http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/ en Copyright 2008 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:57:59 +0900 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.35 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss One of my favourite magazines is The Spectator. It's a current affairs magazine on the right of the political spectrum. Despite that, I just love the writing. The Spectator is a British eccentric. It combines incisive political commentary with beautiful discursive writing of the sort that you don't often see these days. Witty, caustic, irreverent, the Spectator is a delight. Where else do you get such self-evident truths as those in this recent letter to The Spectator: English delicacy Sir: In his splendid, appetite-inducing piece on food (And another thing, 9 February), Paul Johnson forgets one great English delicacy — the truly magnificent chip butty. As a young, penniless reporter I virtually lived on these tasty wonders. For the very best results use extremely soft, white bread. Then butter liberally (unsalted French butter is the best). Line up six chewy chips and then douse with either HP Brown Sauce or, better still, Daddies Sauce. The secret is to let the butter and sauce soak into the bread. This should be accompanied by very strong, workmen’s-style tea (none of that sissy Earl Grey). Ah — food and drink for the gods. Paul Callan London SW10 ----------------- I'm still on a low-carb diet, but come April 1st, this is a strong candidate for the lunch! ]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2008/02/happiness_is_a_chip_butty.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2008/02/happiness_is_a_chip_butty.html Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:57:59 +0900 here.]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2008/02/happiness_is_being_number_1.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2008/02/happiness_is_being_number_1.html Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:33:15 +0900 For years I've wondered who the person on the 1,000 yen note is. My curiosity doesn't last long though -- perhaps 3 seconds each time, as think "who IS this guy?". I then completely forget about the whole thing... In today's Daily Yomiuri, there was a feature on a sculpture made of shredded 1,000 yen notes. The sculpture was of Hideyo Noguchi, a famous bacteriologist who died in 1928. It is this Noguchi who appears on the 1,000 yen note. Ah ha! Happy.]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2008/01/happiness_is_understanding_mon.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2008/01/happiness_is_understanding_mon.html Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:46:18 +0900 Ryugaku section? Want to find a job where you can use your English? Visit our Job section. Do you need to practice your listening in fun way? Visit our Quiz section. Do you want to find out how other Japanese people have fulfilled their dreams using English? Visit our Interview section in Culture Cafe. Do you want to improve your TOEIC score by studying 5 minutes each day? Then visit our eigoCollege section. There's so much in eigoTown.com for you to enjoy that you might get a bit lost, so don't forget that you can always search the site for what you're looking for here. I hope you enjoy visiting eigoTown.com and I hope you'll tell your friends about our site. And if you have any suggestions or questions, don't hesitate to get in touch and leave a comment! Best, Russell Willis President, eigoTown.com Limited]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2008/01/welcome_nhk_viewers.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2008/01/welcome_nhk_viewers.html Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:00:00 +0900
OK, not really super...OK, OK, not stardom either... BUT, I'm about to be on TV next week, featured in NHK's Eigo de Shabaranaito program. It was fun having Pakkun, Aoi-san and Yashima-san over to our office here. I think Aoi-san spoke the best English... couldn't really understand Patrick's strange US accent... ;-) We showed them the eigoTown.com web site, our SenseiBank service and I interviewed Aoi for a job at eigoTown.com using our Interview Sensei service. He scraped through the interview and I hope he buys a new suit for when he starts working for us at the beginning of February. :-) More evidence that fate doesn't like me: the shooting took place after I had just finished a crash weight gain program... and they say the camera adds 10 pounds too... (that's 4 kilos for the metrical amongst us). It's lucky they used a wide-angle lens... The show is broadcast next Monday night (January 28th) at 11pm. So, DO watch, DON'T laugh at me (I'm sensitive!) and check out Pakkun's blog to see what he has to say about it... (Whenever he gets round to updating it!) P.S. The preview page for the show is here. ]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2008/01/happiness_is_tv_super_stardom.