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January 30, 2006
Blog-Free Olympics
It looks like the Japanese Olympic Committee is stepping up and banning any athletes from blogging while participating in any Olympic events.
Kyodo: Blogs by Olympics participants to be banned
Personally I think this is pretty stupid. It reeks of a boneheaded management decision In an attempt to control all the information that concerns the Olympic team, they are cutting out a great new channel for PR. Rather than using a tool that appeals to die-hard fans looking for the latest insight, they will cut the wires and push athletes away from thier fans.
Yeah, pretty dumb.
Posted by Kakyou at 02:38 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 29, 2006
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Happy New Year!
Just got back from Hong Kong. Kind of ironic as this is New Years Day and an absolutely awesome time to be there. But I have a bunch of meetings and crap to do in the office tomorrow morning in Tokyo so back I come to enjoy the freezing cold. Even more ironic, I will be there again next week.
Well, maybe I can catch a bit of the tail end celebration.
Posted by Kakyou at 04:18 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 23, 2006
Breaking News: Horie Arrested?
Wow. This is wierd. Japanese prosecutors, a group that usually take months to determine the cause of a bowel movement have apperently just arrested Livedoor president Horie.
I still think the timing and subsequent events of this scandal point to a political attack gone very wrong, and this may be an effort to limit the fallout, but I can't see this having any positive effect on the Japanese market at large.
Livedoor may in fact have been guilty of the charges, but I would assume that most Japanese mid size companies are in the same boat. Either way, Livedoor is totally borked now, investers are fleeing the market screaming and the M/A business in Japan is heading for a nasty nasty fall.
I wonder if the group of power brokers who decided to teach Horie "a little lesson in humilty" are please with taking the entire country for the ride?
Posted by Kakyou at 09:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 22, 2006
Narita Sucks
yeah, I know. for seasoned business travelers, this is hardly news. After yesterday's snow, Narita is a madhouse. People stacked on top of people. Lines as far as the eyes can see. But what bugs me is that there are practically no staff around. Securoty is nowhere, the ticket and immigration counters are half closed. Its like everyone is hiding, waiting for the seige to end.
For a "world class" airport to be locked in 14 hours after less than 3 inches of snow falls (and the weather forcaast was acurate for nearly a week in advance), Narita really takes the cake for really crappy travel ports.
YOKOSO! Japan indeed.
Posted by Kakyou at 12:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 20, 2006
We're tired of taking your crap
Wow. I've been waiting for this one for a while now.
Research in motion has finally come out and said what everyone has been thinking. Sure the NTP laswuit and such has been dragging on for years. There have been doomsday articles written about court orders, and injunctions. Compeditors have been salivating at the sidelines waiting to pounce. But name one thing that all high power senators and fortune 500 CEO's have in common (besides the plush Mercedes with leather seats, the blond in a condo in Florida, and a briefcase of money in a locker at Grand Central Station) and it would be thier little crackberry.
As things reach a climax in the RIM/NTP lawsuit, RIM has chosen now to remind everyone that shutting down RIM means turning off thier "little best friends".
The Register: RIM: US economy up spout if Blackberry shut out
Reminds me of one of the greatest fake ads of all time.
"You may think phone service stinks since deregulation, but don't mess with us, because we're all you've got. In fact, if we fold, you'll have no damn phones. AT&T - we're tired of taking your crap!"
Posted by Kakyou at 01:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Yes, I believe that is correct...
As if I need more epiphany in my life.
As part of my determination to update things (including this blog) I was going through some sites I am adding to my blogroll. Of course a couple of minute in I find this little gem.
Yongfook: How to have a conversation with an ex-girlfriend in 10 simple steps
While not the most relavent post to my current situation, it does have a certain timeless quality that make one appreciate the twists and turns of life. Or at the very least make you blurt out "oh yeah, that's what I shoulda said..."
Posted by Kakyou at 11:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Might be nice with some Wasabi
In the "More than just a little cool" category
BBC News: Dead whale left outside embassy
So Greenpeace finds a beached whale and then drops the sucker on the Berlin Japanese Embassy's front door. I am impressed. As noble as thier cause is, I tend to look at radical environmentalists as a tab overdramatic and a bit, well, goofy. But this is downright cool. A hack worthy of MIT from the 80's.
