Was cleaning up my HDD a bit and stumbled across these photos of some apples which looked nice so I thought I'd do a post.
The following text copy pasted from Wikipedia.

The Fuji apple is a Red Delicious apple and Ralls Genet apple hybrid developed by growers at the Tohoku Research Station (農林省園芸試験場東北支場) in Fujisaki, Aomori, Japan, in the late 1930s, and brought to market in 1962. It originated as a cross between two American apple varieties, the Red Delicious and old Virginia Ralls Genet (sometimes cited as "Rawls Jennet") apples.
It is named after "Fujisaki ([藤]崎)," Aomori Prefecture (青森県), but often mistakenly thought to be named after Mount Fuji (富士山).

Fuji apples are typically large or very large and round, on average 75mm in diameter. They contain between 9-11% sugars by weight and have a dense flesh that is sweeter and crisper than many other apple varieties, making them popular with consumers around the world. Fuji apples also have a very long shelf life compared to other apples, even without refrigeration. With refrigeration, Fuji apples can remain fresh for up to a year.

In Japan, Fuji apples continue to be an unrivaled best-seller. Japanese consumers prefer the crispy texture and sweetness of Fuji apples (which is somewhat reminiscent of the coveted Nashi Pear) almost to the exclusion of other varieties and Japan's apple imports remain low. Aomori Prefecture is perhaps the best known apple growing region of Japan. Of the roughly 900,000 tons of Japanese apples produced annually, 500,000 tons come from Aomori.

Outside of Japan the popularity of Fuji apples continues to grow. Fuji apples account for 80% of China's 20 million tons grown annually. Since their introduction into the U.S. market in the 1980s, Fuji apples have gained popularity with American consumers as well: a stranger to American supermarket shelves only 30 years ago, Fuji apples ranked at number 4 in 2003 on the US Apple Association's list of most popular apples, after Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Gala.

Fuji apples are now grown in traditional apple-growing states such as Washington, New York, and California as demand shifts in both the domestic and foreign markets toward Fuji apples. Washington, the grower of more than half of America's apple crop, produces about 135,000 tons of Fuji apples each year, with only Red Delicious and Golden Delicious outweighing Fuji.

Oh, and if you just happen to be wondering who the model is - its Hiromi Nishiuchi who I photographed back in 2007 - more photos of her here and here.

Today we are going on a tour of Tokyo - not all of Tokyo mind you but on one of my favorite routes from Lalaport in Toyosu down the river on to Asakusa - a nice blend of the modern and the traditional past.

Taking a day out to tour Tokyo is a luxury that I cant afford these days and only managed to pull one off because I was filming for Culture Japan Season 2 Episode 12. Today Yumi from AmiAmi and I will be your tour guide on this lovely Sunny day.

From Lalaport, one can take the Himiko - a boat designed by Matsumoto Leiji - creator of Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Railways, Galaxy Express 999 and many more. You can find out more about the boat and departing times in the Himiko Tokyo Boat Cruise post.

Wifey also helps out with the TV production and manages the second camera.

Taking some B-roll.

The Himiko approaches.

The interior of the Himiko is so cool - would love an office like this!

The boat cruise along Sumida River is lovely but the walk along the river bank is also nice too. This is what you can expect if you took the walk.

Fans of Galaxy Express 999 with particularly like the cruise because the voice actors and actress give a tour of the ride down the river over the speakers.

Yumi prepping the figures for the shoot on the Himiko.

Interrogation time.

Caption this photo.

Interrogating the passengers.

I recently found out that the Himiko is owned by a friend of a friend ^^; Was also told that I could use the Himiko whenever I wanted for a Culture Japan Night. Vividblaze also performed on the boat a few moons ago.

Wifey shooting some B-roll for me.

BAN
DAI

One of the coolest cockpits on Earth.

Arrival at Asakusa.

Tokyo Sky Tree in the background. 634 meters tall and currently the tallest tower in the world. Public opening is this May.

Himiko picks up more passengers before heading back down the river.

The building with the golden thing on top is the Asahi Building - famous for looking like something. What does it look like to you?
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My sound man Komoda-san and camera man Nara-san.

Asakusa- where you can experience a more traditional Japan right in the heart of Tokyo - a must visit. But we can make the experience more special and traditional by getting changed into a more appropriate attire.

Sensoji temple - the oldest in Tokyo. We'll be back after changing.

Tokyo Sky Tree - so tall you can see it from Singapore.

There are anime people in the streets.

Japan is a bicycle country. London wasn't a bicycle city when I left the UK but when I went back I was shocked to see them all over the place. They introduced some congestion charge for cars which entered the city - this encouraged the citizens to bike it to work.
Do you ride a bicycle to work or school? If so, what brand you recommend? I must get a new one this year and make it into an Itachari.
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The next stop is Edoko Machi - A kimono shop which sells and rents out Kimono for men and women. We rented two garnments for the day which only cost just over 6,000 yen - you can see examples of what you can get on this page.

An introduction to a scene or cut is called Maefuri [前振り].
B-roll is known as Butsudori [物撮り].
Camera-san is the camera-man and Onsei-san [音声さん] is the sound-man.
Hiiki [ひいき] is a wide shot while Yori [より] is a closeup shot.
Itatsuki [いたつき] is where the subject is sitting down before the next cut begins.
Hakeru [はける] is to move out of the camera's view.
Shomei [照明] is lighting.
Pinto ga atteinai [ピントがあっていない] means that the camera is out of focus.
Musen [無線] refers to the wireless mics.

Just thought I'd throw a few Japanese TV production terms at you ^^;

I think its supposed to be a panda bus which you can see around the streets of Asakusa.

The term Kimono is not just to describe garments for the ladies - men wear kimono too.

Entrance to Sensoji - the Kaminarimon gate.

Once you pass under the Kaminarimon gate - this is what you will see. This street is called Nakamise which is lined with food and traditional goods.

This shop is on the right as soon as you enter Nakamise. Filled to the brim with Japanese-ness.

Lots of friendly folks too!

Glad I chose a job where I do lots of laughing which is supposed to be good for the health ^^;

B-roll time.

