Category: Personal/Blog News

Hosting problems

Our web host, Lunarpages, sent me this helpful message the day before yesterday.

Dear Roy Berman,

The following ticket has been created by a member of our staff for you

Your question’s details:

============== Title: ==============
Account Moved to Sputnik – Excessive Resources

============== Message: ==============
Hi,

Your account is utilizing excessive resources, causing a significant
degradation of services on the server. This is a shared environment and we can
not allow one user to utilize the majority of the resources on a server as it
affects all users adversely. Because of this, you have been temporarily moved
to the Sputnik server. A detail of the problem is shown below:

mutant2
mutantfrog.com
Ave %CPU: 5.47
AVE %MEM: 1.22
Mysql Processes: 0.5

Top Process %CPU 44.6 /usr/bin/php
Top Process %CPU 33.0 /usr/bin/php
Top Process %CPU 30.5 /usr/bin/php

We moved you to Sputnik first to solve the issue of the degraded service on
the server and second as a courtesy in order to prevent any downtime on your
siteto allow you time to rectify the situation. Currently, your site is not
suitable for a shared hosting environment.

Sputnik is not a production server and is not guaranteed to run in the same
manner as your old server nor will it support all functions you may have. This
is a transitional server only and is not intended to be a permanent placement.
Please make a decision on how you would like to proceed within seven (7) days.
After seven (7) days, your account will be suspended if no other arrangements
are made.

You may log into Sputnik using http://sputnik.lunarpages.com/cpanel or
https://sputnik.lunarpages.com:2083/ You will not be able to log into Sputnik
using the Lunarpages main login page as the server is non-production and not
available via that page.

You have the following options:

1. You may upgrade your package to our Dedicated hosting plan. For more
information on the features and pricing, please see
http://desk.lunarpages.com/faq.php?do=article&articleid=400

2. You may take steps to correct the problem. This must be done before the
seven (7) days are up. You will need to let the technician know the steps you
took to correct the issue and get approval before being returned to a
production server.

Please note that the above mentioned resource usage is due to PHP processing.
Since we do not have the exact scripts to provide (since the manner in which
PHP scripts are provided on the server only shows the username and not the
script name causing the high usage), you would need to review your accountfor
scripts that may be the cause. Please check ones such as forums, blogs,
content management systems, and galleries as these are especially likely to
create high usage.

Please note that the acceptable usage range for shuttle and voyager plans is
1.0% average %CPU or less, 1.0% average %Memory or less and Top Processes
below 20%.

3. You may look for a dedicated server or other hosting solution. Please
remember that propagation takes up to seventy two (72) hours so if you decide
on changing hosts you should allow enough time for propagation.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. We value you as a customer and
want to work with you toward a solution that is mutually beneficial. Please
let us know as quickly as possible how you would like to proceed.

—
Best Regards,
Justin Jereza
JSAI-System Administrator Team
support@lunarpages.com
Phone: 1-877-LUNARPAGES/1-877-586-2772 (U.S. & Canada – Toll-free)
Phone: 0800-072-9150 (U.K – Toll-free)
Phone: 1-714-521-8150 (International)

In the process of moving the blog to their backup server, they also managed to erase the user database portion of the SQL database, which is why the site has not been working properly recently. I just re-ran the wordpress install script and created a new admin account so I can log in and do things, but I’m not going to bother recreating the other users and fixing everything until the hosting issues are resolved.

I don’t know if lunarpages is going to properly restore my service or not, but I am probably going to seek a new host after this, so please email me with suggestions.

More obligatory cherry blossoms

These were out in bloom last weekend by Kitanomaru Park, the area on the north side of the Imperial Palace around the Budokan (across the road from Yasukuni, which also has some gorgeous flowers in bloom).

