Owner: Japan it UP! URL:http://www.japanitup.com/ Join Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 05:20:56 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: This is a blog written by an American living in Japan, and these are his experiences while living in another country. Site statistics:Click here
Sonna no kankei nee! 2007-11-01 06:42:52 One of the things I love about Japan >>> “Sonna no kankei nee! Sonna no kankei nee!” Oh hellz yeah! Yoshio Kojima (小島 よしお from Wikipedia) is the guy that’s on TV a lot saying that and freaking out in a small bathing suit. Do I know what he’s talking about? Nope. Good times. Here’s a video I found and I don’t know how long it’ll work. Maybe forever, maybe for 1 hour.
(Vid is from Daily Motion)
Apartments in Japan 2007-11-08 21:59:40 You’ve probably heard that things in Japan
are small. Cars, clothes, roads, houses, and apartments. I wouldn’t call Japanese apartments small, but I would say they’re cozy. Do you really need a huge place to live anyway? As long as it has what you need and you spend your free time out on the town or cuddling with a hot chick (or whoever) to watch a movie. Now there’s a lot to renting an apartment but I’ll talk more about that sometime For now I’ll give you a few pros and cons of Japanese apartments as well as some youtube vids so you can tour a few places. Here are some things I’ve discovered in the last two weeks.
The Good:
Sliding doors are cool
You usually get a balcony
Washing machines fit nicely in the bathroom area
Shower room is huge
You don’t need a car where I live, so you save money on the car, gas, parking, and you get free exercise.
If your apartment is capable, you can get hooked up with fiber optic internet.
Mirrors in the Read more:Apartments
Teaching English in China (Nova)? 2007-11-08 04:29:48 People are still talking about Nova and what’s to come but there’s no solid solution for foreigners who worked for Nova besides returning to their home country… and who really wants to do that? Japan kicks ass! Today there is an interesting article over at Japan Today regarding people who used to work for Nova. “EF invites Nova instructors to teach in China
for Olympics” which could be interesting. I wonder what the pay would be.
A Switzerland-based English
language institute on Wednesday invited instructors who lost jobs because of the failure of Nova Corp to teach English in China where demand for English learning is expected to shoot up ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. EF Education First Ltd, which has been chosen as an official language partner of the Olympics, is seeking about 1,000 English instructors who can teach English in such major Chinese cities as Beijing and Shanghai, Molly Fitzpatrick from the institute said at a press conference in Tok
Dressing the part 2007-11-07 20:20:56 I thought this was funny: “It says here that you should not dress for the job you have, but for the job you want.” - theWarehouse
Read more:Dressing
Going to the Doctor 2007-11-07 08:45:22 Part 1 of 3 - Dying in Japan: I’ve been feeling sick since the middle of September (when we got our dog) and I’ve been thinking I was allergic to her. Anyway after we moved to our new place I’ve had a few days where I feel like I’m dying even when I wasn’t around the dog. I’d have a stuffy nose, a runny nose, sneezing, nasal drip, hot flashes, cold chills. It was insane. So last week I went to the allergist (I’ll talk about that later) and yesterday I got the diagnosis. I’m not allergic to dogs or pollen in the area but I’m allergic to house dust and dust mites. Naaaaasty.
Part 2 of 3 - The Doctor
s Visit: I had an appointment scheduled at the allergist. When we went there was a HUGE crowd of people outside and all of the traffic stopped. We found out that the Emperor was driving through (Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited Genkai Island to encourage residents who have suffered in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake that hit Read more:Going
In the wrong place at the wrong time 2007-11-06 19:38:20 Can you imagine just walking around and then getting hit by a falling person? Maybe you just ate some ramen or breakfast, maybe you just got back from a week of beer baths, maybe you just picked up a newspaper… and when you’re almost to your apartment complex there’s another tenant plunging 11 stories to her death… and the worst part is she’s going to land on you! Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A week ago I read about this tragedy over at Japan Today.
A woman leapt from an 11-story apartment in Tokyo on Wednesday evening, striking and seriously injuring a 47-year-old man who was walking along a nearby sidewalk, police said.
That’s insanity. And what is up with so many people committing suicide over here in Japan? Life’s not that tough, really.
The solution to small living space in Japan 2007-11-06 04:07:54 Some people use a futon in the bedroom laying on tatami and then they put it away during the day. Others have a couch that converts to a bed. But I have found the ultimate solution today! Seems pretty cool and very uncomfortable which is the Japan
ese way (futon = not comfortable, small cards = not comfortable for tall people, etc) Check this out.
