Other Things That Happened in Japan

I’ve compiled a list of some other things that happened while I was in Japan. Since none of them fit in with the posts I wrote a couple months ago, I decided to wait until now to create the list. In no particular order, here are some thing that I remember happening:

• I didn’t know which direction the train station was, so I asked a young guy which way it was and he walked with us a couple blocks (in the opposite direction that he was going) to point us to where the station was.
• On my way back to my hotel from my parents’ hotel near Kannai Station in Yokohama, I walked through an area that I thought was pretty harmless at night. Instead, there were a lot of guys in business suits asking me to come into their bars and clubs. I hailed a nearby taxi and asked him if where he picked me up was a bad area and he said “Yes.” Oops.
• My parents and I walked into a bar in the Kannai area of Yokohama and the bar owner said “Sorry, Japanese only” in English and smiled.
• My friend Brook and I found a soul-music bar called Chap Sweet and Mellow that seated about 10 people. We chatted with locals and made music requests.
• On my way back from my mini Japanese bachelor party with Brook and our friend Yuhito, I got on the train, slept, and stepped off the train at its last stop, which was halfway between Tokyo and Yokohama. In Japanese, I asked a guy if a train to Yokohama was coming, slurred speech and all.
• While I was preparing for the wedding ceremony, the lady who was helping me asked me to strip down to my boxers so that I could change into my hakama. And then she stood there and watched me take off most of my clothes. Awkward.
• After meeting with my friend Doug, I saw a man sitting on the sidewalk near a crosswalk at a busy intersection; he was passed out and it was only 5:30pm.
• While I was waiting for Brook to meet me at a train station near his apartment, I watched a kid on his bike get sideswiped by another bicyclist and take a nasty spill. His M&Ms and other bags of goodies were a complete loss.
• A child kept pointing to me and calling me “English teacher” in a store.

Critics of President Obama, Since When Was Being Disrespectful an Appropriate Sign of Power?

President Obama bowed to Emperor Akihito on November 14?? This is a huge deal! Why would the United States, one of the world’s largest powers, show any form of respect to Japan—or any other country? I’m disappointed. It’s absolutely absurd…

… that politicians, who are supposedly the voice of reasoning and leadership for our country, are making a big deal about this.

Seriously. Who in their right mind thinks it’s a bad idea to show any form of respect while you’re a visitor on foreign land? The argument that people are trying to make of this is ridiculous. Just because Emperor Akihito’s father is the one who approved of Japan’s military attack on Pearl Harbor, people think we need to show disrespect toward everyone directly or indirectly involved. Some conservative guy said, “I don't know why President Obama thought that was appropriate.” Wait, so, showing disrespect would be more appropriate? Hm, that’s not what my parents taught me.

To put bowing in perspective, my wife, Yang, said this to me:

“In Japan, bowing is a greeting and showing of respect. In the United States and other Western countries, it’s probably seen more as a display of loyalty.”

If the critics saw President Obama’s bow as a showing of loyalty to the emperor of Japan, then that’s a culture fail on their part. Not being open or at least researching why a culture conducts itself in a certain way is just selfish and creates an unnecessary hurdle for future engagements. What was a showing of respect in the eyes of both parties might now be an embarrassing situation for both President Obama and Emperor Akihito—embarrassment toward the United States’ reaction and the international publicity that followed.

Think about it. If you had a Toyota Corolla that suddenly malfunctioned and you had to take it in to get repairs, would you be justified in treating the mechanics at the dealership with disrespect just because a problem happened that’s beyond their control? Absolutely not. And, if you did disrespect the mechanics, the relationship is tainted; you can’t trust each other. all of a sudden, you’ve got a $2,500 bill for what should’ve been a $500 fix. The same applies to this situation. If you don’t show respect to someone who deserves it or is in a position that is influential, you risk ruining future business, partnerships, and other potentially beneficial propositions. When people say it’s a bad choice that President Obama showed courtesy toward Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, they are either close-minded to the courtesies of other cultures or riding on a mysterious power trip. These people need to get over themselves.

Although I personally haven’t witness much change personally, it’s been less than a year since this guy’s been in office. Sure, some people complain that he isn’t doing as much as he should. But remember, it took ex-President Bush less than a year to show change in the United States, resulting in billions of the world’s population disliking him, for example, the guy from the shoe-throwing incident in Iraq.

