Saturday, June 07, 2003
What a knack for good timing. I went to school today to work on project and catch up on blogging (survived 2 full days without internet--wow!). Coming out of Azabujuban station I saw several police with big metal shields. Walking further down the block I saw a lot more police, many of them in riot gear and saw the street I had to cross was blocked off. I could hear a loud voice being blared from a loudspeaker, so thought maybe I had stumbled on to another protest. I tried asking some people what was going on, but noone seemed to understand English and I had no idea what to ask in Japanese. Several guys on the corner were in suits with the little wired earplugs so I thought maybe some dignitary motorcade was coming by or something. Another suit guy had a big camera and armband that made me think identified him as a press person. Several black trucks with Japanese flags and the loudspeakers shouting and playing strange music came by, but there were no protesters to be seen.
When I crossed the street, I finally found an Austrailian guy walking with a Japanese woman who explained what was going on. Apparently the president of South Korea was in town, but the extreme right-wing in Japan was very anti-Korean. The truck loudspeakers were shouting things such as "Koreans go home" and "Koreans are criminals". He pointed out the Korean consulate across the street and the Korean embassy several blocks away, which is why the protests were taking place there. The police were mainly monitoring to make sure nothing happened and that the loudspeakers didn't get too loud, in which case they would be forced to shut off. The Aussie added that they didn't seem to be succeeding in this respect since he felt "bloody deaf" from all the noise.
I ended up deciding to go to Hakone at the last minute. Fab, Kyle, and Kota all were very encouraging about doing the trip and one of the Japanese advisers and I talked about the whole cultural shock things which made me feel better. The weather turned out to be beautiful, though still too overcast to see Mt. Fuji. One of the professors here assured me I wasn't missing anything by not climbing it since it was "like climbing an ashtray" with no scenery, only ash on the way up. Unfortunately, I didn't check the weird noises my camera was making as it was advancing so it looks like none of the pictures are going to come out.I was pretty annoyed at myself, but oh well.
One of the first people I met on the trip was one of the Japanese students, Hiromi, who was wearing a t-shirt with an Aztec design. When I asked her about it, she said she had gotten it in Japan and didn't seem to know who the Aztecs were. It turns out she is a big fan of Latin music and her boyfriend is from Colombia. For a little while, we traded words and phrases in Spanish and Japanese. I also chatted with several other students here for Japanese study. Tiffany is half Japanese and is staying with her sister, an English teacher, at Apple House. She didn't learn much Japanese growing up but is majoring in Japanese studies and fine arts. Apparently her parents met when her dad was an English teacher at the place where her mom was an office lady.
We went on a smallish chartered bus with teddy bears pictures on the outside. Our first stop was a small temple. Nothing special, but still everyone had to take a picture there with their digital cameras and showed it off immediately afterwards. I found it funny, considering the reputations Japanese people have for taking pictures everywhere. Next we went to a hotel where the emperor stayed when he was in the area. We didn't get to see his suite, but we did get to see the rooms where Helen Keller and Charlie Chaplin stayed. They cost 70,000 yen a night so none of us were planning on staying there, though Kota jokingly offered to book the room if any of the girls would marry him. Next stop--Hakone Open-Air Museum. Mostly outdoor sculptures among a lot of greenery with a few indoor galleries. The most fun part was the kids section--slides and then this gigantic net maze you could climb and jump around in. The biggest contributor was Picasso, with a few impressionists and Japanese artists thrown in. One so-called work of art was some footprints going down the steps, which I thought was pushing it. My favorite paintings came at the end as I was exiting, so not as much time to enjoy them.
Tours over for the day, we returned to our hotel to relax before dinner. Most of the girls went to the hotel onsen (hot springs). I went a little later, with the Japanese girls and just as the main group had left so didn't feel as self-conscious. As it turns out, most everyone found it too hot, but I didn't mind the temperature.