This is the first sakura season I’ve seen since high school. Very, very natsukashii. One of the partners in our office, a retired judge who’s been practicing law since my parents were in diapers, insisted on taking a walk down Uchibori-dori after lunch the other day. Quite an excellent idea; nothing but pink flowers and gawking pedestrians in either direction. Times like this make me feel like there’s no place I’d rather be in the world. (Then I get on the Ginza Line and I just want to choke people.)

Am I a Japan Apologist? If so, sorry!

Found on the Marmot, this look at Japan apologists in Korea before and during the colonial period is fascinating.

It’s amazing to me how after Japan’s defeat in WW2 and subsequent economic growth and close relationship with the US, Westerners’ experiences in Japan have exploded from a few extremely coddled, monitored, and restricted professions (missionaries, academics, o-yatoi gaikokujin) to 10s of thousands of individual experiences in a free society and from a plethora of backgrounds (eikaiwa teacher, human rights activist, programmer, truck driver, Diet member, gangster). Meanwhile, both legal and illegal immigrants from China and Korea as well as those from “periphery” countries like Brazil, the Philippines, and Iran have made semi-permanent homes in Japan, adding to a growing multiculturalism that was spearheaded by the zainichi Korean population.

Despite the surge in openness and the increased diversity and exposure both to and from the outside world that came with it, Japan’s obsessive image management remains along with the “foreign apologists” who are strikingly similar to those employed in the 1920s. There are plenty of them, including Gregory Clark and Ezra Vogel (DISCLAIMER: Haven’t read Vogel yet). But thankfully we live in a time when a) Japan apologists don’t have to overlook unarmed Koreans sliced in half on the street by Japanese soldiers; and b) Those involved with Japan professionally and otherwise have the breathing room to maintain a more sophisticated view of Japan than the Visit Japan Campaign marketing copy. People can even spend all their free time griping about how much Japan sucks even as they live there! Or, more constructively, they can unionize and try and improve their lot in life.

This article and the discussion on “Japanophiles” at several blogs got me thinking – what is it that keeps me interested in Japan after not living in the country for almost 3 years?

My own experiences in and related to Japan (obsessive language study, tumultuous relationship that ended in death threats, meeting and getting engaged to Mrs. Adamu here in Washington) have been, as life tends to be, bittersweet and full of as much pain as joy, but I still feel some pressure to speak well of Japan whenever someone (Japanese or non) asks me about it. Usually, I stick with the food. Nothing controversial about food, and really, Japanese food is the best. I used to have much more heartfelt and uncritical praise for Japan, back when the scenery, the people (“handler” types included), the language, and the fact that it wasn’t America kept me excited.

But right now, I don’t feel one way or the other about “Japan” as a whole. For one thing, 2 years is not enough to truly understand what a whole nation is all about. As I’ve said before: I love Japan, but it’s screwed up. The society’s got major problems that have translated into things that have affected me personally. But at the same time, I’ve been fortunate enough to befriend enough real, intelligent, and genuinely friendly people to keep me from dismissing the whole country as the kind of place that wraps foreigners in lacquer. It makes me sad to see someone who was unable in 12 years to get past all the superficial stuff of first meetings (his “GAIJIN MEETS A FOREIGNER kabuki”). Of course, not speaking the language where English is not widely understood and perhaps just being a reporter might make things difficult. It’s hard not to worry about how you’ll come across in an article when talking to someone from the press.

Anyway, as to the question in the title of whether I am a Japan apologist, I say not yet, but then no one’s paying me. Where I work (an American law firm) is about as far away as you can get from apologism. But if I were to get a swank job at JETRO or RIETI that might be a different story… Just let me apologize in advance for if and when I do get brainwashed and sucked into a world of untold luxury and all-you-can-eat sushi in exchange for my soul.

(Image is random)

Imperialist cuff links

I bought these on a hanami (flower viewing) excursion to Yasukuni Shrine last weekend. Tie pins aren’t quite my style, but the cuff links are great. (And Lady Curzon, a true aristocrat, gives her approval.)

