(Photo used with Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 License - Original)

A few days ago, I had to head down to the Tokyo Regional Immigration bureau. What fun!! However, there was one redeeming result of the trip: I was able to ride the Tokyo Monorail. I’m fairly familiar with most of Tokyo’s transportation systems, but I had never ridden this particular line. It was a great experience. If you visit Tokyo, I recommend you make it a point to ride this line, second to the Shinkansen of course.

What is different about the Tokyo Monorail from other lines is it is completely above ground. Sure, most of the JR lines are as well, but the Monorail soars above neighborhoods and between buildings - a feat that the JR lines do not accomplish. When you ride JR, you see track and rocks as you ride in an area specifically laid out for train travel. When you ride the Tokyo Monorail, you literally fly past buildings and over people as they tend to their daily lives.

I hope you enjoy this short video. I had to use a little different method to put it together since it came primarily off my cell phone.

 Podcast Video [5:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Last weekend Alex and I attempted to make hot dog animals based on the instructions on the back. How well did we do? Find out here. This is a short video on the results we were able to achieve with our limited culinary skills.

Alternative video link (Google Video)

 Podcast Video [2:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ok well, maybe not a full episode, but a short one minute clip I put together before heading out for the night. Earlier today, Alex and I tore up Tokyo by bike. Stopping at Akihabara to get an Ebi-Filet, I began playing with my cell phone’s bar code reader. I was amazed at how fast it read the bar code.

The bar codes (also known as QR codes) are in a square format and contain text information, usually a URL. In this case, McDonald’s publishes all of their nutritional information this way. Want to know how many pounds that Choco-Pie is going to add on? Just whip out your keitai and check it out. Man, I do love Japan! Enjoy!

Upcoming episodes for those who cannot wait to hear, I’ve got some great material coming up: Getting stopped by the cops on bike in Japan, making elephant characters out of hotdogs (video), and my first full week in a Japanese office. Stay tuned.

Alternative video link (Google Video)

 Podcast Video [0:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

(Sorry for the late posting, was on the run to my first day of work this morning!) ^_^

Yes yes, another video episode. I have finally nailed down my video episode creation workflow so this isn’t all that time-consuming to put together anymore. Hopefully I will have time to do more in the future, however with work starting I have a feeling we’ll be getting quite a few more commute-casts in the near future. Anyway, onto the video…

This video contains some various clips of Sakura blossoms I have taken over the past week. Tokyo has had a fairly long (at least from my perspective) cherry blossom viewing season. I believe it peaked early last week, but even this weekend there was some cherry blossoms still out for the viewing. Some of these clips were taken as late as last Friday, when I did the podcast from the park.

As a bonus, I’ve also put in Alex trying a little bit of we dubbed “juice-box sake” (photo above). These are available in almost all convenience stores. I haven’t had any sort of liquid in this type of container since I was a child and I had them put in my lunch box. Drinking sake out of these was quite a weird trip back in time. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video. Cheers!

Alternative video link (Google Video)

 Podcast Video [3:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’m constantly posting from the past it seems. This weekend was busy with hanami activities (and subsequent recovery). I will be posting some video and audio from that as well. However, as promised, here is the Meiji-jingu video from last week.

I shot most of this footage from that day. Meiji-jingu is my favorite place to visit when I need some peace and quiet. Right in the heart of Yoyogi park, it never ceases to have a calming and quieting effect on me. Enjoy!

Alternative video link (Google Video)

 Episode 5 - Meiji-jingu Video [2:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s post comes in video podcast form. I explore making finding an apartment in Tokyo easier with Google Earth and Rikaichan. I take a look at the logistical aspect of looking in an unfamiliar area and explore the use of a Firefox plug-in that makes life easier when reading Japanese.

Show Notes:

• Finding an Apartment
• Google Earth
• Familiarity
• Location Awareness
• Wards of Tokyo
• Public Transit
• Needed Places
• Translation
• Searching in English / Japanese
• Rikaichan
• Tricks
• Getting Started
• Apartment Links
• Google Overlay Links
• Music Credits:
• Melissa Welch - Sleep-wake [cam076] Camomille Music CC License

 Podcast Video [9:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s taken me a while to post anything from my recent trip to Europe, but I hope the wait was worth it. I apologize whole-heartedly but blame KLM completely for throwing me off a day. I think the day delay coming back from Europe threw off my entire schedule - the downfall of being organized is that any kinks make you a helpless quivering blob of inactivity. But alas, I digress.

My first impressions of Amsterdam where a bit unnerving. Just the rawness of the city can be a little unsettling. Being an American in Europe doesn’t put me completely at ease given recent events in the world. In addition, Europe in general seems to have a lack of explicit safety precautions. The trams and bikes will run you over if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is your own responsibility as a human to keep yourself alive. If you get crushed, your fault. I somewhat like that. Europe seems to enact a sort of species selection this way - evolution in action.

New Years Eve in Dam Square was incredible. (see video). I’ve experienced the human cattle herding of New York City’s Times Square event and, unlike this event, Amsterdam is completely different. Dam Square is blocked off from traffic and pedestrian traffic is completely unrestricted. You can drink, shoot off fireworks, or just generally cruise around the entire area. People are shooting off fireworks nearly constantly for the 24 preceeding hours up to the countdown. At the countdown, this amount nearly quadruples into explosions of light directly above your head.

After checking out most of the museums, taking a canal tour, and eating way more than I should have we finished our touring of the city after nearly 6 complete days. Though I think that such an extended period of time in this city is a bit overkill, I enjoyed every minute of it and had a great time. Photos are available here.

Bottom line: Amsterdam for the New Year, highly recommended. Enjoy the brief video.

 Amsterdam in 2007 [0:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Are you confused?

So first there was the news that Justin Long was no longer making Apple commercials. Next, I had discovered that there were equally compelling commercials using the same schtick for Japan. Following this, I posted some borish comments on the topic. Then, I read another article today claiming that the long-man himself is denying it. Whatever, I’m so confused, and yet I don’t care. I still like the Japanese commercials better.

But in all this, I couldn’t help but wonder, what if this guy were in the Japanese commercials. Would he be confused? Would he brush it off? Would he try to talk to the hot Japanese camera girl again?

So to add to the confusion, here is a little ditty done I did with Final Cut Pro while taking a study break, just for each and every one of you. Enjoy.

 Podcast Video [0:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From: Saturday, November 19th: I think I had mentioned before that I had accidentally deleted the backup footage from my trip. I gave it the old college try and even looked for the footage on various hard drives. Please accept this slideshow as a proper substitute and just pretend the objects and people in the photos are moving.

This post contains sights from around Ginza and Shimbashi on our last night in Tokyo and will also be the very last video edition of this particular trip. If you missed any of the prior espisodes, you can still catch them here. I will start to post more current videos next week. (^.^) またね！

 Japan Trip - Day 8 and 9 [1:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From Thursday, November 17th: Day six of my Japan trip was spent wandering around the underground malls of Osaka. When we finally popped our heads up for air, we realized we were fairly close the Osaka Aquarium. Let’s head on over.

I present to you, “Today’s Zen Moment” with a dozen or so photos of the critters inside the aquarium, and not always just the fish. More photos here.

 Japan Trip - Day 6 [1:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download