Japan

Specialty Coffee around the World

January 3, 2013

The New York Times has a piece about the San Francisco coffee scene, specifically the barista training upstairs from the local temple of the perfect cup, Sightglass. While the West Coast style of brewing is making it’s way to Japan in places like Shibuya, Japan has it’s own professional brewing method which they take very [...]

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Struggling is a given and struggling can be good

January 2, 2013

Nice post over on my dad’s blog about the difference between learning in Japan and learning in America, When that one boy as applauded for struggling to learn, the teacher gave the lesson that anyone struggling to learn deserves to be applauded. The lesson was that struggling is a chance to show that you have [...]

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Guns in Japan

December 20, 2012

My father (who started his own blog) shares what you need to do to get a gun in Japan. To get a gun in Japan, first, you have to attend an all-day class and pass a written test, which are held only once per month. You also must take and pass a shooting range class. [...]

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Better Driving thru Optical Camouflage

November 20, 2012

This is pretty smart idea. Using principals of Optical Camouflage, researchers at Keio University project the image from a camera on the back of a car onto a recursive reflector which looks like one of those glass screens politicians use for their teleprompters. The mirror sits at an angle to project an image right where [...]

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The Long Now Bottle Keep

November 17, 2012

As I grow older, I have come to appreciate the power of stories. I collect them as I go through life, sometimes seeking out experiences because a good story may come out of it.  I was invited this past week to join the staff of The Long Now Foundation to share a story that I [...]

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Japanese Maps a Unique Challenge

September 25, 2012

The New York Times has a piece pointing out that the new iOS 6 cartography woes that Apple is experiencing are amplified in Japan which presents it’s own unique mapping challenges. Mainly because they are trying to jam a global mapping paradigm into Japan which has its own challenges. … cities like Tokyo are changing [...]

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Serving the Customer

August 15, 2012

In Japan, attending to the needs of the customer is not only a pre-requisite, it is a minimum requirement to participate in the domestic economy. The Japanese consumer is a particularly fickle shopper. The mere whiff of attitude will drive away shoppers and with it, the business. Back when I lived in Tokyo when VCRs [...]

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When Mom Left for America

June 11, 2012

While in Japan I did the usual, clean out you parent’s hard drive and apply 50 updates that should have been and the other usual computer tune up tasks. I ran across a bunch of scans that I think my sister did last time she was there. I grabbed them and within found one of [...]

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Cancer Sucks

May 31, 2012

I’m in Japan this week to visit my father. He has colon cancer and just checked in for surgery. This is not a total shock. He is getting old after all and I’ve come to accept a time when something like this would happen. He’s taking it well. He has openly embraced his body slowly [...]

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Tsunami Debris Includes Ghost Tuna Boat

March 27, 2012

Massive amounts of debris from last year’s March 11th earthquake in Japan is making its way to the West coast of North America. While most of the objects are not expected to wash ashore until October, some of the larger objects, including entire ships are arriving months earlier. The Vancouver Sun reports: After being flushed [...]

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