It’s a 2+1 [Chairs + Table]
http://www.sdesignunit.com/
The young singles ratio is getting increase in the society. These people live alone in small apartment in the city. They would like to have multipurpose furniture for using small room efficiently. There are two chairs and on table. Ordinary these are two chairs and table. But When they watch TV. It can be Sofa. And when they go to sleep. It is going to be a single bed.
Confusing Directions 2007-11-05 22:15:55 If you leave it unattended in a place (the inside of car) becoming a high temperature and might transform it when it can get closer to fire. Please dry printed matter such as a magic, a copy, fax well, and enter.
Good times good times! I think this was on some small note cards or adhesive paper we bought. Read more:Confusing
, Directions
Winter is coming! 2007-11-14 23:16:18 It’s getting cold outside and that leaves me with two options. Option 1 is heading to the store to buy a heater for the apartment. Option 2 is…
Blog Ideas 2007-11-14 04:33:52 When I started this site I figured I’d post some random stuff for a while and then when I had more time I’d talk about things I found hard to get information on. I’m going to do a little brainstorming and soon I hope to have some type of format for posting. Some sort of tip of the week, information one day, experiences on another day. We’ll see… stay tuned!
Heart Touching Japanese English 2007-11-13 19:56:27 The other day I bought this at the hyaku yen store (it’s basically like the Dollar Store or Dollar Tree in the U.S. but way more awesome). The quality of this 100 Yen notebook is great and I could see somebody paying 200-250 for it. The battery is dead in my camera so I used my cell phone to snap a quick pic. The English
on the cover doesn’t make sense… even when I try hard. It reminds me of a time back in the U.S. when a Taiwanese friend of mine pointed out a framed picture at the store read ‘vegetable’ in Chinese but was supposed to say peace or love or something. Good times, good times.
“If I were an angel, could I send my flower to everyone all the world?”
Read more:Heart
, Japanese
Japanese Capsule Hotel 2007-11-12 22:18:17 Akihabara = Otaku paradise… and now you can take a 4 minute walk from Akihabara for a good night sleep before hitting up the Maid Cafe in the morning. Nice!
For just 4,000 Yen per night you can sleep in a capsule which looks like the size of a coffin. A coffin with a shit load of stuff packed inside so you can feel trapped in a hole. Even though each capsule is small as hell it comes with TV, radio, alarm clock, adjustable lighting. I wonder if I’d fit in there being 190 cm tall. They have a lounge area with internet and have 100 Yen coffee. I’ve been searching for a cheap ass cafe here in Fukuoka with 100 Yen coffee so I’m a little bit jealous of that. So far I’ve found 300+ yen coffee which is ridiculous because I could get 350ml of coffee for 320 Yen or for just 80 Yen more I could enjoy some bomb ass ramen. Seriously, what’s up with that?
The site says “Everybody that travels to Japan should experience this unique accommodation, at Read more:Japanese
, Capsule
, Hotel
How to check free disk space on a linux server 2007-11-11 21:46:23 Question: How do I check the amount of free disk space on a FreeBSD server
?
Answer: The best way to check how much free disk space your FreeBSD server has available is by using the df command. This works on linux/unix servers, not just FreeBSD. After you SSH into your server you can either type “df” (df means disk free) which will show you the raw numbers or you can type “df -h” which means human readable and makes the output easier to read by displaying it in kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes instead of the default kilobytes.
(more…)
Xbox 360 outsells PS3 in Japan 2007-11-11 12:37:50 Xbox 360 outsells PS3 in Japan
for 1 week, and still gets beat by Wii. At first I thought it was amazing since PS3 and the Wii are both from Japanese companies. Then I got to thinking… it’s only 1 week of sales where this happened and everybody has their good and bad days with sales. In the week ending November 4th, Xbox 360 consoles saw a 475% week over week increase, and beat Sony’s PS3 sales - by a narrow margin. Sony’s hardware sales figures came in at 17,434 units while the Xbox 360 just edged it with 17,637 units sold. Can they thank Halo 3 for the increase in sales? Read the full article at Pocket-Lint.co.uk and there’s a really interesting article about this over at Joystiq.com which is worth checking out. Read more:Xbox
Make it happen! 2007-11-11 20:26:36 I found this cool picture today while doing some research online. If you want to get a job some place, own your own business, if you’re in college, etc. this might be motivational for you.
