Recently I've been writing a lot of blog posts about programming topics and I haven't really talked about much of the many things that have happened recently. Two big things and many many small things have happened recently. I'll start with the big things and perhaps blog about some of the smaller things at a later time.

Big thing #1: I got a new job.

I had been looking for a new job for a while but without luck but a good opportunity come to me in September so I've moved from my job programming mostly SOAP web service backend server applications at Think to a new job programming Web applications in Python using Django at BeProud. This might be Greek to a lot of you but the end result is that work is a lot more fun now. I am also getting paid about twice as much as before to do it.

Another big difference is that there are no English speaking folks at the new job. This might seem seem like it would be a con rather than a pro but it means that I no longer have to support other folks because they don't speak Japanese. This makes work a whole lot easier. About 25% of my previous job was to support other programmers who don't speak Japanese and aren't familar with Japanese business practices and customs. This meant training and teaching. It also meant that for every meeting I attended in Japanese I would either had to have another meeting in English to inform the non-Japanese speaking folks what was decided and why, or no one would know what was going on. Not having to worry about that makes a big difference.

Big thing #2: I moved to a new apartment.

With my new job being in a different place and since my old apartment was in my old company's name I moved at the beginning of this month. The new apartment is over twice as big ( and twice as expensive) but it was worth it. The old apartment was tiny. And I mean tiny. In Japanese the apartment not including the kitchen and bathroom was 6 Jyou.  Which is roughly 10m².Which is roughly 107 square feet. The total apartment was probably about 125 square feet or so. So I'm not joking when I say it's tiny. And I lived there for 2 years. Even the new apartment is only about 450 square feet but by Tokyo standards it's large for a single person. In any case the new place is much easier to live in.

Here are some pictures.

Today a man drove into a crowded group of people in Akihabara and then got out of his car and started stabbing and slashing people with a knife. 7 people were killed and 11 people injured/wounded. Akihabara is the electronics shopping district in Tokyo and was closed to cars today so the road was full of pedestrians. From what I gather from the news is that the man drove his car into a pedestrian only area and hit several people. Then he got out of his car and stood over one of the people he hit and started stabbing him several times, He then came towards the station, stabbing and slashing people indiscriminately.

Kern, an English teacher in Osaka mentioned the incident on his blog. He also mentioned the trend of killers who say things like "I just wanted to kill people. Anyone would do" which has been said by several killers in the recent past so it's an interesting observation. The fact that this also occurred on the 7th anniversary of an incedent where a man killed 8 children and injured 15 other people at Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka Prefecture seems like more than a coincidence.

Akihabara is about 20 minutes by train from where I live. This apparently happened very close to the station so it's a bit hard to believe that something like this happened in an area that I have been to many times.  It's alarming to think that I could have been there. I wonder what kind of answers can be gleaned from such indiscriminate killers.

The story is also mentioned on Reuters and Japan Today. BBC videos here and here.

Living in Japan there are a few things that you might have the unfortunate chance to experience.

Today, a person who lives in my building commited suicide. The building where I live is small so the person lived just 6 doors down from me.

The night started when a police officer knocked on my door. A strong odor was coming from someone's room and everyone in the surrounding buildings was forced to evacuate. I began talking to one of my neighbors and apparently many people who have turned to suicide have chosen to mix chemicals and inhale them.

Though I have no idea who the person is, I can't help but feel emotional about the event. To know that someone living so close chose to take their own life is unimaginable.

I know it doesn't look like much but it's the first snow since I came to Japan. I took the photo above on my way to work but it snowed more during the day. I guess it really is about once every two years or so you get a snowfall in Tokyo. It was also a first for my colleague from Okinawa and another from the Phillipines who have never seen snow in their whole lives. They were asking all kinds of questions like, do you use an umbrella when it's snowing? I never have but apparently Japanese people do.

Recently I read an article on gyaku that says that Japan is pushing forward with passing laws to regulate open communications. It seems to be targeted at protecting young people from public online sites and mobile content but the nature of the law means that the regulations will extend to blogging and to online sites such as 2channel. This looks like something me and my fellow bloggers in Japan will need to follow closely.

Starting two days ago, Japan will be fingerprinting any foreigner that enters Japan. You can check out some of the media response in my shared news items. Japan becomes the second nation in the world to start finger printing foreigners entering the country. However, unlike the U.S. even foreign residents, not just visitors, will be fingerprinted. Of course SOFA members are exempt, as they exempt from most other overreaching programs like Foreigner Registration Cards.

I hope that I could go home sometime soon but I'm not looking forward to a long line at immigration and a fingerprinting on the way back.

The pilot of the Enola Gay that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, Paul Tibbets, has died. He was a staunch defender of the plan to drop the bomb on Hiroshima, saying it saved lives when compared to the prospect of a full scale invasion of Japan. A point of view that is very controversial in Japan. Somewhat recently the Defence Minister of Japan, Fumio Kyuma, was forced to resign because of statements he made about the dropping of the atomic bomb being justified. During his life he was repeatedly criticized for his beliefs in the justification of dropping the bomb. But while his thoughts on the subject may be controversial in Japan, there is no doubting the bomb's, and his place in history. He says he can sleep well at night and I say, good for him.

I for one am tired of that debate. Whether the bomb was justified by the fact that in the end it ended the war sooner and saved lives that would be lost in a direct invasion of Japan, one could never know. Without trying to trivialized it, we're crying over 50 year old spilled milk. The point is what is done is done. However, I respect and identify with Japan's position on nuclear weapons, and the willingness of the Japanese people to continue under the, U.S. written, pacifist constitiution. I just don't think it's worth it to say that the bomb was justified or not.

