Libation Kowloon: Downing a cold one for an unspecified deity in a popular Chinese SAR

Street Photo Terrorist

2008-07-18T12:10:00.001+09:00

Paparazzi!!
Originally uploaded by babybinjp

Been trying out some new photographic techniques lately, and this particular style has thus far generated some pretty interesting results. What's more surprising though is the overall positive reaction I've had from people as I walk up to them in the street and fire off a flashgun in their faces, and general indifference is about the worst I had to deal with. Others were not so lucky, with one poor soul getting chased down the street by an angry woman in her eighties.

Another Photo Assignment Winner

2008-07-09T13:41:00.002+09:00

Celebration
Originally uploaded by 神酒 Coal

The internet thinks I'm great! This time, it was the Canon EOS 40D Users group on Flickr, and the assignment for the week starting was titled Celebration (winner announced with the following week's assignment Friendship).

“i liked this photo because i thought it best represented the theme, and plus the poster said he lost his jacket in the process! anything to get the shot, right?! :o)”

Probably little purpose in entering the next one as I have to pick the winner, but it's all for fun anyway.

Shuetsu

2008-06-26T13:37:00.004+09:00

Shuetsu-tai
Originally uploaded by 神酒 Coal

For those not in the know, Shuetsu Sato is a JR station staff member who has become a minor celebrity based on his reputation for putting up very creative and aesthetically pleasing temporary signs made from duct tape to help guide passengers through re-routes during station renovations. Most notable is sans-serif font he designed which has come to be known simply as Shuetsu. As he predominantly works in Nippori and formally Shinjuku stations, both of which are in the northern part of Tokyo, I never had the pleasure of seeing his work until this morning when I discovered a mural size sign outside a station I pass on the way to work each morning. It even has his signature duct-taped in on the left.

What makes this sign particularly noteworthy is that this is not a JR station, and the information it gives has been true for many many years. It's therefore highly unlikely that this was put up in any kind of official capacity. What I think is more likely is that he had occasion to pass by the station, noticed a huge, blank, temporary wall, and just got on with it. Either way, several hours of labour has clearly gone into this piece of what could only be described as street art, and I think it was time well spent.

I emailed Mr Sato to enquire as to this. If he honours me with a response, I will report back.

Update

Got a nice detailed mail back from a Mr Takahashi on Sato's behalf. Apparently the construction company responsible for the renovations of Keikyu-Kamata station directly requested that he make a sign for them. As it wasn't strictly speaking his job, this meant heading down on his day off and spending a full working day on it. He then returned the following weekend, again on request, to add more lettering and generally make it nicer. Apparently he's very surprised at all the positive media attention he's been getting, as his motivation comes purely from a genuine desire to perform a useful public service. This fits well with my own general opinion that art should embrace utility.

One minor errata. Apparently he doesn't work directly for JR. He's actually a contractual guard hired by construction companies to assist in directing the public around works. In other words, one of the people you'd normally see swinging a lightsaber. He's currently assigned to reconstruction works at JR Nippori, and before that JR Shinjuku, hence the misunderstanding.

Month for Cracking Down on Illegal Foreign Workers

2008-06-05T11:08:00.003+09:00

Shop On Your Neighbours Month
Originally uploaded by 神酒 Coal

It's June, and the banners are back up in Shinagawa Station again, just as they are every year. One side reads "Month for cracking down on illegal foreign workers" and the other "Internationalisation within the rules". I don't think any explanation is required as to why putting these banners up is a poor reflection of the immigration authorities judgement and both rude and dangerous to the vast majority of foreign residents who have their paperwork in order.

Q. No, I believe further explanation is required. Please furnish said information forthwith.

A. In addition to ignoring that Japan has done very little to combat its international image as a human trafficker and in such circumstances this banner encourages people to effectively blame the victims, it gives the impression to the countless commuters that pass through the station every day that anyone who looks foreign should be treated with suspicion and reported. Visa statuses are private matters solely between the individual and immigration authorities (and in some cases, employers). They are not for the speculative amusement of everyday folk. As with the failed snitch site campaign of a few years ago, this creates a very dangerous tendency.

It's not only the Immigration authorities to blame for this. Shinagawa Station must also share in the responsibility. So in response to this, I would strongly recommend boycotting all businesses that have branches operating within Shinagawa Station, and making sure the businesses know why. This should start with Starbucks, which actually directly overlooks this xenophobic claptrap, so everyone with even a vaguely foreign looking face can feel discriminated against as they enjoy a latte in the rolled up newspaper Starbucks call cups (I'm already boycotting Starbucks for other reasons, namely their policy of putting drinks in paper cups by default, and the absolute suckitude of their coffee du jour aka the weakest link. I'll boycott them even more now). Also if anybody fancies getting arrested, June might be a good month to start patrolling Shinagawa Station with a sandwich board displaying any pet conspiracy theories you fancy, such as "BEWARE OF PEDOPHILIAC SALARYMAN GROPERS" or "JR STAFF ATE MY BABY" or whatever. If anybody official approaches you, simply point to the banner as precedent.