If you are visiting Nakamise then go on an empty stomach as there is lots to nibble on.

Annotate in this photo what you would like to nibble on.

We bump into our Culture Japan regular Nagatopyon.

We filmed this episode on the 5th of December - t'was pretty cold in just the kimono ^^;;;
If you want to try out the kimono's during the cold seasons, make sure you wear some of that Uniqlo Heat Tech stuff.

The Asakusa area is a fantastic place to take photos. If you are wondering whether you are allowed to take photos of the shops - just do what I do and take the photos first and ask later.
And then forget to ask later.

At the end of Nakamise is Sensoji temple. Everything is lit up at night and becomes a photographers paradise.

The traditional rubbing along with the modern.

Making a prayer before moving along to the next location.

Its not just the temple - all the back streets of Asakusa are lit up and look lovely at night.

As you walk down Nakamise towards Sensoji temple, you will see this road branching off from your left.

Filming the wrap up for Episode 12. We dont always film in order that the viewers see due to location and time constraints.

Next stop is Hoppy Dori [ホッピー通り] - a road filled with Japanese style pubs. In the Summer, everybody is sitting outside enjoying the long evenings. In the Winter, everybody is inside being warmed up by the stoves.
The name of this restaurant is Motsukushi. To get to Hoppi Dori, head to the location below.
[gmap=35.713416, 139.794372]

After filming its time to treat the crew to some nom noms.

Thats a wrap! At the end of a days filming, everybody would say to each other Otsukaresama deshita! [お疲れさまでした！] - a greeting used when somebody has been through some sort of hard work or ordeal. Folks in a hairdressers would even use it after you've had your hair washed - because you leaning back in a chair is supposedly an ordeal ^^;

Most of these photos taken on the Sony NEX-5N with some on Nagatopyon's Lumix GF2.

If you liked the photos in this post then you may want to watch the episode in full 720p which I uploaded to YouTube for you ;-)

Happy Chinese new year folks! 새해 복 많이 받으세요! 新年好！
My daughters and I hope that you get a load of red packets to buy a load of goodies!
When I was younger, my parents didn't have time to look after me so I was brought up in various homes - a white, black and indian family raised me for most of my childhood (which you may have read about).
Because of this, I never really celebrated Chinese New Year - but my wife's family does and we do a load of chatting over skype with them- most of it is watching them on the other side get together eating ^^;

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So what is Chinese New Year like in Japan? Folks go down to China Town in Yokohama to watch the festivities - if you want to see some of it then you can catch it for a week from tomorrow.
Some of last years festivities in the video below.

The dragon that Yuki and Saber are playing was picked up from the airport in Taiwan.

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「創作造形©ボークス・造形村」©2003-2010 VOLKS INC. All rights are reserved.
スーパードルフィー®、ドルフィードリーム® はボークス社の商標登録であり、その全ての権利を所有しています。

Pretty much knew it was going to snow due to the very cold weather we've been having in Tokyo. Last year we had to wait until mid February to get settling snow but this year our serving came early and it was really bucketing it down last night.
Photos taken out n about last night and this morning. Extremely pleased with the performance of the Sony NEX-5N and the Zeiss F1.8 24mm lens - awesome combo is awesome.

All photos in this post (and a few more) posted in HD wallpaper format in my Google Plus account - feel free to trace to use.

For weather checks I use this resource at Yahoo. If you are traveling to Tokyo at this time of the year, I would advise on a warm coat, gloves and hat as the wind can be biting cold at times. If you are going to use the trains then you may boil to death as its usually really warm down there - unless you bring something like a Uniqlo down jacket which are warm but light.
The JR trains and many restaurants go overkill on the heating making it extra uncomfortable when you are on the move - a light but warn jacket will save your bacon.

Lots of folks are sick at this time of the year which is why you will see many folks wearing surgical masks like this - this is because either some folks are sick (and don't want to spread germs) or because one does not want to catch any germs. It can also be because they have no mouth and don't want people to know that they are from Mars or that they have three tongues.

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Something for all Metroid fans coming soon from Max Factory. We got a 1/8 scale figure of Samus Aran which is due out in June retailing at 7,800 yen and a figma version of Samus in her suit which is also due out in June retailing at 3,800 yen.

Both figures should be up for pre-order at any of the following trusted online figure retailers.
http://www.amiami.com/
http://toylet.net
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/
http://hlj.com
http://archonia.com
http://hobbystock.jp
http://kidnemo.com
http://jlist.com

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Photos of another stylish otaku home office posted over at figure.fm - this time by Dieta from Germany. Great lighting in the room which has figures dotted all over the place but displayed with thought as not to make the place look cluttered. I want an office like this when I get a bigger place!
One thing that Dieta does that I do is to try and light corners which tend to be dark to make the room feel a wee bit bigger. Having glass tables also has the same effect.
I've left the original text by Dieta below each photo.

My desk is on the right side. I’ve mounted 2 Ergotron LX arms on a 2×2 Expedit which is placed behind the Galant glass desk. Both screens are HP ZR24w models, one connected via DVI and the other one via DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort to my Mac Pro. Below the screens sits my MacBook Air (13″ 2011 model) and 2 of my favorite Animé figures (Sasasegawa Sasami & Ikki Tousen). The iPad on the left is connected to the BlueTooth keyboard which is placed in front of it. I use it mostly to watch YouTube videos (keeps my desktop a bit cleaner) or to keep an eye on my servers via SSH and the magical saidar. Oh the black little box next to the iPad is my great Kindle! What an awesome device. On the HP wireless printer/scanner lays another Animé figure, but more on her later.

Sojas desk is on the left – she now also uses one of our 3 HP 24″ screens and so far she seems to be pretty happy with it We also mounted a Ergotron LX arm for flexibility. She uses her MacBook white and her iPad to work on her blog.

The next photo shows the cat scratch tree. Willow loves it and often sleeps on the top platform when I work on my computer at the weekend or late night. The blinds are very useful in the summer, but are looking nice in the winter as well. A new carpet was one of the rare things we bought last week to make the home office more comfortable. Willow is a bit scared of it and always walks around it, but that’s just a matter of time.

