Sony screws up, AGAIN! The electronic book reader from hell, the Sony Librie
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: Japanese Tech

Sony's new Librie electronic book reader

REVIEW: Sony E-Book a Revolution for Eyes apnews.excite.com
COMMMENT
Would it hurt Sony so much to have put WiFi in it?
They can disable the cut-&-paste function to protect their damn holy DRM....but... Oh Buddha, the E-Book has got the screen and the keyboard so why not make it a huge value to traveling biz people by giving the Librie electronic book reader the functionality of email and/or web browsing via WiFi? Sheesh.
But wait... you can't copy and paste passages to another computer or device. And copy protection built into the software garbles your books into useless data after two months.

Get text messages on your mobile via the dead Lucie Blackman
Topic: Japanese Tech
Tragedy inspires text service
ic NorthWales, UK - 5 July
The father of British hostess Lucie Blackman, who was murdered in Japan more than three years years ago, has launched a personal safety service based on mobile phones. ....Tim Blackman came up with the idea for Safetytext while searching for his daughter, who disappeared in 2000. Her dismembered remains were found seven months later.
The new service allows customers to leave a delayed message explaining where they are going and with whom.
Users decide how long to delay the message, from 30 minutes to 24 hours. If they do not return within the stated time and cancel the message, it is sent by text to a chosen friend or relative.

Tokyo's Panda-Head Killer to serve a life sentence in the "zoo"
Life sentence demanded for 'panda-head killer'
Mainichi Online, July 5, 2004
---Tokyo's "panda-head killer," who is accused of stabbing a female student to death in 2001, should be jailed for life, prosecutors told the Tokyo District Court on Monday.....Yamaguchi approached the 19-year-old from behind in April 2001 with the intention of molesting her. When she turned around, he mistakenly thought she was making fun of him and he flew into a rage, stabbing her in four places, including the back, prosecutors said.
The killing attracted headlines because the killer was wearing a panda-shaped headpiece. Police tracked Yamaguchi down because he had been spotted wearing the panda headpiece almost every day near the murder scene over a one-week period leading up to the incident.

Lil' Kim & Koizumi avoid pesty alien/gaijin reporters
Topic: Media
Foreign Reporters Battle Kantei [Prime Minister's office] for NK Access
July 5, 2004, The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan
Pyongyang II was a sequel the foreign media in Japan didn't want.
On Monday, May 17, the Prime Minister's office (Kantei) told the Foreign Press in Japan (FPIJ) that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi would be going to Pyongyang on Saturday, May 22. Two of 27 media seats on the PM's plane were for foreign reporters...losing wire services -- Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse -- the news brought a flurry of scathing e-mails.
..."In normal emergencies, reporters rent planes. Why don't we charter a plane, call it Koizumi's press plane, and tag along?" suggested the New York Times' Jim Brooke in an e-mail. "I realize [the] Gaimusho and North Korea are two daunting bureaucracies...

Topic: Japanese Tech
Q: What's the Japanese word for videoblog?
A:ビデオブログ (Videoblog)

Momentshowing ask: " I expected to find all these Japanese sites with videoblogs. Why?"

Sheesh. They're Japanese: 100 years in the hardware future and 100 years behind in software.

My standard Japanese company joke:
Q: "What do you call a salaryman with an opinion?"
A: "Unemployed."
Blogging is not as big in Japan because having an opinion is gauche.


オーディオブログ（Audioblog）、写真ブログ（Fotolog）、法律ブログ（Blawg）、ダイジェストブログ（Digest blog）Warblog、マット・ウェルチ発明）、日記ブログ（Journal blogとDiary blog）、知識ブログ（Knowledge Log、Klog、K-Blog）、ニュースブログ（News blogs）、専門家ブログ（Pundit blog）、技術ブログ（Tech blog）、グループブログ（Group blog）、移動ブログ（Moblog）、などが挙げられる。

"blogs are the equivalent of public urination on the web"

---ultragaijin

Pink & blue are the standard hair colors of the Japanese race
According my extensive understanding of Japanese culture from watching anime and reading manga, pink and blue are the standard hair colors of the Japanese race.

