Paradise West

Battlebots in Maker Faire

nobody@vox.com(Michi) — Sun, 04 May 2008 15:07:00 -0700

BattlebotVideo

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Smoke on the Water - Japanese Version "Firemen from Edo"

nobody@vox.com(Michi) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:15:22 -0700

This is SUPERB!!

Smoke on the water - Ancient Japanese style

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MOMOYA TVCM archive - "public domain" video effort in Japan

nobody@vox.com(Michi) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:15:30 -0800

The first major public domain video-sharing project in Japan, by Research Institute of Digital Media and Contents, Keoi University (Keio DMC), in collaboration with Kawasaki City Museum, is now open to public.

Mmi_showa_02

The site, "History of Showa, reflected upon Japanese dinner table", is a neat collection from the long-standing animated commercial series by a processed food company Momoya, broadcasted on television between 1953 and 1993. The main character, a big-nose guy with round glasses, is Norihei Miki, one of the great comedians in Showa era. Momoya contributed its entire CM video archive, 218 pieces in total, to Kawasaki City Museum to be used for the purpose of study and education. Half of the collection have already made available on Keio DMC's own video sharing platform "Volume One" since last October on trial basis, and at this time, the team has selected 50 of them that show the historical background of the time it was broadcasted, with explanation of these backgrounds both in Japanese and English. For foreign visitors, the site has a separate page to explain the food items in subject, as well as some of Japanese-specific CM characters that Norihei inpersonates, such as Sumo wrestler and ninja.

The project is significant, not only because it is the first case of comprehensive collection of TV CM video in Japan, but also because it is open to public for free, for academic purposes. In Japan, the video copyrights holders has much stronger control than in the U.S., and the debate over the legitimacy of video sharing on the Internet has much harsher tone against free sharing.

The project leader and my long-term friend, Junko Iwabuchi of Keio DMC, says she wants to make it an example of the public domain effort on the net, and let people know that the museum contents can be shared with much ease and low cost through the net.

Please visit:
http://www.documentshowa.jp/

(You need the latest version of Flash Player. To see more recent ones, scrol all the way down and click the blinking arrow.)

Anyway, the videos are quite fun to watch, and you can see the early days of Japanese animation. Enjoy!!

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Tadanobu Asano film nominated for Oscars!

nobody@vox.com(Michi) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:16:16 -0800

Just briefly...

"Mongol", an epic film about Genghis Khan, starring Japan's Tadanobu Asano, is nominated for the Academy Award Foreign Language Film category.

The film's director is Russian, the filming was done in Mongol, and is credited as made by Russia/China/Mongol/Kazakhstan - VERY international film, indeed!!

I don't even know if Oscar presentation will be held or not - hope it does - but anyway, nice to see Tadanobu in a notable position. This film is very little know in Japan. I think it is not even distributed there. Tadanobu never plays in TV dramas (Japanese actors usually plays both movies and dramas) and only plays in indie movies, so is relatively little known among Japanese people outside of film funs. The only popular appearance is in TV commercials - he is in NTT Docomo (cell phone) and Toyota commercials.

I am not particularly a big fan of him, but I like some of his films. He is in "Zatoichi" with (Beat) Takeshi Kitano, which I liked, and I also liked "Taste of Tea". Both are available on Netflix, so you should check it out. Others - rather dark indie films - are beyond my layman taste.

Tadanobu is known also as a close buddy with Joe Odagiri among Joe fans. I hope Joe gets some taste of international work from his buddy/mentor!

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Dream eggs for egg-allergy people

nobody@vox.com(Michi) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:26:04 -0800

My son has egg allergy. Everytime he sees someone eating eggs, he sadly utters "that looks so good, I wish I could eat it."

His sadness may come to an end, thanks to a group of high-school students in Japan. The egg development team from Harima Agriculture High School, Hyogo, Japan, succeeded to produce the dream eggs that has a low possibility of causing allergy reaction. They experimented many different kinds of feeds for the chicken, and found out that the ones with shiso (perilla) and some fish powder produce eggs containing 5 times of alpha-Linolenic acid, a type of unsaturated fatty acid, which suprresses the allergy.

The team made further improvements and have started to sell it with a brand "Harima Dream Tamago (egg)". The reputation spreaded with word of mouth and last month, a major local department store Hanshin Hyakkaten took it up on the shelf. The eggs are now flying out of shelf.

I wonder if there is anything like this in the U.S., so my son can have the taste of egg.

Original article: MSN Sankei 1/12/08

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Blackout in Silicon Valley

nobody@vox.com(Michi) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:52:31 -0800

We were out in Mexico for a few days for New Years Vacation, and came back to find out that we had a blackout in our house.

It turned out that our area was the hardest hit in the area, and as of now, which is supposedly after more than 30 hours after the blackout tarted, the power still is not back on.

We have the backup circuits and UPS and everything, but nothing is of use. The Net is out, and I cannot do any work done. I don't have any radio anymore, other than Pandora, and of course it does not work. I cannot charge the cell phone.

It is such an irony. The only way savior is the car. I can recharge my cell battery, run to our friend's house who has the power to connect to the net. The car has the heat and light. As long as the car runs, I am OK.

I have stock up with canned soup and instant ramen, firewood and battery to survive for one more night without power. Hope it will come back on tomorrow.

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Joe Odgiri to marry an actress!!

nobody@vox.com(Michi) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 13:11:42 -0800

It's been some time since I talked about Joe Odagiri. Here we go, a big news.

Joe is getting married with Yu Kashii, an actress he co-starred in "The Pavillion Salamandre". I like her a lot - though she is young, she is very good in acting and has quite a cool demeanor. Among the films available in the U.S., she is in "Linda, Linda, Linda". You can get it on Netflix.

