July 31 - Where is everybody?
July 30 - Don't tie the doogi too tight...
July 29 - A Chequing experience
Ingredients Needed:
July 28 - Pay Day
July 27 - Unpredictable weather
July 26 - Clean up some more
July 25 - Memuba Karudo mada motemasen
July 24 - Party party join us join us...
July 23 - Gi day
July 22 - Party after party after...
July 21 - Look at the Fuji people...
July 20 - Wow, a holiday (Umi no hi)
July 19 - Kouen o senpo-shimasu.
July 18 - Boku wa Matsumoto e ikimasu soshite CD o kaimasu.
July 17 - Wind down day
July 16 - No more work, please.
July 15 - So that's why people laugh at my name...
July 14 - A tale of Vern
July 13 - They know me by name now
July 12 - Rest day
July 11 - More than just dinner
July 10 - Slow day?
"J"= this star actually speaks Japanese in the commerical!
July 9 - Back to Karate
July 8 - Work work work...
July 7 - Japan in the news
Oh yes, I actually had tomato soup made from tomato soup powder last night. What an experience. Definitely better than the "surprise" cup-of-soups I have had here (i.e. shrimp and eel on rice and soba noodles). After I am finished my manuals here
and I have a bit of time, I should set up reviews of Japanese products (i.e. food, music, games, establishments, etc.). Perhaps another time.
July 6 - Things I did not know about Two-Mix
July 5 - Bug Spray at last
1. Hot Limit - T.M. Revolution
2. Forever Yours - Every Little Thing
3. There will be love there - The Brillian Green
4. Tumblin' Dice - Golatoon
5. Destiny - My Little Lover
6. Ever Free - Hide with Spread Beaver
7. Shine - Luna Sea
8. Mina Ataru Bashyoo - Misia
9. Pink Spider - Hide with Spread Beaver
10. Summer Night Town - Mooningu Nusume (?)
1. Hot Limit - T.M. Revolution
2. Alive - Speed
3. I for You - Luna Sea
4. There will be love there - The Brilliant Green
5. Forever Yours - Every Little Thing
6. Midarie - Kiroro
7. Destiny - My Little Lover
8. Hi no toi - Fanatic Crisis
9. Rhapsody in Blue - Da Pump
10. Love the Island - Artesizuki Ami
July 4 - Two Mix in Matsumoto!
July 3 - Of Web Pages and Shinchan
July 2 - Karate without translators
July 1 - Page designs
Both Tanaka-san and Hirasawa-san are away today, and after fixing the (hopefully) last of the problems, there really wasn't that much to take care of. I worked on my Japanese for a while and tried to figure out from Andy how and where to meet for tomorrow and such, but that was pretty much it. After an uneventful day at work, I picked up some VCR tapes (blank) and
recorded the usual Friday night lineup. Did a bit of the laundry tonight, but there is still a lot to do. I also cleaned my room, but again, there is more to do. Got a package from home (1 of them anyway) which had some canned goods. I had the ham tonight, as I haven't had real ham in a while. Andy stopped by and let me know there was a whole group of us going
tomorrow, so get some sleep, as tomorrow is a big day...
Today was a fairly uneventful day at work. I was asked to polish up some features in some Javascript code I wrote a while ago, but nothing too serious. Seems that Andy has planned a farewell party for himself (?) and for the four others (Nori, Huyen, Clara, and someone else I can't think of right now). Soon I may have a whole bunch of people coming
from Waterloo that think I am the "Expert" in Japan and Japanese. Boy are they in for a shock. Strange that all of the co-ops (with two exceptions) in the plant (maybe 20 or so) all come from Waterloo. I guess I picked the right school afterall (for this stuff anyway). So, on Saturday, I think Andy said we are going to the Taito amusement land building
for Bowling, Arcade games, Pool, and other fun stuff. Afterwords we are going to a bonbon festival in Matsumoto and finally to Izakawa for dinner later. I was told it was not that expensive for the day, but I had better bring a few man, just in case. One of the jokes today at lunch was Ian and Kurt talking about how expensive Fruit and Vegetables are compared
to America. I think the best line was "Wow, 5000 yen for a watermellon, they're practically giving them away!" However, in America if any of us saw a watermellon for $50, we would flip out. Ah well, had Karate tonight, and from the title of today, do just that. I ties my doogi a little too tight at first and it made it very awkward to move (in the fashion that
is Karate). It is quite a chore and skill to loosen the pants after everything is done up, but I managed to do it, and continue on to work on my "form" for the first kata, which will allow me to get my blue belt if I can do it right for the next test in September. I am trying to think which will be cheaper, the blue belt, or the watermellon...
