Romp's Journal

Moving ........

2009-06-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

Just in time for a new beginning ...

going to be moving to a new domain ...

since its my domain I can do a lot more with it than I did before. Its Wordpress so the visuals will be better and the tools work much better.

I have been wanting to post fiction and gaming stuff that has to do with the upcoming Hackmaster campaign.

lots of fun stuff to come :)

10 things Japanese TV has taught me

2009-06-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

from Smashed and Sinking we have a list of 10 things learned from Japanese TV. Picked from the list:

1) All food on earth is ungodly and orgasmically delicious.

Watch virtually any travel program and you get to see this in practise. EVERY single thing they eat is the best thing ever made on earth.

3) All I really needed in life is a speedo and a catchphrase

I cannot begin to count the number of guys in Speedos, on Japanese TV. It is like an unwritten rule that every variety show must have at least one fella in a Speedo.

9) Japan single-handedly keeps poster board companies in business. It’s like the news and variety shows never even learned that computer graphics were invented

I realized this after the first morning news program. They literally cut articles out of the newspaper and tacked them to a posterboard. With VERY neat highlighting around each article being discussed. Very surreal moment .... The most high tech country in the world and they use posterboard and highlighters for topics to discuss on the news. Unreal.

When did Japan stop being the future? ...

2009-06-18T20:27:00.001-07:00

Io9 has an excellent article on how the scifi interpretation of Japan changed over the years. From Blade Runner and Nueromancer to Steven Speilberg's A.I.

U.S. science fiction used to be fascinated with Japan, from Blade Runner to Neuromancer. Everything Japanese was cooler, sleeker and shinier than our grubby American aesthetic, and Japan was destined to dominate. And then, Japan's futuristic status waned. What happened?

Back in the early 1980s, Japan's ascendance seemed assured — there were a host of business books claiming that Japan had lost World War II, but won the peace through superior economic policies. Books like The Enigma Of Japanese Power by Karel Van Wolferen became unlikely bestsellers. Meanwhile, Japanese politicians like Ishihara Shintaro started flexing their muscles — Ishihara made waves with a book called No To Ieru Nihon, or The Japan That Can Say No (to the United States.)

Sadly, Japan's economic hegemony ran out of juice in the early 1990s, when their real-estate bubble burst (sound familiar?) and the country spent an entire "lost decade" mired in stagnation. The vision of Japan as future economic uberpower was replaced by a creeping irrelevance — but Japanese pop culture remained as influential as ever, maybe even more than during the powerhouse days.

I remember the influence of Japan both on futuristic scifi as a teenager growing up in the 80s. I also saw the decline of American manufacturing and then witnessed Japan's economic collapse in the 90s. Scifi has somewhat moved to other things. How many stories have been based in a futuristic Addis Ababa? But the influence of the cyberpunk/Neo-Tokyo continues to resound throughout recent scifi. It will always be there just as Shibuya styled Blade Runner setpieces will influence movies for decades to come.

Shared World's top five real fantasy/SF like cities

2009-06-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

The Shared World project asked five scifi/fantasy authors what five cities they find our earth the are the most fantastical. The results are a little surprising. No cities in Asia, and no cities in the USA.

Our own planet is often surreal, alien, and beautifully strange–and cities tend to focus our fascination with these qualities. Sometimes the exoticness comes from finding the unexpected where we live, and sometimes it comes from visiting a place that's foreign to us. Everyone also has a different idea of what "fantasy" or "science fiction" looks like in real places.

Michael Moorcock's pick of Marrakesh is not so out there but Nalo Hopkinson's pick of Kingston surprised me.

(photo of Marrakesh is copyright to movingthings on flickr)

IT'S ALIVE!!! The Life Sized Gundam moves ...

2009-06-14T15:12:00.000-07:00

Ever closer to completion, now the lights, sound and steam is on for the Odaiba Gundam ...

Now all we need are rules for movement and combat ...

photos via Danny Choo, btw)

1:1 Scale Gundam

2009-06-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

The life sized Gundam being assembled in Odaiba, Tokyo is almost complete. Pew Pew!

(photo via Ken Lee)

Adventures of Unko-san: the Lucky Poop

2009-06-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

via Pink Tentacle:

“Unko-san,” a new anime series about a brown turd-shaped fairy with lots of luck, is fast becoming the rage among high school girls in western Japan. Short episodes of the anime are now showing in the Osaka area on Kansai TV’s “Otoemon” music program. The stories revolve around Unko-san — whose name is a play on the Japanese words for “luck” (un) and “crap” (unko) — and his quest for happiness on Lucky Island, which is populated by a host of other poo fairies.

I am a bit speechless, as fastidious as the Japanese can be about hygiene and cleanliness every once in a while you encounter something that makes you just shake your head.

Siege of Vienna - MOGG version

2009-06-08T16:03:00.000-07:00

The anniversary of D-Day, MOGG decides to play a table groaner Battle of Vienna.

Whats a table groaner?

See the above photos. When the table groans from the weight of thousands of miniatures....

I ran the Wallachians, we occupied a precarious position between a rock and and hard place.

despite reaching the wall, we were overun from the rear and decimated ...

Tampopo

2009-06-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

Tampopo - what a Ramen movie should be

During the bashing of The Ramen Girl movie the movie that came up time and again was Tampopo. I decided to take a chance on this movie and order it from Amazon instead of The Ramen Girl.

Wow, This is a good movie. Highly recommended. Two truckers stop at a small ramen shop to get some food. They agree to help the owner develop her skill in cooking and getting the shop going.

What follows is all about love, life, and the ways that food and eating have embedded themselves into our culture.

Go order this movie, NOW!!

Hackmaster Basic

2009-06-03T18:05:00.000-07:00

Just finished up my preorder for Hackmaster Basic. Jolly Blackburn and Dave Kenzer have both gone on record as saying it will be available by the end of June. If I see a copy at Origins I am so going to snag a copy. I ran an awesomely fun campaign a while back for my friends. Some of the events are classic. Sometime I am going to have to scan in the Ballad of Capt. Sally, the gang getting honor points for spreading a nasty song through all the traveling bards in the area ... hahaha classic, classic

more good times and fun adventures coming up.

Street date for Win7

2009-06-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

and its official .... Win7 will be a available as a consumer item on Oct. 22. via Engadget:

We knew good and well the next iteration of Windows would be generally available this fall, but now we've a date to circle in our datebooks: October 22nd. Yep, the fourth Thursday in the tenth month of this year will mark the first date in which you -- the general consumer -- can purchase Win7, which gives you plenty of time to figure out which of the 94 variants will suit you best. Have fun!

Which of the many variants, hmmmmmm

Any mistakes?

2009-06-01T18:02:00.000-07:00

In honor of recognizing the mistakes we all make as human beings, lets review the Nihon Sun's 10 things not to do in Japan and see what happens?

Number 10 - Visit the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and snap a picture of a pretty stone bridge rather than one of the Emporer.

Ahem, well I got a pic of a pretty stone bridge, but we never got anywhere near the inside of the Imperial Palace. Our tour simply walked along a stretch of the moat. Oh well....

Number 6 - Chase a Geisha down the streets of Gion in Kyoto trying to snap a picture of her and wondering why she is for not stopping for yet another tourist with a camera!

We did not have to chase any geisha through the streets of Gion. We went to a private tea ceremony ourselves. I started to get a pic of a fully dressed geisha in the terminal in Kyoto, but she walked away and this advice popped into my head, so I stayed in one spot figuring I would get my chance later.

The Ramen Girl

2009-05-31T16:12:00.000-07:00

Word of this movie has been spreading through the American ex-pat community so I watched the trailer. Some of the word has been disparaging, people knocking it for being schlocky, unrealistic, etc.

