Ippoippo

Yep, those are today’s topics

Japan

Our man in Osaka has discovered a rather interesting Gate Phenomenon.

In more Japan related findings on the net, Japan Probe has dug up some comments regarding ‘how adult like’ are Japanese 18 year olds. (In Japan, there is dicussion about lowering the voting age from 20 to 18). Some of the comments from foreigners interviewed on Japanese TV were a little harsh.

The way I would put it is that sometimes young Japanese adults tend to be somewhat naive. Mind you, some people of the same age in the UK would be lacking in knowledge, except here it seems to be ‘arrogant ignorance’ rather than ‘naivety’… if that makes any sense???!!!

Finally, in Japan related browsing, Sushicam once again has some cracking photographs… this time some Sumo ones.

Rising Waters

Cracking site I found, showing the impact on coastal regions due to sea level rises.
In the event of a 14m rise, looks like half of Cardiff would be under water. A 6 metre rise would be mean things getting pretty dodgy for my folks and sister
Makes you think about the 50m rise that’s predicted in the ‘it’s all gone completely up shit creek’ scenario of Global Warming and Polar Ice Melt predictions. (I seem to recall, that would require a 6 degree mean temperature increase).

Actually, got quite interesting that system, because I had a look at Tokyo and surrounding areas as well. A rather big 10m rise would have resulted in our old house in Japan being next to a rather large coastal estuary! (The Edo river having got a lot bigger).

Just started reloading all my photos, after I’ve started organising them properly using Adobe’s fantastic Lightroom software.
I’m starting with my most recent ones, and working my way backwards at the moment.

The Gallery Page is here, which has the links to the individual albums.

[Update 2010-12-26 : Updated as I am now using Flickr as my image store for my pictures. Lightroom 3 is being used to develop, edit, process, catalog and upload to Flickr]

Today is my last day in the office (I finish work on Monday next week, but on Friday and Monday I’ll be working from home, and tomorrow is a national holiday here in Japan).

There is quite a good selection of Japanese related stories out there today….

First up is a fascinating website, with information and old photos taken during the immediate years after the end of WW2. Having lived in modern Tokyo, it’s always interesting to see old Tokyo. You can see for yourself over at this site.

In the world of crazy world of Japanese politicians, somebody seems to have noticed Ishihara’s excessive spending.. The trip to the UK was most impressive, given how much money he spent for a short meeting.
Mind you, there’s also this rather CRAZY situation in Tochigi. Talk about lazy…. spending 6 million yen of your OWN money, so you didn’t have to process all the paperwork! Nuts

Finally, there is one thing I will miss in Japan…. the washlet. A marvelous creation. However, it’s should be treated with caution!

Well, here I am in the UK. Temperature wise, it’s meant to be about the same as Tokyo. But Tokyo feels a hell of a lot colder, with the wind chill. The UK is just grey, cloudy and wet

Having said that, yesterday, had some great British Pub grub during lunch. My work friends here have discovered a new pub in Bath (where Company HQ is), so we went there for some quality Mashed Potato, Gravy and Venison Pie. Lovely Cheers Chaps.

Some interesting stories I’ve been catching up on.

Seems ‘Bird Flu’ has arrived in Japan… but only the mild version.

Prince Tomohito is being an idiot again

It seems that Schumacher is hinting at his retirement, and I expect to see Kimi to move to Ferrari (with Alonso replacing him at McLaren)

Finally, in Photography, looks like Adobe are making a move to stop Apple getting it’s foot in the door, in the world of Digital Photography.
Look here and here.