Dinner turned out to be in the banquet hall and was simply amazing. I took a picture of the place setting because the food was arranged so beautifully. I was apprehensive since so much of it was unfamiliar, but actually liked one of the fish dishes. I even managed to eat with chopsticks! I couldn't bring myself to try the ones with eyes or the crabs though. Just as I was getting down about still being hungry, they brought out 3 big pizzas! Everyone got very excited and the pizzas were quickly wolfed down. Then they brought about 3 or 4 more out, as well as a lot more beer, so even I was full and many people started getting drunk. Karaoke time! The majority of the songbook was in Japanese, but Kota found a few in Spanish and English that we managed to get through and he did some in Japanese for us.
Next morning--big breakfast with croissants (hotel famous for bakery), juice and egg omelette. I'm probably not going to get fed as much for the rest of my time here. We went to Owakudani, a volcanic area with foul smelling geysers and black eggs which would give you 7 extra years of life if you ate them. Signs warned away asthmatics, drunk people and anyone not feeling well because of the possible toxicity of sulfur fumes. Cable cars looked enticing, but they were part of the Hakone pass tour. The souveneir shop was the most fun, with a big Hello Kitty section. I wanted a poster, but since they weren't for sale, got a face towel with Hello Kitty wearing a black outfit and surrounded by eggs and geysers with Mount Fuji in the background. Several people got cell phone charms and Jen got an "evil Hello Kitty", completely black coming out of a silver egg.
Next we went to Lake Ashi. It had some gorgeous views of bonsai trees against green mountains and the lake--these are the pictures I really wanted. I got lost going back to the parking lot and Kota and the Japanese girls went to look for me:(
Next we stopped at a supposedly medieval castle which was actually a replica built in 1960. A zoo with depressed looking animals was in front. Not very exciting, though I missed the elephant spraying a heckling kid while my back was turned.
Our last stop was a temple. Nothing special about it, but Kyle recommended it because of the 350 step climb. On the way down, Kota pointed out a small shrine with many little baby statues for unborn children that had been aborted or miscarried. It was a somber sight with all the bibs and ribbons that people put in remembrance.
The ride back was a study in American pop culture since people quizzed each other on "Saved by the Bell" trivia and talked about the latest reality show, "Extreme Makeover", where everyone gets plastic surgery.
Here's another blog with pictures on Hakone:
http://www.greggman.com/japan/hakone/hakone.htm
Overall, the sightseeing itself could have been easily condensed into a day tour, but the ryoksan and karaoke with the group was fun. The aftermath after leaving the group was a little sad, but when I got back to the guesthouse, I chatted and watched "The Matrix" on Japanese TV with the other people staying there. Several people referenced me as "the new girl". Everyone seems to be friendly. People are mostly French and Japanese. So at least that seems to be working out OK.
Just read a blog story on an American celebrity in Japan who noone knows in America: Bob Sapp. Apparently a failed NFL player who is making it big time in Japan:
http://www.time.com/time/asia/2003/bob_sapp/story.html
When I crossed the street, I finally found an Austrailian guy walking with a Japanese woman who explained what was going on. Apparently the president of South Korea was in town, but the extreme right-wing in Japan was very anti-Korean. The truck loudspeakers were shouting things such as "Koreans go home" and "Koreans are criminals". He pointed out the Korean consulate across the street and the Korean embassy several blocks away, which is why the protests were taking place there. The police were mainly monitoring to make sure nothing happened and that the loudspeakers didn't get too loud, in which case they would be forced to shut off. The Aussie added that they didn't seem to be succeeding in this respect since he felt "bloody deaf" from all the noise.
I ended up deciding to go to Hakone at the last minute. Fab, Kyle, and Kota all were very encouraging about doing the trip and one of the Japanese advisers and I talked about the whole cultural shock things which made me feel better. The weather turned out to be beautiful, though still too overcast to see Mt. Fuji. One of the professors here assured me I wasn't missing anything by not climbing it since it was "like climbing an ashtray" with no scenery, only ash on the way up. Unfortunately, I didn't check the weird noises my camera was making as it was advancing so it looks like none of the pictures are going to come out.I was pretty annoyed at myself, but oh well.
