As of today, I’ve lived in Japan for two years and nine months, and in that time I’ve done a lot of things: traveled around the country, met interesting people, eaten unidentifiable foods. I’ve lived here for so long, in fact, that I only have two months before they kick my wife and I out. Despite all of the experiences I’ve had in my first 2.75 years, though, I’ve realized that there are roughly one billion things I haven’t done that I need to squeeze into the next 0.25 years.

Many JETs are likely in the same situation. Between working, preparing to leave and trying to enjoy the warm weather before it gets too warm, lots of folks are finding their schedules filling up fast. For some, this isn’t a problem; they just go with the proverbial flow and do what they can, when they can. Me, I’m a planner, so I’m making lists and marking calendars to make sure I get everything done. You might remember that I’m also a technophile, so many of my lists and calendars exist only as bits on my computer.

One item on my current to-do list is “write article about electronic organization.” Since I love checking things off of lists as much as I love putting them on, here’s a quick survey of some of the tools I’ve used (or have looked into using) to keep myself at least marginally organized in my last few months here. Not every tool will work for every JET, but one or two may fit your needs well enough to make sure you don’t miss anything important before you leave. (If you’re not leaving in July, I suppose you could use these tools, too; just don’t go bragging to me about the free time you have on your Google Calendar from all the not-packing-boxes you’re doing).

Desktop calendars

Twenty years ago “desktop calendars” were huge pads of paper that went on actual, physical desktops and were generally unusable thanks to the heaps of notebooks, pencils and half-eaten sandwiches people would throw on top of them. Today, desktop calendars reside on computer desktops and, while many still find them unusable, it’s for entirely different reasons.

Most modern desktop calendar applications offer similar features. At the very least, they let you type in appointments and to-do lists and sort your tasks in a number of different ways (e.g. by day, by month, in “agenda” mode). More advanced calendars have slick options like built-in searching, syncing with PDAs or mobile phones and the ability to share your schedule with others. Since they live on your computer, all desktop calendars have the disadvantage of not being very portable; if you want to see what’s on your plate for the day, you generally have to be in front of your computer. On the other hand, you usually have more control over a desktop calendar than a web-based one–a nice perk for those who like things to look and work just so.

If you use a Mac, you probably use iCal and could care less if any other programs existed. For the rest of us, there’s a variety of desktop calendars available.

• Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft Outlook is the desktop calendar/email client/address book of middle managers and bureaucrats everywhere. It also costs a lot more that “nothing,” and thus probably isn’t appealing to most JETs.
• Chandler. Chandler is an “experimentally usable calendar for individuals and small workgroups.” Translation: the program is still under development but works well enough to be used every day. Experimental though it may be, Chandler still lets you tweak your agenda with support for managing multiple calendars in multiple timezones. Chandler is also free.
• Sunbird. Created by the same people who brought you Firefox and Thunderbird, Sunbird (see the naming pattern yet?) is a calendar that, like Chandler, is still being developed. Also like Chandler, it is free and still very usable right now (even if it doesn’t have all the features of something like iCal).
• Rainlendar. Rainlendar is my desktop calendar of choice (and I have the screenshot to prove it). I don’t need all that fancy-schmancy searching and sharing, I just want a lightweight calendar that lets me quickly enter appointments and to-dos while I’m at my computer. Rainlendar is all that and free to boot.

Web-based calendars

Unlike desktop calendars, web-based calendars reside on some giant web server (probably somewhere in California) and are accessed using your favorite web browser. Web-based calendars have the major advantage of being usable from anywhere you can access the web, but they often lack the more advanced features found in their desktop counterparts. What they do share with desktop calendars, though, is the fact that, again, they all let you do pretty much the same thing: keep a calendar. Which web-based calendar you use is a pretty much a matter of taste, then (I’m a Google Calendar man myself, at least for now). All of the calendars mentioned below are free.

• Google Calendar. Google, not content with controlling the huge chunk of the internet it already does, released a web-based calendar to pretty rave reviews a few months ago. Google Calendar sports a lot of nifty calendar features (multiple calendars, sharing) as well as some advanced options that let you be a calendar pro.
• Yahoo! Calendar. Yahoo! Calendar works a lot like Google Calendar, except that every time I write about Yahoo! Calendar I have to type that annoying exclamation point. It is handy if you use other Yahoo! services, like Yahoo! Mail, since you can log into everything at once.
• 30 Boxes. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out why 30 Boxes was named “30 Boxes.” See, there are 30 day boxes on most monthly calendar pages, and “Usually 30 Boxes But Sometimes 31 Or Very Rarely 28 Or 29″ is a bit long. At any rate 30 Boxes is another web-based calendar that works a lot like any other web-based calendar and also lets you keep track of your favorite blogs at the same time.
• Kiko. Kiko touts itself as a “dead simple calendar” that may be even easier to use than paper. I don’t know about that, but it does have a ton of bells and whistles for you to play with.

Online organizers

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m kind of an organization addict. Sometimes calendars, desktop, web-based or otherwise, just aren’t enough for me. Sometimes I need a handy web application that lets me create simple pages to organize all of my information on a certain subject–like lists of and notes on all the materials and applications I had to submit when I was applying to graduate schools last winter.

Luckily for me, a company named 37signals was created a few years ago and has given me exactly what I need. If personal information management was a drug, they would be my dealer of choice. 37signals has a couple of products I’ve used before and really liked; both are free to use on a limited basis and upgradeable for a fee if you want to do more with them.

• Backpack. Backpack lets you create simple web pages with lists, links and notes to gather your thoughts on almost anything (here’s a screenshot of my Backpack page for SagaJET, for instance). Backpack if very well suited to tasks like organizing research or taking notes.
• Ta-da Lists. Ta-Da Lists are like Backpack, Jr. All you can do with Ta-Da Lists is make to-do lists, but sometimes that’s all you need.

The old-fashioned way

Just like grunge rock was born out of the hair bands of the 80s, techies everywhere are beginning to abandon their computers and going back to paper and pen to keep themselves organized. Of course, being techies, they’ve created names and systems and templates to make plain white paper look and act as much like a computer as possible.

Paper and pen methods offer a lot of advantages over computer calendars: they are portable, customizable and have no learning curve. Kind of makes me wonder why I rambled on about all those other methods.

• Hipster PDA. The Hipster PDA is basically any small bunch of papers you can carry anywhere with you. I use a Hipster made of note cards, but others prefer mini-notebooks or simple pads of paper. The thing that makes a Hipster more than a “small bunch of papers” is how you use it: divide it into sections (like to-do lists, weekly schedules and project planners) and fill those sections with templates suited to each task and you’ve got yourself a PDA without the digital.
• D*I*Y Planner. The Hipster is not the be all and end all of non-digital organizers. Enthusiasts have created a whole website dedicated to organizing your life with nothing more than paper and pen. The site also features D*I*Y templates for your Hipster PDA if that’s the way you swing.
• Printable calendars. All of the above methods sound too trendy for you? Thumb your nose at all the Hipster hipsters, print yourself some good, old-fashioned, blank calendars.

(Note: This week’s “Hi, Tech” is brought to you by Arita JET Sergio Pena, whose well-timed article on computer security saved me from having to dream up something to write about this week. Also, there will be no “Hi, Tech” next week because of the Golden Week holidays. If a “Hi, Tech” is written and no one is around to read it, is it really written? — Nicholas)

Computer security. These two words echo throughout the internet, but do you really know what they mean? Sure, you might have heard about viruses, spam, identity theft and the like, but do you know how to protect yourself and your beloved computer from the cesspool that is the internet? In this article, I hope to establish a baseline definition of certain terms and to enlighten you on this very important — but often overlooked — aspect of technology.

Let’s start off with the basics, shall we?

The basics

Following definitions taken from Wikipedia.

• Computer Security. Computer security is a field of computer science concerned with the control of risks related to computer use.
• Computer Virus. In computer security technology, a virus is a self-replicating/self-reproducing-automation program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents. A computer virus behaves in a way similar to a biological virus, which spreads by inserting itself into living cells. Extending the analogy, the insertion of a virus into the program is termed as an “infection”, and the infected file (or executable code that is not part of a file) is called a “host.” Viruses are one of the several types of malicious software, or malware.
• Computer Worm. A computer worm is a self-replicating computer program, similar to a computer virus. A virus attaches itself to, and becomes part of, another executable program; however, a worm is self-contained and does not need to be part of another program to propagate itself. They are often designed to exploit the file transmission capabilities found on many computers. The main difference between a computer virus and a worm is that a virus cannot propagate by itself whereas worms can. A worm uses a network to send copies of itself to other systems, and it does so without any intervention. In general, worms harm the network and consume bandwidth, whereas viruses infect or corrupt files on a targeted computer. Viruses generally do not affect network performance, as their malicious activities are mostly confined within the target computer itself.
• Trojan Horse. In the context of computer software, a Trojan horse is a malicious program that is disguised as legitimate software. The term is derived from the classical myth of the Trojan Horse. They may look useful or interesting (or at the very least harmless) to an unsuspecting user, but are actually harmful when executed. Often the term is shortened to simply “trojan,” even though this turns the adjective into a noun, reversing the myth (Greeks were gaining malicious access, not Trojans). There are two common types of Trojan horses. One is otherwise useful software that has been corrupted by a cracker inserting malicious code that executes while the program is used. Examples include various implementations of weather alerting programs, computer clock setting software and peer to peer file sharing utilities. The other type is a standalone program that masquerades as something else, like a game or image file, in order to trick the user into some misdirected complicity that is needed to carry out the program’s objectives.
• Malware. Malware is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s consent. The term is a portmanteau of “mal-” (or perhaps “malicious”) and “software,” and describes the intent of the creator rather than any particular features. Malware is commonly taken to include computer viruses, Trojan horses, spyware and adware. Malware is sometimes pejoratively called scumware.

