Socko in Japan

Apple today announced it is teaming up with Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United to deliver the first seamless integration between iPod and in-flight entertainment systems. Read more about it at MacNN.com

Are you still thinking about a Zune?

30th – How many cases have the U.S. had? When we have a problem it is all over the front page and on all the TV news networks. I read this on the page 11 (of 22) in today’s newspaper. The artical was in a very small column with the news briefs. I asked all my co-workers if they heard about the latest mad cow report in Japan and no one knew anything about this. WTF!?! Japan is a good place, but the news is shady. It is not as bad as China, but very different from the U.S. Read on…

Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006

SAPPORO (Kyodo) The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Monday that a dairy cow which died earlier this month in Hokkaido has tested positive for mad cow disease, making it Japan’s 30th case.

The 5-year, 4-month-old cow, which died in Chitose on Nov. 8, will be incinerated and not enter the human food chain, ministry officials said.

The cow was born on a farm in Chitose in June 2001, before the implementation later that year of a ban on meat-and-bone meal suspected of being a cause of the disease.

It had been suspected of infection in a preliminary test by a livestock hygiene service center in Hokkaido and tested positive in further testing by the National Institute of Animal Health in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture.

From The Japan Times

That says it all. The Zune goes on sale Tuesday. Yes, the Zune will be a failure. Buying songs with points…what?!? A song is 79 points and that equals 99 cents…huh? You can only buy a minimum of $5 worth of points at a time. If you want to buy 1 song it will cost you $5. Microsoft you were so smart and tricked us all long ago, but your games will not keep you in front forever. Brown? Here Apple is selling tons of Red colored Nanos with $10 of the purchase price going to fight AIDS. What is Microsoft doing? They are giving the Universal Music Group $1 for every Zune that is sold to try and make peace for customers that are or will be pirates. D-U-M-B. I want someone to create a new iPod killer to push Apple, but this is not it! Save your money to buy a Nintendo Wii.

Train leaves station without conductor aboard

NUMAZU, Shizuoka — A train left a station here early Monday morning without its conductor aboard, delaying several trains by nearly 40 minutes, the railway operator said.

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) is set to investigate the incident.

At about 6:50 a.m., the 28-year-old conductor replaced a colleague, who had ridden in a local train bound for Hamamatsu from Gotenba, at Numazu Station on the Tokaido Line, company officials said. He noticed he had left his bag behind on the platform immediately after he closed the passenger doors.

The conductor went to get his bag when the driver started the train without noticing he was on the platform.

The train waited for the conductor to arrive at Katahama Station, four kilometers away from Numazu, by taxi, and departed 23 minutes behind schedule.

The incident delayed six west-bound trains by up to 37 minutes, inconveniencing some 2,200 passengers.

The bag the conductor had left behind on the platform contained JR Tokai’s job instruction manual and the timetable of the line.

From Mainichi Daily News

Looking out at Mt. Fuji as the sunsets on Sunday night. A few more pictures here.

カーズ = Cars in Japanese with Katakana characters.
I know it got poor reviews in the U.S., but Arisa loves all the Pixar movies…we had to buy it.

I got to hang out with my brother on Friday and Saturday. He stayed in Yokohama to visit us before he had to head to Nagoya for his business trip. We met up at the Landmark Tower after work on Friday and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Good times. Then on Saturday he stopped by our mansion and we had some Moss Burger for lunch and headed to Tokyo. Unfortunately it rained most of the day. We went to the Senso-ji temple in Asakusa and then we took the Ginza subway line to Shibuya to check out the world’s busiest intersection with the “scramble crossing” near the Hachiko exit. With the rain, it wasn’t very busy for a Saturday afternoon.

Useless fact – Shibuya station is Tokyo’s third-busiest station with 2.4 million people passing through every day. Shinjuku & Ikebukoro station are the busiest. Check out Wikipedia for more info about Shibuya or anything else you want to know.

Japanese Mac TV ads

Socko Energy Drink
Has anyone seen this in the stores back in the States?

FRIDAY!!!
Today is as good as a Friday can be. It is sunny autumn day with a high of 24 C (about 75 F). All the leaves are still green in and around the Yokohama area.