japan
28-04-2007
Japan-style and NZ-style Plone Meetups
On Wednesday, April the 18th, the Japan Zope Users Group had their quarterly meetup, and I gave a presentation regarding the use of Open Source software in New Zealand and particularly the use of Plone in New Zealand Government. My presentation also included a demonstration of creating a UML model for a simple Plone content type and associated workflow and then using the code generator, ArchGenXML, to create the product. I also demonstrated some of the benefits of using Instance Manager while doing Plone development. Following my presentation, Jonathan Lewis gave a report regarding what was achieved at the recent Sorrento sprint.About 30+ people attended and it was really encouraging to see the enthusiasm for Plone in Japan, where Plone appears to be experiencing a similar surge in popularity as New Zealand and other countries around the world. Many thanks to Shigeo Honda who organised the event, WiseKnot who provided the venue (and beverages), those who helped me prepare the presentation, and all those that turned up to listen to the presentation.
Prior to our leaving for Japan, on February the 16th, we had a Plone Meetup 'New Zealand-style' where 6 of us met at a Malaysian restaurant and discussed the progress of Plone in New Zealand, some Python and Zope technologies, some Flash front-end goodness, and some friendly Microsoft Vs Google banter. I've received some nice feedback regarding the meetup so thanks for that and thanks to those who were able to attend and also those who were there in 'spirit' :-)
Finally, yesterday I met with Atsushi Shibata in Akihabara. Some of you may know that Shibata-san is responsible for the Plone Blogging product, CoreBlog2. Shibata-san has been pioneering the use of Plone/Zope in Japan for some time now and it was nice to discuss with him the progress of Plone in Japan and some of the challenges Japan faces going forward. I'm sure we both came away from the meeting enlightened and it is always nice to meet another Plonista!25-05-2005
Japan Wars - Episode II
The 2nd episode in my treatise on Japan's influence on the Star Wars saga (2 subjects *very* close to my heart :-)
I've previously made some comment on how Japan has influenced
costume design in Star Wars but I was dumbstruck when a friend let me
know that the Star Wars saga was largely influenced by Akira Kurosawa and more specifically his movie's 'The Hidden Fortress' and 'Yojimbo'.
This comment from an online article I just read through:
Star Wars owed much to The Hidden Fortress in its inception. Lucas' original script was basically just a remake for Fortress, although even in the final edit many concepts from the film still remain.
The article explained specifically how this movie and Yojimbo influenced Star Wars and also what other influences Lucas had.
04-03-2005
Japanese Dramas
They're great :-D
Just watched the first episode of a 8-or-so part Japanese drama tonight. It had Takuya Kimura in it (or kimutaku for short) and was great, though I had to concentrate hard (and get help from Miho) to understand it. I really do admire the Japanese for the engaging storylines they create for their dramas and am still to find an equally engaging English drama. I suppose this also explains why so many Japanese seem to be addicted to dramas.
06-02-2005
Japan Wars?
How much has Japan influenced Star Wars?
Was reading through an email I got from a Star Wars mailing list I subscribe to and found out this interesting piece:
the artist looked to the Ralph McQuarrie-designed stormtrooper suit, which itself had been inspired by samurai armor
According to the same article, apparently the new Clone Commando is also partly inspired by the ninja. So those of you who are Japan buffs, here's some interesting trivia for your friends :-)
BTW if you do read Japanese, there's now a Star Wars Japan website for your viewing pleasure!
04-02-2005
A Nippon Funny
A funny courtesy of Nippon
Had a friend who is living in Japan email me today with the following:
> If you have time please answer the following questions and return to
> me (^-^)
> Thank you
> <Name removed />
>
>
> When you think of Japan what comes to mind?
Yummy food.
> If you received a parcel from Japan what would you hope to find inside
> it?
Yummy food.
> What colour do you think of when you think of Japan?
Green
> Any other thoughts
No
No prizes for guessing what I like most about Japan.
