http://xmas.ynot.co.jp/view/ynotxmas/078937621209937479

Gosh how I loooove going to the dentist..!!! I mean really, why else would any (sane) person make 18 weekly (on saturday morning) trips there..?!? On the bright side, pun intended, my smile's sparkling more so these days, and it didn't hurt my wallet near as much as it would almost anywhere else in the world. So here's to keeping my own teeth until retirement age (45) anyway. Otherwise, I was in Shibuya on thurs. night and snapped a couple cam-phone pix: this one of x-mas lights in front of Mark City, and kinda cool shot of a J-Pop Band truck cruising around blarring music to promote the flavor of the week boy-band who must have all the young girls hearts a flutter. Talk about marketing machine in full motion.!!

As promised like a week ago, heres a cam-phone pic of our baby bonsai. So, now lots to learn about how to take care of it (Google), & hope for the most part we don't love it to death..!!! One thing we have figured out is to leave it outside - its a tree after-all - and at least there won't be any poopie diapers or puddles on the floor to contend with. In another note of interest; this link to see a Tokyo concept skyscraper thats 800 floors high..!!! Cool.. but you gotta kinda wonder, did they forget this is the earthquake capital of the world..?!?

I came across this kinda cool .mov clip from the Hindsight Project via Kinuk blog.. thought that would be worth watching if you have a decent DSL connection. Also wanted to point out that Taka-san has a new 'Tokyo Cruise' video up to see now.. way slick neon views from Shibuya, Ginza and Shinjuku etc. Speaking of cruising.. I've been doing some car shopping here lately, sombody should blog about the whole auto industry in Japan.. especially getting a drivers license and insurance, anyway we found this little baby that I thought might be really useful to get out of a tight spot..!!! Otherwise its been full tilt boogie time for me to try and get everything squared away before the silly season, not likely.. but I am operating at 110% so that will have to do. Meanwhile, I could not possibly be more bummed by missing out on this Hi-Tech Fashion Show they had in Tokyo last week.

Ya Ya yaa.. it's been too long since I posted here, but not gonna whine about how busy I am or that I'm going to make more time to update this page.. even though it's all true..!!!  Came across this great post by Mena Trott from Six Apart or perhaps better known as the company behind Moveable Type. They were in Tokyo recently (congrats) and thought her story was a perfect read for folks over-seas. Also found this link to see Japan's new digital ambassador.. Sakura-chan Sugoi Kawaii..!!! Otherwise, a first hand lesson in mortality has played itself out here over the last few months. One of my best friends in Japan - who I met on the first night of my first visit here - passed away on Oct. 5th. He was always there, I practiced my Japanese with him everyday, and he never laughed about my bad grammer.. its been awefully quiet around the house these days..

Got the Tokyo Motor Show program finished, and finally managed to get something in place for my new pet project www.3-G.jp.. its pretty slim, but a decent start. I found what looks like a kind of cool open source blogging tool.. and might actually give that a test ride someday soon. Meanwhile we went to the annual street sale in Hiratsuka today.. and even adopted a baby bonsai tree (photo to follow). However, I have got a few pix taken with the cell-cam. when we were in Canada for beers..!! It really was great to hang out with old Eskimo friends and sweep-up with hockey stick brooms.. even had a chance to check-out bros. monster machine HAL. All in all it was a pretty good time, although in the end I really do like it here 'cause theres alot more smorking areas..!!!

Meta Tags (Google it) was one of my tasks today and in the end I managed to get a better grasp of what really counts. I even looked for Advice from Cool Guy earlier on which was a fun read - if you wanna spend more time at Gas Panic - but it didn't help figure out whats best placed between the <head>tags</head> so web pages get a better ranking through the search engine.. search engine, search engine, haha..maybe that will help too..!! In the end I figured out the best recipe and consider it a lesson well learned. Theres been so many double standards lately it seems, this story about Pork Barrel Politics got me going on a discussion thread this evening. It would be nice to spend a little time in Kisami Oohama like Chris, at least I can relate to his 'time to think on the train'. I could have been relaxing, maybe watched a little TV.. with commercials like this, gotta wonder why you'd wanna do anything else!!

