Yep one of them is me. Can you guess who it is?

…meeee. Asian families tend to be large as you can see from my family gatherings. Since I live by myself most of the time and since I got the invention of the century called ‘dishwasher’ I prefer to cook for my own instead of going out. But having a huge family as some of my relatives do you are better off ordering some damn cheesy Pizza to be delivered to your home lol

Interesting enough: Last week I have met some people who thought that I was either American or Indian…Hmmm. I wonder what made them think that….

I just realized that most of my posts are related to Korea so I decided to post something in regard to Japan a country I have so far neglected a bit:

- If you fall asleep on the subway, put your head down and fold your hands in front of you

- If you read a book make sure you have a papercover covering the book. It shows the latest trend in Japan and is called Brajacket. Those bookcovers are offered free and have space for advertising. They are really nice and neatly designed, In fact it helps you to feel more at ease if you were to read a Japanese comic in the subway while wearing a suit on your way to work.

- If you go to the restroom don’t forget to use the sound machine. The sound machine creates the sound of a toilet flush artificially and has been introduced because people used to use the actual toilet flush to cover any sound that may arise from their little business. This way no one needs to feel ashamed and we are doing our little thing to save the environment by not wasting the water.

- If you are trying clothes in a fitting room: The paper sheets that are given to you are not there to be used as a a handkerchief. These sheets are used to cover your underarm. 

- Don’t forget to take off your shoes before entering the fitting room

- Don’t use your mobile phone while riding the subway. Make sure the sound is off. Have you seen anyone talking on the mobile in the subway? No? Then show courtesy and respect!

- Make sure to bow whenever you greet someone or say goodbye to someone

- Always go with the ranking of the person that you are adressing to. The more important the person is, the more respect you have to show!

- If a Japanese shows you an X with their arms/hands - it means ‘No’

- Always give your opponent the possibility to save his face no matter how bad the situation is

- Oh yeah. If you do business in Japan: Make sure you join your business partner into an onsen - a traditional Japanese bath. This is the most important meeting place and this is the place where deals are getting done

- If you happen to enter a ramyon snackbar, pay upfront at the vending machine, get your ticket and hand it over to the cook.

- It’s totally fine to slurp your soup. Pay attention though. Slurping may be considered rude in other Asian countries such as in Thailand for example.

- When you pay something make sure you put the money on that little tablett in front of you. Put it always in there or else the sales person would do it for you. If you don’t want to look stupid, just do it.

Feel free to add other points to this list…

I came across one of her albums in Beijing last year. She is a taiwanese pop singer. Her voice gave me instant goosebumps. Her debut in 1996 was an immediate success. A-Mei’s ethnic background is Puyuma, a tribe belonging to the so called Taiwanese aborigines located on Taiwans east coast. Here is one of my favorite song of hers: Katsu.

Dealing with external powergames and external company politics can be frustrating at times. I’m so glad that my company is not like that. There is something that tells me that I will be just dandy fine….I’m calm. Calm as a sea before a hurricane hits.

1. Bigcartel
Open your own online store and be cre8tive

2. Googlereader
One of the best Feed reader

3. Feedblendr
Blends several Feed into one RSS for you

4. Bloggoggle
Rating of Probloggers

5. Clipmarks
Clip what you think is best on the Web

6. Diglog

Gives an overview of Chinese Web 2.0 pages (Attention: it’s in chinese)

7. Mologogo
Share your location in real time

8. Seatguru
Know which seat is the best to pick on your next flight

…those were the words of a client of mine. Even my boss mentioned this the other day to me. But I already got a clone of myself. I’m a twin, can’t you see? My twinsis and I used to take bubble baths together. Ah, how I miss her! I hope to see her in April again, my grown-up little sis ^.^