tokyololas

I have just spent another stretch of time in yet another poorly equipped training facility (which, to me, essentially boils down to whether or not there’s a broadband connection). I dunno…2007…I expect infrastructure…it’s amazing how places in Tokyo can be so cutting edge while others are sooooo, what should I say, retro…?

A stunning, stunning sunset this evening:

As I’m sure everyone’s now aware, Prime Minister Abe has just resigned. Seemed to be complete and utter shock in the media today - I was at home, so I put the TV on as soon as I heard. I suppose it’s the timing that’s the shock because it certainly cannot be truly shocking that he has decided to resign. Japanese Prime Ministers don’t usually hang on very long and the landslide defeat in the summer was the alarm bell that he wouldn’t be sticking around much longer.

I rarely buy pop, BUT this Dr.Pepper can is so fantastic that it caught my eye in the conbini fridge and I had to buy it - more to take a photo of than to actually drink (although I am having it on ice now). I’ve obviously photoshopped the image to get the neon effect, but the main image is exactly how it looks on the can - great colours, eh? The mosaic itself was made with fd’s Flickr Toys (although I could just have easily done it with Photoshop; I was exploring the “toys” available).

I haven’t blogged for a while - I was out of town for work for a few days in a place that, shock of shock and horror of horrors, had NO internet access…how such a facility can exist is beyond me, but it meant three long days without news, blogs, photos, etc. In other words, my news aggregator (my brain) needs to get a bit caught up before I can actually comment on anything…

Perhaps tomorrow…

I was sweating slightly more than my drinks appear to be in this shot from yesterday afternoon, but they only stayed cold for about 12 minutes…I love summer and I love hot weather, but I did question my sanity for a brief moment as I was sitting outside and watching my drinks form puddles on the table.

I never really pay attention to the actual temperature (the forecast says 37 or 35 and it doesn’t really make much of a difference when you’re sitting in it), but this morning, as I was watching the news on BBC, the weather guy said “40 in Tokyo today”. Then I saw this, and it made me realise that, yes, it’s been a tad hot lately:

Trains halted on Tobu Tojo Line after high temperatures warp train tracks

SAITAMA — Trains on the Tobu Tojo Line were brought to a halt in Saitama Prefecture on Wednesday after soaring temperatures warped a section of the line, officials said.

Railway officials said the driver of a train noticed that the tracks between Ogawamachi and Musashi-ranzan stations were bent of shape as the train passed through the area at about 2:10 p.m. on Wednesday.

Officials said the bend in the track was found about 300 meters southeast of Ogawamachi Station. One of the rails was bent inwards and the other was bent outwards, causing the tracks to shift as much as 5 centimeters.

Soaring temperatures in the area were thought to have caused the bend, and officials poured water over the track to correct the shift.

As a safety precaution, train services between Shinrin-Koen Station and Ogawamachi Station were brought to a halt for about three hours, resulting in the cancellation of 22 trains. About 2,200 passengers were affected by the move.

Officials at the Kumagaya Local Meteorological Observatory said that the high temperature in Yorii, located next to the Saitama Prefecture town of Ogawa, hit 39.5 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. (Mainichi Daily News)

Think I might have a slice of watermelon now…

God, I can barely iron a shirt in the morning at the best of times - it is absolutely my least favourite household chore. There is, therefore, no way I can wrap my head around this:

(photo/story from MDN)

That’s 38-year-old Hitoshi Matsuzawa, an office worker from the Chiba Prefecture city of Kamagaya, on the 3,776-meter Kengamine peak of Mount Fuji. In a demonstration of Extreme Ironing Japan-style, Matsuzawa climbed Mt. Fuji with an ironing board and a 25 kilogram generator (yes, twenty-five kilos).