Keanu Reeves was in town the other night - a mob scene in Shinjuku - as the paparazzi were out in full force, and the (in)famous Russian lesbian duo TaTu were making the rounds with their handy-cams too, so you have to wonder if there are any rooms left at the Imperial Hotel..?!? Meanwhile beacons of light are painting messages in the night for.. aliens I guess, and Kim Jong ll has finally gone over the deep-end, so by all indications it's business as usual here in wonderland. In other news Admiral Pongi was Slashdotted, Metafiltered and BoingBoinged for this clip and has been getting some insane daily download numbers..!!! Congrats are in order, for he has the heart of a horse.. 8-)

Made a 6 hour looong return train ride to Makahari Messe convention center for the 37th annual Tokyo Motor Show yesterday. After seeing the clips Freedom posted from his trip out there last week - those PM's were Super Cool - I knew we would get some good stuff too.. albeit more corp. focused. Over-all an impressive display for sure and we got some really great interview material for an upcoming WWJ program on telematics. If you dig concept cars.. one from Nissan really blew us away, since the booth staff didn't know what it was called and there is no photo on their official site.. heres a frame-grab from my mini-dv video..!!

Well the Dali Lama is in town so you have to wonder if the end of the world is not too far behind..?!? We had a national holiday here yesterday and despite the rain people turned out en mass to take in the festivities. I didn't shoot anything for a change, kinda nice just to be a regular gaijin person wandering around looking less like a tourist with a video camera, although there were a couple of times I wanted to capture the scene. Really getting the itch to shoot stills again though.. must be Digi-cam envy from Mr.J's site, with a decent lap-top a new gun and a connection like this.. I could be having some fun..!!!

Back in the drivers seat here for the last week already and finally had a chance to think about update to this page. We had a great trip but 11 days really flew by considering 2 were spent on the plane.. gosh Air Canada really sucked!!! Didn't get to see everyone that we wanted too, but had a few rock&roll nites with the n2o crew and managed to take care of most loose ends for Video-Link.com Inc. For me it was a little like a dream driving around the old home town.. all the roads (cars) seemed So Big, and the pace of life a little too slow, funny how after only a couple of years living in Japan how my perception has changed. Needless to say it was good to get back here and I'm pumped now to get to the next level on my various projects. It always seems like the last thing I get done is writing something here, thats gonna change. I'll set aside a little time at the beginning of each day with a coffee to post something thats worthwhile and am already thinking about how to migrate the whole shooting match to a real cms. +_+ Meanwhile, you gotta check-out Taka-sans latest Geisha video series.. Cool..!!!

You know what they say - time flies when the clocks ticking - or some other classic Bushism to that effect. We've been making (and re-making) the schedule plan and packing re-packing our suitcases to fit all the omiyage thats been piling up over the last year, and of course getting those last minute things done so we're good to go.  Gonna shoot some clips and generally hang-out, visit with friends and family.. do some shoppping and of course 'take care of business' ... it's gonna be a whirlwind kinda 11 days and will have a full load on my plate when we get back at the end of Oct. At least I've managed to make sure that will be able to check my WWJ e-mail from the Great White remote location 'cause there would be waaay to much (>_<) waiting in my box upon return otherwise.

Look forward to hanging w/the boyz and making some noise!!

Jeeez.. I've been hell bent for leather underwear here the last couple of weeks,no time to shit errr spit. What a blast, though where to start.. the Tokyo Game Show last week was KILLER (pardon the pun), a great review site here if your a gamer. Unreal how good the graphics have become since the old 16bit Nintendo version.. too bad I'm too busy for that nowadays but lemme tell ya they sure put on an awesome event..!! Also a whicked nite at Login 2.0 on Saturday.. although since it was nomihodai, all you can drink for one low price, I really don't remember much past midnite, and stumbled home from the first train out at about 6am. Congrats to the good folks over at AtomicTaxi for putting it all together. Jimmy Mack has a few cool shots and Damon wrote up a blurb on his new blog as well. Meanwhile we did the Hadano Tobacco Matsuri on Sunday (yes, I was hung pretty good) which was really cool.. and shot a bunch of video thats on the bench behind about 5 programs that have to get done before we leave.. Eeek. So, no time to write much more now, I'm looking forward to power down for a shower and lights out.