毎年の６月、入国管理局は品川駅に「不法就労外国人対策キャンペーン月間」と読む横断幕をかける。外国人のビザ状態は本人と入国管理局（と会社の人事部）の間の内密だから周りの人に対して容疑を持たないでください。

See the rest of the photoset here.

Kichijoji Koen

2008-06-02T21:10:00.003+09:00

Hula
Originally uploaded by 神酒 Coal

A very fun place to be on a Sunday afternoon armed with a Speedlite and a fishy.

See photos. 写真はここです。

Flickr Tokyo Photo Sessions February Winner

2008-04-08T11:37:00.003+09:00

That would be me then! The photo session was Odawara Castle and the nearby plum gardens, and the contest theme was "Up Close and Personal", which was left intentionally vague as many people don't have expensive macro lenses. I being among them decided against a second rate close-up of a flower in favour of the photo above, without honestly expecting I had a chance of getting anywhere with it. Perhaps the voters saw something in it I didn't.

Yey! I has interestingness!

2008-04-01T15:42:00.002+09:00

I'm in a group shot that came up in Flickr's "Explore" top page. Wonder how many billions of people got to see that then.

Mail Related Oddity

2008-02-20T13:37:00.002+09:00

Early in January, I migrated my domain mail server from Hostedmail to Gmail Apps, because it was clearly able to do a significantly better job of handling the 150 odd junk mails I was getting daily. Although I'd changed the MX record setting so that all incoming mail would go to Gmail, I left a link to the Hostedmail server so that I could log into the web interface (but not from work - for some reason they made it impossible to do so when they upgraded their software) just in case anything went wrong. Nothing went wrong, but having just logged in, imagine my surprise to find that there are at least 200 new junk mails received since I migrated, some as recent as this morning. As there is no possible way they could have come in from the outside, I have to conclude that Hostedmail are deliberately injecting junk mail into their users' accounts in order to promote their junk mail filters. Ironically, none of the mails had actually been caught and tagged by their junk mail filter, as they were all just sitting there in my Inbox. Yup, looks like migrating to Gmail was a sensible choice alright!

Flotsam and Jetsam - How Oasis Really Sound

2008-02-18T16:59:00.002+09:00

Saw this clip on Victor Lewis Smith's TV Offal a good decade or more ago, and prayed long and hard to the gods of YouTube that I would one day see it again. I even attempted (badly) to recreate it myself using technology, but to no avail. Today though, my prayers have been answered. I present to you, Oasis as they really sound.

Hey, movie studios!

2008-02-07T18:33:00.000+09:00

While I do think it's great that it's possible to put a digital 5.1 surround soundtrack on DVD releases of movies, giving those with a surround setup at home a truly enveloping cinematic experience, how about making use of one of the additional tracks available on the disc to include a re-mastered stereo version optimised for "living room" for the benefit of the remaining 98.2%* of the population that don't have such a setup, and sometimes also have neighbours to consider. I don't want to sound pedantic, but when I watch cinema-style TV shows like Lost or 24, they look great, and sound fantastic coming out of my TV's standard stereo speakers at a moderate volume. When I watch a film with a surround soundtrack though, the sound is invariably unbalanced to the point it utterly spoils the experience. When the sound is up loud enough that it's possible to make out the dialogue in my native language, music and sound effects are so loud they can be heard halfway down the road. Headphones exacerbate this, as I found out before giving up on the latest Harry Potter film on a long haul flight due to a combination of the music causing my ears physical pain and it sucking. Most of my DVDs I can't watch without English subtitles, and even then I'm constantly having to adjust the volume to match the sound output. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you supposed to have done that for me?

* figure made up to emphasise point, and may be considerably higher than actual number.

Amusing Google Find

2008-02-01T13:25:00.001+09:00

Here was me innocently looking for a documentary called "Dangerous Cult" recommended by a friend, and imagine my surprise at the first result Google gave me. I don't know if the Church of Scientology decided to take a more honest approach with their keyword meta-tags, or if teh interwebs just had a Google-fart, but this may not be their best advertising strategy. They should perhaps stick to the free stress tests in shopping malls and Hollywood star flip-fests.

More odd junk mail?

