A Computer running XP in Japanese and English. . . Hooray!

While recovering from the snow Monkey visit (OUCH! Sore muscles!) I might as well crow a bit about a minor tech challenge victory I scored during the first week or so I was here. . . building a scrap PC, tracking down a copy of Windows XP pro, and forcing the whole setup to be bilingual Japanese + English, and legal. Wow! Yawn!

Ok. I was getting over a severe case of bronchitis/ mild case of walking pneumonia, and my friend was occupied with family matters and had no time to babysit me. When I heard her complain that her brother foisted off booking the flight of visiting relatives onto her, because his computer was too slow to do the online reservations, I though: "why not?"

Getting a "junk" PC was the easy part. The local HARD OFF used tech store had some for 6kY (appx 73CA$) but the 40gb hard drive and 256M of ram looked anemic. A night of browsing on Yahoo auctions found a nice 2.4ghz celeron Fuijitsu with no hard drive, cdrom only 512Mb ram for 1000 Y. (12.20CA$) delivery and COD brought that to 2300Y (28 CA$) Thank You and Kudos to SUPERJUNKPC who sells on Yahoo.co.jp auctions. A google search turns up that these were common office machines in JP 6 years ago, and are a plague on the land.

The hard drive, a 200GB western digital IDE came in at 1,500Y delivered. Add a keyboard used, from hard-off for 100Y (and about 1200Y worth of other stuff including blank CDs, and misc. not used) and we are ready to go. Best of all, the beast had the all-important (if you care about such things) Windows XP Pro COA / License sticker on it, meaning that it is "allowed" to have a copy of Windows on it.

.. Of which I do not have.

Time to get a bit grey market. The way I see it, software piracy is a matter of intent. Since I intend to stick XP on a machine licensed for it, no harm no foul. You think differently? You are either an ex- USA and Canadian lawyer, who has practiced copyright law in Japan, and is fully versed on current case -law, and has a lot of 2k$/hour time on your hands, or you are an ignorant greasy little net-troll who can go piss up a rope. I mod comments anyways, so no posting for either of you... Neener neener neener!

The challenge is: Get the machine all set up, but it has to be in Japanese, which I do not understand, and I have to set it up in English, which the intended user does not understand.

Step One: grab any XP Pro cd iso one can find in dark places, as long as it has SP3 slipstreamed into it. We need the SP3 because the hard drive is bigger than 120gb. Burn the iso, pop into the machine and install.

Grrrrrrr! stupid thing installed with a pie-r8 serial number/ license key!! grrrrr! Can't connect to the net like that! Find an XP key changer, use it to get the legal license key into the beast.

Step 3: Find some drivers: At least the lan driver so it can connect to the net, and the video driver. We hope the automatic driver search can find the rest. OH.. one more thing.

Grab an Anti-Virus program and get it into the machine, via usb key BEFORE hooking it to the net. AVIRA runs in japanese, is free, and doesn't steall too much processing power.

Install, reboot, install, reboot etc.. Curses to Fujitsu for not putting the sound drivers up on the net. Find some other drivers for another machine, unpack the installer with win rar, point the manual driver install at the directory one unpacked into, and yes, yes, yes, done..

Now for the Japanese part. Thank all the gods of Japan, and one demi-gawd in Redmond that this particular piece of Fujitsu office - iron came with an XP Pro sticker. XP pro is the one thing that can ran multiple languages, and in that I mean. . .

JAPANESE MENUS...

That's right, not just typing Japanese in, and seeing it in the browser, but having ALL the menus in Japanese, even the context menus and help balloons.

For this one requires the XP Pro MUI aka the Multilingual User Interface pack.

The idea was that in your office, Joe Blow logged on at the workstation at 6pm and got English, and Joe Takahashi logged in at 6am or whatever and got Japanese.

The full MUI pack is 3 CDs and hard to find, even on rapidshare (hint). You need only the one CD image (iso file) that has Japanese on it ...

Hey.. this would work for Bulgarian too, or Russian, or?

Yup, in fact the worldwide demand for local language XP installations is what helped me find this

stuff without TOO MUCH trouble.

A Usb key with the root of the CD image and the Japanese subdirectory was all I needed to install the MUI. Yup it worked fine with SP3 English in. Just for fun I ran SP3 Japanese too.

Then the MUI Japanese help file updates.

Finally, connect the the interwebs, update everything watch the Microsoft legit-check bless the beast and then switch over to Japanese.