I will admit, though, the picture of President Obama and Emperor Akihito is a little odd to me…

… I’ve never seen someone bow while shaking hands.

 

*Looking for this post in Japanese? A translated version of it is on my Mixi blog (Mixi account required). Thanks for translating it, Yang!

New Sound, Refreshing Lyrics from Lo-Fi’s Recently Released Album, Stereo Soul

Jazz. Funk. Blues. Breakbeats. Soul.

This is how the Japanese trio Lo-Fi describes their music. Even during singing breaks, the instrumentals by 5 (pronounced Goh; vocals and bass guitar), Yosh (drums), and Nori (keyboard) are ridiculously relaxing. After hearing that their new album, Stereo Soul, was available for download, I purchased it along with their previously released album, Low-Fidelity EP. To the left is a screenshot of the trio’s two albums in the iTunes Japan top jazz albums section. Sales of Stereo Soul, ranked #8, also saw increased sale of Low-Fidelity EP, ranked #18.

I listen to a lot of music, but Lo-Fi’s sound is completely new to me. What’s strange, though, is that the melody sounds familiar, but not familiar like I’ve heard it before; it’s more familiar like I should’ve already heard it. The drums and the keyboard are well balanced, but there’s also times when one of the instruments is deliberately the focus—almost like a solo but with background music.

A huge influence on whether or not I enjoy listening to the artist is whether I feel a connection with their lyrics. In Stereo Soul, the lyrics touch on topics like war, love, social issues, dealing with personal struggles, and friendships, which really draws me in and makes me want to listen. The words are almost like short influential pieces either from a personal view or from a broader perspective.

Just another proof of how social media really connects people and drives others to different experiences, I found out about Lo-Fi on Twitter through 5. Other than Twitter, the trio is active on other social networks, with accounts on Facebook, MySpace, Mixi, YouTube. They also have a website in Japanese and English, a mobile website in Japanese, and 5 blogs regularly both in Japanese and English. I think it’s great that they’re reaching out on so many networks and in two languages; that takes a lot of hard work!

I highly suggest buying Lo-Fi’s album—either on iTunes or on CD Baby. If you’re still skeptical, listen to the previews available on either of those music sites or watch the group’s live performance below. It was this artistic flavor—and this video in particular—that really turned me on to the trio’s music.

"Make That Change" is from Lo-Fi's Low-Fidelity EP, available on iTunes.

After listening to Stereo Soul from an amateur listener’s point of view, here’s how I would describe Lo-Fi’s sound:

Smooth. Social. Spoken word. Mellow hip hop. Familiar.

 

*Looking for this post in Japanese? A translated version of it is on my Mixi blog (Mixi account required). Thanks for translating it, Yang!

United Airlines Provides Traveler with Horrible Customer Service Experience, No Eye Contact

Customer service is not about being a presence. It’s not about the customer always being right. It’s about being listening to customer and potential customer concerns and being respectful. I did not experience this on my most recent excursion with United Airlines.

Yes, United Airlines. Red, white, and blue. A company logo that symbolizes American pride. Flying the friendly skies…

… with a company that has no clue how to treat its customers.

I’ve flown United quite a bit in the last three years and accumulated a decent chunk of reward mileage—more than enough for an upgrade to Economy Plus to have six more inches of leg room. On September 16, 2009, I checked in for my flight to Tokyo and approached the United Airlines customer service desk next to the gate where I was set to board the flight. My plan was to redeem the points that I’d accumulated to receive an upgrade—something I’d been looking forward to for weeks after finding out that my mileage exceed the amount needed to move up.

A woman, probably in her 50s, greeted me, and I asked about using my points for an upgrade. Without looking up my United Mileage account to find out how many points I had, she looked at my boarding pass and said, “You can’t. You don’t have the right letter on your ticket.” Now, I never visibly get upset immediately, so I played it cool and said in a very calm, unaggressive tone, “But I have enough points for the upgrade.”

So she asked for my account number, took a quick glance and said, “No, you don’t have the right letter on your ticket. In order to get an upgrade, you have to have a ticket with a certain number on it.” Totally confused, I asked, “How do I know what letter I get when I order my ticket?” to which she responded, “If you bought this through an agent or Expedia, you need to ask them for tickets with [insert whichever letters she said here], which are more expensive.” I asked, “So I can’t get an upgrade just because I didn’t buy a more expensive ticket with a specific letter?” And then she says in a harsh voice, looking down at her computer:

“I know you’re not going to argue with me.”

