Riding Sun: Counter culture

Tokyo's governor Shintaro Ishihara allegedly called French a failed international language because it can't be used to count big numbers. As blogger Gaijinbiker explains, people who speak Japanese are in a funny position to be complaining about how another language deals with numbers and counting.

UPDATE: Betsy Newmark of Betsy's Page used to teach French. She also weighed in on this kerfuffle.