Okay, to put it bluntly, don't ever send me a cheque to cash (or ask me to send any cheque other than a cashier's cheque from the post office, becuase the rates for depositing them are a sliding scale based on the amount of the cheque. I got a cheque for nana-sen-en from a friend in Waterloo (for a few CDs I got for him + shipping), and they took
ju-sen-go-hyaku-en to deposit it (in english - it was a 7000 yen cheque and they took off 1500 yen for depositing it). I guess that is what happens when you try to use cheques in a non-cheque society. Not a terrible loss this time, but I think this is a warning for everyone. Other than that, I got to arrange my own Japanese
lesson since Honma-sensei was away for the morning. I got to book the lesson for 2:15 in the afternoon, so everyone was happy. In addition to the daily work (which I made some noticable progress in), I got to take back my videos that I rented to the Genki in Joy 401. I was tempted to rent Star Wars dubbed in Japanese, but I soon
realized that it was already rented. I picked up some more cartoons (about all I can follow) and a "Hello Kitty" video on the JR trains here in Japan (meant for little kids obviously, but very educational). Also, I took extra special care washing my doogi (Karate outfit), as I wanted it to stay white. You see, I have a lot of blue clothes, which upon
trying to wash them, turns the water blue and tints everything else blue. That is not a big problem, because I just bundle all the blue stuff together in the beat up washers they have at the residence. Finally, after a long day, I managed to make Macaroni and Cheese in an edible fashion. Here are the make-shift instruction if you are severely limited on resources
like I am:
Instructions:
Yes, I get paid today. Lucky me. Question is, do I get my juu-go-man-en or juu-shichi-man-en? Some papers say I
will get one while others say I will be making something else. It is all very confusing. Oh well, not a whole heck of a lot either way, but at least I don't have to pay rent for where I live; just outrageously expensive food prices. Hey, if our new Prime Minister (Keizo
Obuchi) can turn the whithered economy around here, maybe my pay cheque (sorry, direct deposit) will be worth something. Oh yes, I almost forgot, Japan is a chequeless society. While most major bank branches in the big cities know how to handle them, some places (like here in Hirooka)
don't know what a cheque is (no joke, one of the tellers needed to be explained what a cheque was). So, I guess the moral is...don't send cheques to me. I may not be able to deposit them. They have all major credit cards here (Oriko card OK?) but cheques are a no-no here. A pretty slow work day
today. I am trying to keep myself at least looking busy, because if I don't, they may very well stack a whole heap of more work on me, of which I can't handle much more. I just don't know how Miyazawa-san can do it - stay for 16-17 hours a day all week (and he is married (granted, to someone else in the company)).
So, I had a bried chance to check some of my email. I will have to set up another mail filter sometime, as I get spam even at my work account now. Some are honest mistakes though, as they don't know I am in Canada right now (Like Creative Labs Sound Blaster Contest (valid in Canada and the US). Got a chance to clean
up my stiffling hot room and watched some quality TV (hyaku-man challenge). I feel sorry for Ash and Andy on the Second floor around the back, their rooms are even hotter than mine. I hope winter comes real soon here.
I don't know what to say about the weather today. First it was sunny, then it rained and got real windy, then the sun came out for a while, and then it was overcast, and then it was noon. Later it rained after Karate, but first the rest of the day. Okay, apart from working me to death
on these projects that really should have more than one person working on them, I managed to take to time off to help Keith put his laptop on the network. Hey, it was better than coding some more. Got email from some guy named Christopher McMullen. Last week I was browsing some gaming sites after
work to see what was happening in the field, when I stumbled across a review by the Chris person on the PC version of FFVII, and in it, he mentioned that "apparantely, giant mutant horses are a big problem in Japan". Well, I couldn't resist mentioning the fact that here in Nagano prefecture,
eating horse meat raw is considered a delicacy. Needless to say he was shocked, but wondered if we learned that from the French or was it the other way around. I didn't know. It causes quite a laugh over in their PC section though. I said something like "They used to be a big problem, but we learned
that we could just eat them raw." Ah, had my Japanese lesson today. My teachers are amused at the fact that since I get out so much and have such an opportunity to learn the language, I know some of the local slang around here. Peter and Ash are absolutely mortified when I use it, but that is what makes
it all the more enjoyable (I love picking on the engineers (and why not, they do it to me)). After work, Karate was definitely amusing, though tiring to the extreme. That one crazy black belt whose name I can never remember did our "warm up" and tired us to the point of exaustion with just his warm up.
Needless to say we all needed a good 15 minutes of rest after that. Also, I finally memorized the first Kata, the series of moves I need to memorize in order to get my blue belt. I just need to work on my "form" they say.