History

After the first computers (Post ENIAC) were rolled out and programming languages evolved from their humble punch card origins, people began to play around with the programs as pranks or jokes, or out of boredom. At first they were benign, such as silly messages and the like, but soon after more malicious intents were translated into computer code. A program called “Elk Cloner” is credited with being the first computer virus to appear “in the wild” — that is, outside the single computer or lab where it was created. Written in 1982 by Rich Skrenta, it attached itself to the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system and spread by floppy disk.
The first PC virus was a boot sector virus called (c)Brain, created in 1986 by two brothers, Basit and Amjad Farooq Alvi, operating out of Lahore, Pakistan. The brothers reportedly created the virus to deter pirated copies of software they had written. However, analysts have claimed that the Ashar virus, a variant of Brain, possibly predated it based on code within the virus. As computers became more commonplace, more viruses were written. As computers evolved, so did viruses.

What can I do to protect myself?

In order to guard yourself against evil minded folks and the casual bored hacker, you need to educate yourself more about how and why these exploits happen. However, since computer security, much like legalese, has quite a bit of slang, jargon and geek-speak, it is difficult for the average person to understand just what is going on. I hope to explain these meanings to you in non-geek, but since I come from a computer science background, I hope you bear with my attempts.

Get a decent anti-virus. Much like getting inoculated, a decent anti-virus package will help protect and clean your computer system should it get infected. Many, many anti-virus companies are out there selling some great products.

• Symantec/Norton
• McAfee
• Trend Micro/PCCillin
• Panda Anti-Virus

There are a lot more anti-virus programs suggested by Microsoft.

However, if you want a free antivirus software package, try Freebyte’s listings of antivirus programs.

Get a decent firewall. What is a firewall? A firewall is a piece of hardware and/or software which functions in a networked environment to prevent some communications forbidden by the security policy, analogous to the function of firewalls in building construction. A firewall has the basic task of controlling traffic between different zones of trust. Typical zones of trust include the internet (a zone with no trust) and an internal network (a zone with high trust, i.e. LAN). The ultimate goal is to provide controlled connectivity between zones of differing trust levels through the enforcement of a security policy and connectivity model based on the least privilege principle.

There are many commercial and free firewall programs out there. Check out Freebyte for a list of free firewalls.

(Note: If you use file sharing programs such as bittorrent, you need to have the firewall allow access to its ports. For bittorrent, these are ports usually 6881-6889. Check your firewall’s manual on how to open ports for these programs. However, try not to open too many ports as that will leave a welcome mat for hackers. Check out PortForward for more information.)

I personally use Zone Alarm Pro on überparanoid settings in addition to the firewall provided by my school and my home network.

Get a decent anti-malware program. I cannot stress this enough. Many websites have evil things lurking in their seemingly docile code that can install programs on your computer without you knowing it. Even programs that look harmless, such as those smileys, weather forecasts, etc., potentially might be malware. Check out PCWorld’s favorite selection.

These are the basic steps I would suggest you Microsoft Windows users follow. You Linux and Mac guys should be careful too, especially since Linux/Mac attacks are on the rise.

Get a decent web browser. Nicholas posted previously on excellent web browsers that are free to boot. I personally use Firefox 1.5.0.2 with the following extensions: NoScript, AdBlock, AdBlock Filterset.G, and Flashblock.

Beyond the basics

For those who are computer savvy and would like extra protection, I will lead you. (Linux and Windows users only, I don’t have a Mac so I can’t write about it. Since Mac OS X is based on FreeBSD, I would suggest you read up on FreeBSD security implementation and optimization.)

Windows

For the über paranoid (me) or those who have something to hide or protect, I would suggest implementing NIST Computer Securing Templates. The Small Business/Personal templates with some modifications should suit your needs. This also involves using separate accounts (Administrator for installing and management, User for daily use) thus reducing the likelihood of installing crap or being infected. I would also suggest before full implementation to use a virtualization program such as VMWare, etc., to play around with these templates until you get the hang of it.

Linux

I have used Gentoo Linux, but I assume it’s the same on all distros. Implement the SELinux (hardened Linux) policies and kernel and using separate accounts, as mentioned above. Before full implementation, use virtualization and sandbox to test, test, test!

Windows, Linux, Mac

Edit your HOSTS file to reduce crap from loading on your computer. I suggest HpHOSTS hosts file. Over 40,000 web pages blocked for your convenience. I would suggest, however, finding which sites you visit and searching through this file to see if they are blocked, as some legitimate sites may link to these (very rare though). The installation is quite simple, and the forum is also quite helpful.

All in all, this was a rather short article, but I hope I have pointed out a few things to help you guys out. If you have any questions, post them on the forum and my fellow computer nerds or myself will answer them.

I’m freshly back from a four-day trip to Kyoto with my wife and our aforementioned visitor. Being in Kyoto, the epitome of beautiful Japanese cities, we did what any good tourists should do: take loads of pictures. Pictures of temples. Pictures of deer. Pictures of deer at temples.

We took so many pictures, in fact, that our guest’s digital camera gave out on the last day of our trip. One minute it was chugging away, and the next minute it was refusing to retract its lens or focus (important things for a digital camera to do). Luckily for our guest, her camera (like the three of us) just needed a break; it started working again the next day.

For that one day her camera was broken, though, our guest was seriously considering buying a replacement. She was in the right place–digital cameras in Japan are probably the smallest, coolest and pinkest in the world. I was of course only too happy to help her do a little research on what kind of camera was best for her. Since she ended up not needing a new camera, and since I can’t let good research go wasted, allow me to pass my thoughts on buying a digital camera on to you.

The usual caveat

Remember in my article on buying the right computer when I said no one computer was right for everybody and you had to “buy the computer you need”? The same holds true for digital cameras. While there are fewer digital camera models on the market than there are computers, there’s still literally hundreds of cameras to choose from. The best way to get a camera you’ll be happy with is to take a few minutes to figure out how you will use your camera. Questions like:

• What will you use the camera for? (Taking snapshots? Taking professional quality portraits?)
• Where will you take the camera? (Everywhere you go? Just on special trips?)
• What will you do with the photos you take? (Put them online? Print them?)
• What accessories will you use the camera with? (Tripod? Other lenses?)
• What kind of media will you store the photos on in the camera? (Do you have old SD cards around? How about CF?)
• What kind of batteries do you want to use? (Standard AA batteries? Camera-specific batteries?)

What to look for

Once you’ve answered questions like those above, you’re ready to start matching your needs with the available features. That list of “available features” is pretty vast, though; here are some options you’ll want to consider and how each option fits with what you need in a camera.