One of the first people I met on the trip was one of the Japanese students, Hiromi, who was wearing a t-shirt with an Aztec design. When I asked her about it, she said she had gotten it in Japan and didn't seem to know who the Aztecs were. It turns out she is a big fan of Latin music and her boyfriend is from Colombia. For a little while, we traded words and phrases in Spanish and Japanese. I also chatted with several other students here for Japanese study. Tiffany is half Japanese and is staying with her sister, an English teacher, at Apple House. She didn't learn much Japanese growing up but is majoring in Japanese studies and fine arts. Apparently her parents met when her dad was an English teacher at the place where her mom was an office lady.
We went on a smallish chartered bus with teddy bears pictures on the outside. Our first stop was a small temple. Nothing special, but still everyone had to take a picture there with their digital cameras and showed it off immediately afterwards. I found it funny, considering the reputations Japanese people have for taking pictures everywhere. Next we went to a hotel where the emperor stayed when he was in the area. We didn't get to see his suite, but we did get to see the rooms where Helen Keller and Charlie Chaplin stayed. They cost 70,000 yen a night so none of us were planning on staying there, though Kota jokingly offered to book the room if any of the girls would marry him. Next stop--Hakone Open-Air Museum. Mostly outdoor sculptures among a lot of greenery with a few indoor galleries. The most fun part was the kids section--slides and then this gigantic net maze you could climb and jump around in. The biggest contributor was Picasso, with a few impressionists and Japanese artists thrown in. One so-called work of art was some footprints going down the steps, which I thought was pushing it. My favorite paintings came at the end as I was exiting, so not as much time to enjoy them.
Tours over for the day, we returned to our hotel to relax before dinner. Most of the girls went to the hotel onsen (hot springs). I went a little later, with the Japanese girls and just as the main group had left so didn't feel as self-conscious. As it turns out, most everyone found it too hot, but I didn't mind the temperature.
Dinner turned out to be in the banquet hall and was simply amazing. I took a picture of the place setting because the food was arranged so beautifully. I was apprehensive since so much of it was unfamiliar, but actually liked one of the fish dishes. I even managed to eat with chopsticks! I couldn't bring myself to try the ones with eyes or the crabs though. Just as I was getting down about still being hungry, they brought out 3 big pizzas! Everyone got very excited and the pizzas were quickly wolfed down. Then they brought about 3 or 4 more out, as well as a lot more beer, so even I was full and many people started getting drunk. Karaoke time! The majority of the songbook was in Japanese, but Kota found a few in Spanish and English that we managed to get through and he did some in Japanese for us.
Next morning--big breakfast with croissants (hotel famous for bakery), juice and egg omelette. I'm probably not going to get fed as much for the rest of my time here. We went to Owakudani, a volcanic area with foul smelling geysers and black eggs which would give you 7 extra years of life if you ate them. Signs warned away asthmatics, drunk people and anyone not feeling well because of the possible toxicity of sulfur fumes. Cable cars looked enticing, but they were part of the Hakone pass tour. The souveneir shop was the most fun, with a big Hello Kitty section. I wanted a poster, but since they weren't for sale, got a face towel with Hello Kitty wearing a black outfit and surrounded by eggs and geysers with Mount Fuji in the background. Several people got cell phone charms and Jen got an "evil Hello Kitty", completely black coming out of a silver egg.
Next we went to Lake Ashi. It had some gorgeous views of bonsai trees against green mountains and the lake--these are the pictures I really wanted. I got lost going back to the parking lot and Kota and the Japanese girls went to look for me:(
Next we stopped at a supposedly medieval castle which was actually a replica built in 1960. A zoo with depressed looking animals was in front. Not very exciting, though I missed the elephant spraying a heckling kid while my back was turned.
