And So It Goes

Google Books: Less Useful Than Ever!

Google Books now has a new look: shiny!

For all the spiffy, shiny new pseudo-social networking features in Google Books, they seem to have left off something pretty basic: SEARCHING.

One of their features is called "My Library", where Google account holders can add books from their own library. I did that, basically so I could Google's search engine to search within the content of my books, which is easier than pulling down books from the shelf and leafing through them until I find what I want.

Now, in their "update", that functionality to search within one's own library has vanished. Have they decided to give up on the whole "search engine" thing in favor of Facebookesque social networking?

I don't need another Facebook; I need a search engine. If they're not going to be an actual search engine, what the hell good are they?

Gridskipper: Under Tokyo

Oh, this one I know:

Under Tokyo

I'm sure the last thing you'll want to see during your travels is a city's sewer system -- in fact, the less we know about what happens in the dark and wet, the better. But browsing through the this gallery of shots from Tokyo's underground, I think you'll agree there's something pretty interesting going on down there. Looking like a cross between Japanese anime and one of Ken Adam's classic set pieces for the James Bond films, I'm surprised they don't offer tours. Then again, since photos don't transmit smell, maybe there is a reason.

UPDATE: Actually, they do offer tours.

The correspondent gets a big part of it wrong: it's NOT a sewer, it's a flood-control project, with the unlikely English-language monicker of "G-Cans Project". As such, the only smell on offer, I'm sure, is possibly that of cold damp concrete.

It's even been featured in a Land Rover TV commercial (requires Flash: click on "Range Rover Sport" when the page loads to see the Tokyo section) and print ad. And despite what's shown in the commercial, it's actually way up in the northern outskirts of Tokyo (actually, in Saitama prefecture), and nowhere near Shinjuku (where the commercial begins) or Yokohama (where it ends).

Tours are possible, it appears, but since they're conducted only in Japanese, they require you to bring someone to act as a translator (my guess is that they're worried about foreign visitors not understanding the safety rules). If you speak Japanese or know someone who does, call them at 048-747-0281 to make arrangements, which is something I ought to be doing myself someday.

Access from Tokyo:

The nearest train station seems to be Minami-Sakurai station on the Tobu Noda line, and there are a variety of ways to get there:

Method 1: From Tokyo Station, go to platform 3 and catch the Keihin-Tohoku line north to Omiya (25 minutes away). Transfer to the Tobu Noda line eastbound towards Kasukabe, Kashiwa, or Funabashi, and get off at Minami-Sakurai station (11 stations, 28 minutes away). Don't know what the bus lines are, so it's probably simplest to take a taxi from the station rather than walk for 2 kilometers.

Method 2: From Tokyo Station, go to platform 3 or 4 and catch either the Keihin-Tohoku or Yamanote line north to Akihabara (2 stops, 3 minutes). Exit and transfer to the Hibiya subway line going towards Kita-Senju station (6 stations, 12 minutes). Depending on the train you're on, either transfer at Kita-Senju station (if the train terminates there) or simply stay on it (if it continues) to the Tōbu Isesaki Line to Kasukabe (6-19 stations, depending on whether it's a local or express, about 28 minutes). Transfer at Kasukabe to the Tobu Noda line eastbound towards Kashiwa or Funabashi, and get off at Minami-Sakurai station (2 stops, 7 minutes away). Take a taxi.

Method 3: Use this website to figure whichever route works for you to reach Minami-Sakurai station. There, take a taxi.

Map Legend:

南桜井 = Minami-Sakurai station
春日部市= Kasukabe, the name of the city
首都圏外郭放水路 = Official Japanese name for the project

Annotating Gridskipper

Gridskipper.com looks like a very interesting travel site, one which stresses style, design, and good food , but in an accessible, non-snobby way. Its postings includes handy embedded Google Maps, allowing you to see exactly where the places it talks about are.

Well, not exactly.

For its Tokyo entries -- a city where most of the streets don't have names and business cards often include maps -- Gridskipper falls down completely, as those entries have no maps.

In Japan, maps are practically mandatory, since the street address system is more of a co-ordinate system, and giving the English names isn't much help when the local street maps are written in kanji. A determined person can eventually ferret out where places are -- phone numbers, being the same in English or Japanese, are a great help -- put someone there needs to get on the ball there.

So hence this experiment. I'm going to try to make some maps myself. The one on the right is for a recent item:

Coffee Saloon Kimoto

This morning I went to quite possibly the smallest cafe I've ever seen. Coffee Saloon Kimoto (1-5-1 Yakumo, 03-3717-5687 -- it's just a few minutes walk from Toritsu Daigaku station on the Toyoko line) takes its tiny triangle shape from the its allotted land plot, which was quite literally crammed between two neighboring buildings.

