Mark ‘Danger’ Mills, self-confessed goldmember, free willy lobbyist, polisher of Vader’s helmet and sometimes referred to as ‘Lethal Weapon 4′, contributes this guest post providing remarkable insight into a size issue that concerns most men.

I saw this report on the BBC web site and it peaked my interest. That is to say my interest was peaked; I did not actually ‘peak’ myself. Anyway, the article basically suggests that the majority of condom wearers are being supplied with goods that do not fit properly, having the knock on effect of increased breakage rates and a higher risk of infection. It all seems quite reasonable really except for the comment that, and I quote, “Men are twice as likely to take the condom off midway through sex due to a poor fit”.

Twice as likely as whom exactly? Is there a whole different category of condom wearers we are not generally aware of, other than men, and this mystical category of johnny users prefer a looser fitting raincoat?

It also makes me wonder how we know that the condoms are ill-fitted. Are there a bunch of guys out there who’s mother is checking the fitting for them, and checking the fitting ‘during’ intercourse? “Don’t stop son, just tucking your sleeve in!” Maybe the family dog is responsible, coming in half way through and ripping this loose dangly condom off of the end of men’s knobs. Perhaps even there’s a condom hit squad out there breaking into family boudoirs, rulers and calipers in hand, checking size and fitting.

Frankly, the mind boggles.

Read more »

Philanthropist, volunteer worker and resident of Peru, Scott Jeppesen of the charitable organisation Sonrisas en Peru, explores the fascinating history of Japanese immigration to Peru and the strong influence that Japanese culture has played on various aspects of Peruvian society.

I currently reside in Lima, the capital of Peru. Every day I am faced with some characteristic of Peruvian culture that has been derived from Japanese origins. Urged by curiosity I soon discovered the intriguing story of the Japanese Peruvians, a large ethnic immigrant group in Peru.

The Japanese Peruvians

The Japanese Peruvians are Peruvian citizens of Japanese ethnic origin. They constitute around 0.3% of Peru’s population (estimated at nearly 90,000 in 2008) which is the second largest population of people with Japanese ancestry in Latin America after Brazil.

Peru was the first Latin American country to accept Japanese immigration. Back in 1899 the first wave of 790 Japanese immigrants arrived at the Peruvian seaport Callao aboard the “Sakura Maru” from the Japanese port of Yokohama and thus spawned the Nikkei ethnicity in Latin America.

The Sakura Maru

Most notably, Japanese Peruvians were brought to the world’s attention in 1990 by the election of Alberto Fujimori, son of Japanese immigrants and the 90th president of Peru. Fujimori was the first person of Asian descent to become president of a Western country.

Alberto Ken'ya Fujimori

Novelist, technologist, photographer and resident of Japan, Michael Werneburg, discusses the frustrations of living with a foreign name in Japan. This guest post is an expansion of an article on his own website that details his struggles with living with a foreign name in an English-speaking country.

Katakana Blues

My surname is “Werneburg”, and the name just doesn’t work in Japanese. It originates in the forested heart of Germany where its pronunciation is obvious even if it is by no means an everyday name. But Germany’s rolling hills and rolling r’s are a long way from Japan, and it’s here that the import—like an invader species—causes some chaos.

The first problem for foreigners like me is that the Japanese language has a range of sounds that is more limited than in our European languages. Whereas English has some twenty vowels and twenty-four consonants, Japanese has only five vowel sounds and nineteen consonant sounds. Further restricting the pronunciation in Japanese is the use of a syllabary rather than an alphabet. These syllables combine a consonant and a vowel together, so that when you want to use a consonant you have to follow it with a vowel sound that fits one of the available syllables. The ‘n’ sound sometimes stands alone, but the rest must always incorporate a vowel.

Read more »

Next Page »