Whoa. I was totally startled. This lady was being completely unreasonable and giving every reason as to why she couldn’t upgrade me, and then she throws this disrespect in my face. Without possibly getting kicked off the plane without even stepping onto it, all I could think of saying was, “So, in order for me to upgrade, I need to buy a more expensive ticket? That doesn’t make any sense.” “Her response? “To upgrade, you need to buy a more expensive ticket. If you want to upgrade, you’ll have to pay $115 for an Economy Plus seat or $650 for an upgrade to Business Class.” And then, she straight-up walked away…

Walked away!

All this happened with her making absolutely no eye contact with me. The closest she got to looking at me was looking at the person behind me in line; all other times, she was looking down at her computer or turning her face to the side. Written words alone could not explain how rude this woman was to me and how, from the beginning, she didn’t seem to care about anything I said. It was just a complete failure of showing any forms of life in United’s customer service.

So, I walked away. All I could do was tweet about my experience and call my mom. I was heated. Never in my life had I been treated with such disrespect. I only worked in retail/customer service for three years, and not once did I treat anybody like that. Not once. Not even the times when I knew a customer was wrong. Not even when customers yelled or swore at me. In this situation, there was no compassion in the so-called “customer service” that the United Airlines representative gave me.

After venting on Twitter and to my mom, I sat down, vowed to never fly United again, and listened to music to calm me down. Then, my name comes over the loud speaker to come to the customer service desk. A different lady has me come to the front of the line and says “We moved your seat. We have a family that wants to fly together. You still have a window seat, but it’s on the opposite side of the aisle.”

Yeah, I mean, it’s not like I chose that side for a reason. Don’t worry United. I enjoy opening my window and having the sun shine directly in my face. Eyesight is overrated anyway, right? I once again vowed to never fly United Airlines.

Re-enter headphones for a sleepless 10 hours sprinkled with various complementary drinks. I was determined to dispel my bad experience and arrive happily in the land of delicious raw horse meat and colorful Ferris wheels.

So, what’s this post about? Sure, maybe I was wrong and didn’t read the fine-print of the rewards mileage program—however misleading and contradictory it is to say “Free upgrade… if you buy a more expensive plane ticket”—but this is more about treating people with respect. I didn’t feel like a valued customer in the eyes of United at all.

Looking at what’s being spread around on the Internet, primarily fueled by social media, it looks like others are getting fed up with the lame, disrespectful customer service that United Airlines consistently provides. Good examples of these are Dave Carroll of “United Breaks Guitars” fame and the more recent track suit-wearing executive from Best Buy.

My Trip to Japan – Part 3 of 3

On Sunday, September 27, Yang’s dad ever-so-kindly drove me, my mom and dad, and Yang up through Tokyo.

In the morning, we went to the Toyota Showroom in Odaiba, a man-made island in Tokyo. The picture on the left is of a Lexus hybrid sedan. Lexus has a small section in the Toyota Showroom that shows off about five cars, depending on new model releases.

Droppin’ knowledge: Lexus is a division of the Toyota Motor Corporation in the United States.

From the Toyota Showroom, we went to Tokyo Tower. The main observation deck is 492 feet from the bottom of the structure; for all you Seattleites, that observation deck is 28 feet shorter than the observation deck on the Space Needle. In any case, both are high off the ground and have great views of both respective cities. The two pictures below are of Tokyo Tower and one of the many views from the main observation deck.

After spending about an hour in Tokyo Tower, we made our way to Yoyogi Park so that I could say “bai bai” to my friend Brook. After getting lost in the gigantic park, I finally found him and it took a good while to say “See ya.” He really knows how to find a good time when I’m in Japan.

Then, we drove to Asakusa—more specifically, Asakusa Shrine, which really caters to to tourists. The picture to your right shows a crowd of visitors in the strip-mall area of Asakusa Shrine. It’s a neat area because a lot of the buildings and shops are old-fashioned looking. My mom and dad bought a few gifts for folks back home and walked down some of the residential streets and alleyways. Contrary to what you see in the picture, by the time we left Asakusa Shrine, it was dark outside.

Yang’s dad had to meet with a work customer, so he dropped us off next to the Imperial Palace in the heart of Tokyo. Good news was that the area wasn’t busy. Bad news was that it was dark and impossible to see the palace. Serious bummer. So we walked a few blocks and took the train back to our hotels in Yokohama.

