2002.11.25 OK, as promised here is an update as we pass the 400 hit mark. It has been over a month since my last update because I have been quite busy. I went to Thailand for a week, but now I am cramming for the Japanese test this Sunday.
Thailand was great. Transportation, food, and lodging are all very cheap. I did not bring my cell phone, and I have no other digital camera so you won't be seeing any pictures of the trip here. We went to a very nice beach on an island called Ko Samet. If you go there I recommend going to the south end of the island where it is less built up. Unfortunately they did not sell APS film at the beach, so I don't even have non-digital pictures of that place. If you go to Bangkok watch out for the con artists! I might write more about it later, but if you go be sure to do a Google search on the Thai gem scam. I was not scammed, but they sure tried! Well, they tried up to a point. Maybe I looked too poor.
2002.10.18 I have been lazy with the updates here, but there has not been much to report. The hit counter creeped above 300 recently so I figure that is a good reason to write some news. Next update, after 400? I put up three new photos. By the way...
who are you 300 people anyway?
Besides my daily Japanese study, I have been catching up with the yearly short science fiction anthology edited by Gardner Dozois. I was 3 years behind so it is taking awhile to get through the thick books. One of the best stories was "Savior" by Nancy Kress in the 18th annual collection. In other news, a few weeks ago there was a guy walking around outside with a poodle standing on his shoulders. The poodle was not attached in any way and seemed to have a good sense of balance. Of course this was one of those rare moments when I was not carrying my little camera/cell phone. The other great shot I missed recently was the crazy lady on the train who had a chipmunk tied to a string climbing around her shirt. The lady was obviously a little nuts since she spent the whole time talking to the chipmunk and trying to get it to stay in her front shirt pocket. The amusement increased when the chipmunk started to scratch itself vigorously making the fashionable young woman standing next to the crazy lady lean back in disgust. Of course she and the rest of the Japanese passengers dealt with the situation with modest reserve. I actually did have my phone/camera that time but the train was so packed any attempt to get it from my pocket would have immediately had me thrown behind bars for molestation, a popular crime on the trains here. And also a popular crime to be falsely accused with. I am not sure if they have the whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing over here. We do still have that in the states, right?
2002.09.10 A few days after commenting on my new three digit hit count, it has already passed 200! In case you are wondering, I can't make it increase by hitting the "reload" button myself. My provider's code somehow prevents this. I have added only one photo to the good photos section but I think it is a funny one.
I have become a frequent customer of Starbucks these days, doing most of my studying there. Normally I would not frequent such a mega-corp chain store, preferring to give my business to a family owned coffee shop, but Starbucks is a rare non-smoking sanctuary in the smokers' paradise of Japan. One time I went to a restaurant that actually had a separate room for the non-smoking section, which was quite unusual for Japan where one vague region of tables is commonly designated non-smoking with no barrier whatsoever to the smoke. So I was quite happy for a moment with this isolated non-smoking room until I noticed the people at the table next to use pulling out their cigarettes. After asking the waitress what gives, she explained the smoking section was full, so... (!?!) This situation is referred to in Japanese as "shou ga nai", meaning "It can't be helped." This phrase is bandied about whenever an unpleasant situation must be tolerated because no one wants to take responsibility or blame. I do like Japan, but the smoking is my biggest complaint. And complaining is one of the gaijin's favorite hobbies! At least it is more of a hobby than "going to shopping", no?
2002.09.03 Wow, the number of hits has just blasted past 100. Thanks for visiting everybody! I have not taken many interesting pictures lately since I have been busy studying. I did see the new Austin Powers movie the other day.
It was good to see it with a group of foreigners in Japan, because we were the only ones laughing in the theater. I guess the toilet humor does not translate well. And so I have added a new link to the Good Links page for the Internet Movie Database. If you like movies (who doesn't?) you must go to this site.