Featured in Japanese architectural firm Atelier Bow-Wow's book it's a perfect example of urban development contributing to the creation of unusual spaces. Coffee Saloon Kimoto is even more than just an instance of innovative architecture, it's a cozy little cafe. And I mean really small -- barely larger than the typical American bathroom -- but it will put a smile on your face as you walk in and are greeted by the owner, Mr. Kimoto, and his wife, and take one of the seven available seats.

Map Legend

都立大学 = Toritsudaigaku station
八雲１丁目５−１= 1-5-1 Yakumo, the address
東急東横線 = Toyoko Line, from Shibuya (渋谷), six stops out and between Gakugeidaigaku and Jiyūgaoka stations.

From the Trenches in the War on Christmas,

Courtesy of Brad DeLong, more about the real War on Christmas, the gritty details that the Mainstream Media hides from you, told in the way only Fafblog! ("The World's Only Source for Fafblog!") can tell it.

Resistance is Useless: When Memes Attack!

I blame Patrick Hayden Nielsen, actually, for this, my entry in the Meme of Four circulating around the blogosphere, since I caught it from him:

Four jobs you’ve had in your life: letter carrier, credit-union clerk English instructor, technical copy editor

Four movies you could watch over and over: Casablanca, Blade Runner, Sideways, L.A. Confidential

Four places you’ve lived: Panama City, Florida; Okinawa; Berkeley; Tokyo

Four TV shows you love to watch: Law & Order:CI; House, M.D.; Battlestar Galactica; The Amazing Race

Four places you’ve been on vacation: London, Paris, China, New York City (all within the last year-and-a-half, I might add)

Four websites you visit daily: Political Animal, Romenesko, Wikipedia, Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal

Four of your favorite foods: matzoh-ball soup, roast chicken, spaghetti with basil pesto, savory crepes

Four places you’d rather be: New York City, London, Paris, someplace warm

Seeing the Elephants

Late this afternoon, I was walking through the crowded shopping galleria in nearby Kichijoji, doing a little Sunday shopping, when Liz called me on my mobile phone. "Are you near a computer?" she asked. No, I wasn't, I replied. Why?

"I'm looking at the Africa webcam," she said, "and there's this huge herd of elephants there right now."

I'm the one who told her about this: a live webcam put up by the National Geographic Society, pointing at a watering hole in Botswana called Pete's Pond. Live video feed of wild African animals coming down to drink at the watering hole. People I know, including Liz, rave about the monkeys, zebras, antelope, and elephants they keep seeing. Of course, all I've ever seen is a flock of turkey-like guinea fowl  and a couple of warthogs.

"Liz," I said, "it's official: I hate you."

"You gotta see it, it's so cool!" she said.

Fine fine, I says, I'll see if I can find an Internet cafe somewhere, it's sweltering out anyways and I could use the air-conditioning.

Finding an Internet cafe in the shopping district wasn't difficult; finding one that had space was. It was at the third one (a place called Popeye Media Cafe) that I found a space, after a brief wait.

Internet cafes are bit different here, as I'd forgotten: not just Internet access, but also a library of comics (manga) and magazines, video games, and DVDs, along with unlimited soft drinks from dispensers. They also try to, since there are so many of them, differentiate themselves  stylistically: all three I dropped by looked differently, with this particular one going for the sleek black Blade-Runner vibe.

After a bit of pidgin communication at the front counter, it was agreed that, yes, I wanted Internet, no smoking, no massage (I assume that meant one of those fancy electric massage chairs I've seen in appliance stores, but I didn't press the issue). Only smoking seats were available, so I took that, with the counter person emphasizing the word "reclinera couple of times to be sure I understood. I was issued a receipt with the time and my booth number, and I threaded my way through the dimly lit narrow aisles (why the hell did they paint everything, including the ceiling, black?) to my booth.

Well, a cubicle, really, with a sliding door, roughly the size of a bathroom stall, painted black with brushed metal panels. Into this was fitted a table with the TV and computer (with attached stereo headset) and an honest-to-god vinyl recliner. I managed to wedge myself in and into the chair, boot up the computer, and navigate to the Africa webcam.

Naturally, most of the elephants were gone (one remained, knee-deep in the water), along with a couple of zebras. Typical. So I used my time to to do aimless web browsing, drinking some free Cokes and eating some soggy microwave french fries I bought from a vending machine.

It was when I was leaving that I figured out why the counter person kept emphasizing "recliner": one of the empty booths I passed, I noticed, did not have any seats at all. Instead, it had wall-to-wall cushions and a low table for the equipment. Whether it was for two people to get cozy or for people not used to sitting in chairs when playing video games/using computers I don't know, maybe both.

Someday I'll see these damned elephants, but not today.