Justin-Klein.com – Life of a Traveling Programmer

Sakura in front of Himeji-jo

Before I even get started I should mention that my digital camera has broken due to excessive rain on my backpack, and while I obviously plan on replacing it as soon as possible I want to make sure I research it enough and pick out the right model first. If anyone out there has any recommendations I’d really appreciate them – the one I’m leaning towards is the Canon PowerShot SD400 Digital ELPH/Digital IXUS 50/IXY 55 (the name depends on what country you buy it in). It seems to be a pretty good compromise between screen size, battery life, overall size and weight, zoom, and image quality. Of course with an ultra-compact you won’t be getting all of those nifty manual controls, but for my purposes I don’t really need them – size and zoom are probably the most important. I was also looking at the Panasonic DMC-FX7 (which has much worse battery life but a beautiful screen and an anti-shake lens) and the Casio Exilim line.

Sakura in front of Himeji-jo

Now, on to the juice. There has been altogether too much awesomeness as of late to even try to keep up with it all. To start off, as I mentioned I’ve finally moved in to YHM. Nothing could have prepared me for the increase in quality of life I’d experience here. The entire place is spotlessly clean and my room is at least twice the size of my room at Robins Nishikoji, with my own toilet and sink. They have a giant ofuro (Japanese-style bath) downstairs large enough for five people, a tatami room, and a huge common room where we have community dinners at 6:30 every night. And since the building is only two years old, all of their appliances are from the future: the clothes dryer (gigantic and free) doesn’t have a timer, it simply detects when the clothes are dry and stops; the stove is microwave-powered and is capable of boiling a pot of water in under 20 seconds. It even knows what TYPE of pan is on the burner and will beep a warning if you use a pan made of the wrong type of metal.
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Darn it, every day they put fresh flowers on my pedestal. Don’t they know I have allergies??

So sorry for the lack of updates over the last…uhh…week! Ron and Jason’s visit is just a few days away now, and I’ve been keeping quite busy with all of the preparations: producing the next version of Dean’s software (for which I added a small section on my projects page, if you care), dealing with the rule-happy Ritsumeikan Kokusaikan (international office), and of course, finishing up the kanji.

Unfortunately by the time I finish I will have missed my target time of four weeks – primarily because to I had to pull out 5 full days from my schedule to work on this software – but I’m up to 1,926 as of tonight, and I have no doubt that I’ll be able to finish by this Sunday, putting me within 5 weeks instead of 4. Ah well, at least I will have still learned them all by the time class starts 🙂

This is the antenna the Japanese use to sniff out plans for their new “inventions” that they take credit for after stealing from the friendly inhabitants of Europa

The other reason I fell a bit more behind is that another one of those last minute “opportunity of a lifetime” things popped up that I just couldn’t turn down:

“On the 12th night of Omizutori Matsuri, 11 specially chosen monks mount the steps to the Nigatsudo Hall in Nara with 11 burning fire brands. They march around the balcony, gradually picking up speed until they are running around the altar as fast as is humanly possible, while carrying a flaming torch eight meters in length and 80 kilos in weight. This Ritual of Circumnambulation (Hashiri no Gyoho) is an attempt to catch up with time in heaven. Meanwhile, other monks create a cacophony of noise as they chant, shake rattles, blow conch shells and wave rods and swords – all to ward off evil spirits. Behind a veil other monks pray continuously in a ritual of repentance, their shadows cast ominously against the wall behind them. At the climax of the ceremony the veil falls to reveal the praying monks and at this point the torch-bearing monks begin to swing the blazing torches around. Sparks and burning embers fly off in all directions, showering the crowds below the balcony. It is considered exceptionally good luck to be hit by the embers as they are believed to have power against evil; so rather than avoiding them, people try to catch as many as possible.”
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