• SLR vs. point-and-shoot. The first decision you need to make is whether you want a digital SLR (single lens reflex) or a digital point-and-shoot. (You want a film camera you say? What is this “film” you speak of?) SLRs are the kinds of cameras you see professionals carrying around–the kinds with big bodies and giant lenses. They take very high quality photos and give you complete control over functions like f-stop and timing, but are also hard to carry around and cost a small fortune. Point-and-shoots, on the other hand, are what everyone else carries around and are usually box-shaped. Quality of point-and-shoot photos ranges from mediocre to pretty good and composition controls are sometimes limited, but they are small and affordable enough for anyone to take anywhere. Unless you’re planning to make money from your photos, a nice point-and-shoot should suit your needs.
• Size. I remember back in the day, when I was walking uphill to school both ways, digital cameras were the size of my head and stored photos on floppy disks. Times have changed: today’s cameras are usually smaller than my hand, and in this case, smaller is definitely better. My advice is to get the smallest camera you can that has all of the other features you want and feels comfortable in your hands.
• Speed. The biggest complaint I have with my current, sadly outdated camera is how slow it is. I’ve missed many a good shot waiting for the thing to turn on or to take a photo after I’ve pressed the shutter button. Today’s cameras generally work much faster, but not all are equal: the best way to compare is to go to an electronics store and play around with the display models. Failing that, check out the test stats on cameras you’re thinking of buying (links to those are below) and aim for something with a startup time of under one second and the shortest shutter lag (time between pressing the button and taking the picture) you can find.
• Megapixels. Pixels are the tiny, tiny dots that make up a digital photo. The more pixels your camera is capable of recording, the more detailed your photos will be. When you hear that a camera takes “seven megapixel photos,” then, that means its photos are composed of seven million little points. The number of megapixels you need in a camera depends on what you will do with your photos. If you plan to mostly view your photos online or on your computer and occasionally print out a 3×5 snapshot to send home, you’ll be fine with four to five megapixels. If, on the other hand, you want to retouch, enlarge or publish books of your photos, go higher.
• Modes. Most compact digital cameras come with several modes that let you take pictures in a variety of conditions: low light, up close or with different depths of focus. These modes are all just preprogrammed combinations of different f-stop, timing and flash values. If you don’t really know what “depth of focus,” “f-stop” or “timing” are, a camera’s preprogrammed modes will be all you need. If you do know what all of those words mean (or think you might learn someday), get a camera with aperture priority, shutter priority and full manual modes.
• Zoom. The cardinal rule of photography is “get close, then get closer.” In other words, the best photos are usually ones where the subject takes up most of the frame, and nothing helps fill the frame like a good zoom lens. I’d recommend a camera with at least a 3x optical zoom, although more zoom will make for better photography. Don’t be fooled by cameras that advertise “3x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom”; all digital zoom does is electronically magnify the photo, trading a closer shot for a serious degradation in image quality. The first thing I did when I got my camera was turn off the digital zoom, and it hasn’t been back on since.
• Storage format. Storage media is to a digital camera what film is to a film camera: a place to keep your photos until you have them downloaded (or “developed” as they called it back in the day). Most of today’s digital cameras will use one of three kinds of storage media: Secure Digital cards (SD cards), Compact Flash cards (CF cards) or, if your camera is made by Sony, Sony Memory Sticks. All of these formats will work equally well for a non-techie. If you have CF cards, SD cards or Memory Sticks around from a music player, old digital camera or handheld gaming device, by all means get a new camera that can reuse those media. Also, do yourself a favor and splurge on a big memory card/stick; half the fun of having a digital camera is being able to take 500 pointless pictures at a time.
• Batteries. Batteries work the same way as storage media: different cameras use different kinds. Some use standard AA batteries, others use rechargeable units that only fit that camera. Before you decide on a camera model, check the review sites below to make sure that, whatever kind of battery the camera uses, it lets you take more than a few hundred pictures before needing a recharge.
• Screen and viewfinder. If lack of speed is the biggest shortfall of my current camera, its tiny screen ranks a close second. Since you’ll probably be checking your photos on your camera as you take them, look for a model that won’t make you squint to see your snapshots. Models with 2.5-inch screens give you plenty of room to review your work. Also, ignore the path camera manufactures are starting to go down and look for a camera with an optical viewfinder (that little hole you look through to compose your pictures). There are lots of cameras on the market that make you compose your shots using the screen; I find doing it that way leads to more shaking and blurrier pictures.
• Holes. The optical viewfinder isn’t the only important hole on a digital camera. All cameras have a port that lets you connect the camera to your computer, usually via a USB cable. Look for connections that let you hook up your camera to a TV for photo and video playback or to a tripod for stable shooting if either of those things is important to you.
• Language. One important note about buying a camera in Japan: unless you want to be perpetually confused, make sure the model you get lets you choose the language you went menus and commands displayed in. Also, if the manual you get with your camera is all in Japanese, you can usually find other versions on the manufacturer’s website.

Other resources

As much as I’d like to believe otherwise, I’m certainly no expert on digital cameras. Lots of people are experts, though, and they have websites to prove it. The following sites are worth a look when you’re considering buying a new camera; they have subjective reviews, objective stats and lots and lots of pretty pictures.

• CNET’s digital camera reviews
• Digital Camera Resource Page
• Steve’s Digicams

Astute readers might have noticed that there was no “Hi, Tech” last week. Apologizes for not writing, but I had a really good reason, I swear. My wife and I are playing hosts to a friend from college, and we’ve been busy doing out host duties, like showing our guest the local sites (i.e. big trees and tiny cars) and helping her avoid accidentally eating raw horse.

All the hosting has (a) put me in a very travel agent-y frame of mind and (b) not left me with much time to plan a proper article. I didn’t want to let my writing muscles atrophy any more than they already have by skipping another week, though (some days I can barely string two words together as it is), so this week I’ve gone with my newfound fondness for planning other people’s trips and pulled together a collection of sites that may be useful the next time you have a visitor.

None of these sites are particularly obscure and you could probably find most of them after 30 seconds on Blingo (which may or may not be how I found some of them). Still, it might be nice to have them collected in one place for easy access the next time you’re looking to distract your visitors with something other than your tales of bravely facing six classes of elementary school students in one day.

General

Coming to Japan for the first time can be scary. Remember when you first got here and didn’t know why there were slippers in public bathrooms? Chances are your guests aren’t going to know things like that, either, and that you don’t have the time to write them a six-page email explaining all of Japan’s quirks. Luckily other people have explained the basics of visiting Japan for you, and all you have to do is send your future visitors a few links to make sure they don’t get themselves deported before you can pick them up at the airport.

Lonely Planet Japan

Lonely Planet, makers of many a paperback guidebook, also has a website with information on every country they cover. Not surprisingly, the (free) website contains only a fraction of the information in the (not free) guidebooks, but it does cover the basics pretty well. Perhaps more helpful are the Lonely Planet Japan Bluelists, where Lonely Planet readers can make suggestions of things to see and do that might not get covered anywhere else.

Wikitravel’s Overview of Japan

You’ve probably heard of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that is written and edited by its users. Wikitravel works just like Wikipedia, only all of its articles focus on world travel. Wikitravel’s Japan section is huge and all-encompassing: it contains all the general Japan info a visitor could want, as well as links to more in-depth articles. It also puts my humble little guide to shame, but I’ll try not to let that bruise my ego too much.

Tourism and Sightseeing

As painful as it is to accept, your visitors might want to do more while they’re in Japan than just see you. I know, it’s insulting, but you have to rise above it, be a good host and help them have the Japan adventure they’re hoping for. Or you could just point them to some website and go back to brooding on why anyone wouldn’t want to spend all of their time with you.

About.com’s Guide to Visiting Japan

Like most other About.com sections, this guide offers a wide variety of recommendations and resources for tourists coming to Japan. It may not contain the most insightful or in-depth information, but the guide is at least edited by a real human being and is frequently updated.

JapanGuide.com

JapanGuide.com, as one might expect, is a guide to Japan. It has info on all the tourist hot spots in the country as well as many out of the way places like national parks and local museums. It also has information on living in Japan, although it’s nothing you won’t figure out after a couple of months as a JET. Sadly, JapanGuide.com fails the “Saga test,” having a measly one line of information on my beloved prefecture.

Japan National Tourist Organization

I’ve mentioned the JNTO site before, but it’s worth writing about again here, if only because it passes the “Saga test” with four whole paragraphs on my home. Four! That’s approximately one paragraph for every non-Japanese restaurant in the prefecture.

Hotels

Sometimes, when your six tatami apartment isn’t big enough to hold you andyour parents, or when your guests are traveling to places not near your home, you need to find a decent hotel. Sadly, many decent hotels in Japan are either outrageously expensive or booked five years in advance. There are some good deals out there (”out there” meaning “not found through Japanese travel agents”), though, if you know where to look.

JapanHotel.net

JapanHotel.net is a database of hotels, inns and ryokans all over Japan. You can search for lodgings by area, read about each accommodation (including room rates) and book online if you find something you like. You can find some nice bargains if your guests are up for staying in a basic Japanese style room. I just used this site to book a room in Kyoto during cherry blossom season, so it gets my recommendation.

Rakutan Travel

Rakutan Travel works just like JapanHotel.net only with different hotels. Again, deals can be had with a little hunting.

Ryokan Reservations

If your rich aunt and uncle are coming to visit you rather than your friend in the Peace Corps, they might want to try a night or two in a ryokan, the Japanese guest houses that often feature swanky hot spring baths and elaborate meals. JapanGuestHouses.com can help you make reservations at a number of ryokans across the country, although it’s not cheap: visitors can expect to pay anywhere from 7000 to 70,000 yen per person for the chance to stay at one of these places.

Language

Visitors to Japan will get further with a few Japanese words and phrases in their vocabularies than without. These sites cover basics like “do you speak English,” “where is the bathroom?” and “no blowfish, please.” (Fine, so maybe they don’t cover that last one, but I still think it’s important.)

Wikitravel’s Japanese phrasebook

Wikitravel’s wonders never cease. Not only do they have that huge sections on what to see and where to go in Japan, they also have a nice little phrasebook so visitors don’t get lost in all the seeing and going. The phrasebook is very nicely written using both Japanese characters and the Western alphabet.

About.com’s Guide to the Japanese Language

This About.com guide is written for both students (or wanna-be students/anime fans) of Japanese and visitors alike and thus covers a pretty wide range of topics. The audio files can be helpful to tourists looking to pick up a little spoken Japanese.