The countdown has started.. thats right folks.. 30 days from now and I'm history, gone, oughta here, on the road, bye-bye, AWOL, 86 this town, leaving on a jet plane and so forth. Got our tix so the Mrs. & I are going to Canada on Oct. 16th for a couple weeks to visit family and friends, relax a little bit and then get the hell out of dodge before the snow flies!! It's kinda weird in that we've been together for about 5 years now and had plenty of trips to airport together.. but will be the first time we actually both get on the same plane!! Of course the scheduling has been a nightmare for us to arrange that many days away from our repective businesses.. but, then I guess some-times it's good to be the boss!! So, for those of you who didn't already know.. consider this fair warning.. We will be there.. We won't be here.. and if you want either of us to do anything silly like take on any (more) extra workload in the meantime.. simply put.. not a freaking chance..!!.

Hmmm.. Ok, after sober second thought the '2 drink minimum' advice from Jeff to blog with style doesn't seem to work for me as well.. or maybe I just need more practice..!! My spontaneous update below reads kinda dry and too focused on business - let's face it - there are plenty of other more interesting things to write about in this space..!! I've come across a couple of 'whack' Japan tv clips in the last while that you would prolly get a kick out of.. this Mohawk Cut Hair Colour commercial is still current, and the Tokyo Breakfast pilot from Y2K which is difficult to decide if it's more racially disturbing than funny..?!?!! Also have a tip for those incoming tourists looking for the best 'naked sushi' in town.. a shocking delight made famous by the 1993 movie 'Rising Sun' with Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. Otherwise this Japan Adventure diary has been getting ripped pretty good on F*cked Gaijin lately, Jeezuz you gotta wonder why people like that bother to travel at all!!

btw; Shot a really interesting interview with the author of upcoming book on the Modern Yakuza that just went live this week.. it runs about 30 minutes.

Spontaneous update..!! We did a good interview/shoot with Yukari Sato Ph.D. of J.P Morgan a few weeks ago thats on-line now, and I was at a workshop the other day to video Howard Rheingold's presentation as he released the translated into Japanese version of his popular book SmartMobs, that was a pretty interesting - and well attended - event. After some (more) grief with the DNS for WWJ we got a couple of new episodes up there as well.. one with 3 Irish companies that have set-up in Tokyo, and our chat with Tim from Hello Network Asia about streaming Java for Wireless. I've also done 2 more programs that are pretty cool & almost 'good to go'.. ahhhh... the ongoing cycle of finding, shooting and editing video always requires a 'little' lead time before they finally go public. Otherwise time marches on here, as everywhere else, like a friend said not so long ago when I asked him how he juggles all the demands of career - father - husband.. "I just put my head down and plough.." that pretty much sums it up.
 

Damn it's getting hot here..!! but then if your checking in from Tokyo.. thats not news. So, how do the locals deal with the summer time blues?!? We went to a small town Mikoshi Parade last night and while it might take me a little while to slap together a decent vdo clip, heres a frame grab for now. The Mikoshi or for lack of better english translation 'portable shrine' (Google it) is carried through the streets on the shoulders of dozens of chanting men.. bouncing it, somewhat dangerously at times, with each step along the way and finally ending at the temple where the ashes of it's patron - a local sho-gun - are kept. Several things strike me about such an event.. besides the fact that free cold beer was flowing for all (even me the only token gaijin there). The community spirit and sense of tradition was almost even thicker than the humidity, it was an all ages event that every-one was dressed up for (except me, the only token gaijin..). I have seen much larger events (on tv) in Tokyo with a dozen or more Mikoshi at once - like when Aiko, the next emperor's daughter, was born - but last nights parade is symbolic to me of the 'Real Japan'. It was a magical experience and for a few hours at least I forgot about how Damn Hot it is here these days..!!!

Too many bytes and not enough time.. Where to begin?!? Well, first off the 'regular' visitors will notice a change in the layout here..!! I wanted to make some improvements on the site that included adding an embedded video player (at least for the broadband clips) hope you like the new look.. !?! A Super Big Thanks to Taka-san at Brovision for helping out with that.. speaking of which his latest video of the Mt. Fuji climb is really great so you really should go check that out..!!! 

Also, a Major Arigato De Gozimasu goes out to Tim, Masumi-san and Tyler for the 'special occasion' treatment last nite. I'm gonna get you all back for that, Baskin Robbins sure does make a great ice cream cake though..!!!