2008-01-29T17:36:00.000+09:00

This is the latest in a series of wtf junk mails I've been finding in my very effective Gmail-hosted spam quarantine these past few months. It absolutely boggles the mind. Amusingly, he at one point refers to an earlier mail, which I did in fact receive... wtf?!

FBI preparations to Mukasey testimony before Senate Judiciary Committee on 01-30-08

Dear Madam and/or Sir,

I am sorry for taking your time again, but I have no other choice as to follow on the information sent to you and related to FBI lawlessness and to try thus surviving its retaliation which is presented below.

Thanking you in advance for your understanding, I wish you all the best.

Sincerely,

Slawomir J. Borowy

January 28, 2008

NOTE

for FBI Director Robert S. MUELLER

Re: Domestic terrors as the way of FBI preparations to the January 30, 2008 hearings of Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

1. Making just to the point, on January 9, 2008 you announced the appointment of Mr. Arthur M. CUMMINGS, II to the position of executive assistant FBI director for National Security Branch - NSB to replace Willie HULON, but without specifying the effective date of change. As of January 28, 2008 the FBI website provides the conflicting information on who is in charge of NSB. Cummings is listed in its one page, but Hulon is named in its another one. On or about the same day, the name of Daniel Lee CLOYD, acting assistant FBI director for counterintelligence disappeared from its website without giving any reason after my revealing and distributing of information on his crimes as well as without naming anybody to replace him even temporarily. This looks like the FBI game of seek and hide at the level of kids to protect criminal Cloyd inside.

2. On January 28, 2008 at about 9:00 am, i.e. 12 hours before the State of the Union address by President George W. BUSH to U.S. Congress and the American people, I provided offices of Senators in Hart Office Building with the information on the Cloyd lawlessness which has been presented in my earlier email and which been combined, perfected and presented in the form of memoranda. The new information is that he and his FBI counterintelligence conducted its covert operations among others: (a) to have set fires in Senate restrooms; (b) to have acted through its informant in U.S. Capitol Police - USCP; (c) to have tried getting me and my wife arrested for the Cloyd crimes; (d) to have failed in doing so; and (e) to have sacrificed its informant to direct putting the blame on USCP.

3. Shortly after that I and my wife were subjected to obvious retaliatory domestic terrors for delivering the information to offices of Senators. This was enforced in the house of FBI informants where we had to do its sitting for the extended weekends usually from Thursdays to Mondays/Tuesdays during the homelessness imposed by its counterintelligence. The remaining days of each week the FBI puts us on the street after blocking the issuance of work permits and taking away all our jobs as independent subcontractors. For the privilege of doing the free-of-charge house sitting, I have had to perform various computers jobs, including their setups in the business of house owners without any pay. My wife has to clean their house at the half of prevailing market rate each week. For last 8 years we have been extorted thus over $70,000.00, part of which gets as financial cuts to FBI officials like Cloyd upon the demands of its attorney Lawrence (previous tel. no.: 202-324-1188).

4. Without going into details, we should and could be in the house when its owners are on the farm. Whenever they come back, they leave it within a half hours and go to their office in Washington, DC. We should leave their house before their return during the evening. The reason for such arrangement is that at their age of about 75 years old they change often their plans and stay a day or so longer on the farm, depending on their health conditions. For the last few years they have followed on such practice which ensures that their house is taken care all time. This has made possible that we prevented damages in their house like flooding and even fire.

5. On January 28, 2008 morning one of house owners told over phone that they would be back at about noon. He did not indicate that we had to leave before. He agreed to talk to me upon his arrival. He came in at about 4:00 pm. He was angry that he had to leave the farm. This was evidently contrary to his real plan, needs and state of health. He said among others: “The next time, I tell you over the phone the hour of our return. You must be out before.” This was the breach of our oral agreement. Earlier, he did not mind our presence in the house when he had to rest even. His wife asked us to be there when he had sudden health problem. Two weeks ago, I set up their third farm computer without the payment of $600.00 for the job.

6. On January 28, 2008 at about 4:30 pm, the house owner acknowledged that he had to come to Washington, DC although he did not feel well. Few minutes later, we left the house. We could not change our clothes even. He did not go to the office at such late hours. The overheard telephone conversation of his with wife revealed that they were compelled to return from the farm, contrary to their real plans. They could have done the same jobs on the farm, using my computer setups. Apparently, FBI criminals lack any common sense that a house sitter should turn over the property to the owner who can check whether everything is in order. Such solution makes more difficult for them to break in, to do some kind sabotages and to direct putting the blame on us for their purposeful damages. Recently, they specialized in blocking toilet and implying that we as “stupid Polaczeks” do not know how to use restrooms.

