Category: Japan

  • A new, advanced phone (nice) with an awful intercface (boo): DoCoMo P906i Review

    P906i closed P906i open P906i TV Mode After two and a half years in Japan I am retiring my “sweets” AU phone and switching to a new P906i phone on the DoCoMo network. I am switching networks because my wife has been on DoCoMo for years and wanted me to switch so we could be […]

  • Quick Manga Reviews

    One of the interesting things about working at Amazon Japan on the 14th floor is the shelf of free books you can peruse. There are lots of manga, so I started randomly grabbing volumes here and there. Here are some random reviews (click the links on the left to go to the product pages on […]

  • Simplifying the menu

    Quarter Pounders Only The simplified menu At work this afternoon a friend brought in a bag labeled simply “Quarter Pounder”. Our office is out in Shibuya, and randomly what used to be McDonald’s turned into some random post-modern simplified version of McDonald’s called simple “Quarter Pounder”. I guess they are promoting the Quarter Pounder coming […]

  • A quick update, and get more convenient, Japan!

    Ever since I changed jobs, I’ve been pushing pretty hard to keep up with all my commitments. I’m organizing a track for the NTCIR 7 workshop so after work at my new job, I head home and spend anywhere from two to six hours on NTCIR-related stuff. The big push has been for this week, […]

  • The F1 Grand Prix at the Fuji Motor Speedway

    Mt. Fuji from Fuji Speedway F1 car! Netz Race Lots of flags Opening ceremony taiko F1 Car at the race Lots of people wearing flags too For L.’s birthday a few months ago I got L. and I tickets to the F1 Grand Prix in Japan. I don’t know much about F1 Racing, but I […]

  • Summer Sonic 2008 Tokyo Music Festival: Day 2

    Beach Stage Entrance L. And I grabbed a quick bite to eat then went our separate ways. I really want to see Vampire Weekend so I went out to Marine stage. Since I’m almost out of money, I tried to use an ATM here but it said: can’t complete transaction because it is outside of […]

  • Summer Sonic 2008 Tokyo Music Festival: Day 1

    I went to Summer Sonic today with L. It was great, but as I wrote last time, extremely tiring. I’m both looking forward to, and dreading, going back tomorrow. For those that are interested, here is a link to the Summer Sonic 2008 timetable. You can play along at home by choosing the bands that […]

  • Moving out / Moving in

    Empty bedroom moving out of the old place All my old stuff (it didn’t make the move) The new place is a mess! Dear blog, I know I haven’t written in a while. I’ve been busy. I know, it isn’t a good excuse. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. (I hope.) Last week, on […]

  • Fuji Rock Festival 2008

    A brief post to update you on what I’ve been doing lately. Things are incredibly busy right now — I’m moving to my new apartment tomorrow and am currently packing — so I am a bit overdue for an update. L. is a big fan of The Cribs, an indie rock trio from England. They […]

  • A BBQ down by the Tamagawa River

    Lots of people were having BBQs on Sunday down by the Tamagawa River BBQs make lots of garbage A surprisingly large number of men got naked and ran around Fundoshi and … tattoos On Sunday, I went down to the Tamagawa River for a BBQ with my friends Watanabe and Tokuda. I’ve been to maybe […]