Typing on the itouch
I just got one of the new iPod touch models. It’s pretty amazing so far though it’s clear that apple has engineeredamy of the features to try and get you to pay for apps especially in the games...
View ArticleProfile of the (surprisingly lucrative) university co-op business in Japan
When I did a year-long exchange at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, one of the more interesting entities on campus was the co-op that ran cafeterias and a general merchandise store. Prices were...
View ArticleSelf-proclaimed veteran translator: modern fansubbing a mess
From the “almost two years old but news to me” department: Via the comments section at Neojaponisme, we have this series of videos decrying modern anime fansubbers as cliquey, Japanese...
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Are the Japanese crazy like us? (And by “us”, I mean “Americans”)
Ethan Watters is the author of “Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche,” and recently appeared for a six minute interview on the US comedy show The Daily Show. Curiously, much of what...
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Hello Kitty owner turns things around by licensing anything and everything
Source: Pop Crunch I’ve long been a detractor of Sanrio’s policy of licensing Hello Kitty’s image to appear on just about anything (and some offerings have been downright questionable [NSFW]). But...
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8819 LDP
That’s not a license plate number: it’s the LDP’s cryptic way of tying themselves to the paternity leave system. Read out loud, it sounds similar to papa ikukyu (パパ育休) or “Daddy Childcare Leave.” The...
View ArticleYahoo STILL beats Google for mapping Japan, 4+ years later
Reprising a topic which I brought up in 2006, it seems that Google’s mapping team still needs to get its act together when it comes to covering Japan. Their map data is nearly a year out of date,...
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Japanese Kindle
Having now moved back and forth several times between my home in the US and Kyoto or Taipei, on the other side of the world in East Asia, it has become clear to me that dealing with books is the...
View ArticleWhy I don’t have an iPad: Son-san, are you out there somewhere?
I want one, and I’m willing to pay for a data plan. But Softbank will not give it to me. I have used a Softbank iPhone for a while now—since July 2009, to be precise. Softbank has generally been...
View ArticleUsing a smartphone as a visitor to Japan
I just landed in Narita and came to my friend’s apartment in Koenji, Tokyo last night, coming to Japan for the first time since I finished graduate school last March, and for the very first time as a...
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