An American girl gets dumped by her boyfriend in Tokyo. She searches for a meaning in her life while struggling with the culture clash and decides to try her hand at making ramen. The grumpy chef who trains her reminds me of Pat Morita in the Karate Kid for some reason.

I figured I would at least give in a try, it looks watchable (and since when have Hollywood script writers cared at all about realism?).

I have a tendency to like movies other people trash.

Trailer is linked below:

Random Photos

2009-05-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

The streets in Gion, while we were waiting for the tea ceremony to be set up. This particular area had been kept in cobblestone/brick with storefronts in olden style to give a more traditional feel.

This little cat was so pretty. The neko was also terribly used to gaijin tourists with cameras. He did his best to ignore us and pretend we were not really there photographing him. ^_^

My memory is lapsing and I am totally forgetting the story behind the boy getting his pants pulled down by the dog. Its an iconic image the way the Morton Salt girl is in America.

One of the ubiquitous vending machines. I decided to be a little daring and try the iced coffee in the upper left. Yatashii, I believe, is the name. It was brewed right into the cup and then ice drops in. MMMMmmmmm so good!!

At the Narita Airport, waiting for the bus to take us to our hotel in Tokyo. Sitting down and watching the kanji scroll by on the sign was when I had the first "How are you going to do this?" panic moment when realizing that I could not read the sign. Most of the signs in the airport had enough English on them so that you never got that feeling; however, the kanji scrolled by fast on this sign, fast enough that it induced a panic moment. Never had another moment, even though deciphering the subway ticket system gave me fits at times. (Ok, the second time I got a little panicky was at the Shinjuku Rail Station - the place is a maze)

Maid Cafe flyers

2009-05-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

When I was geeking out in Akihabara on my Japan trip I made it a point to save some of the maid cafe flyers.

Maid Cafes are kinda like Hooters for geeks. Pretty girls (how pretty is all relative of course) wear maid uniforms while serving food and drinks to geeky otaku...

or so I am told anyway....

having a girlfriend got in the way ... (grumble, grumble)

Kyoto - JR station rooftop park

2009-05-23T14:47:00.000-07:00

On the evening after our bus tour of Kyoto we were trying to figure out where to go for dinner. I knew there was a ramen place down the street but my companion was not disposed towards eating noodles again after the curry soba in Shibuya so she pulled out the guidebook for Kyoto and browsed a bit.

"There are a whole bunch of restaurants over at the JR Station on the upper floors. Want to head over there?" The joy of discovering something wonderful by just being open to new things took over so I agreed readily.

It turns out that the JR Station in Kyoto has a grand mall attached which rises several stories above the city and has a rooftop Garden. You ride the escalators up for several stories towards the openings and I could not wait to get to the top to take photos.

The ramen stadium was on the seventh floor with more restaurants above. My desire for gyoza dumplings and the girlfriend's desire for something un-noodly led us to this little tiny little shop on the upper floor. I had a good ramen/gyoza combo and she had a tempura combo. The gyoza were wonderful with the two little steamed dumplings being among the best things I have ever tasted. In a rare lapse I forgot to get a picture of the meal.

Our seats were along the window so I pulled out my camera an set it on the window ledge up against the glass to get this pic. The lights were beautiful.

When we came out of the restaurant it was dark and I wanted to walk in the park at the top of mall/station. Unfortunately the long exposure times and my shaky hands kept a lot of the shots from coming out but it was one of the best experiences of a trip filled with them.

The station had a tribute to "God of Manga" Tezuka Osamu ongoing. Besides the posters there were sculptures of various characters gracing the tops of signs.

a few more seconds of fame

2009-05-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

I get a few more seconds of my 15 minutes of fame checked off.

I was on Twitter the other night when @shibuya246 tweeted that he was playing golf in Chiba (a prefecture of Tokyo for the uninitiated). His pic included Mt. Fuji so I replied back that he was a lucky dog to be playing golf near Mt. Fuji. He took a screenshot of the replies so I got immortialized in a popular blog. Yippee!

Shibuya246's coverage of the golf outing and speeding ticket afterward are funny to read.

BTW, Twitter is very fun! ^_^

lots of good people to follow on that screenshot, too, hint, hint ^_^

(photo credit to Shibuya246 of course)

Lawson convenience store

2009-05-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid growing up here in Ohio I remember my father many times talking about going to the Lawson Store one the way home from work or to pick up the Sunday paper. The stores all but disappeared after as series of corporate buyouts and mergers in the 70s and 80s.

In Japan Lawson is the number 2 convenience store chain behind only 7/11. I was pleasantly surprised to find one right across the street from our hotel. I made it a point to go over there every night to get snacks or pop. Fond memories of childhood combined with the customer centric Japanese service was wonderful.

Shibuya246 has a good write up with nice pics of his local Lawson store. (Which inspired this post)

Wiki has a good writeup (albeit brief) of the history of Lawson. (The above images are from there)

I was disappointed that the closest convenience store to our hotel in Kyoto was a Circle K.

Japan Health ministry to stop onboard flu checks

2009-05-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

When we arrived in Japan the procedure went like this; in addition to the customs and immigration forms all passengers were required to fill out on the airplane prior to landing there was an additional Questionaire with questions regarding health, i.e. Have you been to or come from a country with a known H1N1 outbreak? Do you have a fever? Are you coughing frequently? Do you have nasal discharge? etc. When the plane landed all passengers remained in their seats until the Health team could board and check everyone. First was a guy in full anti-germ suit with respirator and googles carrying an infared camera. He slowly panned it around checking everyone's tempature. Then proceeded to the next section of the aircraft. More Health Ministry team members went up and down the aisles checking everyone's questionaire and handing them a paper with quarantine info on one side? When we got off the stewardesses handed out the surgical masks (like I am awkwardly modeling above ^_^ had the thing on upside down). They told us we were "required" to wear the mask as we left the plane.

Upon moving to Customs and Immigration we had to show the paper we were given on the plane to prove we had been checked before we were allowed to proceed on. By this time I had dropped the mask to my chin so i could breathe clearly. Don't ask me how the average Japanese wears those things for hours at a time.

These elaborate procedures were meant to stop Swine Flu from getting into the country but I couldn't help but to think that someone carrying the flu would slip right by all this before it had any effect. Apparently thats what happened because H1N1 popped up in Osaka/Kobe and immediately spread. The confirmed count is up to 193 and rising.

Now the Japanes government is stopping the onboard plane checks to focus on internal prevention. Via JapanProbe:

“We need to shift the focus of our human resources from quarantine efforts to domestic countermeasures,” Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said at a hastily arranged press conference Monday.
“That doesn’t mean there’s no point in trying to detect infected people at our airports, but we have limited human resources available,” he said Tuesday, adding he wants to divert some medical personnel involved in quarantine checks to efforts across the country to grapple with the new flu.
The checks of passengers on flights from Mexico, the United States and Canada–the countries that have been hit hardest by the new strain of the H1N1 virus–could end by the end of this week.

Well, that is good news, if a little late...

The Shosei-en Gardens

2009-05-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

The Shosei-en Garden was just east of the Higashi Hongangi (Shinshu Otani-ha) Temple, North of the JR station. Without a doubt this was my favorite place of all that we saw in Japan. So beautiful and peaceful. I would have loved to have seen it during Hanami. We took a chance on the free day we had and decided to walk up to see it. So glad we did. The Garden is also known as the Kikjoku-tei or the Orange Grove for a large number of trees growing there.

The Gardens are built on the grounds of the former mansion of a Heinan era Prince. Prince Minamoto no Toru, who was the son of Emperor Saga (early ninth century).

In 1641 the Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu gave a large portion of land to the Higashi Honganji. The garden itself got its start in 1643 when the heir of the Honganji tradition commissioned the creation of a garden.

