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<p><strong>What</strong>: Eating sushi with Beb</p>
<p><strong>Where</strong>: Osaka</p>
<p><strong>Why</strong>: Cos it’s so damn delish…</p>
<p align=”justify”>This video is of Beb taking me to one of her local sushi restaurants. It was cheap, cheerful, delicious and had gadgets. What more could you want from a sushi restaurant?</p>
<p align=”justify”>Since this was a Kaiten sushi restaurant, you could just take sushi from the moving conveyor belt. However they also had an LCD touch panel display for ordering special dishes. Not only that but after eating, you put your empty dishes in a slot which counted them and you were billed accordingly. One gimmick that made me laugh was the chance to win a prize after every 10 dishes you put in the slot. We didn’t win anything… However with sushi that good and cheap I couldn’t complain and Beb was in Beb heaven. </p>
<p><strong><em>Here are the names of he sushi mentioned in this video:</em></strong></p>
<p>Natto – Fermented beans</p>
<p>Ebi – Prawns</p>
<p>Tamago – Egg</p>
<p>Nama aji – Raw horse mackerel</p>
<p>Ika – Squid</p>
<p>Unagi – Eel</p>
<p>Kani miso – Crab in miso</p>
<p>Hamachi – Yellow tail</p>
<p>Teka maki – Tuna roll</p>
<p>Ohba maika – Squid with shiso leaves</p>
<p>Ikura – Salmon roe</p>
<p>Katsuo no tataki – Lightly roasted bonito</p>
<p>Dashi maki – Rolled Egg</p>
<p>Kyuri Maki – Cucumber roll</p>
<p>Tai – Sea bream</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Some other phrases in this video:</p>
<h2><strong>一番好きな寿司はなんですか？</strong></h2>
<p><em>ichiban suki na shishi wa nan desu ka</em></p>
<p>What is your favorite sushi?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>生鯵が好き</strong></h2>
<p><em>nama aji ga suki</em></p>
<p>I like raw horse mackerel</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>おいしい</h2>
<p><em>oishshii</em></p>
<p>delicious</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>

What: Tenji Matsuri

When: 24th – 25th July

Getting there: Rail:  Osaka-Temmangu Station on JR Tozai Line Subway: Minami-mori-machi Station on Tanimachi Line or Sakaisuji Line

I took this video of the Tenji festival in Osaka in 2006. It is one of the “big three” festivals in Japan and is an incredibly crowded but fun experience. The festival is held in late July and over a million people regularly attend each year. It has everything a good Japanese festival should have, stall food, games, people in Yukata and fireworks. There is also a procession of over 100 boats on the river which is an incredible site.

It has over 1000 years of history and is one of the main cultural events in Kansai. So if you are wondering what to do on your trip to Japan this is a must.

Trip Glasses from Alex Brooke on Vimeo.

What: Trying on Mitch Altman’s famous Trip Glasses

Where: @ 4nchor5 La6 / Anchor Lab a hacker space in Tokyo

Why: To check out what hacker spaces are like in Japan so we can see if we can make a new one here

Huh?: Keep reading, it’ll make sense…

The other day, Karamoon, Waka sensei and myself visited 4nchor5 la6 or Anchor Lab, a hacker space in Tokyo. A hacker space is for like minded people usually with an interest in technology to collaborate on creative porjects. It’s like an artist collective for techies (although it doesn’t always have to be tech).

We went inspired by a discussion at Tokyo Bar Camp to set up our own hacker space. The main issue here in Japan is usually space and money. Since land is at such a premium here, renting even a modest space can be quite a heavty financial undertaking. However, Bar Camp proved that it is possible to hold a major event for free with sponsorship here in Tokyo.

So off we went to the Anchor Lab which is located in Aoyama. It’s an Aladin’s cave of components, computers, gadgets, wires, programming textbooks, wave function generators, circuit boards and little mysterious flashing boxes. It’s run by Daito Manabe who is is quite prolific in his projects and creations one of which is his face stimulator music device. He attaches wires to parts of his face which when twitched play music on his computer. Check out more of his projects here.

During our visit Mitch Altman who tagged along handed out his trip glasses to the Anchor Lab members to try on. Trip glasses have embeded flashing LEDs and audio set at specific frequencies to induce certain mind states. As you can see from this video, people litterally freak out when they put the glasses on.

All in all it was an awesome visit and Karamoon and myself were definitely inspired to make a new hacker space here in Tokyo. But why? One, it’s just fun to make things with friends. Two I think it’s important to get some community projects going here in Tokyo that don’t rely on buying stuff or doing things that have been entirely created by other people.

When hanging out in Tokyo you will probably be experiencing and paying for something someone else ( usually a corporation ) has made. I think it might explain why Yoyogi park is packed with people doing their own hobbies; they have no where else to go. Not that this only happens in Tokyo but public spaces here are only semi public spaces. Be a little to relaxed or have too much fun and someone in uniform will make X signs with their arms and move you along.

But before I start getting up on my soapbox and bore you, suffice it to say that anyone interested in helping to make a hacker space here in Tokyo should check out http://tokyohackerspace.com

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In this video, Beb teaches us some interesting gestures in Japanese. Can you guess what they mean? Answers are at the end of the video

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