Ippoippo

J-iPhone

Couple of things I found on the net.

First up is that it looks like DoCoMo (NTT) is lining up to get the iPhone in Japan. I have to admit, it will be interesting to see what kind of response it will get. DoCoMo is the largest mobile operator in Japan, but it’s been loosing a lot of ground to Au (KDDI). Au in particular have grown a lot, and overtook Vodafone (as they were known at the time) to take over as number 2 in Japan. Since then, Vodafone sold it’s Japanese operation, and since Softbank took over, they too have been growing all at DoCoMo’s expense.
So, in a way, the DoCoMo move on iPhone seems like a small act of desperation. Who knows?

We can’t confirm that we can’t confirm the identity of some flying objects

Ehhh??
The BBC explains….

Earlier, in response to a question from an opposition lawmaker, the Japanese government issued a statement saying it could not confirm any cases of UFOs.
But Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura later told reporters he believed they were “definitely” real.

Japan’s Food

An interesting little article on how Japan is only 39% Self-Sufficient in Food! (Britain is not that great either at 70%, but with room for improvement)

… and talking of aliens

I’m afraid to say that Dr. Who spin-off-series “Torchwood” is a guilty pleasure of mine. Sure, it’s daft… so daft you end up shouting at the TV… but it’s fun, and I like to spot various places in Cardiff where it get’s made and is set. Plus, I have the hots for ‘Toshiko‘. (SLAP!!!!!! Ouch, slapped by the missus there).
Well, hoooraaah… the new series starts next January here in the UK, on January 16th. BBC America have also been showing trailers for their release of it… looks great (yeah, I know trailers are meant to show the good bits).

Ahhh, more unjustified Japanese ‘kawaii-ness’. (Kawaii)

Read more about it here.

Meanwhile… how about to cheesy J-Drama.

… warm bum on toilet seat.

And now… there’s a Eco-version!
Gotta love those Japanese toilets.

… or maybe not.

Over on JapanProbe, there’s a story about some footage that was recently on Japanese news/current affairs TV.

Considering Japan is a high-tech country… I never understood why houses weren’t built to withstand the cold winters they get. I mean, sure if you are in country that’s hot all the time, then there is no need to insulate.
Anyway, you can see the article, including footage of some DIY House Insulation, lo-tech style.

I guess the rise in energy costs has started this level of reporting. When we were out there recently, my father-in-law was complaining about the high petrol costs they’ve now got.

Talking of housing… looks like Barretts have been selected to build the first ‘English Eco-Village’.
Hmmm, sounds like a bunch of greenwash to me… but then again, it’s a step in the right direction.
I’m just sceptical about the build quality, based on previous experience of these so called modern UK houses.

EDIT: Some follow up to that Eco-Village story.

I was working with one of the other consortia bidding for the Hanham Hall site, it was an interesting competition to work on. Barratts threw £5million at it in terms of land value to English Partnerships, they didn’t even have a formalised architect on board and had barely designed the units. It was the money that won it. We were only able to offer £1.6 million for the site, but we designed the units to be over and above Code Six, we included allotments, a village bakery and farmers market, and designed the homes to be adaptive to climate change. I did the Code Assessment and guidance for our team, and whilst the Code for Sustainable Homes is a huge improvement on EcoHomes – which is shiiiiiite at producing Eco Homes, the Code has still got lots of problems, for example there are no criteria to encourage adaptation to climate change such as designing in green shading etc. Also the materials credits do NOT reward low embodied carbon materials, they use a complex matrix from the Green Guide to Specification to assess the environmental impact of a material on things as diverse as air pollution, habitat disruption etc – the green guide does NOT rank materials in terms of their carbon impacts alone. Normally with a conventional building, the embodied carbon only represents about 10% of the total lifecycle carbon dioxide emissions related to the construction, occupation and demolition of the building, obviously with zero operational carbon homes, this percentage is going to shift. Interestingly, whilst pitching to English Partnerships, when we mentioned conventional fossil fuel depletion and rising energy costs as being a driver for our home designs – we got a lot of appreciative nods from the panel.

Ahh, money talks ehh!