Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
Japanese Castles
I've just come back from a couple of weeks holiday. During our trip we visited three different castles.
Just for fun, no prizes, see if you can identify these three castles .
Sunday, April 01, 2012
Interview with Me about Japan Blog List
As I've mentioned before JapanBlogList.com takes up some of my spare time, to the detriment of this blog sadly. I was recently contact by Steve 'Grin' Isobe-Harsha who wanted to add his blog to the list. As always I asked for a link back in return, to which he replied
Thank you for adding me to your list. I say this tongue in cheek, I am kind of strict on links. I only link to others that interview, are Relevant, donate, or link to me. You linked to me, but I would like to give you more than just a link back in return. I would definitely like to interview you and write a longer piece on your creative and helpful blog!
Who can resist an interview? So last week over a skype session we had a very pleasant chat, and the net result is Episode 6 of his podcast An interview with Jonathan Allen at JapanBlogList.
Thank you for adding me to your list. I say this tongue in cheek, I am kind of strict on links. I only link to others that interview, are Relevant, donate, or link to me. You linked to me, but I would like to give you more than just a link back in return. I would definitely like to interview you and write a longer piece on your creative and helpful blog!
Who can resist an interview? So last week over a skype session we had a very pleasant chat, and the net result is Episode 6 of his podcast An interview with Jonathan Allen at JapanBlogList.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Ishinomaki , 3 months further on
Saturday 11 June 2011 marked the 3 month anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that struck the Tohoku region. I took the opportunity to go to Ishinomaki, in Miyagi Prefecture to do some volunteer work.
The organiser had hired a 26 seater coach and we departed Tokyo just after 8pm. The two coach drivers took it in turns to drive us through the night, arriving at 3am at the Ishinomaki Senku University. They turned on all the coach lights to tell us they’d arrived and to go back to sleep until 7am! Mercifully there were no loud snorers but I still only managed about an hour of sleep. At 7am we drove several miles to find a Shikyu restaurant, where we all ate a hearty breakfast before returning to the Volunteer Centre at the Senku University Campus, to get our assigned task for the day.
The organisers’ desk opens at 8am every day and they efficiently processed us and the many hundreds of volunteers that were staying in tents or had arrived in cars and coaches. For those of us who had not been before, we were given small green insurance certificates and everyone was given a sticky label to attach to their clothing with your name, and to indicate that you were a volunteer. So we got into our working gear. Wellington (rubber) boots are by far the best footware, with gloves, helmets, dust masks and protective eye goggles and drove set out to start work on a small hospital building.
The first stage of cleanup had already been done, that was to bag up most of the small items of rubbish, and one room was piled high with rubbish bags.
We formed a human chain and made short work of shifting them outside where the council will take responsibility for removing them. The next stage was to remove all the large items : beds, chairs, tables and other furniture.
We then broke for lunch, which was at the same place as breakfast, earlier, and where there are two other restaurants open for business.
This is how it looked after the tsunami.
In the afternoon we returned for the final task, which was to shovel the sludge into bags. The thick, oily, mud had covered everything to a depth of approx. 2cm. It was fairly dry and didn’t smell too strong, though I was very careful to always wear gloves. The end result, You see the tide mark a few inches from the ceiling ?
That was how high the waters reached.
The mud filled sacks were taken outside into a separate pile and again the council will eventually come to collect it. Of course, one enormous problem for the disaster recovery is what to do with the massive amount of debris. Over 24 million tons alone in just three prefectures.
At exactly 2:46pm we had a moment of silence in remembrance of those who lost their lives, including the 24 people who had died in that same hospital.
After washing all the tools and the boots, we boarded the coach again and went to the port area of Ishinomaki, which had been hardest hit by the tsunami. There was almost total devastation, only a small number of structures remained. The damage was astounding.
More photos from Boston.com and some more of my photos on flickr
Another hour’s drive away was our hotel, and we arrived just in time for dinner, and with a little time to spare for the onsen. Those of us who were not completely exhausted, then stayed up for karaoke. The trip home on Sunday was uneventful, and we were back in Tokyo around 4:30pm. Dividing the cost of the coach between 26, it came to 10,000 yen each. The trip organiser had arranged for a volunteers’ certificate from the local ward office, and that entitled us to avoid payment of the expressway tolls, which would otherwise have added 30,000 to the total bill.
Only 15% of the ¥251.4 billion collected by the Red Cross has been distributed by local city and town civil servants who are, not surprisingly, struggling with the disaster themselves.
It's clear from my trip that one thing the locals do need is more man power. Cleaning out buildings is hard manual labour that really cannot be mechanised or automated. If you want to go up to the Tohoku region the organisation of volunteers, at least in Ishinomaki, is very good. If you don't speak Japanese Peaceboat are organising regular trips from Tokyo.
The trip from Tokyo by car or coach is long and expensive, what I'd like to see would be companies like H.I.S Travel offering cheap volunteer trips up there by shinkansen. I'm sure more people would be prepared to offer a day or two of labour if it was made easy and simple. What's your excuse for not helping?
This is my entry into this weeks:
The organiser had hired a 26 seater coach and we departed Tokyo just after 8pm. The two coach drivers took it in turns to drive us through the night, arriving at 3am at the Ishinomaki Senku University. They turned on all the coach lights to tell us they’d arrived and to go back to sleep until 7am! Mercifully there were no loud snorers but I still only managed about an hour of sleep. At 7am we drove several miles to find a Shikyu restaurant, where we all ate a hearty breakfast before returning to the Volunteer Centre at the Senku University Campus, to get our assigned task for the day.
The organisers’ desk opens at 8am every day and they efficiently processed us and the many hundreds of volunteers that were staying in tents or had arrived in cars and coaches. For those of us who had not been before, we were given small green insurance certificates and everyone was given a sticky label to attach to their clothing with your name, and to indicate that you were a volunteer. So we got into our working gear. Wellington (rubber) boots are by far the best footware, with gloves, helmets, dust masks and protective eye goggles and drove set out to start work on a small hospital building.
The first stage of cleanup had already been done, that was to bag up most of the small items of rubbish, and one room was piled high with rubbish bags.
We formed a human chain and made short work of shifting them outside where the council will take responsibility for removing them. The next stage was to remove all the large items : beds, chairs, tables and other furniture.
We then broke for lunch, which was at the same place as breakfast, earlier, and where there are two other restaurants open for business.
This is how it looked after the tsunami.
In the afternoon we returned for the final task, which was to shovel the sludge into bags. The thick, oily, mud had covered everything to a depth of approx. 2cm. It was fairly dry and didn’t smell too strong, though I was very careful to always wear gloves. The end result, You see the tide mark a few inches from the ceiling ?
