All
Pictures from Tokyo
May 28th
I’ve also put up a few pictures from my most recent trip to Tokyo. It was my first time and I must admit that I wasn’t expecting much from the city. I thought it would be similar to New York, except in Japan. I was pleasantly surprised however. Instead of the endless concrete jungle that I imagined, there are parts of the city that feel quit rural. The area around our hotel (Ebisu 恵比寿) was really a nice place to just relax. I had a great time!
Here are some photos from the trip:
http://matsuuchi.com/hiroki/photo-gallery-2/trip-to-tokyo
Some Changes
May 27th
In addition to quite a bit of turbulence at the company I work for, it seems as though there might be some more big changes coming within the next few months. I can’t really say what they are on such a public forum, but I’ll definitely write a post when the plans have been finalized.
In addition to all the strife, I’ve been sinking a lot of time into my latest project. (http://11reviews.com) It’s been a blast trying to put this type of website together and learn about how all this stuff works. Although my coding level sill relegates me to just altering other programmer’s code, I’ve really been enjoying doing reading on the topic and playing around with what’s out there. Web design is a field that really runs deep and there is an impressive community built up around coding for the web.
If any of you are interested in writing a review, please feel free! I’m hoping to launch a new monthly or bi-monthly video review component to the page. I’m looking for the best services at which I can host my content. I’m also looking for a camera, microphone and host/cohost. Any suggestions…?
Starting the Weekend
Apr 10th
I was able to take a trip last weekend back to Tokushima to meet up with a few friends and coworkers. Around this time, people in Japan seem to busy with welcome parties and cherry blossom viewing. For many companies and institutes, April is the beginning of the new year and is a time at which positions shift, new workers begin, transfers occur and there are quite a few changes.
Following this nationwide trend, I’ve been looking for something new to take up for fiscal year 2010. I’d love to learn a bit of PHP and MySQL but most of the literature I’ve found in bookstores is entirely in Japanese. Unfortunately, my reading level isn’t quite up to the point where I can read technical manuals. I suppose that means I need to do a bit more studying. For those of you who are more technically oriented, do you have any suggestions regarding good introductory manuals to PHP? I was thinking about having the “PHP & MySQL for Dummies” book imported. Here’s a link to the Amazon listing: http://bit.ly/amJtL6
Before April Comes
Mar 31st
I’ve been sinking a lot of time in to my most recent project. More for the challenge of putting together a site rather than the contents itself, to my surprise it seems like there are at least a handful of people who have been able to make some use of it. If you’re in Japan (only Shikoku at the moment) and are looking for a good place to eat, you might be able to find something nice.
If you’re interested, take a look: Wan~Wan!
New Experiment
Feb 27th
I’ve been messing around with a few tweaks to my website and messageboard. I know that I spend a disproportionate amount of time messing around with this stuff when you look at the number of people who actually follow this site, but it’s become a bit of a hobby. Over the past few weeks I’ve:
1. skinned my message messageboard (succeeded)
2. tried to integrate Facebook Connect into my WordPress blog (failed)
3. tried to integrate Facebook Connect into the message board (failed)
4. returned my message board to the default skin because I didn’t like the layout (succeeded)
5. added Dropbox integration to my WordPress blog (succeeded)
6. added location data to my wordpress blog (succeeded…sort of, it’s just a map)
With a lot more to come I’m sure.
In addition to that, I’m still doing well here in Imabari. The weather seems to have finally turned and the past few days have been quite warm and beautiful. I’ve been making trips back and forth between here and Tokushima once every two weeks. While they’ve been quite enjoyable so far, I’m sure that once the routine sets in, they’ll become more of a chore. It’s definitely worth the trouble though. I’ve something quite nice waiting for me on the other end of every three hour bus ride out of Ehime.
Also, I’ve started a new project on my message board. Take a look at the introduction if you’re intersted.