In 1858 and 1864 fires destroyed the grounds and structures. Starting in 1865 and continuing through the Meiji era the buildings and the stone wall and the pond were restored and rebuilt.

I don't think I could ever say enough about how stunningly gorgeous this place is. It is an oasis of green and tranquil beauty dropped right in the heart of Kyoto only a few blocks from the train station.

The herons lived on the island in the middle of the back pond.

Maybe not cherry blossoms, but pretty enough.

Here is an edited video I put together utilizing the clips I shot that day:

Street Life in Shimokitazawa

2009-05-16T17:37:00.000-07:00

We went to the 440 Club in Shimokitazawa to see the Sooners play. There was a three act show playing acoustic with the Sooners as the middle act. Finally got to see the Sooners play live ... Wow very good. Wish I knew what the guy's name who played in the last act, he was also very good. His name was in kanji and the pronuciation is beyond me.

I loved the Shimokitazawa area. It had such a bohemian feel, so vital, so familiar. I would love to live there. I recorded a video on a corner to best capture the feel of the area:

Tips for going to Japan

2009-05-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

YAY!!! - 200th post

today we will share some lessons learned on the trip to Japan, hopefully make things easier for those contemplating trips of their own:

1. Schedule some downtime after you first arrive - just time to relax and soak up the feeling of being in Japan. Just a stroll down the street will help you relax after a long overseas flight.

2. Get your money changed to Japanese Yen ahead of time. It was so gratifying to pull out a bill and get a drink from a vending machine just after clearing Customs at the airport and waiting for a bus to the hotel and I was thirsty after 12+ hours in an airplane.

3. Try to learn what you can about the subway and trains before you go. Many train signs are in English as well as Kanji but it is still mighty confusing. Tokyo has two seperate subway systems. Tokyo Metro and the Toei. Just looking at a map and figuring out the shortest route will not always work. Transferring between lines will raise fares considerably and potentially cause problems when adjusting fares/tickets.

4. Take a tour. Half a day on a tour bus will give you some of the major sights like the Tokyo Tower and Asakusa Kannon Temple without worrying about transportation and traffic and fares. You can use the rest of your time for other things that you want to do with the big tourist sites out of the way.

5. If you get stuck then ask someone for help. We had people help us several times in the train stations and elsewhere. People always did their best to help us even if the did not know enough English to answer us directly.

Japan is a wonderful place to visit and I encourage everyone to go at least once. It is worth every penny.

Hikki cancel's US tour dates

2009-05-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

Via Japan Probe:

Japanese singer Hikaru Utada (one of my favorites) is canceling her US tour due to illness:

Singer Hikaru Utada, who is in the United States to promote her new album, has announced on her site that she must cancel upcoming appearances due to illness:

Riding on a Bullet Train

2009-05-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

While on a Shinkansen I wanted to record exactly what it felt like. They ride so amazingly smooth. It feels just like what you are feeling right now, sitting in your chair and watching this video of the countryside float by. A car has more bump and vibration than a bullet train.

There is a big controversy going on in Japan over building a new bullet train route from Tokyo to Nagoya. The desire is to build a Maglev train for even greater speeds. However since the French TGV reached its record speed there are a lot of people balking at the expense of building a new maglev train when it seems that older technology (steel wheels on rails) is not at the top of its capabilities.

To record this I simply set my camera on the ledge of the window and pressed the button. So smooth the camera never shakes or bounces.

back from Japan

2009-05-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting lately, will make it up to everyone though with a huge amount of photos and videos from Japan. Over 580 photos and videos on my camera cards.

using the trains in Tokyo

2009-05-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

Aggghhh, I looked up directions in Google maps to get from one place in Tokyo to another and all that kanji broke my brain. I wish there was more hiragana in use for the names of the trains and stations. I am afraid of missing a station and getting all fouled up in Tokyo. I have barely begun to decipher kanji. This video helped me a lot in deciphering what was going on. Thank you IES and YouTube uploader ... (gotta love the GIJoe reference he throws in at the end ^_^)

(I also love this time lapse video of riding the Yamanote loop in Tokyo, thanks to J Train Freak on dannychoo.com)

oh ok, i got it now ... thanks to this Wiki entry that explains the Odakyu-Odwara train line. I can even count the number of stops we would need to watch for. What did people ever do in the days before Wiki?

What you must do in Japan and must not do

2009-05-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

First up is a fun article from Nihon Sun about the 25 things that are must do while in Japan. Shane uses the communication power of Twitter to add to a unispiring list from Japan Times with very interesting results. Boarding the Yamanote line at 7:27 sounds likean invitation to a crushing death, Going to Sado Island for Earth day and seeing the KODO taiko troupe would be simply indescribable. Those are from the original Japan Times article, but the suggestions from the twitter responses add so much more:

@ajep would like to find a quiet suburban temple on New Year’s Eve & listen to the temple bells at midnight before hatsumode. He also wants to watch sumo basho (tournament) from the front row

@JapanMike suggests seeing a Soran Bushi (traditional Japanese folk dance song and dance) performance live. He says “It’s one of the most awesome spectacles I’ve seen, especially when it’s on stage.” View Soran Bushi on YouTube

@tokyotopia wants to go to the Nagano tree rolling festival - and hopes she won’t die doing it!

next up is 10 things NOT to do while in Japan. I know it would be hard to adjust to a squat toilet but I did not think the Emperor of Japan posed for photos.

Number 4 - Go for overly priced cocktails at The New York Bar overlooking the lights of Shinjuku in a lame attempt to recreate a scene from Lost in Translation.

no worries there, those scenes were my least favorite in that movie..

Number 2 - Attempt to order a California roll at a sushi restaurant and wonder why the chef is giving them a funny look – it’s sushi after all isn’t it?

this kind of stuff mystifies me ... why the hell would some go thousands of miles to eat McDonalds' or the same kind of sushi they get at home? Yeesh ...

Strangest train rider ever

2009-05-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

This guy either had to much sake or pulled a double shift at work. Via TokyoMango:

John says:

I took this photo with my iPhone on the Hibiya line in Tokyo. I patted the guy on the back and said Naka-Meguro a few times (the station was coming up) but got absolutely no response.
Photo by John Kostiuk

yet another hilarious Maru video

2009-05-01T15:46:00.001-07:00

Who is Maru? Maru Desu ...

how long does it take for Maru to get the hang of getting into a box?

using chopsticks

2009-04-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

I keep working with chopsticks but my hand cramps up after a few minutes. Need to keep working at it ...

Amazing stop motion movie

2009-04-27T11:54:00.000-07:00

this is awesome! Watch it all the way to the end. :) very very original and creative.

funniest infomercial ever

2009-04-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

check out the nervous breakdown the guy has at the beginning of this. He runs out of change at the car wash with a soapy car; then goes into an emotional meltdown and beats the roof of his car ... And then from nowhere comes a load of soapy water splashing the hood of his car ... ROTFLMAO ...

funny commercial

2009-04-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

Browsing through YouTube looking for commercials, finds this gem :)

9 hours on a battery...

2009-04-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

yet another notebook that makes the "it runs for nine hours!!" claim. Syeah right, I will believe it when I see it... at least I give it a chance if it really does have a 9 cell battery ...

via Gizmodo:

While most netbooks are settling for 3 and 6-cell batteries, the Toshiba Mini NB200 will be bundled with a 9-cell battery for a promised 9 hours of run time.
Just announced for the UK, the Mini NB200 is completely typical aside from its battery, with an Atom N270 or N280 processor, 160GB hard drive and unspecified (but probably 1GB) of RAM.
Yet in spite of its fatty power source, the NB200 still weighs under 2.5lbs—which is either an extreme feat of engineering or the result of an overzealous press release. We'll hope for the former.

