Author: Adamu

Tech Workers of Japan, Unite and Come to America!

This is a story I came across during my recent trip to Japan:

Nichia Corp, the Japanese manufacturer of the blue light emitting diode (LED), this month agreed to pay 840 million yen ($8 million) to a former employee in compensation for his invention of the technology to make the blue LED, which has turned a once minor chemical company in rural Japan into a virtual world monopoly in the production of the blue LED.

The court-mediated settlement of the dispute over the inventor’s demand for a huge amount of compensation drew wide public attention not just as industrial news but as an event of major social impact prompting a rethinking of individuals’ position in organizations in Japan in general, and engineers’ in business corporations in particular.

It also has prompted businesses to consider a system to adequately compensate for employee inventions, something that has been left in the dark in the past but has assumed crucial importance in this age of growing importance attached to intellectual property rights.

At the time of his invention, Nakamura was given a mere 10,000 yen bonus. What I saw on TV was a livid man holding a press conference and saying, “It’s as if the court is telling me to go to America. America is a society which actually rewards creativity.” There were also interviews on the street where people said he didn’t receive enough. Any thoughts?

いろんな迷惑メール　Spam I get in Japanese

日本語のインターネットにハマってる僕の受信箱にはいろんな迷惑メールが入ってきます。掲示板などに自分のアドレスを何も考えずに書き込む僕にも非があるとは思いますが、こんな謎めいたメールはいったい何を商売してるのでしょうか。

件名 : あの～？

メールくれましたよね？最初は迷惑メールかと思ってたんだけどよく見たらそんな変なア
ドレスじゃないのでメール返してみたんですが、
以前どちらかのチャットか何かでお話したかたですか？？

UPDATE: Due to popular demand, here’s the English translation.

I get a lot of spam in Japanese these days. Here’s one example:

You e-mailed me, didn’t you? I thought it might be spam, but since it’s not a weird address I decided to reply. Did we chat somewhere before?

And that’s it. Not trying to sell anything. I’m scared.

Hanshin Tigers Taxis to debut in front of Koshien

“The stripes on the uniform are actually vertical”
The New Honorary Player
The Hanshin Train Group Co.’s Hanshin Taxi (Located in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Pref.) is set to debut taxis embossed with Japanese Pro Baseball’s Hanshin Tigers logo and uniform design on the body of the car.

Using 7 of its 280 vehicles, it plans to run them for a period of 1 year. The Hanshin Group has run buses decked out with Hanshin logos before, but this is a first for their taxis.

They will kick off the taxis’ first day of operation with a ceremony in front of Koshien stadium, where the Tigers play.

My Comment: I hope I get to see those taxis in real life 😀

Sega’s ugly robot dog

I have faith that open, free-market competition will naturally produce the highest-quality robot dog possible, but this second major entry into the market suffers from an unfortunately miscalculated appearance:

Ew.

If I wanted to be disgusted by my virtual pets I’d get a Jar Jar Binks plushie.

とんでもないヨン様グッズがヤフオクで多発　Yong-sama merchandise

21世紀スタンピードさんが、さまざまなヨン様グッズ（ハンドクリーム、かつら、ペンなどなど）がヤフオクで掘り出したのを転載します。

Check out 21st Century Stampede and click the Yahoo! Auctions links to see crazy Yong-sama merchandise (hand moisturizer, wigs, pens, etc).

Here’s what the “Korean X-File” has to say about him: “Yon Sama : Big difference in looks between his pictures and reality? Thinks to hard and makes decisions slowly? Young females find him disgustingly greasy looking???”

Bae Yong Jun for example is known to have assulted 30 of his managers and coordinators. That’s a lot of people to slap around – and kinda goes against his image.

