Happy Lunar New Year one and all! As mentioned previously, I now upload my Japan photos onto Webshots. Here's a summary of the albums' contents for 2008:

1. Imperial Birthday 2008[天皇誕生日2008]

2. Christmas Illuminations 2008

• Shinjuku Terrace City Illumination 2008 [新宿テラスシティイルミネーション2008]
• Midtown Christmas 2008 Illumination) [ミッドタウンクリスマス2008イルミネーション]
• Ikebukuro Christmas Illumination [池袋クリスマスイルミネーッション]
• Shinjuku Southern Lights [SHINJUKUサザンライツ2008-2009]
• Roppongi Hills Artelligent Christmas 2008 [六本木ヒルズArtelligent Christmas 2008]
• Tokyo Bright Christmas 2008
• Shibuya [渋谷]
• LIGHTOPIA 2008 [光都東京2008]
• Narita Airport Terminal 2 [成田空港第2ビル]

3. Autumn 2008

• Koganei Park [小金井公園]
• Rikugi-en Gardens [六義園]
• Mohri Garden [毛利庭園]
• Tonogayato-teien Garden [殿ヶ谷戸庭園]
  

4. Hanazono-jinja, Bird Day [花園神社、酉の市]

5. Koganei Candle Night [黄金井11万人のキャンドルナイト]

6. 20th Tokyo Historical Festival [20回東京時代まつり]

7. 41st Koganei Gathering Under the Moon
    [第41回小金井お見月のつどい]

8. 25th Kokubunji Festival [25回国分寺まつり]

9. Shinagawa Shukuba Matsuri 2008 [しながわ宿場まつり2008]

A couple of weeks ago the German publisher VDM asked if I would like to see my honors thesis in print, and after updating it a bit (yeah, there needed to be some changes to reflect my current understanding of the topic covered within), my new shiny monograph is now available on Amazon.com! It's titled, Online Data Protection in Japan: Studied Nonobservance as an Impediment towards Effective Privacy Legislation. The book basically argues that self-regulation will never truly be effective as a means of protecting online privacy in Japan because of studied nonobservance. A summary of its contents are as follows:

"Until recently, the rapid growth of the Japanese e-commerce industry was not paralleled with an increase in privacy legislation to safeguard online personal information. The Japanese bureaucracy attempted to fill this vacuum by releasing self-regulatory guidelines that were originally promulgated in the United States. However, the results of a content analysis showed that in spite of this, Japanese Web sites still lagged far behind their American counterparts in the development of effective privacy policies. The author posits that the ineffectual emulation of American made guidelines was due to the varying cultural standards that are found in both countries. In particular, an attempt will be made to focus on the role of studied nonobservance as a direct impediment towards the development of effective privacy legislation in Japan. With the conduct of e-commerce being trans-boundary and the Japanese people pressing for stronger judicial enforcement, it is perhaps time for industry and government leaders in Japan to rethink their strategy of enacting privacy protection safeguards based on traditional Japanese culture."

So pick up a copy today! (If I know you personally, do contact me for a discounted price).

Well, there are a couple of models falling down on the Web, but this one has got to take the cake, a true evergreen to get you up when you're down. The fall itself is bone-tickling enough, with the model doing a Tokyo shuffle before she goes down (yeah, you gotta see this one). But what makes it even more funny is the fact that the anchors are all just tickled to senseless guffawing, and as they say, laughter is contagious. But the best bit must be how the editor, evil as he/she may be, repeatedly replays the clip using different edits, which just makes the Tokyo shuffle all the more hilarious. Enjoy!