w00kie’s ramblings

As I said in a previous post, I do not have a driving license it every now and then I get itchy and think about getting one. So the other day, feeling itchy, I scanned the web to find driving schools close to my new home in Ikebukuro and found the Koyama driving school.

Interestingly, they claim to be the only driving school in Tokyo to cater to the gaijin population by offering a curriculum entirely in english. So I checked out the prices on the English and Japanese versions of the site for basic manual license:

• Japanese: ¥302,950
• English: ¥398,630

Wow, those bilingual driving teachers sure come at a big premium don't they? Well if you compare the detail of the prices here's what you find:

So if you actually compare the detailed split-up, the english textbooks cost ¥18,900 compared to ¥5,250 which I can understand. All the lesson/test fees are the same. The only other difference is that the entry fee is ¥83.000 more expensive if you sign up in english...

Now the interesting thing is not that it's more expensive, I would consider it normal to have higher lecture/training fees in english language in Tokyo. What's shocking is that there is so little awareness of "discrimination being bad" in this country that no-one thought it a bad idea to write down the price hike for this special service (which could be justifiable) as a random meaningless admission fee.

Suffice to say, I will not be bringing my business to this shop...

Softbank is launching a fun summer campaign with its cute mascot お父さん:

Use your Softbank 3G phone overseas this summer and get a chance to win one of 100 flower-necklace-wearing-お父さん straps!

Way to go Softbank! It's a classy move, trying to lure customers into using their cellphone overseas at ￥200/min and potentially incurring ginormous phone bills, all for a chance of winning a ￥150 keitai-strap...

Mister Donuts x MOS Burger = MOSDO!

Starting May 12, MOS Burger and Mister Donut will start a joint marketing operation mixing their respective products:

• MOS will have burgers with a hole in the middle of the patty
• Mister Donuts will sell  burger shaped donuts - reminiscent of Mamido burger I reported about a while back (sorry, I still blogged in French at that time)

At first I thought they were doing a horrible frankenstein-esque combination of donut buns and meat patties... Gross...

Still on the same line of thought as my previous post, I was designing my 名刺 - well, more of outsourcing the design to my brother - and had a hard time with QRcodes that might be interesting to some people.

So I wanted my business card to have the classic human readable info on one side, and machine readable on the other. Not so impressive in Japan where QRcodes are everywhere but I like it.

So I did a little reasearch and hit a pot-hole: there is no universal QRcode vCard equivalent standard. As explained here, DoCoMo and SoftBank/au each have their format which are not cross-compatible. So you have 2 solutions:

1. Make your code a URL link to a .vcf file on your website. Has the advantage that you can change the data without reprinting the cards, adapt the file format to the phone via referer checking and log access (I'd love to see business card conversions in my Google Analytics stats). Downside is conversion is not as easy and you're not sure if the phone will be able to read the vCard file.
2. Combine the 2 vCard-like formats in a single QRcode. No stats, but this will work in all phones if you follow my instructions.

I've looked into the second solutions and found out by testing that you can combine the 2 formats in one QRcode but only if you put the Softbank/au type first. I guess it cannot have any characters (even a linefeed) before the MEMORY: tag. Then you can use a line of dashes to separate the 2 and make it more easily readable. The end result should look like that:

MEMORY:
NAME1:Doe John
MAIL1:john.doe@softbank.ne.jp
MAIL2:john@doe.com
TEL1:+818036542234
------------------
MECARD:N:Doe John;TEL:+818036542234;EMAIL:john.doe@softbank.ne.jp;EMAIL:john@doe.com;;

Paste that into a QRcode generator and you will get a nice PNG image like this:

I've tested it in 3-4 keitais and it worked nicely. Try it with your phone and tell me the results.

Expanding on my previous tweet, this is of course from a Japanese "business practices and manners" point of view...

When arriving at a job interview, as with any business meeting, your interviewer will usually give you his 名刺. It is considered polite in Japan to accept it with 2 hands, bow, place it neatly on the table and answer by giving out your own 名刺.

Note: to anyone about to work with Japanese people: always have at least 2 dozens business cards with you at all times!

But in the case of a job interview, should you present your business card if it is from your current employer? In a way, you are betraying your company by looking for a new job. Moreover, the guy already knows you, he has your resume on the table already…

I’ve always been confused with this and am not sure of the appropriate behavior. Maybe I should make myself a batch of personal business cards for such occasions where it is not acceptable to present yourself as your business-self:

Superman - associate @ SuperFriends

As opposed to:

Clark Kent - reporter @ DailyPlanet

I'm going back home to Paris with the girlfriend for a week after Golden Week so of course the usual shopping lists start dropping in my mailbox. They are mainly filled with tech related stuff and gadgets that are quite a bit cheaper than in France (with a VAT at 20%, it's hard not to be competitive...) - like digital cameras, or just not available anywhere but in whacky Japan - like USB humping dogs.

But this time I got something really original. My brother asked me to bring him back a special chewtoy for dogs that he wants to offer to a friend of his. I found the design so cool and original I wanted to share it with you guys.

There are 4 different types and they go for ¥238 on Rakuten. Pretty awesome.