Technological Wonders of Japan

Japan: Masters of Technology.


Let me explain my experiences with technological wonders while living here the past two years. . .

When I arrived in this country, I desperately wanted to use the internet to contact people back home, let them know I was safe, etc. I was in Tokyo at the JET Programme Orientation and we were staying at the Keio Plaza Hotel, supposedly one of the best. My roommates and I were a bit surprised to find that we needed to plug ourselves into the one LAN cable provided in our room if we wanted to use the internet. Almost every place here might have internet, but it is almost always LAN, not wireless.

When I got to Kochi, I was a bit disappointed to find that there was not (and had never been) internet at my home. I don't blame anyone for being disconnected, but I actually enjoy the ability to go online when I feel like it in the privacy of my own house, especially for Skype conversations and the like. It took 2-3 months to get the line to my house and it was a bitch to get set up. I know others who had to wait even longer. I understand that we live in bumfuck nowhere, but that is a bit lame. . .

At work, I found that we all had laptops to use for classes and things. They are all about 5-6 years old, but they look and feel older than that. They all have disc drives in them still. And my schools still use floppy disks at work. I was shocked when I found that out. At the junior high school, I can see the external hard disc drive sitting on top of the computer since they are no longer made with them built in. Not a clue to stop using them? Hmmm. . .

The speed on these computers is almost unbearable sometimes. If I click something, it takes about a minute to register on the computer and actually react. I thought I could deal with that at first, maybe learn something about patience or whatever, but it has been slowly eating my brain waiting for the responses.

In the past few weeks, two of the three computers at my disposal in the town have crashed. No one understands what to do when it says to "insert the hard disc" to recover, so they think it is best to just get a new computer. I'm not going to argue with that!

Everyone has fancy applications on their phones. I'm not talking about iPhones or "smart" phones, per se, but even the "dumb" phones. For example, if I purchase this ridiculous little antenna, I can watch television programs on my keitai (cell phone). Instead of "texting" or "SMS"ing, we have our very own keitai emails, which can be annoying if you only have someone's phone number. I kind of appreciate being able to send a message to someone's number, less to remember/ program. Interesting concept, though, phone emails. Many people don't have a camera here, only using their keitai. I could never live using my keitai as my phone, camera, computer, and television all in one. . .

Speaking of televisions, mine has been obsolete for almost a year now. I paid for NHK (Japanese cable provider) for a full year and only was capable of using my TV until July of last year. As a result, the company is going to refund a few months of my bill which I had paid in advance. WIN! They have been harassing me to pay my supposedly voluntary dues for many months now. Hopefully, as a result of explaining that I have no TV viewing capabilities (TV, computer, or keitai), they will leave me alone from now on.

There have been many other amazing experiences with technology here, but I will quit ranting for now.

On a brighter note, if I have bills that need to be paid and I receive a paper bill or a bus or flight in Japan, etc., I can take it to the nearest convenience store to take care of them! That's something pretty special.