Keitai Lifestyle

[Steve Bildermann]

There is an interesting article on the Keitai lifestyle in Japan Media Review.

http://www.ojr.org/japan/wireless/1043770650.php

It is being discussed on /. @ http://slashdot.org/articles/03/03/08/1738254.shtml?tid=100

The /. discussion veers from the usual extreme geek thinking through

I know everything about Japan because I read manga a lot and like anime

to some very insightful comments.

I wonder how many FG contribute to /. (they are in sore need of some real world info on Japan)

or are we all just too jaded by it all

[GuyJean]

or are we all just too jaded by it all

Probably. At times, I find myself too bitter towards Japan. I just found out that parents have to PAY for their kids to go to public high school!! Um, what do we pay taxes for again?..

The article makes keitais sound so convenient and time-saving. I tend not to agree. I think people are more often late BECAUSE they have a cell phone. Why show up on time, when you can just call and tell your friend you'll be late?

Instead of making the daily schedule in the morning and sticking with it, people meander through the day.. I think they're LESS convenient in daily use. Emergencies are another matter..

just a thought.

GJ

[Taro Toporific]

or are we all just too jaded by it all

I think they're LESS convenient in daily use. Emergencies are another matter..

I don't carry a cell phone---I just borrow one from everyone. I am sure I'll kick myself for NEVER using my office's and household's keitai someday soon when the Big One hits...

Dan Gillmor: The next time there is a major earthquake in Japan, it will be photographed and distributed way ahead of the rest of the press. Then journalists will say "holy shit, this is something new."

[Taro Toporific]

. Emergencies are another matter..

just a thought.

Yokohama Urban Smart Mob
This rather uninteresting page is the sign up for the "Yokohama City disaster prevention information mailing list".
Several times a day the city sends out weather information and occasional special weather warnings....

http://www.city.yokohama.jp/me/bousai/eq/dpi-net.html

[GomiGirl]

Personally I love keitais - sure I am surrounded by them daily but I love to check out new features on new phones, new content sites etc etc. I am able to check the news, FG, my mail, my diary/schedule (from my desktop iCal), train timetables, maps, weather, google anything... but it is up to me to keep my schedule and appointments..

But what I think that is amusing is the /. comments from people who think the phones are evil and disturbing the peace. They are machines and if people are being flakey then blame the people and not their keitais.

I have had a mobile phone in various forms since I finished uni.. at that time, a mobile phone was considered really "wankerish" in Australia 10 years ago.. I used to go into bathrooms and alike to make phone calls or hide in the back of quiet coffee shops.

What there needs to be is some ettiquette.. If your friends are consistently late and using the phones to update you on where they are.. turn the phone off and don't wait longer than 20 minutes... or send them an email to say that you have waited long enough and are moving on to the next venue.. trust me they will only be late once or twice and they will get the message that not respecting your time is unacceptable...

[Taro Toporific]

If your friends are consistently late and using the phones to update you on where they are.. turn the phone off and don't wait longer than 20 minutes... or send them an email to say that you have waited long enough and are moving on to the next venue.. trust me they will only be late once or twice and they will get the message that not respecting your time is unacceptable...

Damn good advice, as always, GG.

My strangest nama-gaijin-in-Japan moment involved meeting a chronically late Japanese girl at Hachiko for a date...
... Arriving 45 minutes late, she squealed, "Oneigai . . . I'm LOOSE! I'll make it up to you."

I thought I had hit the jackpot on the first date until I learned that "LOOSEsu" in Katakana Japanese means "loose with time", not with morals.

[GuyJean]

They are machines and if people are being flakey then blame the people and not their keitais.

I totally understand, and partially agree, but where do you stand on gun control? "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."

I think the keitai facilitates an already flakey character.

Ironically, I forgot my cell phone this morning. It was one of my most stress-free days in Japan!.. But I missed it.

GJ

[GomiGirl]

They are machines and if people are being flakey then blame the people and not their keitais.

I totally understand, and partially agree, but where do you stand on gun control? "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."

I think the keitai facilitates an already flakey character.

Funny you should ask abou gun control as I thought I sounded like the NRA when I was typing the original post..

You are right that the keitai facilitaes an already flakey character - but flakey characters are not as dangerous as homocidic (spelling) tendencies.... so I definitely don't think the same freedom should apply to the use of guns...

[GuyJean]

but flakey characters are not as dangerous as homocidic (spelling) tendencies....

Yeah, those gays can be dangerous
Actually, maybe it's the flakes of the world that help perpetuate homicidal tendencies?

Anyway..

so I definitely don't think the same freedom should apply to the use of guns...

Basically, I agree..

Hey! I think we just invented the 'Gunwa'!.. Pistol + Cellphone.. Shoot somebody, and it auto-dials 911..

I'd hate to have it go off accidentally while chatting with a friend.

GJ

[GomiGirl]

Hey! I think we just invented the 'Gunwa'!.. Pistol + Cellphone.. Shoot somebody, and it auto-dials 911..

Good for stalkers or chikans.. perhaps a mace option as well.. could do a whole combo deal like the one in "The Fifth Element"..

[GomiGirl]

but flakey characters are not as dangerous as homocidic (spelling) tendencies....

Yeah, those gays can be dangerous
Actually, maybe it's the flakes of the world that help perpetuate homicidal tendencies?

Had an English block.. doncha just hate that???

[GuyJean]

Had an English block.. doncha just hate that???

Yeah, specially when I teach English part-time!! I love it when the student corrects my spelling. I always say something witty like, "I teach conversational English. Not the tricky stuff."

My friend made me feel better the other day by telling me that bad spelling is a sign of high intelligence.. No room in there for the little things, I guess.

GJ

[Steve Bildermann]

bad spelling is a sign of high intelligence..

Me know gammar. Me cood use it gud.

[GuyJean]

Me know gammar. Me cood use it gud.

Hey!. You spelled 'know' correctly, dumbass!

GJ

[Steve Bildermann]

So that's *how* you spell it? Just a lucky guess

Anyway gotta go, Mensa meeting tonight

Gudby

[GuyJean]

Anyway gotta go, Mensa meeting tonight

Sea ewe their!

GJ

[GomiGirl]

Anyway gotta go, Mensa meeting tonight

Sea ewe their!

GJ

yea. me 2.. i'l b tha 1 in tha polleece ewenifom..

[Steve Bildermann]

Mirror, mirror in my phone
In a flash of brilliance, Sanyo has fused the three must haves of fashion-conscious high school girls into one product. The JSAO5 is a combination cell phone, mirror and digital camera.

http://metropolis.japantoday.com/tokyo/recent/tech.asp

Forget the nobel prize, the person who thought of those putting those three together in a Keitai deserves an award for services to all j-babe-kind.