Women’s Varsity Basketball Championships in Tsukuba
The University of Tsukuba's women's basketball team has qualified to play in the 57th Kanto Women's Varsity Basketball League Championships. The championship games are being held in Tsukuba for the first time ever. The University of Tsukuba team is extremely strong this year. They have won three tournaments in a row, including the Kanto Tournament held in the spring, and they are hoping to make this the fourth. They are asking residents of Tsukuba to build up their community spirit and come to support them in their fight to win this tournament on a home court. The team colour is green, so they have asked people to show up to the games wearing something green so that we can show our opponents our "Tsukuba spirit". Both games will be against Shoin University, another very strong team.
Sunday, October 7 from 5pm
Monday, October 8 from 4:20pm
At Tsukuba Capio Arena
Admission: free for high school students and under, free for university students with student ID, all others 1000 yen
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New Immigration Procedures
The Ministry of Justice has decided that all foreigners (including permanent residents) entering Japan must be fingerprinted and photographed. The Ministry's excuse for this is a long list of terrorist acts, none of which happened in Japan.
See the peppy video: Landing Examination Procedures for Japan are Changing!
Personally, I don't like the idea of being treated as a criminal just because I am foreign. If they want to implement draconian measures like this, they should apply to everyone entering Japan, not just foreigners. If they could get the Japanese public to agree to this kind of treatment, then I wouldn't be as upset about it.
More information on Debito Arudou's site.
(Thanks to Melissa N. for the information.)
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Mango for Learning Japanese
There is a new web application called Mango that can help you learn the basics of Japanese (and a few other languages). First sign up for an account, and then once you login with your new account, you can choose which language to study. The lessons are given in slides and they include both visual and audio information (make sure you have your sound and speakers turned on).
I didn't look at all of the slides in the first lesson (there are about 100 slides per lesson, and 101 lessons in total), but it seems that they give good advice. See, for example:
In Japanese, pronouns are often deleted when they are obvious from the context. This results in sentences without subjects and transitive verbs without direct objects. The literal translation of the expression 「おげんきですか？」 is close to "Are you fine?" However, the subject "you" is actually missing from the Japanese sentence.
This is from Slide 6 of Lesson 1. I like how they give detailed information like this from the start. A lot of Japanese textbooks gloss over this sort of information and you are left wondering about a lot of key points.
If you have used Mango or decide to give it a try based on this post, please give us your opinions on it in the comments. From what little I have seen of it, Mango seems like a useful and informative application, but I would like to find out from our readers whether it actually helps you learn Japanese effectively.
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Search for Books in Tsukuba Public Library through Amazon.co.jp
When you find a nice book on Amazon.co.jp, you may instantly click on "Add to Shopping Cart". But wait! The book may be available at a library nearby.
The following user java script adds the search results of the Tsukuba Public Library database on Amazon.co.jp pages (see the screen shot below). You can directly go to the search result page of the library from the Amazon search results.
CLICK HERE to download the user java script to add Tsukuba Public Library Search on Amazon.co.jp (or save it by right clicking).
Screen Shot:
In order to use this java script, you need a user java script engine.
For Internet Explorer 6:
- Download "Trixie"
- Install it
- Copy the user java script into C:\Program Files\Bhelpuri\Trixie\Scripts
- Restart Internet Explorer and access Amazon.co.jp
*I haven't tested it but IE7 Pro should work for Internet Explorer 7.
For Firefox:
- Download the "greasemonkey" add-on
- Install it
- Drag the user java script and drop it into Firefox
- Press the "install" button
- Access Amazon.co.jp
Save money and enjoy a frugal life!
Notes:
- This script searches for an ISBN code on the Amazon page and hands over it to the book search system of the Tsukuba Public Library. Therefore, if there is no ISBN code on the Amazon search result, it will not work.
- In order to borrow books at Tsukuba Public Library, you need to have a membership at the library. You can sign up for a membership at the main counter of the library in about minutes (you will need your alien registration card or another certificate to prove that you are living/working in Tsukuba).
- You can reserve books through the website only when the book on the search result is currently being borrowed by someone. When it is returned, library staffs will keep it at the counter and the system will send you an email. You can just tell a library staff that you have the book reserved. Please note that you cannot reserve the book in case nobody is currently borrowing it. It means the book is available at the bookshelf.
- And also remember, before starting to use the online reservation service, you need to register your email address on the library website.
- Use Trixie, IE7 Pro, greasemonkey and this user java script at your own risk. The author assumes no responsibility whatsoever for any damage resulting from the use of these applications.
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Cost of Waste Management in Tsukuba
How much does it cost to handle all of the garbage we produce in Tsukuba?
In the 2006 fiscal year, the City of Tsukuba spent 3,463,000,000 yen (around US$29 million) on waste treatment.
- 52,500,000 yen (around US$450,000) was spent on collecting household waste and the waste from the pipelines in the central part of the city (both of which are commissioned to an external company)
- 1,059,000,000 yen (around US$9 million) was spent on maintaining and running the Clean Center (waste disposal and incineration plant)
- 113,000,000 yen (around US$970,000) was spent on human resources
- 1,766,000,000 yen (around US$15 million) went to pay back the loan for constructing the facilities (the loan should be paid off in full by 2011)
83,211 tons of garbage was collected last year, so the City is spending 41,600 yen (around US$360) to process each ton of garbage, or around 42 yen (36 cents) per kilogram. For reference, the amount of garbage produced by one family in a year is around 264 kg, or around 723 g per day.
Does the Clean Center make money?
Processing household garbage results in thermal recycling and resource recycling. Thermal recycling refers to the electricity that is produced from the heat from incinerating garbage. Resource recycling refers to collecting and sorting waste items so that they can be recycled. The Clean Center sells the electricity and recyclable resources and returns the revenues to the City. In 2006, revenues from selling electricity to the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) were 116,000,000 yen and resource recycling brought in 82,000,000 yen. A further 559,000,000 yen was brought in through fee-based services such as the collection of large garbage items (sodai gomi) and commercial waste. In total, the Clean Center brings in around 757,000,000 yen which is then used to cover part of the costs of processing the garbage.
How much money does each person cost the city in garbage management?
If we take the total cost of processing Tsukuba's garbage and subtract the amount that is covered through fees paid by commercial establishments and the revenues brought in by the Clean Center, we are left with a total of 276,000,000 yen that must be covered by the City of Tsukuba. If the population of Tsukuba is given at 203,280 people (as of October 1, 2006), we can see that Tsukuba spends 13,300 yen per person per year, or 53,200 yen per four-person household per year to process garbage.
Source: Tsukuba City Newsletter, September 1, 2007
I'm sure that money could be better spent on education, or improving the roads, or making the city more foreigner-friendly. This is a good incentive for Tsukuba residents to re-assess the amount of garbage that they produce and try to limit non-recyclable waste as much as possible.
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