Augh, my room gets dusty and dirty (and bug infested) awfully fast. Well, I also have a lot of stuff I am trying to fit into that room too, so I can't always complain. However, it is going to get increasingly more difficult to store anything that is not disposable, so
I will keep you all posted to see if I can actually fit anything else in my room. Went to go get some more bug spray and some stupid dragonfly-type bug bit me in the leg. This wasn't a small one either. It's body was about the size of my baby finger. Very strange, I mean once it
bit me, it crippled my and caused my to fall to the ground where I promptly smushed it into oblivion. I pointed this out at the pharmacy at the Joy 401 since I was there and the lady there was nice enough to put some creme on it for me. From what I understood, if untreated, it can swell
very big and get very irritating. Oh well, that is taken care of anyway. Also, for a hoot, I picked up some Magic cards in Japanese at the toy store (seeing as a starters deck is about a quarter of the cost back home, I couldn't go too far wrong, and the pictures are nice). Hey, who knows,
maybe they are worth something back home. Anyway, I got my bug spray, went home, did my Japanese assignments, and just basically relaxed for the rest of the day (it started to rain pretty hard later on).
This is just the line I used to say I didn't yet have a membership at the Genki in Joy401 (video place). I went there after my weekly excursion to Matsumoto to check out the latest in electronic joy. There was a sale at both the grocery store and
the music store (not related, though it wouldn't surprise me if they were). I picked up some microwavable lasagna at the grocery store and butter in a tube for the premium plus crackers I also bought. At the Wave, there was a sale on soundtracks (including
game music). I think it was a clearance sale, but it didn't matter, because they were all so cheap. I suppose I could have bought some "normal" CDs, but that wouldn't be much fun now, would it? I picked up not only some Final Fantasy orchestral version CDs, but
a very strange one called "Hard Beat" which I remember Ian-san had and "T-T-Titanic", a Chinese remix compilation from the classic movie "Titanic". Strange stuff. At least someone finally told me why the Chinese like "Titanic" so much. It is a perfect communist
movie: the good people are rich (and have all the power) and the bad people are those undisciplined revolutionary poor people. Anyway, back at the Joy 401, I managed to rent some anime (since that is about all I can follow anyway)
and enjoyed them very much. I wish it weren't so hot today, though.
The actual work part of the day flew by pretty quick, partly because it was friday, and partly because people were helping set up for the party after work tonight (pity it looks like rain). Well, we all got
a free beer when we went (it was held on the front lawn of EPSON), and we were all sectioned off by department. There we got presented with lots of food. I had the KFC first, though to my horror it was not like
I remembered it. There were no bones, and the skin was a cheesy crust. It sounded real good, though the chicken taste itself left a lot to be desired. At that point the "band" went on stage to entertain us. I knew
things were going to be strange when their first song was a jazzed up version of the "Super Mario Brothers" theme. What is it with the Japanese and that song... they love that song. At that point I picked up a slice of
pizza which looked edible (I could tell by the corn). I was munching away when I notices lots of packages of peanuts and such and one package of something that looked like dried turkey. I asked Jim about it and he said
"Oh, that's dried squid, like what is in your pizza" At that point, just after I took a big bite of my pizza, all craving for more pizza was lost. I had peanuts and chicken wings for the rest of the meal, and some of the
wonderful drink that was going around (someone had scotch aged 18 years). I mixed it with coke. Afterwards, we all cleaned up and then went home. I was real tired.
Pretty quiet at work today. A modest amount of work spread over 2 weeks is a heck of a lot better than an insane amount of work in 2 days. Geez, three weeks until my next holiday (I think it is the
festival of the dead or something like that). I would really like to take a trip to Tokyo that long long weekend (5 days). Now that I have the Hirooka and Matsumoto jikokuhyo (time schedule for the trains),
I think I can get to Tokyo (though who know how much the train is going to cost. I heard it was around 8000 yen) There are still quite a few pictures I would like to get (Tokyo tower, some of the temples, Squaresoft headquarters, etc.) I
know there is also a bus going there which is cheaper, but a lot more inconvenient to get a hold of. Oh yes, as the title states, they finally got my doogi (pronounced "doh gee") in so I dished out my hachi-sen-en (8000) yen and got to
use it for the lesson. Has my name (in Katakana) on it and is real comfortble in addition to looking nice. After another night of training, I head straight home and fell asleep.