Our last stop was a temple. Nothing special about it, but Kyle recommended it because of the 350 step climb. On the way down, Kota pointed out a small shrine with many little baby statues for unborn children that had been aborted or miscarried. It was a somber sight with all the bibs and ribbons that people put in remembrance.
The ride back was a study in American pop culture since people quizzed each other on "Saved by the Bell" trivia and talked about the latest reality show, "Extreme Makeover", where everyone gets plastic surgery.
Here's another blog with pictures on Hakone:
http://www.greggman.com/japan/hakone/hakone.htm
Overall, the sightseeing itself could have been easily condensed into a day tour, but the ryoksan and karaoke with the group was fun. The aftermath after leaving the group was a little sad, but when I got back to the guesthouse, I chatted and watched "The Matrix" on Japanese TV with the other people staying there. Several people referenced me as "the new girl". Everyone seems to be friendly. People are mostly French and Japanese. So at least that seems to be working out OK.
Just read a blog story on an American celebrity in Japan who noone knows in America: Bob Sapp. Apparently a failed NFL player who is making it big time in Japan:
http://www.time.com/time/asia/2003/bob_sapp/story.html
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Went with class today to NHK Studios. Pretty fun--got to dress up as characters from shows and read a news broadcast in front of a teleprompter. Still trying to decide whether to go to Hakone or not. Since it's raining and my decision making skills are shot after stressing out over the housing decision, I can't make up my mind. Got a little more sleep last night but still regretting guesthouse decision a bit. I guess this would be a nice escape, but it feels like such a luxury when I'm dishing out so much for everything here and if it's raining, it's puts a damper on everything. Oh well.
Good links:
http://www.links.net/share/speak/sxsw/2002-keitai/
http://www.tjf.or.jp/eng/ge/ge16keitai.htm
We watched "Candy, Candy" and "Sailor Moon". I had seen "Candy Candy" years ago in Mexico and learned about Sailor Moon from Carl (aka Sailor Sarcasm) and his band of Sailor Sluts in college so it brought back memories. I had to think back even further when we were discussing gender and cartoons. The ones I remember watching growing up--the Smurfs, Muppet Babies, Garfield, Bugs Bunny and Scooby Doo--seemed to be mostly mixed though I do remember wondering why there was only one female smurf. I never watched any of the "boy's" cartoons like Transformers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I could swear there were "girl's" cartoons when growing up, but when pressed they all seemed more gender-neutral.
Good links:
We watched "Candy, Candy" and "Sailor Moon". I had seen "Candy Candy" years ago in Mexico and learned about Sailor Moon from Carl (aka Sailor Sarcasm) and his band of Sailor Sluts in college so it brought back memories. I had to think back even further when we were discussing gender and cartoons. The ones I remember watching growing up--the Smurfs, Muppet Babies, Garfield, Bugs Bunny and Scooby Doo--seemed to be mostly mixed though I do remember wondering why there was only one female smurf. I never watched any of the "boy's" cartoons like Transformers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I could swear there were "girl's" cartoons when growing up, but when pressed they all seemed more gender-neutral.
Tuesday, June 03, 2003
So for better or for worse, I am settling into my new place. I wish I had had an extra few days to think about it and maybe follow up on another few leads, but I was afraid of the place booking up the same way Saturday's did.
I picked the room I thought would be the quietest, only to find that since it was next to the stairs, I got to hear the clong-clong-clonging of footprints until late since it wasn't a take-off-your-shoes kind of place. At 4:30 am, I awoke to doors being slammed. Since daylight was already coming into my room full blast, it was hard to go back to sleep.
The "one stop away from Shibuya" factor means that the train was already full when I get on and the crunch is tighter than I would ever think possible. My nose was pressed up against the door and I was certain that I was about to get squished. To top it off I got lost for what felt like the hundredth time, this time trying to get to class from Tamachi station. Luckily after asking several people and walking around for a while, I bumped into someone who not only spoke English but actually taught at Temple so easily pointed me in the right direction. Fab told me that culture shock and fatigue were making the already difficult situation seem worse, so hopefully it will get better. I'm still thinking about changing my ticket to get back earlier.
