Fun / foon Tokyo

Tuesday, March 2, 2004

Good grief, great gobs of guano!
Topic: Media
These cormorants call "Uu" in japanese are wildly stinky poop machines. They make some of my favorite beaches unusable. The Emperor's Cormorant Island in Ueno Park and the National Zoo is disgusting and everyone avoids it. Yuck-o.

Great cormorants turning fish into guano
Yomiuri Shimbun / March 2
The environment of a small island in Lake Biwa, Shiga Prefecture, has been damaged by a huge flock of great cormorants, aquatic birds that are gobbling up local fish populations and producing unhealthy amounts of waste..... In late February, about 10,000 cormorants from other parts of the country crowd onto the tiny island--just two kilometers around--to breed and nest. ...
....Worshipers who visit Hogonji temple and Tsukubusuma Shrine in the island are annoyed by the smell caused by the cormorants' droppings. According to local people, the heavy piles of guano and loss of vegetation have even caused an increase in landslides on the island in recent years. ... local people put fake eggs in the birds' nests to replace real eggs as a kind of avian birth control measure....

Posted by trek/taro at 5:41 PM JST
Updated: Tuesday, March 2, 2004 5:44 PM JST
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guru 'Duke' Saraye's Ministry of Silly Walks
Topic: Media
"I want money, I want to be popular and adored but what I want most is to build a 'Walking Paradise'" crazy walking guru

Walking craze gathers pace across Japan
APF / 02 March 2004 1245 hrs
TOKYO: The flailing arms, high kicks, twists and crouches may look eccentric, but the walking style of exercise guru Duke Saraye is sweeping Japan with its unique mix of yoga, ballet, aerobics and other Oriental and Western ideas.... The moves, which would doubtless win approval from legendary British comedy group Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks, include energetic high-stepping, leg swinging and shoulder rolls, as well as flowing hand movements .... flung their arms in the air, chanting "Pink, gold!"....Saraye, whose real first name is Takuya but is better known as "Duke," claims to be a descendant of a mountain ascetic who served Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339).

Posted by trek/taro at 3:33 PM JST
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Stay Vertical!
Mood:

happy

WOOT!

I'm now SuperGimp!

Yes after literally years of dithering about the expense I decided to splurge on myself and buy $900 custom titanium crutches from Thomas Fetterman Corp. My Titanium crutches, "have the ability to flex under dynamic loading. It absorbs shock and dampens vibration to protect our upper body for the long-haul."

Posted by trek/taro at 2:07 PM JST
Updated: Tuesday, March 2, 2004 2:08 PM JST
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Monday, March 1, 2004

"For relaxing times...make it SUSHI time."
Topic: Media

Oily fish makes you less hostile

29 Feb 2004/ MedicalNewsToday.com
If you want to be less hostile you should make sure you get plenty of omega-3 fatty acids. Foods such as salmon, tuna and sardines have lots of omega 3 fatty acids. ... Four years ago another study in Japan concluded that fish oils helped students deal better with stress when they were approaching final exams.

Posted by trek/taro at 10:39 AM JST
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Oh, I'm such a sucker for such junk
Topic: Japanese Tech
I gotta have it! Oh, I'm such a sucker for such junk.
Pico PenShot
Pen, PDA stylus and camera all in one that is about the same size of a fat Mount Banc fountain pen. There's no price announced yet but most likely it will sell less than 5,000 yen.
Specs:
USB interface, 200 shots at 640?480(VGA), W16.2?D20.0?H142.0(mm)
More info http://www.green-house.co.jp/news/2004/r0202a.html

Posted by trek/taro at 9:33 AM JST
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Sunday, February 29, 2004

Tacky Japanese music
Topic: Media
Via Basic Hip Digital Oddio I give you a grrrrreat MP3 by Sondi Sodsai, 2.4MB the Japanese Farewell Song musi
"Sondi"
by Sondi Sodsai
Liberty LRP-3110
Topnotch exotica/kitsch "oriental" cash-in with outrageous tourist trap lyrics ... the album serves as a 12 song come-on to white American male tourists...presented by Basic Hip Digital Oddio

Posted by trek/taro at 5:05 PM JST
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Japanese Social Security now works in the US for Americans
Topic: adviceS

Good news Bad news

Japanese Social Security now works in the US for Americans but Medicare will not, arrrrg. All the following information is vague, but it's a start at least.
From: American Embassy Tokyo
Subject: American Community Security Update - March 2004

Some Social Security and Medicare Questions

Q: Because I have worked abroad most of my life, I have not paid enough into the U.S. system to collect social security benefits. Is there any way I can make up the difference by paying into the U.S. social security system (a lump sum, for example) to get the remaining credits?

A: The Social Security Administration (SSA) does not allow voluntary contributions in order to meet the required number of quarters of coverage to be eligible for SSA benefits, including Medicare.

Q: Since the U.S. and Japan signed a Social Security Totalization Agreement, would I have to give up all of my Japanese social security benefits in order to qualify for U.S. Medicare benefits? I think I only need a few more years of work in the U.S. to qualify for Medicare there, can I use part of my Japanese years to make up the total?

Answer: You do not have to give up your benefits in Japan. However, you cannot use your benefits in Japan to qualify for Medicare in the U.S., as there are no Medicare benefits covered under any proposed Totalization Agreement. Please refer to SSA regulation GN 01701.130A.

Q: If there is no way I can qualify for Medicare in the U.S., can you suggest alternate insurance plans?

A: If you are a U.S. citizen, when you return and establish residence in the U.S. you are eligible for Supplementary Medical Insurance (Part B of Medicare). You can enroll during your initial enrollment period (IEP), which is the seven month period that covers three months before and three months after the month you establish residency in the U.S. Please refer to SSA regulations HI 00805.005A2., HI 00805.007B., and HI 00805.015A. Example: You returned and established residency in the U.S. in June 2003. Your initial enrollment period is from March 2003 through September 2003. If you fail to enroll during this period, there will be a premium surcharge of 10% for every full twelve months you did not enroll after your initial enrollment period. The premiums, as of January 2004, are $66.60.

Q: How do I find the SSA regulations you referred to above?

A: You can search for SSA regulations at SSA's website:

Go to http://www.ssa.gov

On the left side of the screen, under "Resources", click on "Freedom of Information"

On the right side of the screen, under "www.socialsecurity.gov", click on "Manuals and Instructions"

Click on "SSA Program Operation Manual (POMS)"

From here, you can search either by clicking on the first 2 letters of the specific POMS reference (i.e., RM, GN, HI, etc.) or by using the search mode and indicating the specific POMS reference, i.e. GN 01701.130.

Please note that the Embassy and our Consulates do not have information on Japanese social security (nenkin) benefits or procedures. Please contact the appropriate Japanese officials at your local ward or city office.

The American Embassy in Tokyo
American Citizen Services
1-10-5 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8420
Tel: 03-3224-5174
Fax: 03-3224-5856
http://www.tokyoacs.com

Posted by trek/taro at 3:42 PM JST
Updated: Sunday, February 29, 2004 3:57 PM JST
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Friday, February 27, 2004

Just another day in the Concrete Butt-plug(tm)
Topic: Concrete Japan

Tokyo on a good day

Refer to the "Casshern" movie trailer.

Posted by trek/taro at 11:10 PM JST
Updated: Friday, July 30, 2004 4:23 PM KDT
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Japanese robobabe!
How could anyone pass up the guiles of this robot honey?
"HOT LIPS"
"...a coelacanth-shaped robot developed by Japan's Ryomei Engineering swims in a fish tank during the International Robot Fair 2004 in Kitakyushu."

Posted by trek/taro at 7:41 PM JST
Updated: Friday, February 27, 2004 7:44 PM JST
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"GUILTY!" Will the Aum Guru be flying soon?

Asahara Sentenced to Death for 1995 Tokyo Gas Attack

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Shoko Asahara, the founder of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, was sentenced to death on charges of organizing terrorist acts, including the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway that killed 12 people. ...more...

Posted by trek/taro at 7:04 PM JST
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adviceS: Dial-up in Tokyo & greater Kanto?
Question: Using an antiquated laptop with a serial modem port is there a free or inexepnsive dial up service in Tokyo area?

Do you LIKE getting reamed in your hinterlands by NTT?

For a modest 20-30 minutes a day connection time to NTT for checking email and news, dial-up will cost you much more than 2,000yen/month.

Flat-rate ASDL at 1,500yen/m like Yahoo BB will save you a lot of money. If you live WAY out in the boondocks where ADSL doesn't work, old ISDN modems from NTT are dirt cheap(free?) and flat-rate is 1,200yen/m or less. I use "bonded-pair" IDSN out on my rice ranch in Shikoku that provides 256k speed (two ISDN lines, 128k + 128k) because ASDL is impossible in my Jomon village.

Your PC card slot will allow you to try WiFi or most modern ASDL and LAN-type services.

For more about low-tech 56k and ISDN modems services (as well as ASDL) read this truely definative source:
ISPs in Japan FAQ , by Keith Wilkinson (2003 info)

Posted by trek/taro at 9:12 AM JST
Updated: Friday, February 27, 2004 9:13 AM JST
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Thursday, February 26, 2004

Sex and the city, Shibuya style
Sex and the city, Tokyo style
Shibuya, in Japan's capital, is a magnet to youth. But many fear their children falling victim to its seedier side.
Independent, UK - 26 Feb
.....scouts hover like hawks, preying on the gullible, the curious and the greedy. Usually recognisable thanks to their perma-tans and designer clothes, the male scouts can instantly size up their female prey for their sexual marketability.
"We aim for women around 18 to 20 and rank them A to D, for beautiful to ugly, and S for saiko (best)," says 20-year-old Kenichi Sato, who scouts for a strip club. "I'm on a commission. When I deliver the girls to the club, and provided they stay for a set time, I get paid ¥40,000 to ¥50,000 [£195 to £245]." ...Recently, female scouts, such as those employed by Yoshisato, have also started working the area. ...."If you're a young girl, even a fat, ugly one, the scouts will bug you," 19-year-old Emi Ishii says.
----More scout pix here....