7. Evidently, FBI criminals try imposing a new rule to reflect what Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity means in their practice of NSB. Their faithfulness to duties of domestic oppressors is among others that they want to call in the house owners and to direct them putting us on the street whenever it suits their interest. The FBI courage comes to compelling that the house owners are to lie to us over the phone when they will arrive. The imposition of FBI honesty is to be that we are to obey and to be out of the house upon telephone calls from FBI to house owners and from them to us, contrary to oral agreement and despite our work done. What FBI criminals drive at in fact is that the house owners will be terrorized, will cancel our arrangement for the house sitting and will rob us of $70,000.00 in full. Thus, your subordinates involved in its counterintelligence want to get us on the street 7 days a week for 24 hours. They intend and to do with us for the good before we will have chance of trying to get a legal representation in coming weeks.

8. As the matter of the fact, I do not know who does what and who is in charge of what in the mess in NSB under your leadership. Like his predecessor Timothy BEREZNAY with the typical Russian last name, Daniel Lee CLOYD is beclouded as they would have hit the road to Moscow after my revealing of espionage and other criminal allegations. However, their methods of persecutions are intensified while a new FBI kid Arthur M. CUMMINGS, II is coming to its top level leadership and is or is about to be in charge of NSB. The showoff is to imply or to reveal his belonging to espionage ring of Russian intelligence services - KGB/SVF and GRU and their “Pol-ish” affiliate - WSI/SWW in the FBI. This is contrary to the simple fairness that he will settle in his new position and will demonstrate by his own action who is he, in fact and what he stands for. It requires giving him a little time, the luxury of which I can hardly afford.

9. On January 28, 2008 at about 4:40 pm the FBI counterintelligence put me and my wife on the street at the time when we got a flu. This is the outcome of Cloyd persecutions during the last week. We were homeless 107 hours of cold weather with temperature below 20 degrees F - minus 7.0 degree C and with strong winds. We could take altogether ca 6.0 hours of naps during 4 days. We were exhausted to the point of physical collapse. We got weak. Our immune system lowered. We have a slight temperature, headaches and sinus. We are to be 24 hours on the street for the next 3-4 days. We are not allowed to make money for buying more food. They block the issuance of our U.S. documents after the grant of political asylum. Your FBI has subjected us to such extreme tortures which have not been reported in interrogating terrorists in notorious Quantamo Bay prisons who are provided with meals. Your subordinates in question have done so to try eliminating my allegations which relate to their crimes for their personal enrichments, first of all. They could not have made the coverup for such crime. They have disregarded the breaches of FBI security that point to clear cut espionage from within its counterintelligence.

10. Thus, the FBI, especially Cloyd subordinates and others want to make us seriously ill, to prolong our homelessness and to cause our death. We do not have any health insurance and any place to stay inside and to get well. At the same time, FBI criminals continue to make fortunes on our $620,000.00 valued properties, including jewelry business they seized without any authority of law, but with the use of its power and resources for personal enrichments.

11. Without any doubt, WSI/SWW-GRU moles in the FBI counterintelligence try to do everything possible to prevent me from distributing any information on their lawlessness when on January 30, 2008 Attorney General Michael B. MUKASEY will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee during its hearings on the oversight of the Justice Department. The same relates to February 1, 2008 talks of phoney CIA baby-boy Radoslaw SIKORSKI as a “Pol-ish” minister for foreign affairs with secretary Condoleezza RICE in the Department of State. He has protected communist Moscow graduates in Foreign Ministry in Poland. He does whatever he can to bring benefits to Russia. Thus, he has confirmed by himself that he is on the GRU leash. His wife is the Washington Post journalist Anne APPLEBAUM. His father in law is senior counselor Harvey M. APPLEBAUM of power house law firm of Covington & Burling, LPP in Washington, DC. This requires the separate elaboration on.

12. I am leaving up to you what you deem appropriate and right upon the information given above and provided in attachments. I hope the proverbial buck stops with you in the FBI as its director, instead of criminals and WSI/SWW-GRU moles in its counterintelligence and regardless of personnel changes.

Slawomir Borowy
Former Polish diplomat and participant in sensitive FBI projects to protect U.S. homeland security

cc: Honorable: President George W. BUSH, Vice President Dick CHENEY, Attorney General Michael B. MUKASEY, Deputy Attorney General nominee Mark R. FILIP, Senators and Representatives; Executive Assistant FBI Director Arthur M. CUMMINGS, II; Military, Diplomatic, Intelligence, Law Enforcement and Police Communities; self-proving criminal and WSI/SWW-GRU mole Daniel Lee Cloud in FBI.

