scribbles

Return of the Jed'Ivan

August 15th: Arrival back in America.
August 28th: Ivan's Return Party. Be there.

Who: Cool people like you!
What: BBQ/Party
When: Saturday, August 28th, Noon to whenever!
Why: Ivan's back in town!
Where: Ivan's Home in Oakland [ DIRECTIONS ]

Expected guests: Japanese girls from Kyoto Gaidai!
Possible guests: Estella's BF's band, all the way from LA!

More information here as details arise. Mark your calendars.

****** SIGN THE GUEST LIST!!! ******

Reading the News is a Social Activity

Aaron Swartz doesn't like reading the news. In fact, he insists that news is bad for you:

The day-to-day news isn't just useless — it's terrible! Instead of reflective analysis of political policy proposals, they talk about minute details of events from the 70s! Instead of informative stories on our government system, they write endlessly about the trial of some random people.

While I agree that the media isn't exactly the most poignant with the topics it presents (or perhaps it's too much so?), I don't believe the news to be particularly boring. In fact, it's RSS which makes news not boring for me: having to sift through uninteresting news site headlines before turned me away from the news.

And yet, keeping up with the news, no matter the content being boring or not, provides a means with which further communication can be made. In Japan, I do my best to skim through headlines to know what the Japanese are being informed of for the sake of later discussion. Reading the news (or watching too) is a part--albeit, usually only the beginning--of the discussion.

In this way, the news is a means of conveying trends, and these trends serve as a platform on which people can stand to discuss; and through discussion with one another comes the real information.

Naoshima Weekend Trip

I took a weekend trip with Hiroko to Naoshima, a small island between the main island of Japan, Honshu, and adjacent Shikoku. We slept in a Pao, and explored the absolutely fantastic Benesse Contemporary Art Museum. There is an obvious recurring theme of nature and art melding together which could be felt throughout the place. It was kind of weird, actually. There were works on the beach, and works just scattered about, almost haphazardly. No doubt, the walls of the museum stretched far beyong the physical limitations of the building and went on into the vast ocean before us.

East versus West

Had this link sitting around for a while, waiting to be posted. I have plots of one day experiencing living in the east coast--mainly New York; so Auren Hoffman's write-up on How San Franciscans and New Yorkers Differ is an interesting read for me.

Internet Community Unleashed in Japan: 2ch

A friend of mine just introduced this to me last week: 2ch. It's a forum. It's in Japanese.

What's the big deal? There's tons of forums on the Internet. In the land obsessed with societal structure, this is a place where none of those structures have any bearing nor face-degracing punishments. Read more about it at NYTimes and its Wikipedia entry, both interesting and insightful.

recently popped-up on /., the geeky English version of 2ch.

Don't Let the Opportunity Slip!

Long John Silver's promised to give free shrimp if evidence of water was found on Mars. Well, those rovering bastards have long since given us evidence, and LJS has kept their promise:

In January, Long John Silver's offered to give America free Giant Shrimp if NASA found conclusive evidence of an ocean on Mars. To celebrate the success of NASA's Mars Rover project, the company is going to give America free Giant Shrimp on Monday, May 10.

The page goes on:

"This is one small step for man, and one giant leap for Giant Shrimp." [The President] also again expressed interest in Long John Silver's becoming the first seafood restaurant on Mars.

Damn, I want some Giant Shrimp (on Mars)! Find the LJS nearest you today!

Come to Kyoto!

Here are instructions and tips on how to get to me here in Kyoto. I'm in what's called the Saiin area of the city, very close to Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, otherwise known as Kyoto Gaidai.

Sara visited from Totori over Golden Week, and I've got some upcoming guests:

Jenn and Andy: May 21-26.
Jon and Krystal: June 20-25.
Stef: July 24-30.

I've had several people come visit me, and having to reiterate the passage here is a nuisance. In my long-standing tradition of laziness, I'll write it once here and point everyone to it.

Landing in Kyoto
Unfortunately, there is no Kyoto International Airport. There is, however, Kansai International Airport (KIX) in Osaka which is where I arrived in Japan, and I am most familiar with. So, the problem lies in how to get from Osaka to Kyoto--primarily, Kyoto Station (aka, Kyoto Eki: 京都駅).

Osaka to My Apartment by MK Shuttle
This will take you straight to my apartment. It requires a 2-day advance reservation, which I can make; or, if you'd like, you can make yourself on the website (which is in English). Highly Recommended.
Note: you'll need my address.
Cost: ￥3,000.
Time: sometime under 3 hours.

JR Rail Pass or Not?
There's the JR Rail Pass which, at minimum, costs ￥28,300 for a 7-day pass. This lets you take any of the JR lines for free, with the exception some of the exceptionally fast trains, but you can still get to the places you need. I highly recommend this for people travelling to-from Tokyo, especially if you're planning a round trip. A bullet train ticket from Kyoto to Tokyo will cost something like ￥13,220 one-way.

JR trains are, if memory serves me, more prominent in Tokyo than Kyoto, so if you plan on doing much sightseeing in Tokyo, I think it's a good investment. In Kyoto, my closest station is on a different line called the Hankyu line; so if you plan to just party with Ivan the whole time in Japan, I'd recommend not getting a JR Rail Pass.

Where do you live, Ivan?
My closest station is called Saiin: 西院駅 on the Hankyu: 阪急 Line. This is not very near Kyoto Station (I would say about an hour's walk), nor is it very accessible from Kyoto Station. The exact address is written in my contact page.

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The following is additional information only; again, I highly recommend taking the MK Shuttle directly to my apartment.

