Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

Web/Tech

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Ballot begging

Over at the Hong Kong based Simon World (which is rather appropriately run by Simon), the voting for Blog Of The Year is now in full swing. And whilst such an event isn’t all that surprising, Tokyo Times being nominated most definitely is.

Now although I don’t expect (or probably deserve) to win, I don’t want to come last either. So to save me the potential shame and the possibility of people pointing at me in the street and laughing, please go here and add a vote (which you can do once a day) to my no doubt meagre tally. Thanks!

And fellow supporters of democracy fear not. With this being an electronic vote without a paper trail, it goes without saying that I have an army of lawyers winging their way to Hong Kong this very minute. All of who will be ready to pounce and impound Simon’s computer should I fail to garner enough votes and come last.

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Site spammed

Apologies for the lack of updates, but thanks to an online gambling emporium, Tokyo Times was knocked out by a slurry of spiteful spam.

Yes, it’s so nice to know that for the sake of a higher Google ranking, such unsavoury types are happy to target and practically destroy harmless and (perhaps I’m being a little optimistic here) fun sites like this.

But after a few very frustrating days, with many an hour spent swearing at my computer and wishing unpleasantness upon my attackers, Tokyo Times is back.

Not bigger, or even better, but back nonetheless.

So once again I can look forward to treating you to more thought provoking and potentially life changing posts concerning used panties, up-skirt picture takers, and loose bowelled commuters…

Let the good times roll!

*This site is now run using WordPress and was hastily (and I fear unskillfully) put together. So any feedback concerning errors or site design will be gratefully received. Thanks.)

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Fourteen-year-old forger

With a great deal of fanfare, the Bank of Japan recently released new and improved bills to reduce the growing number of forgeries in circulation. With their intricate designs, watermarks, and even holograms, the new notes are thought to be almost impossible to reproduce.

It’s a good job they did too, as on Wednesday Tokyo police arrested a 14-year-old-boy for copying old (but still in use) 1,000 yen bills on his home computer. Using nothing more advanced than a standard printer and scanner, the entrepreneurial youngster managed to produce notes that when compared with the genuine article were relatively easy to detect, but on their own would not have aroused suspicion.

And it seems that once again the evil internet played a telling part. The crafty counterfeiter learnt how to forge bills from an article in a magazine that he bought online.

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Cut, paste, print, and you are all done

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Yahoo! Indeed

Not long ago it was almost impossible to get away from (or into) a train station without being hounded by Yahoo! BB sales people. But as irritating as I found it, the ploy worked a treat, as the broadband internet service is now the most popular in Japan.

And like any successful venture, Yahoo! has not rested on its laurels. Having secured a healthy user base, the company has scaled down the hassling-people-at-the-station line of attack, and opted for the more conventional hire-an-attractive-young-model-to-promote-your-product approach.

So Yahoo’s lady of the moment is the young and pretty Aya Ueto.

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Who it has to be said isn’t all that hard on the eyes. A face to help cement Yahoo! BB’s place at the top?

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I’d say so.

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Welcome

A warm welcome to the new home of Tokyo Times. After a few days of adjusting to Movable Type (ok, a week or so of head scratching, shouting, and incredible frustration), the site is now working something like it should. I hope.

If I’ve done everything right, pages should be noticeably quicker loading. And fingers crossed, the comments system will be slightly faster. Although during testing it wasn’t exactly what I’d call quick. We’ll see how it goes.

Yet despite the new surroundings, the content I’m afraid will be of a similar nature and quality. You can’t have everything you know!

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Internet indecency

“There have been more and more cases where people are posting slanderous messages or offering nude pictures of former girlfriends on the Internet.”

Cyber-sleuth Masaya Orita, director of an Internet detective agency, Mars Agent, who tracks down such people.

Who would have thought it eh? Nudity and slander on the internet. What is the world coming to? The way things are going, people will be keeping online diaries next…