That was how high the waters reached.
The mud filled sacks were taken outside into a separate pile and again the council will eventually come to collect it. Of course, one enormous problem for the disaster recovery is what to do with the massive amount of debris. Over 24 million tons alone in just three prefectures.
At exactly 2:46pm we had a moment of silence in remembrance of those who lost their lives, including the 24 people who had died in that same hospital.
After washing all the tools and the boots, we boarded the coach again and went to the port area of Ishinomaki, which had been hardest hit by the tsunami. There was almost total devastation, only a small number of structures remained. The damage was astounding.
More photos from Boston.com and some more of my photos on flickr
Another hour’s drive away was our hotel, and we arrived just in time for dinner, and with a little time to spare for the onsen. Those of us who were not completely exhausted, then stayed up for karaoke. The trip home on Sunday was uneventful, and we were back in Tokyo around 4:30pm. Dividing the cost of the coach between 26, it came to 10,000 yen each. The trip organiser had arranged for a volunteers’ certificate from the local ward office, and that entitled us to avoid payment of the expressway tolls, which would otherwise have added 30,000 to the total bill.
Only 15% of the ¥251.4 billion collected by the Red Cross has been distributed by local city and town civil servants who are, not surprisingly, struggling with the disaster themselves.
It's clear from my trip that one thing the locals do need is more man power. Cleaning out buildings is hard manual labour that really cannot be mechanised or automated. If you want to go up to the Tohoku region the organisation of volunteers, at least in Ishinomaki, is very good. If you don't speak Japanese Peaceboat are organising regular trips from Tokyo.
The trip from Tokyo by car or coach is long and expensive, what I'd like to see would be companies like H.I.S Travel offering cheap volunteer trips up there by shinkansen. I'm sure more people would be prepared to offer a day or two of labour if it was made easy and simple. What's your excuse for not helping?
This is my entry into this weeks:
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Google thinks I'm Transport for London
This blog has been a bit thin recently, I've been spending far too much of my time on my other hobby of maintaining the JapanBlogList which ends up with me visiting a lot of other blogs and generally getting nothing else much done. If I'm not reading other people's blogs I'm posting random stuff on Facebook to amuse my friends such as The Chihuahua pulling a sled from Japanprobe, "Hug your wife day" from Japanalooza, the link between Pink tentacle posting an article on LED Smiles on Jan 17th, which got picked up the NY times on the 21st Jan and the Guardian on the 25th Jan as real craze , but swiftly debunked by the Japan Times on the 30th Jan.
My favorite was the 'incident writeup' for a recent problem when shinkansen trains were halted for more than an hour. seems they forgot to update some hard coded limits in the scheduling system. ( But then I am in IT, and part of my job is incident write ups to explain to our users what happened when things went wrong.)
But for a change, for no good reason this evening, I thought I would see if anyone does still bother to visit this blog. Heading over to trusty Google analytics I was surprised to see a steady stream of visitor's averaging around 100 per day. But what is most confusing is when I looked to see the key words they come for :
"TFL Map" TFL Tube Map, London Underground Map... and other variations account for eight out of the top ten hits.
Sure enough if you do a google search for TFL Map, in the section of images, the link on the first image of the underground map is a link to a post I did in 2007 titled "Seoul on the Jubilee Line"
In the post I had a link to a diagram showing all the cities which have, are building or are planning to construct an urban rail sytstem, arranged in the style of the London Tube map. I also included a link to the real map on the TFL Website to compare. So how come my blog rates higher than the real TFL site for their own image? Go figure.
My favorite was the 'incident writeup' for a recent problem when shinkansen trains were halted for more than an hour. seems they forgot to update some hard coded limits in the scheduling system. ( But then I am in IT, and part of my job is incident write ups to explain to our users what happened when things went wrong.)
But for a change, for no good reason this evening, I thought I would see if anyone does still bother to visit this blog. Heading over to trusty Google analytics I was surprised to see a steady stream of visitor's averaging around 100 per day. But what is most confusing is when I looked to see the key words they come for :
"TFL Map" TFL Tube Map, London Underground Map... and other variations account for eight out of the top ten hits.
Sure enough if you do a google search for TFL Map, in the section of images, the link on the first image of the underground map is a link to a post I did in 2007 titled "Seoul on the Jubilee Line"
In the post I had a link to a diagram showing all the cities which have, are building or are planning to construct an urban rail sytstem, arranged in the style of the London Tube map. I also included a link to the real map on the TFL Website to compare. So how come my blog rates higher than the real TFL site for their own image? Go figure.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Happy Christmas, from The Japan Times and Me
There was a Christmas gift lottery in the Japan Times two weeks ago. All you had to do was send them an email with your name and address and your preferred choice of gift from the list of six or seven different presents on offer. I selected what I imagined would be the least popular choices, sent off an email. Lo and behold on Saturday I got a nice hand addressed letter with a little surprise inside :
A bookmark in traditional lacquer technique, handmade and hand painted by Japanese craftsmen from Fuji-Tori.
I was delighted at such a beautiful piece of work, many thanks indeed to the Japan Times and Fuji-Torii for the gift.
So, to all my readers, enjoy your gifts and the holiday season. Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas, and all the best for the New Year.
A bookmark in traditional lacquer technique, handmade and hand painted by Japanese craftsmen from Fuji-Tori.
I was delighted at such a beautiful piece of work, many thanks indeed to the Japan Times and Fuji-Torii for the gift.
So, to all my readers, enjoy your gifts and the holiday season. Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas, and all the best for the New Year.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Sumo : Hakuho wins 60th consecutive bout
We visited the Sumo today. The 12th day of the Tokyo Grand Sumo tournament at the Kokugikan at Ryogoku. It is a fascinating spectacle. We arrived fairly early around 1pm and were enthralled all afternoon until the final bout just before 6pm. Hakuho the 25 year old Yokozuna was looking to continue his undefeated run of 59 bouts. He fought Baruto and won very convincingly in less than thirty seconds :
Tickets are still on sale for the last two days Saturday and Sunday if you are quick. We had a group of three seats in a small 'box' which means you sit on a cushion on the floor. So if you prefer a seat, you are better off with the cheaper tickets, that are in the second floor and bring a pair of binoculars. We bought ours at Ticket Pia on the second floor of Shibuya 109 building in Shibuya.