Acer confirms Android phone for '09

2009-04-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

via Engadget:

Finally, the the G1 from TMobile is becoming the G2 but no one else has yet jumped into the Android phone waters ....

We've already heard plenty of talk that Acer would be rolling out one or more Android phones this year, but it looks like the company's head of mobile phone products, Aymar de Lencquesaing, has now come out and made the clearest statement yet on the matter, saying that while Acer has "not made any formal announcement of an Android-based device," it is "likely that we'll have one in 2009." No more details beyond that, unfortunately, but there has been some speculation that Acer's first Android phone would be known as the A1, which may or may not be similar to the mysterious C1 touchscreen phone pictured above, and could land as soon as September. In related news, Acer has also reaffirmed its commitment to become one of the top five handset makers by 2012, adding that it would need to sell 20 to 25 million devices a year to meet that goal.

OLED screens everywhere

2009-04-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

via EnGadget:

Truthfully, we wouldn't put too much stock in that headline considering that Samsung Mobile Display, a company that makes its ends off of sellingactive-matrix OLEDs, is the source. But on the other hand, we can definitely see it coming to fruition. According to a new report, said outfit has stated that OLED screens of some sort will be on over half of all mobile phones (not just smartphones, mind you) within the next five years, and that these same power-sipping displays will be on 20 percent of digital cameras and 30 percent of portable game players (PSP2, anyone?) within the same window of time. While it may seem a bit far-fetched now, we actually have good reason to believe that OLED adoption will indeed skyrocket on the small scale; it's those big screen TVs that we're worried only our grandchildren will truly enjoy.

From what I have seen of OLED screens, the colors and resolutions are fantastic compared to current screens.

Modern Samurai

2009-04-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

Watch and be amazed ...

Beetle Machine is waayyy cooler the Blue Beetle's ship

2009-04-16T19:32:00.000-07:00

Nite Owl and Blue Beetle are green with envy upon seeing this contraption (via Japan Probe):

Love and Pop

2009-04-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

Love and Pop is Hideki Anno's movie of the novel Topaz 2. It is about 4 teen schoolgirls in Tokyo and the involvelment in the practise of enjo kosai or compensated dating the practise of salarimen in japan to pay young girls to go on dates with them. From the Wiki:

The film follows four Japanese high school girls who engage in enjo kosai, or compensated dating. This is a practice in Japan where older businessmen pay teenage girls more commonly to simply spend time with them, or rarely for prostitution. The movie is also a coming-of-age story. The main character, Hiromi, does not have the direction in life that her friends already have. Hiromi's friends were going to buy Hiromi a ring, but Hiromi refuses to take all the money because she doesn't want her friends to be jealous. Hiromi goes on dates by herself to get money for the ring. Soon, she gets in over her head. Hiromi falls too far into the world of enjo-kosai as she tries to hold onto a "friends forever" vision of the past.

Anno (of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame) uses a digital video camera to get very unusual angles and set the tone. The way the salarimen pop out of the woodwork at the girls is just creepy!!

from bed to commute in less than 5 minutes!

2009-04-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

via Japan Probe:

Comedian Tomonori Jinnai shows us how to get up, eat breakfast, and get ready for work in just five minutes:

10.1" Netbook

2009-04-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

via Akihabara News:

Here's Kohjinsha's latest Netbook, the MT6WX16AR. Available in both black and white with a 10.1” LCD(1024x576), Atom N270, 1GB of RAM, 160GB of HDD, Intel 945GSE Express and a 1Seg TV Tuner… 49,800 Yen (€370).

10.1 inch screen instead of a micro-sized 8.9 inch, i really like the form factor with the 10.1 screen.

(btw, 1 Seg TV tuner is broadcast digital video service in Japan and Brazil, linkie here)

robot experiment

2009-04-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

So here is a very cool idea. Lets make a silly robot that can only move in one direction - forward, lets sheathe it card board with a silly and friendly face, lets put a flag on on the robot's antenna with the destination that we want the robot to reach, and here is the kicker - we realse said robot into a park in New York and see what happens ... does the robot get kicked/beated/mugged/grafiti-fied? does it complete its journey depending only on the help of strangers?

This was done by a NYU student Kacie Kinzer and the results might be somewhat surprising. From her blog at Tweenbots:

Given their extreme vulnerability, the vastness of city space, the dangers posed by traffic, suspicion of terrorism, and the possibility that no one would be interested in helping a lost little robot, I initially conceived the Tweenbots as disposable creatures which were more likely to struggle and die in the city than to reach their destination. Because I built them with minimal technology, I had no way of tracking the Tweenbot’s progress, and so I set out on the first test with a video camera hidden in my purse. I placed the Tweenbot down on the sidewalk, and walked far enough away that I would not be observed as the Tweenbot––a smiling 10-inch tall cardboard missionary––bumped along towards his inevitable fate.
The results were unexpected. Over the course of the following months, throughout numerous missions, the Tweenbots were successful in rolling from their start point to their far-away destination assisted only by strangers. Every time the robot got caught under a park bench, ground futilely against a curb, or became trapped in a pothole, some passerby would always rescue it and send it toward its goal. Never once was a Tweenbot lost or damaged.

Wow, color me surprised, people actually helped the little guy get to his destination, even to the point of pointing the little guy on a path out of danger.

Tiny little cars you would not want to crash in

2009-04-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

I get why they think these kind of cars are going to be popular in the future as in-town runabouts. Way kewl and all but heaven forbid you hit anything with one of these things. It'll be a closed casket funeral for sure:

first up is the i-MiEV from Mistubishi. EnGadget:

It isn't exactly providing a whole lot of details just yet, but Mitsubishi has confirmed at the New York Auto Show today that its i-MiEV electric vehicle will indeed be making its way to the U.S., and sometime "before 2012".

It hits the roads in Japan this summer but depending on the supply of batteries it might be delayed in its US launch.

Next up is the Peapod from (about to go under) Chrysler:

also via Engadget:

We just got an exclusive first look at the Peapod from Chrysler's Global Eco Mobility unit. Like its cousin the GEM, Peapod is a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle, which means it's limited by law to 25 mph and can't go on the highways. Peapod gets about 30 miles on a charge, and adds in all the "car" goodies that GEM was lacking. The vehicle seats four in lightweight Arion-inspired seats, has suicide doors for easy entry, a windowed roof that can be removed for some open-air driving, and even a nice amount of trunk space.

The thing about both of these cars and the Project PUMA from Segway/GM is that running around on the city streets in one of these would scare me to death. Even a low speed crash with someone's mountain size SUV would not end well for the driver of one of these boxes.

Tarako craziness

2009-04-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Tarako is a pasta sauce made from cod roe (yes fish eggs!) and mayonaise. As weird as putting that combo on pasta may sound, and I am told its very good, the advertisements are a thing from another world. Mutant Kewpie dolls marching in formation at little children, pure nightmare inducing... And the advertising dept. has proven to be one VERY prolific bunch. The kewpie dolls and the singing children are becoming an internet meme...

This Hello Kitty junk has gone to far

2009-04-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

via Tokyo Mango:

A Hello Kitty desk fan? The mind boogles. I swear Sanrio has finally gone off the deep end. The world does not need this much Hello Kitty.

Schadenfreude wins!

2009-04-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

via Gizmodo:

We tend to cover the zany antics of theGoogle Street View team quite a bit here at Gizmodo, as you can see. For those of you who hate that, this story is pure Schadenfreude.

Last summer, when the team was busy mapping the streets of London for the recent European Google Maps Street View rollout, one of its speedier drivers was pulled over by Britain's finest for a traffic violation.

bwahahaha, they kept this part on street view for a while; although it seems to be blacked out currently.

Sugar Mice

2009-04-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

Blame it on me ... Blame it on me ...

