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September 01 2nd Update on Readings and Project ScheduleFor those of you who attended the lectures, this post is probably superfluous I guess, but I thought it important enough to also put it in writing here. (i) Reading List (ii) Project Timeline August 29 Update on Reading Schedule and Project TimelineHi guys, Wk 1 - Intro So basically, you should have read these 3 chapters by this week's end. By the way, TIME Magazine this week has a feature on Viking's market positioning in the U.S. This might be an interesting case study for you to put everything we've learnt so far in context. I think the link to the article will only last 2 weeks, so do head over quickly if you're interested. See you all tomorrow then! August 28 Questions on budget and the use of more than one advertising mediumThese 2 questions have been raised by some students, and I would like to address them here. (i) Budget August 27 Importance of Team HarmonyAs this module places a lot of emphasis on your ability to work as a team, I thought that the following guidelines that I got from McGraw Hill might come in handy. Working well in a team is not intuitive, and does not come naturally to most of us, so always remember the following: • Listen while others are speaking. My Timetable for this semesterPlease refer to the following table when scheduling appointments. Preferred method of communication is via email. And, please do remember to indicate NM3215 in your email subject as well. August 26 Closing Out the Memories of 2007 in Japan...Finally, I have put up the concluding segment to my Japan 2007 extravaganza. And what a trip this was. For some reason, I very easily found myself absorbed into Japan this time round, so much so that I felt forcibly wrenched away when I had to leave. The country has never served as a greater harbor of solace than this time, and I hope this is merely a preamble to future experiences that I will have in this wonderful country. :)
August 25 Japan 2003 Travel BreakdownI'm still working on some timing and music issues with the second half of my 2007 slideshow, so only the beta version is up at the moment. In the meantime, here is the breakdown of where I went to in 2003:
August 22 Japan 2006 Trip Listing
Tokyo [東京] Japan 2007 Part 1After weathering tons of technical and aesthetic problems, the slideshow documenting the first half of my 2007 Japan trip is up. It runs for about 36 minutes, so if you break, remember where you left off to jump right back in. As the following list details, I was really out and about this time round. Didn't actually realize this when I was there though...guess I was having too much fun. :)
August 19 Detailed "Places Visited" ListIt occurred to me that it would be difficult for people to quickly figure out exactly where I've been from just the travel route and the slideshow. This has prompted me to begin a more extensive list on each slideshow page of the (mostly) temples, shrines, and museums that were a part of my jaunts out into the Japanese wilderness. The easiest for me to do were the 2004 sets, which is why they have been updated first. I was actually surprised to realize that my pictures of Ise Shrine were so limited! There was only the Naiku, and I hadn't even posted any shots of the main hall! Hmm, I must have been thinking of integrating that together with the 2004/2005 shots of Ise, when I spent the New Year there on my own hatsumode. Well, when I get around to doing it anyway. In the meantime, here are the breakdowns of my 2004a trip in the Kansai and Kanto regions:
and 2004b that was centered in Wakayama Prefecture (the map doesn't actually detail Minabe and Kainan because there were stops on the way to the Nanba area in Osaka from Kushimoto):
August 15 Critique of a Typical Article on Japan in the Straits TimesI have decided to create a new category on my blog titled "Japan." The reason is because I've thus far tied all my ramblings on Japan in my "Multimedia" category, which made sense when I was referring to a slideshow of what I was saying, but becomes disambiguated when I am talking about Japan in general, which is what I am going to do here. Today, 14 August 2007, there was a Life!Travel article on Japan that I feel is endemic about many people who try to write about Japan - they know too little about the place to even begin to describe it. I mean seriously, the reporter couldn't even speak Japanese! It reminds me of how Today likes to use its Senior Chinese Correspondents to critique Japan, and which contain tons of mistakes that stem from the fact that these people are working from translations. It's just like the Abe statement on comfort women. According to a scholarly forum that I subscribe too, he never actually said that there was no evidence to prove that comfort women were coerced - this was a New York Times booboo. What he said in the original Japanese, apparently, was that there is evidence to show that many comfort women joined the "profession" willingly. Not debating the fact that maybe as a politician he shouldn't say things like that, I feel that if you're going to criticize anyone, you should at least refer to the original text. And cases of lost in translation seem to be why Japan is always maligned in so many areas. Anyway, I have many things to take issue with concerning what I feel is a superficial travel article in the Straits Times. I think that even the Lonely Planet more comprehensively documents the places she has been to, and I myself have been to all but one - Arima Hot Springs. Naturally, many of these things are subjective, and I am quibbling. Well, let's see what she writes. First, she states that shopping in Osaka is more than you can handle, which is fair enough. The electronics shops she refers to are located all in Den Den Town (which is reached by Subway on the Sakaisuji Line, and is not in the immediate area of Umeda or Osaka if you're thinking of train stations) of course, which for some reason was omitted. Maybe I'm nitpicking, but when you say Osaka to a Japanese, you are assumed as referring to the area around the 3 Umeda Station private rail lines. JR Osaka itself is set in the middle of a red-light district - I was going there for a conference, ahem, and I had to wind through tons of Japanese soaplands before I finally reached the conference venue.