Done!

Did I mention one needs a working machine with a cd burner, hooked to the interwebs to track all this stuff down? At least Japanese high-speed internet is very very fast - it will take longer to figure out the advantages of using google.ca instead of google.com (which will auto-forward you to google.co.jp and put EVERYTHING IN JAPANESE grrrr!!!) than it will to download your stuff.

There were a few more glitches with the hardware, of course, but that's the official way to do it.. The bios "forgetting" that the hard drive existed had nothing to do with the XP install (pull bios battery, wait, reset the bios, put the coin cell back in..)

Also stuck in CCleaner (run in Eng, then toggle over to JP, set to auto-clean at start),

and a few other tweaks and to have a serviceable light use XP machine, that wont get into too much trouble.

Hooray...

So, for all you gaijin teaching English in Japan, who want to know how to do it, and how to set your machine to be either Japanese menu or English .. Just follow these steps, and read the details on each software bundle you snag.

You can either run as one user and ride the Region and Language options tab in the Control panel, or set up two USERS, one Japanese, one English and practice using XP/JP for work.

Damn! looks like Bill got one right.. And don't mention that fashionista Jobs. . .
50$ would get you a used 2nd gen. 4Gb ipod. . .

The machine that changes history is the machine the masses can afford.

All over the world..

Monkey Onsen HAI!

http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/livecam/monkey/day0/11/main.htm

Tired as heck! More later..

WOW!

Yahoo auctions, resolved. . .

Of course, the best way to pay off a bunch of outstanding debts on Yahoo.co.jp is to find someone (like you friend’s niece) who has a Japan Post savings account and a Japanese credit card. (All hail Mayu! resolver of yahoo messes!). The aforementioned Kuroneko dodgy currency xfer method worked well too. My friend has declared an absolute moratorium on further Yahoo purchases, and as I am approaching my Air Canada luggage weight limit, I better comply. Future posts may involve “How to send big heavy parcels via Japan Post Sea Mail for $50, because I need to get that extra 10kg of STUFF home.

Meanwhile, I have been a busy gaijin! Visited Yokohama for a day! Did some shopping, was fêted and filled with Asahi’s best beeru at a cosy neighborhood eatery by my friend’s brother and generally had a BLAST. Did some computer maintenance, and tried to get my friend’s brother to hose out the power supply of his woefully underpowered pc. Left a replacement with him too - which will be the subject of a future extra special Dai-gaijin exclusive: “How to build a bilingual Engrish-Japanese XP professional pc system for under $50, using only yahoo auctions and your neighborhood Hard Off store.” STAY TUNED!

For now, getting ready for a long train trip to the legendary Monkey Hot springs near Nagano - home of the previous Winter Olympics.

http://myoko-nojiri.com/snow_monkeys/index.htm

http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/livecam/monkey/index.htm

I swear I will not jump in with the monkeys!

Japan Post is a Bank too!

Ok.. so most japanophiles know that the post offices in Japan also serve as a local savings bank.

Wow.. they do everything, including deliveries on Saturdays and Sundays!

Us furreign visitors can use our alien bank cards at their ATM’s and pull funds over into yen, and only pay a small (yes, get used to it) $4-5 fee. Savings account depositors can also transfer money by ATM or internet, to each other fee of charge - a method that is popular for paying sellers when you go nuts on Yahoo.co.jp online auctions.

As a foreign visitor, You CANNOT set up a savings account, not without the residency card, as well as your passport.

That means that when you want to transfer funds to pay off that Yahoo auction, it will run you a Y525 fee, and a personal session with a confused JP clerk, far more embarrassed about their lack of English, than you can possibly be about your lack of Japanese.

OUCH!

To get even with them, I am sending all in-japan correspondance by Kuroneko letter at 80Y ea. - Black Cat Courrier/ Transport (kuro neko = Black Cat) doesn’t freak out when your letter is a bit over the strict edo era weight limits that JP imposes. Every 5th shop in the area serves as a kuroneko dispatch, and the local Kombini (Family Mart) is open late. They will ask you whats in the letter.. you are not supposed to tap 500 +100 Y coins into a card to send to people, to pay off your Yahoo auctions. So just say “CARDO” and shrug.

Buy Online in Japan and annoy lots of people!

When we last left our hero. . .