I have no problem with that, though I am not quite used to people throwing together a spur of the moment party for no reason. Okay, in the next little while we have a company party on the front lawn on Friday, a no-reason party this Saturday, and a farewell party for
Nori and Andy (two Waterloo guys whose term here is up) next week or so, a karate party for some reason on August 2. Good thing a lot of people tend to go, so it is not expensive when it comes time to split the bill (about 3000 to 4000 yen). Now, back in Canada, blowing $30-$40 a night
for a few nights would be a problem, but here, considering we have a lot more "expendable" money and everything else here is expensive by comparison, 4000 yen isn't bad. There have been stories of some of the exclusive bars in Tokyo charging over ichi-man-en (10000 yen) for one drink, because
you are charged for being in the "atmosphere". I will stick to Matsumoto for now, thank you. Ugh, it is so frustrating that people in general have no clue how to speak English, so if you don't speak Japanese, they can't (and won't even try) to help you. I guess that is one of the problems living
a fair distance from a "major" city like Tokyo or even Nagano City. My Japanese is getting better, but, like English, there are so many ways to say the same thing, and I can't remember them all, so I still get stuck just as easily. I saw a real nice Japanese-English dictionary at the Matsumoto "Parco"
bookstore. It was almost 5000 yen, but also the biggest one. I would have problems carrying it around, though.
Oh, I heard horror stories of climbing mount Fuji most people would pass out to. Funny in a way because I didn't go, and I wasn't one of those raring to go because it was "exciting". Huyen heard from some guy that knows another guy that tried it 15 years ago that it was simple and not a lot of people go there. Boy did they get a shock. I have seen photos of last weekend showing that the place was absolutely packed.
Apparantely there are many "stops" up the mountain non-evenly spaced and all called the #8 station. The only way to tell at which one you were was by the prices on the vending machines that started at 120yen a can of pop at the bottom, and rose in excess of 800yen as you approached the top. Also, it seems they climbed all that way on what looked like loose red stones (take a step and slide down half the
distance you walked up) only to find it was cloudy and you couldn't see a thing (not the sun rise anyway). However, I think the kicker was when Jim saw some old man walk by, just stop, and fall to the ground throwing up blood. Needless to say, Jim had a ball telling people about this (there were other witnesses as well to verify his story). Oh well, I heard the whole trip had "spiritual" meaning, but I also heard from
absolutely everyone that went "never again". Oh well, today was a rest day for everyone anyway. I could just look around and see that hardly anyone did anything until after noon apart from check email or other such things. Tanaka-san asked me when I was planning to take my vacation (I get 5 days+1 day for every month I am here). A lot of people are taking their's this month, so I couldn't do that. I was thinking of using
them around Christmas. If I use my 5 days (+1), I can get almost 3 weeks of holidays (because of the other holidays around that time (not Xmas)). I could go to Tokyo, Osaka, or anywhere else the JR can take me.
No work today. Of course, nothing else is open, either, and because tomorrow is Tuesday, nothing will be open then, either. I basically spent the day rearranging my stuff, throwing out garbage, cleaning the room, doing laundry, storing boxes, etc. Not much else to do when it is raining hard all day. Ah, Evan (friend from Waterloo) should be in Japan by now. He said he wanted to head up here sometime, so
I will just wait until then. Today is "the day of the sea", and by the looks of the weather, they picked the right day for it. Can't say I celebrated too much, though there were broadcasts from Tokyo showing what a party they were having over there. Proof yet again... There is Tokyo... and then there is the rest of Japan. I wonder why people don't sweat in Tokyo. I can't stand the humidity for much more than
a few minutes. Must be genetic...
It didn't rain for the first while today, so I took a nice stroll through the park surrounding the EPSON plant. I really don't have much money on hand to get much more, so I will play conservative for a few days until my next pay cheque. The bank machines weren't operational this weekend around here, so I have to wait until Tuesday when the plant opens and I can use the machine there. Surprisingly, I am saving quite a bit despite the fact I can spend ichi-man (10000) yen without blinking an eye.
I guess I will have to use that for school (though the way tuition is increasing, even that may not be enough). I did stop off at the JOY 401 for some dinner (dinner rice with spicy curry and whole vegetable surprise) before heading home again. At least I am getting some much needed rest. The playstation is a blast, too. It fills the void left by Japanese soap operas. I don't understand how people can watch them. There is maybe 2 minutes dialog, then some father will realize that he forgot to pick
up his daughter from school, and then have 15 minutes of past reflection, then another 2 minutes of dialog... you get the picture.