Yah, so anyway, I have mixed feelings about the Straits Times' continued coverage of Japan. It's good that my favorite country gets this kind of exposure, but I don't like this exposure to be superficial. I wish that people would get to know more about the things and places that they see there, although this usually requires you to speak Japanese. This is where the coverage of the Straits Times fails - it uses reporters who appear to be fronted by layman Japanese guides (the real tour guides are really schooled on the sights though). There are pros and cons to this really. Japanese would naturally know intrinsically the lay of the land better than us foreigners, but just like how I can't recite the history of the Straits Settlement to you, you can't expect them to be experts on their own country. This is simply natural - human beings are least able to vocalize the things that have become second nature to them. Usually, a stay abroad is required to elucidate the social and cultural mores that work heuristically. And, I always find that with Japanese leading the way, I always end up knowing less because they end up doing everything. This is probably why the reporter, when visiting the aquarium, probably only knew about the aquarium and little else. Of course, if I'm with my Japanese friends, the place becomes secondary so the point is moot. Japan is made up by the country and its people, and if I meet a friend, it is them who I am more interested in. There is no comparison here really - their offer of friendship takes utmost precedence; who cares where we're going to, it's just an activity to allow us to spend some quality time together. The moral then? Travel with an academic who is a Japan Specialist, hehe. August 13 Fireworks in Japan and NDP 2007 PicsI was reading about my friend's post about how crappy the fireworks at the National Day Parade were (I mean seriously, if individual wards throughout Japan can have 2 hour long shows each for a month, why can't we have ONE that lasts more than 10 minutes??), and his post reminded me that there is something called YouTube. So, for anyone who wishes to do the search, which must be done in Japanese, here's some help. Go to this Fireworks Festival guide, and you'll be able to view all the different festivals be region. Once you find a particular one that you wish to view, such as 隅田川花火大会, or 足立花火大会, which is the one I went, just enter it in YouTube to be blown away. I mean seriously, they don't just fire those big round ones; The Japanese really put some creative thought into their choreography. I'm too stupid (at the moment, hehe) to embed a video, so here are links for some of the what I think are the better posts of the Sumida fireworks: August 09 Why I Have Decided Not to Post My Travel ItinerariesMany people with whom I have discussed Japan with usually end up asking me for some travel tips. Since Japan is my favorite country, and the country and its people have given me a lot of goodwill over the years, I am always delighted to share my travel experiences. This is why I have that map detailing my travel routes in every slideshow page. The route isn't always the most efficient - if I am using a rail pass, I will try to maximize my use of the shinkansen, which results in what you see in my 2003 trip, where I headquartered myself in Tokyo. However, if you look at my 2007 route, it is much more expedient because I wasn't traveling on a rail pass. Furthermore, with age catching up, I prefer to have more leisurely tours, which means that I now try to stay over at each location, rather than to have a static base camp. The "trick" here is to always start and end at the same hotel, since this lets you leave your heavy luggage in that place while you run off elsewhere with just an overnight bag. This I can either dump in a locker if I'm not headed straight to my next overnight destination, or leave at the hotel if I am. Anyway, I was