A Japanese Perspective on Drunk Driving

Drunken drivers, passengers face tougher penalties
Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 15:56 EDT
TOKYO — The Diet enacted an amendment to the road traffic law Thursday to impose tougher penalties on drunken drivers as well as those who provide them with alcohol or vehicles or ride in a car driven by them. Under the revised law, people who drive while intoxicated will face a maximum prison term of five years or a fine of up to 1 million yen, compared with three years or a 500,000 yen fine before the law was revised.

Drivers who are considered to be under the influence of alcohol although their in-take of liquor has not reached a set level deemed to constitute drunkenness will receive a maximum prison term of three years or a maximum fine of 500,000 yen, up from one year or a 300,000 yen fine. The revisions came amid mounting calls for tougher action against drunken driving since a hit-and-run accident last August in Fukuoka Prefecture that was caused by an inebriated driver and resulted in the deaths of three children.

People who provide alcohol to drivers or vehicles to people who are drunk will also be subject to stiffer penalties than they were before the law was revised, when they received only half the penalties imposed on drivers.

People who provide vehicles to persons who are drunk will face the same penalties as the drivers. Anyone who offers alcohol to drivers will face a maximum prison term of three years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen if the driver is intoxicated, or two years or 300,000 yen if the driver is under the influence of alcohol although their liquor in-take is below the set level.

Those who ask a drunken driver for a ride and ride in the vehicle will be subject to the same penalties imposed on those who provide alcohol to a driver.

The penalties for hit-and-run drivers were raised to a prison term of up to 10 years or a fine of up to 1 million yen, up from the previous five years or 500,000 yen.

If a drunken driver causes a hit-and-run accident, the driver will face a maximum prison term of 15 years, compared with seven years and six months under the previous law.


© 2007 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.

Sites I Stumbled Upon

For most of us, the Web is a few favorite websites, regardless how good or bad they be. Oh sure, we search with Google, we get the news from the online paper, we run to wikipedia.org to try to figure this world out, and we religiously check a favorite blog... but for being so infinite it seems like the internet should be, well more.

Enter Stumble Upon. Download the program, fill in the topics that you find enjoyable and then click the Stumble! button in your browser. If you like what you see, you click the thumbs up, if you don't you click the thumbs down. Your opinion helps categorize and rank the internet.

Here's what I've stumbled upon this week:

Typo Dylan (turn your sound on for this one)

Flash Earth - another of the new global map tools; this on combines all the major providers into one. A little slow but worth the quality of Microsoft VE (aerial) which is based on aerial photos instead of satellite photos making for a clearer picture.

Touch Graph - Definitely a geek site for web junkies. Enter a site in the applet and see all the linked sites around the world. Enter "www.cnn.com" for an excellent example.

Ars Moriendi - a much different take on the alphabet poem.

The History of the Internet - very tongue in cheek telling of the history.

Bible Map - another mapping program, this one references locations from scripture to Google Maps. No, the Garden of Eden is not located, but Genesis 49 has Israel, Sidon, and Marme are all links to be clicked and located.

Emergency Numbers - Biblical version of 911

Type in Motion Super Troopers - more comedy, this one from You Tube. Creative and light hearted.

Sketch Swap - creative with a mouse? Have a tablet and an artistic ability? You'll have fun with Sketch swap even if you're as bad as I am. Draw something, click swap, get someone else's sketch in return.

xkcd - a web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. Does include adult topics / humor not suitable for all.

asciimation - ascii is computer coding based on the English Alphabet. Ascii - mation is making moving pictures from ascii. Perhaps you've heard of the walking man? This site takes asciimation to a whole new level... especially good site for Starwars fans.

wildcard - an artistic time waster; very Zen.

eric laboratories - one of my hobbies is photography. This site offers a few neat photo make-overs.

Guerilla Mail - need to give an email address to sign up for an online service but you really don't want the spam you know you'll get? Try a Guerrilla mail box; a disposable email account that only lasts 15 minutes, just long enough to get signed up and receive your password for whatever your doing. Also handy if you're big into espionge.

Poor Pluto - just a really cute image. Exactly what I was thinking when I heard the news.

Lady bug daisy and Ring Heart - a couple of great photos.

Well, that's all for this week. Feel free to share your favorite Stumbles in the comments.

;j

Webucation

Geography wasn't a strong point of mine. This site just goes to prove it. Give it a shot, see how good you are. The good news is that it will only take playing this game about 5 times and you'll be an expert (if you're not already)... and I had to spend a whole year in school to not learn this stuff.

DON'T PANIC!

So I was experiencing my typical "Kanto Krud" as it is called after returning from my most recent trip to the east coast. But it just kept going and going, Energizer Bunny style, so I went to the base hospital. Come to find out my particular brand of Kanto Krud was actually walking pneumonia. As I said, don't panic; Doc gave me a Z-pack and sent me home where I've stayed for the past four days and am now feeling almost 100%.