Trains

Japan could be hit with the apocolypse itself and still the trains would run on time. This punctuality makes traveling by train an excellent choice for visitors, and the all-powerful JR Rail Pass can make it semi-affordable, too. All of the following links go to the various regional Japan Railways sites, which contain not only train information but also local sightseeing advice.

JR Hokkaido

Covers all of Hokkaido, that big island all the way up north.

JR East

Covers the Tohoku region of Japan, including Tokyo.

JR Central

Covers central Japan, including Nagoya and the bullet train line from Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka.

JR West

Covers the Kansai region including Kyoto and Osaka.

JR Shikoku

Covers all of Shikoku, the island everyone forgets about.

JR Kyushu

Covers all of Kyushu, the not-so-big island all the way down south.

It’s only a few days away from the beginning of April and a new Japanese school year. If you’re one of the lucky few who are allowed to take secret spring break vacation, count your blessings. Otherwise, you’re probably trapped at your school or office being forced to either look busy or help with spring cleaning. Or, if you are my wife, you’re doing both at the same time: her spring cleaning chore was to lug two dozen old computers down a flight of stairs and then lug them back up after she was done. Seriously.

Since I’m not a JET, I’ve been spared pointless computer lugging, but I do have some tidying up to do. I’ve been hoarding a collection of links that, until now, haven’t fit in any of my previous articles. I might as well join with the spring cleaners and take care of those links here. Enjoy.

• Much to my delight and surprise, a few people other than my mom have emailed me to say they have actually been reading “Hi, Tech.” One reader also asked a good question in his email. He, like me, comes across useful content on the web every so often and was wondering about ways to save that content (even if it later disappears into the internet abyss). I recommend Ma.gnolia for the job. Ma.gnolia is one of those new-fangled “social bookmarking” services like del.icio.us that are apparently required to have nonsensical names. Don’t let the weird name fool you, though; Ma.gnolia is a very well done site that lets you bookmark any web page you want and then access and share that bookmark online. Best of all, Ma.gnolia saves to their servers a copy of any page you mark, so you’ll always have a copy.
• Last week I wrote about my five favorite pieces of free (”as in beer”) software. That article barely scratched the surface of all the free software out there. If you want more, Tech Support Alert has a giant, frequently updated list of the best free software.
• 

  Another update from a previous article, this one from three weeks ago on news feeds. Since then, a company called Square Eight has released Alertbear, a new and interesting feed reader. Most feed readers display your news feeds like email; Alertbear takes a different approach and displays them as “a river of news.” That’s not what caught my attention, though–I think Alertbear’s logo is its best feature. Look at it. A bear! Jiggling the “news feed” icon! Adorable! All that cuteness, and Alertbear is still free.

• I recently installed Microsoft’s Clear Type Power Toy on my Windows XP computer, and it might be the greatest tweak I’ve ever made. Windows machines are notoriously bad at displaying type: on the screen most fonts look jagged, pixel-y and nothing like their printed counterparts. The Clear Type Power Toy fixes Windows’ font problems by applying lots of computer magic to smooth on screen type. Having realistically rendered fonts is a major benefit for doing some of the design work I do, but it’s also advantageous for anyone who appreciates aesthetics. After installing and configuring the clear type tool (you can fine-tune the look of fonts to fit your taste), it takes a couple of days to adjust to the way text looks on your screen, but once you get used to it, you’ll never go back. Microsoft also offers a number of other “Power Toys” for you to play with (as long as you computer is running Windows XP).
• Finally, a note on a semi-new search engine. I used to use Google for all of my searching needs, but if there was one thing Google was missing, it was the chance for me to win fabulous prizes. Blingo fills in that gap quite nicely. Blingo is powered by Google, so you’ll see the same results using either search engine, but with Blingo, search at a “winning time,” and you get a prize like an iPod or a gift card. Really there’s no reason not to switch, unless you’re one of those people who like not getting free prizes. Update: Turns out there is a good reason not to switch. The comment below got me wondering, so I emailed Blingo to ask if one could win a prize from Japan. They sent a rather curt email back telling me that one must be a “US **resident** to win a prize on Blingo.” So no more recommending Blingo for me.

In the world of computer applications, there are three kinds of free software, and three weird catch phrases that always go with them. Software can be “free as in beer,” “free as in speech” or “free as in illegal.” Technically I made that last catch phrase up, but does it sound any worse than “free as in beer”?

Software that’s “free as in speech” also goes by the name “open source software.” These programs are written by computing do-gooders who believe that the code used to power their programs (called the “source code”) should be available to the public to encourage collaboration and innovation. It’s actually a pretty noble idea, made even nobler by the fact that most “free as in speech” software also costs nothing to use.

Software that’s “free as in illegal,” on the other hand, is the kind that usually isn’t free but can be not-really-legally downloaded via file sharing programs and used with hacked or stolen registration keys. Downloading this software has the advantage of giving you a free copy of sometimes very pricey programs as long as you don’t mind (a) the off chance of getting hit with a big fine and (b) the horrible, horrible guilt of being a software pirate, matey. Okay, so the guilt isn’t that bad, but there’s usually at least a little twinge of remorse involved.

The final category of free software, the kind that’s strangely been dubbed “free as in beer,” is my favorite. This is the kind that’s available completely legally and completely free. Much of this software is also open source, so people nerdier than myself can marvel at all the source code then can handle. The best part about “free as in beer” software, though, is how far its come since the term “free as in beer” was coined. A lot of these free applications are advanced enough to rival their costlier cousins. Free software has gotten so usable, in fact, that I often prefer it to purchased software.

Since a computer is only as useful as the software you have on it, here are five “free as in beer” programs that will make your computer really, really useful without costing you a single yen.

Firefox

If I had to guess, I’d say at least half of the time I’m at my computer I’m doing something on the web. I might actually die if I didn’t have a good web browser that could do everything I needed it to do.

Firefox, then, is kind of a lifesaver for me. Almost all modern browsers are free and have the same basic functionality (and by “modern browsers” I mean “not Internet Explorer,” which is currently about four years out of date), but I only have eyes for Firefox. The Mozilla Foundation, makers of Firefox (along with the also excellent email client Thunderbird), actively encourage outside developers to contribute to the browser, and that encouragement has led to the creation of hundreds of Firefox enhancements.

These enhancements come in the forms of extensions and themes. Extensions are little programs you can add on to Firefox (with a wonderfully simple “extensions manager”) to make the browser do almost anything you could want (like block ads or run faster). Similarly, themes are little packages you can download to make Firefox look almost any way you like.

Bottom line: Firefox is the most useful and most used piece of software I own, and it cost me nothing.

Making it more useful

Many Firefox extensions and themes let you customize the browser to your liking. The Greasemonkey extension out-customizes them all away. Greasemonkey lets you download “user scripts” that can change the look and behavior of individual websites. Don’t like the way Google looks? Annoyed by how Amazon works? Greasemonkey lets you change all of that and more. And, if you know a little JavaScript, you can write your own Greasemonkey scripts.

Links

• Learn more about Firefox
• Download Firefox
• Download extensions and themes
• Learn more about Greasemonkey

OpenOffice.org

The most popular suite of office applications, Microsoft Office, is a bloated piece of software that gets in your way, tries to do too much and ends up doing nothing well. That description fits OpenOffice.org, too, but at least it doesn’t charge $300 to annoy you.

OpenOffice.org is free office suite that comes with all the basic components: word processor, spreadsheet program, database manager and presentation creator. In fact, it works a lot like any other office suite you’ve used, so its learning curve is pretty shallow. OpenOffice.org is also capable of opening almost any file created in any other office suite you’ve ever used, which makes switching pretty painless.

Bottom line: If you need an office suite but don’t want to pay for it, give OpenOffice.org a try.

Making it more useful

OpenOffice.org does do a pretty good job of opening up files created by other applications, including template files. Microsoft has lots and lots of Office template files online for you to download for free, some of which can help you whip up worksheets or resumes in a snap. See where I’m going with this?

Links

• Learn more about OpenOffice.org
• Download OpenOffice.org
• Microsoft Office templates

GIMP

Professional quality image editing programs are some of the most expensive applications on the market; a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS2 will set you back about $650. Granted, for that money you get the power to completely erase your annoying little brother from the family photo and complete any other “professional” image manipulation you can think of, but $650 is still a lot of money.

If you’re just looking to erase annoying little brothers and not worried about getting every professional image editing bell and whistle, try the GIMP. The GIMP, short for “GNU Image Manipulation Program,” is a free image editor that does most everything amateur photographers and graphic designers need (and a lot of what pros need, too). And costing zero dollars, its much more affordable than the competition.

Bottom line: It’s not ready for the pros yet, but GIMP will do 90 percent of the things 90 percent of Photoshop users need.

Making it more useful

I’ve used Photoshop since high school and have gotten pretty accustomed to its user interface in that time. I can flatten images in my sleep. GIMP, however, uses a very different interface, making it hard for Photoshop users to switch over. Longtime Photoshop user Scott Moschella fixed that problem by using GIMP’s source code to create GIMPshop, a program that works like GIMP but looks like Photoshop. GIMPshop makes switching from Photoshop easier if that’s what you’re used to. GIMPshop is free, too.