playing with the idea of posting my itineraries online, but I've realized how I'm probably the only one in the world who can read them. In fact, since I go to Japan every year, I plan less and less ahead each time, leaving huge gaps in my schedules that I flesh out only on the night prior, or on one of those long haul train journeys. The only things that I still spell out with care are my hotels for each day, and the important train connections that I need to make. While this inadvertently leads to gargantuan mistakes sometimes (ok, maybe not so big eh?), the beauty of Japan is that there is always enough information at hand for damage control, no problem; you just need to know the system, and since Japan is a by-the-book country, this will allow you to get by easily with no overt surprises. And, just so you know how I skimmed on my itinerary this time, this is the exact printout that I had with me, mistakes and all (some of these didn't even make sense to me when I looked it over in Japan, haha): Depart 19th (Thur) [下田] 下田に泊まる {2時間44分} ペンション ホワイトハウス＜静岡県＞ 1800, Y8,925 20th (Fri) 箱根に泊まる {3時間33分} 箱根湯本温泉 箱根水明荘 別館ポサーダ Y7,245 21th (Sat) 箱根に泊まる 箱根湯本温泉 箱根水明荘 別館ポサーダ Y8,295 22nd (Sun) 高山に泊まる {5 hrs 58 min} 飛騨高山ワシントンホテルプラザ 1700, Y8,300 Rail Pass here 23rd (Mon) 高山に泊まる 飛騨高山ワシントンホテルプラザ, Y6,300 24th (Tue) 高山に泊まる 飛騨高山ワシントンホテルプラザ, Y6,300 25th (Wed) 名古屋に泊まる コンフォートホテル名古屋チヨダ Y5,670 26th (Thu) 東京に泊まる 上野東金屋ホテル Y8,500 27th (Fri) 東京に泊まる 上野東金屋ホテル Y8,500 28th (Sat) 東京に泊まる 上野東金屋ホテル Y8,500 Departure on 29th August 06 今回の旅に対する感想うん、前回日本へ行ったのは今回から1年分の差があるので、色々な社会にある変化をちゃんと感じられました。一番大きな変化は、外国人の人数ですね。 どちらでもいることで大変びっくりしました。例えば、飛騨地域には、普通のは日本人より、外国人のほうが多いということなんですね。観光地なので当たり前かもしれませんが、日本人は主に国内に旅行するのではないでしょうか？とにかく、高山公園という丘の頂上に、そのような行きにくいところでも二人アメリカ人がいました。また、夜になって、写真を撮るために古い町並へ行っても、外国人ばっかりでしたね。す~~ごい！そして、一番"大変"なのはやっぱり箱根ですね。どこでも、中国語と広東語だけでした。正直に、このような事情で少しがっかりしていますね。別に偏見があるというわけではないんですが。日本へ行くことが好きな一つの理由は、普通より異常の社会に入れるということです。私にとって、それがリラックスできる環境ですね。しかし、今は日本もうシンガポールと一緒になっちゃったなぁ。こちらも、中国人ばかりという感じですね。で、今日常生活に英語だけで交流できれば、もう生きにくくなってしまいました。喫茶店等には中国語ばかりの店員しかいないという情況は普及になってきますので。あぁ、なぜ去年と比べると、外国人の人数はこんなに増えてきたかな。 ま、それ以外、ICカードの導入の速さにもびっくりしました。私もSUICAカードを買いました。PASMOは一応売っていないので。というのは、どうしてPASMOはそんなに人気ですか。SUICAとPASMOは相互に使えるのではないでしょうか？ 箱根なんですが。もう行かいと思います。いつも箱根に行くとすごくアンラッキーですよ。2年前ですね、箱根へ行った時、箱根ロープウェイ大涌谷駅に届いてから、台風でロープウェイの運転が停止されました。そこで、伊豆バスでホテルに帰らなきゃいけませんでした。今回は同じ大涌谷駅にいた時、風でフリーパスはポケットから飛んでしまいました。そこで、もう一度伊豆バスで帰らなきゃいけませんでした。更に、梅雨期なので、富士山を始め、まるで手前150メートルしか見られない情況もうありました。もうけっこうですね。(笑) 今回の旅では、よく歴史的なところへ行くことにしました。大学にもう2回日本史の授業を担当したので、興味深いですね。下田はペリーが着陸した場所だし、箱根は箱根関所があるし、高山は日本伝統的な合掌造くりがあるし、名古屋は日本の一番古い犬山城があるので、見に行きました。残念なのは、時間が足りないので、名古屋の明治村へ行けませんでした。外国人は、多分時代劇を見すぎたので、明治時代の日本はヨーロッパ風の建物がたくさんあっとことをあまり知りません。あ、また、今回は初めて夏に日本にいるので、花火大会も旅行のハイライトになりました。ま、足立花火大会しか行きませんでしたが。実は、隅田川花火大会も行きたかったが、浅草まで行ってから、大勢な人で、あきれめました。更に、友達も「気を付けて」、「電車で帰られないかも」、「危ない」という話で、結局テレビで見てしまいました。(笑) あちこちへ行っても、ずっと博物館等にいたので、色々な場所の名物をあまり食べませんでしたね。えっと、白川郷にいた時、どぶろくという特別なお酒を飲みました。神社だけ作ったお酒そうです。私が甘い酒が好きなので、美味しいだと思いました。それ以外、高山にいた時、飛騨牛と朴葉味噌。飛騨牛は普通の牛肉よりもっと甘いかなぁ。朴葉味噌ではとっても美味しかった。その葉は枯れ葉みたいので、食べた時自分はパンダという不思議な感じなんです。葉といえば、実は食べられるかなぁ。 日本へ行く目的ですね。実は、今回日本へ行って、本当に急に決めたことです。元彼女(うん、5月1日に別れちゃった)と一緒に行く予定があったので、行く気持が全然ありませんでした。でも、ホームページにある写真帳を用意した 時側の空席、箱根まで小田急ロマンスカーの乗車(馬鹿じゃない？乗車券を買う時も、店員は「一人だけ？」と聞いた)、そして、信じられないが、元彼女と同じ名前の店の発見、このような時いつも何かがいないかなと感じました。しかし、意外には、日本に一人なんですが、全然寂しくなかった。自分で挨拶できないので、葉書は4枚近畿と中国地方にいる友達に送りました。そのあと、皆さんからのメールは次々に届いて、本当に感動しました。考えるみると、外国に皆さんのような親しい友達がいて、少し不思議なんですね。皆さんの友情をいただいて、どうもどうもありがとうございました。 いつもいつもそうなんですが、今回日本の旅で気分が本当に回復したと思います。足腰は多分賛成しないんですが、行く前よりもっと若くなってきたという気持です。今もう、来年日本へ行くことを考えています。