It’s been 20 years. 20 years since I left the verdant shores of the Japan I had come to love in the 5 years I had lived in Tokyo and traveled the country. 20 years of absence from the country I grew up in, had my first kiss, broke my first law, got my first BB-gun and discovered the wonderful world of electronics and computers.

I was born in The Netherlands and when I was 2 we moved to Germany, where I was introduced to the concept of friends with weird customs and different languages. At the age of 7 I moved to Japan with my mom, dad and sister. My dad worked for Phillips Electronics Co. and was tasked with setting up Signetics, an IC producing company in Tokyo. Needless to say, I was nervous about going. I remember waking up in a sweat when I had had a nightmare about scary ‘yellow people’. [I was 7. Sue me.]

What has changed in Tokyo since 1989? Sn0r will find out!

When we arrived in Japan and after staying in a luxurious hotel for a few weeks we moved into an apartment in Shiroganedai in Tokyo. I was registered at a school and life in the far east had begun for me. I made friends, viewed the sites and grew up amongst the cherry blossoms of the Kanto. 5 years later we left Japan and I never saw my old haunts and friends again.

Then just before Christmas last year my sister called and proposed a trip. Old family friends were living in Tokyo and leaving again in April and she suggested trying to see if we could get to Japan, visit them and use their apartment as a base for traveling around Tokyo to visit those old mates, temples, schools and shops. I jumped at the opportunity and will be blogging from frosty February Tokyo next month!

I’ll be posting a day by day account of my little trip down nostalgia lane from the 28th of January to the 14th of February so stay tuned! I plan to visit some of my old haunts, schools and other places like Meiji shrine and Kamakura as well as engorge myself on sushi, sake and excellent Japanese hospitality. I’ll also be exploring the differences between the Tokyo of 1989 and today, and hope to highlight some of the changes in this account.

By the way: if any of you have a good idea of where to go or what to see in a Tokyo I haven’t seen for two decades, let me know in the comments below!

Our recruiting drive for new bloggers kicks off this year and, unlike your mother when she carried you to term, we do really want you!

We’re looking for anyone who’d be interested in writing regularly or even those that just want to write a single article for 3nglish.co.uk to see if it’s something they’d like to do. 3nglish.co.uk is interested in any cerebral subjects you can think of.. from girlie subjects like shoes to

The deal is: you write for us and if your article draws lots of views we’ll give you a cut of the profits from the advertising revenue. Your first article will be rated by our editors to check for spelling, suitability and such.

If you’re interested in writing for 3nglish.co.uk sign up to 3nglish.co.uk and leave your intentions in the comment field below. Give us an indication of what you want to write about and we’ll get in touch as soon as possible.

Once we decide to include you we’ll explain the rules of the website and even send you a welcome pack via e-mail which will help you get started.

So sign up today and become a blogger with 3nglish.co.uk!

Hi everyone! It;s been a busy, busy weekend for me.

Next to enjoying the Guy Fawkes Nightly fireworks which have lit up the sky around Woking with blasts of gunpowder and colour I’ve been working non-stop on a few upgrades and fun things for the web page and blogs.

As you can see I’ve flipped the sidebar from right to left to emphasize the side bar a bit more. Considering that most of our content is videos rather than text I thought the emphasis wouldn’t matter much to the enjoyment of the overall content. I’m in the middle of implementing some ajax functionalities and a better front page as well as a news agregator which will hopefully provide you with a quick way to get the news and enjoy some poetry at the same time… stay tuned for that. I’ve also commissioned Ged to do some newer and bigger banners for our little home away from home on the web.

I’ve also thought it’d be neat to do a perhaps weekly podcast, broadcast via Youtube. I won’t be making any new appearances on ustream.tv for now as I’m more comfortable behind a microphone than talking to a camera.

Anyway, please let me know what your thoughts on the improvements are as they are rolled out. Most probably the poetry site and the podcast will be available first.

So, to keep you all happy while I work on the webpage, here’s a video taken from inside a Guy Fawkes dummy.

Enjoy.

Our very own Charlotte brought this site to my attention whilst on Facialbook.
It’s a website dedicated entirely to one man and the ability to fold his face any which way one pleases.
Perhaps it’s because Mr Kemp has such a generic face, or because he’s a hard arse that needs to be played with, either way it’s fun and although I have yet to fold his face for myself, one should take a look at other people’s attempts to do so.

Have fun ^^

http://kempfolds.blogspot.com/

I was listening to UK Bass Radio yesterday rockin’ it in my little flat (with my girl) when suddenly a couple of voices announced the start of a live program. Having experience with internet radio I sat around and waited for the show to start.

What came next was the best radio show I’ve heard for a while: The Friday Night Smoke!

Hosted by internet stars Martin and Gav, this live show from Birmingham, U.K. will blow your mind as much as any DnB will.

Featuring a liberal amount of good natured swearing, fantastic music of all sorts and good home made banter, Martin and Gav can be found discussing topical subjects as well as presenting a mystery guest and mystery prize competition.

The show with absolutely no holds barred will discuss anyone and anything every Friday night from 11:30 BST onwards. They have a chat room on the UKBassRadio site, which they refer to often as well.

The Friday Night Smoke blog‘s about states:

We play 30 minutes of drum and bass, and then discuss various topics with the odd random tune thrown in. To see what we’re talking about, take a look at the blog posts and of course make sure you are listening on Friday

Needless to say I joined up and a great time was had by all. I actually managed to win the prize! Thanks for a great show, Martin and Gav.. and for the engraved ashtray, which will be put to good use.

Ez now, lads!