The Greatest Website Ever

2008-01-29T10:20:00.001+09:00

Back in 1996, a humble commercial bleach company known as Clorox (est. 1913) set up a website. Little did they know that in doing so, they were setting the standard for which one day, some 10 years later, all well designed websites would be based. Thanks to the magic of archive.org, we are able to see what this website would have looked like through the naive eyes of a 1996 citizen.

What's so great about it then?
The interface is simple and clean, uninfected by banners, Flash, or unnecessary clutter. The wording is large and readable, and the basic menu items are clearly marked and appropriate. Whether you're a customer wanting to know about their latest cutting edge industrial bleach products, or a potential investor wishing to learn more about the history or investment opportunities available with Clorox, the selection you need to make is non-ambiguous and obvious. These are consistent with the ideals of Web 2.0, a standard that even now has not been fully realised, and I'm prepared to wager that at Web 2.0 conferences this site is featured time and time again as an example of what web designers young and old should all be aspiring to.

A look at some of the other websites available in 1996 shows that Clorox was a shining beacon in a sea of mediocrity. Let's hope that more companies will be like Clorox as rage through the 21st century.

Tearful Farewell to Get a Mac Campaign

2008-01-24T16:21:00.001+09:00

Guessing that the Get a Mac ads featuring comedy duo Rahmens and directed by Junji Kojima were not quite as effective at convincing a Japanese audience as had been hoped, it appears that Apple have now dropped the campaign. I think is a tremendous shame as it is my personal view that the Japanese versions were far superior to their American and British counterparts.

By way of tribute, I'm posting them all in the Get a Mac player below for your viewing pleasure, complete with the subtitles it took me nearly 3 minutes each to produce. Enjoy!

Infobar 2 - SevenShadesofAwesome

2008-01-19T20:56:00.000+09:00

Meet my new phone.

It's an Infobar 2, and is like trying to hold a bar of wet soap. While it is awesome in every conceivable way (and very photogenic on my kitchen work-surface), I once again have the same complaint I have had about every single mobile phone I have ever used in Japan. Why the c**ting f**k is it so damned difficult to enter an em space when you're trying to type a mail. I know, Japanese doesn't use spaces and these are Japanese phones, but it's fully bilingual, and in English mode it defaults to roman input, so you'd think there'd be some way of entering the single most common character in all Western languages. It's fine, sort of, if there's no text after the letter you're inputting - you can just cursor right twice and there's your space. If there is text after it though, like quoted text to a message you're replying to (which is there by default) then good luck trying to figure out how to do it. How did they not notice this? Did they even test it? It's not like you have to look hard. Simple testing process of mail feature.

Take phone with default settings.
Receive mail.
Reply to mail in western language.
Oooo! Found something that needs fixing there?

All is not completely lost as they did at least put an em space in the list of punctuation marks so you could enter it with 3 to 5 button pushes depending on what you've been doing recently, but this is far from convenient. For those interested, push the 記号 Z button twice, press the アプリ button twice, and then hit the enter button in the middle. In the list, it looks like an underscore.

I shall make a point this week of writing to whatever company made this phone (it isn't clearly marked, but apparently it's Sanyo) and asking how on earth this went by unnoticed. Maybe they can add it to the "0" button which currently is only used for entering zero in roman input mode, and put it out as an update.

While they're at it, perhaps they could fix the following:

Mail autosave: When entering a mail, if you press the hang-up button twice, it doesn't autosave the message as a draft like other AU phones do. What you entered is lost forever.
Photos: When you take a picture, if you choose to attach it straight to a mail, you have until the energy saver kicks in to confirm (about 10 seconds by default, and easily done if you get distracted). After then, it's gone forever. It should either autosave, or hold the photo in a cache until the next time you open the camera function like other AU phones.
Digital camera mode: Pictures larger than WQVGA (i.e. "digital camera" mode pictures) are automatically rotated to landscape, and then when you open them, they're fully zoomed to pixel proportion. There's no way to un/re-rotate them and to zoom out takes a very complex set of commands. If you can't immediately and easily review the pictures you've just taken, it is useless as a digital camera.

UPDATE

Translation: Some of the English interface is frankly strange. I put it on for convenience but I may soon switch it off as it's a tad confusing. "Flash lamp for unidentified alerts" would be better translated as "Flash lamp for unchecked alerts", as in, alerts that the user has yet to acknowledge. It was obvious reading the Japanese, but the English left me wondering what it was on about, and consequently I was mildly inconvenienced when the lamp stopped flashing as soon as the phone stopped ringing one time, and so I couldn't see there had been activity until I tried to use the phone an hour later. Yes, localisation is good, but this is the 21st Century. There's no excuse anymore for poor localisation.

