Category: Me, myself and I

  • Starting a business – part 1

    Since the start of the year Fumina and I have been playing with the idea of starting an outbound online shop—selling Japanese products to customers abroad. Last month we finally launched Chuchulu and it’s proven to be quite an interesting adventure. Finding a product The first step was to find a product category: It had…

  • #5yearsago

    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…

  • My thoughts on the iPad…

    …because everyone has their own. They could be resumed to: I want! I want! I want! I want! It’s shiny, it’s thin, it looks good… Like all my favorite Apple stuff. I don’t even care if it has lousy WiFi — I live in a 50m² apartment with only 2 rooms separated by wooden walls, I am never…

  • Sunset over Fujisan

    Sunset over Fujisan

    Photos I took in the past hour from my balcony as the sun is setting to the left of Mount Fuji.

  • White-capped Fujisan after the typhoon

    White-capped Fujisan after the typhoon

    Took this photo with my iPhone this morning after the 20th typhoon of the season cleared away. Last time I saw it, there was no snow. Now it’s all white. See another beautiful photo made this morning from much closer. I will try to update this post tonight with some photos I took with my…

  • New shoes

    Bought new shoes during the Silver week vacations. Yeah, I’m an Onitsuka addict. Funny thing is all the people I saw, without exception, in the Onitsuka Tiger shop browsing for shoes were already wearing Onitsuka kicks. I guess I’m not the only one who’s addicted…

  • Fujisan from my window

    A bit more than 3 months after moving in, my first glimpse of 富士山 from my living room window.

  • Packing up

    Finished the main packing phase: 21 boxes strewn all over the apartment. Moving company will come tomorrow at 1pm. I will have to pack up all the camera gadgets and computers in the morning. P.S. If anything is strange with this post it’s because I am typing it on my iPhone with the Worpress app.

  • I give you my books!

    As you might have seen in a previous post, I will soon be moving to a smaller apartment closer to Tokyo center. This causes some minor logistic problems like: where to put all my stuff? Since it seems apparent that my girlfriend will not reduce the size of her consequent wardrobe and shoes collection, I…

  • Moving to the city

    After a bit more than 1.5 years since moving to my current place in 志木, it’s time to move again. I’ve set my mind on a tower mansion 2 minutes from Ikebukuro station in Tokyo and should get the keys by the end of June. The view from the living room should be like the…

  • Aperture Experiments – monochrome

    Playing around with Aperture, I’m slowly getting the hang of RAW treatment workflow after each day of shooting. A little bit of contrast here, adjusting the temperature there, a tad of vibrancy over here… What used to take me hours is now done in 10min thanks to the great “lift and stamp” tool. But one…

  • Airline ticketing bullshit

    I was supposed to go to Paris with my girlfriend next week, but I suddenly have to cancel for various reasons. Checking the calendar, we decided we could report the trip to August and match it with a friend’s wedding in Rome. So I cancel her ticket first, which was an award ticket so it…

  • Web Identity and business cards

    With the recent talk of business cards, I decided to make me some personal 名刺 for use in non-corporate context. I used to have some – home-made by my graphic designer brother – but even those were linked to one of my activities, co-founder at MacBidouille.com, and not 100% personal. This all got me thinking…

  • Twitter integration

    As you might have noticed, in the past weeks I have more tightly integrated my twitter messages into the blog. When they used to just show up in the sidebar, they are now posted simultaneously here as full blog posts, albeit with a special minimalistic styling. You can clickity-click on the cute blue birdie to…

  • On my way to work

    Japan is not only Tokyo with its crowded street crossings and neon lights. It’s also the old countryside, small traditional (and not so traditional) houses with rice paddies or vegetable farm in the backyard. I live in Tokyo (technically not but almost in the city limit) but I work in a factory way out in…