the garbage collector teaches a lesson

Garbage collection is serious business in Tokyo. There are many measures that encourage people to produce less garbage, including charging absurdly high fees to collect large disposed items such as old furniture and electronic equipments (up to US$ 200.00 depending on the size).
There's a very strict garbage collection schedule, a specific day in the week for burnable items, another day for non-burnable items, another for cartons, and so on.
Recently I left my garbage bag out according to the instructions I read in the city leaflet. Later, I saw the garbage collector pick up the bag but, to my surprise, instead of immediately throwing it in the truck, he inspected it, patting it all over. Then he put it back in the same place and quickly went away!
Puzzled (not to say another word), I went out to retrieve my abandoned bag and saw that the collector had stuck the note below in it. Roughly translated, it says something like: This garbage is not properly sorted out. Please sort out your garbage properly!
Oops!

michell on tokyo

My friend Michell has written a nice post about Tokyo with reflections about his visit here last June. He captures a little bit of the sense of amazement that most visitors feel when visiting this city. Nice reading and pictures. Here.

summer in tokyo

It's been boiling hot in Tokyo with temperature reaching 36 degrees (that's about 97F) and humidity at 80%. This is a country with four distinct seasons but I never expected summer here would be even hotter than in Singapore, where the thermometer reaches 32C (90F) all year long.
To save energy and fight global warming the government sponsors a campaign called Cool Biz that encourages the usually formal Japanese businessmen not to use neckties during the summer. As part of the campaign public buildings keep the air conditioning thermostats at 28 degrees!
However, one thing that puzzles me is how a country so concerned about saving energy doesn't adopt summer daylight saving time. Sunrise during August has been around 5:10AM (way too early) and sunset around 6:20PM (too early as well).
I heard some possible explanations, one of them concerning the stress people who methodically run their lives by the time of the 8:02AM subway train would go through to change their habit. This could be an explanation. One website offers the following explanation: Japan used to adopt daylight saving time in the past, from the post-war years until 1952 when it was abandoned following opposition from farmers who complained they had to work longer hours. Currently though it seems the Ministry of Education is the main opposition to the idea, concerned that lighter evenings would entice school children away from their homework!
So that's the secret to Japan's education system. No outdoor light, more children cranking out their homework.

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P.S.: Moving to Tokyo has taken its toll. I've been too distracted to write anything. There's a unique way to do things here, a system that works pretty well once you understand it (but that's the caveat). You have to understand it first and that requires a considerable amount of energy to sort out even the most simple of things.
I still don't know exactly why, for example, it took almost three weeks to have a broadband connection installed at home. I don't know if I blame it on NTT or if I blame it on the real estate agent. Anyway, at least now I have a fiber optic connection that is the fastest thing I've ever experienced.

bye singapore, hello tokyo

It's time to say goodbye to Singapore.
Now, off to Tokyo. We're all looking forward to this new chapter in our lives.
Blogging will take a back seat for a while but will resume soon after we settle in.

stormtrooper dancing in tokyo

Danny Choo, who has one of the most visited blogs in Japan written in English, puts on a stormtrooper armor and dances in the streets and subways of Tokyo, to the groovy sound of Earth, Wind & Fire. Watch it here.
The particular scene below was shot in Akihabara, Danny dancing with the local cosplay gang. Too funny.

tokyo's limousine bus lady

While in Tokyo, the best way to and from Narita International Airport is the Limousine Bus. Thousands of passengers make that trip every day and they're always greeted by Kaoru Kubo, who has been the voice of the Airport Limousine for the last 23 years.
Who could forget her "gentle" reminder?
"...mobile phones should not be used on this bus as they annoy the neighbors!".
Listen to her voice on monocle.com.