Light Switch Pairings

2008-01-19T00:50:00.000+09:00

I spent a couple of weeks at my parents house near London over Christmas, and something I always remember about it from when I was little is that in the hallway and the landing there are two light switches - the one on the left of each is for the hallway and the one on the right is for the landing. Now, if you switch the left switch at the bottom it turns the hall light on. Then if you either flick that same switch again OR switch the left switch upstairs, it turns it back off again. It's just common sense; it's the way you expect it to be. My own house has a similar system for the corridor light, that there's one switch next to the front door and one next to the living room and switching either of them will reverse the current state of the light. I did go to a place once that had recently had the electrics renewed and they messed up somewhere, that if you switched the hall light switch downstairs and the lights come on, flicking the hall light switch upstairs does nothing. But then switching either switch again does not turn off the light. As such, both switches are positioned as absolutes, where both have to be up for the lights to be off, but if either or both are down the lights are on. It boggles the mind. That is what it has been like trying to use Windows this last couple of days just for something as simple as gamescreen capture, after using Macs exclusively for the past 6 years.

Tea Related Mystery

2007-12-24T17:57:00.000+09:00

This has been bugging me for a few days now, as I've noticed that a cup of tea made in England will still be almost too hot to drink after its been sitting there for ten minutes, whereas the same tea made in the same cup in Tokyo will be lukewarm in half that time. The only explanation I can come up with is that water in England is harder and perhaps that causes it to either have a higher boiling point or allow it to retain heat for longer periods of time. I appreciate though that this may be twoddle. Any amateur scientists out there able to help?

Asian-American Persecution Complex

2007-12-18T18:06:00.000+09:00

What is it about a good chunk of Asian-Americans that makes them think the whole western world is out to get them, and that any depiction of Asian culture presented by non-Asian people is inherently racist? Why, even The Japanese Tradition: Sushi came under attack for being anti-Japanese propaganda, despite it being written and produced entirely in Japan by Japanese people for a Japanese audience.

Why should I suddenly bring this up? I was just reading this review in the Guardian by Kiku Day (pictured right shoving a stick into her mouth) from a few years back about the film Lost in Translation (it was on Wowow a few nights back) going on and on about it showing a total disrespect bordering on hatred of every aspect of modern Japan while mocking its inhabitants, but with the exception of this one scene we all know about that should have been left on the cutting room floor where it belonged (yes, that scene), I saw nothing but a very accurate picture of modern Tokyo, and modern Tokyo people getting on with whatever it is they do for a living. Why does this writer have such a chip on his/her shoulder I thought. Then I got to the fourth paragraph... "The Japanese half of me is disturbed; the American half is too." and it all fell into place, for this is a tune I've heard many a time before.

Although the unfamiliarity of the milieux and the indecipherability of the language used as a metaphor for the protagonists' sense of alienation is not the most respectful thing you could do to a culture and people in general (and totally lost on me, as the milieux is my life, and I could understand the language perfectly), I would address some of the accusations as follows:

Bill Murray is a tall man, noticeably taller than the average Japanese. If he was in a lift with a bunch of Tokyoites, that is what it would look like. In general, Japanese do not have a complex about this, and why should they (more specifically, why does the writer think they should? Is this not in itself racist?) The scene was clearly to emphasise how uncomfortable Bill Murray's character felt, and how much he felt he stood out on arrival.

The shower. Showers are like that, even in top class hotels. The shower in my house has two rungs it can be hung on, and the top one is at about 173 centimeters from the ground, which is sufficient for an average height local. Bill Murray is very tall. The scene was there to show how uncomfortable Bill Murray's character felt.

Dignity of Japanese characters. This is a non-issue. With the exception of Mrs Lip (yes, that scene), everybody looked pretty normal to me. I've met directors and photographers who talk like the ones they portrayed, and the rather effeminate TV presenter is a real TV show that ironically is mocking the English. I've seen some pretty awful interpreters too, who half the time are just somebody on the staff that's done a bit of eikaiwa.

Lack of fleshed out Japanese characters. This is kind of the point. If they had properly fleshed out Japanese characters, the two western protagonists would not feel such a sense of isolation. This isn't actually a documentary about Japan...

And this isn't just some white supremacist's opinion. Ask pretty much any native of Japan that's seen it if they thought it was racist (except for that scene) and they'll just look at you with question marks.

I have seen this kind of criticism so often that I seriously have to ask why. Is it fun?

At Least 30% of Wii Users should have Stayed in the Womb. FACT!!