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2008/01/happiness_is_tv_super_stardom.html Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:22:19 +0900 I'm a miserable old bastard who loves to find fault with anything and everything... But just for a change, I think I'm going to PRAISE things that make me happy... (at least on this blog!) First up: A zero calorie apple diet jelly drink from Asahi... Now that I'm "pure" again (no alcohol, cigarettes, sugar or refined carbs until the end of March), I'm a big fan of zero calorie drinks. And this is without doubt the tastiest! It really tastes just like it's made with real apple. Try it and see if you disagree. Better yet, have someone do a blind taste test and tell them that it is made with real apple and see if they believe you. So congratulations to the guys and girls at Asahi! Happiness is a diet apple jelly drink!]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2008/01/happiness_is_diet_apple_jelly.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2008/01/happiness_is_diet_apple_jelly.html Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:19:52 +0900 Xmas listening quiz is now up. No registration required. Second, Santa, Mrs Santa and Miss Santa are getting ready to meet kids at Hollywood Plaza on December 22nd during our special Kids Xmas Event -- and we've reduced the price to only 3,000 yen! This will be a great experience for any kid! Third, if you're looking or some great presents either for yourself because you've been so good this year and have been study English so hard, or for friends who need to study, then don't forget to drop by our eigoStore siteand check out the special Xmas bargains!]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/12/xmas_quiz_up_and_running.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/12/xmas_quiz_up_and_running.html Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:04:57 +0900 here. SenseiBank for teachers is here.]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/11/nova_crisis_senseibank_is_now.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/11/nova_crisis_senseibank_is_now.html Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:32:08 +0900 Halloween Party. It was truly an amazing night at a fantastic venue, Hollywood Plaza in Roppongi Hills. We had over 260 people there despite the typhoon -- and lots and lots of people in great costumes! Thanks to FOX Channel and the Nikkei Weekly for helping to sponsor the evening. I can reveal that the Xmas party will also be held at Hollywood Plaza and will be even bigger and better than any party we've ever had with some special guest celebrities thrown in! Probably best to buy a Party Pass now to guarantee getting in! And thanks to the lovely young girl who read my blog and said "Hello!" . Hope you had a good time!]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/11/eigotown_xmas_party_hollywood.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/11/eigotown_xmas_party_hollywood.html Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:58:27 +0900 Everyone here at eigoTown.com is looking forward to our Halloween Party at Hollywood Hills on October 27th. Our Halloween parties are always great fun and people really make an effort to dress up. If you're free on Saturday October 27th, come along to Hollywood Plaza in Roppongi Hills -- and be sure to say "Hi!" if you come along because you read this! Details of the party are here: http://www.eigotown.com/party/party.shtml See you there? http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/10/eigotown_party_in_roppongi_hil.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/10/eigotown_party_in_roppongi_hil.html Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:35:38 +0900 here. All in Japanese at the moment. Take a look!]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/06/eigostorecom_launched.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/06/eigostorecom_launched.html Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:28:01 +0900 Nikkei Weekly interview. His band can often be seen at Rock Factory.]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/04/work_kirk_patterson_of_temple.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/04/work_kirk_patterson_of_temple.html Mon, 02 Apr 2007 19:11:04 +0900 Fareed Zakaria, a columnist for TIME writes, "A major global consulting firm has reviewed Iraq's state-owned enterprises and estimated that it would cost $100 million dollars to restart all of them and employ more than 150,000 Iraqis -- $100 million. That's as much money as the American military will spend in Iraq in the next 12 hours." -- TIME, March 5th, 2007. http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/04/context_the_cost_of_restarting.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/04/context_the_cost_of_restarting.html Mon, 02 Apr 2007 16:34:30 +0900
We launched The Nikkei Weekly Interview podcast series yesterday at the Foreign Correspondent's Club in Yurakucho. The podcast features news from the current issue of The Nikkei Weekly, some discussion items and an interview with a leading foreign business person in Japan. Take a look!]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/03/nikkei_weekly_podcast.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/03/nikkei_weekly_podcast.html Thu, 01 Mar 2007 18:21:34 +0900 eigoQuiz site. ]]> http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/02/movie_quiz.html http://blog.eigotown.com/Russell_Willis/2007/02/movie_quiz.html Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:10:50 +0900