On a Floating Bridge » Archive for 2009
Winter Solstace Sakura
Oh dear. The cherry blossom tree on my balcony opened a flower on the shortest day of the year. Now in full bloom…. Only 3 months early. Download article as PDF … Read entire article »
Filed under: Being Green in Japan, Generally Japan
Best Japanese learning tools of the year
Next year I’m hoping to bag the JLPT 1, which is a helpful if somewhat archaic measure of Japanese ability that is useful proof to show to companies / scholarship foundations or annoy friends with at parties. It theoretically covers all the day to day kanji you would need to, say, read a newspaper, roughly 2000. Despite its drawbacks, I’ve definitely benefited from a more focused vocabulary building, and the consensus among me and friends … Read entire article »
Filed under: Learning Japanese
COP15 fails, back to normal life
No comment necessary. Good luck, if you are a wealthy citizen of a first world country, perhaps you might consider investing in this alternative to a sustainable society. Download article as PDF … Read entire article »
Filed under: Eco Seikatsu, The Green Agenda
Japan COP15 Demo
Japan manages a single vigil, is Prime Minister Hatoyama listening? The jury is still out at Copenhagen, but round the world popular protest has tried to bring home the urgency of the situation. Here in Japan, a single vigil was organised, (a full 70 times less than the UK…) The new prime minister made a promising gesture by pledging 20% cuts (not sure on which level…) but let’s hope the polar bear kits on sale for … Read entire article »
Filed under: Being Green in Japan, Eco Seikatsu, The Green Agenda
Rob Hopkins pinpoints Peak Oil
Congratulations Rob, about time you had the ear of the TED audience. Download article as PDF … Read entire article »
Filed under: Eco Seikatsu, The Green Agenda
climate change – crushingly boring?
I enjoyed reading the piece about Al Gore in The Guardian today. It addresses many of the issues facing the environmental movement and people’s feelings about it. When I left the UK there was a lot of support for green issues and finding others who were involved was easy. Outside cozy England and, not-so-much, I’ve found. One thing is for sure, its easier to be hopeful when you have other people in your network to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Eco Seikatsu, The Green Agenda
Q&A on Shipping
From josh: Any help on the details to go to the usa from europe or middle east. And from james: What is the carbon footprint of shipping a 40ft container by freighter compared to shipping by truck. More specifically I am looking for the impact from HK to the West Coast of Canada by ship compared to Toronto to Vancouver by truck. My simpleton gut feeling it will be the same or the container shipping will be more … Read entire article »
Filed under: Eco Seikatsu, Slow Travel, The Green Agenda, World Slow Travel
Hayabusa night train cancelled forever
The night train Hayabusa is (was) the only remaining night train out of a fleet of several that connected Tokyo with the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. It travelled along the old Tokaido rail road, the Sanyo main line, and a bunch of other lines connecting up Tokyo, Shizoka, Hamamatsu, Nagoya, all the way to Fukuoka and Kumamoto every night for over 50 years. The Hayabusa is steeped in Japanese railway history, established just 2 years after … Read entire article »
Filed under: Being Green in Japan, Eco Seikatsu, Generally Japan, Slow Travel, The Green Agenda
Have you seen this video?
2 busy 2 blog at the moment, stay tuned, back soon~ Download article as PDF … Read entire article »
Filed under: Eco Seikatsu, The Green Agenda
Recent Comments
- admin on Getting off the island
"Hey Xavier, The transit visa should be no problem for you. The first thing is t…" - Xavier on Getting off the island
"Hello! Thanks for your nice post! Very usefull! I’m also going back to E…" - My Big Feet – Trans Sib Carbon Footprint | On a Floating Bridge on Day 2 Through the Iron Curtain
"[...] Shanghai Z class trains, Shinkansen) as they required some extra thought. …" - Bristol To Tokyo Plane Free | On a Floating Bridge on My Big Feet – Trans Sib Carbon Footprint
"[...] air travel contributes so much more green house gas emissions than other f…" - Getting around Setouchi Int’l Art Festival | On a Floating Bridge on Setouchi Art Festival Access info
"[...] you have got to Setouchi, it can be hard to plan your itinerary since the …"
Popular
Slow Travel
- My Big Feet - Trans Sib Carbon Footprint
- Happy Birthday Shinkansen, makete kureru?
- Container Ships: Carbon Footprint
Eco Seikatsu
Zines
Arty in Tokyo
Learning Japanese
Generally Japan
About
On a Floating Bridge is a website with information about 3 topics,
and surprising intersections between them. Please subscribe to the RSS if you are interested in Japan, Environmental Issues and Art.
The bridges between them weave my life together here in Tokyo.
Below are photos mostly from Japan and my overland journey from Bristol to Tokyo, plane free. I don't update them that often.
© 2012 On a Floating Bridge