On Monday, we all took it pretty easy. I met with my parents in the afternoon, and we went to Yokohama Chinatown and my parents bought more gifts for people at home. Then, thinking that there was a place for us to buy glasses on just about every block, I took a taxi with my parents to where Yang’s parents lived. I was wrong. No place to buy glasses, except for the one place in a department store… where the Fendi, Burberry, and other luxury brands cost $200+ for frames and lenses. No thanks. I was looking for glasses that cost $50. When Yang was available to meet us around 3pm, we walked to her parents’ place, and then from there, we drove to Yang’s dad’s work office. Then, we drove to a Chinese restaurant that Yang’s aunt’s friend owned. The food was delicious! After being stuffed with food and hydrated with alcohol, we went home and slept well.

Tuesday, September 29, was our last full day in Japan, so Yang and her parents took me and my parents to a place near Mount Fuji called Hakone, which is popular for its natural hot springs. The drive took about two-and-a-half hours, but we stopped for my parents to buy more gifts. After another 30 minutes of driving, we reached our main destination for the day. Time to walk! The air was filled with a strong sulfur smell from the various natural hot springs in the mountain. We passed by a bunch of the hot springs (see the picture to your left), and when we reached the end of the trail, we bought eggs that had been hard-boiled in a hot spring. They were pretty good. Just peel the egg shell off, dash a little salt on it, and indulge. Too bad it gave me a stomachache an hour later.

After eating a corn-flavored soft-serve ice cream treat, we drove to an outdoor art museum. It had a bunch of structures and a sizeable acreage to explore artwork. We even had the chance to get lost in a maze. Once I got in, I realized that there were flowers growing on the top of the walls. How precious… until I realized that the plethora of flowers were attracting bees. Lacking any sense of direction and worried that the bees would maul me, I, naturally, was the last one out of the maze. The last thing we did before leaving the outdoor art museum was soak our feet in a hot bath. If you don’t have access to a foot massager (human or machine) or if you’re too shy about your machete-like toenails, soaking your feet in hot water provides some good, temporary relief.

Heading back to Yokohama, we took a detour to Kamakura and visited the Great Buddha (see image to your right) of Kamakura at the Kōtoku-in Temple. This is the second time I’ve visited the temple… and for the second time, I wasn’t able to go up into the giant statue. Outside of the temple, the street is lined with small shops and traditionally decorated buildings. When we left, darkness hit us pretty quickly, even though in this picture, it looks fairly bright outside. We hoped in the van and made our way back to Yokohama.

Before going to dinner, we had some time to spare, so we stopped by a ferry terminal near the restaurant that we were going to. While doing some walking, below is a picture I found:

I can’t read most of the kanji in the sign, but I’m guessing it reads something like “Smoking results in a fail-whale situation. No smoking.”

We had a pretty awesome Chinese food dinner—and I’m not talking about General Tso’s chicken and egg fooyung. Unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly what I ate, but I know it was good stuff.

The next day, September 30, was our last day in Japan. Yang and I had to pack like crazy because we had our stuff—dirty clothes included—scattered on the floor of our hotel. My parents had already finished and just hung out around their hotel until Yang and I came by. Yang’s dad picked us up at my parents’ hotel and we started our drive to the airport. On the way there, we took a shortcut through the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line, an underwater freeway, and stopped by Umi Hotaru, which is a man-made piece of land containing shops and restaurants and looks kind of like a ship. We were in a hurry, since we underestimate how long it would take to drive to the airport, so we only stayed at Umi Hotaru for about 15 minutes. We got to the airport about 1 hour and 15 minutes before our plan was set to take off. Oops. We had a quick tearful “peace out” and power walked to our terminal… on the opposite side of the airport. We hopped on the plane and we were set. Eight hours later, we landed at SeaTac.

And that’s it! My trip to Japan in an nutshell… or blog, whichever you prefer. I hope you enjoyed it. :)

For more pictures of my trip to China and Japan, visit my China & Japan – September 2009 photo set on Flickr. If we’re friends on Facebook, you can view a few more pictures on my Facebook profile.

My Trip to Japan – Part BONUS of 3

This post about one day in Japan turned out to be too long to mash my remaining four days into it, so I’ll post the real My Trip to Japan – Part 3 of 3 in a day or two. Enjoy!