There is of course a serious side to this. I'm not entirely convinced of the case set by the environmental groups. Green activists tend to be a bit liberal with statistics and they just assume everyone will believe what some scientist said to justify his $10,000 grant from the PEZ foundation. But Japan's compete and arrogant defiance to the global ban, all for the sake of a handful of fishermen and the politicians they pay for is quite inexcusable. Make no mistake, coninued whale hunting has hurt the Japanese far more than it has helped them, with the obvious exception of a bunch of whalers who refuse to give up thier anachronistic ways. Just to put what is arguably substandardard whlae meat into cheap pub/restaurants in the old districts of Tokyo, the Japese govt risks alienating public sentiment abroad and has to pay support bribes to developing nations (they recently reduced this, resulting in a reversal of the IWC's stance of Japanese "scientific" whaling).
So hats off for this one. If they ever manage to get one and drop it in front of the Japanese parliment house, I'll bring the soy sauce and wasabi!
Posted by Kakyou at 09:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 19, 2006
My HP is running low. Time to potion up
Ooooo. The geekiness of it all just drips and glistens off the bottles.
Suntory is releasing a special "Potion" soft drink to coincide with Final Fantasy XII's Japan release. As you are hacking away at monsters in the middle of a marathon gaming session and you feel your stamina waning, just pop a cop on one of these suckers to get a guarenteed 50hp boost.
Game Watch: サントリー、「ポーション」をイメージした清涼飲料「ファイナルファンタジーXII ポーション」を発売
On sale March 7 for about 2$ a bottle.
Posted by Kakyou at 08:18 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
How can you fear her when she's just soooo *cute*
Man. The Chinese gov definitely understands how to rule the world.
With cute mascots of course!
In order to help crack down on those who would disturb the public good for thier own dark and nefarious purposes, the Chinese internet cops have created two cartoon cops to soften the blow of 40 years hard labor in a sweatshop making plush dolls of cartoon mascots...
Wow, there is some real irony there.
Jing Jing and Cha Cha (Cha Cha pictured above) are here to save the day. Well, at least this will soften the blow of having Donald Duck stopping by my apartment last week to reposess my TV.
Shianghaist: The internet nanny is cute, until she confiscates your computer …
Posted by Kakyou at 06:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 18, 2006
Finally
Got into an organization frenzy after cleaning out most of my 2005 crap (all that's left is that tax return glaring at me with beady, beady little eyes). Finally got to finish and polish those little bits on this page that have been bugging me. Tweaked the style sheet a bit and added the event calendar that I've been meaning to do for ages.
Blogroll still need some pruning, but I'm heading to the Tokyo Bloggers meetup tonight so maybe I can get a bit of inspiration to finish it from there.
I have a lot of travel over the next few months planned, but it looks like soo I will be able to pare a lot of that back. I am starting to come to grips with a more stationary lifestyle and I think I am looking forward to it. I joined a gym *finally*, and am starting to think about finally finishing up my apartment design.
Hopefully the blog updates will become more stable and regular, and I still have a few projects I want to go back to. We'll see if this comes through.
Posted by Kakyou at 05:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 17, 2006
Horiemon Busted?
Crisscross: Prosecutors search Livedoor for alleged securities law violations
Well, a bit too early to say.
But with a profile like his, you can bet that a LOT of very powerful politicians and corporate leaders would love to see livedoor go down in flames.
From what I can see, the violations are quite serious. Near the level that brought down Seibu last year. Its still unclear however whether anyone at the parent Livedoor had anything to do with the alleged misdeeds.
There will be many more scandals to come. Things need to start breaking down in this country and there will be a lot of blame to go around before anyne thinks to start fixing things. I think that japan desparately needs more people like Horie and Softbanks Masayoshi Son (despite my feelings about them personally), but I wonder if they will actually be able to rise and make a difference.
Scandal has always been a preferred method to get rid of agitators. Just ask Makiko Tanaka.
Posted by Kakyou at 09:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 16, 2006
Sukkiri
Sometimes I forget to remember who I am...
and then I remember to remember...
There is no tomorrow,
yesterday is but a path to who I am today and nothing more.
There is much I have left to do.
Posted by Kakyou at 08:56 PM