JJNN Friday: Technology - 01

Welcome again to JJNN for Friday July 11th, 2008. Today is technology day.

There is nothing more exciting for most Japanese people that the start of sales for a new piece of technology. It just so happens that today is the first day that the iPhone goes on sale in Japan. You can see some stories about it here and here.

I think that everyone that reads this probably knows what an iPhone is, but just in case I want to talk about that a little bit. The iPhone is a cell phone that went on sale in the states on June 29th of last year. Another version of the iPhone that is called iPhone 3G (3rd generation of cell phones) was released today in the states. That same cell phone is the one that went on sale in Japan and 19 other countries.

Let's get right to the price. A 8Gb iPhone will set you back 23040 yen while the 16Gb version will set you back 34560 yen. I guess all in all it is not a bad price. I mean it can be used to hold all your music and some other files. I don't see any real reason to get the 16Gb version unless you are into music. I guess all this talk of music makes it seem that the iPhone can only be used for music, but don't forget this is a phone (as well as an internet browser, a map, a contact list, a calendar and the like). The monthly fee for the basic plan for phone use is 7280 yen.

The phones started to go on sale at noon, but there were people waiting in line from at least 7 in the morning in places like Sapporo. In Yuraku-cho in Tokyo there was a countdown ceremony. A picture from the ceremony is below.



The lady on the right is named Ueto Aya. She is one of my favorite actresses. Maybe I will be getting myself an iPhone after all (I don't think I will really get one, but it looks nice).

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 携帯(けいたい). It is pronounced keitai and means cell phone or anything else that you can carry around. The Japanese love to shorten words. The actually word for cell phone is keitai denwa, but everyone just calls it a keitai. I guess simple is best.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN 18 June 8th, 2008

Welcome again to JJNN for Sunday June 8th, 2008. Today was a slow news day. I will do a story from the city I live in.

I live in a city called Nagaoka in Niigata prefecture in Japan. Nagaoka is not a big city, so it doesn't really make it into the news that much. This is why I want to do this news story.

The basic jist of the story is that on Friday afternoon the police found 3 people dead in a tent. Yeah, I know...this is not a cheerful story, but it is close to home. So, you would probably think that all 3 of these people were from the area and died in some freak accident, right? Nope. It was a person from Kanagawa, a person from Nagano, and a person from Tokyo. Those are places that are far away from Niigata.

You might be asking yourself what connects these people. Well the only connection is that they all wanted to die. Yeah, that's right. In Japan there are freaky websites where people of like mind about dieing can get together. What happens is they start talking about committing suicide and they choose a place and a means.

In this case the 3 people used cleaning products to create hydrogen sulfide gas. Not a nice way to go, but it does get the job done. The 3 people did not leave any notes, except one on the tent flap that said "Poison gas, do no open." How nice of them to warn people.

This is the thing that gets me. When I think of suicide I think of a person going somewhere to be alone and doing what he/she thinks they need to do to get the job done. But, in Japan you see cases of this type of suicide from time to time. I guess they just need strength in numbers. They don't have what it takes to do the job by themselves so they need to do it with other people.

Well that was depressing. On the bright side, the iphone is making its way to Japan soon. Softbank is going to pick it up and sell it for maybe 40000 yen. I really want to get one of these phones, but I don't see it happening. I got a ipod touch (which is basically an iphone without the phone part) and it is already falling apart. I am not happy with apple. But, maybe my next computer will be an apple...let's see.

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is　硫化水素(りゅうかすいそ). It is pronounced ryuuka suiso and means hydrogen sulfide. hydrogen sulfide is H2S. It is also has the smell of rotten eggs. Yep, the last smell those people smelled on earth was that of a fart. What a terrible way to go.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.