September 26. Saturday. What follows is part of the day’s plan: the Japanese wedding reception(s).

I visited the barber to get a shave with an old-school razor. At one point, I fell asleep. I think at that point, he put makeup on me (I think it was to make me look less shiny). Afterward, I went to have the outfitters put on my hakama, a pretty manly looking, traditional Japanese set of garments. Then, I met with Yang, who was in her kimono, and a bunch of her family members plus my mom and dad, and we got our pictures taken at a studio by some uber-professional and detail-oriented photographers. Studio pictures, done (?).

Time for a grand entrance into the reception hall. Shazaam! 70 people, spotlight’s on us walking into the room.

Over the next hour, Yang’s brother and a group of dragon dancers performed a routine for wedding receptions. And then, it was time for me to give a speech. I pretty much started crying after saying “Thank you for coming out and showing us your support….” I’m not good at public speaking in general, but in emotional settings, I’m even worse. I was able to push out a few other words after about 30 seconds of being totally choked up, and then it was Yang’s turn. She handled it better than I did. I did, however, get a sizeable portion of attendees, both men and women, crying. Glad I could be so touching without saying more than 15 words. ;)

After listening to a couple people give speeches, taking pictures with everybody who attended, and cutting cake (see picture to the left), we left to change our attire; I changed into a black tuxedo and Yang changed into a white wedding dress. Then, we took more studio pictures and made another entrance into the reception hall, but this time, we lit candles at each table before we sat down at our main table up front. After another hour of pictures, it was over… Well, the “first reception” was over.

We had about an hour and a half before the second reception started, so everyone gathered to take more pictures in the hotel. After about 30 minutes, Yang went to change into her third outfit—a pink dress—and we took more pictures in the hotel and attended the second party. It was during gathering that I was able to eat. First bites of food equaled a win, but it was around 5pm, which is sort of a loss. During this second party, we took more pictures with friends and had everyone play bingo for some really cool prizes. And then it was over. We said “Thank you” and chatted with folks as they left.

After seeing everyone off, Yang and I met with some other folks in the hotel lobby. A couple handfuls of Yang’s friends were missing, so I thought maybe they had trains to catch. Not the case. They had gone to a nearby izakaya (Japanese-style bar) and were holding a room for us. Awesome! So, went to our hotel room and changed into our Chinese garments and took a taxi to the izakaya. Oddly enough, I was the only one who knew where the izakaya was, mostly because I frequently explore Yokohama on foot when I go to Japan.

We got there and, sure enough, there were about 10 people just hanging out, drinking and eating. I ordered a nama beer (draft beer) and sat next to one of the guys who gave a speech at our second reception. He spoke English, which was really cool, especially since he wasn’t shy about talking—alcohol always helps with that. :)  About five minutes later, I grabbed a menu and looked for food to order. And then I saw it… basashi (raw horse meat). Immediately, I remembered Kenji’s YouTube video of him eating basashi, so I decided to follow that up with my own video, y’know, just in case I had an opposite reaction.

 

To be honest, it hardly had any flavor, but paired with the soy sauce, ginger, and green onions, the flavor just blended really well with the smooth texture of the basashi. I would order it again: It’s cheap (about $4 for 4 slices) and goes good with beer. :)

After ordering up some yakitori and talking in a mixture of Japanese and English to just about everyone, I was ready to call it a night.

I’ve uploaded a few pictures on Facebook of Yang and I in our different wedding reception outfits. They are in the folder named China & Japan + Wedding Receptions - September 2009.

For more pictures of my trip to China and Japan, visit my China & Japan – September 2009 photo set on Flickr. If we’re friends on Facebook, you can view a few more pictures on my Facebook profile.

My Trip to Japan – Part 2 of 3

Before I jump into part two of my trip, I’d like to share one of my passions.

Music plays a huge part in my life. It’s my instant memory refresher that also acts as background music for a mental slideshow of different parts of my life that last as little as two weeks or as long as a year. So it’s only natural for me to choose new albums to listen to when I go on trips or when I’m in a certain mood. On this trip, I had a few albums that I’d acquired the days before I left: Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon; Olu – Soul Catcher; The Filibusters – (Untitled).