Otherwise, I'm feeling a little roasted because of the (2) bad revues from a certain 'Chuck' who won't get a link back because it seems thats part of the 'business model' he's working under.. anyone in the Japan blogging group prolly knows who I mean though. His focus is to basically rip other sites about how crappy they are.. even though his own @blogger effort is pretty lame by comparison and w/o any original content except shredding other peoples sites. In the end it doesn't really matter to me.. he certainly sounds like a 'glass 1/2 empty' kinda guy though.. I'm happy to continue doing this little hobby project.. Ganbatte

People have been asking what I do that seems to keep me 'too busy'.. So, I thought a quick update is due. Over the last couple of weeks we have more or less put the new WWJ website in order and maintained the flow of creating new content at the same time which is alot of work. It's been a real learning curve for me (kinda like living in Japan) but as the saying goes "without struggle there can be no progress". Over the last 18 months I've learned so much about an industry that is really starting to grow on the global scene.. and like a (wet) sponge I'm soaking up the knowledge.

The GLOCOM Special Video Interview Series project is exciting and challenging as well. Our recent guests include Dr. Jeffrey Kingston from Temple University and Howard French the Tokyo Bureau Chief for The New York Times. It's always interesting to hear what these people think, and to be part of getting their opinion out to the world has been a real source of personal satisfaction.

I have a couple of other projects on the go.. one is almost finished and the other just starting.. neither of which I can really talk about here yet which is too bad, but suffice to say that not much work gets done on them while I'm sleeping!!

Other notes of interest in random order; I meet a cool Japanese student from Tokyo Univ. not long ago who sent me this link for Kyoto photos, I've been reading a great book by John Nathan "Sony: The Private Life" which is a total inspiration, so now I'm looking forward to read Morita's Biography "Made in Japan" next, and just wondering if anyone else got this warp request 'from the future' lately..?!?!?

Well you know what they say about all work and no play.. 'Here's Johnnie'..!!! Busy Busy Busy.. and HOT.. damn it's just like summer here again.. I'm drinking (& sweating) a gallon of water per day and not looking forward to another 6 weeks of this. Shouldn't complain though 'cause the season also brings a whole range of great festivals like the Hanabi Matsuri we went to last week-end...!!! YES.. the video is up for you to watch, Hon Atsugi holds this event every 1st Saturday of August and we saw something like 10,000 fireworks go off in 90 minutes!!! My clip really does not do it justice (Real Player runs better) but we had a great time and it was nice to take a day off for that adventure. I promise to spend more time on this blog and try hit another couple of summer festivals.. meanwhile I gotta try and stay sane cool..!!

What a freakin Blast..!! 'LOGIN' was by most measures a successful event, well attended and a fun time had by all. I'm sure that Damon and crew were relieved and excited to see their efforts proven worthwhile. It was really cool to finally meet people that I've swapped e-mail and links with but never seen in person before. Also got introduced to a couple great new folks that I'm looking forward to follow-up with soon. SO.. what happened..?!? As I recall the chaos really began when the Great Admiral Pongi turned up in full battle gear.. and kept rolling along with a certain sparkle from the famous Nadine of Tokyos_hoes (LOL), but things really kicked into over-drive at the Nijikai for us die-hards that stumbled over to Gas Panic and cranked up the heat until sunrise, and train service, reared their ugly heads. No doubt most people who came will be looking forward to next time.. and the ones who couldn't be there for this one will be drinking double time to catch-up at Ver. 2.0 come late Sept. Kanpai

You Really Wanna see this video clip (QT for DSL)  from that event..!!!

After much digital blood sweat and tears.. WirelessWatch.jp finally went live this week..!!! What a long haul it was migrating all our existing content into new cms database. We choose PHP Nuke 6.5 because it has a built-in hook for PayPal billing, and we never could have done it w/o Kristens patient help (Thanks Again..!!). I'm so relieved to get that done and Really Happy to see people actually sign-up and pay for our service.

Street scenes (via my cam-phone) from Roppongi to Shibuya over the last little while include a surprise visit by Godzilla to the Tokyo Hard-Rock Cafe, our still secret cash Yen deal on the table at this Blowfish resturant, a super cute little Yakuza baby doll and my train ride home last night with larger than life size Pooh-san..!!!!

