What are the chances of me being in Yoyogi park during the weekend, bumping into a former work colleague traveling in Japan.
This goes beyond amazing!
Murata Sayaka book translated to Hebrew
Just say in ynet that Murata Sayaka (村田沙耶香)’s book was translated to Hebrew.
While in Japanese the name of the book is コンビニ人間 , meaning “a person of the Convenience shop” , in Hebrew the title is “בשולי הנוחות” which is a word play of Conveience, meaning “the Edge of Conveience”.
Have to say I do not like the Hebrew title as I feel it does not keep the meaning of the Japanese title.
The book cover is also problematic a shows a take away paper bag which may be popular in the US, but definitely not in Japan .
Shurijo -首里城 – Flickr Stats
Shuri Castle (首里城） was burnt on October 31.
Same day, my photos of Shuri castle peaked on Flickr
Very happy I had the chance to see it in its glory and hope it will be rebuilt soon.
From this simple example, I can just imagine the amount of data Flickr can extract from searches and trend deduction, but I doubt if they do it.
We all know Google do.
The Stranglers live in WWW, Shibuya
Went to see “The Stranglers” perform in WWW, Shibuya.
But let me start with “Are these really The Stranglers”? When two members continue the band and add new members that sound different and perform different, is it still the same band ?
Will Radiohead be “Radiohead” without Thom Yorke?
It is always fun to go to a concert and remember the old songs, but it did sound to me like a band covering “The Stranglers” . (And asking forgiveness from the members that are there from the starts).
So, I have to say I was disappointed.
My ears hurt when in “Golden Brown” struggles to sync with the keyboards. Song started with the drums, keyboard entered and were out of sync… Drummer struggles to sync which he did, but lost it again several times.
In another song the drums were too strong, but then settled down as song progressed.
Tuning the guitars was messy, talk was bad (but have to admit most artists fail to talk with Japanese … maybe they are concerned they will not be understood).
So, overall enjoyed an evening of two guys from the Stranglers (I know) performing their songs with some people I do not know.
Platinum Pen Star Wars series
Platinum pen just released their new Star Wars pen series. These fountain pens will be available only in Japan and will coincide with the release of the new Star Wars movie in Japan :
https://www.platinum-pen.co.jp/star_wars_fountainpen.html
Have a feeling I am going to buy one of them
Serotonin by Michelle Houellebecq
Finished reading the English translation.
I truly regret I cannot read it in French, but decided to read it in English over Hebrew or Japanese as hoped the translation is better.
Did not enjoy the book. If in the past I used to enjoy his writing and views, “Serotonin” for me is probably the end. Same as the main characters walking on a path of self destruction, so was the book.
From an unclear story about the writer’s Japanese girlfriend and her sexual plays, unfolds the path of destruction. The writer’s reminiscent about his past girlfriends and his impotence, neglecting himself, gaining weight due to depression and Cortisol level (?), or is it because he feels obliged to spend all his money before killing himself.
There are political discussions of Globalization and the effect on French agriculture, but I find it messy like the book.
Luckily, I did not read reviews before reading the book. But now I read and agree to most of what I read.
In the first part of the book I really got angry in the way Yuzu, his Japanese girlfriend, his depicted. A very stereotypical, pornographic and condescending. But reading further, I just feel sorry about the character and the writer. If he needs to use such descriptions and story he must have reach rock bottom.
Samsung T5 on Mac OS Catalina
Update: Samsung just released new drivers (1.6.6) which resolve the issue.
Samsung T5 driver does not work on latest MacOS. The amount of anger and frustration in this support thread is quite justifiable.
It is un accepted that a company which sells SSD does not bother updating their driver. Mac Beta program is very clear and allows enough time for vendor to modify and qualify their products, but it seems Samsung did not bother doing it.
As the thread mentions there are workarounds and it works for me, but I still think this is a very bad customer experience.
Platinum pen All blacks
A bit of humor and marketing flair
Platinum pen published this in their instagram .
Today is the semi final match between England and New Zealand All Blacks
Idan Reichel – Starbucks Japan playing list
What a surprise.
Was sitting at Starbucks in Tokyo, and was surprised to hear a song in Hebrew. Hebrew in Japan? How possible?
Shazam was very helpful to identify it was Idan Reichel.
What I still don’t know is why? Who selected Idan Reichel to Starbucks playing list?
Cybereason advertisement
Saw a Cybereason advertisement in Shinjuku, which made me wonder “Why?”.
Why advertise in Shinjuku on a wall that is barely seen by passersby ?
Did they just pay the agency and they spread it around town, or did Cybereason decide on this (bad) location?