The other wall is covered by 3 wall scrolls – a kind of poster, printed on a textile – and of course, all prints are Animé figures. On the bottom of the Lack rack (on the left) you can see 2 Onnto DataTales, external RAID devices, which started to pop out HDs randomly. Meanwhile I’ve installed a dedicated backup server (based on Debian) which contains a 6TB RAID5 array – secure enough for backups. On top of the 2 horizontal Expedits you will find some more of our figures and some plants.

The other wall is covered with more decorative stuff and my 4 certificates that I’ve reached in the last few months. LPIC-1, 2 Novell Certificates and a Microsoft Certified Professional one.

Steel Angel Kurumi. Kurumi, Saki & Karinka. Very hard to find – took them 4 weeks to ship from Australia to Germany and better don’t ask for the price we paid!

K-On! A huge Mio and 3 Nendoroid Petit in front – so cute!

A-Channel. Tooru & Run. Got them both for christmas last year from my wife – what a great present.

Seitokai no Ichizon (most left & most right), Hatsune Miku Nendoroid on the drums and Toko Amano Nendoroid.

To Heart 2. Nanako-Chan Sukumize. I saw this cute figure on eBay and again and again I watched the auction and I knew I HAD to buy her. She’s 1/5 – much bigger than our other figures, but well – she’s so cute that she got a special place. The calendar you can see is self collected and edit by my wife – a lot kawaii images are inside.

To Heart 2. Konomi Yuzuhara. She sits on my wifes desk and looks what she does when she’s working.

To-Love-Ru. Sairenji Haruna came in two different christmas versions. Very nice for the living room in the pre-christmas time. And of course you see Belldandy “Fighting Wings” and my other Kurumi figure in the background.

In the basement, the servers are working. The big black box is the ESXi server which hosts the fileserver, a web server (<a href="http://www.figure.fm/clickout.php?url=http://wetter.klein2.net" target="_blank">http://wetter.klein2.net</a>) and some internal used VMs like a virtual VCR for HD TV (Sat DVB-S2). The grey one behind the ESXi is Hotaru, the backup server. In the rack is currently no running server, but the massive (weight) APC RS800 UPS and a 4 port Compaq KVM switch.

Both Futro boxes. The top one is my gateway & weather station data collector while the bottom one will become the new router once I will find some time to install pfSense onto the 2GB IDE SSD.

And believe it or not - this is what the same room used to look like! More photos of the previous room at figure.fm.
More stylish otaku room photos from around the world listed up below.

If you want me to share your room photos then just post em on figure.fm or on this site using the "upload" button in the header.

Just another regular meeting at the Good Smile Company offices - thought I'd take photos of the goodies in the office between sessions.
All photos taken on the Sony NEX-5N with the Zeiss Sonnar F1.8 24mm.

The tree by the entrance has been inhabited by some interesting animals.
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Gumako kawaii!

Cant wait to see the Vocaloids in action again. Oh damn what am I saying?! I sound as if I knew something that I'm trying to keep quiet!

Load of Three A goodies in the office.

Mongrol is huge!
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The meeting area by the entrance.

Had an external meeting with the big boss Aki Takanori before coming to the offices where he said "I've got a blue racing bicycle in the office - its yours."
I was like @.@!!! Thanks Aki-san! Will give it the Itachari treatment ASAP ^^;

And this is one of Aki-sans other bikes.

A new darts machine appeared in the office.

Cute girls in the office. Annotate the part that you looked at first when you say this scroll.

Brought my AFA co-host Yoshimi along to the meetings as she will be involved in the next project which is

The Good Smile Seijin!

The main office - more photos in this post and you can have a virtual visit in Season 1 of Culture Japan.

Then its off to Indotei - the Indian restaurant run by figure maker Max Factory. Indotei is located within a bricks throw away from the main office and Good Smile Cafe.

The food at Indotei is just incredible!

Indotei also make Mirai-chan's own brand of curry - Mirai Curry!

Yoshimi-chan was also joined me in the studio for Episode 10 and 11 of Culture Japan Season 2 which I accidentally uploaded to YouTube below.

Heading back to base and take more photos of the snow.

Picked up a Nendoroid Calendar before leaving the office - Mirai-chan on it next year?!

If you could ask or request absolutely anything from Good Smile Company - what would it be? Use the poll or comments.
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Was out n about in Akihabara last week giving a lecture at Digital Hollywood University.
I dont go that often of late but when I do, everything seems so different. Many shops disappear while many new ones spring up. One of the things that I'm happy to say does not change is the amount of cute (2D) girls that you will see all over the place.

Had no idea there was an Arakawa Under The Bridge live action version.

Arrival at Akihabara - cold n rainy day. To get to Akihabara, get off at Akihabara station on the JR Yamanote line.
[gmap=35.69870, 139.77263]

Chuo Dori - the main road that runs through Akihabara.

Cars in Akihabara look out of place if they are not itarized.

Arrival at the campus to find some... hard working tired students.

Toshihiro Fukuoka - Chief Executive Editor at Ascii Media Works who lectures at Digital Hollywood University. He also produced the Mikunopolis concert in LA.

Yukina Matsuzaki - Ascii Media Works Angel.

You will all recognize this as Hokusai but did you know he drew ero stuff before this?

Moekana - soon!

My lecture was about my line of work and career advice.

Then its time to have a quick lookie around Akiba.
Fan disk for Hoshizora e kakaru hashi out next month.

Cute eroge girlies everywhere! If you like eroge then you will like http://erogetrailers.com/

Amagami nom nom.

Lots of Madoka Magica stuff coming up this year - a lot of surprises too ^^

Onechanbara Z for the 360. Aya is back and she's wearing even less now ^^;

The latest in the Super Robot Taisen series.

For those of you who have been to Akihabara, where was your first stop?
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Many shops start to close around 8pm so get there early if you are hunting for stuff. Restaurants usually stay open until later. Dont forget to check the side streets too as they have treasures like this hidden away.

Katsu for dindins.

The Akihabara Guide post has more info about what you can find at Akihabara.

The new Radio Kaikan - the old one is no more.