Also, you gotta see this vdo (QT for DSL), Dr. Pongi was 'in the house' last week at the Tokyo Big Sight Wireless '03 event .. wish I could have hung out to shoot with the boyz. But, was totally concentrated on work, we got some great material for an upcoming WWJ video program. I was also pretty pleased to see that Tokyo Tidbits was interviewed by CNN the other day.. it's a good feeling to know that we got her on camera first for our 1imc episode..!!!

Final wrap-up point.. LOGIN is ON this weekend..!! It should be a real blast to party with all them folks from the Tokyo IT/Media scene. Damon and crew have done a lotta work to get it all put together.. I'm guessing it's gonna be a zoo.

If your in Tokyo on the 27th, this is Where We're Gonna Be..

Where do those A-List bloggers find the time..?!? It's been a hell-bound rush over the last few weeks, but we're finally starting to get somewhere (I think). Was surprised to see requests for sign-up on the new WWJ site even though it's not open to the public yet!! (Google must be working over-time). Our beta testers have done a great job and I really hope to have everything in place to make the switch by this weekend. Then maybe I can spend a little time on this site (Gotta like the Box Network) because this whole cms routine has really started to piss me off got my attention. Meanwhile I'll live by the "Be all you can be.. no more, no less, no excuses" mantra and pass along this funny reminder of just how polite people are here, even in the cut throat world of spam!!

Link to the coolest little guitar I've ever seen, just for you Slick..!!!

Life in the fast lane here this last week.. Had a blast at the 1imc conference on Saturday.. all the players were there, and it was good to meet some for the 1st time and a few that I haven't seen for awhile now. I managed to put together a vdo clip of the event, starting with the morning presentation panel called the 'Business of Moblogging' and got it Streaming from WWJ about 2 hours later..!!  No doubt we had the 1st video content of the event on-line.. 8-)   Also managed to get a few folks on camera outside where the light was better (special thanks to Adam, Mie, Gohsuke and Justin). So we ended up with a fairly decent guerilla style 20 minute program from the show.. whew, what a long day.

Went to the Tanabata Festival in Hirastuka the next day and found that my trusty Canon mini-dv cam would not record..  +_+  A serious digital love-hate relationship is brewing.. it was 'difficult' beyond words to walk for hours through the crowds (many dressed in colorful Yukata's) and see all the things that make shooters like me drool.. but not be able to capture any of it.. grrr.

Otherwise.. A few things happening that I can't post public just yet.. but I did mention some time ago this project for ATIP which is now available (Netscape/Real Player or Explorer/Win. Media w/DSL connection) 

If you've spent any time in Japan at all.. then no doubt after awhile the many examples of 'not quite right' english signs (t-shirts etc) become more or less normal. BUT, every so often you come across one that really stands out as mmm.. unusual!! This quick pic from out front of a trendy resturant in Harajuku the other day is actually more like something you would see on Late Night with David Letterman. I really enjoy eating most of the food here (Totemo Oshii..!!) that a few years ago would not even have considered.. there is No Way your gonna get me onto a Korean style dinner menu.. ;-)

In other non-related tidbits; Getting daily mail from Wireless Watch regulars (nice to be missed) OK, our new PHP Nuke site is almost done.. about a week of beta testers action and we'll go live. In case you didn't hear me scream around the globe.. (SNAFU) it looks like I 'lost' one of my archieve storage HDD's this morning.. maybe with any luck (eek) it will come back from the dead pergatory (I sure hope so). And even if you don't care (or are sick of hearing about it) my blogshares 'portfolio' is closing in on $5 Million!! Not bad.. but the big fish are easy at 10x that by now. It's prolly a good thing I'm not a premium member (like them) with unlimited transactions, that costs $15 real dollars per year.

So.. finally made it out to a Tokyo Bloggers meet-up last night in Harajuku. Tim and I were actually kinda lucky to have all our regular crap done 'almost' in time.. got there about an hour late and did not know a single face in the crowd.

But it didn't take long to get talking, and Sam turned up soon after (hadn't seen him since the interview for WWJ) Really cool to meet (in 'random-alpha' order.. hahaa.. a new word is born) Ian, Jim, Paul, Stuart, and Tatsumi. Wish I had a chance to talk with Gen. and Kevin.. or see a few of the regulars like Jeff, Mia, Kurt, Jeremy and many others on my left nav. list who didn't make it. I think a pretty good time was had by all, but the bar staff.. it's the first time in Japan that I've had to order a beer 3 times to finally get one!! Thinking maybe this crew has out-grown the Zest Club location (or maybe some thirsty blogsters kept intercepting my brew) also heard rumblings of a summer BBQ would be great. Meanwhile I noticed that the Love-Hotel Mobilog event is schedule for July 3rd.. now that would be an interesting shoot..!!

