Ippoippo

Well, as I type this, I’m feeling rather bloated.

This week, my company’s Asia/Pac yearly training session is being held in Phuket.
It’s actually been a very interesting week workwise. We’ve been pretty busy (no lying on the beach during the day!!!), and its all been very informative. So I feel quite motivated to do something good in my work.

There are a couple of things I’d like to talk about though. We are staying in the JW Marriot. Joining us here, using the conference rooms as a regional headquarters, is a large contingent of Germans forming part of the Tsunami Relief effort. My comment is just how much of the MONEY YOU PAY towards Aid is going towards the hotel bills of these teams. Its crazy!!!!! The problem is, out of the money they are paying in the hotel bills, only a small proportion goes back into the local economy. The rest of it sent off to JW Marriott corperate HQ.

I really like this place though. The staff are really friendly. They’ve been giving us too much good food. Strange thing to complain about, but we end up just wasting it. I hope they don’t throw it away like they are told they are meant to by Corperate HQ. Hopefully, they get to eat the leftovers. Though of course, maybe the chefs are doing this on purpose. Maybe the know they get the left overs. We were actually told today at lunch that the business conference package we have got is for 20 people. There is only 6 of us here!!! Yet, they have not adjusted the amount of food they are cooking for us.

Anyway. I shouldn’t rant too much. They are some people on the beach front who do great massages for only 300 Thai Baht. A lot cheaper than the Hotel Spa, but the quality isn’t as great either. Still good though, and worth it.

I’ve been busy taking pictures after work, and hopefully will get that sorted as soon as I get back to Japan (tpgether with the pictures from Kyoto).

Right, lunch time is over. Back to the serious work.

Well, the Star Wars 3 Release Schedule has been posted over at The Official Site .

Why. Why. Why. Why. !!!!!

Why is it necessary for Japan to be having its release 2 months after everyone else? It certainly can’t be for language reasons. Taiwan (Mandarin Spoken, Traditional Chinese written for subtitles) is about the same time as US and UK. Japanese is no more complicated than Chinese.

Ahh well. If I’m lucky, I’ll be in the UK for work at around that time.
We have the same problem over here when it comes to DVD releases. Its only next week that Lord Of The Rings:Return of the King - Special Extended Edition comes out on DVD here. It came out in the UK and most of other places back in Decemeber. Grrrrr!!

…… well not really.

I love Japanese TV at times. Most of it is quite pants, but there are a few good ones. Most of the ‘comedy’ is far from that.
I guess some of it is to do with lack of cultural references on my behalf and that I’m approaching most of it from a purely visual view point………… but then again, Yuko doesn’t often laugh at the Japanese comedy shows either. However, some of it is pretty fun to watch.

However, recently, I’ve been having fun with one of NHK’s English language teaching programmes (NHK is the main national broadcaster). They do other language programmes too, Spanish, Korean and Mandarin for example. However, there are a lot of English language programmes.
The one I like though is １００語でスタート英会話 (Starting English with 100 Words).
I find it great for a number of reasons.
1. I get to practice some Japanese. Since the English is pretty simple, its easier for me to check my Japanese.
2. The acting in the sketches by the foreigners is dreadful, and makes it quite fun to watch.
3. George Williams looks pretty crazy. He’s one of the main presenters. Half-British/Half-Japanese and obviously fluent in both. Terrible dress sense and strange pink or green hair.

4. It’s got NOTHING to do with the fact that GW’s co-presenter is this young lady called ANZU Sayuri

EDIT : Image removed for time being

Ho hum……..

Other news……. currently in the processing the photo’s I took when I was in Kyoto. Taken them in RAW formet means it takes a little longer for me to post process them, before I convert to JPG for upload to the Gallery. However, I’ve got more freedom in altering the pictures and fixing any mistakes I made. When I took some of the pictures, I forgot to change my White Balance setting on the camera. No problem. Just fix that afterwards Also, handing being able to over and underexpose the images as well. A couple of them were over exposed, and so did some exposure compensation. Much more effective that using the ‘Brightness’ tools in PaintShopPro for example.
I’ll try and get the pictures done as soon as I can. What I really need is to get a plugin sorted for PSP, so I can load the RAWs into that directly rather than using the software provided by Canon.

Finally, have a look at the video on this site. Gave me a chuckle at least.

The last couple days have been busy, but enjoyable.

Last Thurday night, Yuko and myself travelled over to Kyoto, and we got back home yesterday (Sunday).
Friday was a public holiday in Japan, so it gave us two full days in Kyoto.

On, the Friday, we met up with an old Japanese friend of ours, who lives in Kyoto. She was a fellow student of Yuko’s, until she returned to Japan last April. On the Friday, we explored Kinkakuji, Ryoan-ji and the ‘Toei Eiga Mura’ (Movie Village, where they used to make Japanese films). The last one was a bit pricey, and not that great really, considering how much we paid to get in. Afterwards, we looked around some of the main shopping streets, before heading off to a Izakaya for drinks and food. Our friend had to leave a little early though because she had to go to English class. However, it was good to see her again.

Saturday was spent exploring the Eastern side of Kyoto. Starting off at Ginkakuji (my first time there, and a much more impressive rock garden than Kinkakuji). We walked down the Path of Philosophy stopping off at various temples.
We visited Kodaiji, before we walked onto Kiyomizu-dera.
At Kiyomizu-dera I had a wierd experience. There, I’m sure I saw Colin Firth , with two Japanese friends or collegues. I’m pretty sure it was him, but didn’t like to approach because
a) it may not have been him
b) the guy deserves some time alone, if he’s on holiday.

Also, ended up seeing someone in passing that I ‘know’. Dylan is an American studying in Kyoto, and has his own Blog which I like to read. As I was in Kyoto station I saw this familar walking face, with a friend. It was a couple of minutes later I realised who it was. Even though I don’t know the guy, its still wierd that I’ve seen someone I read about a lot. I’ve posted up on his site, and he concluded that it may well have been him, because he was in the station at that time.
I wonder how many other Japan blogger’s I’ll run into while I’m here???

When I get the chance, I’ll get the pictures taken from the weekend, uploaded onto the Gallery. (I’ve tried saving the pictures in RAW format when I took them. See what I can do with them, once I load them onto the Computer.)