It turns out there is a Tokyo PC User's Group meeting on Thursday on blogging, but since it conflicts with the trip to Hakone, I might not get to go. I looked at the panelist's blogs though so think that might be helpful. Of course, most of them are gaijin though since it is in English. There is also an international conference on moblogging (blogging on your cellphone) on July 5, several days after I am scheduled to leave.
This quote seemed to back up what we were talking about in class:
"I was on Omotesando last week and saw a teacher lead a class of nursery school aged children to the Gucci shop window. As they eagerly peered in, the teacher pointed and spoke. I can only imagine what she was saying… "look children, this is Gucci, a very important designer. when you grow up, be a good Japanese citizen by spending all of your disposably income on luxury brands like Gucci …" from http://www.tokyoshoes.com/blog/
"Tokyo is special. Being surrounded by people but still alone is an exquisitely perverse feeling reserved surely only for this city." http://www.domodomo.com/
Social mobiles: Social mobiles
http://www.basedonatruestory.com/
http://www.tokyotidbits.com/
I picked the room I thought would be the quietest, only to find that since it was next to the stairs, I got to hear the clong-clong-clonging of footprints until late since it wasn't a take-off-your-shoes kind of place. At 4:30 am, I awoke to doors being slammed. Since daylight was already coming into my room full blast, it was hard to go back to sleep.
The "one stop away from Shibuya" factor means that the train was already full when I get on and the crunch is tighter than I would ever think possible. My nose was pressed up against the door and I was certain that I was about to get squished. To top it off I got lost for what felt like the hundredth time, this time trying to get to class from Tamachi station. Luckily after asking several people and walking around for a while, I bumped into someone who not only spoke English but actually taught at Temple so easily pointed me in the right direction. Fab told me that culture shock and fatigue were making the already difficult situation seem worse, so hopefully it will get better. I'm still thinking about changing my ticket to get back earlier.
It turns out there is a Tokyo PC User's Group meeting on Thursday on blogging, but since it conflicts with the trip to Hakone, I might not get to go. I looked at the panelist's blogs though so think that might be helpful. Of course, most of them are gaijin though since it is in English. There is also an international conference on moblogging (blogging on your cellphone) on July 5, several days after I am scheduled to leave.
This quote seemed to back up what we were talking about in class:
"I was on Omotesando last week and saw a teacher lead a class of nursery school aged children to the Gucci shop window. As they eagerly peered in, the teacher pointed and spoke. I can only imagine what she was saying… "look children, this is Gucci, a very important designer. when you grow up, be a good Japanese citizen by spending all of your disposably income on luxury brands like Gucci …" from http://www.tokyoshoes.com/blog/
"Tokyo is special. Being surrounded by people but still alone is an exquisitely perverse feeling reserved surely only for this city." http://www.domodomo.com/
Sunday, June 01, 2003
Another day dominated by calls,emails, and visits to guesthouses. I thought I had finally found a place yesterday which was really nice as well as cheap, but since I didn't give a deposit, they gave it to someone else who came last night after I did. I visited 2 more today, one shown by a Czech guy, and the other by a Greek. The latter place was ok--small, but had closet,tv, and drawers in the room. People seemed friendly so I think I wouldn't get isolated. On the other hand, I worry about the possible noise and smoke level. It seems harder to get ingrained into a culture if you don't smoke or drink it seems.
While hunting down a Citibank ATM in Ikebukuro, I also spent some time looking through the big stores there. I found a Heidi Store there--yes the cartoon version was made in Japan and not Mexico, France or Switzerland! Fun quote in Japanglish:
On a picnic box--Let's take the lunch to your post! It's turn into your powerful energy. Being depressed won't get you anywhere. Chain up and cheer up!