Speaking of interesting shoots.. in a sick kinda way, check-out this video clip (1.6meg .MPG) recorded on the Odayku-sen recently by Mark at Vu Deja.. Yikes!!! (PS; Congrats.. Fran-chan is beautiful!!)

Back in the saddle here again after a great 48hr whirl-wind tour of Japan's East coast Izu area.. we stayed at a nice new B&B with private onsen (aaaaaahhh) and hiked through the forest to get this perfect view of the ocean, did some antique kimono shopping, ate the best sashimi I've ever had, checked out this Magic Mushroom store (@_@).. and even got to try our hand at glass blowing!! Since it was supposed to be a 'vacation' I did not bring any camera gear.. so these shots were all taken on my cell-phone.. really should set-up a Mobilog!! After surfing out a few other sites today I came across this really well done Japan Adventure story with some great photos... if thats all I had to do in this life was travel, shoot and write about Japan.. (concentrate on 'just that' task) it would be like a dream come true.. with a decent rig, a little 'spare' time and a small budget.. yada-yada.. a favorite quote re-discovered on the Box site comes to mind.. "Try not, Do or do not, there is no try.." 

Astroboy turned 50 years old this spring.. but looks like he hasn't aged a day!! In case you didn't know he is the Japanese icon equal to Marvel Comics Superman.. and I just came across this cool site with a cartoon video of him. While I'm on a roll.. heres a few other links to video streams; Felix at Actioncontents is visiting Japan from Germany and has posted this (PG-13) Peephole clip.. and if you like cats (or not) this one is a classic. The Mrs. and I are going to a ryokan for the week-end.. it's our 2nd wedding anniversary (seems like only yesterday). We are really looking forward to having more than one day off in a row together for the first time since last x-mas!!

**Blogshares Update: After about 30 days of trading (and starting with $1,000 in play money) I have managed to build just over $1.8million in 'cash' and have a 'stock portfolio' of $800k or so. Alas.. even a 'real' penny on the 'fake' dollar would be nice!!! It's a fun game though.. Good Job Seyed.. Congrats.

People often ask me "Do you know where the Ruin of The First Temporary Elementary School is..??" guess it didn't help being so close to the Shibuya Fire Station!! They also wonder "what it's like to be so tall living in Japan..??" (mmm.. at least I can see how long the line-up is on my morning commute) People routinely ask me about "all those cool gadgets they have over there.." Well, how about this groovy new invention for hands free cell-phone while your driving!!! I get strange questions too, like "do they have any wild-life in Japan..??" tough one.. but here's a recent snap-shot from Shinjuku Station East Exist of a Lion, Tiger and Bear.. Oh My!! Finally they also seem curious about what to "do in your spare time..??" thats easy.. *_*

My first visit (for a whole 18 days) to Japan was 3 years ago this month and one of the many great new things I discovered was Ume-shu (Plum Sake). A home-made Hootch To Die For.. a nector for the gods emperors!! At this time of year the grocery stores set-up a special section with all the stock needed to make your own.. and so heres how it works. You wanna get 1kg of the best possible fresh green plums (imagine only a couple months ago we actually saw 'these ones' blooming in Odawara) and you need a nice big (4L) Glass Jug and 1.8L of 'White Liquer'. Ya, I'm not sure either.. but it's not Vodka or Gin.. so who knows.. so long as it packs a punch!! The set-up is pretty simple; layer those plums in the jug along with 1Kg of Rock Sugar,  then add that mystery 40% proof go juice.. seal it up tight, put a sticker with the date on it and your done. Stash away in cool dark place for 7-10 years (more is better) and Enjoy..!! Good thing that the in-laws have been making it here the last 20+ years, I couldn't wait that long otherwise. (Note: All of these pop-up pix are taken with my cam-phone..   really look forward to get one of these someday, it will use my Nikon lenses and shoot 14mega-pixel Raw images at 35megs instead of these 100k .jpgs!!)