Tickets are still on sale for the last two days Saturday and Sunday if you are quick. We had a group of three seats in a small 'box' which means you sit on a cushion on the floor. So if you prefer a seat, you are better off with the cheaper tickets, that are in the second floor and bring a pair of binoculars. We bought ours at Ticket Pia on the second floor of Shibuya 109 building in Shibuya.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
JapanBlogList.com Resurrected
I glanced at google analytics for the stats on this blog recently and I noticed the site at number seven in the top 10 list of referrers JapanBlogList.com. I recall sending a request to be added back in 2007 when I moved to Japan, but I had never really noticed it since then. Looking at the site two weeks ago, it was obvious that it was no longer being maintained, which I thought was a shame.
Long term readers from my time in Korea may remember, I wrote a number of posts about new blogs from the KoreanBlogList.com and I always enjoyed finding new blogs to read. So I emailed the JapanBlogList site. To my surprise I received an email back, even more surprising was that the man behind the site is none other than Gary (GDog) from TheDailyKimchi. I met him a couple of times while were both living in Korea and we exchanged numerous emails.
So, to cut a long story short, Gary is busy in Canada and he had not had time to update the list, so I volunteered and he was delighted to let me loose on the site that he built. There is quite a lot of work to do for the site, so I have decided on number of phases for the effort required.
Phase One : Delete all the dead links. That started a couple of weeks ago when I took over, and ( thanks to Jeff as well who sent in a couple of links that I had missed) I think all the dead links have gone.
Phase Two : Add all the latest suggestions in the JapanBlogList inbox. This phase is almost complete. There are still another ten or so from the June and May that still need to be added. I hope to finish that this week.
Phase Three: Revisit all the blogs and collect the RSS feeds for each blog. Once this is complete I will use the Blogger.com feature 'list of blogs' to publish the latest updates for all the blogs onto the JapanBlogList.com website. That's going to couple more weeks. Maybe I should set myself a deadline...
Phase Four : Start a regular posting schedule to list the newly added blogs with maybe a few lines on each blog. In addition I have already started a twitter feed twitter.com/JapanBlogList. All new blogs will get a tweet with the link.
Phase Five : Run a competition for a Logo for the site for use in social media sites etc and start promoting the site. www.Japansoc.com will be the first port of call. Any other suggestions?
Phase Six : I can't think that far ahead. This should be enough to keep me busy for a few month yet...
So, I have you a blog relating to anything Japanese please let me know. Just follow the instructions on the site for submission, or feel free to add a comment below.
The main requirements are :
1. That the blog has a least ten posts : I don't want people who have just started a blog, try it for a couple of weeks and then give up, so that I have to go and delete them.
2. Has posted something within the last four months.
The site is getting at least a hundred visitors per day, so addition to the list will certainly increase your chances of getting visitors.
If you know of other Japanese blogs not already listed (and I already know there are quite a few that I read that are not listed) please let the blogger know that JapanBlogList.com is Back in Business.
Long term readers from my time in Korea may remember, I wrote a number of posts about new blogs from the KoreanBlogList.com and I always enjoyed finding new blogs to read. So I emailed the JapanBlogList site. To my surprise I received an email back, even more surprising was that the man behind the site is none other than Gary (GDog) from TheDailyKimchi. I met him a couple of times while were both living in Korea and we exchanged numerous emails.
So, to cut a long story short, Gary is busy in Canada and he had not had time to update the list, so I volunteered and he was delighted to let me loose on the site that he built. There is quite a lot of work to do for the site, so I have decided on number of phases for the effort required.
Phase One : Delete all the dead links. That started a couple of weeks ago when I took over, and ( thanks to Jeff as well who sent in a couple of links that I had missed) I think all the dead links have gone.
Phase Two : Add all the latest suggestions in the JapanBlogList inbox. This phase is almost complete. There are still another ten or so from the June and May that still need to be added. I hope to finish that this week.
Phase Three: Revisit all the blogs and collect the RSS feeds for each blog. Once this is complete I will use the Blogger.com feature 'list of blogs' to publish the latest updates for all the blogs onto the JapanBlogList.com website. That's going to couple more weeks. Maybe I should set myself a deadline...
Phase Four : Start a regular posting schedule to list the newly added blogs with maybe a few lines on each blog. In addition I have already started a twitter feed twitter.com/JapanBlogList. All new blogs will get a tweet with the link.
Phase Five : Run a competition for a Logo for the site for use in social media sites etc and start promoting the site. www.Japansoc.com will be the first port of call. Any other suggestions?
Phase Six : I can't think that far ahead. This should be enough to keep me busy for a few month yet...
So, I have you a blog relating to anything Japanese please let me know. Just follow the instructions on the site for submission, or feel free to add a comment below.
The main requirements are :
1. That the blog has a least ten posts : I don't want people who have just started a blog, try it for a couple of weeks and then give up, so that I have to go and delete them.
2. Has posted something within the last four months.
The site is getting at least a hundred visitors per day, so addition to the list will certainly increase your chances of getting visitors.
If you know of other Japanese blogs not already listed (and I already know there are quite a few that I read that are not listed) please let the blogger know that JapanBlogList.com is Back in Business.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Typhoon rail disruption
Typhoon 18 (Melor) caused a lot of wind and rain last night peaking at 3am in Tokyo. The worst seems to be over now but I have never this many impacted rail lines on the status screen before.
Here's the latest view of the storm's progress from the Japan Meteorlogical Agency
Latest news from Yahoo
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Happy Sake Day
I just discovered that today, October 1st, is Sake Day or 'Nihonshu Hi' as it called here. There's a Publicity page in the Japan Times with three articles extolling the virture of the traditional brewed beverage. ( Update : The supplement is now available as a PDF from their website: Sake Day Special).
One of the items is from Timothy Sullivan of UrbanSake.com who was on my blog roll for a long time. He lives in the US and is one of only 17 Sake Samurai in the world. Probably the only other Gaijin Sake Samurai is John Gaunter of Sake-World.com whose sake course we went on last year. ( The pictures are on flickr.com but my account has expired and you can't see them at the moment! )
There's an article about Born a brewery in Sabae, Fukui prefecture. They offer a range of high quality brands available in many countries around the world. Also included is a piece from Yoshimore Tomi in California, owner of the Japanese restaurant Sushi Ran. He will be celebrating Sake Day with an outdoor kagamiwari :'sake-barrel breaking ceremony', which sounds like fun.
Where ever you are in the world, have a drop of decent Junmai Daiginjo and toast with me 'Sake Day'.
