)

Well, Golden Week is upon us. I'm recovering from a week of dental agony that included root canal treatment (digging out the nerve in the tooth). Ouch. Today we have another TIME recording. Glad to see that our TIME podcast is now at #3 in the iTunes charts, only being kept from the top spot by two programs from TBS.

eigoTown party went well last Saturday. Perhaps a few too many people, but it certainly *sounded* like people were having a good time. And I always think that it's a good party when the noise of conversation drowns out the music.

Not going anywhere special for Golden Week. Will be catching up on a lot finance and admin stuff that needs to get done. Wonderful.