If you watch Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe Review of the Year, you’ll realise how chaotic and memorable last year was. I can only imagine what 2012 has in store for us, especially considering that it signifies the end of the Mayan calendar. Leaving that doom aside for a moment though, my hopes are a little more simple:

I’ve already had a few lessons and I feel that I’m on the road to achieving this ambition finally!

I had an impromptu swimming lesson from my girlfriend whilst we stayed at Haven in Clacton-On-Sea this summer, it’s encouraged me to seek out professional instruction.

Having always enjoyed running and being re-inspired to run by Haruki Murakami’s ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running‘.

I wanted to keep my resolutions simple this year, so that I might have a realistic chance of achieving them this year, so wish me luck kids!

(Image Credit, Veerle Pieters!)

Just a quick reminder for you crazy kids that this years Hyper Japan event has kicked off!

Some snapshots from the last few weeks including A Bathing Ape Pirate Pop Up Store, Spectrum’s 10th Birthday, 10 O’Clock Live!

Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.

With the demise of Japundit and Japansoc (which now operates solely on Facebook), it looks like for those of you with a hankering interest in Japan will have to look elsewhere for your news. Luckily for you, I’ve discovered two new sites that cater to your interests. The first of which is Japan Bump.

Japan Bump is based on user submitted stories and links, which other users can then vote on in order with the most popular items heading to the front page. This allows all the latest news from and about Japan to seamlessly float in from all over the internet in a convenient place.

Japan Like is similar except it’s linked to the online language learning tool NihongoUp that some of you may already be familiar with. Check them out kids!

Life has a habit of getting in the way and as a result I’ve been unable to furnish my love here on the interwebz. So although only a token gesture, above you’ll see a glimpse of my life as seen through the lens of my mobile phone.

If this blog was a child, I’m fairly sure that it’d have been taken away by the social services already. At which point I might try and argue that my lacklustre commitment was a result of a smorgasbord of examinations, graduation, interviews and employment. Alas, probably to no avail!

Rather than smother you with a recount of all that has transpired, I’ll point you towards the future, specifically the Hyper Japan London 2010 at The Old Truman Brewery.

…your chance to shop, eat, watch, experience and connect with everything that’s fresh, fun and world-first about Japan. Make sure you’re there when the world’s hottest pop culture hits London with a bang.

Hyper Japan is twinned with the Eat Japan food festival, so one ticket will get you entry to both shows!

I thought this was a really sweet marriage proposal flashmob at Washing Square Park in New York. Although, I’m not sure if I should shake his hand or shake my fist in the air for raising the bar for dudes everywhere!

Flashmob – A group of people who appear from out of nowhere, to perfom predetermined actions, designed to amuse and confuse surrounding people. The group performs these actions for a short amount of time before quickly dispersing. Flash mobs are often organised through email and/or newsgroup postings. — Urban Dictionary

A short while ago Danny Choo announced on his website that he’d be holding an event at The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Fortunately for me, my current placement at St Thomas’ coincided with the event for an easy journey on the tube to Russell Square from Westminster on Tuesday afternoon after a busy day in clinic.

It doesn’t take very long to come across Danny Choo’s site if you’re vaguely interested in Japan and it’s culture. Even if you’re not perhaps you’ve seen his brilliant Tokyo Stormtrooper videos?

I was daunted by the prospect of going by myself but figured I’d been following Danny’s website for a number of years now and couldn’t let the opportunity pass me by. Typically of me, I was running late and in a moment of panic was met with the confusion of the receptionist at Birkbeck University when I asked where the Danny Choo event was to be held. A security guard overheard and suggested I might have better luck heading to SOAS across the road. Oops! (I can be a complete dope sometimes.)

So I ran across the road with only minutes to spare until the talk was to start and spied a few people in a queue, so I asked again if this was the right place this time with a little more success. At this point I was pleasantly surprised to find Matt from The University of Sheffield Japan Society join the queue behind me. Apparently he’d known that I might be attending and wanted to surprise me. If that was his mission, he was successful.

It seemed that I’d made it in time and settled in to a seat near the front of the auditorium. The talk was fascinating, I’d already known that Danny was born in Hackney and he spoke about his passion for Japan and how it led him to a successful career turning his interests into a business. The fact that he was raised just up the road from me makes his story particularly resonate with me. Rather than document his story here it’s probably a lot more enjoyable to read it in his own words.

The highlight of the entire event for me was the social session, after breaking the ice by first speaking to a girl called Matilda studying Japanese at SOAS, I came to the realisation that this was a fantastic place to meet new people who all shared my interest in Japan and as the evening drew on I met some really lovely sweet people who’d travelled from all over the United Kingdom including; Hamilton, Kriss, Emily, Mamata, Sabina, Yik, Abigail and Katy amongst many others.

As the event drew to a close I regretted having missed the chance to speak to Danny personally as it was well past the proposed end of the night and the staff had started to turn the lights off but was surprised to see Danny who’d already spent the entire night meeting members of his website continue this on the stairs outside the building. I’m sure he was hungry, cold and very tired but he diligently spoke to everyone that queued patiently to speak to him, keeping a smile and expressing his thanks to everyone for coming. It was a real delight to find that Danny was just as lovely and funny as his online persona would have you believe. It was a real pleasure to meet him.

(Photos stolen from Danny’s write-up of the event!)

Yesterday I visited the Japan Centre in Piccadilly to pick up some powdered green tea. As part of an overall grander scheme to improve my health and well-being, after trying the South Beach Diet recommended by Dr Weil during an interview with Kevin Rose about geek health issues.

Matcha is a variety of tea where the lea leaves have been crushed into a fine powder which is simply mixed with hot water to make the tea. It is also used extensively in the traditional Japanese tea ceremony called Chado or Chanoyu. It is often made with the same type of tea leaves that are used to make Gyokuro.

I’ve been drinking both regular green and more subtle white tea for a few years now and thought I’d compliment my drinking habits with Yamakaen matcha, although I’d have appreciated it if it were a little less costly.