Neil Duckett

A little over 11 months and i`m finally legal in Japan. I have a much sought after Gaijin Card and lucky for me I`ve been granted a 3 yr Engineers visa whereas it`s usually a 1 yr working visa straight off the bat. The last thing i had to do last week was get my re-entry permit sorted, this is my ticket to come and go from Japan as i please, I`m going to need this late October when i go to Taipei or a few days R&R ….. more on that later.

Now all the official stuff is done there`s a few other things i need to tick off, first and foremost is getting my Hanko sorted.

Hanko - A Chinese seal is a seal or stamp containing Chinese characters used in East Asia to prove identity on documents, contracts, art, or similar items where authorship is considered important.

East Asia currently uses a mixture of seals and hand signatures, and increasingly, electronic signatures. [1] But notably in China, Japan, and Korea, seals remain commonly used instead of a signatures when doing business or other procedures, and in certain cases, only seals are acceptable.

Read Full Post »

Updated 23rd March 2008 - As of now you can watch 4 games per round on World on Demand through the Australian Network Channel for 900 yen per month. It’s a must for any football lover wanting to watch AFL Live in Japan!

Thank heavens for the internet. After a lot of searching and the disappointment of going to places that said they`d have the footy on (up yours The Club House) and then finding a place in the pong that did have it, but was feral, we`re able to watch footy live in the comfort of home.

The website World on Demand offers the finals footy for about $20 bucks a month, along with many other channels this is great value TV.

So far i`ve been able to watch 3 games in the last 2 weeks and i`m set to watch Geelong and Port next Saturday. It`s great being able to see the game rather than just listening to the broadcast through tripple m.

Unfortunately the Brownlow won`t be telecast tommorow night, you can`t have everything i guess.

Explaining to Japanese Friends that i won`t be able to make it to the pub cause i`m watching Aussie Rules Football is difficult so once again i leverage the internet for the visuals aids i`m looking for.

Video No Longer Available from Youtube

Read Full Post »

Well i do anyway, call me immature if you will.

Edit: Sorry, this clip is no longer available, i`ll try and source it from another location

Popularity: 3% [?]

Read Full Post »

If you haven`t seen The Entourage you`re missing out. It`s a story about 4 guys living the life of champions. I was first told about this program back in Australia but the timing was all up the shit and it was hard to regularly tune in.

Bit Lord to the rescue and i was able to download the first 3 seasons and watch in quick succession and now keep up each Sunday night by downloading the latest episode from season 4.

I had my brother in Japan a few weeks ago and he and a buddy of ours sat down and watched the first 2 seasons back to back. From what he tells me they`ve now sourced seasons 1 through 3 from the local DVD shop and are hooked on the adventures of Vinne, Eric, Turtle and the legendary Johhnie Drama.

If you have 10 minutes on your hands then watch some of Ari Golds finest moments here. Be warned though, the language is colourful and far from politically correct.

The official show description reads as follows;

Read Full Post »

Tonight on the hour long train ride from work i had the pleasure of messing about with the Apple iPhone. I`d read about it, I`d seen it online but i still never really appreciated how cool this device is.

Anyone in the market for a new phone strongly needs to consider the Apple iPhone which from what i`m told is available totally unlocked in Australia for a shade under a gorilla now.

My buddy from work described it as his single best purchase to date and he picked it up for $200 US more than what it is today.

If you`ve been living under a rock, the Apple iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows you to make a call by simply pointing your finger at a name or number in your address book, a favorites list, or a call log. And it lets you select and listen to voicemail messages in whatever order you want–just like email.

iPhone features a rich HTML email client and Safari — the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device — which automatically syncs bookmarks from your PC or Mac. Safari also includes built-in Google and Yahoo! search. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can read a web page while downloading your email in the background over Wi-Fi or EDGE.

Read Full Post »