(^_^) This posting is actually about my trip to Japan in 2007. And, in the fine tradition of things that get translated from Japanese to English, what follows is the English version: Wow, this was a really great trip! I can't wait to go again next year. :) July 15 Recent Web site UpdatesThis post is kind of overdue because for some reason, Spaces won't let me publish - the button just hasn't deemed to make itself clickable. So, as with most other things, I find myself experimenting with new software, in this case Windows Live Writer, to get this done. It's been strange really, how things have been falling apart around me. And yet, having served as the catalysts for me to move on, they have not been without their benefits. Always look for the silver lining I say, and it always does exist. It's just a matter of perspective. The same thing goes for the Hokkaido pictures. I have no excuses here regarding shot selection - Jyo-san's pictures were simply much better compositions, and so I defer to his masterful captures of the barren Hokkaido winter landscape. The one thing that I would like to mention is that the travel route included doesn't exactly follow a linear chronological order, since the Sapporo jaunts were split over 2 days. Thus, the university and beer garden session took place on the first day, followed by the trip to Jozankei, before we return again to the Shiroi Koibito Park and Old Governor's Office. I'm not sure exactly what to put up next at the moment, since the tons of pictures I still have are all over the place, and I don't really want to clutter the multimedia page with too many small albums. At the moment, I'm thinking of folding my Koya-san pics into the 2004 Wakayama album, and of creating a Kyoto album, and maybe and Ise-shima and Nara album. In any case, I really need to get some work done, so I think that all shall remain as is for the present time. July 06 It's finally done!Ok, I must admit that I've finally outdone myself this time: my site is finally viewable on both IE and Firefox, yes! *pump fist* Granted there are still some quirks, but at least the pages LOOK alright. As people who know me are aware, I hate to be defeated by technology. After all, why should human beings succumb to something that they invented, right? So, after many sleepless nights, I initially came up with the idea that Firefox's was unable to interpret the colspan tag, which would explain a helluva lot of things. Naturally, several Web forum pages later, I realized that this wasn't the case. Nonetheless, it suddenly dawned on me that the reason Firefox was messing up my pages so badly couldn't lie with the software, and the problem must be with my coding instead. This line of thought led me to W3C Markup Validation Service, which my site went on to fail as miserably as her owner did his driving tests. As it were, my hand-coded fare was breaking all kinds of HTML rules, and if I could forget to close a couple of tags here and there, there must be serious missteps elsewhere. A couple of searches later led me to Dirk Paehl's page, where you can find a handy tool that (is supposed to) make your HTML codes W3C complaint. Now, this is what I call a good use of technology, for it was only 2 clicks later that my pages were cleaned up, and now appear, as they were meant to be, in IE and Firefox. (To make a bad pun, I must say that the "extended" version in Firefox sucked). Now, I say supposed to because my site still fails the online validation test, but I don't really care now that everything looks alright at least. On a final note, I must say that I noticed a lot of sad people out there who were desperately struggling with CSS because some techie told them that tables are meant only for tabulated content, not structure. How stupid is that? It's like saying that water bottles are only meant for water. If you ask me, I say that if something can be put to use in more than one way, then take advantage of the flexibility man! I mean, if you can't figure out pure CSS but already know how to use tables as a design element , why should it be "wrong"? I think that people who say that tables MUST only be used for data presentation are nuts. Sure, there are many good reasons why CSS is better, but in the final cost-benefit equation, I'll probably lose more years of my life learning pure CSS than if I just used tables, even if I have to make changes on every page (which is an exaggeration anyway, provided you used tables with CSS). Sadly, it appears that there are many people who are so enamored with following rules that they lose sight of the bigger picture. Certain things can be sacrificed after all, depending on your requirements. So, for who I believe are the minority of people who read my site with a PDA or mobile phone, well then, it's time you got yourself a notebook or something my friend.  