I browsed through an interesting book called Inscrutable Japanese that I really wished I had read before coming to Japan. It helped put the whole homestay incident into perspective. For example, it explained how Japanese often use a go-between to express their displeasure and use ambiguity to maintain smooth relations rather than use direct confrontation the way Americans would. It also said Japanese automatically apologize and think Americans try to make too many excuses--in this respect I probably made things worse. Based on J-mom's comments, I think I also bumped into gender expectations since she had expected me to be more "lady-like". Apparently her son is messy and makes her worry whereas her daughter is always neat, polite, and cheerful. At one point she said I would have trouble finding a husband since I couldn't cook but I laughed and readily agreed with her. Random customs she pointed out--they always close the door to the bathroom here and when removing shoes, put them facing the door rather than facing the inside of the house. I will miss this place...
It is a little ironic that I'm supposed to be focused on technology when I'm one of the few people in the class that is not equipped with a laptop,digital camera and cell phone. My own lack of a keitai made my various meetings with people difficult since I am so often getting lost or running late. So far, most of my observations have been on the train from a far which is not very useful since I can't tell what people are doing. One of the few screens I saw up close was a businessman who I was standing next to who was just playing Tetris.
I went to the Keitei research group on Friday and got a lot out of it. It was in a different prefecture so naturally I ran into a little bit of hassle with estimating train time. I was running almost an hour late, but the girl behind me on the bus spoke perfect English and was a student at the university. When I explained the meeting I was going to, she mentioned one of her good friends was doing research on mobile phones. She tried calling on her keitai, but since there was no answer, she emailed her on the phone. I was amazed at her dexterity. Using the 10 numbers which are matched to both western letters and all three Japanese writing systems, as well as the upper controls, she typed away very quickly. Luckily her friend called back and was indeed part of the group still having its meeting. Taro, the guy I had contacted, came out to meet me.
The research group is funded by DoCoMo, the main cell phone provider here, which is really interested in how young people use their technology. This money paid for the research center, more of a traditional Japanese wooden structure I think, though lofty with a lot of natural light. Not exactly what you'd expect from a high-tech building. Everyone took their shoes off so we were all sitting around a table in our socks as the students talked with their professors, on sabbatical in Los Angeles, via speakerphone. I was not the only visitor--a Finnish researcher was also sitting in on the meeting and gave a presentation on some of the research his group did. Everyone had laptops--Taro had the only Mac, a Titanium. One group was focusing on differences between how high school and college students use their picture phones. Their findings from interviews so far was that high school students tended to lend their phones out more and have pictures taken by someone else in their collection.
The most helpful part of the meeting was when Mimi, one of the professors addressed the Finnish guy and me directly in English. She said most of the research done had been more business/market centered rather than user-centered. She is trained as an anthropologist and started her technology work in the past decade with online community research. She and her colleagues are working on editing and translating a book called Sociology of Mobile Phones since much of the published work is only available in Japanese. According to her, mobile e-mail is nothing new since the pager culture dates back 10 years. She mentioned the progression of this generation who had used pagers in middle school, mobile phones in high school and mobile internet in college. When I mentioned my project, she said that the topic had been "surveyed to death" but that there had not been a lot of observational work. The Finnish guy had been travelling around Japan to talk to different research groups and promised to email me with some of his resources.
After the meeting, Taro, the bus girl's friend, and another guy drove the Finnish guy and me to the train station. The car had a screen next to the steering wheel which apparently had a navigation system to create a map of our route. I pulled out my camera to take a picture, but the girl pulled out her keitai and took it first and emailed it to me then and there. I asked Taro how many cell phones he has had--10! He replaces it at least once a year since he likes to have the current technology. DoCoMo encourages this since you can trade in your old phone to get a new phone at a discount.
While hunting down a Citibank ATM in Ikebukuro, I also spent some time looking through the big stores there. I found a Heidi Store there--yes the cartoon version was made in Japan and not Mexico, France or Switzerland! Fun quote in Japanglish:
On a picnic box--Let's take the lunch to your post! It's turn into your powerful energy. Being depressed won't get you anywhere. Chain up and cheer up!