Instead of trying to argue whether using nuclear weapons in that case was justifiable, I think we should examine why it was dropped, and attempt to prevent that situation from occurring again. This means reducing the number of nuclear weapons, creating a culture where using nuclear weapons is unacceptable, and avoiding war where using nuclear weapons would become an option.

It's been a little while but I'm back with the comings and goings of day 2 of our trip to Hakone. So without further ado lets get started!

	Reiko and I woke up early at our Ryokan, and went for an early morning walk down to Lake Ashi to see if we could see Mt. Fuji. Unfortunately that objective was doomed from the start but we had a nice walk, enjoying the crisp morning air, and brilliant sunshine. After the walk we had great breakfast at the hotel which from what I'm told is part of the charm of Japanese Ryokans. We were planning to take the tour boat across Lake Ashi that day so after that we planned to head to take the tour boat early so we could see Mt. Fuji easier so we checked out of the hotel about 8:30. But we realized when we got to the dock that the tour boat starts at 9:30 and we checked out of the hotel too early.
	So we wandered around for a bit and then found that the ropeway that we had ridden the previous day was open at 9:00. So we decided to take the ropeway up to Oowakudani, where we went the previous day, and back. The idea being that we could see Mt. Fuji from the Ropeway. That turned out to be a brilliant idea since, being early, we got our own private car and a gorgeous view of the mountain.
	Our timing was perfect because getting back from the trip on the ropeway we had just enough time before 9:30 to get on the tour boat. The boat was pirate ship themed and wasn't terribly interesting itself. It was pretty nice to take in the lake scenery in the morning sunshine though.
	After that we went to the Hakone military checkpoint which is a small tourist destination in Hakone City. It's kind of an outdoor museum of sorts and has clay statues so you can try to get an idea of how the Samurai and workers used the rooms and spaces in their daily lives.
	After the checkpoint we headed to the Hakone observation building which is in Hakone Park. From there we got a great view of Lake Ashi and Mt. Fuji. I imagine that area is a favorite for photographers. The building was a kind of western style building but inside they had some Nebuta. Nebuta are huge parade floats created for Nebuta festivals, the most famous being in Aomori prefecture in northern Japan.
	After the observation building we headed to Hakone shrine. The grounds are quite large and has several smaller strines. I tend to like shrines because they are oasises of quiet and often have lots of plants and architecture built out of stone. So you feel like you are in a much more natural environment than in normal life.

After Hakone shrine we took the bus back to Hakone Yumoto station and took the train back to Tokyo, ending our two day vacation. I have to say that Reiko scheduled the trip at a perfect time. Both she and I were getting tired from working hard and needed some time outside of the city. The weather also smiled on us during our two days and was also perfect timing since the remnants of a typhoon came through the next day. All in all, a satisfying vacation. I hope I can live in a quiet place outside the city sometime. The city is just too hectic.

Yesterday, Reiko and I got back from Hakone. Reiko planned a nice trip for my birthday. We left on Saturday and came back the next day. Hakone is about two hours away on the Odakyuu train line. We went to Hakone for the nature scenery, but most people go there for the Onsens (hot springs/hot baths), and health spas, since they are all over the place. It seems every other bus stop is named 'something something onsen'.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. Here's the rundown of the first day,

After we arrived at Hakone Yumoto Station we changed to the Hakone Touzan (Mountain Climbing) Line and rode that to Goura. The line zig zags it's way up the mountains, often stopping and going back the other direction.

After we had lunch at Goura, we got on the Hokone Touzan Cable Car. There is only one cable "train" with two cars so it was quite crowded. Standing room only. The train itself is slanted and hard to keep footing. There also isn't much to see so, while the fact that it's a cable car that gets pulled up the mountain is interesting, it wasn't much fun to ride it.

After we arrived at Souunzan station, we changed to the Hakone Ropeway. The ropeway runs from Souunzan to Tougendai, where our hotel is. It's nice since you can see a lot of scenery from up high. It's also too dangerous to have a lot of people in one car so it was a lot more comfortable ride than the cable car.

Halfway to Togendai is one of our touristy destinations, Oowakudani (大(Big)涌(Boiling)谷(Valley)). Essentially, it's exactly as the name says. About three thousand years ago the mountain erupted in a big explosion leaving an empty valley or crater that continually vents sulfuric gas. You might wonder why you would ever want to go there but it's actually pretty interesting seeing the water boiling out of the and the gas jets. They also have a tradition of making black eggs which if you eat will lengthen your life by 7 years (or so they say). Though it must be kind of an Asian thing since there were TONS of foreigners around but all of them were Koreans, Chinese, and Indian. Very few westerners. I saw a Russian or Eastern European group of about 3 but that's about it.

I don't like eggs, and after not too long we couldn't stand all the people and the smell, so we continued on to Tougendai and checked into the hotel. The hotel is a nice Japanese style Ryokan. We had a tatami floored room and they set out a tea set so you can have green tea. We arrived a bit early, so after check in, we went for a walk in a nearby park next to Lake Ashi until dinner. Traditional breakfast and dinner are included per-usual for Ryokans.

Well that's it for now. I'll get to day two, when we take a sightseeing boat across Lake Ashi and check out Hakone Shrine, later.

I saw this story on the CNN website and apparently the "Crocs" brand of shoes get caught in escalators easily. Recently when Reiko and I went to Yokohama, I noticed a sign in Japanese on an escalator warning that incidents involving crocs on escalators are increasing and to be careful, but apparently it's a worldwide issue.

Crocs have recently become popular in Japan and there are escalators everywhere (malls, train stations, etc.) so the story on CNN caught my eye. Generally kids have the biggest problem but the shoes apparently get caught in the "teeth" at the top or bottom of the escalator.

Anywho, If you have a child that owns the sandals, be careful on escalators.