HD sized wallpapers over at Google Plus - feel free to use or trace or eat.

The must-stop-off-at store - Gamers filled with cute girlies.

This whole area used to be a car park where a load of folks would skate and play basket ball - photos from way back then in the History of Akihabara post.

Photos taken on the Sony NEX-5N which is great in low light conditions.

Mandarake - where you will find your otaku treasures.

Heading back to base. More Akihabara photos in the posts listed up below.

Got myself another DualShock PS3 controller. Wee bit big for our Saber though.

And this is why I picked up a second one. Had been meaning to get Street Fighter IV for many moons now but didn't have the time - until I was promted to brush up on my skills after I had seven shades of poo kicked out of me during the Street Fighter tournaments held at CJ Night in Singapore.
You can also see some of the action in Episode 11 of Culture Japan Season 2 - towards the end of the show below.

I kinda like having the paper manual to read before I get down to play the game. The PS Vita games dont come with manuals anymore - instead there is a scanned version in the game.
The first Street Fighter I played was back in 1991 - Street Fighter 2.

But now Street Fighter is all new and improved! Thanks to artwork from Kei Suwabe-san. I want to try the Hello Kitty character!
I've recently become a big fan of Hello Kitty and my Twitter and Facebook followers will probably know why ^^

Check out more characters at Kei Suwabe-san's site.
Via Kotaku.

There are many resume templates that you can download from the Internets but I thought I'd share a tried and tested resume format that got me jobs at companies like Amazon and Microsoft and interview/job offers from Google and Apple - which I turned down to go to Microsoft ^^;
Anyway, the word file for the my CV is here - feel free to use it.

I've been refining the format of my resume even when I was working part time in a restaurant called Behihana. Over the years I've learned what the optimum layout was for my skill set and experience.

As a hiring manager at Amazon, I would go through a large amount of CV's when deciding who should be interviewed for positions from QA to Director class hires.

Today, not only would I like to share the template for my resume for you to use, I would also like to share some pointers for those who are looking to write one. Even if you are not in any immediate need to write a resume - I recommend you do so now. Because once you write your resume, you will come to 2 conclusions:-
#1 That looks good and am confident when I submit this resume.
#2 Crap, I need to brush up, learn some skills and gain some experience before anybody will look at this.

If your conclusion was #2 then you need to do something about it right now - and not just before you start to look for a job. The How I started to build a career in Japan post has pointers of how you can help yourself - because you are the only one who can.

After I left Microsoft to start up my company Mirai Inc, I didn't update the resume as I dont have any more intentions to work for others anymore. Instead, I try to keep my online profile up to date which helps companies decide whether they want to work with me.

So, this is the first page - and spreads over 4 pages. Many folks say that you should fit everything on 1 page but I disagree - the person reading your resume has not met you and needs as much information about you to make the decision to ask you in for an interview.

Employers want to know roughly where you hail from but in Japan employers particularly want to know if you have a permanent address in Japan which is why its at the top. I also state my visa, marital status and nationality together with my language skills which I wanted to highlight - language skills open more doors in Japan. But - language skills alone will only open doors to schools as an English Teacher - you must have additional abilities to compliment your language skills.

Then I have my Employment History - dont put your educational history at the top of the resume. The reason is because an employer wants to know what you can do for her *right now* and they will make a guess based on your previous experience. If you dont have any work experience then go and get some and dont make excuses for yourself saying that you are too busy with school.

While I was at university, I worked at a restaurant called Benihana at night as a part timer nearly everyday from about 5pm through midnight at times. I still made time for my home work and graduated with First Class Honors which I heard that only 10% of graduates in the UK achieve. If an idiot like me can do it then there is no reason why you cant too!

One misconception is that you should earn money while you are gaining experience - not so. In the How Discovering Japan Changed My Life post, you read how I worked for free writing for an anime company. Experience is much more valuable to your career than money - if you got the chance to gain experience then jump at it and dont think about the money.

If you consistently think about money early on in your career then you are really going to do yourself in - because one of the keys to building a successful career will involve doing things that dont involve the exchange of money.

I list companies that I worked at with the most recent at the top - putting my first job at the top does nothing to encourage the potential employer to read on because it contains dated info - your most recent positions are likely to be the most relevant to the job you are applying for.

For every company that you worked for, you should include dates worked and a one liner explaining what the company does together with a URL to their site. You must do this because not everybody would have heard of or know what your previous employers specialize in.

I've seen things like "Previously worked as a developer at Backgammon" with no additional information about Backgammon - the candidate made no effort to explain what Backgammon does and expected me to hunt around for info. At this point, the resume goes in the rejected pile.

For each position that you have been in, you should list all your responsibilities and achievements - both are completely different things.
Usually you would not disclose confidential information about the projects you are working on but at the same time you need to let potential employers know what sort of stuff you have been doing.

Try to write your achievements and responsibilities in a way that gives just enough information for somebody to understand what you have been working on, for example instead of:-

"My team launched a personalization feature called Slipstream which resulted in 2.5 million incremental users that generated 10.5 million USD in the first quarter of 2012"

"My team launched a personalization feature which resulted in millions of incremental users that generated million's of USD in the first quarter of 2012"

If say you was working at a company where your responsibilities dont sound to exciting - then you can "be more descriptive" - but dont lie. For example, if you was a developer who didn't do much creative work apart from manage archaic spaghetti junction code then you can say something like:-

"Worked closely with my team to code and deliver features on time and to spec which enabled the company to meet its financial targets"

Feel free to copy and reword any part of my resume template - just make sure its all factual because if you start lying then you will need special software just to keep track of all the lies that you will get used to telling ^^;

The end of my resume contains my education history - everything after college only - because anything before is irrelevant. I also list my computing skills which was all picked up from Google sensei. I include links to samples of my work online like artwork and photos. If you got a deviant art account then list it. If you got a Flickr account then list it.
If you got a blog then list it - but only if you dont have any trolling posts which would be archived at Wayback Machine - needless to say that potential employers are not going to be overly impressed to read your trolling trails ^o^とほほ。

Anyway, right at the bottom of my resume I have a brief section on my interests. This section is important because it gives your resume more of a human touch rather than just a list of academia.