Yes, I went to Matsumoto and bought some more CDs for my listening enjoyment, and some cheap Playstation CDs too as there was a sale at one-va (the used CD place). Hah, I still snicker after seeing Mark Hamill dubbed over in Japanese (Wing Commander III). Anything for a cheap laugh, I suppose. Of the Playstation CDs I bought, I got a free beta of Final Fantasy VIII on my "Brave Fencer Musashiden" CD. Looks pretty nice,
though it is blatantly obvious it is a beta. People are already pre-ordering their copy, and it isn't supposed to be released until Dec 25 (which is not a holiday here). I also went to Matsumoto castle again and took some more pictures I never got before, which I am glad I took because it would rain for the next two days. Took a nice walk when I got back to Hirooka (walked through the park and past the train station where there are many interesting street layouts,
and parts of it look like Waterloo (the way some of the strip malls (if you want to call them that) are set up. Stopped at a coffee shop for a quick drink (the coffee was quite good) before heading home. I made Macaroni and Cheese in the most interesting way and it almost tasted edible, but seeing as I have no cooking facilities and no room to store ingredients that require refrigeration, I am quite limited in what I can make. Also, why do people flip out when you ask
for a case of coke (or a case of any soft drink for that matter)? They always look in shock (how could you ever drink that much cola?) They just don't understand it is not all for right now. Sigh, you can get 1.5-2 litre bottles of Wine, whiskey, and beer out of vending machines, but you can't get a case of coke.
After yesterdays amazing marathon, I finally realized what had went wrong after a night of sleep. Seems I didn't convert the Index file properly and as such Table of Content entries were being missed and thus web pages were not created. Oh well, too late for that. I am already copying the alpha version for shipment to other Japanese plants using this super high-tech multi
CD copier. I wish I had one of these back home; they copy anything. Also got to use the new funky CD labeler they keep hidden in the back office. Someone was using it to make a "perfect" copy of their Mononoke CD soundtrack for someone else, and it was true. I had a real difficult time distinguishing the original from the copy. After getting them all copied, labelled, packed, and shipped, I
was ready for a nice long weekend (and a short next week). Hopefully Tanaka-san will assign Hiranuma-san to help me in future matters after realizing one person can't cope with that much work in that short a time. Great episodes of Doraemon and Shinchan tonight. Glad I have a TV.
I worked forever trying to get all of the changes into the newest online manual, and most of it worked, but there are some inconsistencies with some web browsers on some platforms that I can't fix, and can't explain to the team that it can't be fixed. I won't bore you all with details, but let's say I found quite a few bugs in both Internet Explorer and
Netscape Navigator (all of them already known). After a nice 15 hour day, I went home, had a coffee, and went straight to bed. I certainly hope tomorrow goes better. Oh yes, I did get a chance to play with my Minidisc player/recorder before I headed off to bed, though. I'm getting pretty good with it now. If I had a microphone, perhaps I could study what people
say to me. Then again, maybe I would just end up recording train jingles.
Other than the fact that I have to make three major modifications to an online printer manual for its release tomorrow, things are pretty swell (for now). I learned that the general "favourite" tea here is something called "uuroncha". Well, change the u's to a's and add an "n" at the end and you see why people
snicker at my name (cute Aaron). Or they say "Aaroncha" meaning "Aaron tea". I suppose I could break into the tea business...later. People are starting to take some days off, since we have a holiday next Monday (noone can tell me for what though). As such, the office will probably look more and more empty as the week goes on.
Some of the guys are planning a trip to climb Mount Fuji this weekend, but I have neither the equipment nor money to get the equipment (nor the knowledge of the JR system to find how to get there. I could get to Kofu, but that is still a little ways away from Fuji-san). Oh well, I am here for a year, I am sure there will be another
opportunity later on. Anyway, Evan Jones (Waterloo guy) is coming to Japan for his holiday, so I will try to meet up with him somehow. He came armed with a camera and roll after roll of film, and wants some nice pictures, so if he stops be, I will probably take him to Matsumoto castle and/or Daibuki temple in Nagano city (where a lot
of Olympic stuff is STILL left over). I still think it is hilarious to see the place where they handed out the medals turned into a parking lot. Well, I gave him my keitai number, so I can only hope for the best. After a long day, I actually had the pleasure of seeing someone winning the Happy Family Plan on TV. Some man had to stack 300
10 yen coins in 7 minutes. He had 5 kids jumping all over him during the week he had to prepare, but he still did it. Also, I saw what happens when on a gameshow, someone asks a question in English. My god, everyone flipped! They were all nervous wrecks. Good thing I have it on tape. No one would ever believe their response.
Ugh, more data. How do people ever expect me to finish new work when I still have old work to do? I guess that is the Japanese way. Vern, one of the "permanent" foreigners here was ranting again today. He is about 28, but he looks 50 and he has a cane. Well, that cane came from an auto accident
in Japan a few years back when he was jogging around Shiojiri, and as I mentioned once or twice before, because on some of the streets, there are big concrete walls on both sides with no place to go. As fate would have it, one of the automobiles swerved a bit to miss something else and hit Vern...and kept going.
