Of Course There's a Difference

Do you see this picture? Cute how JAL (Japan Airlines) differentiates wheelchair users between those flying Economy and those flying First/Business Class.

iPhone Calling

It may be milder and underwhelming compared to the American counterpart, but the anticipation for the first iPhone sale in Tokyo is enough to get Apple enthusiasts to start lining up for one when it becomes available tomorrow, July 11. Pictured above is the first of the line at the Omotesando-dori Softbank, and the guy proudly announced his number-one-ness on a nearby board. Hiroyuki Sano, the first guy in queue and who came from Nagoya, had been camping there since Monday night (and it is now Thursday night).

At the eve of this launching, the line stretches only half a block, but Omotesando-dori, known as the "Champs Elysees of Tokyo" has a wide sidewalk, providing these people with ample amount of space. And Japan being Japan, it seems that perhaps Softbank had provided security by posting officers every few feet. Luckily for them, the weather tonight was excellent for a Tokyo summer: breezy with hardly any hint of humidity; best of all, it was not raining. Two different groups of TV crews were seen interviewing some people in the queue.

I did wonder how popular iPhone will be in Japan as this country (along with Korea) is way far ahead of everybody else in terms of phones with great features and usability, although none of them matches Apple's sleek design and level of status symbol.

Sayonara Sale

Wow, what a surprise. When we moved here in 2004, we had way too many things from the US, so we started paring down our belongings. We asked around to see if there was such a thing as Goodwill to whom we could donate them, but a colleague said that it was rather rare to find such an institution in Japan as Japanese tended to take care of themselves and not rely on anyone else's charity. We then called up our friends to see who wanted what, and after they had their picks, we simply left a whole lot of other things by the alternate door to our complex. We left for dinner and was surprised that an hour later back home, we found many things had disappeared; people had taken most away. We simply put the remaining in the dumpster.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when we decided not to bring our entire belongings and opted to do the traditionaSayonara Sale, a sort of garage sale staged by departing expatriates. I took pictures, posted them in an online site, advertised for the sale at the free weekly English magazine Metropolis, and within a day, calls started calling. It was a feeding frenzy, with people wanting to secure certain items, mainly the big ones, such as furniture. Each advertising renewal puts another fresh jolt to the bidding. It was fun to see the process. Had we known how wildly popular this was, we would have done this years ago when we wanted to get rid of some things.


Click HERE to go to the Sayonara Sale site.

Bloompy Sad

I was taking a sabbatical, thinking about how to make the blog more relevant and interesting, when word got out that a relocation might be in order. That got me sad as I love living in Tokyo, being in Japan and in Asia. With the moving deadline now becoming real, I am absorbing anything I can in my remaining time here, a time which I will remember as one of the best times of our lives.

Between the last entry and today's, many things had taken place, most of which were family matters that included sickness and death. Sorry for the absence.

But, as I had mentioned above, I was in the middle of thinking about revamping this site, so perhaps with the move, I can have a new start, a new life again.