Scott Davis (Musings on Java and Open Source) What's so funny about Java, OS X, Peace, Love, and Understanding?

I have spent my entire trip thus far glistening in a light sheen of perspiration. The streets are hot and muggy. The hotel lobby is hot and muggy. You walk into your hotel room and it is a balmy 79 degrees F. I trained for an entire day with 15 Japanese students in a room that was hotter than most American saunas. (Did I mention that I did it in a suit and tie? Oh Yeah...) One of the most popular drinks sold in vending machines is Pocari Sweat. I don't think that the name of the drink is cute Engrish, although I've seen plenty of that as well -- I think that the name is due to the fact that the city of Tokyo is populated by 12 million sweaty people.

I do have an internet connection in my room. (I'm not quite sure how much I'm paying for it -- Japanese Yen are kinda like pesos, aren't they?) Next lesson learned: http://www.google.com redirects to http://www.google.co.jp. The whole website looks like a .exe file that you tried to load in a text editor. I'm sure that I could flip it from Kanji to English (or Klingon or Elmer Fudd or Bork Bork Bork) if I had the preferences page memorized by rote... Ugly American tip Ichi: http://www.google.com/ncr is your friend away from home, Baby. The blog where I found this tip says it best: "I don't know what ncr means." Me: I don't care...

Ugly American tip Ni: Talk about how hot it is in your hotel room loudly enough on the subway, and any American within earshot will tell you how to foil the hotel's energy saving measures. I'm convinced this works -- it happened to me twice. Japanese hotel rooms have a slot marked "insert your hotel keycard here" right as you walk into your room. The first time I walked in, I thought to myself, "Screw you, Hippie -- I'm keeping my key in my pocket." I then flipped every light switch on and off again in vain (about 100 times each) until I remembered the sign I passed as I walked in. It wasn't hard -- it was the only thing in the room that would light up until I inserted my room key. I don't understand Japanese, but I'm pretty sure it said, "Screw me? Screw *you*, American-san, stumbling around in the dark, knocking your knees on my razor-sharp, precisely engineered furniture corners..."

Oh, you want to know the tip? Insert your hotel room key, slip in a business card, and then slip out your room key. I felt like Indiana Jones and the Temple of the 79 Degree Hotel Rooms.

Ugly American tip San: everything you've heard about rush hour on an Tokyo subway is true. Frotteurism, indeed. I haven't been party to it yet, but I've seen it leave from my subway platform heading in the other direction. Unbelievable. Truly surreal.

Ugly American tip Shi: iChat is too slow to video conference across the Pacific, but grabbing screen shots and emailing them back and forth real-time while Mommy reads what Daddy is typing is Mastercard-priceless.

It only *sounded* like I was bitching about Tokyo earlier in this post. It is pretty darn cool here (OK, maybe poor choice of words) and I am having quite a good time. Those little 10 mega-pixel pocket cameras that they are selling at all of the electronic stores are looking pretty irresistible. I might have some pix to upload to Flickr of my own before my work here is done. (That sound you're hearing is the sound of my wife flinching...) We've been working pretty hard here up to this point -- I'm looking forward to the point in the trip when the "Fun-to-Work" ratio adjusts itself to something more in my favor later in the week.

Sayonara...