Yokohama Landmark Tower: constructed from 1990 to 1993

Here are the photos. Enjoy!

The Bay area: The Ferris wheel and the InterContinental Yokohama Grand

The Yokohama Bay Bridge

A closer view of the Yokohama Bay Bridge

Buildings in the upper area- Yokohama

Still in Minato Mirai - I like taking a walk in this area

Buildings close to Sakuragicho Station

Some skyscrapers in the area

JICA Centre (red building) on the right; Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse (tow red buildings close to the top)

Some parking space in the area - They are so expensive

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For in stance, in Kanagawa prefecture, one can apply for prefectural housing after staying in the prefecture for a minimum of 6 months. The prefecture’s housing office receives applications for vacant houses twice a year – in May and November.

The monthly rent for these houses is very low because they are greatly subsidized by government. As a result, competition for these houses is severe. But one loses nothing just by trying.

Having moved from Tokyo to Yamato city, Kanagawa prefecture in February last year, I was not eligible for the May 2009 application round, so I had to wait for November.

When November finally came, I collected the application documents from Yamato city office. My good friend from church, Keiko Momose, and my lab mates, Momoko Matsushita and  Kazushi Okamoto helped me to fill the forms.

Five weeks after posting the forms, I received a letter from the prefectural housing office notifying me that there were many suitable applicants for the houses such that the winners were going to be determined through a lottery.

By God’s grace, I emerged as one of the winners. But that was not the end of the story. They asked me to submit many documents, some of which include copies of national health insurance for all my family members, tax information, statement of my annual income and a certificate from my guarantor.

I was asked to bring all required documents to the Kanagawa prefectural housing office where they also interviewed me to confirm if I really deserved to stay in a government house. The interview was in Japanese. And everything was fine.

Three weeks later, they sent me another letter notifying me that I had been granted a government house. I had to go for orientation and I was expected to move to the new house on 1 April, 2010. I, however, moved in on 10 April, 2010.

I am very grateful to Mr. Takeishi and his wife, friends from church, who allowed me to use their car for moving. I am also very grateful to Mr. Mukaigawa, also from church, who was driving the car on this day. Now, I am settled in the new home. The monthly rent has gone down drastically.

The May application window for Kanagawa prefecture houses  is now open. If you are have stayed in Kanagawa prefecture for more than six month and you are interested, I encourage you to apply for these houses. You can collect the application documents and guidelines from your ward office.

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The whole email reads as follows:

Hello Clement Nyirenda,

Thank you for being a valued PayPal user.

We wish to inform you that effective 31 March 2010, you will not be able to send funds using the “Send Money” function for non-commercial transactions only, until further notice.

The changes to our personal payment services are necessary in order for us to comply with new regulatory requirements in Japan. This does not affect anyone outside of Japan sending money to any Japanese residents.

Please note that you will also continue to be able to shop online and use the PayPal services for the payment of goods and services as you normally would.

This restriction of services only applies to non-commercial transactions such as the sending of money to a family member for living allowance.

We deeply regret any inconvenience this temporary restriction of service may cause you.

We will update you as to when our personal payment services will be available again.

We thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely yours

PayPal

I used this facility a few weeks ago to send some 3000 Yen to a friend, based in Yokohama, who wanted to buy some VoIP credit and he paid me back in cash. He does not have his own credit card as yet. I guess the discontinuation of this service will force him to apply for his own credit card.


In light of these changes, I have a few questions. If I use the option for non-commercial transactions to send money to a friend or a relative, will the system be able to detect it? And why does the Japanese government still allow personal payments from abroad? Isn’t this a way of preventing the Yens from leaving Japan while at the same time ensuring that the country continues to receive money from abroad?

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Earlier today, APPLIYA Studio announced an upgraded version of their online iPhone App publication tool, the iPhoneAppBuilder. This web-based system that allows anyone to make an engaging iPhone app utilizing images from their Flickr account or straight from their computer.

Content creators such as illustrators, musicians, writers, photographers, etc. with great content but inadequate programming skills can now build their own iPhone apps without engaging the services of accomplished developers.

For a limited time, all users can create their own app for free. Also, customers that submit an app will be automatically entered into a contest running from February 22, 2010 to March 22,2010. The owner of the top-selling iPhoneAppBuilder app in that time frame will win $1000.

With the iPhoneAppBuilder, you can do the following:

1. Build your app for free (no charges of any kind, no strings attached).

2. Receive royalties on sales from the app store.

3. Avail yourself the possibility for additional revenue through advertising in your app.

4. Build a variety of fun and useful apps including clocks, calendars, image viewers, slide puzzles, and Appliya’s unique “Pictter” app that combines user images with Twitter posts.