So besides flirting with gooey phlegm what else has been going on... there was that road trip to the airport and back that I mentioned. It actually went rather well with only two turnarounds the entire trip--both of them occurring at departure (once here, once there). My buddy came in and did his interview with SRF. He should be hearing within the month, but the good news is that he's coming to Japan one way or another because his soon to be wife is getting stationed here. Because I knew him I wasn't on his interview board, but I think he's got a real good chance of getting the position.

Not much else of noteworthiness. My Vonage account is up and running. I'm not going to post the number here of course, but if you want it, email me and I'll send it to you.

I did find a good local supermarket to shop for fish and produce, both of which are much better than at the Commissary (sp?). In fact, I would go so far as to call the fish selection at the Exchange all but pathetic. What is there is severely freezer burned and the overall selection is limited at best. I'm a bit surprised by this; when I was in Hawaii a couple of years back I happened to be in the exchange and there was a large variety of locally harvested fish and Poke (raw fish slathered in herbs and sauces). Yet here in Japan, with some of the worlds most famous fish markets and we're picking through three month frozen catfish and East coast farmed salmon. What gives?

The meat department is adequate and there's a good selection of frozen poultry--though none fresh what-so-ever. As for eggs, these do come from the local market and they're pretty good. I'm not sure where the produce is coming from, but I tend to shop out in town because what I buy tends to not only taste better, but last longer.

In other big news, Lilah is coming to visit me here in Japan at the very end of June through the holiday and then into the start of the next month. Yeah me! After she leaves in July, I'll see her again about a month later when I head to Washington to pack up the household goods, immediately followed by a trip to Dallas Texas for Charity's wedding. Shortly there after I'm heading back to Washington to catch a flight to Japan and Lilah will be following me within 5 to 10 days.
This is a bit of a change from previous plans where we would fly to Japan together; the change is a result of how we're going to get the dogs here and it turns out that the MAC , or military, flights are the better choice. At least that's what we've been told. However, in order to get a MAC flight we have to be flexible on our schedule and unfortunately I can not delay in my return because of work items. So, Lilah will solo with the pups and I'll be there to pick her up and bring her home.

So on to these pictures; by the way, these are all full rez 5MP shots taken with my new camera phone. Click on any one of the photos to get a full size view. Anyway, I've started playing with a collage feature in Picasa. It's not perfect, as you don't really get to place where the photos will lie in the frame and manipulating the background picture is a bit tedious, but it does offer a bit of creativity without too much trouble. The first shot is a collage of the money process to get into the house here in Japan. I had to have Lilah wire me money from our US account to my on base account here in Japan; the next step is to withdrawal that money in Cash and walk across the street where the cost of travellers checks is much cheaper. I don't wire into that bank, Navy Federal Credit, one because it is a much much busier bank and two because they don't disperse yen. Go figure: you're in Japan and you don't disperse the nations currency. Arrogance, through and through. Anyway, after I buy the travellers checks I take them into town to the Bank of Yokohama and buy Yen. Why travellers checks? Typically, the exchange rate is about 5 Yen more than a cash transaction, and when you're buying a million and a half yen, that adds up to a three to four hundred dollar savings.

The second picture is a street shot from Yokosuka, right near the base. The third shot is from a theme clothing shop in Akiabara. The fourth shot is of my favorite Japanese "Junk food" called TakoYaki. It's a ball of cabbage and egg and some sort of dough rolled together in that cast iron egg crate griddle with a chunk of octopus (that's the "Tako" part) in the center. They serve it steaming hot and cover it with mayonnaise and a teriyaki sauce. It's delish!

The next four pictures are: a collage of the house here in Japan, an emergency stop button located right next to the train tracks in Yokohama (it struck me as something we wouldn't trust in the states to be within just any body's reach), the third picture is in front of the mess hall on base on the day they were having lobster, crab, shrimp, and oysters--as you can tell it was a popular day; the fourth picture is taken from a sky bridge over the train tracks at one of the larger stations.

The last four pictures are more randomness: the first is a giant stuffed tortoise for sale at a thrift shop in Yokosuka--I'm almost positive this would be highly illegal in the USA. The second is a twilight shot taken from my Navy Lodge Hotel room. The third is a picture of the 1996 Twin Turbo Subaru Legacy Wagon that I bought for our family vehicle, "with pep". The last photo is of a baby shower cake that I thought was an ingenous idea: it's made from layers of rolled diapers for the baby-to-be and topped with various infant items and toys.

Well, that's all for now.

:j

The Problem with Advertisment

So I just finished Numb3rs, The Janus List, which I think Lilah told me is the season finale. For those of you who are not up to speed on must see TV, this is a CBS show Lilah introduced me to a couple of years back that we both just love.

On the other hand, I'm constantly reading articles about how advertising is failing in mainstream media, how TIVO and Digital Video Recorders are pinching the bottom line because people aren't watching commercials, they're fast forwarding. (The last article I saw was regarding the Neislen Media commercial rating system, just introduced.)

