I also had to make this comic…
Although Yokohama is the second biggest city in Japan it’s mostly just considered as part of the Greater Tokyo. Takes slightly half an hour reaching the Yokohama central station from central Tokyo. There’s even a subway line which links to Shibuya. Also, most of the sightseeing spots are within walking distance in downtown.
I visited the Chinese town, Yamate and Motomachi districts -the foreign residence districts-, but the highlight for me was Minatomirai, the district near the harbor, full of modern buildings, where I could’ve just walked and walked for hours.
Once, talking to a friend, when she told me that her eyes were tired after hours in front of a PC, I recommended her to watch a landscape (or seascape), architecture, or a body in motion (like ballet). In Yokohama my eyes rested, when I had all that.
My manager made pointed me this Web Trend map based in the Tokyo subway map and I have to tell that it got me amused for a long, long time. I tried to figure out the mapped stations and I wondered why they were mapped in that way.
Nice and funny, is that WordPress is mapped to Aoyama-Itchome station, which is between my room and the Oracle center.
Twitter is mapped to Shibuya, my manager mentioned that “is the beginning of the Publishing line. But also Creativity and Identity is there” and “from Twitter to Google you have to pass Stumble-Upon”. ‘Stumble-Upon’ is mapped to Yoyogi.
Google is mapped to Shinjuku, and Gmail, very near, to Shinjuku-sanchome, also funny, one of my favorite areas. Apple is mapped to the junction Akasaka-mitsuke/Nagatacho, Amazon to the junction Tameikesanno/Kokkai-gijidommae and Yahoo! to the junction Korakuen/Kasuga. Youtube is mapped to Takadanobaba and Facebook to Ikebukuro, one of the most crowded stations, although slightly less appealing than Shinjuku and Tokyo, but there, Application, Identity and Entertainment meet. Firefox is mapped to Tokyo station, a place where I easily get lost.
Reddit is mapped to Roppongi, an area where I only go when I have a good reason, but when go, I have fun. Skype is mapped to Harajuku, popular among teenagers and fashion and cosplay fans. Microsoft is mapped to Ottemachi, near a business district. DeviantART is mapped to Ueno, a crowded area with museums, a big park, a market and the most homeless people in Tokyo, but where Creativity and Knowledge meet. Adobe seems to be mapped to Ginza, a very luxurious spot.
The Pirate Bay is mapped to Hamamatsucho/Daimon, near the Tokyo’s cruise dock, but also a point to connect to the harbor and an Airport, and Filter to Sharing. TED is mapped to Akihabara, the electronic district, where people (used to) go to peek into the future. Linux is mapped to Ningyocho in Eastern Tokyo.
Also interesting are the lines names. Ginza line is called Creativity, Ginza line is one the oldest in Tokyo and is very convenient connecting Western and Eastern Tokyo, although its stops are sometimes very near. The Oedo line is ‘Filter’, actually a loop around Central Tokyo, a line which I try to avoid. Hanzomon Line is ‘Publishing’, sometimes parallel to Creativity. Hibiya line is Knowledge, also sometimes parallel to creativity. Marunochi Line is ‘Application’, a line which I often use to save time, although I sometimes prefer to walk to save money.
It looks that in Japan, mobiles are necessary. Mobiles also set certain manners. For instance, in the trains, near the courtesy seats, there are signs inviting people to turn off their mobiles, as there may be passengers with pacemakers; also, mobile phones usually don’t ring, they seem to be usually set to the “manner mode” (silent, vibrating); other thing I notice is that, if someone receives a call, they discretely say something in the form “I’m in the train, can I call you later?”. Mobiles are used in the trains though, like for texting, or listening/watching media.
Although the mobiles are often silent, on the other hand they tend to be fancy decorated among young people.
I got a pre-paid plan for my mobile from Softbank (other choices were AU/KDDI and Docomo). I took the cheapest device I was offered, which is not that bad, a Samsung phone with front and back camera, media player and a free USB charger. Actually, the charger is not included in the price and that makes many customers angry, among other things, like losing network sometimes.
The minimum credit to upload is 2000 Yens, which has to be used within 2 months. Calls from a pre-paid plan are expensive, but for 300 Yens a month it’s possible to use the messaging service: unlimited SMSs and emails. The disadvantage is that SMSs cannot be send to nor received from foreign phone numbers. The email is linked to the device, and is customizable, this is the biggest advantage which I use.