2007-12-12T02:05:00.001+09:00

This, of course, is only an estimate, as it doesn't account for those too stupid to have worked out how to install and start up the Check Mii Out channel. To-date, every contest in which you have to create and submit a "Mii" character based around a specified theme (e.g. Mario without his hat), when it comes to judging and you're presented with as many random samples of 10 submitted Miis as you like from which to pick winners, at least 3 from each sample will be so far removed from the specified theme that it can only indicate that a minimum of 30% of Wii users are either complete idiots, illiterate, suffering from some kind of multiple personality disorder, wet the bed, put shandy in their hamster's water bottle, enjoyed "Epic Movie" and "Superman Returns", or some ungodly combination of the above. Dark have been my dreams of late.

Debito the Mischievous Stealth Provocateur

2007-12-10T19:09:00.001+09:00

Well folks, let's take a look and see what mischief friend, activist, and fellow citizen Debito has been up to this week.

(Click to enlarge)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License.

Japanese Onlyって？

2007-11-28T14:38:00.001+09:00

さっき、Japan Timesに発送されたメールの冒頭にこう書かれました。別に間違いでもないけれども、この表現は下記のように二つの意味合いがありますので、お気を付けください：

その１：日本語しか話せません。英語等対応はできません。
その２：日本人しか歓迎しません。外国の方はお断りします。

一つ目は仕方ない事情を表しますけれども、日本語が話せる外国人なら問題ないでしょう。一方、二つ目は人種差別と判断され、読む外国人に対してかなり失礼でしょう。よくある問題なんですが、一つ目の意味で書く時、二つ目の意味を読むケースが多いので、「Japanese Only」と書こうとしたら、混乱させないようにより具体的な表現を使ったほうがおすすめです。例えば：

Only Japanese is spoken here（ここでは、日本語しか話せません）

Only Japanese are welcome here（ここでは、日本人のお客様しか歓迎しません）

(This site is) In Japanese only（このホームページは日本語だけで書きました）

(This site is) For Japanese only（このホームページは日本人だけのためです）

I hate English（英語が嫌いです）

I hate the English（英国人が嫌いです）

I hate the French（英国人が大歓迎です）

などなど。

このサイトでも同じこと言っています。

後もう一つの件。「世話」という言葉はよく「hospitality」と訳されますが、「お世話になります」を「Please hospitalise me」と訳されると反対の意味になってしまうので、を気をつけください。

Not normally in the habit of writing bilingual posts and I'm not about to start now, but this is something that really needs to be known about by the Japanese speaking community. The overused expression "Japanese Only" can obviously mean both "we only speak Japanese here" and "go home to foreign you big nosed and blonde haired devils you," and I've seen many the riot/minor inconvenience caused when it's been written with the intent of expressing the first idea but devoid of any English context, it gets read as the second. Some people tend to get a mite offended by that, and are quick to let the one causing same know, in the most threatening or personally amusing terms possible. All this could be avoided if only they'd elaborate a little on which one they mean.

Yes, it often does mean the second one.

Another unfortunately named product...

2007-11-26T18:53:00.000+09:00

Expected better from a major player like McDonalds. As a long time fan of the Kentucky Pepper-Mayo Wrapper, this just doesn't look apetising, and if the name is in any way indicative, I might just stick with what I know.

Hint: Say it quickly five times.

Parody of a Parody

2007-11-05T01:39:00.000+09:00

Sure we've all seen the SNL Dear Sister parody of a certain scene from The OC, and the million parodies it spawned quite some while back, mostly atrociously. Well now it's my go...

It would have been done a lot better if I'd used FCP I must admit. The timing could use work, and it would have been nice if I hadn't had to up-convert from 24 to 30 fps as that really messed with the footage. Still, I believe I was able to put what was in my head into existence. I may not have much time left for creative works, so I have to do what I can.

Incidentally, the music used is Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap, and is a surprisingly good piece of music. I would recommend it to anybody.

Classic Literature Collection for DS

2007-10-22T11:00:00.000+09:00

Nintendo and Chukei have just released what seems to be a fantastic piece of software called DS文学全集, a collection of 100 classic novels that can be read on the DS in one card, and the option to download additional novels as they're released. Brilliant idea, especially for somebody like me that's never had a chance to read much classic literature in Japanese. It would certainly be on my must-have list, if it wasn't for their sadly antiquated policy on furigana.

Furigana, for those that don't know, is the adding of phonetic readings to the top or side of characters the reader is expected not to be able to read, and as surprising as it sounds given the complexity of the writing system, it is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, if you're not familiar with a character or word, then having the reading written out is all you need to look it up in the dictionary in seconds. Not having the reading would mean taking a wild guess, or trying to find the characters in a kanji dictionary which is a time consuming process. On the other hand, if you are already familiar with the characters and the words (and the more you read, the more familiar you become obviously), the furigana readings become intrusive and distracting, as there's much more visual noise to wade through, and your eyes tend to naturally be drawn to the reading rather than the characters themselves. In traditional publishing, an editor has to determine which words will have readings and which ones won't by estimating the youngest target demographic, calculating which characters they should be familiar with (which is easily done thanks to a nationwide curriculum) and adding readings to all the others. In other words, they have to make a compromise that will distract some readers and alienate others.