“Some people dream of success, others make it happen”
Cowgate, Edinburgh, 2005
Source: Street Photography
Disney Cell Service in Japan 2007-11-11 08:59:24 Today Reuters reported that Walt Disney
Co. (the #2 U.S. entertainment company followed by Time Warner who is #1) is getting into mobile phone business in Japan
in the spring of 2008. Disney plans on using the network of Japan’s #3 cell phone company, Softbank. The two companies will develop cell phones together and Disney aims to get about 1 million users by targeting families with an offer of handsets and downloads featuring Disney characters. I’m sure it’ll be a hit with the kids. Launching cell phone services in Japan requires a huge initial investment and can cost around one trillion yen (or 8.7 billion U.S. dollars) to build a network of base stations according to TopNews. Read more:Service
Chinese food for lunch! 2007-11-11 00:41:06 I’m the luckiest man in the world! Why? Well my fiancee was going to be gone all day today and she probably new I’d be all caught up in playing my Xbox (with Lulu) and forget to do normal things… like eat lunch. She mentioned she was going to make some lunch for me and I was thinking it would be a sandwich or something. Then she said “Chinese
food” and my mind went “Whaaaaaaaa….. huuuuuh…?” This morning she woke up around 7:30am while I was still sleeping and busted out her amazing cooking skills in the kitchen. Her cooking and food presentation puts all restaurants to shame!
When I got up she said to microwave the box for 1 minute and I’ll be good to go. And she was right! Not only did she create the most delicious Chinese food ever but she even took the time to put it in a ‘to go box’! Who does that? It’s so awesome, check out this picture from my phone… it was a great meal and this picture does n
10 top home businesses in 10 categories 2007-11-10 21:07:16 I was checking out MSN today and this article caught my eye: StartupNation Home-Based 100: 10 top home businesses
in 10 categories. I’m always interested in hearing success stories and I know stories like this fuel other entrepreneurs by letting them know that a dream can become a reality. I know this talks about Americans but anybody can be a successful entrepreneur when living in another country. If that other country isn’t your home land, you might have a few minor setbacks but that shouldn’t stop you.
There are 100 people listed on MSN. Here are a few I find really interesting.
From The Top Ten Yummiest
Ciao Laura, Smyrna, Tenn.
Ciao Laura, as Laura Faust likes to be called, knows how to cook, and she knows how to stir up the votes. Her company takes people to Italy on cooking adventures, hopping from local restaurants to 15th-century villas to once-upon-a-time culinary hot spots like Pompeii. She must have a lot of happy customers willing to support her.
From The
Japanese Instant Coffee 2007-11-20 00:56:42 Running low on my regular coffee I decided to give some instant Japanese
coffee a try. I didn’t have much hope because instant Folders coffee in the U.S. tastes like ass but my choices were slim so I went for it. The result: Pretty OK. Yep, it’s not terrible like the instant coffee I remember and it was pretty ok (now I didn’t say good). I would choose this over no coffee but I’d choose no coffee over the U.S. instant coffee. There’s one more reason to add to the list of why Japan rocks!
Read more:Coffee
Microsoft Outlook Interface not registered error 2007-11-18 21:48:47 When I click on Send and Receive in MicrosoftOutlook
I started getting the errorInterface
Not Registered. This error started to appear after I installed some video editing software and also ran some updates to the software. I searched around the Internet and found this solution from Microsoft which fixed my problem.
You receive the “Interface not registered” error message when you try to send or to save an e-mail message to the Drafts folder in Outlook 2002
SYMPTOMS
If you use Microsoft Word as your e-mail editor in Microsoft Office Outlook 2002, and you try to send e-mail messages or to save e-mail messages to the Drafts folder, you may receive the following error message:
Interface not registered
Or, you may experience the following symptoms:
You receive an error message.
The e-mail message is not sent.
The e-mail message is not saved to the Drafts folder. (more…)
Basho The Sumo Wrestler Table 2007-11-18 01:25:32 I’ve read the SkyMall magazine over and over while waiting for a plane to take off and I’m sure I’m not alone! I’ve never bought anything from the magazine but I did see something that made me go ‘wtf’ the other day when checking out their site… for just $225 you can have your very own Sumo table.
