w00kie's ramblings

Category: japan

  • Cost Breakdown of a Birth in Tokyo

    Cost Breakdown of a Birth in Tokyo

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    w00kie
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    In June 2021, my wife and I were extremely happy to welcome our first son into the world. I know many people express curiousness towards the costs involved with delivery in Japan as the system of it not being covered by health insurance but also somewhat covered by various subventions from the national and local…

  • REAL TALK 🇯🇵

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    w00kie
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    I appreciate the transparency effort of giving average monthly overtime at your company in a Job Description for recruitment. But how can you write down “40 to 70 hours” and not think “we have a problem” ?

  • #5yearsago

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    w00kie
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    5 years ago today I am in the Yamanote line going to an interview for what is to become my current job. The shaking hits as we are pulling in to the platform at Shinjuku station. I brace myself as the car sways to what feels like 30º angles and people standing don’t know if they should jump out or jump…

  • Social Status

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    Most people want to become wealthy so they can consume social status. Japanese employers believe this is inefficient, and simply award social status directly. Doing Business in Japan – Kalzumeus Software

  • Bicycle

    Bicycle

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    A picture taken with my new camera on my bike while cruising my neighborhood’s back streets on the weekend.

  • First Fujisan sunset of 2013

    First Fujisan sunset of 2013

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    w00kie
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    First sunset behind Fujisan taken on January 1st 2013 from my living room window. I will move to a new apartment in a couple of weeks and will dearly miss the view…

  • SoftBank plans for new iPad

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    w00kie
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    SoftBank has just published their new deals for iPhone owners wanting to buy one of the newer iPads. The mechanics of the plan are the same as for the iPad 2 campaign last year, you get a full rebate on the 16GB model’s price, but that applies only on the data plan charge. So if…

  • Beer Fujisan

    Beer Fujisan

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  • Is Softbank’s new iPad 2 campaign worth it?

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    Updated 2011/11/09 — see bottom of the post For the iPhone 4S launch, Masayoshi Son, Softbank’s CEO, decided to go all out to keep his customers from going to aU by KDDI. Fun Fact: during his keynote on October 7th, one day after Steve Jobs passing away, Son-san declared tearfully that these campaigns were his…

  • Impact of 3/11 disaster on Tokyo real estate marketing

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    w00kie
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    Now a bit past 3 months after the March 11th disaster in Japan, we can observe some trends of changes to different aspects of life here. Here is one thing I could see on the real estate business 震災後 (post-disaster): there is a big focus on designing buildings that not only will withstand earthquakes, but…

  • iPad 3G and Pocket WiFi alternatives in Japan

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    So the pricing for the iPad in Japan are out. It seems even devices sold at the Apple Stores will be SIM-locked to Softbank, breaking many hopes of seeing DoCoMo come into the picture and shaking things up a little. This has definitely not changed my thoughts on the device, it would very much piss…

  • Cat Street matsuri

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    Taken with my iPhone on Cat Street, the street that connects Shibuya to Omotesando. I’m pretty impressed by the picture quality of my iPhone, I should take more photos with it…

  • Sagami Original condom ad

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    Love needs distance, an interestingly touching ad for Sagami Original condoms airing on Japanese TV recently. A man from Fukuoka and a woman from Tokyo (1.200km apart) run towards each other and meet in front of the Osaka castle. This commercial proves you can sell condoms without stupid childish sexual innuendo… Japan is supposed to…

  • Driving school and discrimination awarenesss

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    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,…

  • Softbank’s “summer scam” campaign

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    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…