headermask image

header image

category archive listing Category Archives: community

Winning the game of life: Where most people go wrong.

August 25, 2008 – 6:59 pm

Winning the game of life can only be about reaching and sustaining happiness, whatever that may mean for you. Surely, there are some things you can’t do based on the laws of the land, or perhaps dictated by your conception of a higher power, but generally speaking we all ought to be pursuing happiness within […]

By Steven Nishida | Also posted in perspective, happiness, life-coach, human nature, learning, education, rants | Comments (2)

Japanese Gairaigo.

July 1, 2008 – 1:04 pm

First things first. Several months ago, I was asked (by one of RoaS’s regular readers and a long time friend) to give my thoughts on the issue of garaigo, or loanwords, in Japanese and whether their rapid influx into the language is indeed undermining communication and causing mass concern.
My answer is: yes and no, but […]

By Steven Nishida | Also posted in perspective, human nature, debate, efl, autonomous learning, language, writing, education, teaching, philosophy, learning | Comments (0)

Kimono Passport

June 18, 2008 – 1:04 pm

I’ve been meaning to blog about Kyoto’s “Kimono Passport” campaign–and point it out to Seth Godin–for a while.
The concept is truly ingenious in its simplicity. During a three month period (Oct 1st-December 25th), Kyoto City dresses up the town, literally, leveraging its most cherished and attractive resource: the traditional garb of its people. How is […]

By Steven Nishida | Also posted in economy, japan, environment, business | Comments (1)

David Graddol discusses English in the new world order

June 11, 2008 – 1:19 am

You REALLY should listen to this. I might not be in the wrong line of work after all!
Just click the photo and press the play icon [on the British Council podcast site].

I have to say I am pretty stoked that David Graddol will be one of the PAC7 at JALT2008 plenary speakers this November in […]

By Steven Nishida | Also posted in debate, perspective, career, efl, autonomous learning, economy, education, history, teaching, language, japan, learning | Comments (2)

Calling All Angels

April 25, 2008 – 1:51 pm

We lost one of the good ones this week. I can’t do justice to who William Balsamo was or adequately describe what he stood for, but I’ll just mention here that I am honored to have shared a friendship with such a humane and gentle soul. I invite you to read the personal reflections of […]

By Steven Nishida | Also posted in relationship, human nature, perspective, life-coach, friendship, learning, quotes, education, philosophy, personal | Comments (1)

Without tailoring, all you have is an expensive tablecloth.

April 18, 2008 – 2:17 pm

Dear readers,
 We’re just about ready to get on track with regular posting again, but I need to do something first….
During this first short year, I have come to realize that I am trying to do too many different things with this blog, which is inhibiting my ability to achieve any one of my lofty online aspirations. Don’t […]

By Steven Nishida | Also posted in career, perspective, happiness, self-help, autonomous learning, life-coach, human nature, friendship, blogging, personal, writing, education, philosophy, rants | Comments (1)

Introducing Leo Crescencio Nishida

April 15, 2008 – 11:44 am

Hi everyone,
As you may have guessed, I have been experiencing some growing pains with the birth of our little one, Leo Crescencio. I’m not sure how to describe any of it. I feel like I am living at the intersection of so many conflicting emotions that I can’t even begin to express where my head […]

By Steven Nishida | Also posted in relationship, human nature, perspective, happiness, parenting, baby, language, japan, video | Comments (5)

Make the world a better place.

March 25, 2008 – 12:13 am

I’ve been struggling with how to approach the loftiest of my ambitions, which go a little something like this: I want to make the world a noticeably better place to live in, showing others that it’s as simple as believing in basic human rights and implementing creative solutions to enduring problems. I would love to […]

By Steven Nishida | Also posted in human nature, happiness, project, economics, environment | Comments (4)

Facebook Application: Compare your friends

February 29, 2008 – 3:36 pm

So the premise is simple, and totally appealing to the vain and narcissistic among us. You let a primitive software application pit your friends head to head against one another, deciding which is the _____-er of the two, on a wide range of topics: smarter, more generous, hotter, would rather have dinner with, etc. The […]

By Steven Nishida | Also posted in perspective, peer2peer, human nature, friendship, web2.0, personal | Comments (6)

Widgets: A great new EFL textbook

February 2, 2008 – 4:24 pm

Starting in April, I’ll be team-teaching a couple of classes at a local women’s college, and my colleagues and I have decided to go with a new textbook for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) that was co-authored by a friend of mine, Marcos Benevides. I was fortunate enough to have been a sounding board […]

By Steven Nishida | Also posted in efl, life-coach, autonomous learning, japan, education, teaching, language, learning | Comments (2)