Links

• Learn more about GIMP
• Download GIMP
• GIMPshop

Picasa

If I had been smart enough to write a piece of software to manage my digital photo collection, I would have created an exact replica of Picasa. Now released by Google, Picasa lets you import, sort, edit and share your photos. It’s the little things that make me like Picasa so much, like how it remembers which photos I’ve already imported from my camera (so I don’t waste time re-importing them) and tells me which ones I still need to back up to CD or DVD.

Bottom line: I know I sound like an advertisement, but Picasa really does make managing your photo library a breeze.

Making it more useful

Picasa’s usefulness is pretty much all built-in; check out the support page to find out everything you can use the program for.

Links

• Learn more about Picasa
• Download Picasa
• Everything you can do with Picasa

Scribus

ALTs make a lot of worksheets, and some of them I’ve seen have been, well, less than beautiful. I’m not saying that a worksheet needs to be pretty to be effective, but it doesn’t hurt. And to make a good worksheet, you need the right tools.

Microsoft’s Word or OpenOffice.org’s Writer are not those tools. To make a really good worksheet, you need the freedom you find in a desktop publishing program. My wife, the worksheet queen, uses Adobe InDesign, but that’s only because she already had a copy of it on her computer; most JETs aren’t going to shell out $699 just to spiffy up their worksheets.

Scribus is a free alternative to software like InDesign. As in the case of Photoshop vs. GIMP, Scribus won’t do everything the professional desktop publishing applications will, but it should get the job done for any non-pro. (Full disclosure: I’ve never actually used Scribus before, but I’ve read good things about it).

Bottom line: Break the Word worksheet habit and give Scribus a try.

Making it more useful

The makers of Scribus have a nice collection of online documentation, including a page of tips and tricks to make better documents faster in Scribus.

Links

• Learn more about Scribus
• Download Scribus
• Scribus tips and tricks

When I first came to Japan from America, everything was new and exciting. Signs were unreadable! Food was raw and fishy! Cars drove on the left side of the road! I was living in a different country for the first time, and it was great.

My enthusiasm lasted for a couple of months, and then reality hit: I was living in the middle of nowhere in a different country. I’d left the breadbasket of America to come to the rice basket of Japan and, once I’d learned to read the signs, things weren’t all that different anymore. It was time for a vacation.

Although at that point I was so accustomed to my Japanese home that I wanted to leave it, I didn’t want to see the rest of the world with a tour group like many Japanese travelers do. Rather than turning to a travel agent to help plan the trip, then, I turned to the internet. (Who am I kidding, I would have turned to the internet even if I came from a family of travel agents who would disown me if I ever booked an airfare online.)

Since most JETs I know get a similar wanderlust while they’re in Japan, I thought I’d share ¹ a few good resources you might be able to use to plan your next getaway (even if it is only a prefecture or two away).

Getting there

Step one of going on any vacation is figuring out how you’re going to get there. Sadly, however you choose to “get there” from Japan, it’s probably going to be expensive. Despite my initial fear that a Japanese travel agent would book me a spot in a tour group with 50 Japanese grandparents and one flag-wielding, sash-wearing guide, I’ve had excellent luck finding reasonably priced plane tickets through travel agents. The travel agencies recommended on SagaJET, for instance, have all been used by JETs before, are generally helpful and usually have at least one agent who speaks English.

If you’re either feeling independent or can’t find a fare that suits your needs through a travel agent, there’s always the web. Any of these sites may help you find the perfect fare.

Kayak

Old standbys like Travelocity and Orbitz are always worth a visit when you’re hunting for cheap tickets, but they suffer from two problems: they’re very America-centric and they’re kind of boring. Kayak is neither. It searches the websites of “hundreds of airlines” directly to find the best deals (as well as “travel agent” sites like the aforementioned Travelocity and Orbitz), so it can turn up fares that others may miss. And since Kayak believes “shopping for travel should be simple, fast, honest and mildly entertaining,” it makes shopping for plane tickets a little more enjoyable.

Flyspy

Fine, so technically Flyspy hasn’t launched yet, but it looks like it could be amazing when it does. When the site does go live, you’ll be able to enter your departure and destination cities and Flyspy will look for fares from many different airlines over a 30-day period and give you a graph showing you exactly when you should leave to get the cheapest flight. Right now all you can do is sign up to get an email when (or if) Flyspy is rolled out, which it hopefully will be soon.

JR Train Timetables in English

If you’re planning to travel in Japan, taking the trains is often the most efficient way to get where you’re going. Jorudan’s strangely named “Japanese Traffic Guide” gives you up-to-date route and price information for all JR trains in gloriously understandable English. It also shows you several options for every route, so you can choose speed over price if you’re in a hurry or vice versa if you’re frugal.

Travel in Japan

Traveling in Japan may be expensive, but that’s no reason not to visit at least a few different areas while you’re here. If you have a car, a tent and time to kill, taking a road trip can be an excellent way to see sights within driving distance. Camping rather than staying in a hostel or hotel will save you a lot of money (most campsites charge under 1000 yen per night) and remind you that not all of Japan is covered in pachinko parlors and conbinis. Buy a good road atlas (like Mapple, available, ironically, at most conbinis) that shows the location of campsites along your route and you’ll be all set.

There are, of course, plenty of websites that can help you decide where to travel in Japan whether you plan on camping or not. Good ones include:

Japan National Tourist Organization

The JNTO website has guides for all 47 Japanese prefectures as well as advice on food, hotels and transportation. The site is all very broad and official, so it doesn’t have reviews of the best local pubs and love hotels, but it is a good place to start if you want to see more than just Tokyo and Kyoto.

Kyushu Connection

Kyushu Connection, on the other hand, is all about the best local bars and love hotels. The site was created by former JETs as a way to bring together expats living on Kyushu. They have a growing travel section with user-submitted reviews of restaurants, bars and attractions. Obviously it only covers the seven prefectures that make up Kyushu, but the information is good enough to convince you that traveling to any of those prefectures could actually be fun.

WWOOF Japan

If Japan’s work culture is slowly killing your inner hippie, revive it with a visit to a Japanese organic farm. The idea is you go to an organic farm somewhere in Japan and work there for a while in exchange for free lodging. You have to sign up for a 4000 yen yearly membership to be eligible to stay on a WWOOF farm, but that’s a small price to pay for the chance to help grow organic daikons.

International travel

Japan is conveniently located a relatively short plane ride away from many vacation spots in Asia, and most JETs take advantage of this proximity. Most popular JET destinations (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) are also popular backpacker locations, so planning a trip is as easy as buying a guidebook (Lonely Planet and Rough Guide both produce good ones) and going.

The “just go” idea has worked brilliantly in every country I’ve traveled in except one: China. When my wife and I visited China, we were lucky enough to travel with Chinese-speaking friends; I’m pretty sure we would still be lost there if we hadn’t. English-speaking travel agencies, guest houses and restaurants can be hard to find, especially if you travel outside of Beijing. A guidebook can help, or you can look for hotel reservations, plane tickets and advice on Ctrip.com.

Don’t let that deter you from traveling to China or any other destination in either Japan or another country, though. Eating raw fish and driving on the left side of the road are only entertaining for so long, and then it’s time for a vacation.

Notes

1. When I say “I thought I’d share some good travel resources,” what I really mean is “I couldn’t think of an idea to write about this week so my always helpful wife Sarah came up with an idea for me, saving me from horrible, horrible writer’s block.”

When I got my very first internet connection about 10 years ago, the only online task I did daily was check email. Back then, only a few major news outlets and a couple of very early adopters updated their websites on a regular basis. Most sites I knew about were either static advertisements for companies jumping on the web bandwagon or places for angsty nerds to publish their “poetry.”

Then man created blogs, and it was, well, if not good, at least more interesting. Suddenly everyone was writing on the web, and some people were even writing things worth reading. Angsty nerd poetry pages were replaced by sites offering fresh, interesting content that could develop a real readership. I started visiting more sites than just CNN.com every day.

But from frequently updated blogs arose a problem precisely opposite than the one I had when I first started using the internet: now I had too many sites I wanted to keep up with. Instead of just checking email and being done with it, I would check email and then go through all of my bookmarks to check for new content. Sure, it was only a matter of a few clicks, but I was living in the internet age, and a few clicks were too many.

Then, man created the news feed, and that was good. Now I only had to make one stop to be able to tell at a glance which sites had been updated since the last time I checked (probably five minutes ago, but that’s just me). And the more I played around with news feeds, the more I found they could actually be used for things more productive than finding out when my friends were writing about me.

Some explanations

At this point in the article you might be asking yourself two things: what’s a news feed and why, Nicholas, should I care about your stupid news feeds? Good questions.

A news feed is basically a file that gets updated every time its corresponding website is updated. Inside of this news feed file are things like the date and title of the update, the actual content of the update (or an excerpt of that content) and a link to the new content. Those who want to be notified when a website is updated can subscribe to the site’s news feed using a news reader–a program or website that, like the name implies, lets you read news feeds. You can subscribe to as many news feeds as you want with your news reader of choice, and can thus read all the new content from all your favorite websites all in one place.