The Kid Cudi album (in the picture to the left) was my most played because the beat, the whole rhythm of the album, was kind of how my brain moves while I’m in Japan—dream-like, slow moving while everything else around me moves 10 times faster, but all at my own pace and body movement. Y’know, kinda like those slow-motion music videos that look really corny. Honestly, it made me want to do the robot on a few occasions. Anyway, back to the story.

After coming back to Japan from China on the evening of September 21, Yang and I went to our hotel in Yokohama and had dinner with her family. I was hoping to meet with my friend Brook that night, but dinner lasted a little long and I was pretty tired anyway from the plane ride and the drive to Yokohama from Narita Airport in Chiba.

On September 22, I took the train to Brook’s apartment, which is near Shibuya, a suburb of Tokyo. For some reason, I like to bring a backpack with me when I’m venturing out to Tokyo. Unfortunately, when it’s time to go out, it’s a pain to carry it around. What’s worse is that there’s not a whole lot in it. I use it to carry non-alcoholic beverages, my digital camera, and whatever things I buy, but I rarely buy things when I’m in Japan. Hence, my backpack is pointless… it’s just a koala-like object that is not a koala at all. Anyway, Brook and I met for a couple hours and he invited me to his friend’s potluck, but since I had the man-purse of terror tugging on my shoulders, I decided to go back to Yokohama instead.

Wake up! Bam! September 23. In the late afternoon, I met with Doug, who I’ve known through Twitter since my early days as a “I think I’m talking to myself on Twitter” guy (who knows… maybe I still am?). It took awhile for us to find a bar that was open at 5pm since most open at 8pm, but we had a nice chat over a couple of beers and peanuts. It was really cool to meet someone in Japan, especially since I only know a handful of people. Connecting with complete strangers in a foreign land is tough enough, but we were able to connect with what we knew of each other through Twitter. Then, I was off to the Shibuya area to meet Brook again. We went to a fairly cheap izakaya (Japanese-style bar). After some food and beer, Brook was ready to call it a night because he had to work the next day.

Wait. Not so fast. Instead, we took a short detour and found the holy grail of hole-in-the-wall bars. It was a pretty well-hidden spot—down an alley and three floors upstairs. We walked in and found… A SOUL MUSIC BAR! The bar, called Chap Sweet and Mellow, fit maybe 10 people and was decorated with records, CDs, soul music posters, and a tiny disco ball in the corner. Come to find out later, the bartender/guy who owns the bar is a local DJ. He played pretty much anything we wanted from the soul genre. It was a good chance for me to chat with the locals in Japanese and a cool blend of how people can communicate through music. Me and Brook’s facial expressions would light up on almost every song and the bar owner would ask us what we wanted to hear next.

My parents came to Japan on September 24, but before meeting them at the airport, I took this video of me riding the Landmark Tower elevator in Yokohama, Japan. It’s the tallest building in Japan and contains offices, a hotel, a few restaurants, and a cocktail lounge, which is on the 70^th floor.

 

I was really glad to see my parents in Japan. We had it all planned out for a couple of months, but just having them there was surreal. I was glad they got to experience why I enjoy visiting Japan so much. I think they were surprised by the food portions—a lot of people think Japan is all expensive restaurants with small food portions. I think we debunked that theory on this trip.

September 25, I showed my parents around Yokohama, but they were pretty tired from the 9-hour flight from Seattle the previous day, so I took them back to their hotel, hung out for a bit there, and then met with Brook and our friend Yuuhito at Chaps for some more soul music. We stayed there for about an hour and then went to the same izakaya where Brook and I went to a couple days earlier. We chatted and drank quite a bit, and they proclaimed our mini-gathering to be my Japanese bachelor party. I even completed the event by falling asleep on the train and worrying about where I was when I woke up.

The next day, September 26, was me and Yang’s wedding reception, but I’ll save that for my next post.

For more pictures of my trip to China and Japan, visit my China & Japan – September 2009 photo set on Flickr. If we’re friends on Facebook, you can view a few more pictures on my Facebook profile.

columnbreak in Japanese

Thanks to Yang’s translating skills, I’ve finally created a Japanese version for this website. Since there are only about five pages to visit, it was fairly easy, except for the JavaScript part. Just remember to turn off “Western European” when creating a JavaScript file that needs UTF-8 encoding instead of Unicode. In Dreamweaver, you can do that through the Preferences option when you’re looking at new templates to use.