You can get started with Appliya Studio AppBuilder and have your own iPhone app built in minutes. Here is the tutorial video:

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With the support of Akitoshi Nomoto and Kiyoshi Chikaoka, Mori organized a welcome dinner for me soon after my arrival in Tokyo. Since then, he has taken me to several exciting places. Last week he took me to Yokohama Bayside Marina for boat cruising. This marina is said to be the largest marina not only in Japan but in all of Asia. The weather was very fine on that day. Chikaoka joined us, making a crew of three.

We left Yokohama Bayside Marina at 10:15. We stopped briefly at Negishi Bay, where Chikaoka demonstrated his fishing skills by catching three saba fish. From there, we cruised on to Minato Mirai where we had lunch. We returned to Yokohama Bayside Marina just after 15:30. Here some of the photos from that day:

Chatting with Mori at Yokohama Bayside Marina before ddeparture

Getting on board

With this one I am safe even though I am not a good swimmer

Here we go!

Fishing at Negishi Bay

Yokohama Bay Bridge

Under the Yokohama Bay Bridge

A ship setting out for a long journey

Getting closer to Minato Mirai - You can see Japan's tallest building, Landmark Tower

Stopping at Yokohama Bay - its time for lunch

On our way back to Yokohama Bayside Marina

Still on our way back to Yokohama Bayside Marina

Refueling before we give back the boat - There is a filling station for boats at the Yokohama Bayside Marina

This is the filling station

The officials at Yokohama Bayside Marina are checking if the boat has arrived in good condition

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Apart from the Malawi group, there were two other groups from Zanzibar and Sudan respectively. Here are some of the photos which were taken at the event:

Mina learning how to cook Nsima

Mina continues to learn how to cook Nsima

Nsima is ready

Mr Honda ate Nsima for the very first time

Preparing beef (nyama ya ng'ombe) in the Malawian way

Nyama ya ng'mbe too is ready

Listening to speeches

Chatting with Mr Mori

Relaxing

Time for some music

Music continues

You may also wish to take a look at the photos of the 2009 Tokyo Bay Fireworks which we watched in the same month of August 2009.

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Tokyo Bay Fireworks 2009 (From Japantoday)

Eating at Soni Youn's work place, Next, in Triton Square, Chuo Ward, Tokyo

The Japanese people like wearing their kimono when going at events like these

Kids also had a great time

Group photo, Can you see us?

With the Takedas at NEXT, Triton Square, Chuo Ward, Tokyo

There were more than 12,000 fireworks. While we were enjoying the fireworks from Soni’s workplace, more than 700,000 spectators were packed at different vantage spots in Tsukiji, Harumi, Odaiba and other areas in the Chuo Ward of Tokyo for the 80-minute extravaganza. Here are some of the photos from the day.

Tokyo Bay Fireworks from the 15th Floor of one of the buildings on Triton Square

Tokyo Bay Fireworks 2009 #2

Tokyo Bay Fireworks 2009 #3

Tokyo Bay Fireworks 2009 #4

Tokyo Bay Fireworks 2009 #5

Tokyo Bay Fireworks 2009 #6

Tokyo Bay Fireworks 2009 #7

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I applied for this allowance for my two kids some three months ago. I faced a few problems along the way because I am new here in Yamato. At some point, I started thinking that it was never going to work. But at the end of the day, my kids were certified as recipients for the allowance. I have since received one payment; my life has been made easy. Beside that, the correspondence that ensued with the City office taught me the following Japanese words:

1. jidouteate  (じどうてあて [児童手当] ) - Child allowance
2. shotokushoumeishou  (しょとくしょうめいしょ [所得証明書] ) – Certificate of earnings. This is necessary so that the City Office can establish whether your income is less than the recommended threshold.
3. inkan  (いんかん [印鑑] ) – Seal. Every Japanese person has his own seal. But gaijins like me are allowed to use our signature.
4. genkyou  (げんきょう[現況] ) – Present condition.
5. todoke (とどけ[届] ) – Notification/report.
6. tetsuzuki (てつづき[手続き] ) – Processing.

You can also take a look at the words that I learnt as I was searching for an apratment.

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The maximum time of the total eclipse will be 6 minutes and 39 seconds in Southern Japan. It will remain the longest till July 13, 2132. In Japan, folks living on the Southern islands of Yaku, Amami and Akiseki will see the total eclipse for a duration of about 6 mins at 11:00. In Tokyo, we will enjoy a partial eclipse of about 70% which will start at 09:55 and be at peak at about 11:12. If you are living in Sendai, Sapporo, Kyoto etc., you may wish to take a look at the image below for more information about the partial eclipse in your location.

Solar eclipse in Japan

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Here are some photos from the FSS2009 in Tsukuba.

With Professor Sugeno

Lunch time

Clement, Prof Fangyan Dong, Prof Michio Sugeno

On the other side of the table: Thet Oohan (Masters Student from Myanmar); Adam Pedrycz (PhD student from Canada); Prof Kaoru Hirota (Our supervisor)

Thet Oohan replaced by Phuc Le Quang (PhD student for Vietnam)

My chopstick skills are getting better and better

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