Incidentally, a news feed can go by many names depending on the whim of the author and what technology is used to create it: an RSS feed, an XML feed, an Atom feed, a syndication feed or just a feed. I like news feed because, with “news” in the name, it sounds so much more respectable. I can’t see Bob Woodward reading an XML feed, but I think he’d be all over the news feeds.

Confused yet? Other people have explained the whole news feed concept much better than I have. And don’t worry, actually making use of a news feed is far easier than trying to explain it, I promise.

As to why you should care about making use of a news feed, I think they make keeping up to date with current events, reading quality online content and staying in touch with blogging friends far easier. Plus, SagaJET has its very own news feed, and surely you want to know the minute a new “Hi, Tech” is put online, right? Stop laughing.

Choosing a news reader

If you’re not already subscribing to news feeds and want to–even despite my muddled explanation–getting started is easy. The first thing you’ll need to do if find yourself a news reader.

News readers come in two varieties: programs you install on your computer or websites you access with any browser. Both kinds of news readers have their advantages and disadvantages. Readers you install on your computer are generally more customizable, but you need to be in front of your computer to use them. Web-based readers, on the other hand, usually give you fewer options but let you access them from any computer with an internet connection and a web browser.

There are plenty of news readers to choose from, but here’s a quick rundown of some of the most respected.

• FeedDemon. FeedDemon is probably the best-known newsreader for Windows. It does cost $29.95 (U.S.) to be able to use it legally, but that buys you a very flexible and stylish program that will be able to handle all the feeds you throw at it.
• NetNewsWire. NetNewsWire is to the Mac what FeedDemon is to Windows. Again, it costs money ($24.95 U.S.), but it’s regarded as miles ahead of any of the free readers out there.
• Feedreader. If the thought of paying for a news reader turns you off, check out Feedreader. It’s simple, lightweight and, best of all, free.
• Bloglines. Bloglines is a very easy to use web-based news reader. I’ve been using Bloglines for about a year now, and I haven’t wanted to use anything else since.
• NewsGator Online. If you want to try a web-based news reader that is not Bloglines (though I can’t imagine why), check out NewsGator Online.

Subscribing to a news feed

Once you’ve settled on a news reader, you’re ready to start subscribing to news feeds. In order to subscribe, you’ll need to find the addresses of your favorite websites’ news feeds (if they have a feed, which they probably do). Many sites will have a link to their feeds right on the front page, often in the form of an orange button. If you don’t see that button, look for a link called something like “subscribe,” “feeds” or “XML/RSS/Atom.”

Alternatively, if you want to subscribe to a news feed from someone’s Blogger/Xanga/LiveJournal blog, many news readers will let you enter that person’s username and will find the appropriate feed for you.

After you’ve subscribed to a few feeds, you can check in with your news reader as often as you like and any new content will be highlighted for you the moment its put online.

A few recommended feeds for JETs

Feedster tells me that there are currently something like 24 million news feeds you could subscribe to. Finding good stuff in that mess can be hard, so here are a couple of feeds I like that may be of interest to JETs. Note that most of the links below go right to the news feeds and not the sites themselves.

• Mainichi Daily News. MSN’s English language Japanese news site. Be warned that some really odd stories get mixed in with the regular old Japanese news here.
• NewsOnJapan.com. NewsOnJapan.com, as one might guess, collects news stories from all over the web about Japan, and its feed features quite a few of the latest headlines.
• tvRSS. Not that I’m saying you should, but if you wanted to, you could go over to tvRSS, search for your favorite TV shows not on in Japan that you might hypothetically download via BitTorrent, and get a news feed that tells you when a new episode is available. Theoretically. Downloading TV shows might be slightly illegal. You didn’t hear it from me.
• USGS Earthquake Tracker. The nice folks at the U.S. Geological Survey offer a news feed that updates every time they record an earthquake anywhere in the world. You’ll either be comforted when you see that most quakes they record for Japan are pretty minor, or terrified by all the quakes happening all the time.
• Saga Blog. It might be blog-cest for me to mention it, but Saga JETs have a community blog where they talk about things JETs tend to talk about. Since a new person is tapped to write each week, it stays pretty fresh, too.
• SagaJET. It’s definitely blog-cest for me to mention it, but we here at SagaJET have a news feed, too. Just in case you’re interested…

If the internet is to be believed, there are something like 2.5 billion phones in the world. Chances are, you’ll want to call at least a few of them while you’re a JET.

If the phone you want to call is in Japan, no problem: just dial area code and phone number, get connected and wait patiently for your perfectly reasonable phone bill to come.

It’s when the phone resides abroad that you get into trouble. Calling anywhere else in the world from Japan can be an experience that ranges from mildly tricky to hugely expensive. It took me a while after I first arrived in Japan to figure out all the ways to call home. It took me even longer to figure out how to work the answering machine, but that’s a different story.

What I learned (about calling internationally, not about working the answering machine) is that there are quite a few options, and with just a little research you can find the one that works best for you.

Direct dial

Direct dialing a foreign number is the international calling method that takes the least amount of work up front. You pay for that convenience, though, as direct dialing is also expensive. For instance, a 10-minute call to continental America could cost upwards of 600 yen (about $5 U.S.).

If you like paying a lot for things, or find yourself in a position where you have to make a directly dialed international call, there are a couple of tips you should keep in mind.

First, unless your phone has been previously configured, you have to punch in a few extra numbers to make a direct dial international call. The first numbers you dial let you choose which carrier you’d like to make the call with (all seem to charge about the same rate, though). Some common carriers (and their codes) include KDDI (001), Japan Telecom (0061) and NTT (0041). Once you have entered your carrier code, you have to punch in 010, just for the hell of it, I think. Then you have to dial the proper country code. Then, at last, you can dial the area code and number. So, if you want to use KDDI to call grandma living in New York, “just” dial 001-010-1-212-123-4567.

Second, like in many other countries, rates are often cheaper on nights, weekends and holidays, allowing you to talk just a little longer for the same price.

Prepaid phone cards

If you still want the ease of making international calls from your regular home phone but don’t want to pay the high direct dial fees, one option is to get a prepaid international phone card. Cards are available at pretty much any convenience store you come across, in international airports and online.

Using the card does require you buy a card first, but since you probably pass four dozen conbinis on your way to work, that shouldn’t be too hard. Once you have the card, making an international call with it is about as complicated as direct dialing. Just call the number on the back of the card and follow the instructions you hear.

You can save a pretty good amount over direct dialing with a calling card. Using KDDI’s Super World Card, for instance, will save you between 11 and 38 percent. That same call to New York grandma could cost as little as 370 yen ($3.20).

Callback services

Callback services offer the ability to call internationally using your home phone at rates that are even cheaper than calling cards. When you sign up for a callback service, you are given a specific number to dial to make international calls. Call that number, hang up, wait for your phone to ring (callback, get it?) and then enter the number you want to dial per the instructions you are given.

I’m not really sure of the specifics of how a callback service works, but I do know it works for cheap. My wife and I have used Talkback, a callback service based in England, since we’ve been in Japan. We’ve been reasonably happy with the service from Talkback, although sometimes it takes a while to get a call back. We’ve also been pretty happy with the rates. If you want to call New York grandma for another 10 minutes using Talkback (you must be her favorite grandchild by now), you’d spend about 140 yen (about $1.20 U.S.)

VoIP

I can’t believe I’ve gone 13 paragraphs without mentioning the word “computer” once. Luckily, VoIP will help me rectify that situation.

VoIP, or voice over internet protocol, is a new-ish technology that allows you to make phone calls using an internet connection. Since you aren’t using a telecom to make your call, you don’t get charged telecom rates and can thus make ridiculously cheap international calls. On the downside, you also aren’t using the decades of telecom infrastructure, so you may experience the occasional dropped call or slow connection using VoIP (although things are getting better pretty fast).

To start making VoIP calls, first you have to install a VoIP application on your computer. Then, as long as you have a system with microphone and speakers, you can start making computer-to-computer calls (i.e. calling computers with similar VoIP applications on them) for free. If you want to use your computer to call regular landlines or cell phones, you’ll need to buy “call out” credits. With those credits in your account, you can dial pretty much anyone in the world and feel like a fool talking to them on your computer. If you want to feel less foolish (and improve the quality of the call), you can invest in a headset to use with your computer or an adapter that lets you use your regular phone on VoIP networks.

The most popular VoIP application is probably Skype. Lots of people use Skype, so you’ll be in good company if you go that route. If you want to be different, though, there are tons of other VoIP providers to choose from. I’m a big fan of the Gizmo Project, and especially its integration with PhoneGaim, an instant messaging client and VoIP application all rolled into one.

VoIP is hands down the cheapest way to call internationally. One more 10-minute call to New York grandma will set you back about 25 yen ($0.21 U.S.) with Skype and a piddly 12 yen ($0.10 U.S.) with Gizmo.