Um, that’s it for now. :)

How Twitter could tweet its way to profitability through brand promotion and stronger, more focused communities

Thanks to a heads up by Shauna Causey, I found out that the Japanese Twitter site started posting ads in an effort to make money.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, it doesn’t affect me too much since I use TweetDeck on my laptop and TinyTwitter on my cell phone. But on the other hand, that is a pretty gigantic ad.

Adding an advertisement to Twitter profiles and home pages only reaches one demographic. Will we be seeing targeted ads in our streams? Imagine an ad every 50 or so tweets. Something like that would reach every user, but would it drive them away? If Twitter goes that route, will the companies that use Twitter for communication be subjected to the same ads? What about people who use SMS for posting to Twitter? Will they be automatically signed up to receive ads on their cell phones?

My idea for Twitter to make money came to me while I was waiting at a bus stop a few weeks ago, and it goes like this: Have companies create backgrounds of their brand—whether it’s a product, service, or just the company in general—and let Twitterers choose any background from a certain company to use as their background. Twitterers could even customize that background to include their preferred information (the typical e-mail address, Web site address, and picture). If Twitter charged the company for each time a user chose an ad, that would leave the power of monetizing in the hands of Twitterers.

For example, if Microsoft wanted to promote Windows 7, a marketing manager from the Windows team could create a background that contained elements of the new operating system—maybe some icons, a logo, a Web site address for getting to know the product, and a list of Twitterers that are on the Windows team. If I wanted to support the launch of Windows 7, I could choose the background (which would come with an agreement; maybe it would say something like “You agree to use this background for 30 days” or some specified amount of days), add whatever info I wanted to up in the upper-left-hand corner of the screen (a picture of me and what I enjoy doing on the weekends), and post it to my profile. On the back end, Twitter would charge Microsoft maybe $20 for me choosing that background.

With that same idea in mind, there would have to be some way that people who don’t access the Twitter Web site would still be able to market that background. Twitter could send out an automated message selected by the Twitterer every 1 to 30 days, depending on the Twitterer’s preference, that points them to their profile or to the background brand’s Web site—in this case, the Windows 7 Web site. This, too, would factor in to the amount that Twitter would charge Microsoft. For every click that points to the Twitterer’s profile that displays the Windows 7 background, Twitter could charge 25 cents. For every click that points to the Windows 7 Twitter site, @Windows7yay (fake Twitter account; just using as an example), Twitter could charge 50 cents. For every click that points to the Window 7 Web site, Twitter could charge $1. Of course, these rates could fluctuate depending on predetermined pricing plans.

But what’s in it for the Twitterer? Taking a page from the Zune Social site, Twitterers could earn badges that show that they have supported specific brands. This would add more followers to the Twitterer that advertises the brand and the badges could also serve as a point system that ranks Twitterers based on their badges, providing them with more visibility and creating a gateway to other audiences.

Twitter could even aim for nonprofits. Take the same idea above, but instead of Twitter charging for clicks on the Twitterer’s update links, Twitter could donate the amounts back to the nonprofit organization. For example, if I chose a Make-A-Wish Foundation background, Twitter could charge the foundation $50. But imagine if I set my preferences to post an update about the Make-A-Wish Foundation once every three days; if just 10 people clicked on the update containing the Make-A-Wish Foundation Web site link each time the ad appeared within that 30-day period, Twitter would donate $100 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation just for that one person in that one month. Of course, there would have to be a cap for the link clicking, otherwise, Twitter would lose a lot of money (I know I’d go crazy with clicking the links!).

These are just my thoughts on how Twitter should go about making money. Although it puts the profit-building in the users’ hands, I think it could really be successful once people start using it and promoting the brands that they love and see everyday. By giving them incentives, like badges, Twitterers can grow their followers with others that also support the same brands or causes.

“What’s going on? Where’s that voice coming from? Who’s talking?”

When I lived in the countryside in Japan—Joso, Ibaraki, to be exact—I rarely stayed at my apartment on the weekend. Instead, I would go to Yokohama and spend Friday night to Sunday night there with my girlfriend, who’s now my wife. One of the reasons why I stayed away from my apartment, specifically on Sunday afternoons, was because of this morbid voice that would drive by in a truck and repeat something over his loudspeaker. The video below is what I heard.

