/jp/ - Otaku Culture

I'm dropping out of this project because I haven't paid all of my taxes. I don't want to bring disgrace to this project.

Real reason why I'm dropping out: "136 posts and 9 image replies omitted" and still no universally agreed project. Everybody is talking, but no one is listening. I guess in the end, westerners prefer to be individuals, as opposed to the easterners who prefer to be part of the collective/hive. This is the way it has been done in the west for 3000 years.

Whoever has been producing this project has failed miserably. The only way I'll agree to work on this project is if the current project lead stands down, and we democratically elect a new project leader.

Here's what we need to do:
- Register a domain
- Find a website administrator.
- Find a project manager.
- Decide if we want a wiki, forum, IRC, or imageboard. If we decide to make it a forum, we'll make it an Anonymous forum, or if we agree to make it a wiki, it'll be an Anonymous wiki.
- Create a list of all the potential projects, then vote democratically on the project that we want to work on.
- Create a database of all the members who agreed to work on the project. Said database would keep track of our ID, talents, contact-information, and interest.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/japanese-learn-english-using-obama-speeches

Aspiring English speakers in Japan have made President Barack Obama’s book of speeches and accompanying CD a national best-seller.

In Aichi, central Japan, a Buddhist monk has reportedly been playing the president’s speeches during his temple service. And dozens of students in an English-language class in Tokyo have been memorizing his 2004 Democratic Convention speech to improve their understanding and pronunciation.

“Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely,” the students at Kaplan Japan school recited together Friday.

“The Speeches of Barack Obama” has sold 420,000 copies since its release on Nov 20—an “unprecedented huge hit” for an English-language text, according to publisher Asahi Press.

Any book that sells more than 100,000 copies in Japan, which has a population of 128 million, is considered a success, and foreign-language publication sales rarely exceed 20,000, the publisher said.

Obama’s book of speeches surged to No. 2 in Japan’s main best-seller list this week, according to Hiroki Tomatsu, an official of Japan’s largest book distributor Tohan Co. that publishes the ranking.

The 95-page book compiles Obama’s speeches including the one at the 2004 convention, many from the party primaries, and his victory speech after he beat Hillary Rodham Clinton to secure the Democratic nomination. Each English-language transcript comes with a Japanese translation.

Although the simplicity of campaign speeches makes them an obvious choice as a language-learning tool, other American presidents have rarely been so feted.

“We don’t publish every single president’s speeches,” Asahi Press official Yuzo Yamamoto said. “Would you buy the text of former President George W Bush’s speeches?”