One of the items is from Timothy Sullivan of UrbanSake.com who was on my blog roll for a long time. He lives in the US and is one of only 17 Sake Samurai in the world. Probably the only other Gaijin Sake Samurai is John Gaunter of Sake-World.com whose sake course we went on last year. ( The pictures are on flickr.com but my account has expired and you can't see them at the moment! )
There's an article about Born a brewery in Sabae, Fukui prefecture. They offer a range of high quality brands available in many countries around the world. Also included is a piece from Yoshimore Tomi in California, owner of the Japanese restaurant Sushi Ran. He will be celebrating Sake Day with an outdoor kagamiwari :'sake-barrel breaking ceremony', which sounds like fun.
Where ever you are in the world, have a drop of decent Junmai Daiginjo and toast with me 'Sake Day'.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Neoteny - Contemporary Art Exhibition , Tokyo
I don't always like modern art, but the exhibition currently on at the Royal Museum in Ueno Tokyo showed some of the most interesting and intriguing pieces I've seen in a long time.
Image shamelessly copied from neoteny.jp.
From the mirrored sculpture of a six legged wolf by Konoike Tomoko at the start, to the small group of creatures made of bamboo (perhaps?) on the way out, I was enthralled.
The exhibition includes almost one hundred works from thirty three Japanese artists. The range of material and subjects was outstanding. Some of my favourites included :
"History of Rise and Fall" by Ikeda Manabu. This 2m by 2m canvas includes such an enormous amount of detail in the imaginary landscape I could have looked at it for hours and still discovered something new.
The huge canvas from Aida Makoto entitled Giant Salamander. If it hadn't been for the title, I might have missed the very large aquatic creature in the middle of the picture.
"Human Lesson, Dress 01", which is where the wolf's head in the poster comes from, (and yes, it is a dress.. kind of) and the Victorian looking instrument of torture entitled Fingerspanner both from Odani Motohiko.
A modern take on a classic Japanese style of painting from Yamaguchi Akira entitled Modern Times.
And many many more. I highly recommend it, but hurry, the exhibition ends on July 15th.
Location:
The Ueno Royal Museum ,Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0007
TEL: 03-3833-4191 http://www.ueno-mori.org
Until : Wednesday, July 15 2009
Opening Hours:
10:00 to 18:00. Fridays until 20:00. (Admission up until 30 minutes before closing)
Access:
3 minutes walk from JR Ueno Station
Admission:
Adults 1200 yen
Students 1000 yen
More photos on the blog neoteny.jp blog
Image shamelessly copied from neoteny.jp.From the mirrored sculpture of a six legged wolf by Konoike Tomoko at the start, to the small group of creatures made of bamboo (perhaps?) on the way out, I was enthralled.
The exhibition includes almost one hundred works from thirty three Japanese artists. The range of material and subjects was outstanding. Some of my favourites included :
"History of Rise and Fall" by Ikeda Manabu. This 2m by 2m canvas includes such an enormous amount of detail in the imaginary landscape I could have looked at it for hours and still discovered something new.
The huge canvas from Aida Makoto entitled Giant Salamander. If it hadn't been for the title, I might have missed the very large aquatic creature in the middle of the picture.
"Human Lesson, Dress 01", which is where the wolf's head in the poster comes from, (and yes, it is a dress.. kind of) and the Victorian looking instrument of torture entitled Fingerspanner both from Odani Motohiko.
A modern take on a classic Japanese style of painting from Yamaguchi Akira entitled Modern Times.
And many many more. I highly recommend it, but hurry, the exhibition ends on July 15th.
Location:
The Ueno Royal Museum ,Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0007
TEL: 03-3833-4191 http://www.ueno-mori.org
Until : Wednesday, July 15 2009
Opening Hours:
10:00 to 18:00. Fridays until 20:00. (Admission up until 30 minutes before closing)
Access:
3 minutes walk from JR Ueno Station
Admission:
Adults 1200 yen
Students 1000 yen
More photos on the blog neoteny.jp blog
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
New Starbucks in Ebisu
This morning at 7:30 the 246th Starbucks in Tokyo opened without any fanfare, in Yebisu Garden Place Tower.
It's only five minutes walk from the Starbucks at Ebisu station.
The new outlet provides the usual selection of coffee, tea, chocolate and some bottled soft drinks. A display cabinet holds pastries and sandwiches. A short cafe latte costs 320 Yen. Unlike the convenience store next door and the Starbucks branch at the station, they do not accept Suica electronic pre paid cards which is not very helpful. Around the side is a small area with some armchairs and small tables.
The three cafes already providing coffee to take away are going to have a serious competitor right in the middle of the Yebisu Garden complex.
Least to fear is MacDonald's. A small cafe latte costs 210 Yen. The queues when this branch of the Golden Arches opened last year went round the block, but they weren't there for the coffee.
Excelsior Cafe has a branch in the building. It's a well known chain around Tokyo. It was created in 1999 by the Doutor coffee company to compete with Starbucks after the American chain first arrived in Japan in 1996. Excelsior serve a range of other beverages including beer. The large cafe with some outdoor seating is going to continue to attract people who like to sit down in a venue with more space and a bit more choice on the menu.
Benugo's has to most to fear from the new arrival.
A small cafe latte here will set you back 330 Yen. However a 10% discount is available to people who work in the tower. They have a small indoor seating area and some tables outside. Their speciality is hot sandwiches something they started in 2003. Their eggs benugo is a firm favourite of mine. [The interesting article from the Japan Times describes Pret A Manager as their biggest competitor when they started but Pret a Manger pulled out of Japan in 2004 after their 50/50 partner Macdonalds withdrew from the project.]
Some other interesting research I found comparing Starbucks and Excelsoir in 2002, and a good personal summary of some of the the other chains in Japan from Japan-Zone. For me, I'll probably buy the coffee from Starbucks, but go to Benugo's to eat, I just hope they stay in business. What's your favorite coffee shop?
It's only five minutes walk from the Starbucks at Ebisu station.
The new outlet provides the usual selection of coffee, tea, chocolate and some bottled soft drinks. A display cabinet holds pastries and sandwiches. A short cafe latte costs 320 Yen. Unlike the convenience store next door and the Starbucks branch at the station, they do not accept Suica electronic pre paid cards which is not very helpful. Around the side is a small area with some armchairs and small tables.
The three cafes already providing coffee to take away are going to have a serious competitor right in the middle of the Yebisu Garden complex.
Least to fear is MacDonald's. A small cafe latte costs 210 Yen. The queues when this branch of the Golden Arches opened last year went round the block, but they weren't there for the coffee.
Excelsior Cafe has a branch in the building. It's a well known chain around Tokyo. It was created in 1999 by the Doutor coffee company to compete with Starbucks after the American chain first arrived in Japan in 1996. Excelsior serve a range of other beverages including beer. The large cafe with some outdoor seating is going to continue to attract people who like to sit down in a venue with more space and a bit more choice on the menu.