I did previously list things like the work I did for Mangazine as a writer and other jobs like Benihana but I removed them after a while because they became irrelevant for the jobs that I was applying for - try to keep your resume rellevant and if possible tailor it towards each employer.

If you are sending a resume online then save it as a PDF format before sending because word documents can look completely different depending on the system and OS language setting.

I was going to write about interviewing but that is a subject that will take up a whole post so I will leave it for a later date. But what I do want to advise is to never ever mention money during your first interview - its the keyword that ends the interview there and then because employers are not looking for people who are focused on the money.
If an potential employer does mention money in the interview, they will usually ask you what your current salary is and usually means that they are interested in hiring you. If they ask - you answer. If they dont ask - dont bring it up unless you are looking for a short lived career.

When you apply for a job, dont let the salary be the first thing you need to find out because many jobs dont list salary anyway. I had no idea what the salary range was when I started to interview at Amazon as Website Manager and you would certainly be doing yourself a disadvantage if you only applied to jobs which stated the salary range.

Up until now I've worked at foreign capital companies like Amazon and Microsoft. If you are applying to work at a traditional Japanese company however, the format of the resume is the same for everybody which you can pick up from a convenience store.

Apart from your resume and online profile, another essential career tool is the business card which I thought I'd talk about.

I have two types of business card - one for anybody and one for business related folks. The business version contains my address and phone number.
Throughout the years I've been using various artists for my card - the latest being DMYO.

Many folks say "I dont have a company or job so I dont need one" - this implies that you are not interested in meeting or building your network unless you do have your own company or job.

A carrer is built upon relationships but especially so in Japan which is why most folk here carry a business card which is known as Meishi.
The starting point to building a relationship is the business card. The card in this photo is the same format of business card that I used when back in London at university - I got a huge sheet of card from a stationers and cut it up to a business card size and used an Epson printer - anybody can make one.

My card at the time didn't look fancy but performed its job of enabling me to connect with others and help me grow my network. Carrying a business card around with you at all times is as important as wearing pantsu - I urge all of you to make your own business card to build relationships which will enrich your life and career.

Folks outside of Japan can try services like Moo.com and folks in Japan can (and should) try Tokyo Meishi Land which is where I get all my meishi done.

Anyway, I've babbled long enough for today. The Word file for my resume is here - hope that it will be of use to you as it has been of use to me in my career. And if you do use it and get a job - leave a comment!

Your career has already started and it really is up to you to make sure that you dont end up being the person that you dont want to be.

From now I'll be tagging posts like these as "Career advice" and will try to write as much as I can before I kick the bucket. Some of them listed below.

Anyway, I'm interested in hearing about you and your skills - a few hundred folks over on my Facebook already listed their details and would like to hear about you in the comments! Just leave something like:-

My name is Danny Choo. I was born and raised in the UK but now live in Japan and have been doing so for 13 years.
I run a company called Mirai which shares Japanese culture with the world through Web, TV and Events.
My clients are mainly anime companies - Kadokawa, King Records, Konami, Sony, Good Smile Company, Bushiroad, Production IG, JC Staff and more.

My talents are toilet cleaning.

Snapped at the Production IG headquarters. To my right is Kenji Kamiyama - anime director who has brought us Ghost in the Shell SAC, Seirei no Moribito and Eden of The East. Kenji-san is currently busy with the new production of the up n coming IG movie 009.

To Kenji-san's right is Tomohiko Ishii - anime producer who has put together titles such as Spirited Away, Gedo Senki, Sky Crawlers, Eden of the East and the recent Ghost in the Shell SAC 3D movie. To my left are two folks but at this moment in time I cant tell you who they are or what they do or I will have to kill you. But there are too many of you and I'll be out numbered - so I'll keep quiet for now ^^;

Anyway, Production IG have asked me to work with them on an exciting project which could change the anime industry worldwide. But before I talk about that project in the future, I would like to hear whether its in line with what you want from the anime industry.

So if there was one thing you could request from the anime industry, what would it be?

Photos taken earlier on in the day heading towards IG.

Arrival at Mitaka station. There are a load of anime production studio's in this area like Satelight and JC Staff.

Back at Production IG again.

Design change at the entrance - the last time you saw it was in the How Anime is Made post.

Meetings done and agreement sealed. Heading back to base.

T'was Christmas when I went actually ^^ The rotary decorated with illuminations.

One of the reasons why Tokyo is so convenient - train stations absolutely everywhere.

Taking the Chuo line - popular for jumpers. Folks who regularly take this line will be used to the odd delay after somebody has jumped into the tracks. I've previously seen somebody literally being mopped off the tracks - I still can't un-see it...

Taking Yamanote-line back to Meguro.

Beginning to like my PS Vita very much of late.

Anyway, do let me know what you request from the Japanese animation industry in general (not just from production IG) - ok it does not have to be just one thing. What you say here could make a difference ^^

Also, if you do have a particular request and think you can help then lemme know!

All of a sudden I feel like a Miku Donalds with some freshly made fries on the side. This lovely Ronald style Hatsune Miku made by a reader in Taiwan who I caught up with when I was there a few weeks ago.

Nice packaging too!

And this is his setup at home.

How many of you are into modeling?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

If you are traveling in Taiwan, dont limit yourself to exploring what you see overground because they got a ton of goodies underground too! The area around Taipei Station has a huge underground shopping mall called Taiwan City Mall. One of the sections is absolutely filled to the brim with Japanese pop culture - anime and otaku goodness.
If you are heading there, get out the station at exit Y17. The address would be 台北市市民大道一段100號
[gmap=25.04894, 121.51507]

After Culture Japan Night held at the Good Smile Cafe, I went along with a few readers to check out what can be considered as a small scale Akihabara - figures, gundams, gacha, books, magazines, games, dolls and more.

Taipei City Mall is so cool that they even have their own moe character called Rion (莉洋) voiced by Seiyuu Hanazawa kana!

Gears of War looks awesome.

Familiar figure is familiar.