July 05 Superhero QuizMy results from the Superhero Quiz: You are Spider-Man
Hmm, I can't believe I ended up as a Marvel superhero instead of a DC one. 52 and Countdown are enough to draw my attention (and monies) away. Anyway, the problem with this quiz is that it doesn't say which age of superheroes it's using to do it's benchmarking. I mean, the golden age Supes could move planets...that's powerful alright. And of course, he could do that because in the golden age, no reader would ask if the movement of a planet off its axis wouldn't spell instant doon through tectonic upheavals and the such. The geek thing is funny too. Yeah, geeks play games and read comic books, but the media's version of geeks are always rocket scientists, not social ones. Oh well, I'll take what I get. Geek power, hurrah! July 04 I give up...for nowOk, for all those Firefox users out there, which includes myself, too bad folks. Unfortunately, my very finite knowledge of CSS usage has meant that I have failed in porting my site over to the new format of CSS and div tags rather than CSS and tables. For anyone who is even interested in why this is necessary, here is a good article to read about the whole debate. While my increased understanding of what needs to be done means a front end application would probably be the missing ingredient to success, since learning to do this hardly counts as productive work in my case, my poor site will just have to sit all out of whack for those of you who have abandoned IE. Which makes me wonder why Firefox, amidst all the praise for it, refuses to acknowledge the existence of a single line that imports my table style sheet, and which would solve everything. This bit of coding is apparently non-complaint, and was tossed away when a Web standard arose, in 2001 I think. What's the phrase...throwing the baby out with the bath water is what best describes it I say. God forbid the day techies rule the world...please just let them play in their little virtual online communities.  July 02 My Web site is now online! Yay!Ok, my strictly no frills and IE-compatible site is now online! It is accessible at the following URL: joseph.where20.info. My thanks to everyone who has made suggestions; I'm sure you'll be able to see where those have come to realization. Anyway, this site is strictly old-tech, which means you're going to have to email me for anything. It's going to be a rather static site anyway, since research ideas need to foment slowly. Furthermore, I'm not one who wants to spend time moderating comments and all that anyway, and I'm content to have the global community just be...out there. I mean, for those who already know me, you'll realize that I'm somewhat of a recluse anyway. Nonetheless, I am considering using this, MY SPACE I to do some work-related blogging, which will mean that to read it properly, as has been feedbacked to me, you'll have to sign up with MSN. Bummer. Whatever the case, as sparse as she is, this is my baby, yeah! Programmed line by line to the very finite ends of my knowledge of HTML in notepad. It's like how some landlubbers need to be in touch with mother earth to feel tangible and real. The intent here is not to reject newer advances in technology, or Web 2.0, but to exert the kind of rigor that an auteur would; it is said that there was always intent behind each character, no matter how minor, in every scene of a Kurosawa film. If there