Go ahead and read the full article! To me it is a great write up on why the internet frankly sucks in Japan. Why it still looks like it’s 1999.

This quote from the end stands out to me:

A fully-realized internet will be critical for Japan achieving some of its own stated goals: prolonged economic growth, greater democracy, more transparency, greater geographic dispersion of economic activity, and equal access to knowledge.

The article is from 2009, but still holds so very true. I can see this nearly pathetic suspicion (fear is a bit too strong in this case) of the internet in my wife’s relatives.

And I have seen this fear with students, back when I was teaching german.

This thinking though has also tainted my public writing. I refrain from ever writing about my company or any company I have worked before. This has ethical reasons (I hate bad mouthing people and places), but I am also worried such would cast a negative light on me in the eye of potential employers in the future or if I were to go independent, customers.

I would, though, not do it anonymously. This would be just coward. I just like to have a conflict directly with the person I am in conflict with. That excludes usually the company I work for, since decisions and culture is made by people.

In the future, and I hope it will not be too far off, I hope that Japanese will learn to embrace the internet for what is: The information highway! Gosh I am old…)

Since 2009 nothing much has changes, but then again the old people are still in charge. In East Germany we just kicked them out when the time was ripe, in Japan this will surely not happen (and it does not have to), but with companies like Rakuten, which leadership seems to have gotten the lesson, I am hopeful that we will still see the bright cyberpunk future, the promised land of free access to information.

On the other hand Japan (with its ridiculous copyright laws) could be the model for other developed countries (Germany I look at you!) to follow suit and we end up with censorship like in China.

The British seem to have found the golden middle way: Just never let anyone get a dependable broadband internet connection. ^-^

Being a pessimist is great: If things get better it will make me happy, but if not I can point fingers, laugh and say: Told you so!

This is the end,

my indifferent friend.

Standing in Shinuya I think back over 2 years at my School.

I am very happy and thankful I could work there and teach people, bringing some knowledge on language and country in was born in to the people, as well as simply keeping my head over water, feeding my family. Of cause being laid off means to find a new job. And I hate the fucking job hunt. I never liked it, but this time i am impressively calm, because in know

my heart will go on

And now I beat a shovel in my face, I hate that song. Anyway, I feel confident. I know I will find a job that will pay more, I know, I might again break the hearts of students, whom might hope to come closer. But lovely is unbeatable.

And sadly I might even know the reason for being laid off and I will come back to it in a future piece.

Over the cause of the last weeks I said goodbye to 40 students I liked.

I received presents of unspeakable value. Price but especially emotional wise.

3 students presented me with handkerchiefs, how I love them. Since 2005 I actually kinda collect them and never leave the house without.  I sound ironic to myself, but I mean it.

I received wine from my home town, food and a lot of comfort and well wishes tonight.

Tonight was my farewell party, a 3 hour voice,  with wine and bread and ham and cheese and snacks, given and presented by my brilliant students. We ate and drank in amounts higher then I earned in a month there. My common joke over the past 3 weeks has become:

I should be laid off more often!

My students. Tonight we have a family and as Tocotronic once sang:

So jung komm’ wir nicht mehr zusammen. (this young we won’t come together again.)

The party was stormed by my co-workers and went into a babylonian speech confusion.

Even a student who just had her first lesson yesterday attended. So I tried to entertain her in English.

Two years as a shadow worker ended tonight. Now it’s maybe time to get work in the broad daylight again.

I have arrived in Ofuna. I through every form over board. I dance to Nine Inch Nails “The Slip”. [I actually always come back to them, when I look for a job.]

In this job I have lived through a small taste of what the big bang will be, when Tokyo’s wooden house will burn down and will have to walk the fucking post apocalyptic ashes to get home. Not that night though. That day in the 6th floor I had 2 students, one of whom called me back, stating

Komm zurück, wir haben noch Unterricht (come back, we are still in a lesson)!

Yesterday she and her fellow student presented me with a beautiful dark blue Burberry handkerchief, which i will wear at my interviews in suits. The shouting student ended up staying over at a co-workers place, Rさん, together with another co-worker and me.

Todays blue and brown handkerchiefs I will wear at non suit interviews and on my first work day at the new job.

These 100 people that met me on a regular pace over the last years have been burned into my heart, have shaped my personality and paid my rent. They will not forget me. They will over time forget my face, my voice. But not my knowledge, my humor and my iconic yearning.

One last word on the company: we where not allowed to drink before the last lesson for silly reasons. But we had hella lot good wine (even Saale-Unstrut, from my home). I told then that and gave them the bottle opener. I was still bound by company rules, so had to show them the way, but they had to go through them self. They did.

My dearest friends. This movie has ended. The curtain has closed and we all went home. We have never been light and easy on one another. But we have discussed the things important to us, studied and learned so much.

The next movie festival will begin in five weeks. Take seat and enjoy the show.

PS: And everything I didn’t say has not been forgotten or apprichitaed!