With the store manager of Oh!Taku who just happened to be a reader ^o^
You cant miss the shop when you are down there but here is the address anyway.
台北市市民大道一段100號／66號店(台北地下街內Y17出口附近)

The mascot character for Oh!Taku.

Then its some nom noms before heading off to a maid cafe!

There is a poll embedded in this article.

I thought I couldn't get any busier during the last quarter of 2011 when I was in the middle of producing Culture Japan Season 2. Was hoping to make it to January alive where I could take a couple of days break.

Now that its January however, its been even busier! I've been approached to make 3 new TV shows (not including Culture Japan), a publishing company wants to run Mirai Millennium as a manga series, am currently working on the Moekana hiragana learning series, a new Culture Japan album with Vividblaze, a new book with Ascii Media Works, and I need to produce a live broadcast for Good Smile Company in within 9 days @.@

To top that off I'm also in the middle of organizing up n coning events in Taiwan and Malaysia, preparing data and subs for the Asia broadcast of Culture Japan, and looking for more hands on deck (full and part time) to help me.
I've also received the release date of this ^o^

Anyway, I've missed writing 3 installments of A Week in Tokyo but I will catch up. In the meantime however, I'm going to see how long I can keep going with a new series called Tokyo Today where at the end of the day I dump all photos that I've taken on my Sony NEX-5N - I say dump because I'm not going to get time to write in detail due to everything else thats going on but I want you to see what life is like in Tokyo right now.

At Togoshi Ginza [戸越銀座] for lunch. This poor dog has a headache, constipation and trouble sleeping.

The road in Togoshi Ginza used to be nice n flat but they've been really digging it up of late.

The banner at the top says "Togoshi Ginza croquette" - a delicacy for this neck of the woods.

The mascot for Togoshi Ginza.

Togoshi Ginza is a long shopping street and is featured on TV from time to time - filled with more of the daily necessities and restaurants.

To get to Togoshi Ginza, get off at Togoshi Ginza station on the Ikegami line.

At Coco Ichibanya - I've only seen this character at this branch - presuming the person running this branch is an otaku?

Came in for the Winter special soup curry but they are not doing it this year ToT

Today's lunch - salmon katsu with greeneries n corn n curry.

Coco's now had a shelf of manga for customers to read while they wait, eat or watch others eat.

This girl is so cute. Pi Pi Pi. I'll have her cameo in Mirai Millennium.

Its Setsubun tomorrow.

Equipment check for next weeks Good Smile Company live broadcast.

I'll talk about my new intern from Singapore soon ^o^

Taking intern for dindins at our local shopping arcade in Musashikoyama.

Playing with my new toy - Samsung Galaxy Note that I picked up from Taiwan. Please forgive me for ignoring you Android users - I've now seen the light ^^
The Android is so customizable that it makes the iPhone feel like a bricked phone.

Yakiniku for dindins.

Wifey and niece join us for noms.

5,651 yen for dinner for 4 which includes beer for wifey and intern. How does the cost compare to a meal for 4 in your neck of the woods?

The furnace where they heat the coal for the yakiniku.

Back at the office. 10:30PM is now considered early evening ^^;

Looks like Saber wants some attention. I'm off to bed now before I collapse ^^;

If you love anime and would rather work in a field which involves your hobby rather than working at a job where you are looking at anime related sites during work when your boss is not looking then read on.

In this photo I have with me the boss of Good Smile Company, the boss of anime studio Ufotable and the two top guys at Nitroplus. These are just some of the people I work with. Other anime related companies that I work with are Bushiroad, Kadokawa, Konami, Ascii Media Works, Dentsu, King Records, Nitroplus and Production IG. A longer list on my profile page together with a description of what we do.

My company is expanding and so are my clients who need your help to reach out to markets across the world. I have for immediate hire several roles for the position of "Translator" and "Content Manager" - some part and some fulltime. You will work for me but I need you to liase directly with my clients too.

The requirements for Translator is as follows:-

• Be able to translate Japanese into native English, German, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French or Korean.
  
• Or be able to translate English to Korean, French, Traditional Chinese or Simplified Chinese. (no need for English to German at this time)
  
• Be able to communicate directly with my clients in Japanese through mail. (for the Japanese speakers).
  
• Be knowledgeable with anime (especially character names), anisong, seiyuu, figures and general anime news. Having knowledge of Japanese games is a plus but not required.
  
• Loves anime and Japanese pop culture.
  
• Has worked with social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or blog tools like Wordpress, Tumblr. Most of my clients use Mirai Gaia and it will be your main tool. figure.fm runs Mirai Gaia too and if you are applying then it would be a good idea for you to post something and play around with the UI.
  
• Currently has at least 2-4 hours available everyday day for work. (and occasionally on weekends too).
  
• Is available long term.
  
• Is available to video chat over Skype from time to time.
  
• Has a paypal account.
  
• Most suitable for students, fansubbers or any folk who can spare the hours.

• Fluent Japanese is a requirement for the Content Manager.
  
• Can use Photoshop or Fireworks - not looking for a ninja but somebody who can manipulate layers, masks, text and export for web use.
  
• Again, not looking for a guru but somebody who can use Illustrator to manipulate vector graphics.
  
• Can write simple CSS and HTML - which also means that you can easily learn more advanced markup from Google Sensei.

Things to note
#My profile lists most of my clients - look for their English sites to get a better idea of the type of work that you will be doing. You will be translating and also scheduling content too.

#A few of my clients are launching sites which initially require some intensive work and thus need your extended availability. Japanese > Chinese Simplified, Japanese > Chinese Traditional, Japanese > German, English > Korean, English > French translations are needed asap.
I'm hiring several of each position so even if you cant commit the time right now then you should still apply if you are interested.

#Compensation will be discussed with the candidates who pass the tests. I'll be paying you directly but in some cases you may be working directly for my clients who will pay you directly.

#You do not have to be of a particular age and dont need any qualifications either - the most important thing is that you can deliver which is in my opinion much more important that qualifications on paper. During my time at Amazon, I've seen managers hire folks with an MBA who performed terribly on the job.

