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Whales!
Whales! Yesterday morning, I swore I saw a black fin arcing up out of the water, but I was the only one who saw it. Later in the afternoon, I spotted another. Once again, I was the only one. But I wasn’t halucinating. Within the hour we were standing at the railling of the lower…
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Our cliffside ocean view
Our cliffside ocean view offers hours of lazy fascination. With a pair of binoculars, we have spied on passing ships, waves, sea birds, even cows in a pasture on a nearby hillside. Rainbows do not magnify well.
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Maui has a gaping
Maui has a gaping hole in its service economy. There are no Internet cafes on the island. I see an opportunity. Would relocating to a tropical island be torture? I don’t think so.
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Travel is the worst.
Travel is the worst. Holidays are the best. At the moment, I’m getting over through over the rigors of travelling from there to here. Train to Narita. Wait in the lounge. Red eye to Honolulu. Short hop to Maui. Arrival 9:30 am. Friends are due to arrive at 2:12. We’ve forgotten their flight number. Meet…
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The number of digital
The number of digital subscriber lines (DSL) reached 34,372 at the end of February, more than 10 times last October’s figure of some 3,000, thanks to lower rates and the shorter duration of installation work, the telecom ministry said Friday. (from Japan Today) Soon, we’ll add ourselves to that statistic and cut down on our…
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Way back, when I
Way back, when I was trying to learn to program in C, Tod had some licorice candies with “GP” embossed on them. I decided they were the Good Programmer candies and I awarded them to myself when I finished a chapter. I quickly grew frustrated with C, gave up and eventually threw away the Good…
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From time to time,
From time to time, the Daily Yomiuri runs its own recommendations on how to improve the country. This week they are running a seven-part series on the front page: Arresting Deflation. The introductory paragraph of the first in the series contained some remarkable language–more fit for the editorial page than the front page. “With no…
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A battle is brewing
A battle is brewing on the business front. Japan’s domestic towel makers are urging the government to place import restrictions on foreign towels that they claim are erroding their marketbase. But the Japan Chain Stores Association says they must import towels to provide convenience to consumers. I’ve used Japanese-made towels. They’re not especially remarkable. Bath…
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i-mode penetration
20 million i-mode users
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If you’ve been thinking
If you’ve been thinking of visiting Japan, this might be a good time. The dollar is over 119 yen, the highest it’s been since July 1999. The dollar hit bottom at about 101 yen in December 1999 after a drastic overnight drop from 108 to 104 in September. We saw people at the bank selling…
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