Benugo's has to most to fear from the new arrival.
A small cafe latte here will set you back 330 Yen. However a 10% discount is available to people who work in the tower. They have a small indoor seating area and some tables outside. Their speciality is hot sandwiches something they started in 2003. Their eggs benugo is a firm favourite of mine. [The interesting article from the Japan Times describes Pret A Manager as their biggest competitor when they started but Pret a Manger pulled out of Japan in 2004 after their 50/50 partner Macdonalds withdrew from the project.]
Some other interesting research I found comparing Starbucks and Excelsoir in 2002, and a good personal summary of some of the the other chains in Japan from Japan-Zone. For me, I'll probably buy the coffee from Starbucks, but go to Benugo's to eat, I just hope they stay in business. What's your favorite coffee shop?
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Blogging for Perks and Pleasure
Yesterday's item in the Japan Times titled "Bloggers gain perks to pitch tourist spots" reminds me, in a round about way, of why I started this blog almost exactly three years ago.
At the time I was living and working in London, but my wife and I had had enough of living in the UK and were keen to go out to Asia. So, the plan was hatched that she would get a job teaching English in Seoul, I would have a year off from work and become a house husband, we'd spend a year there, then I'd get a job in Japan and we'd move across the Japan Sea. Which is exactly what we did.
When I first told friends and family we were moving to South Korea most people knew very little about the country and the people. I had been following a number of blogs at the time and had been casting around for a good subject for a blog. I realised that a blog on what life offers in Korea might make a good topic. My aim was not only to inform friends and family of our life in Korea, but also to provide detailed information for other expats and tourists coming to Korea.
I soon discovered a healthy Korean Blogosphere with a wide range of bloggers from those fresh off the plane excited to taste their first Kimchi to the seasoned long termers like Robert at the Marmot's Hole and Mike the Metropolitician.
I enjoyed blogging about the interesting and varied places and events we visited. From the peace and quiet of Samcheonggak to the fun of the Hi Seoul Festival
Other useful information I blogged about ranged from The Best Bread in Seoul , Discount Cards to the first day of the Arex Airport Railway.
Since we moved to Japan my blogging frequency and volume has been reduced but I still try to post two to three times a month on something topical. I've done my best to promote regional attractions. I provided a link direct to Shizuoka Tourism's site promoting the new airport that opened at the beginning of this month. I documented our summer trip to Hokkaido last summer.
This blog has always been a hobby and I never attempted to make any money by trying to commercialise it, I got as far as signing up for AdSense, but because the blog is still on the old format blogger template (long story) I have not bothered to incorporate the adverts. I have always been open to reviewing products or services in return for an honest write up, but have sadly never been offered anything.
Strangely the Japan Times does not include any links to the bloggers depicted. I spent a few minutes searching to see if I could find any of their sponsored blog posts but I couldn't find anything obvious. Instead, I found another blogger ( Kimonobox) also commenting on the same story and looking for the same thing! She's done a bit more research and come up with nothing either. She is waiting (I fear in vain) for a reply back from the Japan Times to her request for more details. My guess is they are blogging in Japanese which is why the Japan Times did not include any links.
So if the Wakkanai tourism association is interested I would be more than happy to accept a trip up to the northern tip of Hokkaido to see more of the spectacular scenery.
This was intended to be an entry for this month's Japan blogs Matsuri which is hosted by Billy at Tune-in-Tokyo on the subject of Living on a budget in Japan. But, I am not sure after all that rambling, it counts on the subject of how to save money? What are your thoughts on bloggers posting for perks and could you save money from it if you have a blog?
At the time I was living and working in London, but my wife and I had had enough of living in the UK and were keen to go out to Asia. So, the plan was hatched that she would get a job teaching English in Seoul, I would have a year off from work and become a house husband, we'd spend a year there, then I'd get a job in Japan and we'd move across the Japan Sea. Which is exactly what we did.
When I first told friends and family we were moving to South Korea most people knew very little about the country and the people. I had been following a number of blogs at the time and had been casting around for a good subject for a blog. I realised that a blog on what life offers in Korea might make a good topic. My aim was not only to inform friends and family of our life in Korea, but also to provide detailed information for other expats and tourists coming to Korea.
I soon discovered a healthy Korean Blogosphere with a wide range of bloggers from those fresh off the plane excited to taste their first Kimchi to the seasoned long termers like Robert at the Marmot's Hole and Mike the Metropolitician.
I enjoyed blogging about the interesting and varied places and events we visited. From the peace and quiet of Samcheonggak to the fun of the Hi Seoul Festival
Other useful information I blogged about ranged from The Best Bread in Seoul , Discount Cards to the first day of the Arex Airport Railway.
Since we moved to Japan my blogging frequency and volume has been reduced but I still try to post two to three times a month on something topical. I've done my best to promote regional attractions. I provided a link direct to Shizuoka Tourism's site promoting the new airport that opened at the beginning of this month. I documented our summer trip to Hokkaido last summer.
This blog has always been a hobby and I never attempted to make any money by trying to commercialise it, I got as far as signing up for AdSense, but because the blog is still on the old format blogger template (long story) I have not bothered to incorporate the adverts. I have always been open to reviewing products or services in return for an honest write up, but have sadly never been offered anything.
Strangely the Japan Times does not include any links to the bloggers depicted. I spent a few minutes searching to see if I could find any of their sponsored blog posts but I couldn't find anything obvious. Instead, I found another blogger ( Kimonobox) also commenting on the same story and looking for the same thing! She's done a bit more research and come up with nothing either. She is waiting (I fear in vain) for a reply back from the Japan Times to her request for more details. My guess is they are blogging in Japanese which is why the Japan Times did not include any links.
So if the Wakkanai tourism association is interested I would be more than happy to accept a trip up to the northern tip of Hokkaido to see more of the spectacular scenery.
This was intended to be an entry for this month's Japan blogs Matsuri which is hosted by Billy at Tune-in-Tokyo on the subject of Living on a budget in Japan. But, I am not sure after all that rambling, it counts on the subject of how to save money? What are your thoughts on bloggers posting for perks and could you save money from it if you have a blog?
Monday, May 18, 2009
Tokyo Design Festa 2009
I went to the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre for the Design Festa at the weekend. Over 2,000 local and international exhibitors took part in this extravaganza of art, fashion and design.
The stands showed the artist's enormous imagination in a wide variety of media from oils and watercolours to wire, glass and plastics. Most of the items were for sale: everything including post cards, T-shirts, shoes, bags, clothes, wigs, hats and general nick knacks.