#You do not need to be in Japan for either of these positions but based on your performance and if you wish to live and work in Japan, I or my clients may bring you over and sponsor your Visa. One of my clients has already agreed to hire a reader from overseas. The reader in question loves anime and now gets to work in Japan with an anime related company ^o^

#I'm only showing you the door - it really is up to you to step though it. We need people who are serious and focused on wanting to work in this field. Folks should care about the work they submit and always be on the ball regarding translation accuracy, grammar and punctuation - my grammar and punctuation is terrible which is why i'm getting you to do it ^^;

#I always go on about it but all my computing, programming and graphic skills were picked up from Google sensei - if an idiot like me can do it then so can you! Its never to late to start but it is too late when the chance pops up - you need to make sure that you are prepared for future opportunities. An opportunity like this presented itself to me many moons ago and fortunately I had prepared myself.

I'm using Google Forms to collect the info - application form below.

Application form

One more thing

Although Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Hiroshi Mizohata confirmed his plans to invite 10000 foreigners to Japan and pay for their tickets, the budget didn't go through - which means no more free tickets. Fortunately - I have some free tickets because I'll be paying your fare to Japan if I hire you. I'll obviously be sponsoring your visa too. Welfare and health insurance will be taken care of too.

I managed to get a few Ruby part timers but am still looking for full time Ruby developers. I'm looking for folks who have a high level of ruby on rails, html, css, javascript, coffeescript, jquery, rspec, postgresql, github, loves anime, loves Japan and can speak enough Japanese to get about daily life.

Developers will be working to migrate our Mirai Gaia platform to rails and continue to add features which improve usability and increase conversion. All clients are either anime or game related.
Candidates should send mail to [jobs at mirai dot fm] with a link to their GitHub account and links to previous projects that they have worked on.
Same applies to any Content Managers that I hire - I'll pay for your fare over to Japan too and sponsor your visa.

Folks who join me in Japan will be working with all my clients and be working in figure and anime merchandise production together with TV and web production. You will learn the tools required for the job as well as learn the ropes of the anime business in Japan. I dont have any illusions about you working for me forever and I'll mentor and train you as much as I can so that you can make the decisions that you need to make in your career.

If this sounds like your cuppa tea and you have the skills then I'll be waiting to hear from you. But please bear in mind - while this is a hobby, its also a business too and am looking for folks who are serious about pursuing a career in the Japanese anime business.

I believe that arms installation is complete - Good Luck! I'll be answering questions in the comments - you may want to skim for answers before asking the same questions ^^

Calling all Good Smile Company fans! Got a few things for you to get involved with GSC if you are interested. First up is the Miku Art Mosaic Project. Good Smile would like you to submit your photos of your Vocaloid figures - can be any (Miku, Luka, Rin, Len etc) but would be one of the Crypton characters and the figure should be made by Good Smile Company.

Once you snapped your photos, get along and use this form to submit your art. The top field is your nick name, second field is your email addy, 3rd field is the title of the photo you are submitting and the 4th field is any comment.

All photos will be used to create a huge mosaic art of Hatsune Miku which will be published to the Good Smile site and also shown on the Nama Won Hobby broadcast on the night of the 12th. The Nama Won Hobby broadcast is a show that Good Smile Company does after every Wonder Festival that runs from night into the morning on Nico Nico.

For each photo submitted, GSC will donate 100 yen to the 2011/03 earthquake and tsunami relief efforts.

This photo taken at a Nama Won Hobby a few years ago with Aniki as guest. Up until now, Nama Won Hobby has only been in Japanese but for the first time ever, there will be an English version brought to you by Yoshimi and myself. We will be talking about what happend at the Wonder Festival that day and show you the decoration masters of figures announced that day - will have some in the studio to play with ^^; The broadcast will be at the same location as the Japanese Won Hobby.

I would also like to broadcast your Good Smile Company related figure collection too! All you need to do is post photos over at figure.fm or the community site with the tag "wonhobby."

Photos should be of your collection or single figure or anything as long as its related to GSC - scale figures or nendoroids or figma. For licensing reasons - dont swap the heads around of Nendoroids or Figma. Its a complicated thing that I'll talk about one day ^^;
Please include your website url and nick name so we can give you a shoutout during the broadcast. The broadcast URL will be announced on my Twitter and Facebook. Please submit everything by next Tuesday the 7th. You can submit photos that you took a while ago too.

So, even if you dont qualify to apply for the job, you can still be a part of Good Smile Company ^o^

More life in Tokyo through photos. Photos taken throughout today on the Sony NEX-5N with Zeiss Sonnar f1.8 24mm lens. This snap taken at Gotanda [五反田] during lunch. The Rollerblades have been an incredible time saving tool. Have only fallen over once in my life on blades but when I did there was blood everywhere! I'll dig up the photo I took after the fall ^^;
How many of you are into blading?

Zooming back in time to the morning. Every time I hit "send", I see a new mails appear in the inbox ><
How many mails do you need to deal with every day?

Heading to lunch in Gotanda.

At most roadworks, there would either be a human, a picture or video of a human or one of these waving a mini light saber to alert folks of the work ahead.

At the best burger place in Tokyo - Kua'aina. They take a while to prep the food as its prepped on the spot but is worth the wait.

The fries are absolutely gorgeous.

Most food places in Japan dont have salt n pepper on the table. I remember when I first came to Japan - when I asked for salt, they would bring out a small plate of it ^^;

Gorgeous!

Lunch done and time to head back to base the scenic route.

Doutor - a chain of coffee shops over here. Smokers can puff away in the same area where food is prepared - apparently illegal in the UK but not here.
I remembering ordering a sandwich at Doutor once - could only taste the smoke and not the beef. I love Japan but my only gripe is that smoking is still allowed in restaurants - and most places dont have a non-smoking area.

If I'm eating out, I'd try to peek in the windows like a suspicious person looking for smokers or packs of cigarettes on the table ^^; Most of my Japanese friends and clients smoke but it does my asthma in ToT
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Gotanda is a business district with a load of offices which is also why there are a ton of restaurants in the area to feed everybody.

Cigarettes in Japan are apparently the cheapest in the world.