was a bald bystander, there was a reason. If a dog scampered past, it has to be read contextually within or without the boundaries of the film. If it rained, it was probably meant to evoke an emotive state of sorts. Similarly, the control I have been able to wield over every nook and cranny has meant that every element of this site was created purposefully with artifacts that are of special symbolic to me. Personally, I think that the design of a home page triumphs over functionality if there is a conflict between the two. My anti-establishment nature has also meant that just because no one else is doing it does not suffice as sufficient cause for me to abandon my individuality to a pre-determined template. Oh, I'm no advocate of nihilism, but being a humanist, I'm afraid that at any fork in the road, I would rather make the biggest colossal mistake of all time than to be one with the masses, especially when the masses, as far as my unreliable senses of the empirical world suggest, are in agreement. The trick of course is to be able to repent, which is where a dose of humility is always necessary, and which should be the case, for there is little (if anything) in this world that warrants self-aggrandizement. And ultimately, as someone once said, and this is not verbatim, "Home is the place where you can always return, and where they can never turn you away." This is my little corner on the WWW, and she is where I'll always feel at home. So welcome to my cartoony little corner of the Web (yes, academics are like little children, so be gentle...), low in functionality, but where a part of me will always reside. To the stars, despite adversity. May 29 Curriculum Vitae (Updated version at my Web site)This is my old CV left here for nostalgic reasons. :) My updated CV can be found here. Department of Japanese Studies, National University of Singapore EDUCATION BA (2nd Upper) in Japanese Studies (December 2002), National University of Singapore. Thesis: Studied Nonobservance as an Impediment towards Effective Privacy Legislation in Japan. EMPLOYMENT SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS PUBLICATIONS Tan, Chee Kuan and Ban Chong Tan (2007), “Editorializing 9/11: A News Discourse Analysis of the Asahi Shimbun, the New Straits Times, and the New York Times,” Shingetsu Electronic Journal of Japanese-Islamic Relations, 1 (19 March). Available at http://www.shingetsuinstitute.com/Tan-Tan%201F.pdf. Tan, Joseph (2006), “A Specialist Offers Advice: How Companies Are Reacting to Japan’s New Privacy Law,” SUCCESS STORIES: JAPAN Executive Newsletter, February, 5-8. Williams, Jerome D., May O. Lwin, and Ban Chong Tan (2005), “Developments in Online Privacy Regulations and an Assessment of Privacy Practices in China and Japan,” in Lenard Huff and Scott M. Smith (eds.), Proceedings: 11th Cross Cultural Research Conference, Puerto Rico, December 11-14. Available at http://marketing.byu.edu/htmlpages/ccrs/proceedings05/williams-lwin-tan.doc. Tan, Ban Chong (2004), “Legal Informality and Japan’s “New” Privacy Law,” Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai Negotia, 49 (2), 121-126. Available at http://www.tbs.ubbcluj.ro/studia/articol_13_2_2004.pdf. Non-Academic Tan, Ban Chong (2004), “Japanese Would Never Profess a Love for Their Country,” Hiragana Times, 213 (July), 22-23. Tan, Ban Chong (2004), “Why Does Raising the Imperial Flag Cause Such An Uproar,” Hiragana Times, 212 (June), 20-21. Others Publication Committee, National University of Singapore of Singapore Japanese Studies 25th Anniversary International Symposium, 2006. Publication Committee, Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Department of Japanese Studies (Souvenir Magazine), 2006. Credited for research assistance, Lwin, May and Jim Aitchison (2002), Clueless in Advertising. Singapore: Addison-Wesley. TRANSLATION CONFERENCE PAPER TEACHING |
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