Some of my favourites include A Banana and Cream Facial and a cheeky design on wood. More of my photos on flickr , an excellent selection from lhuga and a 12 second video of some hungry money boxes that eat coins.
The festival happens twice a year and is happening next on the weekend of Oct 24th and 25th 2009.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Photo Quiz Answers
Thank you to everyone who entered the Prize Draw. The winner has been notified and will receive the last Poken I have from the batch of 12 I bought.
I am planning on buying another batch, so expect to hear more about Poken in the future.
Now the answers :
Answer 1: The building is the Museum of Maritime Science (Funenokagakukan).
Situated on the island of Odaiba in Tokyo Bay, this excellent museum holds a large collection of all things nautical. The NY Times reckons you could do the museum in two hours. I've been twice and still not seen half of it.
Answer 2: This is the Rainbow Bridge.
Linking the island of Odaiba with the mainland, the Rainbow Bridge was named after its multi coloured illumination . More from the Time Out Guide to Odaiba (The link only seems to work in IE)
Answer 3: The building is the National Diet Building.
Located at 1-chome, Nagatachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
Sessions of the House of Representatives take place in the left wing and sessions of the House of Councillors in the right wing. It was build in the 1930s entirely from indigenous materials. Tours around some areas of the building are available from Monday to Friday. Well worth a visit.
Answer 4: Sakura Daimon leading to the Imperial Palace.
Answer 5: The dog is named Hachiko and his statue stands outside Shibuya station. Hachiko and his master Prof. Uyeno, were inseparable friends. Each day "Hachi" would accompany his master to the train station when he left for work. Upon returning, the professor would find the dog patiently waiting. One fateful day in 1925 the professor was taken ill at the university and sadly died before he could return home. Hachiko waited patiently at the station for his return that day and the next. He continued his daily vigil for over ten years, becoming well known to the commuters passing through the station, until he passed away on the same spot he last saw his friend alive. [Abridged version of the full story from here.]
I hope you enjoyed the quiz. I may run another one. Any input is welcomed.
I am planning on buying another batch, so expect to hear more about Poken in the future.
Now the answers :
Answer 1: The building is the Museum of Maritime Science (Funenokagakukan).
Situated on the island of Odaiba in Tokyo Bay, this excellent museum holds a large collection of all things nautical. The NY Times reckons you could do the museum in two hours. I've been twice and still not seen half of it.
Answer 2: This is the Rainbow Bridge.
Linking the island of Odaiba with the mainland, the Rainbow Bridge was named after its multi coloured illumination . More from the Time Out Guide to Odaiba (The link only seems to work in IE)
Answer 3: The building is the National Diet Building.
Located at 1-chome, Nagatachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
Sessions of the House of Representatives take place in the left wing and sessions of the House of Councillors in the right wing. It was build in the 1930s entirely from indigenous materials. Tours around some areas of the building are available from Monday to Friday. Well worth a visit.
Answer 4: Sakura Daimon leading to the Imperial Palace.
Answer 5: The dog is named Hachiko and his statue stands outside Shibuya station. Hachiko and his master Prof. Uyeno, were inseparable friends. Each day "Hachi" would accompany his master to the train station when he left for work. Upon returning, the professor would find the dog patiently waiting. One fateful day in 1925 the professor was taken ill at the university and sadly died before he could return home. Hachiko waited patiently at the station for his return that day and the next. He continued his daily vigil for over ten years, becoming well known to the commuters passing through the station, until he passed away on the same spot he last saw his friend alive. [Abridged version of the full story from here.]
I hope you enjoyed the quiz. I may run another one. Any input is welcomed.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Tokyo Photo Quiz, Two Days Left
Just two days left to enter the Tokyo Photo Quiz. I have extended the deadline for entries by one day. You now have until 9pm Monday 11 May to send the answers to me.
There have been ten correct entries so far. Last chance to get your thinking hat on, answer the five questions about the photos of Tokyo and email your answers to enter the prize draw to win a Poken.
There have been ten correct entries so far. Last chance to get your thinking hat on, answer the five questions about the photos of Tokyo and email your answers to enter the prize draw to win a Poken.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tokyo Photo Quiz, Win a Poken
Want to win a Poken? Simply identify these five locations from around Tokyo and send an email to the address at the end of the post.
Question 1: Name the building:
Question 2: Name the bridge:
Question 3: Name the building:
Question 4: Name the important location this gate leads to:
Question 5 : Name the railway station this famous dog stands outside:
Just send your five answers by email to :
Only one entry person. The prize is one Poken, I will post the prize to the winner so don't worry if you don't live in Japan. More details on why I think Poken are great here.
Question 1: Name the building:
Question 2: Name the bridge:
Question 3: Name the building:
Question 4: Name the important location this gate leads to:
Question 5 : Name the railway station this famous dog stands outside:
Just send your five answers by email to :
poken [at] allenmannaro [dot] com
The winner will be drawn at random from the correctly answered entries at 9pm Tokyo time, Monday 11th May 2009. [New Date].Only one entry person. The prize is one Poken, I will post the prize to the winner so don't worry if you don't live in Japan. More details on why I think Poken are great here.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Win A Poken, Prize Draw
I have mentioned Poken a couple of times before on the blog. I bought one at my first Beer and Blog meeting and they were discussed at the Tokyo 2.0 event. The day after that event I decided I would get more involved with Poken and I ordered a pack of twelve. My package arrived this weekend :
Of those twelve, I managed to sell five last night at the Beer and Blog event in Ningycho, and three more have been reserved. However, I am going to save one of these gadgets as a prize in a little competition I will launch tomorrow on the blog.
I will post five photographs of well known Tokyo landmarks. All you have to do is send an email, to the address I will provide, with the names of the places depicted to be entered into the draw.
On Sunday 10th May 2009 I will chose a winner, at random, from the list of emails with the correct answers. The competition is open to you where ever you live. I will post the Poken to the winner, but if the winner is local we might be able to arrange a hand over in person and exchange a "high four".
For those not aware of what Poken is: It's a gadget, small enough to put on your key chain, that you can use to exchange contact details when you are out at parties, events, meetings etc. No need for a business card, simply touch your poken to the poken of your new friend and your details are stored. When you get home, plug the poken into your computer (PC, MAC or linux) and click on the Start_Poken link to upload the contact details to the DoYouPoken.com website.
The very first time you use Poken you have to register on their site and create your E-business card. This can include your photo, a background, email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses and links to your details on all your favourite social networking sites : Facebook, Linked In, flickr, MySpace, Youtube, Twitter, Ning etc. This is what mine looks like:
You can control what information you release to which contacts, by setting up separate identities. For business acquaintances you might not include your Facebook profile, but only Linked In and use your work email address. For other friends you can include your home email address and different links.