Went a little bug-eyed on a video project here over the last few days, a 30 minute talking head with about 40 Power Point slides in a framed page that does url push in synch at my markers in the time-line. It came out pretty good in the end..  I'll add a link when it's approved and public. Otherwise came across this cool peak at Tokyo life on the street at Joe vs. Japan and it reminded me that I should have linked to the video clip that x-ray did in Harajuku a couple weeks ago of the 'scene' there on a Sunday afternoon..!! Another interesting Matsuri video was also posted recently here on Sushi-Cam.

WOW.. Yes, family and friends.. we are all ok!!! got lot's of mail and msn contact today to make sure that the quake didn't affect us like they saw on BBC and CNN. I watched some footage on NHK late-night news which was pretty wild.. a security cam. from 7-11 type store that was really rockin, as if working the night shift didn't suck enough, they had more stock on the floor than on the shelves when it was all over!! Speaking of stock.. haha, recap on the Video-Link Japan blogshares.. doubled up to $48 per share in 24hrs!! I made more (play) money sleeping last night than all of last year.. $_$  Also, came across this great Top 10 Earthquake Prevention List today.. Jeez.. things must be getting tight in Japan if they finally closed the tax loop that used to let oyages write-off their virgin sacrifices!! btw: Congrats are in order over at WireFarm, Tiffany and Co. thats 1st class!! 

Whoo-Hoo.. that was a 'real' earthquake!! I'm guessing by now most of the Japan Bloggers have been busy posting where they were when. From what I can tell it registered 7.something and for the 1st time that I've heard actually made the shinkansen (bullet train) stop!! I was reminded of this funny article published on the Japan Times site back in Nov. 2002 (all you can do is hold on with a moronic smile). The ironic timing of it all.. "A whole lotta shakin going on in my mind" I was actually laughing out-loud at the current state of my blogshares account!! Yessiree.. the value of Video-Link Japan has jumped from it's IPO of .21cents to the current indexed $20.22 per share!! Making my total portfolio worth just over a cool $100k in less than 30 days.. I am SO in the wrong business @_@

Found this lead on Joi's site.. a disturbing twist (if that's possible) on the in-synch type 'boys band' craze, but Japanese Style (read: Totally Whack). YATTA!! if you didn't see the video, then for sure worth a laugh.. further described here. While Japan has a reputation for being a very conservative country (no kidding) I think it's fair to say there are 'extremes'.. they work hard and play hard!! No doubt the late night tv programming here (classics like this came from popular comedy skits) would stun & amaze even the most hardened couch potatoes. Makes me think that if somebody had the power rights to get MAD TV translated into Japanese.. it would Sell here Big Time..!! I've been in IT hell last few days between the video server *Grr* and my tired old C hdd (took 12 hours to defrag) a radical spring cleaning is underway.

Jeez.. a little power glitch combined with a holiday long week-end and we're knocked off-line for a lifetime couple days.. grrr. We took some time to stop and smell the roses on Sunday at the Fujisawa campus of Nihon University, they had a great collection of bonsai as well, imagine this one is older than me!! It was actually quite a roadmap adventure to find our way there, passing many fields with Rice Farmers getting ready for a new crop year. Made me think that a vehicle mounted video camera would be a great future project so people could see what it's like here on the street. In other news, I sold my Wai Wai shares for double ($1.31 - $2.67) and bought more Video-Link Japan stock with the proceeds..!!

Brother Rick sent me this link today of a 'hostile' Canadian Polar Bear taking on a Seawolf class U.S submarine!! I couldn't help but notice the ironic symbolism of such an event.. crazy canucks just as brave as we are out gunned. Seems like that's a world away as Japan heads into the 'rainy season'.. akin to saying Siberia in January is the 'chilly season'... but it's not like I needed any more excuses to burn 10 hours on-line learning PHP code. Yes, that gave me a Screaming head-ache.. really wish humans were born with a built-in CD-Rom (only in Bill Gates dreams!!) then we could easily upload all the data..!! Whoa, guess thats a sign maybe it's time I un-plugged for a day. Meanwhile, if your becoming a Blogshares Junkie (admitting is not even close to the 1st step in re-hab) then you gotta check-out this cool blog-site. I got some great strategy tips from there about 'playing the game'.. thanks Ash.. Congrats on your IPO..!!

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