Summary (with tables and footnotes!)

Now, because I was a science major in college, here is a table comparing rates for all the services discussed above, and some footnotes explaining how I came up with the numbers in the tables. Hopefully this will help you keep in touch and keep some extra money in your pocket.

Rates for five international calling methods

Method	To U.S. (yen/min.)1	To U.K. (yen/min.)1	To Canada (yen/min.)1	To New Zealand (yen/min.)1
Direct dial2	50	140	160/100	260/140
Phone card3	42	99	58	99
Callback4	14	12	14	14
Skype5	2	2	2	2
Gizmo6	1	3	3	4

Notes

1. When necessary, rates were converted to yen from U.S. dollars or U.K. pounds using XE.com’s currency converter on 1 March 2006. I just chose some random places that people I know call.

2. Direct dial rates calculated using KDDI’s economy rates, available weekdays after 7 p.m. and all day weekends. Rates from other direct dial providers are similar.

3. Phone card rates are calculated using KDDI’s Super World Card rates. Specifically, the price of a 7000 yen card was divided by the “maximum conversation time” listed for the card.

4. Callback rates taken from Talkback.

5. Skype rates calculated from Skype’s SkypeOut rate page.

6. Gizmo rates calculated from Gizmo’s Call Out rate page.

When I first moved to Japan about two-and-a-half years ago, the only Japanese I knew came from Styx songs. I’ve come a long way since then. Now I know Japanese from Styx songs and commercials for Japanese car insurance.

Okay, I admit it, my Japanese is far from great; I’m barely able to hold a conversation with a five-year-old on my best days. Still, I’ve come across dozens of computer applications and websites that are useful for students of Japanese, and a few of them have even been good enough to fall into the category of “helpful to my linguistically challenged self.” Combine some of these programs and sites with a good study routine and you’ll be pera-pera in no time. (Or omit the good study routine–like me–and you’ll at least be able to avoid ordering raw beef from a menu. I think I understand why my Japanese is so bad…)

Installing Japanese fonts and IMEs

Before your computer can help teach you Japanese, you have to teach your computer Japanese. If you are running a common installation of a common Western operating system on a typical Western computer, chances are you’ll need to do two things to get your system to read and write Japanese: install the correct fonts and install an input method editor. Neither of these tasks is as complicated as it sounds.

In order for your computer to display katakana/hiragana/kanji, you need to have at least one Japanese font installed. Luckily for you, you probably already have these fonts on your computer and all you need to do is enable their use. How you do that is a little different for every operating system, but here are some guides that may be helpful (you can find more information by searching for “japanese language support your-operating-system” in your search engine of choice).

• Adding Language Support in Windows XP
• Mac OS X Language Support Downloads
• Installing Japanese Language Support in Linux

Once you have the proper fonts installed and can read Japanese on your computer, you’ll need to install an input method editor, or IME, to be able to write in Japanese. An IME is a little application that allows you and your Western keyboard to be able to type the Japanese “alphabet.” The guides above all go on to explain how to get an IME up and running in your operating system of choice and how to use that IME once you install it.

Dictionaries and translators

You can put your computer’s new Japanese ability to good use right away with online dictionaries. Online Japanese dictionaries provide a way to quickly look up a word or phrase if you’re near a computer; just point your browser to the dictionary site, type in the word (some dictionaries even allow you to input the word as hiragana, katakana or kanji) and see the results. Some dictionaries are more thorough than others; here’s a list of some of the better ones out there (not coincidently culled from the SagaJET links page).

Jim Breen’s Japanese Dictionary

Search for both English and Japanese words in a variety of dictionaries. Probably the most customizable and complete dictionary online.

Nihongo: Japanese Language

trussel.com’s Japanese language page with a plethora of information, including a dictionary.

Kantango Japanese Dictionary

Creating an account lets you create your own wordlists, share them, mark words for review, make quizzes and more.

If you want to decipher more than a word or a phrase, try an online translator instead. Online translators come in two varaties; one flavor has you paste text into an input box to see the translation and the other lets you input a URL and returns a translation of the corresponding web page. Here are some good online translators (many of which can handle any number of languages, although usually with limited success).

Google Language Tools

Use Google to translate chunks of text or entire web pages.

Translation Aid

A page which helps you translate Japanese text from a WWW page.

Babel Fish

Free service from Altavista that provides a (sometimes very rough) translation among many languages.

If you would rather just click a button and have a Japanese website translated for you, try the Google translate bookmarklet. Just copy this bookmarklet to your browser’s bookmarks/favorites folder and run it when on a Japanese web page: poof, instant translation.

Study aides

For those who actually want to learn Japanese rather than just be able to translate it online, about a million websites have you covered. Searching for “learn Japanese,” in fact, gives me “about 154,000″ sites from which to choose. Take your pick. My favorite of the bunch is Dartmoth University’s Kanji Practice, which helps you learn kanji by showing you video clips of how each character is written.

Before there were “about 154,000″ websites to help you learn Japanese, there were, of course, flashcards. But who wants to make flahscards with pen and paper when you can do it so much more hi-tech? The free Yahoo! Widget Engine lets you run little applications, called “widgets,” on your computer desktop. There are a couple of flashcard widgets you can use, along with your IME, to review any Japanese you can type.

Japanese can be fun. Really.

Studying Japanese, even with things called “widgets,” can get boring. What better way to take a break than with a video game. Play a Japanese video game, though, and you can take a break and learn at the same time. Many games are written in pretty basic Japanese, and those made for younger audiences often have helpful furigana accompanying more advanced kanji. You can pick up used games and game consoles for cheap at your local game/comic book store.

There is even a PC game made specifically for students of Japanese. Slime Forest is a computer role playing game that claims to “teach you katakana, hiragana, and over a thousand kanji.” It’s also free, like all of the resources in this article. And anything that’s free, hi-tech and can help you survive in Japan is worth a look.

As a “computer guy” (and borderline obsessive, I think), I’m pretty particular about my computer. I like to have my desktop organized just so, I like to use Firefox for browsing the web and Thunderbird for checking email, I like to keep my documents folder squeaky clean. It’s pretty hard for me, then, to use a foreign computer for any significant amount of time.

For many JETs, though, using a computer other than their own for much of the day is a necessity. Whether they don’t own a computer, don’t want to lug their laptop around or can’t lug their desktop around, a lot of JETs are stuck using an office computer at work. I’ve heard some stories about these office computers that make me wonder how Japan got such a tech-savvy image; 10-year-old PCs with Japanese-only menus and restrictions on internet use can make it awfully hard for a JET to get work (or “work”) done.

Luckily, there are some solutions to office computing woes. Here are some fixes to the most common complaints I’ve heard about using clunky office computers.

My grandma’s computer is better than this

The biggest problem with using office computers seems to be the conditions of those computers. Many schools and offices don’t have the budget to replace old computers or the staff to maintain newer ones. Short of buying a new computer yourself, there’s not much you can do to significantly improve such a situation, but there are a couple of little tips to prevent the computer you are using from crashing for the 18th time in a row.

• Limit how many programs you have open at once. Having fewer applications running means having more free system resources, which translates to a speedier-feeling computer.
• Use “lighter” applications when you can. Modern office programs (like Microsoft Word or OpenOffice) are generally huge memory hogs that can put a real strain on older computers; avoid them if possible. You can write a simple memo or lesson plan in a basic text editor (like Notepad or Wordpad on Windows machines) just as well as you can in a bloated word processor.
• Restart. Computers running on Windows are notorious for getting slower the longer they are left on. If a computer is running exceptionally slowly, try restarting it; doing so will free up any misused system resources and hopefully speed things up. Also, in my experience, restarting gets rid of at least 80 percent of errors you may come across.

What do you mean SagaJET is blocked?

Many offices have filters in place that restrict workers’ internet use. These filters are there to stop users from idling their days away looking at things like message boards and porn. Sometimes, though, the filters are too restrictive and block perfectly respectable sites that JETs have legitimate reasons for visiting. Or sometimes you just need to waste a few minutes on the SagaJET message board. (That’s not really blocked anywhere, is it? Because there hasn’t been porn on there for ages, I swear.)

You can get around many filtering systems with a simple trick involving that most respectable of websites, Google. Google has a feature that you can use to translate websites to and from many languages. The trick is, when you use this feature, you don’t actually point your web browser to the website you are translating, but rather to Google, so you won’t be blocked by many office filters (as long as Google isn’t blocked). To use this trick (found via Lifehacker), just copy and paste this URL into your browser:

http://www.google.com/translate?langpair=en|en&u=

Enter the URL of the page you are trying to get to after the “u=” (like “u=www.sagajet.com“) and you should be able to get to a previously “forbidden” page. If the page you are trying to view isn’t written in English, just change “en|en” to the desired language (like “fr|fr” for French).

Note that this trick won’t work on sites like Hotmail or Gmail that require a secure login; to get to pages like those from a restricted office computer would require the use of a proxy server, which is a little beyond the scope of this article. Also note that you use this method at your own risk; if you get in trouble for bypassing office filters, we never met.