For those that are skeptical, yes, I agree it's a long shot. However they are becoming popular in Europe, the company that launched the product is based in Switzerland. They are making money, which is unusual for a small technology start up company. Poken has only just been launched in Japan and these gadgets are not for sale in very many locations. The list at the moment shows only 3 places. The logic behind this approach is they are aiming for a viral marketing campaign: Getting their customers to recruit more customers. It is obviously working because that's why I am writing this blog post and running this prize draw!
Stephane Doutriaux, the founder of the company, gave an excellent presentation at a Google Tech Talk in Jan 2009. He goes into some of the technical details of how it works, what their plans are and some ideas on future directions which will include an API. This will allow 3rd party sites to access your Poken contact information.
"Why not use your mobile phone?" is a question often asked, well have you tried? It's not quick and it's not easy. Poken is designed to be fun, quick, and easy to use: no checking compatibility, no problems making sure you have the right software. That's all taken care of.
What about privacy ? The Poken website does not store any of the passwords to your social networking sites. You have to provide the passwords to authenticate your access just once, to prove that it is your profile they are connecting to for the first time. Nothing is stored on the physical Poken itself, except some unique, encrypted identifiers. If you lose it, no one else can use it to connect to your details on the website (unless you give them your password to the website.) More FAQs on their website here.
I hope I've persuaded you that you need a Poken? Come back tomorrow to enter the competition to win one. If you can't wait, Amazon is selling them online for 2,480 Yen each.
Update : here's the link to the Quiz
Prize Draw Small print:
Only one entry per person please. No alternative to the prize of one poken will be offered. Your privacy is important to me, I will not use your email address for any other purpose than contacting the winner. My decision is final, no correspondence on the result will be entered into. I reserve the right to cancel the prize draw without notice. If I have more than one Poken you may get a choice of which design, however that is not guaranteed.
Of those twelve, I managed to sell five last night at the Beer and Blog event in Ningycho, and three more have been reserved. However, I am going to save one of these gadgets as a prize in a little competition I will launch tomorrow on the blog.
I will post five photographs of well known Tokyo landmarks. All you have to do is send an email, to the address I will provide, with the names of the places depicted to be entered into the draw.
On Sunday 10th May 2009 I will chose a winner, at random, from the list of emails with the correct answers. The competition is open to you where ever you live. I will post the Poken to the winner, but if the winner is local we might be able to arrange a hand over in person and exchange a "high four".
For those not aware of what Poken is: It's a gadget, small enough to put on your key chain, that you can use to exchange contact details when you are out at parties, events, meetings etc. No need for a business card, simply touch your poken to the poken of your new friend and your details are stored. When you get home, plug the poken into your computer (PC, MAC or linux) and click on the Start_Poken link to upload the contact details to the DoYouPoken.com website.
The very first time you use Poken you have to register on their site and create your E-business card. This can include your photo, a background, email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses and links to your details on all your favourite social networking sites : Facebook, Linked In, flickr, MySpace, Youtube, Twitter, Ning etc. This is what mine looks like:
You can control what information you release to which contacts, by setting up separate identities. For business acquaintances you might not include your Facebook profile, but only Linked In and use your work email address. For other friends you can include your home email address and different links.
For those that are skeptical, yes, I agree it's a long shot. However they are becoming popular in Europe, the company that launched the product is based in Switzerland. They are making money, which is unusual for a small technology start up company. Poken has only just been launched in Japan and these gadgets are not for sale in very many locations. The list at the moment shows only 3 places. The logic behind this approach is they are aiming for a viral marketing campaign: Getting their customers to recruit more customers. It is obviously working because that's why I am writing this blog post and running this prize draw!
Stephane Doutriaux, the founder of the company, gave an excellent presentation at a Google Tech Talk in Jan 2009. He goes into some of the technical details of how it works, what their plans are and some ideas on future directions which will include an API. This will allow 3rd party sites to access your Poken contact information.
"Why not use your mobile phone?" is a question often asked, well have you tried? It's not quick and it's not easy. Poken is designed to be fun, quick, and easy to use: no checking compatibility, no problems making sure you have the right software. That's all taken care of.
What about privacy ? The Poken website does not store any of the passwords to your social networking sites. You have to provide the passwords to authenticate your access just once, to prove that it is your profile they are connecting to for the first time. Nothing is stored on the physical Poken itself, except some unique, encrypted identifiers. If you lose it, no one else can use it to connect to your details on the website (unless you give them your password to the website.) More FAQs on their website here.
I hope I've persuaded you that you need a Poken? Come back tomorrow to enter the competition to win one. If you can't wait, Amazon is selling them online for 2,480 Yen each.
Update : here's the link to the Quiz
Prize Draw Small print:
Only one entry per person please. No alternative to the prize of one poken will be offered. Your privacy is important to me, I will not use your email address for any other purpose than contacting the winner. My decision is final, no correspondence on the result will be entered into. I reserve the right to cancel the prize draw without notice. If I have more than one Poken you may get a choice of which design, however that is not guaranteed.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Shizuoka Airport, Win an iPod Competition
The JapanGuide.com newsletter brought to my attention the Shizuoka Prefectural Tourism Association's competition to win an iPod.
The tourist board is running this event to celebrate the forthcoming opening of Mt. Fuji Shizuoka Airport on June 4th. Even if you know nothing about this area, it looks their website has enough clues to help you win one of the 15 Nano iPods they have to offer : https://www.enjoy-shizuoka.jp/en/
The airport is opening three months later than originally planned due to the unfortunate discovery that the trees at the end of the runway were taller than international regulations permit. Taking responsibility for the oversight, Governor Yoshinobu Ishikawa stepped down in March.
Photo Credit: Airport News Japan.
The airport, approx 175km from Tokyo, will have have international flights to Seoul with KoreanAir and Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines. Domestic destinations will include Naha and Sapporo with ANA.
Some people have questioned the wisdom of opening another airport so close to Tokyo. It remains to be seen how this new airport will fair in the current financial climate.
Update: I just hope it does not end up like this airport in South Korea. Yangyang International built seven years ago for $400m (£260m) has not seen a single passenger since November 2008.
The tourist board is running this event to celebrate the forthcoming opening of Mt. Fuji Shizuoka Airport on June 4th. Even if you know nothing about this area, it looks their website has enough clues to help you win one of the 15 Nano iPods they have to offer : https://www.enjoy-shizuoka.jp/en/
The airport is opening three months later than originally planned due to the unfortunate discovery that the trees at the end of the runway were taller than international regulations permit. Taking responsibility for the oversight, Governor Yoshinobu Ishikawa stepped down in March.