Fire breathing life size super mecha

2009-04-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

from Tokyo Mango:

Tonight in Roppongi happened already, but if you happened to have been there you would have seen the debut of this 7-meter tall aluminum fire-breathing robot called Giant Torayan. It's actually the creation of artist Kenji Yanobe, and it's part of an awesome art project that will transform the entire neighborhood into an alien robot-themed wonderland

This looks awesome, I want one for the front yard. (image by AP)

LG GD900 handset

2009-03-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

via Engadget:

The recent glut of telephony news can mean only one thing: CTIA Wireless 2009 is getting ready to kick off in Vegas baby, Las Vegas. In the runup we have LG upping the hype on its 13.4mm-thick GD900 handset first outed in Barcelona at February's MWC show. This time, however, the 7.2Mbps HSDPA slider with world's first transparent glass (not plastic as originally assumed) keypad will be functional, running LG's new S-Class UIon the 3-inch display.

more smartphones, and a very nice one. Really, really wish it had Android on it. The glass keypad is a bit redundant for me though.

anime and manga has moved

2009-03-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

I decided to split off the anime and manga stuff into a new blog over on wordpress. I decided it would be better for me and my few blog readers. The move lets me concentrate on tech, general news, and weird/fun stuff here in this blog while having an outlet for my anime and manga news elsewhere

follow the anime and manga at http://ducoduos.wordpress.com/ if you want to :)

Regular Japan/Asia stuff will be here, like the food conveyor youtube video. Will let me keep this blog the way for general stuff and fun/kewl things i find strewn around the 'net.

Kodo

2009-03-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

Kodo Drummers of Japan

Go and see this show, Kodo simply is unbelievable. Traditional music in an theatre setting. Simply mind blowing. They can create landscapes with rythms so vivid you will swear the sea and storms are filling the theater around you.

One Earth Tour Schedule is here

hanging from a tin can, high above the world

2009-03-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

photos from NASA and i09

bad engrish

2009-03-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

via Neil_Duckett.

Not since Who Gives a F*CK? have i seen such a misuse of the word … this is “master” from the new bar near my joint.

its like those people who get tattoos in Japanese kanji that they think means "Honor and pride" but really mean "I like sheep" ...

Cover My Eyes

2009-03-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

So how many years behind the times am I? I just discovered how much of a perfect tool You Tube is for watching music videos...

Marillion performing Cover My Eyes (Pain and Heaven) live:

Very nice little HTPC

2009-03-22T13:53:00.001-07:00

via Engadget:

Following up on its impressive debut earlier this month, HABEY's unveiled the BIS-6540HD mini HTPC that, like its 6550 counterpart, is capable of running an impressive 1080p signal with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor -- special thanks go to its HD hardware decoder for that feat. The fanless unit also features up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, eight USB ports, a built-in CF socket, two SATA II ports with SSD support, DVI and VGA outputs, ethernet, and options for wireless and HD TV tuner. No word on pricing or availability, but it looks like it's being marketed as an OEM product and we suspect it'll cost more than a pretty penny. Check out the video after the break to see it rocking Planet Earth on Blu-ray.

This looks really nice, with a good price it would be an excellent option for a HTPC. Since it is being marketed to OEMs it looks like it is destined to be some sort of set-top box, possibly for HD DVRs.Nice job getting full 1080p out of an Atom powered system.

Red Barchetta

2009-03-21T08:15:00.001-07:00

there are some days when the internet is like a memory machine, keeping precious memories alive. So many afternoons spent listening to Rush on a cassette player, working on gaming and reading paperback sci-fi novels. The teenage years of life and the zeitgeist of those times.

Red Barchetta is still one of the greatest songs ever. Even moreso because it does not fit into the silly 3 minute-repeating chorus meme of radio. Exit Stage Left performance from 1981.

Ride Back anime

2009-03-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

I have been enjoying fansubs of the Ride Back anime lately. Its got a lot of the feel of the '80s style of anime in it. Its original, something which is lacking in the current flood of moe anime. Ride Back feature a young college student (no high school kids, yay!!!!) named Rin Ogata, Rin is a very promising ballerina who suffers a career ending injury. To avoid a rainstorm one day on campus, Rin wanders into the Ride Back club house. Ride Backs are motorcycles that are articulated and change form into bipedal mecha and can use their arms to balance in turns.

Wonderfully animated by Madhouse and with a very enjoyable story. I am going to follow this one, Hopefully a company will pick up the rights to this and bring it into this country.

Ride Back opening below:

Manga for the 40-something crowd

2009-03-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

from OtakuUSAmagazine.com manga for 40-somethings

In Ore ha Mada Honki Dashitenai dake (literally translated as "I Just Haven't Been Serious Yet") main character Ohguro Shizuo is quickly approaching middle age. In the game of life Shizuo, like many other forty-something males, feels he has lost, and lost big-time. He's a fat, divorced father of one living with his own single father. If Shizuo was cynical he could take comfort with his managerial position, but then again he works at H Burger. He has no direction in life and there is no purpose. In everyway, to Shizuo, age 41, life is slowly becoming an agonizing affair. But that's only because he has not been serious about his life

This manga looks really interesting, I hope someone picks it up for translation to the US market.

My Kinda House

2009-03-18T18:35:00.000-07:00

from io9: A house made of UFOs and Math Puzzles:

If you've ever wanted to live in a crashed UFO, this is your dream house. A cracked open sphere with a roof that looks almost shredded, the house only gets weirder as you get closer.

I would love living in a place with wierd angles like that, very nice.

Akihabara(at)deep mini review

2009-03-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

Akihabara@deep

*** (out of 5)

Looking for a new manga and lamenting the FLOOD tide of titles seemingly all based on some combination of high school girls and undead or demons I kept seeing this in the bokstore. Despite some reservations I decided to try reading the first volume and see if I liked it.

Akihabara@deep is a 196 page b&w manga from Anime Works. The story revolves around Shinji Kojima as a reformed hacker just finishing probation (for computer cracking) and visiting the Akibahara electric town district of Tokyo for the first time in years. Shinji is a complete nobody who represents one of the aspects of otaku's personalities, social awkwardness and shyness. Shijnji immediately gets swept up with a group of fellow otaku and they form the Akihabara@deep company. A@deep and Shinji get sucked into many adventures (told at a lightning quick pace) revolving around the world of otakus and computers.

The manga focuses on two aspects of the otaku world. Otaku culture itself and the region of Akihabara which otakus have adopted as their home. The clash between the big companies and the small operations which gave Akiba its reputation and start gets a lot of focus and this echoes the real world in which Akiba's small retailers have gotten pushed out by the big megastores.

I liked the characters although they start out as cardboard thin stereotypes. Later volumes should give them more depth and take them out of the cliche mold.

Akihabara@deep is recommended if you like stories focusing around modern times and the 'net/technology world. Some of it may come across as cliche but I like it enough to give it time to suceed.

Shanghai Drifting in a delivery truck

2009-03-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

via Jalopnik and YouTube:

We've shown you some amateur driftersbefore, but this guy takes the cake. Using a Changan delivery truck, he does his best impersonation of Takumi Fujiwara from Initial D while drifting the Shanghai streets.You've got to love the quirky editing, Initial D soundtrack and the utter ridiculousness of the Changan delivery truck.

I have mentioned my liking of drifting before escpecially in reference to the Toyota AE86. YouTube of clip from Intial D of Bunta Fujiwara driving:

More Apple netbooks rumors/leaks

2009-03-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

A DigiTimes report that Asian company Wintek is making 9.7-10 inch touchscreen displays for Apple to be used in an netbook assembled by Quanta gained some (albeit non-Apple) confirmation today. (via ComputerWorld):

But Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business Research Inc., said he doesn't expect to see a traditional netbook from Apple, assuming the reports out of Taiwan are accurate. "It's looking less likely to me that Apple will do a keyboard netbook," he said today. "What we're hearing [from Dow Jones] is consistent with an iPod Touch on steroids. With Apple's hostility to keyboards in general, I think this will be a touch-based device."

