Gaijin Smash on Asahi.com

[羽之助]

http://www.asahi.com/english/weekly/0617/03.html

Or Asahi Weekly, anyway. Good work Az, now you're being advertised as a way to improve students' use of English!

　Gaijin Smash chronicles the adventures of Azrael, an American ex-JET teacher.

　I have to warn you, he swears and uses a lot of slang in his posts. This is how we speak when our mothers can't hear us, so it is a good learning tool, but you don't want to use some of his vocabulary with your English teacher.

　Azrael tells a lot of funny ― and blunt ― stories about his experiences here, but unlike many ex-pats, he never mocks Japanese culture in a bitter way. And some of his stories are amazing.

　He seems to truly love Japan, and he definitely loved his students. There is a gentleness in his writing that is pleasantly surprising. (Check out "Moeko's Owl" tinyurl.com/38vxpv and "Natsumi And Yuki" tinyurl.com/2jcwbm for examples.)

　Azrael is a funny and gentle man. I recommend you start with "Moeko's Owl" (the first link above). And keep your tissues handy.

[Crowley]

Link to it on wikipedia quick smart, so they don't delete the entry =)

[stsparky]

Link to it on wikipedia quick smart, so they don't delete the entry =)
Done. Help me beef up the article itself.

[Decade]

First thing that came to mind when I read the thread title was whether this was a good or bad thing.

After all, I know Az isn't worried about his students finding out about Op9, but the more popular he becomes, doesn't it make it more likely they'll find out?

[MFDub]

Well, his code names must afford him a thin layer of protection.


Very, very, very thin...

[gentlemanandscholar]

Not really:
"Jeffrey Windham [1][2], who graduated from the University of California Davis in 2003 with a BA in English [3]goes by the pen name "Azrael" on Outpostnine."

- from the wikipedia article.

The fact that he grants anonymity through pseudonyms is perfectly fine and perfectly legal (to my knowledge). It's akin to authors in the past who would write names: "Mr.L----".

[japanat]

He's not teaching any more anyways, so I don't think it really matters if his ex-students see it.

[erbiumfiber]

From the way in which he describes his students' English abilities, he could e-mail them the columns directly and they still wouldn't get it...

[Azrael]

^ :rofl: Very true.

You know, I have given the whole thing some degree of thought. If the book does get made, suppose it does decently, and one day its translated and brought to Japan. Even then, it might never be noticed, much like a majority of the foreign-written books on Japan. But then, suppose somehow it did get attention...I figure the Japanese will do one of two things.

1. Focus on all the parts which highlight the good parts of Japan and ignore the bad stuff.
2. Focus on the bad stuff and present it as "this is how foreigners view us".

In the event of 2, I can already picture a Japanese variety TV show on it, probably hosted by Beat Takeshi. Parts of the book are re-enacted using horrible foreign and just as bad Japanese C-grade actors. Meanwhile, the picture-in-picture shows the geinojin watching in the studio. Then we go back to the geinojin in the studio, who have a "talk" about all the issues raised by the book, and agree on some very general issues, but ultimately decide that I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about since I'm foreign.

All I know is, if they cast Bobby to play as me, Godfucking damnit I'm going to take the sharpest samurai sword I can find and go Kill Fucking Bill on all of Tokyo TV.

Also, I think one of the Wiki editors just hates me specifically or something.

[stsparky]

Naw. But we need pictures to improve it.

May we post Moeko's Owl and some stray pictures of you?

[Pierrot le Fou]

Anonymity is fickle. I'm going to hide now. People might guess that I'm really Az's evil alter ego.

[Eddie Echoplex]

All I know is, if they cast Bobby to play as me, Godfucking damnit I'm going to take the sharpest samurai sword I can find and go Kill Fucking Bill on all of Tokyo TV.

Wouldn't it be more fitting to use a Bowie Knife? It can also act as a shovel.

[koku]

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

[Roland]

Not really:
"Jeffrey Windham [1][2], who graduated from the University of California Davis in 2003 with a BA in English [3]goes by the pen name "Azrael" on Outpostnine."

- from the wikipedia article.

There is an article about Az?

When I searched Jeffrey Windham in German wikipedia, I found:

- List of english speaking writers and
-List of films with homosexual content WTF???

Also there's nothing in the english Wikipedia, i get redirected to Kancho by searching for Jeffrey Windham...

[gentlemanandscholar]

There is an article about Az?

When I searched Jeffrey Windham in German wikipedia, I found:

- List of english speaking writers and
-List of films with homosexual content WTF???

Also there's nothing in the english Wikipedia, i get redirected to Kancho by searching for Jeffrey Windham...


search for "gaijin smash" in the English wikipedia.

[xinster]

There is an article about Az?

When I searched Jeffrey Windham in German wikipedia, I found:

- List of english speaking writers and
-List of films with homosexual content WTF???

Also there's nothing in the english Wikipedia, i get redirected to Kancho by searching for Jeffrey Windham...

hahah owned.

[SoulPlay]

If you search for Jeffrey Windham you will be redirected to the "kancho" wikipedia article....aint that something...