和訳：韓国の芸能報道がヨン様についてこう書いてるらしい－ナマで見ると顔が写真とぜんぜん違う。物事を難しく考えすぎて行動が遅い性格。若い女性に「顔が脂っこくていや」と嫌われている。

ぺ･ヨンジュン氏は自分のマネージャーやコーディネーターを３０人ほど殴ったことあるという。

〚オススメ〛日経動画ニュース

美人キャスター
たまたま日経新聞のホームページを開いてみると、なんと動画ニュース（ＭＳＩＥ専用らしい）が流れてた！と昨日驚いた。しかも、無料で日本のテレビで見れるような普通のニュース番組です（少し短めだけど）。

さらに驚いたのは、他の動画ニュースと違ってスムーズに流れること。ｇｏｏニュースなど、マイクロソフトメディアプレイヤーやＲｅａｌを使ったニュースサイトでは途中でとまったり、遅くなったりするが、ここは違う！

ヘッドライン・東京マーケット・解説・特集の４つのセクションに分けて、映像の横に字幕も出るので、日本語の勉強のためにもオススメ。

ミュータントフロッグ日本語版へようこそ（ミッションステートメント（使命声明）

ミュータントフロッグトラベロッグは、日本やアジア諸国の文化・政治情勢・技術を英語で紹介するためのブログとして誕生しました。タイトルを日本語に訳すと「変異体蛙の旅行日記」になりますが、意味はないので気にしないでください（詳しくはミュータントフロッグ君に聞いてください）。旅行中で撮った写真や、日本語のニュースから選ばれたオモシロ記事の英訳を主に掲載しています。

編集者は私（アダム）とミュータントフロッグ君、アメリカ人二人です。二人とも日本に２年住んだこともあり、日本やアジアに興味深いです。このブログは、あくまで暇つぶしに過ぎないかもしれませんが、基本的にアジアに対する理解を深めるのが私たちの目的です。

そこで、このブログに日本語コーナーを設けることにしました。 Continue reading ミュータントフロッグ日本語版へようこそ（ミッションステートメント（使命声明）

The Ownership Society (Makes me want to puke)

That’s the title of my new song, as yet unwritten. It harks back to the days when long, parenthetical song titles dotted the top 10. I like to think it’s something Jello Biafra would come up with.

OK, so what is this concept? This is something that the President has been touting, especially in reference to Social Security. But here are some key areas: Continue reading The Ownership Society (Makes me want to puke)

Meitantei Adamu (Adamu the Sleuth)

Today was quite the day. The gf had her bag stolen today so we spent the afternoon trying to track down the culprit. She was in the basement of the library and left her bag unattended for two seconds when some crackhead-looking guy made off with it. She lost $200, her license, a nice wallet, her bag that went to India and Canada with her, her Social Security card, and the guy used her credit cards to buy dog food and a tank of gas of all things.

When we cancelled her credit cards it showed what he bought and where, and it looked like the cops werent gonna do shit so we went and checked it out. The guy left an authentic looking signature on the receipt at the pet store in addition to showing up on camera, and the gas station manager was very cooperative and said he’d help us out in the morning.

Our hope is that the gas station caught his car, so we can get a model and make and maybe the plates. Then we can submit the signature and the car info to the cops and ask them to run it for people with records in the area. At first i didnt even take a photocopy of the receipt at the pet store because i assumed the cops would come check things out. But then i tried calling them with the info and the woman who answered was a BITCH. We asked to talk to the officer we were speaking with before and she was like ‘he’s gone try back tomorrow at 7am’ and then took down our info really curtly.

All in all it was kind of fun playing detective, although not quite $200 worth of fun. I’ll let you know what kind of dogs the guy has if we catch him.

Protecting Manzai and Takoyaki

Osaka Prefecture to Enact New Law
Takoyaki

On Jan. 18th, Osaka Prefecture affirmed its intention to preserve local mass culture from Noh theater to Rakugo, Manzai, and Takoyaki with the “Osaka Culture Law.” After submitting it to the local legislature in February they expect to enact it by April. According to prefectural authorities, 8 other prefectures already have similar laws, such as Hokkaido, Tokyo, and Kumamoto, but this is a first for the Kansai region. Continue reading Protecting Manzai and Takoyaki