I browsed through an interesting book called Inscrutable Japanese that I really wished I had read before coming to Japan. It helped put the whole homestay incident into perspective. For example, it explained how Japanese often use a go-between to express their displeasure and use ambiguity to maintain smooth relations rather than use direct confrontation the way Americans would. It also said Japanese automatically apologize and think Americans try to make too many excuses--in this respect I probably made things worse. Based on J-mom's comments, I think I also bumped into gender expectations since she had expected me to be more "lady-like". Apparently her son is messy and makes her worry whereas her daughter is always neat, polite, and cheerful. At one point she said I would have trouble finding a husband since I couldn't cook but I laughed and readily agreed with her. Random customs she pointed out--they always close the door to the bathroom here and when removing shoes, put them facing the door rather than facing the inside of the house. I will miss this place...
It is a little ironic that I'm supposed to be focused on technology when I'm one of the few people in the class that is not equipped with a laptop,digital camera and cell phone. My own lack of a keitai made my various meetings with people difficult since I am so often getting lost or running late. So far, most of my observations have been on the train from a far which is not very useful since I can't tell what people are doing. One of the few screens I saw up close was a businessman who I was standing next to who was just playing Tetris.
I went to the Keitei research group on Friday and got a lot out of it. It was in a different prefecture so naturally I ran into a little bit of hassle with estimating train time. I was running almost an hour late, but the girl behind me on the bus spoke perfect English and was a student at the university. When I explained the meeting I was going to, she mentioned one of her good friends was doing research on mobile phones. She tried calling on her keitai, but since there was no answer, she emailed her on the phone. I was amazed at her dexterity. Using the 10 numbers which are matched to both western letters and all three Japanese writing systems, as well as the upper controls, she typed away very quickly. Luckily her friend called back and was indeed part of the group still having its meeting. Taro, the guy I had contacted, came out to meet me.
The research group is funded by DoCoMo, the main cell phone provider here, which is really interested in how young people use their technology. This money paid for the research center, more of a traditional Japanese wooden structure I think, though lofty with a lot of natural light. Not exactly what you'd expect from a high-tech building. Everyone took their shoes off so we were all sitting around a table in our socks as the students talked with their professors, on sabbatical in Los Angeles, via speakerphone. I was not the only visitor--a Finnish researcher was also sitting in on the meeting and gave a presentation on some of the research his group did. Everyone had laptops--Taro had the only Mac, a Titanium. One group was focusing on differences between how high school and college students use their picture phones. Their findings from interviews so far was that high school students tended to lend their phones out more and have pictures taken by someone else in their collection.
The most helpful part of the meeting was when Mimi, one of the professors addressed the Finnish guy and me directly in English. She said most of the research done had been more business/market centered rather than user-centered. She is trained as an anthropologist and started her technology work in the past decade with online community research. She and her colleagues are working on editing and translating a book called Sociology of Mobile Phones since much of the published work is only available in Japanese. According to her, mobile e-mail is nothing new since the pager culture dates back 10 years. She mentioned the progression of this generation who had used pagers in middle school, mobile phones in high school and mobile internet in college. When I mentioned my project, she said that the topic had been "surveyed to death" but that there had not been a lot of observational work. The Finnish guy had been travelling around Japan to talk to different research groups and promised to email me with some of his resources.
After the meeting, Taro, the bus girl's friend, and another guy drove the Finnish guy and me to the train station. The car had a screen next to the steering wheel which apparently had a navigation system to create a map of our route. I pulled out my camera to take a picture, but the girl pulled out her keitai and took it first and emailed it to me then and there. I asked Taro how many cell phones he has had--10! He replaces it at least once a year since he likes to have the current technology. DoCoMo encourages this since you can trade in your old phone to get a new phone at a discount.