After the doctors (in their finite wisdom) patched him up rather badly (if an American doctor had treated him, he wouldn't need the cane because it really wasn't too bad off). When the doctor explained to him that (in his opinion) if a driver hits a gaijin, then they might keep on going because odds are he/she
doesn't know the language well enough to either call for help or identify the car that hit him/her to the police. Needless to say, he is quite bitter about that. Fortunately, things have gotten better here with the doctors I am told. I should note that Vern tends to take the pessimistic view of everything, so he
is not one you go to when you need to be cheered up. Hey, it can't always be cherry blossoms and cute animals. Good thing I got some rest tonight; I really needed it.
Well, since Hiranuma-san is away for the day (how many vacations days does she get?), the day was pretty quiet. Too bad she had some files on her drive I needed but were under password protection. Oh well, I went as far as I could. After a relatively uninspiring day, I went home
for a quick rest before heading out for Karate. It never seases to amaze me that no matter where you are, there will always be a vending maching in the middle of nowhere which serves beer or cigarettes (or cold coffee in a can). Oh well, some of the black belt masters know me by name
now, and seeing as no one was there who could speak English tonight, it was an interesting lesson. I did get my Japan Karate Association book though, which allows me to take the tests and compete in tornaments (oh right, that would be a hoot (note: I am being sarcastic)). Well, I may still
not know a whole lot of Japanese, but I do know enough to get by. Perhaps some day I will set up a Japanese glossary of the words (interesting words) and phrases I know. It is important to look up phrases people you do not know well tell you, lest you end up saying the phrase:
"Kimi wa aikawarazu wakakute kirei da ne" to people (it means roughly: You look the same as usual; young and beautiful). Oh well, that is my lesson for the day.
Thank goodness I didn't give anyone my number yesterday. Peter was called up at 8:30 AM and told to go to a BBQ in Minakami (3 hours away). After constant peckering, he went to meet the British boys at Matsumoto for 10AM, but got there 5 minutes late and they had left
without him. Apparantely, he just got a hair cut and did some shopping while he was there. Also funny that I didn't bump into him, as I went there later. Oh well, found out that Shinchan is on at 7 on channel 1 as well as on Friday (and Saturday on Kiku-TV). It sure is
strange, but it sure is funny. Oh well, a combination of that, some Playstation action, a hot shower and some soba noodles, I hit the sack pretty early.
Ah, not having to wake up at the crack of dawn is nice every once in a while. Apart from doing the usual cleaning in the morning (now that I have a chance), I also ventured to the shi-o-ichi to get my keitai (cell phone). I had no idea there were
four different types of cell phones here, all running on different frequencies, too. Well, to make a long story short, I picked up a Panasonic KX-PH305 for 3000yen and will have to pay 1800 per month. Best of all, I am not charged by the calls I receive,
so please, feel free to call (if you're rich that is ^_^ ). Turns out it is a PHS, meaning it is not quite as easy to connect as a J-Phone, but a lot cheaper, and also much smaller. I am not sure on the distance this thing will reach other than it is
intra-prefectural. Now if only I could read the manual. Anyway, I knew I had to be in Matsumoto by 5:30, so around 4:30 or so I walked to the station. Hmm, I got there around 10 to 5, the last train left at 4:44, and the next one will be at Hirooka at
5:23. That is cutting it awful close considering I was supposed to be there at 5:30. Oh well, it was worth it. I had some more interesting eat-first-ask-questions-later food (i.e. Wow these look like chicken balls...until I saw a huge tail pop out on the first
bite). Afterwards, we went to the Brazilian disco, a popular place in Hirooka. Albeit it costing 3000 yen just to enter the place, we made the most of it. It was really big, the music was good (though not in English or Japanese), and we stayed pretty late. Well,
seeing as we all left our stuff at Huyen's place, we had to wait for her to leave before we could leave, and she didn't want to leave. So, around 4:30 AM or so, she finally left and we all got our stuff and went on our way home. I had no idea we would be that late, but
that is okay...I got the occasional minute of sleep at the disco.
Well, sort of, but Jim-san and I compiled a list of American stars that have appeared in Japanese commercials. It was a great way to pass the day, and seeing as converting Seychelles documentation using the script takes about 40 minutes a pop, I
could afford to do this. So, for your entertainment, here is an (almost) up to date list. I have quite a few of these commercials on tape too.
Whew, finally finished that conversion project they had me work on. Geez, I hope they give me more time/resources for the next project. It's not like they are desparate for revenue. At the meeting today, the Kancho (head guy) announced that
we had already made 120% of our years expected revenue, so believe me, there is NO shortage of cash here. You'd never know there was a recession here by working at EPSON. I wonder what they will do with all that money...
