Japan

It seems a bit like a double standard to me.

well, of course it's two different standards: two different countries with two different cultures.

Just think what a terribly boring place this would be if all the world's people were identical.

The Keeper wrote:

eMGee wrote: It seems a bit like a double standard to me. Particularly that there's absolutely no outcry about it, whatsoever.

Heh, again, しょうがない、ね？

i wouldn't want some fat, hairy, white guy at my splash party either. wtf that is :)

maybe it's because they hold the special honor of being the only civilization to ever be nuked?

i don't know, but it certainly doesn't hurt anyone.

skywriter wrote: maybe it's because they hold the special honor of being the only civilization to ever be nuked?.

And after Nagasaki disappeared in a puff of smoke, the military establishment still voted 3-3 on whether to continue the war. The emperor had to break the tie. Two days, two cities and they still wanted to fight to the death in a war they started.

The military mnd can be a strange thing ...

Slaughtering then raping? Eww...

The Keeper wrote: Slaughtering then raping? Eww...

I used to share McGee's feelings more strongly. But now that I've lived here a while ....

To try and get this thread back on topic, I got a bit more information out of my japanese contact.
It appears that for the said two weeks I'll be living at a place in Chiba which unless this map lies to me is opposite the bay to the airport and quiate a ways from a bunch of my places to go. On the flip side it appears that I can still get to all the palces I wanted to go as there is a arterial train which passes through chiba and heads right into the city core.
Short of what google says, what else is in Chiba?

pentium wrote: To try and get this thread back on topic, I got a bit more information out of my japanese contact.
It appears that for the said two weeks I'll be living at a place in Chiba which unless this map lies to me is opposite the bay to the airport and quiate a ways from a bunch of my places to go. On the flip side it appears that I can still get to all the palces I wanted to go as there is a arterial train which passes through chiba and heads right into the city core.
Short of what google says, what else is in Chiba?

Lots of very very friendly guys with tattoos all over and a handful of nervous (frightened?) and extremely pissed looking cops with machine guns. A bit of heavy industry also. It might have been a bit of a purple haze but it might also have some pretty hard core nightlife too. I wasn't always sure where I had been, what prefecture I woke up in or what her name was the next morning.

Don't worry, you'll have a super-fun-happy time. even if initially you don't want to..

eMGee wrote: Hammy!

Nope, I'm being honest. Due to confucianism this place hasn't gone anywhere in a thousand years. They are so screwed up that it would be hilarious if it weren't annoying. Population reduction by about one billion would be great.

Except for Mao zi dong there hasn't been a competent home-grown government here for ten centuries. China was invaded by the Mongols, by the Manchu, by the Manchu again, by everyone with a nickel's worth of sense and organization. That was how they freshened up the government and put the country back on track. Then the amoeba which is chinese culture would slowly absorb the competent invaders until a couple centuries later, back to the same effluvia.

You could blame the war in the Pacific on Commodore Perry. Japan was sitting there happily minding its own business until CP did the usual ram-it-down-your-throats-at-gunpoint Western trick. So they figured out quick that if the bad guys have battleships, then they need them also. To a great extent the situation with Japan was the fault of the US. (1)

Anyhoo, if Yamamoto hadn't screwed up and if there hadn't been a war in Europe, Japan probably w0uld have become the next dynasty to run China. When you compare Japanese culture with Chinese and realize how opposite they are, it could have been a fun thing to watch.

(1) By the way, historically speaking (not politically, of course) the United States has been one of the world's most evil governments. Maybe Spain during the Inquisition and the conquest of the "new world" could top us but it'd be a tight contest. The US be some nasty-ass people.

hamei wrote:

eMGee wrote: Hammy!

Nope, I'm being honest. Due to confucianism this place hasn't gone anywhere in a thousand years. They are so screwed up that it would be hilarious if it weren't annoying. Population reduction by about one billion would be great.

Except for Mao zi dong there hasn't been a competent home-grown government here for ten centuries. China was invaded by the Mongols, by the Manchu, by the Manchu again, by everyone with a nickel's worth of sense and organization. That was how they freshened up the government and put the country back on track. Then the amoeba which is chinese culture would slowly absorb the competent invaders until a couple centuries later, back to the same effluvia.

You could blame the war in the Pacific on Commodore Perry. Japan was sitting there happily minding its own business until CP did the usual ram-it-down-your-throats-at-gunpoint Western trick. So they figured out quick that if the bad guys have battleships, then they need them also. To a great extent the situation with Japan was the fault of the US. (1)

Anyhoo, if Yamamoto hadn't screwed up and if there hadn't been a war in Europe, Japan probably w0uld have become the next dynasty to run China. When you compare Japanese culture with Chinese and realize how opposite they are, it could have been a fun thing to watch.

(1) By the way, historically speaking (not politically, of course) the United States has been one of the world's most evil governments. Maybe Spain during the Inquisition and the conquest of the "new world" could top us but it'd be a tight contest. The US be some nasty-ass people.

Maybe just maybe, consider that neighbouring countries in more than a few regions have been at war with each other for quite some time now... consider the English/Vikings raider/Norman conquests/war of the roses/English wars with Spain and France/Napoleonic wars/WWI and WWII/etc/etc.. Most of Europe has been at war with each other for centuries.
Q: Where did the story of 神風 (Kamikaze, "devine wind") come from...??
A: The sinking of an invasion fleet headed to Japan of mogol warships in 1274 and 1281, by typhoons.
What about the first sino-japanese war of 1894-1895 ... and the rest of the conflicts across Asia..
Asians have been hard at it killing each other almost as much as most Europeans were.