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2010年10月22日～22時12分—23時59分～渋谷—港南台

Her lips have the appearance of a skin cut, poplar in horror movies, then remodeled to be thick and juicy. In the us (&a) they use Botox to reach this effect, but I can tell its natural. Glasses are far too big. 2 rings where the wedding ring should sit. Android phone, red cover. Not my type, nothing to look at, but matching common man’s interest…

Louis Vitton cover over iPhone 4. Expensive watch. He has a tattoo on his right hand ring finger, a designer wedding ring on the left, platinum or silver. Auburn company batch [or is it a university, google is not revealing], if I read it correctly. Like a salesman, grey needle stripes suit, simple, expansive looking shoes. Muscular in appearance. Small, short beard. Hear styled, standing up in front. He looks resemble a japanese version of Robert Downy Junior and a young DJ Krush, at least asleep. He won’t be older then 33. If he is a salesman, can he swear like a sailor? I bet he plays it very hard, uses also his attractiveness. I imagine he would scare the shit out of his subordinates, even though being a nice guy over beer. We both work in Shibuya today, but aboves image makes me wish he would be my boss. I smile when I hurry pass him, he does not notice. A good image is more expansive then the truth. お疲れ様でした。

perfect new mail footer: sometimes misinterpreted as creepy

and an unrelated, but fitting image:

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2011年10月19日～10時10～湘南新宿ライン

Lunchtime. Again I work in Shibuya testing a silly video game. Well, this time I translated it.

Lunchtime. My co-tester is from Hamburg, even though Asia born. A model. Like him.

Lunchtime. Where do we eat. Yesterday we ate at a small park. Was ok, but today I have a lovely bentō lovely made for me. I love that.

Lunchtime. He wants to eat in a restaurant. A treat. We mix German, English and Japanese all together. We must really sound like stupid. Maybe not. Cannot view myself from outside at the moment. Sorry!

Lunchtime. We arrive at a curry shop. It promises indian curry, but in a manner of fact, its Japanese curry, in indian style, made by a single japanese woman, belonging to a company.

Lunchtime. He says he would be nice today and eat with me at a bench. To which I answer, I wouldn’t mind, I would simply listen to Merlin and Dan, possibly chatting about Steve Jobs death.

Lunchtime. He ask’s the lady in the shop if I might eat my bentō inside. She is not troubled by this idea. She seems at ease.

Lunchtime. I eat my bentō on a small restaurant. I image that William Gibson would call this a stall. Anyway. Sitting beside the guy, chatting, which is fun, I feel at ease. More then I should, anyway.

We leave the place. I miss smoking. Week 5.

Lunchtime is over.

PS: I guess you can call above writing bad in style. If you do, stop reading, I am not writing for you. 2011年10月14日～川崎駅京浜東北線

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2011年10月13日～渋谷

Marketwatch is talking bout the iphone on KDDI, Gizmodo Japan is full of it, everybody else seems to ignore it ^-^ but even my kddi mobile is reporting it:

well, but:

• seeing kddi’s data flats and voice pricing (at an average of ¥8000)[$105, €78] for android and windows phone 7 (which i even like, i am amazed…) it will be probably more expensive then softbank (at an average of ¥7000, from what i hear, i am an au customer…) [$91, €68]
• kddi’s au is an cdma network, bad for people who want to use the phone in europe (like me. this would change of cause if they use a dual mode chip.)
• and just last week sunday i saw this at an au-shop in shinjuku:
  (edit: which says that the advertised HTC is 5 times faster then the iPhone, thanx to wimax.)
• since i am not a softbank subscriber, i can only speak from the experience of others, but au is said to have a better coverage through thought japan. well, not in my danchi…

the interesting question for me will be:

1. how much will i have to pay for it on au and is it cheaper on a family plan then changing to softbank?
2. will the iphone 5 have a dual mode chip? → i really want to use it in europe
3. will they have the iphone 5 at the same time?

ah, well, i wish i had gone on the record earlier (like in the beginning of this year [when i said this will happen] and in 2007 [when was a head-hunter and interviewed softbank’s leading iphone 3g engineer…]

i look forward to get it, on au or on softbank ^-^

edit [2011/9/23 - 23:08]: at around 8 (around an hour before writing this), yesterday i did send a tip to engaget. they finally woke up it seems… but i am still not ammused, that they do not “thank everyone who send this in”… and i don’t mean to take any credit, because i’m sure i was not the only one, but at least they can put out a thanx to all of us! weak!

edit [2011/9/23 - 23:12]: that was quick, the thanx is there. cool! ^-^

[or in plain english: the marie and dad photo project]

my daughter loves cameras. she is totally fascinated by shutter sounds, she poses when she can spot a lens and she would play with my cameras, if I would let her.

for christmas it will be a digital toy camera (hopefully made in japan ^-^). [update: I found just the right thing: in the “love トイカメラ {toy camera}” Magazine, no. 2, they have a lovely small digital toy camera, which i hope will be good for her ^-^]

she is 2 years old now. early? i started with 5 by stealing my fathers praktica.

today i decided to create a 24 shots long art project. we shared a toy camera i recently got presented with. she can easily press the shutter button, i rewind the film. there is nothing to focus or such.

and what i could hear was a lot of:

Ha, ha!

Hi, hi!

and

Cheesu!

since she does not speak very much yet ^-^

as a little teaser here three pics. head over to the flickr set for the full resolution images.

[update: added the film scans in, in the chronological order]

Since this was a really great experience, I will repeat this in the near future, but definitely, as soon as she can get a camera to freely play with. i strongly believe that a digital toy camera is perfect for the beginning, but i hope to get her a film camera soon later in life.

[originally posted on 2011/9/1]

2007:

i actually saw it that way, probably out of sleepiness. well the tentacle rather not, but still…

2010:

this is was a reaction of an reaction from my best friend on above’s illustration. it has also grown into a lead image of an collection of noisy post-industrial sounds, which i work on for over 2 years now. with some luck those should show up at a net label near to you in the next year.

stay tuned!