With ebook readers becoming more popular though, this compromise is no longer necessary. A well designed reader would have a furigana setting in the options where you can set all words on or off, or specify familiarity in terms of Kanji-Kentei levels. Kanji-Kentei is a set of tests aimed at evaluating your ability to use the written language, with the lowest level being equivalent to the first year of elementary school, the second lowest being the second year and so fourth all the way up through 12 increasingly difficult levels. So if I were to set the furigana to level 10, then all words made up of the 80 characters I should know are left without furigana, and the remaining 6000 odd that I don't have a clue about have it added. And for those who really don't want to rely on phonetics but happily admit there are gaps in their knowledge (i.e. most of the entire adult population of Japan) a simple interactive furigana option would be nice. Either touch a word with the Stylus to reveal the reading, or if that seems like too much trouble, how about a hot key; press the button once to reveal all the readings on the current page; press again to hide them. Either way, the readings are only there when you specifically want them to be.

Sadly, Nintendo and Chukei did not have such foresight, so furigana readings on the 100+ classic novels of DS文学全集 are fixed at what looks like around year 6 (12 year old) level and cannot be changed. This is a waste and a shame, and I would hope that Nintendo could some day add a library to all their consoles that allow developers to implement interactive furigana with ease. I might just wait for the next version of DS文学全集 - hopefully they'll have figured out what a great contribution they could be making to the country's basic literacy by then.

Are you eating an artificial apple from the future?

2007-09-10T15:01:00.000+09:00

If like me you're sitting around chomping on one of nature's greatest delights, you might want to consider the probability that unless you personally picked it off your own personal tree, you may in fact be eating an artificially replicated apple from the future. In fact, you could arguably be considered quite naive to think otherwise.

The argument goes that in the future, as technology improves and natural resources become scarcer, that food replication using naturally occurring airborne nutrients will become a fact of life. Indeed, the crews of the fictional Star Trek universes would not be able to survive the depths of space without such scientific advances. That at some point in the future, apples will be artificially replicated for human consumption, is therefore undeniable. We also have to consider that as the world comes towards its natural closure, we will discover the means to time travel and make full use of it to escape our own fate. Some philosophers believe that there are no scientific reasons why bringing artificially replicated apples from the future could do any harm, and therefore we must conclude that this is happening, and only the question of degree remains. It's tempting to place the odds quite low, but when we consider that replication technology will be able to produce infinitely more apples than all the apple trees of the earth could ever do in a lifetime, you will see that naturally grown apples are only a tiny fraction of what's available to us today.

Personally, I have taken the path of denial. I'm quite happy to accept that the apple I'm now finishing off was grown from a tree with chemical fertilizers, the way god intended. This guy on the other hand, who has demonstrated very well the extent to which a Hollywood produced movie can permanently alter your perception of reality regardless of the suckyness of its two sequels, provided it contains sufficient special effects, long black coats and sunglasses, will no doubt be avoiding apples until he develops a way to check their origin. While he speciously goes to great lengths to show logically why we are almost definitely mere simulations on a grand computer somewhere in the future, he goes and ruins it all by including and then failing to elaborate on the following line:

Many philosophers and cognitive scientists believe that such brain-simulations would be conscious, provided the simulation was sufficiently detailed and accurate.

In other words, his entire premise hinges on the accuracy of personal baseless speculations of people that have no specialised knowledge on the topic. Without even needing to touch the crux of his argument, he's proved himself wrong just by this single line which ironically would have been better left out. The chances of brain simulations becoming conscious are zero, give or take zero. They may be able to imitate human brains enough to fool real people, but that's only as hard as adding an animated face to it. And they may be able to fool real brains into thinking certain things are real that aren't - we already know how to do that without computers. Creating a computer programme that has the same consciousness as humans though is impossible though because conceptually it does not make any sense. There are some very intelligently written books about these days, yet I don't hear anybody suggesting they will one day be able to think for themselves and appreciate their own existence.

And what if the simulation wasn't quite sufficiently detailed and accurate? Is there a cut-off point between the programme being aware and not being aware? Or would less detail and accuracy mean a lower level of conscious? That being so, it would be logical to assume that the first program I ever wrote in BASIC - print "hello" - would also have had a small degree of awareness, and perhaps could have chosen not to run when I asked it to. Stick to wildlife documentaries mate, and leave the science fiction to those of us who understand both words.