Nippon ho!

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

The whole video is pretty funny, but 3:35 in takes the cake.

On a related note, guess where Odie's probably going late July/early August? Let them eat grass, I'm 100% male beer-swilling carnivore baby!

[GoktimusPrime]

Meh, in Australia they'd be called metrosexuals.

Btw, will you be using 飛蝗の頌歌 (batta no shouka) as your Japanese handle or have/will you come up with something else? Don't tell me you'll be going around using your real life^mundane name -- that's perverse!

[loophole]

Meh, in Australia they'd be called metrosexuals.

how true but the aussies would still be interested in sex , cant believe how much there population is shrinking though

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Meh, in Australia they'd be called metrosexuals.

Btw, will you be using 飛蝗の頌歌 (batta no shouka) as your Japanese handle or have/will you come up with something else? Don't tell me you'll be going around using your real life^mundane name -- that's perverse!

I hate metrosexuals so much.

Hadn't thought that far ahead on the name count (and do kinda like the idea of a pseudonym), I was just gonna go for G-San (for Grasshopper and for the first letter of both the romanisation of gaijin and my RL Christian name) since it'd be easier to pronounce for most Japanese.
I also kinda like Studly Magnificent for a handle - whether you're being called Studly or Mr Magnificent it's still all good.

[Paulbot]

I hate metrosexuals so much.

So do I! They are far too confusing.

I've made many mistakes before

[GoktimusPrime]

how true but the aussies would still be interested in sex , cant believe how much there population is shrinking though

Yeah but Japan's overcrowded anyway (Tokyo has a population density of 5847 people per square km). Earth is overpopulated by humans. Chastity seems like a good idea if it helps control human population and in turn, impact on the environment considering the carbon footprint each human leaves on this planet.

And it's not as if chastity's a new concept. If this was practised within a religion I don't think anyone would bat an eyelid... but just because some people have found a non-religious reason to practise abstinence? So what? They're not hurting anyone else, and if it makes them happy then whatever. We're grown men who play with toys - are we really in a position to judge others for making unconventional lifestyle choices?

Perhaps what we need is a balance - a hybrid between the metrosexual and the Australian bogan -- BEHOLD!

Hadn't thought that far ahead on the name count (and do kinda like the idea of a pseudonym), I was just gonna go for G-San (for Grasshopper and for the first letter of both the romanisation of gaijin and my RL Christian name) since it'd be easier to pronounce for most Japanese.

Yeah, but then it sounds like your students are calling you "grandpa".

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

BEHOLD!

I prefer "Effeminacy: The new fragrance for Japanese men" (it works better if you read it in a sexy throaty voice).

Yeah, but then it sounds like your students are calling you "grandpa".

Bugger, people often call me G over here anyway (and being in my mid-20s I'm pretty sure I don't have any grandkids), and my RL name struck me as a bit hard to pronounce for most Japanese, so I was hoping that would work without the creepy old man vibe. I love Ranma's Happosai as a character to be sure, but not as a personal role model.
Wait...evil, selfish, lazy, irresponsible, inexplicable fascination with burusera...I'm not liking where this is going...

[GoktimusPrime]

(and being in my mid-20s I'm pretty sure I don't have any grandkids

Oh you would if you lived in my postcode. Bogan pride represent. (-_-) Just today I saw a young couple - the man had a baby strapped to his front and was chuffing on a ciggie at the same time. His older child was a young girl (preschooler) whose face exhibited FAS facial characteristics.

and my RL name struck me as a bit hard to pronounce for most Japanese, so I was hoping that would work without the creepy old man vibe.

Meh... most "foreign" names can be hard for people to pronounce, but as a matter of respect people ought to make an effort to say it correctly. I don't think your mundane name's that bad, but if you want perhaps you could try to find an equivalent Japanese name.

I can't think of any Japanese given names that would share the same meaning as your mundane given name (which apparently is derived from the name of a village). The only names I can think of that contain the word "village" are surnames. But of course everyone in Japan calls each other by their surnames instead of their given names anyway - so you might want to follow that convention. If so you might want to use the name 木村（きむら）.

Alternatively you could make a faux abbreviation of your mundane name. I knew a guy whose name is Brendan, and he had the Japanese name 無礼　（ブレ）-which means "without respect" For your name perhaps you could use 具霊 (グレイ) - it works as an abbreviation of your name and literally means "tool spirit", but please don't be upset at being called a "tool" because it doesn't have the same insulting meaning in Japanese as in English -- also, the Japanese word for toy is 玩具（がんぐ）, so in a way your name would mean "toy spirit."

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I quite like 'tool spirit' (I'm assuming the abbreviation is for the first syllable of my given name), it's kinda fitting for an ESL/EFL teacher.
I imagine whatever friends/associates I end up making will come up with their own nicknames for me in good time anyway, most people usually do, so I'll just wait and see if any are particularly cool and go with them.

For me the given name is from a Scottish clan I'm part of through my mother's side, though personally I prefer the Teutonic naming convention/meaning which is "From the gray lands" or "Country behind the mists".
What's really funny IMO is that my surname is from an Irish clan associated with herons, with a family crest featuring three herons on a green field, while my given-name's family crest features a hawk tearing out the throat of a heron...and both sides of my family hate the other.
All things considered I'd rather be the hawk.

On a related note, do we have a genealogy thread here? The whole naming thing has kinda hijacked the thread here...

[GoktimusPrime]

I quite like 'tool spirit' (I'm assuming the abbreviation is for the first syllable of my given name), it's kinda fitting for an ESL teacher.

EFL.

I imagine whatever friends/associates I end up making will come up with their own nicknames for me in good time anyway, most people usually do, so I'll just wait and see if any are particularly cool and go with them.

It occurs to me that your colleagues would just call you by your given name. Even if they find it difficult to pronounce they would make an effort. We get language assistants at our school from places like Japan and Germany and other colleagues do try to say their names correctly. It's not always exactly right, but as long as people are making an effort I think it's fine.

And your students should be calling you <Surname>-Sensei anyway. If they dare to address you by your given name, then they'll need to be punished accordingly.