Quiva Blog

In case you haven't noticed, this blog has been seriously neglected! If you're interested in what I'm up to know check out one of the following posterous blogs.

http://greglane.posterous.com/ (personal)
http://blog.fusionbureau.com/ (business)

The first is only slightly less neglected than this blog. I'm a contributor to the second.

--- Warning! ---

The following departs from the usual topics of my blog and is probably only of interest if you use Ubuntu or you hate Ubuntu and would like a good reason to diss it.

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Recently as a result of having to move out of our place while it was being done up, I was deprived of internet access while not at work. So, I went down to Bic Camera and bought me one of these flash new cellular data cards. Actually it's not so much a card as a USB device. The Emobile D02HW claims a maximum data throughput of 7.2Mbits/s and the service provides more or less nationwide coverage through a roaming agreement with NTT DoCoMo.

Getting it going in Ubuntu was quite a mission - but I did it! As is usual with these types of things, Japanese language forums have quite a bit more info than is available in English.

So here is my set-up and how I did it. (no guarantees for you!)

Environment:
Sharp PC-CS30H lap top running Ubuntu Linux 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)

Getting it going!
1. Plug in the modem BEFORE you switch on your computer. I can't get it to recongnise the modem if I plug it in after I've started up Ubuntu.
2. Do not use gnome-ppp as recommended in other forums. I absolutely could not get this to work.
3. Open a terminal and type 'sudo pppconfig'
4. From the pppconfig utility that pops up, select 'create a connection'. Call it emobile-ppp and hit <enter>
5. Change the settings to those shown in the image below.



6. Save the emobile-ppp profile and quit pppconfig

Now here is where it gets a bit weird - perhaps this is just my set-up, but it works for me.

7. Change (still in terminal) to the /etc/ppp/ directory
8. Type 'sudo pon emobile-ppp'

This will not connect you to the internet, it should but it doesn't!

9. After a few seconds type sudo poff
10. Type 'sudo pon emobile-ppp' again.

Within a few seconds you should be connected. For some reason running 'pon' and then 'poff' seems to reset the modem so you can connect when you run 'pon' for a second time.

11. To diconnect from emobile type 'sudo poff'.

This took two weeks of trial and error! Speed is OK, but I'm getting nothing like 7.2Mbits/s. The best I've seen is about 2.5Mbit/s. It often drops down to about 600Kbit/s - presumably when it's roaming on the DoCoMo network.

Although my experience could be seen as negative, the fact is, despite not being supported by E-Mobile, this is running on Ubuntu. If you hack around enough, you can do ANYTHING on this OS. Check out ubuntu.com for the latest lovely flavour of Ubuntu - version 8.04.

It's been out for a while now, but if you haven't seen it, you might want to check out my column in Japan Inc. - entitled 'Business Break'.

It's basically a wrap-up of new, interesting and innovative business news from Japan. It's a little internet/tech heavy at present, but I hope to have a little more balance in the next one.

Although at first I thought it was I who was the drunken one, I eventually realised that this building has a subtly disorientating skewed tilt. From certain angles it almost appears to defy perspective - walk around the building a little more and you're likely to walk into a lamp post as it screws with your brains natural gyroscope.



Right here I was going to give you some info about the building and the architect, but I'm unable to find anything about it on the net. I'll update this once I take a look at the sign on the construction fence.

The newly privatised Japan Post announced late last year that it was planning to tear down the Tokyo central post office in Otemachi, near the exit from Tokyo Station.

The 5 storey building was completed in 1931 and is reported to be in a pretty dilapidated state. As one of the last remaining notable buildings in central Tokyo still standing from this era, the Japan Institute of Architects has called for it's preservation.



Unfortunately, Heizo Takenaka, fomer Minister of Finance under Junichiro Koizumi and one of the strongest proponents of postal privatisation seems to be all ready with his own crowbar to start gleefully tearing the building to pieces. The most recent American Chamber of Commerce Japan Journal featured an interview with their 'Man of the Year' (aren't they about 5 years too late?) in which he stated

"... it’s important for Mr. Nishikawa to demonstrate some initial success, however modest, and I hope he is able to do so. If, for example, the Post Office in front of Tokyo Station is rebuilt and people like it, that would project progress — and doing so is a key test for privatization."

Although, Takenaka has a lot less influence than he did under Koizumi, I think this pretty much seals it. It's doomed!

Had a browse through the JR East in-carriage shopping catalogue on the weekend. While containing more or less the same kind of er... crap that you find in western shopping catalogues, a couple of uniquely Japanese (perhaps) items grabbed my attention.

First there is the triangular cushion that makes sitting in the 'Seiza' position more comfortable. 'Seiza' literally means 'correct sitting position'. This involves sitting with bent knees with your feet under your bottom. If you don't think that is a particularly painful way to sit for long periods of time, perhaps you should ask these guys.



The second is the 'Desk Pillow'. This is pretty self explanatory, but beggars the question - if you are that tired, why don't you just go home? The seiza cushion also deifies logic to an extent. Instead of making it more comfortable to sit in the seiza position, why not just change your sitting position? The reason of course is that Japanese society/culture necessitates that people put up with the particular behaviour. That said, I'm not sure if the desk cushion will catch on!