Trying to keep up with the news back home, but things move too fast. I find it easier to keep up with Japanese news than North American News, and as I said before, there is a heavy bias against Americans here, so I can not
expect accurate news when I see it. Found out that the C.C. Lemon contest is over already, so now what am I going to do with all these lemon points. I guess wait until next year. I will have that banana chair yet... Looks like we are having another
party this saturday to celebrate the bi-annual May 11th day. There will be a whole bunch of us heading to Matsumoto for the party. Should be great. Went to karate tonight. The master says I am well on my way to passing the first
"kato" and thus earn my blue belt in September if I keep up the work. I still need to be able to recognize more of what they are saying though, as I would definitely fail the test if I mix up a command or two (Kaishide means turn around). Ah, this weekend
I simply must try to find a keitai (cell phone). They are less than $40 for the newest model, but you have to have a background check and purchase a special phone plan. Still pretty cheap, though. Nothing beats those 1 yen phones (older models (5-6 months).
That's all I do. Today was another big work day. I will never understand why they assign me to do something that really should be worked on in a team. There is only so much I can do by myself at a time. Oh well, the Japanese lesson
today was a nice break. Ash and Peter are both your typical engineers (better than everyone attitude) and I just love knowing that I know more than both of them combined, and they know it and they hate it,
ah. I wish I could have a lesson like this everyday. Don't get me wrong, I am learning new words all the time, but because I already know the basics, I can grasp how to use the words a LOT faster than Ash or
Peter. We still get along (overall), but I guess the CS/Engineering rivalry never ends. Not much to add today, except when I finally got home around 8 or so, I managed to tape the "Happy Family Plan" program. It's that show about
how a group of people pick a family at random (researching them beforehand) and having them learn something in a week and then if they can present it live after the week, they get 300man yen (3 million yen). Okay, so it's only
$30000, but that is still enough. Too bad both families lost. One had to ride a unicycle and the other had to memorize the names of 4 entire soccer teams in the World Cup. It is very funny watching how they prepare for the week. Oh yes,
I also managed to tape some rare commercials, such as the "Go Wagon R" commercial, the Orico card commercial, and Michael J. Fox selling fishing gear. I need more VCR tapes.
I heard that the extreme heat reports here made its way to North American broadcasters. Oh, and the yen is currently at 0.01061 against the Canadian dollar. The little details are nice to know. At least now that
I found a back doors in the firewall that I can peek out of to get at more than a handful of sites on the web, I can find out all sorts of neat stuff (before, I would get lots of messages regarding "this site is forbidden
to EPSON employees". There are quite a few of us who know about them (my boss included), so we will enjoy them for a while until they change the firewall again. Hopefully that will happen much later.
Hmm, it is like they are trying to "shield" us from other countries' opinions in the news. You should see how Americans are portrayed here (reckless, gun-toting vandals who would just as soon shoot you with one of their 5 guns
than look at you). That is the news here, people! I am not making this up. A few weeks back when someone in Arkansas was shot, the news here showed several minutes of footage of people with guns with the logo "U.S. Special Report" in the
top right corner. If I can remember, I will try to tape some of it to show back home. It is quite funny, actually.
I brought in my Two-Mix autographed card to show around the office. Surprisingly, people did not recognize them as being a rock group, but rather voice actors for various anime, with the most
popular one being Minami doing the voice of JiJi in Mononoke (something they are really pushing here). Amazing how one word turn our office into a Two-Mix research center. I will probably bring in
one of their CDs sometime so they can hear what it is all about. Worked on the web pages fot the next printer (Japanese release only) called Mauritius. I still find it funny they would assign me and me
alone one week to completely re-write a conversion script we have been using for months. Some work goes pretty fast, but some of the stuff they are asking seems very demanding (A pop-up navigation window that
can both update the main window and be updated by changes in the main window). It would help if I could find some examples of this code. Oh well. I worked pretty late tonight. Okay, really late. Late enough
that I would miss Karate (well, I suppose I could have made it, but I was just too tired). Oh well, Thursday perhaps? One more thing, the Japanese lessons are getting interesting. We are diving into Kanji right now.
I find it incredibly difficult, but then again I heard that you should start by learning the Kanji, and then the Kana. Oh well.
I made sure I went to the Joy 401 (the shi-o-ichi to those of us from here), and picked up some bug spray like I saw advertised on TV (you know, the one with the "Love Love Kitchen" and the
"Sweet Sweet Bedroom"). Anyway, it is supposed to be non-harmful to humans, so we will see. I also picked up a kettle so I can make some of that tea (and some of those traveller's meals).
I almost bought a can opener...until I saw it was 2500yen! For 2500 yen, that had better be the best opener I have ever used! Oh well, maybe another time. Can't say I did too much today apart from
rest. Studied my Japanese textbook a little though (kono densha wa Hirooka e ikimasu ka? (Does this train go to Hirooka?)). I suppose it is better than bling guessing. Oh well, before I sign off, I promised
some people I would show how fast the music scene changes around here, so here is last Monday's and Friday's Top Ten CD Single rankings (in "title - artist" style), and forgive any misspellings I might have,
after all I can't read the Kanji, so I try to hear how it is spelled in some cases:
Monday, June 29th (Ni-ju-kyu nichi, Roku gatsu (Getsuyobi))
Friday (Kinyobi), July 3rd (Mittsu, Nana gatsu (Kinyobi))
For those who don't know, Two-Mix is a rock group here in Japan. I have heard some of their material before, but I never expected to see them in Matsumoto at the Wave (the big music store
here). I bought one of their CDs (Fantastix) just to get their autograph (all two of them). I can't read it (well, except the words "two-mix") but that is the second
autograph I have had since I got here. At this rate, I should get 10 more by the time I leave. If I can get access to a scanner, I should scan these in. I also stopped off the used CD store
to see if anything new (?) came in. Found a used copy of Final Fantasy Tactics for the PS for 1800 yen, and I remember playing it at Phil's place, so I picked that up. You know, if it weren't
for the fact that PS games are so cheap here, I wouldn't have so many (all right, I don't have THAT many, but more that I would have if they were full price). Spent a good part of the afternoon and
evening doing a major overhaul on my room (quick cleanups won't do anymore). I took out lots of garbage, rearranged my shelves, and vaccuumed the place, but the bugs still linger. I knew I forgot something...
Seems that the company that does the graphics for our web pages came up with some strange ideas for our next line of printers. I still can't get over the one with the talking file cabinet.
That was just plain bad (I can say this because none of them work here, and they sent some others that were good). Also, one of the teams here decided that there were too many files involved in converting
Framemaker documents to HTML, so they put all the data in one huge Framemaker file. Sigh, that blew up pretty quick. I won't go into the details, but needless to say, we needed it done the other way.
After getting home, I realized that my room was beginning to become infested with flies (smaller than the holes in my screen door. So, I either close the big glass door and sufficate, or open the screen door
and let hundreds of more flies in. I need bug spray badly. Oh yes, another great episode of shinchan came on, and I also caught the "Go Wagon R" Leo DiCaprio commercial too. What a treat! Also,
I can actually sleep tonight without worry of waking up early for the first time in three weeks.
Now that Hiranuma-san is back, I can finally convert the documents I need. Too bad the script is flaky. Oh well, I will be playing with that for a while. Quite a few of the people
around the office got a good laugh out of my Japanese textbook from school (kore wa hana desu.). The pictures are 20 years old, and the content is sometimes strange, but at least they say the
actual lessons are good (though funny for them because it is so basic). Also, the Korean ladies leave after today to go back to Korea. There were speeches and food and it was a good way to finish the
day. Afterwards, I got ready for Karate and headed over, not knowing neither Miwa nor Naya would be there to help translate (I guess they were working late?) Everything went pretty well, though, and I got to
train with the master, who finally realized I was a student and not just a visitor. I was told that my Gi would be in on Tuesday for sure, though. It looks nice, and will have my name on it (written in Katakana
of course). Ah, I still need to catch up on my sleep from last weekend. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.
No. I'm not talking just about this one (though I will have to split this page up by months pretty soon...watch for it), but rather some of the web page designs I have been asked to work on. Some of them do not fit
on an 800X600 window, which is one of the goals (we usually assume resolutions of 1028X764 or more). I got to play with image editors (Paint shop pro 5) and all kinds of fun stuff, but Hiranuma-san is still on vacation
until tomorrow, so I can not convert the pages from Framemaker format until she gets back (she is using a custom script for this which I do not have). Oh yes, had my Japanese lesson today. I was in with Peter and Ash,
though not to boast, but I am obviously so much more skilled at the language than them, and I am not that good, which is why it pained me to start back at the beginning with them. Oh well, I was told
afterwards by watashi no nihongo no sensei (My Japanese teacher) that the class goes very fast, and it will not be long before we dive into Kanji and such. At least it is a nice break from the office. Picked up a new digital
cable for which to dub CDs to MDs. I must say, it works great now that I get the full surround sound effect (the cable I had before was mono to stereo, so I had to compromise some things when recording). The quality is even better
than when I said before it was great. Ah, one great toy I like more and more every day.