I am intrigued, an HD video capable, stable, netbook like an iPod Touch with hook ups for external keyboard and mouse (leave 'em behind when you use it on the go) would be very useful and nice to have. Light gaming, Web/email/Twitter access through wifi, something like that would be a solid netbook. Apple has a reputation for slapping price premiums on tech that is behind the curve though. Charging 800+ for something like this would be a death knell though, anything more than 400-500 is stupidity in the netbook category. I don't know quite what they are planning but a giant/oversized Touch is going to turn me off. Need to see something visual on it and get a price point to make more judgements.

War Without Quarter - ECW

2009-03-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

Pics from my tabletop miniatures game on Saturday with friends. We played an English Civil War scenario using the War Without Quarter rules set. I really like the rules set, plays very fast and very simple. Cards for each unit are picked from a face down stack and the unit revealed activates and can perform a manuever. When a commanders' card is revealed he can also give orders to units within range so therotically a unit can manuever three times during each turn. Of course things rarely work out as planned ...

a full blow by blow write up of the game is here at Jeff's blog with some great pictures (click the distorted versions on the left).

some of my pics with crappy phone cam are above. Linkie to my Flickr set is here.

Mothra

2009-03-07T15:47:00.000-08:00

A friend wants me to look for Mothra DVDs in Japan.

I am a fan of the Toho studios tokusatsu films so this will be an easy enough request. Might need to write done the Kanji for Mothra and remember to get a region 0 DVD. Would love to find something that has subtitles and not those horrible horrible atrocious dubbed American voices.

Rebirth of Mothra triology of fims looks good. Hopefully I can find a set in open region DVD.

Hitler discovers the Watchmen ending is changed

2009-03-05T19:05:00.000-08:00

Somedays I just lurv the internets. Another remix of Downfall with subtitles for Hitler's reaction to the giant Squid no longer being in the ending of the Watchmen....

"I should have listened to Stalin." "Now Watchmen is ruined. And all the arrogant fatcats in Hollywood with their fancy suits don't give a shit."

Kaiten (conveyor) sushi time in real Japan

2009-03-05T15:37:00.000-08:00

A gaijin in Japan sticks her video camera on a conveyor belt in Hokkaido Japan. Watching the reactions is priceless, especially the little kids.

Black Rock Shooter figure

2009-03-04T19:32:00.000-08:00

The hottest, most drooled after, figure about to be unleashed on the otaku crowds is the Black Rock Shooter, from Good Smile Corp.

This figure is simply amazing. I am not a figure collector but that thing is definitely going onto my shelf if I ever get my grubby paws anywhere near one.

The video (with English subs) that the figure is based on is below. Hatsune Miku has a horrible nasal voice but the visuals are amazing. I remember the NicoNico Douga video had much better audio than this one. Wonder if I can embed Nico Nico vids in a Blogger.com domain? maybe I can scrounge up the link...

Go here for the embedded NicoNico video. (via Sankaku Complex)

Youtube embed:

Trying some sushi

2009-03-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

it turns out that a local grocery chain carries sushi. So it was everyone into the pool and pick some sushi to try. I got the spicy California roll.

Verdict, very good. very good.

Appleseed Ex Machina

2009-03-02T19:40:00.000-08:00

In case you have been living on another planet, Best buy is rearranging the way in which they buy and stock anime DVDs. To keep a long story short, about 400 Best Buy store are clearancing much anime for 1/2 price through March. Run down to your local BB and see if yours is on the list and score some cheap anime.

One that I picked up was Appleseed: Ex Machina. This is the newest version of Shirow's classic story of utopia with a dark secret. John Woo directed this version so expect the dramatic slow-mo action and baletic gun play Woo is known for.

One thing to not expect is decent CG. What is up with Duenan's hair? it looks like she got shingles on her head. Ugh. Bodies that seem stiff and joints that don't move. Atrocious at times the best blend seemed to be the almost cell animation look they were using for the flashback sequences. Wish they had used that look more.

The final battle sceen has a fight with aerial drones that is a nod to the spectacular fight scene in the final Matrix movie.

The story is good and not a straightforward retelling of the Appleseed story, it has enough to be fresh and the story fits with Woo's style of storytelling. This is my favorite version of the Appleseed story, just wish the CG had been better.

OitH FAQ

2009-02-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, I was thinking of doing a post like this before, but have never taken the time. Its time for some Q&A on this blog.

1. What the heck is an Otaku and why is one in the Heartland?

A: An otaku is a japanese word for a fanatic: see this Wiki article. It has the connotation of a nerd or geek, shaded with obsessive-compulsive. It is commonly used as a slang term for fans of anime, manga, and video games. To make a long story short and not turn this into a biography I am an otaku although I would add tabletop gaming (miniature wargaming and role playing) and technology (computers/internet/photography) to the description. I live in the midwest of the USA, sometimes called the heartland. I thought the name had a ring when it came to me one night so I stuck it on my blog subtitle.

2. Aren't people who follow anime/manga weird and creepy?

A: Heh, the extremes of vitually any hobby look odd to outsiders. Anime and manga with its extremes of sex and violence and coupled with Japan's penchant towards fetishes (used underwear vending machines?) will certainly generate that opinion to onlookers. The truth is that anime and manga like virtually anything else comes in all flavors. From high school love triangle dramas to ghost hunters, anime/manga covers everything and then some. I myself tend towards mecha style anime and sci-fi or fantasy oriented manga. Thats' pretty much it at the end of the day, boring old Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion. The guys and girls who are into the eroge games and the doujinshi manga can have their little fetishes. I like mine.

3. All your posts lately have been about Japan. Are you obsessed?

A: I guess its the way I operate, I bounce from one obsession to another. Its also a function of what I am into and surfing around the web, I have been reading a lot of blogs and news of Japan so most of what I post reflects that. I am planning a trip to Japan and have been diving into Japanese language and culture beyond just anime and manga and currently that is my focus. The constraints of time limit me to about a post a day. I want to get back to posting more general news and technology and stuff on tabletop gaming but will do so naturally. I do not want to force myself to do that, it will happen on its own.

4. What other stuff do you blog about? All I see is Japanese stuff.

A: I am limited both by time and resources, but my interests are diverse. And my posting will be also. I have been poking around the blogosphere for ideas and style and have a few new ideas germinating. Food, Photography, Wargaming, Technology, Gadgets, etc. etc. So I do have plans for more posts about other things. We can only see what winds up here. Stick around and hang on, its gonna be fun!

I do want to thank my readers, the few out there. Arigato gozimasu. Stick around, the journey is just beginning, lets see whats around the next corner.

Japanese RPG's

2009-02-26T19:05:00.000-08:00

One thing I want to get in Japan is a tabletop RPG. Not a videogame/computer RPG but a real Tabletop RPG with paper and dice :)

Wikipedia has a nice write up of the game scene, although it is a short article, they also have a nice list of tabletop RPGs by genre.

I wonder if Gear Antique Renaissance is still available?

Sword World 2.0 was published in 2008 and is still popular. Heh, they only use six siders, poplyhedrals are not common. Class/Skill systems are old hat in the American tabletop scene but it has its advantages.

