roy in tokyo

A friend brought it back for me as a souvenir. Ganesha, god of removing obstacles. Here's praying that Ganesha will remove my bad trading habits and help me become profitable ;-P I got another one in my car as well.

Lately, I've been watching a lot of videos of Perfume on youtube (It's addictive!) Around 2008 they became a huge sensation in the JPop scene and since then it's almost impossible to get tickets to their sold out concerts. But most people don't realize that they have been around for almost 10 years singing in malls and supermarkets when they were still in junior high school. After they got famous, people have been posting videos of them in these early days and I've found it quite inspiring to see that they've worked at these venues for some many years and finally their hard work has paid off. There are literally hundreds of these videos on Youtube which is indicative of the hard work they've put into their act without giving up. A true Cinderella story. It inspired me to press on with my own efforts. There is no easy path to success.

Here they are really young.

And here, apparently they spent a lot of time playing at the Sun Street Shopping centre in Kameido.

They performed at an opening ceremony at Laqua near Tokyo Done. Everyone is just sitting there watching! Can't believe it. Just like what one of the commenters to this video said, I wish I had a time machine to go back and see this. Song is Monochrome Effect.

Practicing for the performance at LaQua, almost nobody is watching!

Here they are in the Apple Store.

At AsobitCity in Akihabara. Check out that tiny stage!

This is what their concerts are like now..I wish I could have gone.

Here's a short list of impressions and observations on the iPad after using it for a day:

• the touch experience for iPad is different from iPhone/iPod Touch because the distance your hand has to move is much much greater and that's the first thing you'll notice when you use an iPad. Most of the navigation buttons on apps are at the top similar to iPhone/iPod Touch. For example, on Safari the back/forward button are on the top left so everytime you need to use those buttons you have to reach up. It gets very tiring quickly. I have a feeling that as the iPad evolves most app developers will put the main navigation on the bottom rather than at the top
• the battery last forever
• it's heavier than it looks
• finger prints show up but it's not like an oil slick or anything
• the speaker is surprisely good, sound is very clear
• the app store app doesn't work yet if you're using your iTunes account set to the Japan store, but you can download iPad apps via iTunes to your PC/Mac and then sync them
• can't get iBooks in Japan, yet
• Kindle for iPad is very nice and I can see myself using it while reading in bed or in low lite, I still prefer the eInk for reading in daylight though. Anyone who has used a Kindle for a while will not doubt agree that when reading for a long time eInk is easier on the eyes. However, magazines on iPad are really great.
• the youtube app is awesome and videos in HD download almost as fast as on my PC
• have tried most of the free news apps (USA Today, WSJ, Reuters, NPR, NYTimes) they are all incredibly beautiful and fun to use but the navigation take some time to get used to (non linear). The NPR app is probably the best one I've used so far
• apps are really expensive, be careful
• would be nice to have tabs on Safari
• I don't miss flash on the iPad
• depending on how you use your iPad, prolonged use may cause stiff shoulders or sore wrists due to it's weight and having it hold it up with one hand, usually the same hand. You'll end of putting it on your lap a lot
• iPad without network access is just a big photo viewer/ipod. If you want to bring it around and show it to people you may want to consider buying the 3G+WiFi version.

Sent from my iPad

A good friend brought me back an iPad from the U.S. a few weeks ahead of the Japan launch. I have been playing with it for the last hour and I have to say that this is not just a big iPod Touch as some people have been saying. I'll admit that I was not that excited about it, although I had already decided to get one. But you really need to play with one of these to understand why it is a game changer. After only a few minutes I could see how I could not need a laptop anymore and use this as one of my main web devices around the house.