The river that runs though Gotanda.

There is not a great deal to do in Gotanda but if you want to see a slice of life in Japan then get off at Gotanda station on the JR Yamanote line and go exploring.
[gmap=35.62629, 139.72354]

Will let you know who this chap is in a later episode.

Meetings at Shiseido?! Mirai Makeup?!

Mr Postman.

Passing by the HQ of Disney Japan. I used to work here consulting when I left Microsoft many moons ago.

A very typical toy store would usually only stock stuff for the younger generation which is why you wouldn't really find figures.

In an event of a huge quake, this road is closed off. Not sure why this one in particular.

Rillakkuma sells donuts.

Love this shop - full of character and is all lit up at night.

A roadworker cleans up after himself. When I was back in the UK, roadworkers would leave their mess for others to clean up.

Back to base. Its so dark in the office that I call it the dungeon.

Sunlight hardly gets in down there but when it does it gives a nice n relaxing mood.

Tea time with Popura-chan.

Moekana is going to the printers this month and should be with distributors by March.

Ji〜

Chris is still alive and well in Saitama working hard on the PHP > Ruby on Rails migration of Mirai Gaia.

This is just a mockup printed in the office. There are many ways to play Moekana to help you learn Hiragana. Karuta, Shiritori, Concentration and Stack em Up. Will talk about them more later.

Yakisoba for dindins.

Papico for dessert.

More dessert ^^;

I cant type Korean without looking at the Hangul keys. I usually stick Hangul stickers on my Japanese keyboard but they fall off after a while ><
Need a touchscreen keyboard which I hope Apple bring out. I know there is an app that allows me to use my iPad as a keyboard but not sure if that supports multiple language input.

The figure shelves get a tweak. Can you spot whats new?

Figures and plants go well with each other.

Nanoha says hi.

Very cold in Tokyo of late meaning that the aircon is on all day heating up the room. Tis very dry so the air moisturizer helps a lot - 2 liters of water lasts a day.

Looks like I'll be travelling a lot to Asia this year. Confirmed are Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Hope to fit in the Philippines too.

FaceTime meeting with KenLee about the next mobile project that we are working on. He is the engineer for MiraiClock3.

Yui says hello.

Previous posts from Tokyo Today and A Week in Tokyo listed up below.

Tis another giveaway time! This time round Akemi Homura Nendoroid is up for grabs which is being given away by the good folks at Hobby Search - a trusted online retailer of figures and hobby goods.

This time I'd like to thank all my Facebook comrades for their continued support - currently just under 150,000 comrades.
If you would like to take a stab at winning Homu homu all for yourself, all you have to do is like my Facebook page and then share this post on Facebook. I can see how many of you shared it (like this) - I will choose one person at random this time next week and announce the winner on Facebook. You have to share publicly for me to be able to see your shares.

While you are at it - would be great if you could share your Facebook url with us too!
Good luck!

Oh, the winner of the last giveaway was Jahn!

Had my PS Vita since the launch in Japan and am starting to like it a lot! Lots of eye candy graphics and decent games are starting to come out. But, the PS Vita comes with a lousy feature that prevents you from charging the unit unless you use the adapter it came with. This means that you cant charge it from a Mac/PC USB port or even an iPhone/iPad USB mains adapter.

Being a portable games machine, it becomes particularly annoying that you cant use any USB battery packs to charge it either. Unacceptable! But rather than complain, lets do something about it because complaining never brings about results - only action leads to results and results happen even quicker if you take action yourself.

Today we will see how I made a simple mod that enables you to charge the PS Vita from any USB power source.

First up, you need one of these USB thingies - its a USB bridge adapter that allows a USB to be plugged into awkward places like the back of your left ear. They sell them at Amazon for 554 yen.

Once you got the USB adapter, pry it open using the Force or something like...a screw driver perhaps.

This will reveal 5 wires that are attached to the USB head.

Cut the green and white wire.

What may happen is this - the other wires come loose and fall off!

Now you need to whip out that pocket solder. Here I have soldered the red and black wires back onto the USB head. I have also soldered the middle two pins together. Not sure why this works because all I did was copy this guy ^^; Apparently this "shorts" it.
I tried to self study electronics for a wee bit but never really understood it. How many of you good at electronics and making stuff?
There is a poll embedded in this article.

Now that the middle two pins are soldered together, its time to test it out.

Didn't want to test it out on the Vita so I dug up the old iPod Touch and used it as my test victim instead ^^; Tried to charge it from a mobile battery and it worked.

Next I tried it out on the Vita and you can see the electric bolt thingies in the battery - it works!

Once you have established that everything works, then you can glue everything back together.

Yuki is one happy gamer!

You can however buy a mobile battery with a higher output to charge the Vita but I still would not be able to charge it through my Mac.

And this is what the setup looks like - the Vita data cable goes into the USB bridge which is then attached to my mobile USB charger.

And I can even charge through an iPhone USB mains adapter too.

I'm rather pleased ^^;

You can now charge via your computer's USB port.

Want a thinner Vita data cable though.
Just thought I'd mention - do this mod at your own risk. If everything blows up then you may cry but you cant sue me to buy another one for you because I'm protected by the force and this disclaimer.

Games which I'm playing now are Star Strike Delta and Valkyria Chronicles 3 E2.

Rayun from Switzerland posts photos of his most awesome eroge room over at Figure.fm. Rayun is surrounded by a load of wall tapestries, wall scrolls, posters, dakimakura, pillows, games, T-shirts and other memorabilia.

Happy to see that he also likes the works of Yuzusoft - we make their website! I love the art work of Kobuichi-sensei who has doodled Mirai-chan for us.

How many of you play eroge and what are your fave titles? If I had eroge when I was learning Japanese many moons ago, I'd probably would have gotten more fluent quicker!
If you are interested in learning more about eroge then http://erogetrailers.com/ may be a good place to start.
There is a poll embedded in this article.
There is a poll embedded in this article.
There is a poll embedded in this article.

And here are some eroge goodies that Rayun picked up from Japan during his last trip to Japan earlier this year. A load of yummy goodies!

More otaku rooms from around the world listed below!