Sword world RPG's classes are called ginou (技能 lit. skill^?). Each ginou has packaged a number of skills. It is considered as a hybrid system between class system and skill system, so it is often called class-skill system.
There are 8 classes (Bard, Fighter, Priest, Ranger, Sage, Shaman, Sorcerer and Thief) for Player Characters and 2 classes (Dark Priest and Dragon Priest) for only NPCs. 5 major races (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Half-elf and GrassRunner) can become PCs.
The game uses only two 6-sided dice, as other polyhedral dice aren't common in Japan. 2d6 dice roll is translated into a more wide range of random numbers by using a Rating table. The Rating table is used for damage roll, damage reduction roll and such.

The official Japanese web site of Sword World is here.

One more thing to get while in Japan. ^-^

Japan zookeepers train to fight rampaging rhino!!

2009-02-26T18:54:00.000-08:00

ummmmm, ok, ummmmmm yeah thats great training, seriously they are gonna be so prepared

(via Tokyo Times)

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

2009-02-24T15:05:00.000-08:00

This is being reposted all over the web but it deserves it, Mr. Kunio Kato getting his Oscar for Best Director and slipping a reference to the classic song into his acceptance speech:

That guy can park

2009-02-22T18:14:00.000-08:00

So, this morning I was remarking about how hard it has become for me to back my car up in reverse. Judging distances, angles, etc. Then I see this video on Japan Probe of an 84 year old man in Japan who backs his car into a garage so narrow he has to fold the mirrors flat when he backs in. There is a sliding door installed in the side of the garage that he must open to allow him to open his car doors and get out. Unreal skillz...

Ramune soda and Coddswallop bottles

2009-02-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

originally from Boing Boing Gadgets:

One of my favorite treats at an Asian grocery store is Ramune. Ramune is a soda with Japanese origins (there's aTaiwanese version as well) that comes in a variety of sugary-sweet flavors. But the cool thing about Ramune isn't the taste; it's the container. Bottles of the soda are sealed up with a marble. To open them, you have to force the marble down into the bottle, where it gets captured in a small chamber within. Pop it in hard and it makes a fizzy mess; which of course can be part of the appeal of drinking it. While the bottle may appear novel, once again it's in fact an old technologythat just happens to feel delightfully modern.
The bottle is a Codd Stopper, invented by soda magnate Hiram Codd (of the Camberwell Coddses, not those low born mother-scratching Devonshire Coddses) and patented in 1873. The idea is that the bottle uses internal pressure from carbonation to force the marble up against the rubber stopper at the lip, sealing your tasty beverage inside.

These bottles were not popular in the US but apparently remain popular in Asia. Something to look for next time I am in a Asian foods store. The first few minutes of this video show a kid opening a bottle of Ramune:

new packaging for tofu

2009-02-19T19:33:00.000-08:00

i want this packaging in the States, tofu packaging is right up there with the death by hard plastic clamshell on the despised list: (via Japan Probe)

a day in the life of a yoyogi park greaser

2009-02-18T14:47:00.000-08:00

This is an interesting music video from Peter Bjorn and John following a 50's styled greaser/dancer who hangs out with his buddies at a park in Tokyo. These dancers in this park have been doing this for years. The video follows one through his day from doing his big hair in the morning to laughing with his buddies as the sun sets. Great stuff... (via Japan Probe):

Blue Earth Phone

2009-02-15T13:52:00.000-08:00

via Akihabara News:

Samsung introduces Blue Earth solar powered phone:

Today Samsung unveiled the first solar powered Full-Touch Phone, the Blue Earth. As you can guess, it features a solar panel, located on the back of the phone. According to the Korean manufacturer, it generates enough power to make calls anytime, anywhere. The Blue Earth is also equipped with an ‘Eco-Mode’, for setting screen brightness and backlight duration, and a Bluetooth energy efficient mode. This eco-friendly phone features an “Eco-Walk” function featuring a pedometer for calculating CO2 emissions reduced by walking as opposed to motor transport. ‘Eco-Walk’ will also tell you how many trees you saved!

the phone looks good, full touch screen, decent size, etc. It looks to be running android though the blurb text does not mention Android. Have to keep an eye on this one. It has potential.

addendum: Samsung usually uses Windows Mobile, so I would surmise this is built on a version of WinMo with touch capabilities bulit in. Achh, so close, and yet so far .........

Food blogs

2009-02-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

In keeping with the Oriental theme :)

A couple of blogs I have been following -

Ramen Adventures - A teacher in the JET progam blogs about his travels around Japan trying and rating ramen shops.

also have been poking into The Ramen blog - Love the story behind the Gomen shop's name that he posted with his review of the place. He also is American rather than Japan based and reviews the California ramen scene.

Also I am really digging Pikko's Adventures in BentoMaking which I mention in the post below. She makes the seemingly simple bento box lunch look scrumptious. Desceptively simple, and so appetizing.

Hamburger Helper in a bento lunch ...

2009-02-14T23:11:00.000-08:00

If I had not seen it I never would have even thought of it; Pikko manages to make it look good though ... Hamburger Helper in a Bento, wonder how it would survive being carried around before being eaten...

V-day lunch

2009-02-14T21:07:00.000-08:00

Had lunch at the La Fogata Grill in Pickerington today. Had the Chimichanga Suprema and a Beef Tamale. It was really good. Will go back again sometime.

Inside a Pachinko Parlor

2009-02-12T19:34:00.000-08:00

You can just smell the sweat and cigarette smoke oozing from this place.

Housing in Japan

2009-02-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

Was browsing through Danny Choo's Living in Japan Guide articles when this passage caught my eye in the Tokyo Property Purchase article:

The average life span of a house in Japan is 25 years which is just one of the reasons why folks dont make these sort of purchases as an investment. Generally speaking, when people buy property in Japan, they usually plan to live there until their time is up.

I could not understand that when I read it and it still throws me for a loop. How the heck do you build a multistory house that only lasts 20 years?

check on Wikipedia got me this:

The taxable value of a house is controlled by its building material. Wooden houses are considered to have a lifespan of twenty years, and concrete ones to have a lifespan of thirty years

Color me confused. How do you build a huse out of wood that is so deliberately shoddy that it falls apart after 20 years? Build load bearing walls out of 1x2 studs deliberately 22 inches on center? Use brads in stead of nails? I want to know more ...

found this in a Tokyo Real Estate blog:

------I've always been taught that the average life span of a wooden framed house is about 30 years. Very short compared to houses in the US. The building materials used and the severe humidity has a factor in this. If you have the budget I recommend building an RC house. You can expect the cost to be twice that of building a wooden framed house but they last over twice the life span, are much safer (especially in an earthquake) and the fire insurance is a fraction of what a wooden house would be!!

oh ok, humidity rotting wood and other materials out. It gets to the point of being cheaper to replace it than try to maintain and repair it.

addendum: this also makes sense from a cost perspective, since the land is by far the most expensive thing, once your cost to repair or replace goes past a certain point then it would be easier and cheaper to replace the whole house than be nickel and dimed to death.

beautiful views of Kyoto

2009-02-09T19:26:00.000-08:00

simply amazing, drop dead gorgeous

Drift

2009-02-09T18:14:00.000-08:00

yay!

finally got my copy of Drift today. Sideways tireburnin' action. Sweet!

Kindle 2 leaks info and picture leaks

2009-02-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

nothing is confirmed yet but Gizmodo is throwing some "leaked" details at us. Personally I am waiting to see what I get in terms of an Andoid based smartphone and what reader apps are available before I plunk over 350 dead presidents down on a reader.

via Gizmodo:

Mobileread just got a bunch of official-lookingKindle 2 photos, which show it in various states being held and read, plus info that it's being released for $359 on February 24.
From the photos, it looks definitely a LOT thinner than the first, and maybe even a bit smaller too. Unless that man has gigantic hands, the Kindle goes from the tip of his middle finger to slightly below his wrist—not too shabby.
The photos may look fantastic and the news, by association, may seem official, but we don't know with 100% certainty that this is the actual price and actual release date until we hear from Amazon

Rocket Girls mini review

2009-02-08T17:26:00.000-08:00

I bought the Rocket Girls complete series recently. I have been into watching anime as I ride/exercise on my bike downstairs on the infamous tire destroying indoor trainer. I have been sticking with complete series that I can watch from beginning to end as I ride everyday.

