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An important lesson
I had a motorbike accident last week, and it’s taught me a number of lessons. I thought I might share them here. 1. Don’t ride motorbikes when there is a chance of the roads being icy I woke up having...
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Women in Japan
I just saw this poster in my building commemorating the fact that 100 years ago in 1913, Tohoku University was the first university in Japan to admit women as students. I didn’t know that, and I am...
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(lack of) Confidence
I seem to spend my life veering between two extremes: certainty and self-doubt. On the whole I am a fairly positive person, and tend to be optimistic about the future. I work hard, and think about my...
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Priorities
As I was cycling to work today, I realised that my priorities are not the things I am spending time on. I need to make some changes.
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To Do Lists and Project Management: Trello
Recently I have been playing with a great free online resource called Trello that is designed to help teams work together on projects. There are two main things I do on the site: manage my to do list...
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What’s missing in education?
I got up before 5am today (summer here is rough on sleep) and started thinking about formal education and how it fails to educate people in the most important ways. There are three really important...
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The daily practice
A short comment today. The concept behind this Bill Gates quote “most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years” has been on my mind recently....
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English speech contests
I have a new policy regarding English speech competitions (actually it’s an old policy, from earlier in the year) and I just wanted to make it public here along with the thinking behind it. On many...
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Summer tip: use a fan and ice instead of air conditioning
This post is dedicated to my friend Philip, ’cause he needs it right now This summer has been fairly mild in Sendai, but the last couple of weeks have been hotter. I don’t like air conditioning and...
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Self-publishing on Kindle
Last weekend I did something I have been meaning to do for a long time: I sat down and wrote a short book, edited and formatted it, and published it on Kindle through Amazon. It really was that easy....
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Shock Therapy: how a geological event helped cement my minimalist leanings
This post was originally written for an ebook project that never happened. I’m happy to publish it here now. Are you a wannabe minimalist? I was. It took a major natural disaster to change that. I...
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English in Korea
I was in Seoul last weekend for the 2nd Extensive Reading World Congress (video of our workshop coming soon). Seoul is a great city, and I get the feeling I would become very fond of it if I lived...
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iPhone 5S in Japan
So we have a new iPhone coming out today, one that has finally achieved full market penetration -it will be available on all three major networks in Japan. I have owned two iPhones (a 3GS back in the...
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A change of scene
I am away from my desk this week, enjoying a change of scene. It hasn’t been very productive so far, but it has been relaxing. We’ll return to regular service next week.
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50k: thank you
This blog passed 50,000 views last week. Thanks for reading! Hope to be of value to you in the future.
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Building habits (restarting from scratch)
“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” (Bill Gates) As long-time readers will know, I broke my ankle in March. It still hurts from time...
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Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good holiday
I’m about to embark on my annual cooking adventure. (it won’t look like that) As well as cooking, I’ll be doing a special extensive reading workshop for Tohoku University staff on Thursday, so...
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Looking back on 2014
Well, this year went by fast! In a lot of ways 2014 was a good one for me. I was able to do a fair bit of travelling and presenting, things went well at both the university and Cambridge, and I...
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Too comfortable? The need for challenge and stress.
Happy New Year! Yesterday someone told me that it’s okay to say that in English until the end of January, and I’ve been here too long to be able to tell if that is true or not. I did a public lecture...
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2015 in Review, 2016 Preview
Last year was pretty good overall. Lots of progress on ongoing projects and some good foundations built for 2016. Here are some highlights: Received two important prizes from Tohoku University for my...
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