As you read in the previous post, I am exploring the joys and sorrows of buying stuff online, while in Japan. Why Bother? I should just get out and do tourist stuff!!!! Well; my friend is preoccupied with emergency family matters, and my back is killing me. And I am still getting over that nasty case of bronchitis that almost killed my chances at a visit (Don't worry, I was loaded up with antibiotics before I left - Not contagious at all, yup!)

So time to learn to buy stuff online in Japan!

We'll start with the easiest: Amazon.co.jp and your new friend, GOOGLE CHROME.

Nice thing about Chrome, it keeps asking if you want to translate the page you are viewing.

A little auto-translation is a dangerous thing. (more on this later!!!) Fortunately, Amazon.co.jp offers its own "See this page in English" feature. A lot of stuff is sold with free shipping. And it takes Canadian credit cards! (wow! this will be a problem later, with other sites)

So Time to pick up a replacement cell phone battery for 800Y.

That was easy.

In the previous post I mentioned Rakutan, Here you get English pages that are brief machine-translated versions of the original pages. I didn't try using a Canadian credit card here - most of the stuff offers C.O.D shipping

Before you mention exchange and other fees on your credit card, let me say that fees of some kind are unavoidable. Wait until you try to change your Canadian cash at the Airport! YIKES!

Bloodsuckers!! You just have to put up with it.

So, emboldended by my Amazon and Rakutan experience, I should be ready for Yahoo Auctions, right?

HA! Behold the pit of gaijin despair! ! ! So much neat stuff, so hard to get your paws on it ! ! !

I won't even go into the hell of trying to buy stuff while OUT of Japan. Having a nice stable address in a good neighborhood is just the beginning.

Sign up, cruise some auctions, whack the TRANSLATE button often, and find that treasure you have been looking for! Well, kind of. . . First, no paypal! Something called Yahoo Settlement, also xlated as Yahoo Phlegm A good description....

Then multiple shipping options, few C.O.D options, and multiple banks to transfer to listed.

Seems that Japanese online auction folks like bank xfers!! They really, really like them. They like them better than cash! And a bank account is what YOU as a visiting furreigner aint getting!

Besides, even if you got one, the fee you pay to xfer will be between Y300 -Y550.

Unless you do it by card/ atm from Japan Post savings to Japan Post savings account, (of which you will not get, of one) (ooops there goes my syntax!)

So Time for Yahoo Phlegm!

You BID! You Win! you go to pay up! Yahoo Phlegm's nice little online form refuses to take your

damn foreign devil credit card!

OH Shit!

(continued next post.....)

Ouch! - pain relief in Japan!

Today's post is on the mundane subject of finding a bottle of ibuprohen in Japan.

HAH! good luck. I had brought some generic 400mg wall-mart caps, but with my back hurting,

my friend's back hurting from lifting mom, and her ma complaining of phantom leg pains, it became obvious that we would run out soon.

Off to the local pharmacy right?

OH CRAP! No bilingual labels here! And it looks pricey!

So back to the apartment for a net search to print out the kana for ibuprophen,

back to the pharmacy. Well; it seems that ibu is considered dangerous stuff in Japan,

and the most you can get in one pill is 150mg, plus added gunk I have never heard of,

and it is relatively expensive.

So more net searching.. Best deal: Meridon EV, which another foreigner recommends
highly - QUOTE:

"メリドンEV錠 works like a charm. It says take two, but for my monster American headaches I need about 5 or 6. Sometimes I see unicorns playing the bagpipes in my office when I'm working."

So now it is time to get some cheap, without fricking around. Fortunately we have the interwebs:

RAKUTAN, the Japanese amazon (well, there is an Amazon.jp, more on that later) has english web pages and their shops send out stuff fast, with one of the many delivery companies in Japan, for reasonable shipping and a Y315 COD fee. as my friend and I are a bit apartment-bound watching obacha this seems a great deal.. Especially since I DO NOT have to once again face the wall of incomprehensible medicines at the drug mart.

Order in the evening; morning of the day after the next it arrives. Well, they are better than nuthin, but if you are prone to aches, bring a bottle of wall-mart 400mg ibu next time you visit.

Japanese regs on over-the counter meds are legendarily strict: for instance, they really, really,

suspect pseudophedrine, and control it, and tylenols 2's like the stuff was a gateway drug to needle park.

But there are cheaper ways to kill pain in Japan.. A visit to the OK discount center

yields:

Mmmm... iodine flavoured salaryman rotgut whiskey,

Y685 incl. tax ! That's a regular sized bottle, not a mickey!

