Josh in Japan

10 Responses to “file server down”

1. Jim says:
   September 20th, 2005 at 8:23 am

   Hi Josh:
   Great idea you have come up with here.
   Congratulations on your new addition as well.

   One minor quibble/suggestion:

   First: a techy thing: You need to level out your Letterman sound clips: they are noticably louder than your presentation. Its not ear shattering: but its noticable especially if you are wearing headphones like I do when i listen to you.

   Second: I thought it was really brave of you to note that your Japanese pronounciation needs
   work. Mine was really bad in the beginning and
   got better over time; so yours will too if you
   keep at it. You are getting better at pronouncing Aki ha bara too..

   Some interesting tidbits that you may or may not be aware of:

   Japanese homonyms:

   It gets even more interesting when
   you learn of the words in Japanese that sound
   indentical to our ears but have quite different
   meanings.

   hashi (chopsticks) vs hashii (bridge)
   byouin ( beauty shop) vs byoin clinic/hospital

   There are also Japanese versions tongue twisters too ..

   Here is something you might not know: there is even Japanese internet slang!
   For example 39 means Thank you from
   3=san
   9=kyuu

   Your wife also has a nice site.. cute baby picture too..
   Regards
   Jim

2. dave says:
   September 20th, 2005 at 10:17 am

   the latest podcast is extremely large (86.1MB), compared to an average of 20-somethingMB. Maybe that explains yr problem

3. Josh says:
   September 20th, 2005 at 1:02 pm

   dave,

   no offense, but if you read my post, you would know that the size of my file had absolutely nothing to do with their entire rack of servers crashing……

   and thanks for the comments jim! many of that stuff I knew, but the letterman clips i was unaware the levels were bad. now that i am getting a feel for my new audio program, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem thanks!

4. dave says:
   September 21st, 2005 at 7:53 am

   “no offense, but if you read my post, you would know that the size of my file had absolutely nothing to do with their entire rack of servers crashing…”
   maybe not, but i’ve attempted to download the podcast about 5 times now. iTunes gives up after half of it has downloaded (about 40 MB). So you’re usual size (20 odd MB) would have been downloaded a long time ago. Instead, I haven’t yet downloaded it, and your bandwith is being used up for no purpose.

5. Jim says:
   September 21st, 2005 at 8:21 am

   It’s alright: I wasn’t quite sure of your exposure level to the Japanese language vs Japan itself. As you already know, getting your language skills improved always helps;
   even if the wife speaks english.

   I have made plenty of gaffs along the way and have more to go.
   My own personal major flubb was using shojo instead of shoujo in the middle of a Japanese class to a female sensei too.
   A gaijin friend of mine lives in Kamakura and says its really nice. Most of the other people I know are in Tokyo.

6. miguel says:
   September 21st, 2005 at 12:16 pm

   Hi!! let me tell you I really enjoy your podcast. However, your comment about Christmas in Japan was totally analyzed from the wrong point of view. It is so typical of us westerners to criticize non-Christian societies. Of course Japanese don’t think of the nativity. It is just an imported Holyday the same way Halloween or San Patrick’s day is in America. People don’t think of Halloween as a pagan festivity where peasants repel daemons and sacrificed animals. People don’t see San Patrick’s day as a day to celebrate Ireland and his struggle for independence like the Irish see it. Obviously, you as a Christian have a different point of view, however, since Christmas is all about love and caring, when was the last time you feed the homeless or helped the poor. You see is the same thing, everything is stripped of his real meaning and transformed into a money making machine.
   Also about suicide, is part of the Japanese culture. We westerners don’t understand it since our religion condemns it. The same way we don’t understand suicide bombers. I’m not justifying anything is just different point of looking at the world. Moreover, they hold very dear the idea of honor. It is common to find suicide mothers with their child as well. The government of Japan is so aware of this fact, that when a family member commits suicide, the family is liable for any clean up or damage to property. Actually, the government is more concern about damage to train track and delays on the transportation system that the deaths. I saw this in segment in the channel Current from Goggle.

   Thank you, just a little disagreement that is all. I’m a loyal listener bye

7. Josh says:
   September 21st, 2005 at 9:30 pm

   dave,

   you are the only one who has brought this to my attention. i’m sorry if you feel the show is excessively big. that’s the price you pay when you listen to josh in japan. i fill your mind, and your hard drive…..

8. Josh says:
   September 21st, 2005 at 9:54 pm

   miguel,

   first let me say thank you for listening. now…..

   my point of view, albeit wrong in your eyes, is just that, my point of view. i focus my show on what it is like to live in japan for the typical gaijin. i know that many many people would find my point of view to be similar to their own when it comes to this issue….

   bringing examples of other holidays into this isn’t helping your cause. i am aware of the origins of both st. patty’s day and halloween. i never said that as americans we should not celebrate these holidays in their intended form. nor did i say that japanese people shouldn’t celebrate Christmas. i just mentioned very stongly how i do not agree with it.

   attempting to attack me personally by asking…

   “when was the last time you feed the homeless or helped the poor.”

   just aggrivates me all to hell! why does anyone have to publicize what they do to help those in need? when did it become mandatory to make your actions public, when instead you aren’t in it help those less fortunate, but just to make yourself look good. that my friend was a baseless attack and truely disrepectful.

   and as for your comments on suicide…..

   i was not discussing the sepuku (honorable death) as you thought i was. i was discussing the growing trend of teenagers and folks in their twenties meeting up on suicide internet forums and groups then meeting up and CO2ing themselves to death because they are all a bunch of depressed people.

   mothers commiting suicide after the death of their child is common because the mother/child bond you find here in japan is very very strong.

   and what about the government being more concerned with rail delays than suicides? i would suspect that this is true, but what does that have to do with the conversation at hand?

9. Ron Albanese says:
   September 23rd, 2005 at 2:38 am

   Hey, Josh — LOVED the capsule episode! As I had mentioned about a month ago, I download some of your earlier vintage (ha ha) podcasts when I drove from NJ to Tennessee … Josh in Japan along the highways of the USA! It was great … the latest episode is slick, entertaining, and informative as usual. I relistened to some of it while looking at the pix on your site! I think your episode lengths are fine, btw …

   These capsules are weird and sooo Japan to me!

   Sorry about the tattoo!

   Ron

10. frank says:
    September 28th, 2005 at 7:00 pm

    Hello;
    I enjoy your podcast very much as I am a frequent traveler to Japan. I enjoy visiting Akihabara no so much for the games or the otaku culture but to see all the neat japanese appliances such as the fridges, washers and dryers, etc. On weekends they close the main dori to traffic and that makes for a more enjoyable visit.

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