http://simonwillison.net/2025-04-06T20:16:52+00:00Simon Willison2025-04-06T20:16:52+00:002025-04-06T20:16:52+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2025/Apr/6/only-miffy/#atom-tag

<p>Some friends are traveling to Japan, and in bombarding them with unsolicited tips to try to convince them to visit <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huis_Ten_Bosch_(theme_park)">Huis Ten Bosch</a> - the Dutch theme park near Nagasaki - I was reminded of my all-time favorite piece of travel writing, by Richard Hendy: <strong><a href="https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/huis-ten-bosch-only-miffy-can-save-us-now/">Huis ten Bosch: Only Miffy can save us now</a></strong> - also <a href="https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/huis-ten-bosch-only-miffy-can-save-us-now-2/">part two</a> and <a href="https://spikejapan.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/huis-ten-bosch-only-miffy-can-save-us-now-3/">part three</a>.</p> <blockquote> <p>Monumental in its conception, extravagant in its execution, and epic in its failure, Huis ten Bosch is the greatest by far of all of the progeny of Japan’s Bubble era dreams.</p> </blockquote> <p>There is so much good stuff in these essays, including a delightful divergence to cover the psychic toad that ended up responsible for more than $10 billion:</p> <blockquote> <p>[...] late at night scores of black limousines would park up outside one of her restaurants, Egawa, disgorging bankers for séances, inspired by esoteric mikkyo Buddhism, on the fourth floor, overseen by a giant ceramic toad standing a meter tall.</p> </blockquote> <p>Richard's essays convinced us to visit Huis Ten Bosch in 2014 and it was a highlight of our trip to Japan. Here are <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simon/albums/72157647850675080/">my photos on Flickr</a>.</p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/travel">travel</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/japan">japan</a></p>

2024-12-22T21:41:45+00:002024-12-22T21:41:45+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/22/worlds-largest-tube-tv/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfZxOuc9Qwk">What happened to the world&#x27;s largest tube TV?</a></strong></p> This YouTube video is an absolute delight.</p> <p><lite-youtube videoid="JfZxOuc9Qwk" title="What happened to the world's largest tube TV?" playlabel="Play: What happened to the world's largest tube TV?" > </lite-youtube></p> <p>Shank Mods describes the legendary <a href="https://consolemods.org/wiki/CRT:PVM-4300">Sony PVM-4300</a> - the largest CRT television ever made, released by Sony in 1989 and weighing over 400lb. CRT enthusiasts had long debated its very existence, given the lack of known specimens outside of Sony's old marketing materials. Then Shank tracked a working one down... on the second floor of a 300 year old Soba noodle restaurant in Osaka, Japan.</p> <p>This story of how they raced to rescue the TV before the restaurant was demolished, given the immense difficulty of moving a 400lb television (and then shipping it to the USA), is a fantastic ride. <p><small></small>Via <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/andy.baio.net/post/3ldvzb5ogfk2a">Andy Baio</a></small></p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/history">history</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/youtube">youtube</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/japan">japan</a></p>

2018-07-28T14:04:39+00:002018-07-28T14:04:39+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2018/Jul/28/big-tech-warns-japans-millennium-bug-ahead-akihitos-abdication/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/25/big-tech-warns-japan-millennium-bug-y2k-emperor-akihito-abdication">Big tech warns of &#x27;Japan&#x27;s millennium bug&#x27; ahead of Akihito&#x27;s abdication</a></strong></p> Emperor Akihito’s abdication in April 2019 triggers a new era, and the Japanese calendar counts years from the coronation of the current emperor. The era hasn’t changed since 1989 and a great deal of software is unable to handle a change. To make things more complicated... the name of the new era will be announced in late February, but it needs to be represented in unicode as a single new character... and the next version of Unicode (v12) is due out in early March. There may have to be a Unicode 12.1 released shortly afterwards that includes the new codepoint. <p><small></small>Via <a href="https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2018-July/026711.html">The tz mailing list</a></small></p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/timezones">timezones</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/unicode">unicode</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/japan">japan</a></p>

2017-11-09T15:28:49+00:002017-11-09T15:28:49+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2017/Nov/9/the-booming-japanese-rent-a-friend-business/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/11/paying-for-fake-friends-and-family/545060/?single_page=true">The Booming Japanese Rent-a-Friend Business</a></strong></p> “In Japan, you can pay an actor to impersonate your relative, spouse, coworker, or any kind of acquaintance.”. Surprisingly poignant interview with a man who runs a company that employs 800 professional actors for almost any conceivable situation. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/japan">japan</a></p>

2016-10-04T12:25:00+00:002016-10-04T12:25:00+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2016/Oct/4/japanese-pantry-staples/#atom-tag

<p><em>My answer to <a href="http://ask.metafilter.com/301190/Japanese-pantry-staples#4363466"> Japanese pantry staples? </a> on Ask MetaFilter</em></p> <p>These answers are fantastic! I'm so glad I asked here. Thank you all very much.</p> <p>I just stumbled across <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/05/japanese-cooking-pantry-staples.html">How to Stock a Japanese Pantry</a> on Serious Eats which I'm finding useful too.</p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ask-metafilter">ask-metafilter</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/cooking">cooking</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/japan">japan</a></p>

2013-12-23T17:43:00+00:002013-12-23T17:43:00+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2013/Dec/23/what-are-the-best/#atom-tag

<p><em>My answer to <a href="https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-ramen-places-in-London/answer/Simon-Willison">What are the best ramen places in London?</a> on Quora</em></p> <p>The big four are Bone Daddies, Tonkotsu, Shoryu and Ittenbari, all in or around Soho. You can find them all on my foursquare list here: <span><a href="https://foursquare.com/simonw/list/ramen-in-london">Ramen in London</a></span></p> <p>Personally my favourite is Tonkotsu on Dean Street - they do my favourite ramen bowl of the four, and they are a lot less crowded than Bone Daddies.</p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/food">food</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/london">london</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/quora">quora</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/japan">japan</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/restaurants">restaurants</a></p>