Further clicking resulted in this image (from the German Extreme Ironing website):

Matsuzawa certainly took the easy way out…ha ha ha…

Looking at these photos kind of makes me laugh: you can get a guy to lug an ironing board up a mountain with a generator, risk his life, etc., BUT, in the entire history of “domestic science” (I love that expression), I’d venture to say there’s probably been a pretty slim chance of getting someone with XY chromosomes to iron all of the napkins, linens, shirts, etc. that need to be ironed at home on a weekly basis. I understand the aversion and am, therefore, quite pleased about 21st Century high tech artificial fibres and/or a general embrace of slacker style…

With the goal of continuing to broaden their target market (and they are clearly reaching out to women here), Nintendo has released a new “game” for their DS handheld machine which helps players exercise facial muscles. The DS stands for “dual screen”, so you attach a digital camera (which comes with the software) to show your own face on the right while an animated face displays exercises to copy on the other screen.

An accompanying electronic voice takes you through the paces, giving instructions and counting out the time. Apparently, the 16 different exercises were designed by a “beauty expert” (whatever that means) and take only a few minutes each to perform. According to the AP article, “overseas sales plans are still undecided”.

My guess is the product won’t make it far beyond these shores - maybe other parts of Asia, but I cannot envision it selling well elsewhere. It’s not that “face training” (or “facening” as the “beauty expert” calls it) is a bad idea, it’s just that introducing a device into the process seems somewhat redundant - a mirror and a manual would be all you’d really need and, even then, once proficient, the mirror would become redundant too.

The other issue, is that I don’t think entry into the gaming market is as elastic in, for example, North America as it might be in Japan. In other words, I think non-gamers are much less likely to become interested in games and devices once they pass a certain age. Nintendo has had a lot of success in Japan getting non-users to become users with “Brain Training” games, and this “Face Training” product is an extension of that strategy, but I think they would face more of an uphill battle elsewhere.

Anyway, you can see one of the CMs here and another here

The main webpage - will be interesting to see how the product does:

As I mentioned the other day, August is all festivals and fireworks. With a bit of free time, went down to Enoshima yesterday to watch another fireworks display.

Anyway, it was probably one of the best fireworks displays I have ever seen (including numerous “Symphony of Fire” displays in Toronto over the years), so it is definitely worth seeing if you happen to be in the area.

However, the problem with actually seeing the show is that you then encounter tremendous difficulty getting out of the area. This is the second time I have been to see fireworks at Enoshima and I now recall why there has been almost a 10-year gap since the first time and now: well over 100,000 people all departing the beach at exactly the same time and trying to get to a train station that, at best, is designed to accommodate maybe 1,000.

Despite waiting 90 minutes after the show ended before even leaving the beach, the mass of people (many who would have been in line for that 90 minutes) trying to get to Katase-Enoshima station was unfathomable. The line up stretched from the station right to the parking lot entrance of the beach (a distance of about three-quarters of a kilometre) and was about a hundred people across.

When you actually start thinking about the logistics it is mind-boggling: NO extra transportation is arranged at all to deal with the influx of thousands and thousands of people. All they do is add hundreds of security guards and police officers to direct pedestrians and help them cross at the traffic lights. Yes, that’s right, they don’t even close the road to allow the crowd to disperse more widely. Why, for example, don’t they run shuttle buses from the beach to 3 or 4 of the major train stations nearby (Fujisawa, Zushi, Chigasaki, Ofuna)? This would at least get people moving in different directions to the places they want to go. Instead, tiny Katase-Enoshima station is like a ridiculous little funnel transporting people a few stops to Fujisawa so that they can switch to the JR lines and go either East or West.

Of course, there are other options: the Enoden and the Shonan monorail. Neither is great - they are both extremely limited in capacity and not designed to transport a gazillion people in such a short span of time. After our first attempt (at the 90 minute mark), we ended up having another drink on the beach and waiting another 45 minutes or so before attempting to get to the Shonan monorail in order to get to Ofuna for a JR train. We managed to squeeze on and by that time it was about 11:00, so I didn’t arrive back in Shinjuku until about 12:30 am.

As I said, the fireworks were great, BUT a bit of an arduous journey back to Tokyo…

Okay…enough whinging…it really was a good display and a fun afternoon & evening with my fireworks chum, Kirk. I managed to get a few good photos too…

You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen a Japanese beach in August:

Some young women in yukata just prior to the show:

Nice Mount Fuji sunset:

And, of course, some light in the sky: