Nico Nico Douga is one of the most popular websites in Japan, it has most of the weirdest and wackiest videos that you could never find from other video sharing sites like Google. As for the fans of Japan, it is no wonder that they’d want to see what’s going on at Nico Nico Douga, by going there to see their hopes; they are confronted with a big obstacle, REGISTRATION…

The site being Japanese is obviously a hassle for those who don’t speak Moon, so this article is dedicated for those fans that always wanted to see what’s going on at Nico Nico Douga. But of course, we have another service that gives you access to videos from Nico Nico Douga without registration, but in any way as a fan, we have to register….

So for first time encounters with Nico Nico Douga, they might want to read this also so they could understand what’s up with Japan…

I made a video so that you could follow the steps in making your account, please watch carefully.

Click here to view the embedded video.

To summarize what we did, I will give a list on the important steps.

1. Registration form, we have to find the registration form so that we could supply our information to be able to register.
2. Registering, the process where we place our data on the form.
3. Confirmation, we have to confirm our details to finish the process.
4. Check E-Mail, we need to check our e-mail for NicoNico Douga’s confirmation e-mail.
5. Enjoy watching.

Anime Icon Gundam RX-78-2 built in free-standing life size scale for the 30th anniversary of Bandai has now been completed. The said Gundam is stationed at Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan. The behemoth will stand 18 meters tall free from balancing support.

The Gundam is scheduled for public viewing this July 11 until August 31st, what is next is sure unkown, but perhaps it should not be dismantled and be kept for more viewing pleasures by otakus and the likes.

This comprehensive gallery shows the iconic mecha in magnificent detail.

Thanks to Pyunmari , whose blog caters such Moe Passion and delivers us the pure “awesome”.

More information can be found at the Gundam 30th anniversary website.

And also Thanks to Sankaku Complex for the update.

A Filipino couple was deported from Japan on Monday (April 13, 2009) due to illegal immigration, Their daughter, Noriko, was left behind in Japan to continue studying in the local school.

Parents of Noriko, Arlan Cruz Calderon, 36, and his wife, Sarah, 38, left Tokyo’s Narita airport bound to Philippines, seen off by their daughter, Noriko, and a crowd of reporters, said public broadcaster NHK.

Her parents were forced to leave because they used illegal passports to enter Japan during the 1990’s. The couple stayed in the country undetected until her mother was arrested two years ago.

Noriko was born in 1995, she only speaks Japanese and attends the local school. “I have a dream. To make it come true, I need my parents here and I want the three of us to live together,” said Noriko. “I won’t have delicious food made by my mother any more. I feel full of uncertainty,” she said (just what kind of food does her mother prepare? Filipino food perhaps?). She have always thought that she was a real Japanese until her mother got arrested where then she knew the situation they were in. Despite her parents case, she is allowed to stay in humanitarian grounds but with the condition that her parents must leave the country voluntarily or else the three of them would be deported.

The family’s lawyer, Shogo Watanabe said it was an agonizing decision for the parents because “they had to avoid the possible detention of the daughter no matter what.”

Justice Minister Eisuke Mori, in charge of immigration matters, told reporters that the government had done its utmost to help the family. “I am responsible for protecting Japan’s public safety and social order,” he said. “Despite my sympathetic feelings, I had to consider many elements. I have dealt with the case with ample consideration.”

The case has drawn intense media coverage in Japan, and more than 20,000 people signed a petition asking the government to allow all three to stay.

The case has also attracted the attention of Amnesty International as well as the UN Human Rights Council, which has asked Japan for information about it.

Via Inquirer and ABS-CBN

TNT, which stand for “tago ng tago”, literally means “hinding and hiding”, are Filipinos who use illegal passports or uses legal passports but over-stays to find jobs or to hide from outstanding debts left in the philippines. It is a Fact that there are still many TNTs around the world undetected (they might be the real ninjas and spies) and are having a good life staying in that country.

http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20090413-199129

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20090210-188534/The-dilemma-of-13-year-old-Noriko

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/03/13/09/filipino-couple-leaves-daughter-japan-immigration-row

Impoverished Nation, North Korea, launched a rocket that passed over the Japanese territory. The defence ministry detected a “flying object” which looked like a rocket that went eastward passing through northern Japan then going to the Pacific Ocean.

There were no interceptions on the object, as there were no debris that have fallen in the Japanese territory, but Japan does threaten to intercept it if the launch would go wrong. Batteries of Interceptor Missiles are located on its coast and Radar equipped ships are at the northern seas of Japan.

More of that here: NY times, CNN, MSNBC

Before this news, SanCon had an article about the Superior Japanese Anti-Missile Technology. The missile defence diagram is show below.

As you can see, it is Japanese Superior technology. The Rockets would be intercepted if they come too closely. But it said that these are all still in “research”, “development” or”conceptual evaluation” status…

It seems that Japan did not (or wasn’t able?) to react to the rocket launched by NK, would it be that it was no Threat to them? Or is it that they just don’t want us to see their Superior Technology which include Mobile Suits and Space Battle Ships…

Japan manga man revives story-telling with modern twist

Rikimaru Toho doesn’t mind being stared at as long as he can hold the gaze of passers-by long enough to entice them to stop and sit down for an unusual show: a comic book reading.

And stay they do, hunched on low plastic stools inches away from Rikimaru, who offers the equivalent of an animated movie for the ears, his vast vocal registry bringing to life any character, from humans to robots.

The roaring overhead train, orange street lamps and the station walls comprise the setting for his performances of “manga” comics in Shimokitazawa, the cradle of Tokyo’s underground culture.

“I find it appealing to do, and to offer something that one doesn’t usually experience,” said the 34-year-old, whose real name is Satoshi Arikawa.

“By making all kinds of voices including female ones, I enjoy watching my audience’s reactions, and I am very grateful to them,” he added, with a slight bow of his head.

With long, black, dishevelled hair held in place with a rudimentary bandana, along with glasses and a black goatee, Rikimaru’s looks invite as much curiosity as his punchy voice which swings between bass and falsetto.

From action hero Kenshiro of the popular “Hokuto no Ken” series to the earless blue cat Doraemon and the lovelorn heroines of “The Rose of Versailles,” Rikimaru has done them all. And that’s not everything.

“Attatatata! Bang-bang-bang! Aaargh!” he shouted, shaking a “Hokuto” comic depicting a battle involving machine guns and blood. His audience, a group of college students, erupted into laughter and applauded.

When the scene changes, Rikimaru snaps his fingers and takes the deep solemn voice of a narrator.

A crowd including children and a few elderly people gathered around him, some snapping photos of the scene with their cellphones.

“This is really entertaining, and especially because it’s so unusual. You don’t normally see these sorts of street performances in Tokyo. It’s so different,” said a university student, 19-year-old Shohei Shindo.

For a reading of less than 10 minutes from one of the dozens of comic books displayed on the ground, listeners slip a few hundred yen — equivalent to a few dollars — into his box. Rikimaru politely bows and hands out chocolates.

When Rikimaru was 19, around the time that Japan’s so-called bubble economy plunged into a decade-long slump, he stayed in his room for an entire year not seeing anyone, one of the country’s so-called “shut-ins”.

After he emerged, he held various temporary jobs. But it was manga reading that became the focus of his life and which has won him a solid fan base, evident in the regular comments on his blog.

He has appeared on television and travelled around Japan for shows, achieving a level of fame that would seem to justify the 14 years of effort he has put into training his voice and practising his reading skills.

While reading manga is one of Japan’s favourite pastimes, shared even by Prime Minister Taro Aso, it is generally a solitary activity. Popular “manga cafes” have cubicles so readers are undisturbed.

Through manga, however, Rikimaru says he is reviving the art of story-telling which goes back to the 11th century but has been replaced in the modern age by television, movies and now cellphones.

Historical and romance stories including the famous “Tale of Genji” were elaborately drawn on scrolls of silk or paper, known as “emakimono,” and shown to the nobility. They are believed to be the origin of modern manga.

Story-telling then took the form of “kamishibai” or picture-story shows, popularised during the recessions of the 1920s and 1950s, offering unemployed men the means of earning a small income.

As Japan grew wealthy, kamishibai became romanticised as a relic of a time when the country enjoyed strong social cohesion despite common hardship.

Now Japan is again mired in recession, with thousands of people losing their jobs. And Rikimaru’s life is a sign of the grim reality many millions are facing.

The manga reader entertains on Saturdays and Sundays for stretches of more than five hours, which earns him around 15,000 yen (170 dollars) a day.

His limits his own spending to the cheapest eateries and shops. He lives in a tiny, mildew-stained apartment, he washes — now and then — at a coin-operated shower. He apologises for his disorderly appearance.

When he arrives at his designated street corner on his bicycle, he has a broom and a dustpan which he uses to sweep himself a patch clear of cigarette butts, fliers and other trash. He salutes his neighbour, an elderly palm reader.

Despite what appears to be a life of hardship, Rikimaru is refreshingly positive, seeing freedom where others might see destitution and despair.

“This is a life that I chose. Although I’m in a miserable situation, I have a place to live and cheap food I can eat,” he said.

“And I’m doing something that allows me to take my time, without being pushed around.”

via Tokyo (AFP), msn and google

Danny Choo from DannyChoo.com tells us his experience about the new Fiber Optic/Optic Fiber/Optic Fibre Connection he recently bought.

Some of his reasons are:

-Can physically keep our private home network separate from an externally facing server – rather not have our private stuff on the same network.

-Want to have the freedom of disconnecting our private optic fiber modem for various reasons – cleaning up, moving things around etc – cant really disconnect the line for a live server all the time.

-Save 12,000 USD per year that some of the dedicated hosting costs.

-The most important reason is so that I can learn the process of how to do all the settings involved in setting up a server at home from scratch.

Surprising (at least for me) is that the optic connection he got is at 100Mbps! A Hikari line from NTT which costs a measly 1,022 yen per month for the first year and goes up to 6,720 yen for the second year. It’s a Flets Home Type promotion that he found on kakaku.com. With that promotion, he doesn’t pay the setup fees and modem rent. Nice… Compared here in my region, 768kbps with 1.2mbpsSpeed-on-Demand costs 899 php which is about 1700 yen and installation fee is 1999 php. A 2 mbps would be a luxury here…

They remove the plate covering outlet that covers the telephone outlet and they use that tool to push through a wire that will give way for the Fiber Optic cable.

Wow, they’re so well uquipped

These boxes gives the connection to the fiber optic cables.

They provide themselves a ladder to reach the boxes. Also there’s a guy that would guide traffic. We don’t have them here, why not?

The guy prepares the fiber optic cables that will be connected to the box.

Danny’s shot from the balcony.

The cable finally reached the house and is mounted on the wall.

The guy lubricates the fiber optic wire so that it can easilly slip through the tubes leading to the phone outlets.

It’s finally here

Another guy from the other floor secures the other end of the wire.

Testing the connection.

The guy tests the connection if it’s live and ready. What? We wait here for days before we get it ready!

His PR-S300SE modem, it’s also a four port router!

The back of the modem… just to feed your curiousity

His server rack.. pretty cool huh? I wonder when am I gonna have one. It is true that Philippine lag very much in IT related bussiness, no wonder a bad economy. Note that the Filipinoes/People are good with IT it’s just the Country that isn’t.

A link to my ISP BayanDSL (note: it’s not updated), here you can see the Internet Packages they offer for Residential and Bussiness types.

You can read the full blog here at Danny’s