And to chase it down, so called "class2" discount beer:

Y489 icl tax per 6-pack..

It says SUPER FINE, in English no less, so it must be good

(well it is better than american beer, at least)

This is better than Kentucky!

The good news is that next morning, you can down a litre carton

of fresh carrot-veggie-fruit juice mix for Y110, fresh at the local

discount grocery store. %5 discount if it sits for a day on the shelf!!!

No unicorns yet.. darn. . .

One more thing...

Yoshida Sensei is still right down the street at his Acupuncture and bone-setting clinic.

And, he is still giving me the gaijin discount (or perhaps those are his regular low-low-prices???)

One hour of heat packs, acupuncture needles, and Electro-muscle zapping, and I feel tired , but a lot better. I am still too much of a wimp to try moxa, so he tapes me up, like an athlete!

Dr Yoshida is the best!

Must avoid booze afterward though - it makes the inflammation worse.

He's Baaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Well, as promised, I have made it back to Japan.

I have been here a little more than 1 week, and have managed a few interesting trips and activities.

As usual, i am most interested in day-to-day stuff, as opposed to big, expensive tourist attractions - which I cannot afford in any case.

So far:

How to buy ibuprophen in Japan.

More fun with cell phones.

Hunting Bandai kaiju figurines.

Buying stuff on rakutan, Yahoo.jp and Amazon.jp

Visiting the old haunts, and a few new:
Hard-Off, Katstudai, Yukarigaoka, and BEAR CROSS!

Bicycle maintenance

and

SUMO!

As well as...

Care for Okasa-san, and comfy low chairs

and

It might be warmer, but it is still WINTER here..

Let's start at the beginning:

After a long long Air Canada flight from Toronto to Narita Airport,

I get to deal with a few surprises.. The first is the guy in the blazer with

a radio and what looks like airport badge who is escorting me through baggage retrieval,

customs and immigration. He was waiting right off the plane ramp wit a sign, with my name on it.

I assumed that my friend had arranged for him. When I cleared everything, and got out of the gate, No Friend waiting.. So off to Information, where I got directions for the Softbank cell phone booth, the money exchange, and some information about my escort. Turns out he was a free service, because I had registered for assistance when I boarded my first connector flight to Toronto. The registration did NOT get me a better seat for free on the 13 hour plane to japan -no free seats, jammed with philipino travelers returning home, but it got me a free escort at Narita, and help with my bags. Thank You Narita..

More on Air Canada hatred later.. But first: You Bastatrds! You keep sending me emails with %20 discount codes AFTER I have booked my flight.. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Back at Narita.. Currency exchange; don't do it at the airport. Your bank can't be any worse.

CA$ 40 became 2,990 Y . At current rates, their squeeze was %6 more than it should be.. Booo! HISSS!

Meanwhile at the Softbank counter, my prepaid sim from last time had run out, so it was another 3,000Y for a new sim and 3,000Y of minutes (90Yper.. a bit expensive, but deal with it..)

45 minutes later and a new sim and number, and I am connected. I will later find out that some phones and sim cards got swapped around and now I have 2 Softbank phones with phone numbers, so no biggie.. BONUS: the Narita Airport softbank booth took my Canadian credit card, so 3KY=appx CA$37

In the meantime, I had called my friend and found that she could not come to the airport to meet me. She was suddenly sole caregiver to her slightly demented mom, 86 years old, getting over a hairline pelvic fracture, so no time to escort me around. Thats fine, I know how to get to her place.

As usual, the subways/train were superb and easy to manage, except for the last stop, when I got help pulling my bags off the train, across a gap, onto the platform and lost my shoe in the gap.

The helpful salaryman wanted to STOP THE TRAIN.. No way... never stop the train in Japan, at least for anything short of life and limb! My cane easily snagged the shoe seconds after the train left. Score one for silly gaijin tricks.

5 minutes later, I was at my friend's apartment. Hooray!

The next day I pick up a few electric heaters and a padded indoor jacket (hanten) from the local home center. When it is sunny outside, the temperature in Chiba can often get above 45F, but at night, it drops down to a few degrees above freezing. Japanese houses and apartments do not have central heating, or double-pane windows, and custom dictates sweaters and chilly living areas, except perhaps for the kitchen /living room where everyone hangs out. With granny in one room, other relatives on the way, it was time for more heaters.

There goes the utility bill this month!

Next Post.. Granny furniture, fast...