_

Second Yankee diagnosed with parasites
Associated Press /Thu, Jul. 01, 2004
NEW YORK - Kevin Brown was diagnosed with intestinal parasites, joining Jason Giambi as the second member of the New York Yankees to test positive for the ailment this week....Brown suggested he might have gotten the parasites during the Yankees' season-opening series in Japan against Tampa Bay in March. Hershon said the Devil Rays had no cases.
But Hershon said parasites are rarely found in developed countries. "It's no more likely to happen there than here," Hershon said. "Japan is a very clean country."

D'oh! A huge percentage of the Japanese population has sushi parasites which is why I Guess I like Frozen Sushi, an IHT/NY Times article. I don't think we'll ever know how many Japanese people get sick from food. Research has found a link between sushi consumption and a high incidence of stomach cancer in the Japanese population. Hell, they only just finish litigating the mercury poisoning cases (from contaminated fish) some 50 years after the fact--- valid illness comparisons are hard to come by.
If you DARE...full-size NSFW picture here.

Hello Kitty gets freaky with Gundam
Bandai, Sanrio in 10 Bln Yen Character Venture, Nikkei Says
July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Bandai Co., Japan's largest toymaker, agreed to work with Sanrio Co., the maker of Hello Kitty goods, to license character products with a target of 1 billion yen ($9.2 million) in sales in the first year...Tokyo-based Bandai, which makes game software and Gundam, Digimon and Power Ranger character goods plans to increase sales this year by expanding its toy line to target young girls as well as boys....

a Mickey Mouse copy of Japanese rip-off of a Chinese Festival , sheesh.
Topic: Japanese life
This is a Mickey Mouse copy of Japanese rip-off of a Chinese Festival , sheesh.

July 1, 2004, AFP--TOKYO, JAPAN: Mickey and Minnie Mouse, who play Altair the Cowherd and Vega the Weaver, wave to spectators from the float to celebrate Tanabata or the Star Festival at the Tokyo Disneyland 01 July 2004 for the special event "Star Festival Greeting", will be carried through 07 July. In Japanese legend the two lovers, the star Altair and Vega, who are separated by the Milky Way on most days of the year, meet just once a year on July 07.

Tanabata Star Festival - one of the lamest Chinese "borowings" of the Japanese culture...it's on par with the "Tooth Fairy". Combined with Mickey Mouse, OMGWTFBBQ! ---To read more about Tanabata...

Suntory's blue Four Roses--Is blue beer next?
Topic: Japanese Tech
For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

Roses are red, and now come in blue
July 1, 2004 - The Japan Times
Distiller and beverage manufacturer Suntory Ltd. said Wednesday it has developed the world's first blue roses with Australian firm Florigene Ltd. Suntory officials said researchers extracted the gene that produces blue pigment in pansies and activated it inside the roses....

Spider-man 2's Toby Maguire in yukata
Toby Maguire, Leonardo Dicaprio and David Blaine in yakata, drinking sake and hanging out, literally.
Via Fark
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1017918]

Tokyo Love Hotel Show
Reuters

Models demonstrate how to use a bed designed for sex, a contraption with handles and straps, at the 'Leisure Hotel Fair' in Tokyo June 30. At the 10th annual 'Leisure Hotel Faire', operators and investors discuss the ins and outs of the most profitable niche of Japan's real estate market -- 17,000 'love hotels' serving a population of 99 million adults.

Just say NO! (to Japanese police)
Topic: adviceS
If the cops come to call in Japan....

1) Politely avoid as best you can, leaving your house and willing going to the cop station.
An arrest warrant in Japan is tough to get and most likely they'll pick on some other FG. Important to note that police can do almost anything, including searching your home, "IF" you give them permission or allow it. So, sure police can "ask" but you don't have to give them an answer and the crucial point is how they behave when the answer is no, "I don't want to talk to you. Once you're in the station, the cops have 12+ days to torture you without formal charges: Think rubber hose, dogleash optional.

2) Lawyers in Japan are honor-bound to "serve society" as well as you. Sounds nice, don't it. It AIN'T. Japanese lawyers serve society by ratting you out; client privilege is not sacrosanct in Japan.

3) Except for driving, ALWAYS claim you were drunk.
The Shinto gods were all drunks and all things can be forgiven if you were drunk. Pour booze all over your clothing and take a good swig.

Oh and "Absolutely refuse to be budged."

