I used to be a JET Programme ALT from 2004-2009. Then I taught at a university in Shimane from 2010-2016. Now, I am teaching history at a private high school.
Love this song! I was lucky enough to see this era of Peter live when he was one of the headliners on the Amnesty International tour in 1988 or 1989 at the Rose Bowl in LA. amazing show!
Why did Burger King Japan give their latest mega burger a name that sounds like something conspiracy theorists think that the illuminati would secretly eat in underground tunnels?
In Japan, there are two chocolate snacks.
Same company.
Same shelf.
Same price.
One is shaped like a mushroom.
Called Kinoko no Yama.
Released 1975.
The other is shaped like a bamboo shoot.
Called Takenoko no Sato.
Released 1979.
Both delicious. Both made by Meiji.
And the country has been at civil war over which one is better for over 45 years.
This is not a joke.
The manufacturer holds NATIONAL ELECTIONS about it.
2018.2019.Official “Kinoko vs Takenoko General Elections.”
Over 26 million votes combined.
Campaign posters. Political-style debate ads. Celebrity party leaders. TV coverage of the results.
In 2018, Takenoko won by 169,447 votes.
In 2019, Kinoko got revenge and won for the first time ever.
The party leader cried on live TV.
Mushroom faction says:
→ better chocolate-to-cracker ratio
→ you can hold the stem, no chocolate fingers
→ more elegant design
Bamboo Shoot faction says:
→ superior cookie base
→ higher chocolate content
→ more satisfying bite
Entire Twitter accounts dedicated to one side.
The debate has its own Wikipedia page. In Japanese. It’s called “Kinoko-Takenoko War.”
And here’s the thing.
Japan does this with EVERYTHING.
Sugar on fried eggs?
Soy sauce on rice or next to it?
Left side or right side of the escalator?
These aren’t small talk.
These are positions.
World’s 5th largest economy.
Home to Toyota, Sony, Nintendo.
Leader in robotics and bullet trains.
Also spent 45+ years deciding whether mushroom chocolate or bamboo shoot chocolate is better.
I love this country.
Did you know Speed Racer actually started in Japan in 1967 as Mach GoGoGo? 😳
It only ran for about a year, but when it came to the U.S., it stuck around for years in reruns and ended up becoming one of the first anime shows a lot of Americans ever saw. 🏎️
There has never been a single school shooting in Japan. The worst incident in the past 25 years was a man with a knife killed 8 students at an elementary school in Ikeda in 2001. You have to go back to 1975 to find a shooting with more than 4 deaths. https://t.co/2spLlulYOB