Akiba (Akihabara) for Treasure-hunting

For those gadget cravers - I think back streets of Akiba would be good place to treasure-hunt. Especially the back streets between Chuo-Dori and Shohei Elementary School.

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To show some of the findings from the last excursion:

This recharger can recharge any rechargeable batteries. We lost recharger for our digital camera, so this works great. I think it was around 3000 Yen.

AC adapter with USB power outlet. We use this for charging iPhone or cell phone while on the road. 380 Yen.

Same as above, but has 4 USB outlets and more powerful, able to recharge iPad and other 3 devices simultaneously. 1280 Yen.

Converts cassette tape sources to mp3 files. We haven't tried this yet. I think this was 2000 or 3000 yen. We want to convert some of the language materials and old music cassette tapes.

Steam Locomotive Yurakucho

Fun place to visit.

Ginza 9 - Is it Ginza 9-chome or what?

I wondered if Ginza 9 is called Ginza 9 because its address is Ginza 9-chome. Part of the answer is found in this article. It also unfolds history of some other mysterious spots in Tokyo. An interesting read.

A Nikkei article on mysteries of Ginza

I need one of these

I had used my PC (at work) for about 5 years and finally it was replaced with new one. But the new laptop monitor is too bright. Especially the white color is too bright and bluish. I liked the old one better... The new monitor tires my eyes and get my stiff shoulders even stiffer...

I want one of these...

JINS PC - Eye ware to protect your eyes from PC monitors.

That's exactly what I need.

For those who are lazy (2)

Do you regularly perform the same web search over and over again, day after day? (For certain keyword in your field of work or profession?) Then let Google Alerts do those searches for you and send the search results right to your mailbox automatically.

For example, if you'd like to receive the latest news about iPad, go to Google Alerts, type the keyword "iPad", click Preview to check how output would look like, tweak settings in Type, How Often, and other drop-down list boxes if you'd like to, select your email address in Deliver To, and click Create Alert.

That is it. You'll receive search result to your mailbox at the frequency you've specified in How Often.

Two cans of Coke for one?

On the way home I got a can of Coke from a vending machine. Something unusual was that there was a second can coming out. It says I'm a lucky winner. OK great...

Where can good schools be (2)

We are in search of good international schools in Japan. We recently got this book:

Guide to International Schools in Japan

Majority of information in this book appears to come from interviews with the schools. So they may be only saying nice things about themselves. Anyway, so many schools all over Japan are introduced. Although our daughter may be attending only one or a couple of these, it keeps me curious and interested to flip through the pages and catch a glimpse of international communities in Japan and lives of the people who are in these communities.

My wife finds it interesting to read "Bullying" section...

Simple is the best

If you live in Japan, have you ever missed simple pepperoni pizza? Japanese pizzas are great, they are gorgeous with variety of toppings and flavors - teriyaki chicken, kalbi, ebi mayo, etc. However, sometimes miss that simple American pizza.

Now you can get that at - Domino English Menu

Especially this "Large & Large" combo is a good deal. Two L-size pizzas, each with one topping, cost only 2,999 yen (whereas one typical M-size Japanese pizza would cost between 2,000 - 3,000 yen alone).

Nice to find this out. Great for parties. (It looks and tastes much better than you'd expect from the picture on the website.)

Where can good schools be...

I think we will be living in Tokyo for some years. Primary language in our home is English, and naturally my daughter of 2 years old is learning English as primary means of communication. I think an international school would be better for her near future education. But what school would be good? There seems to be so many schools in and around Tokyo, and we have no idea which ones would be good for her. Published information seems to be saying only the nice things about schools. I need a fair information based on fair view, not just advertisement. Then I came across this web site:

Good Schools Guide International

I became a member and read the articles primarily about schools in Tokyo. As they write reviews and articles for schools in all major cities / countries around the world, there are not many articles about schools in Tokyo. But anyway, I liked the content based on the fair view. Beside these sites, I assume Wikipedia articles for schools would also offer some valuable information about the schools. The content could be biased, but reviewers who feel so will comment so, so at least I can hear the opinions from the other party.

Email with your own domain name

Have you ever wanted to have an email address with a unique domain name (not like boo@gmail.com or foo@hotmail.com)? There are hands full of services that allow you t do this. Among those Google Apps is easy to setup and very reliable. First you would go to Google Apps page (http://google.com/a/):

Then click Get Started:

Get some domain name. (Subdomain or dynamic host name like boo.foo.com is fine. You'd better have a fixed IP address from your ISP)

Then go back to Google Apps Get Started page, type the domain name you have:

Now you've got to verify ownership of the domain name (it just means you have full control over the domain mame). Here I happen to have a web server, I try the recommended method by uploading the page to web server. There are many other ways to verify ownership of domain name (such as adding a record to your DNS).