Although that doesn’t sound surprising anymore (with Blackberries, iPhones and similars around), I saw the usage of these feature since my first trip here in 2007. As well as paying with the mobile with NFC technology, which I don’t use, but is commonplace.
An interesting feature is the TV. It just works. And I don’t have to pay (at least not directly) taxes.
The first time that I departed from Narita Airport, I had enough time (and no money) to spend, and found out a rather boring Duty Free area.
The last weekend I took two domestic flights. I was a bit worried for the first one, which was so early in the morning that I’d arrive to the airport barely one hour before departure. The airline’s website said that I could check in up to 20 minutes before departure, and be at the boarding gate up to 15 minutes before departure.
Now I have the complete picture, in a country where commuting is common, taking a plane is like taking a taxi, or a train, or a bus.
Haneda Airport is not that small. With big airports in general, is helpful finding out beforehand the terminal where an airline is based, once done this, I headed to the Terminal 1 and in minutes I was checking in… with nobody’s help. Seconds later, I crossed the inspection gates and minutes later, I was at the boarding gate.
The flight back was from Nagasaki, whose airport (on the sea) is rather inconvenient. This time I arrived less than 45 minutes before departure, I had an umbrella and some bottles of vinegar, I had to ask if I needed to check in. No. I didn’t need to.
The efficiency goes beyond. The tickets can be bought in the website, and can be paid with credit card or at any convenience shop (something similar occurs in Mexico). To checkin in, showing the credit card or the convenience store receipt is enough, I didn’t have to show any ID. And also, with so little free time, the Duty Free area is forgettable, perhaps that’s why they’re boring.
I mentioned that Nagasaki airport is built on the sea. Haneda’s runway is also on the see. Kobe’s Airport (I had a stop-over there) is completely on a man-made island. Landing to and taking off from such airports can produce vertigo. But in a good weather morning, taking off from Nagasaki offers a fantastic view. I don’t know if it’s got to do with efficiency but I wanted to mention it.
I had to make this comic…
Some days ago, after working, I took a walk until Akasaka. It is a nice area with lots of bars, places to eat and entertainment. We entered to a place, and had some random meal portions. We also ordered Sashimi: tuna, salmon and mackerel.
The mackerel looked well presented, showing freshness. “Coming straight from the ocean” is what my house mates say with humour. However… when the fish head and tail moved, the humour, sort of froze. It’s supposed to be just a reflection, but…
After finishing eating the meat pieces, it’s possible to give the head and tail structure to the staff to get it deep fried.
It was delicious by the way.
The high-tech face of not only Tokyo, but all Japan, is at first sight impressing. If seen carefully, big cities like Tokyo or Osaka may remind of the film “Blade Runner”, where next to illuminated futuristic skyscrapers, there are narrow alleys with less light and little food stands.
Something which didn’t really hit me at first sight from the urban landscape was the fact that living here is living in a real three-dimensional way. Getting around requires not only going forwards or backwards, left or right, but also upwards or downwards.
Beyond the obviousness of the trains stations, whose stairs can be fun or stressful, the cases which can drive crazy even to GPS devices (I witnessed this at least twice) is the search for an address. One can have dinner at a 6th floor and then a drink in a 2nd floor, to go later for the next drink in a 2nd basement.
Near Roppongi Hills, sometimes it’s hard to notice whether one is at a ground level or not.
A particular case are the underground malls. Down there it’s hard to notice how the time passes by, and one never knows if outside is already dark or still bright. Although they’re good in rainy days.
The Oracle DBA+Developer Days is an event taking place this week, between November 9th and November 11th. Some days ago it was also announced that there would be a session within the same frame, the Oracle Enterprise Manager Forum (OEM Forum).
I managed to attend to the forum, which lasted slightly more than two hours. The event was rather a presentation (launch) of the latest version of the OEM 12c (with more than 200 new features). There was a little demo showing how easily OEM interacts with both software and hardware and the presentation was carried with ease. Other companies had their turn to talk about their integration with OEM, like Hitachi (JP1) and Fujitsu (Systemwalker).
Although I had the chance to talk for a very little moment to Leng Tan, VP of Product Development, there was not a Q&A when the talk finished.
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