Sat 8 Jul 2006
We’re back on-line!
So I’ve decided to redesign this site again. Geeklog was a great content management tool, no doubt about it, but it just sucks at handling graphics in my posting. So I’ve decided to revert to the ever stable WordPress.
One of the things that I haven’t been doing in a while is rambling. Don’t see much of that coming soon though. Right now I’m in Tokyo, Japan. And yes, the Japs are a high-tech society. They’ve got GPS installed in every cab, and even toilet seat is electrically warmed. I’m disappointed that they don’t have PCs installed in toilet cubicles though; could have increased productivity because my hands are definitely free during the whole process. There is a theory however, that they’re not doing that because employees would spend more time surfing Internet, when now, already on handheld devices using EDGE or 3G network streams while pretending to defecate. I don’t know how true this is, but every time I transported huge amount of caffeine to the urinal (through biological conveyance), at least 2 out of 3 toilet cubicles were in use.
There is an area in Tokyo called Akihabara where they’ve got a superstore selling computers, cell phones, audio-visual equipments, and DVDs. It reminds me of Bestbuy, except, at a much gigantic scale. I would think the Chinese might have one of these in Beijing or Shanghai, but from experience the Japanese output would be more reliable (in sense that I can be certain that the Thinkpads on sale weren’t stolen from white tourists or the gadgets tapped with communist spying microchips). In this store called Yodobashi Camera (pronounced yodo-baash-ie ka-mae-ra), announcements are made in multiple languages: French, Spanish, German, English and Japanese as far as I can tell.
Tokyo can be troublesome for visitors not staying in a hotel. Because of a legal bill in recycling, garbage must be separated into three different bags and each has a different pick up days of the week. I guess I can be environmental friendly, but separating the garbage bags isn’t the only problem: I have not seen any dumpster around. Astonishingly, my Japanese translator subtly suggested that I might be able to solve my garbage problems by dumping it outside a convenience store. Since they produce so much garbage daily, they won’t realize whose garbage it is. She’s a clever weasel! Nah, I’ll take care of my own trash.
The Japs are definitely westernized, and unlike Hanoi, a city of dog-eaters, where I was couple of weeks ago, Tokyo has got 24 hours McDonalds and Dr. Pepper can drinks available from vending machines. It’s a good thing when America wins wars; it evangelizes a nation to better food consumption.
I’ve uploaded some photo shots in the photo gallery. I didn’t take all the photos, but you can basically tell that the source came from at least two different cameras. That’s because Olympus, even at 7.1mp sucks compared to a Canon Powershot S3 IS.
Tokyo is a nice city, I think. I haven’t got around much, but hey, with all the big city stuff, this has got to be the New York of Asia!