Other items on sale at Yasukuni:

* Japanese flag cuff links. I didn’t buy these because they seemed too loud. I now regret that decision, and plan to purchase them the next time I visit.
* An authentic-looking Imperial Rescript on Education you can put up in your home for that classic fascist feeling. (Framed with a portrait of Hirohito: ¥9,000. Unframed: ¥1000.)
* Special manju, packaged with a caricature of Koizumi on the box and parodies of LDP slogans. Here’s a photo, because I love you:

Anyway, if you see a honky walking around Tokyo wearing chrysanthemum cuff links, you’ll know it’s me, so be sure to say hi.

Asian History Carnival approaching – submissions needed!

The Frog in a Well group Asian history blog (unaffiliated, but good name) is hosting the third Asian History Carnival on March 5rd and is still short on good submissions. If you are a blogger who has written anything since the previous carnival on December 12th or a blog reader who has spotted something that they think would make a good submission, either email it directly to Jonathan Dresner or use this handy web form for submission. Interested bloggers are also invited to pass along this request to their own readers.

What sort of material is Jonathan looking for? I’ll just quote his description.

When recommending postings for inclusion in the carnival you may submit your own work or suggest good posts by someone else. You may submit multiple posts, but not by the same blogger. The host, of course, is not bound by such restrictions, though we will attempt to provide as much geographical and chronological coverage as possible. Carnivals will be limited to posts written since the previous installment. As with most such carnivals, each host has final, absolute, and arbitrary authority with regard to inclusion, exclusion, scope, scale, format and presentation.

You do not have to be Asian, an historian, or a carny (you do have to be a blogger, at least once); all you have to do is blog about Asian history. Our definition of Asia, for the purposes of this carnival, is pretty much the same as that of the Association for Asian Studies: East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Southeast Asia, Far East, Middle East, Near East, all regions are welcome.

Those who are still unsure about what sort of material is appropriate, or just want to read something about history (Nice thing about history posts-unlike current events commentary, they don’t go out of date!) should check out the previous two roundups.

Carnival #2 – Muninn, Decmeber 12, 2005
Carnival #1 – Frog in a Well – Japan, October 10th, 2005

Please try and send in submissions by March 4 so that Jonathan has time to collate them and organize the post.

Strange things in Tokyo part 10,298: Oedo Onsen Monogatari

Recently, I joined the Most Hon. First Marquess Curzon of Kedleston for an overnight trip to Oedo Onsen Monogatari. In case you’ve never heard of this place before, it’s a big hot springs place located on Odaiba, an artificial island in Tokyo Bay known for its strange array of attractions (e.g. Kenzo Tange’s freaky-looking Fuji TV Building and a “European village” that people rent out for weddings).

Oedo Onsen Monogatari is, likewise, a strange attraction. When I think of onsen, I usually think of Arima Onsen or the various onsen in Nikko—places up in the mountains, pretty far from civilization, where you can enjoy the cool air and the hot water and the view of the valley. Or I think of Azabu Onsen, the tiny sento-type place in Minato-ku close to where I go to school. Comparing these places to Oedo Onsen Monogatari is like comparing a small American town to Main Street USA at Disney World. Continue reading Strange things in Tokyo part 10,298: Oedo Onsen Monogatari

OK, so I had a dream with this insane concept for a movie

I have lunch with Roland Soong and his Chinese girlfriend (petite, bubbly voice, intelligent) at a Chinese restaurant in a Japanese city (Osaka?). We discuss poverty in Japan and China and I mention something about a black underclass in Japan. We discuss other really intelligent things and then go and take some kind of weird water ride that’s kind of like underwater paddleboats. The end of the ride deposits us in a huge pond where this funny white guy is splashing everyone.

Then we walk outside the building, which was white with this glass exterior. I have a thought that I really like it when people have toothy grins and the reason I don’t like people sometimes is just because their smiles are a little off, or really just not toothy enough.
Continue reading OK, so I had a dream with this insane concept for a movie