Photo Credit: Airport News Japan.
The airport, approx 175km from Tokyo, will have have international flights to Seoul with KoreanAir and Shanghai with China Eastern Airlines. Domestic destinations will include Naha and Sapporo with ANA.
Some people have questioned the wisdom of opening another airport so close to Tokyo. It remains to be seen how this new airport will fair in the current financial climate.
Update: I just hope it does not end up like this airport in South Korea. Yangyang International built seven years ago for $400m (£260m) has not seen a single passenger since November 2008.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Aoyama Cemetery , Tokyo
I recently discovered this quiet oasis while on a bicycle, riding at random around Tokyo. Aoyama Reien is one of the largest cemeteries in Tokyo, just a few minutes from the noise and skyscrapers of Roppongi. And yet, you can hardly hear the traffic, and there are very few people around. Even on a bright Sunday afternoon the place was almost deserted.
What makes this cemetery unusual is not only the size of it, but also the park-like layout. Wide spaces between the graves and trees and bushes make it unlike the majority of Japanese graveyards which are normally small and tightly packed with graves.
First opened in 1872 Aoyama Reien was the first municipal cemetery in Tokyo. Many famous people are buried here include General Nogi Maresuke, a war hero who joined his leader in death by committing suicide when Emperor Meiji died in 1912. Many noted foreigners who came to help modernise Japan in the Meiji era are buried in the small foreign section of the cemetery. A list is maintained at the Foreign Section Trust website, a small group dedicated to preserving the area.
I just missed the Sakura by a week when I was there, you can just see the tail end of the blossoms in some of the photos.
But, if you look closely, this month the native dandelion species Shirobanatanpo are currently in bloom.
The full set of photos is here on flickr.
This is my entry in the Japan Soc Blog Matsuri. Ken at What Japan Thinks is hosting this months carnival on the the theme of Slow Times in Japan. Aoyama Reinen: It does not get much slower than this.
View Aoyama in a larger map
Update: 4 days after writing this post, I opened the Japan Times to see an article describing how an interest in history and literature has recently generated a large increase in visitors to Japanese cemeteries. Books featuring tomb tours have also been published, prompting more people to visit cemeteries.
"Sotai Shimashou" ("Let's Clean Moss"), a book published last March by Shueisha Co., features graves of historical figures and Japanese history. According to an editor, the first edition sold 10,000 copies. . So it may not be such a quiet option for much longer.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
J-Bloggers Meetup for Beer
Last month I met up online with some Bloggers on Japan. Last night I met up in person with another group of bloggers and techies in Japan.
Organised by Ken Brady of Genkii.com who runs the Tokyo Beer and Blog website, it was a very social evening with no agenda or presentations. It was mostly an excuse to get together, enjoy a drink at the Hobgoblin Pub in Shibuya and meet other technology enthusiasts.
Andrew Shuttleworth, one of Tokyo's well known social network gurus, was there. He had some electronic "Pokens" for sale at 2,000 Yen each. They were soon snapped up by those of us not already owning one.
We discussed these on the J-bloggers conference and several people were looking forward to getting one. I think they could catch on, but these days with everyone having iphones and mobile phones, where data exchange is already very easy, the extra step of having to register your Poken on their website maybe be one hurdle too many. According to their website they are doing well in Europe.
Some of the many people I met include: Steven Nagata, Ted from TokyoFoodCast.com, Sam Ragnarsson and Matthew Dons who is planning to run a Bar Camp event in Tokyo at the end of May.
Joseph Tame, who has just launched his new podcast site JapanPodShow was there briefly, before having to go to work. In their first podcast: Joseph and George discuss some news items; guest presenter Honor of TokyoTopia has some advice on flying into Tokyo; there's an interview with Ken Brady about Genkii.com's new project Sparkle: The first virtual world for the iphone; the inventor of the Poken talks about how he first thought of the idea and how he met Britney Spears; there's an interview with a musician and a competition to win a Poken too! Go on over to JapanPodCast.com to hear the full story.
One last thing: check out this Web Trends map of the most influential websites arranged in format of the Tokyo Subway map. From Information Architects.
(Hat Tip to Japansoc.com where it is one of the top stories. In fact it should appear in the widget on my sidebar with the subject Websites as Stations on the Yamanote )
Organised by Ken Brady of Genkii.com who runs the Tokyo Beer and Blog website, it was a very social evening with no agenda or presentations. It was mostly an excuse to get together, enjoy a drink at the Hobgoblin Pub in Shibuya and meet other technology enthusiasts.
Andrew Shuttleworth, one of Tokyo's well known social network gurus, was there. He had some electronic "Pokens" for sale at 2,000 Yen each. They were soon snapped up by those of us not already owning one.
Poken is your social business card. Scrap the paper business card! Your Poken card is far more comprehensive. Rather than handing out a piece of paper that shares just your basic contact information such as company, address, phone, and email, with Poken you can include your social network profiles as well. When you associate a social network to your Poken identity that social network's favicon appears on your Poken card. If you are connected to your friend on that social network, then they can click the favicon link to instantly view your social network profile. If you opt not to be connected on that social network, then they will simply see the public-search version of your profile.
We discussed these on the J-bloggers conference and several people were looking forward to getting one. I think they could catch on, but these days with everyone having iphones and mobile phones, where data exchange is already very easy, the extra step of having to register your Poken on their website maybe be one hurdle too many. According to their website they are doing well in Europe.
Some of the many people I met include: Steven Nagata, Ted from TokyoFoodCast.com, Sam Ragnarsson and Matthew Dons who is planning to run a Bar Camp event in Tokyo at the end of May.
Joseph Tame, who has just launched his new podcast site JapanPodShow was there briefly, before having to go to work. In their first podcast: Joseph and George discuss some news items; guest presenter Honor of TokyoTopia has some advice on flying into Tokyo; there's an interview with Ken Brady about Genkii.com's new project Sparkle: The first virtual world for the iphone; the inventor of the Poken talks about how he first thought of the idea and how he met Britney Spears; there's an interview with a musician and a competition to win a Poken too! Go on over to JapanPodCast.com to hear the full story.
One last thing: check out this Web Trends map of the most influential websites arranged in format of the Tokyo Subway map. From Information Architects.
(Hat Tip to Japansoc.com where it is one of the top stories. In fact it should appear in the widget on my sidebar with the subject Websites as Stations on the Yamanote )
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