Reg Lange - an old friend and something of a legend amongst freelance journalists in Japan has written a piece on predictions for 2008.

Check it out on seekjapan.jp (the same people who do Japanzine)

http://www.seekjapan.jp/article/1398/Highly+Possible+Predictions+for+2008

He's a smart lad that Reg.

Yesterday saw the introduction of compulsory fingerprinting and photographing of all foreigners entering Japan. Similar to the US Visit programme which similarly treats all foreign visitors as potential terrorists, the system will store your data (unless you are Japanese) indefinitely in a database. Sharing the data with the US has not been ruled out either.

Not being a big fan of this system at all, I decided to attend an Amnesty International organised protest outside the Japanese Justice Ministry in Kasumigaseki yesterday. Given that there are hundreds of thousands of foreigners in Tokyo, the 100 odd turnout (both foreigners and Japanese) was a bit pathetic. Respect to those who turned up though - with the huge media contingent and the small number of people protesting, each person was making a very public stand against this ridiculous policy.

Below are some photos taken at the demonstration.



This is from the middle of the protest - there was a trickle of people turning up so the final number was probably about 100. Some ordinary people gave some very passionate, heartfelt speeches. One woman despaired that she had been married to a Japanese man for 45 years, had Japanese children and grand-children but would be treated like a criminal from now on when returning to her home in Japan. Some 'Zainichi' Koreans pointed out that not all Zainichi had the status that would exempt them from this measure. They also explained that family members in Korea will now refuse to visit Japan because of this new law. Given the importance of places like Korea and China as sources for inbound tourism, this is going to have a big impact.



I have never seen so many media in a single place. There goes the anonymity of being part of a crowd. If there was a government snoop with a camera there then I might have got myself on a list of dangerous subversives!



The police were generally well behaved. They were very silly about people crossing the chain at the top of the steps and approaching the building though. A mother with a child in a baby buggy was told that she could not stay on their side of the chain and that she had to join the crowd on the other side.

Read more about this issue at Arudo Debito's blog.

The 17th and 18th of October saw the biggest New Zealand themed festival ever to be held in Japan at the Roppongi Hills Arena. It was part of 'New Paradise Week 2007' which also features events until Friday this week at the New Zealand Travel Cafe in Roppongi.

While the shipped in plants, the fiberglass waterfall, the surrounding skyscrapers and the throngs of people weren't exactly evocative of New Zealand, the music, food and the general vibe definitely was.





There were a few NZ beers on sale but not a huge range. I really don't know why they would want to push Tui into Japan. I heard one Japanese patron remark 'mazui!' (disgusting) after sampling some Tui - it's got way too much malt in it for the average Japanese palate. They also had a couple of varieties of Monteiths - a far superior beer and probably much more palatable to the average Japanese.



This was actually only the first 1/3 of the queue. If they do this again (I heard a rumour it may be bi-annual) the organisers should look for a bigger arena.





This was my first time to see Rhombus playing live. I really liked the deep base dub rhythms. Also, their enthusiasm was completely infectious. Just what you need on a really cold day in November.

If you have an appointment at Hitman & Co. near Yoyogi-Koen station, you might want to consider cancelling. The red er... let's just call them 'blotches' in front of their entrance suggest that an appointment at 'Hitman' may be your last!

The opening of Krispy Kreme's second Tokyo branch in a basement in Yurakucho goes to show that there are thousands of people in Tokyo with absolutely nothing better to do on a Sunday than line up for one hour and forty-five minutes for a doughnut.



This photo was taken a couple of weekends ago. Presumably the wait is down to less than an hour and a half by now.

This has been out for a while now but if you're interested, please take a look at the article I wrote for Japan Inc magazine.

http://www.japaninc.com/mgz_sep-oct_2007_issue_failed-businesses

Just when you thought it was insane to queue for hours and hours to buy doughnuts, how about queuing for hours to buy doughnuts then lugging six boxes of them for five hours on the train up to Hirosaki in Aomori prefecture?! On a recent visit to said place, I spotted the family below. There's actually another bag hidden that is the same size as the one you can see - almost half their baggage was doughnuts!



Along with queuing for hours for each ride at Tokyo Disney, it would seem that queuing at Krispy Kreme is now also an essential part of the Tokyo experience for visitors to the big city.

This did get me thinking though. After watching the excellent Canadian documentary 'The Corporation' and in particular a piece about 'undercover marketing', it struck me that it could actually make good sense for a company to PAY PEOPLE TO QUEUE! In Japan, long, long queues are recognised as a sign of the success and popularity of a store. Perhaps in contrast to the west, queues attract people rather than put them off. So, paying 200 students 800yen an hour to queue up outside my store for 8 hours a day, for two days, would only cost about 2.5 million yen. Hopefully, after two days, the paid queuers would be replaced by the real article and suddenly I'd be generating huge free publicity.

According to Trans Pacific Radio, one hour long waits still persist at Krispy Kreme's Shinjuku branch. It would be appropriate to finish with a quote from Homer Simpson 'Hmmm... Donuts', but I don't actually like them so that would be insincere.