2002.08.20 Today the weather is surprisingly cool here in Osaka. Besides the change in temperature there is not much news to report. Just trying to stuff as much Kanji in my head as possible before the big test in December. I have added a few new things to the web page. I put up a photo of what must be the ugliest statue I have ever seen. I know there must be uglier ones somewhere, but this one is so big! It is in a park near here. It was supposedly designed by some famous artist, and I'm sorry if I am insulting his fans around the world, but I think his real genius lay in the ability to convince the city to build this thing.
2002.08.10 I put up a few new photos. You have to look at some of the crazy kinds of ice-cream they have over here in Japan. The Mainichi newspaper has compiled a photo collection. Ox-tongue ice cream anyone?
2002.08.06 My Go page is up in "Good Things". I also put up one new picture in the photo section too. If I didn't have to e-mail each picture from my phone to computer I would put more up. This link software is out there but I haven't gotten around to getting it yet.
In other news, I got an ear infection. Whoopdee doo. I went to the doctor here for the first time by myself, which is always exciting with the language barrier. I decided to go right away and get some antibiotics so things would not get any worse. I had a bad ear infection when I first came to Japan 4 years ago, and that one hurt big time. Also my friend here had a bad ear infection and the doctor decided to pierce his eardrum. Is that a standard procedure? I would prefer to avoid it.
2002.08.05 OK, the photos are up. I only have three so far, but I will be putting more on shortly. You can see the photo section by clicking on the "Good Things" link below.
2002.08.02 The web-page (webpage? web page?) renovation is now 99% done. I updated and organized the links page so please take a look. The links are in no particular order really, but the ones at the top of the list are the pages I visit the most frequently. As always, let me know what you think or if you have found any errors. I hope to be adding a collection of pictures I have taken with my cell-phone/digital camera. That should appear soon in "Good Things". I also want to make the Japanese pages more extensive.
Tomorrow there is a big fireworks display in Osaka. Fireworks are very popular in Japan during the summer. There is no single day for fireworks, like the Fourth of July in the states, just a season. The word for fireworks in Japanese is "hanabi" which literally translates as "flower-fire". You can go a little overboard translating the kanji literally, but it is sometimes interesting. Many Japanese names start to sound like stereotypical Native American names when translated: "Black-rock", "Big salt", "Little-river", etc.
2002.07.29 Another hot day in Japan. No surprise there really, every day is hot and humid here. Writing about the weather is a traditional way to start a letter here, and I guess it works for a web page too.
I will try to keep this news updated for any of my friends out there who are interested in what I am up to. I hope this will make up for my awful e-mail response time.
My renovation of the web site is mostly finished. How do you like it? What? I can't hear you. Maybe it is because nobody is reading this! Haha. Well, I saw my hit counter go up a few points, but I think I know who those people are. Please feel free to e-mail me. I feel very clever right now because my e-mail address on here is actually a picture file, I hope this will thwart the spam spiders. The other line of defense I have is a short Java script that splits things up in the source code. All the java stuff in this page is thanks to Paul McFedries' Idiot Guide, which I checked out of the library. (Sorry Mr. McFedries!) Another method I see other people do to prevent the e-mail address harvesters is to insert things in their e-mail address, like bob@REMOVE-THIShotmail.com or bob at hotmail dot com, but I don't want to confuse anybody.
I should stop updating this page and get cracking with my Japanese studies. In December I take the big first level test, which is damn hard. I have a love-hate relationship with kanji (the Chinese characters used in Japan). That is all for now.
2002.07.26 I am still fiddling around with the web page. I added some little Java scripts and other doodads. Keep checking in for changes here.
2002.07.19 As you can see from the picture above, there have been a few changes around here. I am still in Japan studying Japanese. Yesterday I bought a new cell phone that has a built in digital camera, so I am spending way to much time taking pictures and e-mailing them to my friends' cell phones. But I can also e-mail these pictures to my own computer and stick them in the web page here.