Osaka to Kyoto (Saiin) by Train (aka, densha: 電車)
You want to, first, get to the main Osaka station, called Umeda. Take JR West to the station called "Osaka." More information is available at JR West website. From there, transfer to the Hankyu train line, making sure to take the platform towards "Kawaramachi" (Kyoto). There are various trains that go there: Local, Express, Rapid Express. Just get on any one, and it'll take you there, just at varying speeds. It'll be a long ride, at least 20 minutes, and you get off at "Saiin." Ask station attendants for help, they can usually slightly speak English and are more than welcome to help.
Cost: not sure, should be around 3,000?
Time: 73 minutes.

Osaka to Kyoto by Bus (aka, basu: バス)
I don't recommend it, but there's information on the web about it. A reservation may be required; most info is in Japanese. Also, the bus will most likely go to Kyoto Station, and not Saiin; so you will have to find some way to get from Kyoto Station to Saiin.
Cost: ￥2,300.
Time: can take from 70 to 105 minutes.

Kirin Tea Bird Racing

I discovered these little flaps on recent Kirin tea bottles; underneath is a website and a number. "Well, well! Time for a little lottery, I guess!" I thunk to me-self, typing in the address into my browser. I'm still rather juvenile (or babyish?) with my Japanese reading ability, but was able to manage to register myself on the site without too much trouble.

Then, I plugged in the two numbers for a chance to win a cute bird doll; I guess I could win a full-sized bird suit too, just like the cute but ridiculously looking girl on the website. Anyways, I tried that out and... there was a little race with birds... and my bird lost. Drat!

OS X Software Gallery

Jacob Scott recently got a new 12" PowerBook. In an effort to spread the word about cool programs, here's my list of proggies:

Clutter

Show pretty album cover art pulled from Amazon. Freeware.

DesktopManager

I'm still very much a UNIX boy, and I want my virtual desktops, dammit! This kind of does the job, but I still don't get everything I want, especially that I have to settle for an older version (v0.3.4) since versions after that are only for Panther (boo!). GPL.

FireFox

Because Mozilla is too big/slow, Safari isn't tabbed, and IE is just taboo. Mozilla Public License.

GPGMail

Adds GPG right into Mail.app and makes it quick and easy to decrypt/encrypt mail. Open Source License.

iPhoto Buddy

This may be obsolete with iPhoto v4; I use this mainly because of the incredible slowness of iPhoto after my library started getting past 1,500 photos. I may get iLife just to get rid of this nag. Freeware.

iScrobbler

Connects you and your music to a network and database that'll suggest music similar to your tastes. Tracks your musical tastes on their website; including your currently playing song. GPL.

iTerm

Kick-ass terminal with tabs and transparency. GPL.

KisMAC

So I can find free WiFi hotspots. Occasionally causes badness with the Airport driver and makes me have to reboot to get the Airport working again, however. Built-in WEP cracking tools. I wish I had a GPS to take full advantage of the mapping tools. GPL.

MPlayer OS X

I chose this over VLC because VLC didn't seem to work very well the last time I used it (v0.6). It may be better now, so I'll check on it. MPlayer is very very very good, though; I used it in Linux, and was very happy to find a port for OS X. Also, it's been able to play pretty much everything I've thrown at it with the exception of some funky Windows Media files. GPL.

NetNewsWire Lite

RSS Aggregator/Reader; I like to read parts of an article before committing to downloading/reading the whole thing. Seeing the just the headline is not enough, and this lets me see feeds that have at least some body to them. Freeware.

Poisoned

My favorite P2P client. Freeware.

SideTrack

Extra functionality on the Trackpad, such as scrolling on the edges. Freeware.

TinkerTool

Mess around with more OS X settings. Freeware.

XDarwin

To run those non-native OS X applications, such as GIMP. XFree86 License.

Also, I'd recommend checking out Apple's Developer Tools if you're a coder; I've played around with it, and it really is easy (and fun!) to whip things up--moreover, it's free (as in beer)!

Suggestions are more than welcome!

About My Sushi'ing

Here are some observational notes about my part-time job at a local sushi boat restaurant; a place called Hakkodaten Ishiba:

1. I found a small plastic tube in my mailbox the other day; I thought "what the fuck? drugs?" I was afraid of opening the capsule in fear of unknowingly releasing SARS or some other deadly virule disease in Japan. Turns out, it's for a stool sample because I handle food at work.
2. They put me in the Side Orders section; a Chinese girl is told to tell me what to do, and she gets mad because I can't understand her Japanese clearly, nor do I know the dish names--she gets even more mad. I do my best to be helpful, and she gets mad that I don't do it exactly her way. I don't know where things are, and people get mad at me for that.
3. The store owner never talks with me; he only likes talking with the high school girls who work there, whom he constantly flirts with.
4. I get pretty thirsty since I have to yell out "Irasshaimase," "Ikaga de gozaimasu ka," and "Arigatou gozaimasu" all day.
5. Japanese have less eye contact when communicating than Americans, so I often get confused when people are telling me an order and I don't know that they're talking to me.
6. Breaks may be legally required, but that doesn't mean people take them; nor does it necessarily make people happy when that required break is taken. I kind of got the gist of this, so didn't complain about not going on break.
7. The store closes at 10pm, but it takes until midnight, and sometimes 1am with 4 people to close the place; that is too fucking long!
8. After clocking out, people continue to chat chat chat; I just want to go home, dammit!

Google Stats

I never saw this before, but Google has a site called the Zeitgeist that's like a newletter of the most popular searches and stats like that. Neato is checking out the top searches in Japan.

As Google's IPO is the buzz in town, and I just want to confess my undying love for Google.