Now to my point of the problem of advertisement; there is a scene in the aforementioned episode of Numb3rs that has one of the main characters wearing what I think is an awesome pair of sunglasses. So awesome in fact that I would like to buy a pair. So I searched the internet, and I searched, and I searched some more, trying to find out the brand of these shades. Nuthing. What is the point of product placement in a show if no one knows what it is your showing? You would think that there would be some sort of list of clothing providers, autos, even home decor from each show at the show's website. I mean, isn't that what the business of Hollywood is all about? Selling stuff?

Sheese.

I Almost Forgot how to Type

Man oh man is it good to be back in the world of connectivity. It's like being paroled after this amazingly long and wrongfully assigned prison sentence--Hey man, don't you know we're all innocent?

So, I'm back amongst the clickers and surfers of society. Am I allowed to visit any website I want to or should I ask Big Boss Man first? So many many things have happened in the time that I've been here in Japan, including going back to America for a two week--three state business trip; admittedly that being one of the larger events.

The first weekend I checked into the Navy Lodge, my wayward home while I was waiting for the housing office to process my paperwork. I'm proud to say that I did NOT take the first house that came along that I mentioned in my last post; Nope, I didn't make that mistake! I took the second house. The first house I looked at was... how do I say this politely... distressed. The house sat on the road, literally. You could spit from the front door on cars that were driving by... You know, if you were the kind of person to spit on passing cars. Not only that, the house was in dire need of attention. I can't remember ever seeing a Japanese house that was this... distressed.

So, I was thinking that this whole house hunting thing was going to be a lot harder than I was hoping, but the rental agent had another house to show me. And Boy Howdy! A world of difference between the two houses. I was in this second house for all of 10 minutes and my mind was made up. It's a smaller house with only three bedrooms. That said, the layout is better, the condition is MUCH better, and I can see us living here for a number of years. And yes, they take pets. SO, while the yard isn't as large as I would hope, there is a yard and we'll be able to give the puppies a little room to run.

Anyway, if not having internet was like doing time, life in the Navy lodge was like doing time in the hole. The three rooms around me were full of very upset toddlers. Fourteen of the sixteen nights I was there I was awaken by a screaming child. A couple of nights it lasted so long I thought I'd better call the front desk because there was an abandoned child in the next room. Grrr! Parents, take care of your children!

There's a ton of other complaints about the Navy lodge; not having air conditioning or a fan or any moving air whatsoever in the rooms being one of the more annoying. If I hadn't already been well along the path of getting a house I'd have been heading back out into town to live in a hotel. Okay, enough pouting on my part.

My second week I spent in Area Orientation Brief / Intercultural relations class. It was a good class and the instructors were all quality. On Thursday they sent us out into the wild to "experience" Japan and play with the train system. I went to Akihabara, the famous electronic district of Japan. It was fun, but surprisingly I left there with my wallet intact and hands empty; I did find one toy that I might look at again the next time I'm there, though.

The last day of Orientation week we had our drivers education class, a six hour course that ends in a 50 question written exam. I passed! But nothing in Japan is without bureaucracy; driving in Japan requires taking a driving practical after which I became a licensed driver for automatic, non-government, passenger cars on Japanese roads. I have to specify "automatic, non-government, passenger cars" because in Japan each type of car or motorcycle gets a new license alla new written exam alla new driving practical. Want to drive a stick? Take another test and get a new license. Want to drive a government vehicle? Yep, another license. Oh, and the motorcycle requires a license and 50 miles of driving on base to earn permission to drive off-base.

Actually, take everything you've ever experienced or read about bureaucracy, roll it into an itty bitty ball the size of a kernel of corn and now place that kernel of corn next to the world record holding giant pumpkin, and the pumpkin would represent the Japanese bureaucracy. Like getting cable television and internet. Let me tell you my story:

It was an interesting experience. It all started one sunny day when I made a phone call to J:Comm to ask for cable in my new residence. Sure, they said, but you'll need to have your landlord sign permission to have the cable installed. "But my house already has cable installed; i can see the outlets in the wall." Yes, but that was for the last resident, you need to get your landlords permission. We'll fax you a form, have it filled out and signed and then fax it back.

After faxing the permission slip back I received a phone call. At last, progress! We spent almost 45 minutes on the phone identifying what I wanted, cable packages, DVR's, Internet speeds, etc. And when would you like us to come out to your house. "Well, I'm heading out of town but you could come over on Memorial Day (they of course don't celebrate that here)." Sure, we'll be there at 3:30; and what day would you like us to come out and install your cable? "Sorry, come again, we just agreed that you would come out on Memorial day at 3:30." No sir, that's the day we're going to come out to discuss your installation. "I'm confused, what did we just spend the last 45 minutes doing?" We will need to come and examine your house to verify your installation. "Couldn't you do that the same day you come to install?" No, you'll have to wait a minimum of three days after our visit.

I won't even go into how to register a car...

So, tomorrow I have yet another great adventure. I'm heading to the airport to pick up an interviewee who I happen to be good friends with. This will be my first solo out of town driving, my first solo through Tokyo, and my first trip back. I'm hoping I won't get too lost. Wish me luck.

:j