Facebook and Japan

It’s interesting how Facebook is not as popular in Japan than in western countries. The act of connecting with people on social networks has accelerated in recent years. Whilst Twitter successfully launched into the Japanese market in 2009, Facebook is comparatively still struggling. Even though Japan has the third highest usage of the internet in the world, according to Japan Real Time, Japanese people have the fewest digital friends on social networks with an average of just 29 friends compared to the rest of the world and mostly use Mixi, a popular Japanese social networking site. Facebook headquarters in California launched a cross-platform feature since September that will allow users of Facebook and Mixi to share links hoping to raise popularity.

Another feature of the Mixi site is that all users are able to track those who have been looking at their profile which may be due to privacy concerns. Tailoring Facebook to a specific culture may take time and effort.

Calorie count

Japanese mobile phones recently have an extra application – count calories of food snapshots you take. According to Yahoo News, the software is developed by Japan's NTT Communications evaluates the colour and shapes of food, then compares it with a database and counts the calories. There are about 100,000 different sorts of food stored on the server. However where there are a several plates of food in a meal, an individual snapshot of each one is required.

For Japan being a health-conscious nation especially among girls, this is a big asset and valuable resource to their dieting. I remember my host mother counting how many calories I was allowed to take a day and made sure even the salad dressing for my salad had the lowest calorie possible.

The application also enables friends to share information about their calorie intake so that they might encourage one another or just compare their diets.

Technology and music

It’s really amazing how Japan is leading the way in terms of technology by introducing robots and virtual characters into the music scene. Miku Hatsune is a prime example of an artifically-generated holographic pop star created by Crypton Future Media holding concerts. She has many real life fans and performs live concerts. Below is a video.




There is also HRP-4C who is a humanoid robot who sings and dances. See video below. There is a hint that pop music is changing slightly due to technological advances.

JLPT

It’s been a while since my last entry. Now that uni exams are over, I’m starting to study for the Japanese Proficiency Exam attempting level 1 for the 3rd time which is in early December. This Japanese Language Proficiency Exam is an internationally recognised exam to measure Japanese abilities and the certificate is useful when working in Japan. However unlike previous years, this year, they have renewed the exam and it is aimed more at measuring practical skills. So this means incorporating a lot more everyday Japanese in comprehension, listening and grammar. The passing level every year has been around 70% and every time I just miss the mark, but supposedly this year they have lowered it so hopefully will pass it.

In the past I remember there were a lot of old grammar points I had to learn which were hardly used by Japanese people. When I asked my host family to explain them, they had no clue. Since this exam is completely multiple choice, I wonder exactly how much Japanese proficiency they can measure. Of course this exam can’t measure everything and has its limits, but I find it also very helpful. On the good side, it helps my keep up with my Japanese and reminds me of some structures which I have learnt in the past and have easily forgotten. I think for the past few years, somehow I have always looked forward to this exam at the end of the year which gives me a break from everything else. Once I pass this though, I will have to find another thing to study – maybe another language.

haiku

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry and is a non-rhymed verse genre in the form of five, seven, five sounds (not necessarily syllables). On Wikihow, it explains that haiku contains usually a season and a ‘kireji’ which is a cutting word which gives makes a contrast or comparison within the poem. One of the classic Haiku Zen poets was Matsuo Basho. His poetry focused on the Zen way of thinking and reflected his observation on simple things. Basho said that ‘Haiku is simply what is happening in this place at this time.’

Some examples of his work:
An old pond
A frog jumps in -
Splash!

On a withered branch
A crow has alighted:
Nightfall in autumn.

The rest of the world has also picked up on haiku and there are many haiku in English contests now. The Mainichi Daily News has a haiku section which publishes haiku every day and runs an annual Haiku contest. Last year’s winner of the contest was Scott Mason and his haiku was:

alfresco
the sommelier decants
a red sunset
— Scott Mason (U. S. A.)

Bear attacks

This year there have been an increase of bear attacks in Japan and believed to be due to shortage of food in the mountains.

According to Belfast Telegraph, there has been around 84 attacks killing 4 people from April to September this year compared to 64 attacks last year.

I’ve heard stories of bears searching for food in autumn particularly eating kaki (persimmon) from people’s gardens but there seems to be a lot more bears roaming around for food now. I'm also very surprised there are a lot of reports of bear sightings in Ishikawa Prefecture where I stayed during exchange.

Here’s a video of a bear caught in Ishikawa Prefecture: (warning: contains a dead bear)

Smell-O-Vision?

The Smell-O-Vision device developed by Japanese researchers is a gadget that releases aromas according to the images on the TV or computer screen. Creators believe this will revolutionise the way people watch TV.

The Japanese team adapted a printer to squirt four scents instead of the colour ink used in printers. Leading researcher Kenichi Okada of Keio University Tokyo said the scent from the ink jet lasts only for two human breaths and is still in its early stages of development.

This reminds me of the 4D movies in Disneyland where there is also the sense of touch incorporated when watching. Now when smell is incorporated we would be not only looking at mouth-watering dishes on Masterchef, but also smell the food as if we were really there. Bringing aroma into entertainment is not new: as early as the 1950s there was Aroma-Rama and its updated version Smell-O-Vision was designed to release smell through air conditioners in the cinema, trying to attract people to keep coming back. However that failed to hold.

It will sort of be like the Food Lion billboard which releases aromas of black pepper and charcoal from 7-10am in June, but only in our lounge rooms we will experience continuously a variety of smells.