(Originally posted on adventurasia.freezope.org around 2003~2004)
Before even setting foot in Japan, I had already decided that I would buy myself an MD player. About 6 years ago, a friend of mine who had just returned from a 1-year stint in Japan told me about the MD player and all the neat things it could do. My interest was piqued.
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Filed under: Technology
(Written by: TangoTown, Originally posted on adventurasia.freezope.org around 2003~2004)
TangoTown!!
Learn Japanese using your mobile phone (keitai). Dictionaries, phrasebooks, kanji searching and lessons like flashcards, quiz games and daily lessons emailed to your phone.. plus a heap more…
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Filed under: Japan, Technology
(Originally posted on adventurasia.freezope.org around 2003~2004)
Yesterday I went to Odawara by shinkansen with my cousin, his wife, and two adorable kids. We went to the castle - a huge wooden fortress - with a surrounding moat (which looked more like a large garden to me) - and even a zoo with monkeys, birds, and an elephant (the first time I’ve seen one in Japan).
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(Originally posted on adventurasia.freezope.org around 2003~2004)
How are you doing? It’s rather unbelievable, but we’ve just had our 5th Annual Chimaki Party! For those of yous new to this, you may be wondering how this annual event was started? Well, about 4 years ago, a group of us Japanese + foreigners had met (through a string of coincidences / common network of friends and acquaintances) and we all started talking about the types of food that we missed from back home.
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Filed under: Japan, Taste of Asia
(Originally posted on adventurasia.freezope.org around 2003~2004)
Well I just got back after spending most of the afternoon + evening in Asakusa where the Sumida River Hanabi (Fireworks) Festival was held. Considered to be the largest fireworks display in Tokyo, with 20,000 shots, and lasting a spectacular 90 minutes.
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A few of us got together around 3:30 PM to find and secure a suitable location. After a bit of searching, we found a place, and put down the tarp + blanket. We then distributed some snacks and drinks for a nice little picnic. As the fireworks didn’t start until 7:10 PM, we killed time by playing some card games (Crazy Eight and Big 2) as well as Connect Four.
Around 6:00 PM some people started making announcements saying that the location that we wouldn’t be able to see any of the fireworks from the location that we had so happily camped out in. I thought it wasn’t very good that they made the announcement so late - they could have easily blocked off the area, or at least warned us in advance.
So we packed up all our belongings and proceeded to find another spot - easier said then done - as by that time, there were probably millions of people on the street. Well, maybe 10’s to 100’s of thousands of people. We ended up parking ourselves on the road (which by that time had been closed off to traffic) which was across the street from where we originally were.
The spot actually turned out quite nice as we were able to see both fireworks displays (although my neck is now sore from looking left to right) - the only bad thing is that there were quite a few traffic lights and power lines overhead where we were sitting - and as a result all of the photos contain either a powerline or a traffic lamp.
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(Written by: Adam, Originally posted on adventurasia.freezope.org around 2003~2004)
I have just come across a recommendation to read Japanese-based blogs in a new book. The book is called Extremes: Contradictions in Contemporary Japan. It’s by a chap called G M Thomas and the ISBN (in case you want to order or buy it) is 0-9546789-0-7. I bought it from amazon.co.uk and I also saw it on amazon.co.jp Anyway, I enjoyed the book a lot, and it was good to see that it recognised the power of blogs to inform people. Also I think the book itself is a ‘must read’ if you’re fascinated by Japan. All the best Adam from Tokyo
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(Originally posted on adventurasia.freezope.org around 2003~2004)
The past couple weeks have been unbelievably hot … and humid. The average temperature has been between 30 to 35 degrees. Yesterday, according to the news, the mercury hit 39.5 degrees celcius a new all-time record. And, it’s only mid-July!
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(Written by: Mike L., Originally posted on adventurasia.freezope.org around 2003~2004)
Japan, and the Japanese culture has quite often been synonymous with longevity. People will often say that this phenomenon is due to healthy living, a good diet, regular excercise, etc. After living in Tokyo for two years, I often wonder who are the people that come to these strange conclusions.
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Having been observing the Japanese (or more specifically, Tokyo) culture for the past two years, I am often puzzled why Japanese people live so long. Night after night, I see drunk “salarymen”, on the trains, on the train platforms, stumbling to and from the train stations, completely pissed, sometimes literally! Due to their heavy drinking, they often pass out, barf, or otherwise excrete bodily fluids. Now, I’m no health expert, but tossing your cookies every night and drinking until you lose consciousness CAN’T really be good for you.
Smoking is another key to long life, supposedly. Let’s face it. EVERYBODY smokes here. Why wouldn’t you? It’s incredibly convienient to smoke–you only need to walk two blocks before you find a vending machine thats absolutely dying to sell you some of its death sticks for around 200 yen a pack. You have such a wide selection to choose from, and they usually come in such attractive packaging too! Maybe the Tobacco companies should start putting Baseball cards in the packs to try selling more.
In Vancouver, Canada, where I am from, its a different story. They actually try to DISCOURAGE you from smoking, can you believe it? Not only are packs of smokes ridiculously expensive, sometimes escalating above 500 Yen a pack, but on the package there is a nice warning along the lines of “SMOKING WILL KILL YOU”, along with a lovely photo of somebodys infected lung or other organ. Gross. What are they trying to do? Make me sick?
In Canada there are strict laws and fines for underage users of Alcohol and Cigarettes. 19 is the Legal age to use both of these vices, and by no means impossible, it is a little more difficult to get access to them. In Japan, on the otherhand, minors can get both Alcohol and Cigarettes anywhere, and with little trouble. Convienience stores offer an endless variety of Alcoholic beverages at dirt cheap prices; although you must be 20 years old to imbibe in these drinks, it is ok for younger patrons to buy for their “parents” (read: themselves). Vending machines, as mentioned above, are readily accessible and I’m sure are not monitored for any devious underage use/abuse.
Maybe starting good drinking and smoking habits at such an early age is the key to Japanese long life? If anyone would like to shed some light on this topic, please enlighten me!
Next article:
Greasy Tonkatsu and Tempura–the secret foods to add years to your life!
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(Originally posted on adventurasia.freezope.org around 2003)
I can’t believe it.
In three days I will be flying to Thailand! It’s one of those places that I’ve wanted to go to for a long time but never really had the chance — or some other country took priority. It will be a short trip, 8 day trip, but will be a good break from work — in fact, this is the first complete weekend I’ve had off in several months.
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Filed under: Thailand
(Note this article was written several years ago as a 3-part series and may no longer be relevant. I’ve combined the articles, and may eventually remove this depending on the relevancy of the contents.)
DVCAM Dilemna Part I - Getting Started
My first real exposure to digital video began about 1 1/2 years ago when I was in the midst of changing jobs. At that time I was invited to visit a relatively small video and sound production company. During this visit, a couple of staff members were demonstrating their television pilot that they had recently put together. What was especially fascinating to me was how seemingly easy it was to extract video segments and then insert the segment into another location of the video. Titles and other special effects could then be added with a few mouse clicks.
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Filed under: Technology