“Basho, The Sumo Wrestler” Glass-Topped Table
Add a touch of the Far East with “Basho” (Japanese for “tournament”), a traditional Sumo practitioner of one of the world’s oldest martial arts. Basho crouches in his mawashi (Sumo belt) in these intricate sculpts with wide stances. Our table is topped with a 3/8″-thick, pencil-edged, 27″ dia. tempered glass top for views from any angle. This Toscano-exclusive heavyweight is cast in quality designer resin for display in home or garden.
Back up your computer! 2007-11-16 23:32:31 When is the last time you backed up your computer? I’ve had friends that lost a ton of info including those prized digital family pictures. I’ve lost some email in the past. Today I’m backing up my computer. You might consider doing this when you have a free moment. Here are some backup related links:
How to decide what data to back up
Norton Ghost - Cool software… I think…
How-To: Automatically back up your computer
Automatically back up your hard drive
Missing America 2007-11-16 03:36:33 Today I’m going to talk about being home sick and one of the ultimate things Japan has to offer for foreigners. At times in your life when you’re on an extended vacation or living in another country there will be times when you’ll miss ‘back home.’ You’ll miss your friends and family, but on the flip side you’ll make new friends where you are. You’ll miss the English language, but you now have the best opportunity to learn a new and exciting language. You’ll miss some foods, but the trade off is getting to experience new foods you normally wouldn’t find in a grocery store or restaurant back home. Where ever you are there are pros and cons of each place and each situation in life. Great things about Japan include customer service, amazing food, trendy people, easy weekend getaway to Seoul, year round snowboarding, but then the things I miss from America
include Skittles and the big misses are a big fridge and shoes that fit me Read more:Missing
Dell Warranty for my Inspiron Laptop 2007-11-15 02:06:53 When I first purchased my laptop from Dell back in 2005 I decided to buy the complete care package warranty because my laptop was basically going to be my office. Today as I sit here in Japan I’m glad that I did! My headphone jack is failing, only the right headphone/speaker is working, and that’s a problem because I often work with headphones on. I was on the phone for 45 minutes today with Dell and found out my warranty covers repairs in the U.S. and other international locations which is great! I should hear from a tech here in Japan within 10 business days and my motherboard will be replaced free of charge in the comfort of my home. I’m satisfied with Dell and their products. I’ve only had one problem with my Dell Inspiron 9300 and that was the DVD drive a year ago. They swapped it out no problem and I was back in action within 48 hours of my phone call. Nice! Read more:Warranty
, Laptop
Tiny Japanese Coca Cola 2007-11-25 00:57:27 I’ve seen some amazing and interesting things here in Japan so far and here are some photos of the smallest Coke I’ve ever seen in my life. Can you imagine drinking this with a Mega Mac? It’s 160ml (or 5.4 ounces), it cost 53 Yen, and it came in a heavy duty can. Speaking of cans, a lot of canned drinks here in Japan are pretty strong. I’d say they are somewhere in the middle of an American beer can and a can of vegetables. I was in a rush so the only thing I had hand to compare size was an 8 ounce coffee mug.
Read more:Japanese
, Coca Cola
Japan has awesome butter! 2007-11-24 00:57:17 Why is Japanawesome
? There are many reasons and here’s another one to add to the list. Already sliced butter! Who thinks of this stuff, seriously? They should give it it’s own name. I’d name it Awesome Butter. Pre-sliced butter has changed my life.
The Chihuahua Model Lulu 2007-11-23 00:56:44 It’s getting cold so it’s sweater time for Lulu. Here she is modeling her new threads. She’s a ball of energy so I was lucky to snap these photos.
Read more:Chihuahua
Thanksgiving in Japan? 2007-11-22 00:56:43 This is my first year missing a Thanksgiving
feast in the U.S. Do I care? Not so much. It’s always been a nice extended vacation from work or school and a chance to get drunk with friends and family while eating dry turkey… and then left over dry turkey for another week, bleh. That reminds me… something interesting I’ve noticed over the years is how people in America love the holidays because of food. My friends and I have always talked about home cooked meals, eating this, and eating that, but it was only around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Why is that? Why don’t Americans prepare good food on a regular basis? Hamburger Helper, easy cook instant dinners, what is up with that!? Luckily my fiancee is the best cook I’ve ever known and her meals can put a 5-star restaurant to shame! So in the sake of Thanksgiving I am going to share some pictures of two delicious lunches, Bento, that I’ve recently enjoyed. (more…) Read more:Japan
Recommend Site To A Friend