Posted by trek/taro at 4:58 PM JST
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Japan squeaks at the Billgatus of Borg
Japan's lapdog yaps at Billgatus of Borg...
Japan watchdog raids Microsoft
Wednesday, February 25, 2004 Posted: 11:59 PM EST (0459 GMT)
...Microsoft Japan is suspected of attaching improper restrictive conditions when signing software deals with Japanese personal computer manufacturers, such as requiring that Japanese companies allow infringement of their patents.o

Posted by trek/taro at 3:43 PM JST
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Radar monitoring around-the-clock for the Yellow Peril

Yellow sand monitoring starts

NHK News / Thursday, February 26, 2004 11:23:29 AM
Japan's Environment Ministry has set up the first radar system exclusively for monitoring around-the-clock how yellow sand from China is blown to Japan. The yellow sand is blown from deserts in China in early spring....

Cytotoxicity of yellow sand in lung epithelial cells
J. Biosci. vol 28; 2003
DISCUSSION: There is a clear association between Asian dust events and enhancement of mortality. During a dust event, a 1⋅7% increase in the risk of death from all causes was observed. Specifically, the relationship between the Asian dust events and deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory causes was strong. This means that people with advanced cardiovascular and respiratory disease may be susceptible to the Asian dust events....

Posted by trek/taro at 3:23 PM JST
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"Fun, fun, fun, till her grandson takes her T-Bird away"

Japanese dinosaurs driving at 104 years old

Driver license holders 65 and older outnumber youths for 1st time
Kyodo / Thursday February 26, 9:20 AM
The number of driver license holders aged 65 and older topped that of those aged 16 to 24 for the first time in 2003, the National Police Agency (NPA) said Thursday. The agency said there were four driver license holders 100 years old or older and that the oldest was a 104-year-old man in Miyazaki Prefecture, who still drives. ....

Posted by trek/taro at 12:48 PM JST
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"Why is this Japanese engineer writing vague, false but polite instructions.

vague, false but polite

Japanese cell phone manual I've working on reads as follows:

"When you has ended with your video-phone, an image does appear depending."

That's it!
The above sentence is just floating alone in the the middle of the page like a turd in a Baptismal Font.
No explaination. No reference. Nothing.
Not unusual. Most Japanese written documents are the same: Instructions as Haiku without direct meaning. Sheesh.

The standard rationalization/apologia goes this this (which in itself is false and vague).

Aimai - ambiguity and the Japanese
Chinmoku - silence in Japanese communication
Haragei - an implicit way of communicating in Japan
Honne to tatemae - private vs. public stance in Japan
Uchi to soto - dual meanings in Japanese human relations

----"The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture" (Tuttle Publishing 2002, ed. by Roger J. Davies and Osamu Ikeno) essays about Japanese culture and communication.

Posted by trek/taro at 11:11 AM JST
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Japanese are given to non sequiturs
Yet another strange non sequitur in a Japanese news story....
Sun Feb 22,10:41 AM ET
Reuters
Hitomi, an Exotic shorthair act, wears a cow outfit during a beauty pageant at a cat park in Tokyo, February 22, 2004. Bird flu has spread to a new species in Asia, scientists said last week, reporting that two house cats in Thailand died of the same strain that has killed 22 people across the continent. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao

Posted by trek/taro at 8:22 AM JST
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Wednesday, February 25, 2004

George Bush's Japanese TV commerial
Topic: Media
This TV commerial really summarizes Japan's strangest English school, "GABA".
.これでもグループレッスンを信じますか？?Group lesson is the way to go? TV staring the Commander in Chimp, Geo. Bush!

Come now. Everyone say it: "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA"...

Posted by trek/taro at 1:57 PM JST
Updated: Friday, July 30, 2004 4:26 PM KDT
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Tuesday, February 24, 2004

iPod zombies stalk the 52nd floor of Roppongi Hills
iPod zombies stalk the halls of the Mori Art Museum....
iPods provide museum audio-guide
Macworld UK, 24 Feb
... Tokyo's brand-new Mori Art Museum launching an audio guide service using Apple's iPod. Visitors to the museum can borrow one of 20 iPods at no charge, and listen to an audio guide of the current exhibition...

Posted by trek/taro at 11:13 AM JST
Updated: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 11:15 AM JST
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'waitresses in Japan wear their kids in a pouch'
This is not in the least bit true, at least for the past 60 years. If anything, Japanese women take more time off after birth than any developed county on earth.
Sometimes I gotta wonder where people get these zany ideas about Japan?
The waiting game
..few Australians choose to pursue the restaurant waiting game as a career. But professionals do exist.
The Sydney Morning Herald. / February 24, 2004 - 10:08AM
...Lela Radojkovic, manager, Restaurant Balzac...
"The burn-out rate is very high... if you're a woman, you usually quit to have babies. You can't bring your freakin' kids to the restaurant. I love what I do but I also obviously want to have kids one day - what then? I hear that some waitresses in Japan wear their kids in a pouch for the first six months, so maybe that's the go."

Posted by trek/taro at 10:54 AM JST
Updated: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 1:07 PM JST
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