40% of Japanese cops are pigs
Via the NBR newsgroup(The National Bureau of Asian Research)

--->"Dr. Earl Kinmonth in the NBR" said:
...Although a 2002 OECD survey claimed that obesity in Japan (and Korea) was at one-tenth the US level, Japan may be rapidly catching up to the US "global standard" (is there a pun here?). This evening's edition of the Nihon keizai shinbun claims that 40 percent of Japanese cops are obese.
"Keisatsukan no 4 wari 'himan'" Nihon keizai shinbun (2004 June 28)

Is Japan's Self-Defense Force AWOL in Iraq. hee, hee?
Iraqis say GSDF OK, but where are they?
The Asahi Shimbun / June 29
BAGHDAD News- A poll of residents of the southern Iraq province of Muthanna shows that 85 percent support the presence of Ground Self-Defense Force members although about 68 percent said they had never or rarely seen the troops do anything.

"In Japan we have 4 seasons..." (Sheesh.)
Topic: Japanese life
STANDAND JAPANESE QUESTION: "In Japan we have 4 seasons; how many seasons do you have?"

"In Japan we have 4 seasons..." reveals a far darker aspect of the Japanese. That is, Borg TV worships the Regularity-Sameness of Life. The "flower news," "start of the official swimming season," and the like on NHK shows the Japanese ingrained love of Sameness and Predictability. Sheesh.

AUSLANDER RAUS! Gaijin go home!
Topic: Japanese life
A banner hanging in Shinagawa Station announces a "Measures Targeting Illegal Foreign Workers Month," sponsored by the Tokyo Immigration Bureau, for June.

VISA VILLIANS

The Japan Times, June 29
.... On May 27, Japan's Diet amended the "Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act," enacting stricter punishments. The maximum fine for visa expiry increases tenfold from 300,000 yen to 3 million yen. Banishment from Japan doubles from five to 10 years. Those who come clean at Immigration before being caught will merely be deported faster.
This is on top of already-tough detention conditions: Several days confined to a room with other criminals (sometimes at a daily charge of 60,000 yen). Access denied to family, a consulate, or even a lawyer.
What's going on? The National Police Agency claims that hordes of illegal aliens (estimated somehow at 250,000) are ratcheting up Japan's crime rate...
... But do the new punishments fit the crime? After all, equating overstayers with hardened criminal activity (like burglary or murder) overstates the seriousness of the matter.
"Overstaying" in itself is a bureaucratic procedure, not necessarily a willful act to deprive others of life, liberty, or property. ...
... So let's get this straight. People thrive by bringing foreigners here, give them lousy conditions and few civil protections, and then blame them for rising crime numbers? A full third of which are not "hard crimes," but rather visa violations -- often instigated by Japanese?
Any hope for some improvements? Not ...

iSight upgrade!
Topic: Japanese Tech

Apple Computer has announced a new version of OS X (v. 10.4) called "Tiger" today at the WWDC Apple Developer's Conference. This will have over 200 new features. The coolest of which is video conferencing with iChat AV. You can now have up to 30 streams of audio and 4 streams of video. iChat AV is now powered by the h.264 codec. Now you too can give NTT the middle finger when you "phone home".
h.264 codec - AKA MPEG 4 v.10 is a scalable video technology that produces higher quality and lower data rates for use in anything from 3GPP to HD.

SHAMELESS LIE:
Topic: Concrete Japan
Ancient cedar trees suffer at hands of tourists
(Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 28, 2004)
NARA -- Cedar trees in a mountainous area expected to be named part of the World Heritage are suffering bark damage as tourists flock to the area to walk among the ancient giants... more than 1,000 years old, the trees are located in Tamaki Shrine in Totsukawa, Nara Prefecture, which is known as a "holy place in the Kii Mountains," a candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage list.....cedar trees have suffered damage to their bark and careless tourists have trampled on their roots....
---See the full-size pix of the tree "lovers" here.

Japanese
The world's hardest word to translate
By: Agencies / June 25, 2004
London: The world?s most difficult word to translate has been identified as ?ilunga? from the Tshiluba language spoken in south-eastern DR Congo...
Ilunga means ?a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time?....
In second place was shlimazl which is Yiddish for ?a chronically unlucky person?.
Third was Naa, used in the Kansai area of Japan to emphasise statements or agree with someone.
ナー!

Posted by trek/taro at 3:01 PM KDT
Updated: Monday, June 28, 2004 4:42 PM KDT
Post Comment | View Comments (1) | Permalink | Share This Post