Finished Madlax a bit ago and moved on to Rocket Girls. Was instantly captivated by the blend of hard science and typical schoolgirl drama with a touch of comedy.

Yukari Morita ia a young high school girl who goes off to find the father who abandonded her mother on their honeymoon in the South Pacific. She traces him to a small island that is also being used as a base by the Solomon Space Adminstration which is having trouble launching a spacecraft successfully. Yukari's and the SSA rocket admins' paths cross and they realize that a the weight and space savings that a slim, short high school girl would bring would allow them to launch successfully. Yukari agrees to be an astronaut in exchange for their help in finding her father. I won't go into the plot farther so as not to spoil that part of the story.

A lot of hard science and mathematics go into Yukari's training and the rocket development. I don't mean that this is an animated lecture on orbital physics but that the science and math are present and effective. You won't find any reality bending glass spaceships or psuedo mumbo jumbo dimensional portals in RG. Its all real life.

There are plenty of genuine laugh out loud moments such as when Yukari's first mission finally lands in a most unexpected place.

The animation is mostly traditional cell animation with some CG on the spaceships which is quite well done.

Rocket Girls is only 12 episodes and well worth the time and money.

Most Excellent Day

2009-02-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

Today was a shopping day, went shopping with the gf to the bookshop to shop for Japanese language books and to get cat food (though not at the bookshop :) ) and see about a replacement tire for my bike since my wind trainer destroyed the current one.

my gf's cat is physchotic and only eats certain foods which of course are virtually impossible to get. So we had to make the trek up to the big city to get Wellness Canned Turkey for the pyscho-kitty.

Then it was up to Borders book shop where I splurged on some Kanji books for learning. picked up a couple from the Tuttle Language Library - Kanji Fast Finder and Read Japanese Today. I figure once I get a little farther along in learning I will pick up a full bore Kanji dictionary. But I need to pace myself right now. Between these books and the language courses at iKnow I should be very busy and very able to learn what I want. Its going to be a crash course to get stuff down by the time we hit Tokyo.

After a quick lunch at a new (for us anyway) Chinese restaurant that called us in and used our hunger pangs to its advantage. This place is on our "must stop again" list. The Crab Rangoon was perfect, the cream cheese melting away and floating in your mouth. Best Rangoon I have had in years. The General Tso's chicken and the Happy Family had excellent sauces. Very good meal.

From there it was off to the cycle shop to get a new tire mounted up on my bikes rear wheel. Got a special kind of tire made for trainers since the tire I had was destroyed by the indoor trainer I have. Turns out that Continental make a special tire especially for indoor trainers called the Ultra Sport that will last much much longer than regular tires on high friction rollers. Should work great for keeping me going on my riding.

From there is was home for a nap and getting some quick reading done before it was time for our movie night. Watched Eagle Eye and had some Killian's Red beer and pizza. Doing stuff with my gal is like heaven for me. Never tire of it.

When I dropped into the chair to nap my attention seeking cat decided to jump onto my lap and get some nap time in herself, which we captured on camera.

How i accidentally quit my job

2009-02-06T15:32:00.000-08:00

so anyway ...

I did not really quit, just worked there for a week when the computers thought I didn't... :)

My workplace switched to using a computer based timesheet system that we use to record our daily work hours and all, yadda yadda ...

there is a little button on the thing for when you retire/leave/etc. and this is your last time sheet. after you click it the computer removes you from the system.

So I somehow managed to check the "last timesheet" button last week. Don't ask me how, I have no idea, I am careful about it and know better.

This week I logged in but the time system has been down for updates, etc. So my supervisor sends out an email about a code we use on the timesheet. I log in to check but see no timesheet at all. I fire off a reply to my supe "what's up with the system, I have no timesheet at all?" a few minutes later he replies "I can't see it either. Maybe they are checking yours. Ask Sonja ." I wait until I finish the task I started but then supe comes striding over ... "Why did you retire?" "did you hit the last timesheet button?" .... "ah, hahahaha guess I must have, oopsie" :)

We had a good chuckle out of it and made some de riguer jokes ("you can't tell me what to do anymore, I QUIT!!" :-) ) but the timekeepermanagerperson got me back in the system. Its not the first time it has happened nor will it be the last time.

so I worked this week when I had actually quit. :-)

btw - a pebcak is a computer tech term for "problem exists between chair and keyboard" i.e. user error :-)

Tron + Depeche Mode = perfection

2009-02-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

who would have thought Tron and Depeche mode fit together so well:

backup possibilities

2009-02-05T17:55:00.000-08:00

thinking about getting something to use for backups, came across this at Engagdet -

iDrive portable HDD

only 120 dollars and 320Gb of space. Hmmmmm

yet another reason to be jealous of Japan's broadband

2009-02-03T15:23:00.000-08:00

Free (limited) WiMax service.

From Akihabara News:

Know what? Until few hours ago, and until we got this press release, we were completely unaware of the Japanese telco company UQ Communication, but today they made my day by offering to all subscribers (limited to 5000 people) FREE WiMax.until June.

Starting today until the 15th, if you subscribe to a WiMax connection within Tokyo, Yokohama, or Kawasaki for a RIDICULOUS monthly fee of 4,480 Yen... you'll get WiMax free until June... What will this get you, sorry us? Decent Internet surfing with 40Mbps in downlink and 10Mbps in uplink, in reality least 16Mbps in downlink... Anyway, you know free WiMax is available. I almost forget, you'll need one of these USBs or PCMCIA thingies below to surf WiMax style.

ok I am totally jealous, beyond reason, jealous, ready to pack my bags and move tmw style jealous. First cheap fiber optic service practically anywhere and now this, sigh...

to learn another language

2009-02-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

tried the language course at Iknow. The core Japanese course is pretty good. I like the focus on learning words and the hiragana/katakana/kanji at the same time. I will keep going with it for a while to see where it leads me.

Jesse the YouTube star

2009-02-01T18:13:00.000-08:00

The GF uploaded some videos of her cat to YouTube. My cat Genny gets in on the action. She is so photogenic.

Bleach

2009-01-31T21:29:00.000-08:00

Joost.com has Bleach anime - subtitled and uncut!!

Streaming video! OMG! Otaku alert!

Washing Machines

2009-01-31T16:18:00.000-08:00

Wonder what washing machines are like in another country? Not anymore thanks to Flickr. Some examples from Japan here.

KODO Drummers

2009-01-31T13:30:00.000-08:00

Here is a trailer for the Heartbeat Drummers of Japan DVD. It doesn't quite capture the magic of KODO live but it comes close. Definitely go see them if you get a chance to do so. Do not ask questions, just go. Linkie to the One Earth North American Tour is here: One Earth.

addendum: here is a longer and better trailer to watch:

Taiko Performance at SOYA2009

2009-01-31T13:11:00.000-08:00

I fell in love with Takio drumming after seeing KODO perform while I was in college:

(SOYA2009 is a cosplay convention held in Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore, SOYA2009 Loads of pictures of the costumes at this site.)

Ooooohhhhh, KODO is performing locally on the North American Tour. This became a must see!

Anime Girls Generator

2009-01-31T11:18:00.000-08:00

found this little generator to make anime girl mascots

Download here

Founded by Shin

Made by KH

This will be a fun thingy to play with :)

Fighting High School Girls

2009-01-31T10:40:00.000-08:00

ahhhhh, the fantasies ....

Charlie's Angels as they should have been...