But actually, I was more interested in his comment in the press conference. He says that he decided to announce the marriage at this time because he will be "out of the country most of the time starting from the next year."

What's that supposed to mean!!???

According to reports, he will appear in a Korean film and will go to Korea early in January. So I understand it. But he says "starting from the next year", not just "around new years".

Now, I am in this hallucination again about him playing in Scorsese's "Silence" - hmmm.... and if he will be in LA a lot, then I can have an access somehow to him...

No, no, Michi. Stop day dreaming. Get back to work.

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Japan's WiMax - another Galapagos?

nobody@vox.com(Michi) — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:32:18 -0800

Japan's industry people often criticize their own mobile industry as "Galapagos". The largest carrier NTT DoCoMo chose their proprietary technology for 2G, and therefore became segregated from the rest of the world and the market developed in a quite unique way, just like unique animals in Galapagos Islands.

It turned out to be an obvious bad decision, so they have tried very hard to standardize their technology in 3G cellular. Yet, in 2.5GHz wireless broadband spectrum, they have made another "Galapagotizing" decision.

Yesterday, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC) decided to give 2.5GHz licenses to two groups, one headed by KDDI, utilizing WiMax, and another by WillCom with "Advanced PHS" technology.

In the 90's, NTT tried and failed to make PHS their home-grown technology to be used worldwide. It did make it to China and some other Asian countries as the cheap fixed wireless alternative, yet it is of very limited use compared to mobile phones.

PHS mostly failed in its own market also, except for a so-so success by Willcom, with its data plan for PC card modem. So Willcom does have some expressed interest from its customers for the higher speed connection, but in the larger state of spectrum politics, it looks nothing but another try for Japan's home-grown technology again, with another risk of "Galapagotization".

Even KDDI's WiMax, whose consortium includes Intel - the largest backer of WiMax -, with the growing clouds over mobile WiMax initiative in the United States, may not be the sure bet. It is a shame to see Japan going further into the Galapagotization, just because it is too advanced and technology decision has to be made much earlier than the rest of the world.

I know that everyone wants to escape from Qualcomm's reign in CDMA monopoly world. Yes, I know it is politics. But I am still a bit concerned.

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This is SO STUPID and FUNNY!!

nobody@vox.com(Michi) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:52:05 -0800

I had a hard time hanging onto my chair reading this Japanese discussion board 2channel last night...

Earlier this week a Labour MP called for the Union flag to be redesigned to include the Welsh Dragon.

Then the Japanese 2-channeler came up with this.

3848cef9

A086ea96

and MORE!!

2-channel creative Union Jack + Wales Flag

And OMG... UK's top newspaper took it up...

Telegraph Dec. 1 Japan offers to solve "Union Jack Problem"

There are MUCH FUNNIER ONES on the original thread than the ones picked up by Telegraph.

And I am SURE that the country who invented MONTY PYSON doesn't take this up as a POLITICAL issue!! (Funny that many 2-channel participants are SERIOUSLY worried about it!)

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ケンジさま御用達携帯電話（ブラックベリー）　Kenji's cell phone

nobody@vox.com(Michi) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 22:14:19 -0700

0811072151.jpg

ほんっとどうでもいいことなんですが・・・仕事柄、映画やドラマに携帯電話が出てくると、ついつい「どこのメーカーぞ？」「どこのキャリア(携帯電話会社）ぞ？」がいちいち気になってしまうワタクシ。

「ラッシュアワー３」にも、もちろん携帯電話が登場。ほんの数秒ですが、ケンジさんがパリで携帯電話をかけている場面があるのですが、なんとそのときにお使いだったのがワタクシが愛用しているこれと同系の「RIMブラックベリー・パール」、だと思うんですよね。私のは、アメリカのTモバイルというキャリアのもので、他のキャリアだと完全に同じ仕様ではないのですが、ワタクシの目に間違いがなければ、これと同じ系統のものです。で、その場面を見ながら「うーん、場面がアメリカだったら確実なんだけど・・他の機種のブラックベリーはヨーロッパでもあるけれど、パールがフランスで出てるかどうかは知らないなぁ・・・こういうところに出てくるのは、きっとメーカーが『プロダクト・プレースメント』で宣伝のために提供してるんだろうから、最近発売されたんだろーなー」という考えが、一瞬のうちに頭を駆け巡ってしまったワタクシ・・・（ビョーキ）

ちなみに、このストラップは「イージス」のときに井上機長さまにいただいた、貴重な（言っちゃった、オヤジギャグ・・）自衛隊救難ヘリのストラップですっ！そうそう、最後に仙石が吊り上げられる、あのヘリ・・・

Due to my profession, whenever a cell phone appears on a movie or drama, I cannot help but judge which brand or carrier it is. For RH3, Kenji uses a cell phone in one scene in Paris, and I believe that was this same model "RIM Blackberry Pearl"!! During this scene, my brain was working without my intention, like..."so it is almost sure Blackberry if it were in the U.S., but I did not know it is available in France... but usually a manufacturer provide those phones for 'product placement', so it should been sold over there by now..."

Yes, I am sick.

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Paradise West

Battlebots in Maker Faire

Smoke on the Water - Japanese Version "Firemen from Edo"

MOMOYA TVCM archive - "public domain" video effort in Japan

Tadanobu Asano film nominated for Oscars!

Dream eggs for egg-allergy people

Blackout in Silicon Valley

Joe Odgiri to marry an actress!!

Japan's WiMax - another Galapagos?

This is SO STUPID and FUNNY!!

ケンジさま御用達携帯電話（ブラックベリー） Kenji's cell phone

ケンジさま御用達携帯電話（ブラックベリー）　Kenji's cell phone