November
By Oli
At 10:02 PM · Sunday, 16 November · 2003
To Diary
I haven’t written a Diary post in a long time. Hrmmm…
Work
Sharp
My job teaching some managers at Sharp’s Taki plant is finishing soon. I recently went on a factory tour of one line at the plant, the line making LCD panels for GameBoy Advance machines (about a 550 by 800cm ‘mother glass’ size). It was pretty crazy — everything was done by robotic carts, which moved the ‘mother glass’ from one machine to another in a special dust-free corridor. The carts had sensors and would wait for each other before following their pre-programmed tracks. They even played the “I’m turning right/left, please be careful” polite Japanese woman’s voice recording that Japanese trucks do, which I found very funny. The floor had ventilation holes, and air was sucked out the bottom to remove any dust. There were about 100 machines on that line, and each panel is moved about 800 times by the carts, as there were several processes that get repeated eg photolithography. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take photos — trade secrets apparently.
Design
I haven’t got any new web design jobs recently. I think this is not really surprising given the state of my website ;-) Also the increase of work I hoped for after Tonko-chan left i-Brain never happened. However recently I met with the head of their graphic design department. It appears they might hire me for print design projects as a freelancer. This will probably be for jobs with tight deadlines though. Hrmm… I think Tonko-chan is lucky!
I’ve been trying to make the most of my time and learn a lot, with mixed results. While I’m improving, things (like my brain?) seem to be frustratingly slow. I’m also involved with a group of web designers working in Japan, which is set to become a great support network. As a result of this I hope to team up with someone on backend and do something interesting. There’s also the (slim) possibility of some team freelance work.
Teaching
When the Sharp class finishes my income will take a hit, but hopefully some classes I started recently will help cover this. I still haven’t got many jobs close to home. Hopefully I can find a nearby venue to make another kids class to help that. My other classes are all going pretty well, and I’m generally enjoying the teaching, although disliking all the driving.
Miwa
Miwa is still enjoying her job, but is starting to get restless for a new challenge. Her present ideas are to learn Stone Therapy (reflexology and body massage using heated rocks), and to start her own import company for herbal teas and reflexology supplies. She’s also waiting for her new computer.
She’s started going to the gym regularly (although she’s yet to feel sore from the exercise ;-) We’ve been having fun shopping recently, so she’s been enjoying buying things.
Health
I seem to have recovered from an extended period of being almost sick — not really enough to not work, but enough to annoy me. We suspect the big change recently from extra-humid to extra-dry weather, plus my constant exposure to kids through teaching, was the cause. Miyagawa’s climate change wasn’t as pronounced. Miwa is always healthy — annoyingly so! ;-)
Shopping
We’ve been in internet shopping mode recently, with our electric toothbrush and vacuum cleaner both dying in the last few weeks. We also both have car registration about now, which is extra-painful in Japan (80,000—120,000 yen for two years). However it should be much worse. We were all set to buy a new computer, screen and digital camera. Unfortunately while checking some details with the shop we were looking at, they ran out of stock. Then another one did too. We’ve watched the price for a new computer jump 40,000 yen in 2 weeks, and now that everyone has stock again it still hasn’t fallen. Frustrating! At least everything else we’ve bought has worked out well.
Life
I’m feeling a little sad that our wonderful summer by the beach has come to an end. While the weather has been strange — unusually cold summer, unusually warm autumn, very changeable weather — winter is almost here. Japanese homes don’t tend to have insulation or central heating, so I fear the winter here a litte :) Hopefully we can go hiking a bit more before it gets really cold.
Life is good, despite not being in New Zealand for Gios and Nik’s wedding yesterday. We’re both getting along well, and we’re both super-happy. Sickening isn’t it ;-)