Ishiyaki Imo Truck

My immediate thought was “Is that someone going around and warning the townspeople about a typhoon or fire or some other impending disaster?” The first time I heard it, I ran outside to see if people were scrambling to leave the area. What freaked me out was, when I looked around, there was nobody outside and no sound. I waited for a good minute or two until I heard a car drive by on one of the nearby residential streets.

Turns out, the voice I heard on Sundays was the “ishiyaki imo” truck, which is a truck that sells roasted sweet potatoes. And the voice? That’s the truck’s calling—think of it like an ice cream truck in the United States.

After hearing it a few more times in and around Yokohama, the voice and song (or maybe “calling” is a better word") became something that I found humorous. Still, it sounds like a pretty gloomy song, and I don’t think I’ll be buying sweet potatoes from his truck anytime soon.

Change the song, pal!

A neat, all-in-one hotel finder

I recently found out about this site called HotelsCombined, and it seems to offer some reasonable prices on hotel rooms. I specifically looked for accommodations in Japan—where hotels can be pretty pricey if you just show up in person or go through the hotel’s Web site—and was glad to see that some decent to high-end hotels were offered at significant discounts.

The Web site’s user interface is really friendly and provides reviews from others who have stayed at a particular hotel, maps, pictures, and details about the hotels and their surroundings. You can also narrow your search through a variety of options, such as star ratings, price, and hotel name. Overall, it’s very easy to use and is visually pleasing.

On my next trip over to Japan, I think I’m going to give HotelsCombined a shot at finding me a place to stay.

Text messaging: urgency and occasionally unnecessary. A rant.

Up until mid-2006, I never was a fan of text messaging. I had enough minutes to call somebody, so why bother with spending two minutes to type a message on a crammed keypad? Then, I went to Japan, the land of text messaging. Making phone calls is still ridiculously expensive in Japan, so most people send e-mails through their phones to their contacts. The plus is that text messaging/e-mailing from a cell phone is fairly cheap; I remember when I was on my SoftBank plan, I had unlimited text messages/e-mail and unlimited Internet for about $9 a month. That’s about three times cheaper than AT&T’s plan in the United States.

With an unlimited text messaging plan, I didn’t mind getting pointless e-mails because they wouldn’t count towards a limit. But, after I returned to the United States, I knew that I wouldn’t use anywhere near 500+ text messages, so why bother paying $10+ alone for text messaging? I’m on a 200 text messages plan, and I use those for sending people casual notes. I don’t start conversations because if I wanted to talk to someone, I would just call them. I don’t see the point in engaging in a one-hour conversation through text messages that I could have in five minutes through voice calling.

And, seriously people, chain text messages? You don’t need to validate our relationship—as family or friends—with a pointless message that says “Little Sandy is sad. Text this to all your friends, and with the tracking number at the bottom, Sandy will see how many people made her day happier.” Hello~?! “Little Sandy” was probably just a bored intern who thought up “little Sandy” as a marketing technique… 15 years ago. Also, didn’t chain e-mails go out of style, oh, I don’t know, around the same time AOL did back in 2001?

Along the same lines, take advantage of the 160-character count in text messages. Texting back “ok” is fine if you know the person has unlimited text messaging, but when you know the person has a limited amount and gets charged for going over, be considerate. “ok” is not worth 15¢. And, jeez, combine messages if you have to. If someone asks “How’s it going? Did you make it home last night without getting lost?” Don’t reply with “I’m doing fine” and follow it up with a new message that says “yeah, I made it home.”

I’m laying down the law for those who text message me, even if it’s inadvertently. Beware, I will use the blacklist function on my phone.

A mobile application for you and even you over there

I'm building a mobile application in Flash Lite that is aimed at Windows Mobile devices, but it will also work on Symbian phones and, eventually, the iPhone and Android—once those two platforms get Flash Lite support.

Flash Lite is an interesting alternative to mobile development, especially for those who just can't figure out conventional application development methods... *cough* me! *cough*

(To give myself at least a little credit on behalf of my efforts, I do know enough coding to give a user the ability to close a program.)

The application, which will also work on Windows and Mac PCs, is a short, but detailed, guide on Japan and covers topics from sightseeing, restaurants, accommodations, and even music and videos.

I'm hoping for a mid-February release, but it all depends on if Adobe releases the Adobe Mobile Packager in mid-January as planned.

I think having it available before May—the cherry blossom season in Japan—would be really neat and produce some decent downloads. Hm, maybe I should come up with a mini marketing scheme for it...

Stay tuned!