You can cry for Confucius driven China, but stop and shed a tear for human nature and people in general first.

PymbleSoftware wrote:

pentium wrote: To try and get this thread back on topic, I got a bit more information out of my japanese contact.
It appears that for the said two weeks I'll be living at a place in Chiba which unless this map lies to me is opposite the bay to the airport and quiate a ways from a bunch of my places to go. On the flip side it appears that I can still get to all the palces I wanted to go as there is a arterial train which passes through chiba and heads right into the city core.
Short of what google says, what else is in Chiba?

Lots of very very friendly guys with tattoos all over and a handful of nervous (frightened?) and extremely pissed looking cops with machine guns. A bit of heavy industry also. It might have been a bit of a purple haze but it might also have some pretty hard core nightlife too. I wasn't always sure where I had been, what prefecture I woke up in or what her name was the next morning.

Don't worry, you'll have a super-fun-happy time. even if initially you don't want to..

That's not very encouraging.

PymbleSoftware wrote: You can cry for Confucius driven China, but stop and shed a tear for human nature and people in general first.

I'm not crying, just observing. There are a couple of aspects to Confusianism that are decidedly destructive. One is the total focus on the family. The side effect of this is that nothing else matters so China becomes a trash dump. Inside my house is my castle, outside is a wasteland. There's no sense of a greater good or public ownership of anything. It's exclusively family, so if you don't benefit directly from something, it doesn't happen. Worse yet, anything public like trains, buses, airports, roads, buildings - all get totally ruined within a few years because if it's not mine, who cares ? Chinese people are the biggest pigs you'll ever meet. It's unbelievable. Nice work, Confucius.

Do you want to know the actual reason for all the current building boom ? It's all a vehicle for kickbacks. If there's any value to any of these projects, that's incidental and a nice bonus. China has gone backwards from being pretty egalitarian to a vipers' nest of greed and corruption in twenty years. Confucius should be proud.

The other major problem with old kong is a practical one. If you revere authority and age all your life and you get this pounded into your head for the first thirty years, where will the independent thinkers come from ? Where do you get leaders, people who can make decisions, people with a brain ? It's not a case of "people killing each other in Asia for thousands of years." It's a case of China needs someone to invade every couple hundred years and run the place. Confucianism is cute but it does not work. Traditional culture is adorable - in a romance novel. In today's world it is destructive garbage. It's already pretty well destroyed China's chance at actually becoming a real member of the world.

Here's another additional issue.
I realized that a few AD adapters I own don't openly say they were certified to work in the 100V, 50hz wilderness of the japanese electrical system. I take it they will probably have some sort of issue when I get over there or will they just run a little warmer than normal?

I'm guessing you meant to say "AC adapter". Most everything is autoswitching at this point, and if it's not, then it usually has a low enough power consumption (e.g. phone charger) or is dumb enough (e.g. hair dryer) that 100/50 is "close enough". If you're taking large electronics like laser printers, then you might need a power conditioner. I know I didn't have any problem with any of my gear.

Heh, just remember to bring a 3-prong to 2-prong adapter with you, unless you want to snap off the ground pin on your power cords. I don't remember if I ever saw a grounded outlet in Japan.

I'm making it a rule that all my electronice I bring along will be small (laptop, cameras, etc.) and none of it requires a three prong power cable. If anything I might need a depolarizer then as the last I heard japan didn't have polarized outlets (one blade of the plug is fatter than the other). If that is no longer the case however, I should be fine then.

Do you have a laptop with an auxillary power jack? then you don't have to worry about other chargers, you can use the laptop to charge your phone and camera. sony used to make an AA charger that ran on 5V. Although the thought of needing a laptop while on vacation seems a little oxymoronic to me.

Or get a short (<1 M) line with an unpolarized C7 connector, they will fit into both polarized and unpolarized c8 and c2 connectors, which should take care of all your charging needs.

Or buy the latest in japanese gadgetry while on vacation, then you wouldn't have to worry about it working until you get home.

Nope. My Picturebook or its AC adapter does not have the power to charge any of my other devices.

Or get a short (<1 M) line with an unpolarized C7 connector, they will fit into both polarized and unpolarized c8 and c2 connectors, which should take care of all your charging needs.

That should do if need be.

Or buy the latest in japanese gadgetry while on vacation, then you wouldn't have to worry about it working until you get home.

Already on my list is to go see what's in Akihabara.

Ugh....
Direction change. I won't be living in a location in Chiba after all. Instead I'm across the bay and a ways inland and over in Machida.
You can blame the correction on my friend who is helping make the arrangements. I blame sleep deprevation.

Anyways, we get the poit on whe where, when and what and I now got enough stuff compiled onto a list to keep me busy.

With less than a month to go, I'm already getting notes on my office desk from people asking to bring stuff back ranging from a Sega Wondermega Mk.I to keychains...
My camera is also about to kick the bucket. Low light pictures are starting to show off too many dead pixels and I don't have the money to replace it or risk buying a camera from London Drugs and returning it before the two week return policy expires. Looks like I have to drag out the crap consumer grade Kodak.