Give office computers the thumb

If you want to totally personalize your office computing experience, buy yourself a thumb drive (also called a USB drive or flash drive or pen drive or little miracle worker). Thumb drives are like small, portable hard drives that you can plug into a USB port on any computer. The obvious advantage of a thumb drive is that it gives you a convenient place to store all of your files (and since you can buy drives with gigabytes of free memory, you can store a lot of files).

Recently, though, some very smart computer folks have figured out a way to run applications from a thumb drive, too. If you use open-source programs like Firefox, OpenOffice or Gaim at home but are left stranded when using an office computer, now you can put portable versions of these applications on your thumb drive and use them anywhere. These portable versions run totally off of a thumb drive, so you don’t have to install a thing on the office computer. Best of all, these programs also don’t leave any traces of your activity on the computer you use them on, so your coworkers won’t find that email you wrote about how inept they all are.

For the truly adventurous/truly nerdy, you can also run a version of Linux, Damn Small Linux, from a thumb drive.

If there’s one computer-related question I’m asked more often than any other by JETs, it’s definitely, “Can you help me buy a computer?” Asking me for help computer shopping is like asking a junkie to please help pick out the best heroin, so I’m always happy to offer my advice. However, since my advice is usually the same, I’ll share it here for anyone who is in the computer-buying market to consider: buy the computer you need.

I doubt I could offer a more general piece of advice if I tried, so let me go into more detail. There are currently about 1.6 million different computer models you can buy. Before you buy any of them, you need to figure out what you’re going to use your new computer for. Once you have your needs figured out, you can jot down a few features your computer must have and then go looking for a good value. The problem for many JETs, though, is matching up what they want to do with their computer to megabytes of RAM, gigahertz of processing power and all the other numbers you need to know when computer shopping.

What to look for

JETs I’ve helped all wanted their new computers to perform well in three areas: office tasks (making worksheets, planning lessons), internet tasks (writing e-mail, browsing the web) and entertainment “tasks” (keeping a digital photo or music library, watching movies). Some folks wanted more, like the ability to use their computer to make cheap telephone calls (that’s “VoIP” for those acronym fans out there), but all listed those three areas as essential. With those needs in mind, then, here’s my humble advice on what kinds of features to look for in a new computer.

• Desktop/notebook. Before you can even start thinking about features for your new computer, you need to decide what kind of computer you want, a desktop or a notebook. You can get more power for less money with a desktop, but a laptop will give you the luxury of portability. Unless you plan to do a lot of gaming or other, similarly demanding computing tasks, I’d recommend a laptop; you’ll appreciate its mobility both here in Japan and when you’re leaving/desperately trying to pack years of your life in two suitcases.
• Operating system. Macintosh or Windows is a question that can inspire the most intense nerd rage you’ve ever seen. Both major operating systems have their supporters, and rightly so. As much as die hard Mac or Windows users may hate to hear it, either operating system is fine for your basic computing needs. Go with what you’re most comfortable with. If you’ve used Windows for years, go Windows. If you spell “Microsoft” as “Micro$oft,” go Mac. If you self-identify as a rebel, you can always try Linux or another free operating system.
• Size. Assuming you opt for a notebook (as most JETs I know do), get a size that fits with how you plan to use your new computer. If you want to take your notebook to and from work every day, you’d do well to consider smaller, lighter computers that may short you on processing power but will save you back strain.
• Screen. Having a 17-inch cinema display may look sexy, but I’d actually put screen size pretty low on the list of priorities for the average JET. Unless you plan on watching a lot of movies or doing a lot of graphic design on your computer, you’ll probably find a 13-inch screen suits you just as well as the bigger options (smaller screens also equal lighter computers; handy if your system travels with you a lot). Instead, look for a bright screen with good contrast.
• Processor. Like screen size, processing power also shouldn’t be of much concern to the average JET. Making worksheets and browsing the internet won’t even come close to taxing today’s processors. Case in point: I work on a five-year-old notebook with an 800 megahertz processor all day long with hardly a complaint (and modern processors run, on average, twice as fast as the one in my computer). If you’re not planning on compiling any code or playing any 3D games, you can save money by opting for a slower processor (1.2 gigahertz will be more than enough for most).
• RAM. RAM, on the other hand, is not something you want to skimp on. Computers use RAM (random access memory) as a very convenient place to store files and applications you’re currently using, so the more RAM you have, the snappier your computer will seem. You’ll need a system with at least 256 megabytes of RAM, but opting for more (like 512 megabytes or 1 gigabyte) is the easiest way to increase your computer’s performance. If you want a lot of RAM but still want to save money, note that it’s almost always a better value to buy more RAM from a good dealer and install it yourself after you get your computer (it’s pretty easy) than to choose the factory upgrade option.
• Hard drive. Hard drives hold pretty much every piece of information on your computer, so getting a bigger hard drive means being able to store more pirated legally purchased music and movies. A 40 gigabyte hard drive will be adequate for keeping documents and modest music, movie and photo libraries on your computer; upgrade if you are an iTunes addict or can’t put down your digital camera.
• Disc drives. Basically any computer you’d think of buying will come with a CD/DVD drive already installed. Many modern computers, though, don’t ship with floppy drives, so make sure you’re getting one if you’ve been carrying your life around on disks until now. Also, upgrading to either a writable CD or DVD drive is highly recommended; how else will you make everyone a “Best of SMAP” mixed CD?
• Ports. No computer is an island. Ports let you connect your computer to the outside world. Make sure your computer comes with an ethernet port (for connecting to your work network and high speed internet), a couple of USB ports (for hooking up your printer/music player/camera) and a modem (if you still use dial-up internet service). Although it’s not technically a port, I’d also recommend getting a system with a wireless network card; wireless is the wave of the future, I hear.
• Accessories. You could easily spend a good chunk of a JET salary adding every available accessory to your new computer. Try to resist. If you think you’ll use an extra feature on a regular basis and it doesn’t break the bank, add away. For instance, if you plan on using your computer as a telephone (remember VoIP?), you might want to invest in a good headset.

Just tell me what to buy already

If you’ve read all of the above advice and are still confused about what kind of computer to get, I’m afraid I can’t be of much more help here. Computers aren’t like baseball caps; one size does not fit all. The best tip I can give you is to think about what daily tasks you would do with a new computer, then shop around for a system that will let you get those tasks done easily.

Or you can always ask me to go computer shopping with you; I don’t plan on kicking my tech habit any time soon.

I’m not a JET. Even though I may help out my wife–who is a JET–with the occasional eikaiwa, I’ve never been in a Japanese school as a teacher. I’ve never come up with a lesson plan about the progressive tense, never made a worksheet on gerunds, never recited vocabulary words for a classroom full of students. These are perhaps not the best qualifications for someone getting ready to offer advice to JETs.

I am, however, a big fan of technology. I’m a web designer and work on a computer most of the day, so I know a little something about technology, too. Even though I’ve never signed a JET contract, I can Google “JET contract” in two seconds flat.

As I’ve watched my wife and my other JET friends work as assistant language teachers for the past two years, I’ve realized a “computer guy” like myself (read: nerd) might have something to offer the JET community. I’ve often been able to give advice when these ALTs talk about scouring through dozens of websites to find good teaching resources, struggling with making a worksheet with pencil and paper or fretting about what kind of computer to get. No reason, then, for me not to offer this same advice–tips on how technology can help you do your job–here on SagaJET.

There are a lot of reasons you might not want to take my advice, though. Like I said, I’m a web designer, not a JET. My perception of how technology can make JET life easier is just that: my perception. Much of what I think will be helpful advice might be either something you already know or something you don’t care to know. Also, since there is a big variation in how tech saavy JETs are, a lot of what I write could be pretty elementary for those of you running your favorite Linux distro (things should be just about right for those of you who don’t know what a “Linux distro” is, though). So, take my advice with whatever sized grain of salt you think appropriate. If I can help even a few JETs, then mission accomplished. If not, I still get to write about technology, which is like letting that creepy math teacher at your school tell you all there is to know about snack bars.

Keeping those caveats in mind, let’s go ahead and get started. Welcome to the first installment of “Hi, Tech.”

First installment, you say?

That’s right, my ambitions are so grand (and my free time so sadly, sadly unfilled) that I’m going to declare this a weekly series before I’m even done with the first episode. Kind of like George Lucas and Star Wars, only without lightsabers.

Also unlike Mr. Lucas, I don’t have the whole plot for this series mapped out yet. I know I’m going to post a new article every Wednesday. I also know that, while I have a few good ideas for future articles, I’m eager to hear what you want to learn about in future installments and what you think about the current ones. To that end, comments will always be open on all of these articles so you can leave your thoughts in electronic form (you have to be registered to post comments, but that’s a one-minute process, or it’s already done if you’re registered on the SagaJET message board). Or, if you’re the e-mailing type, you can reach me at webmaster@sagajet.com.

Where to from here?

You’re going to need two tools to get the most out of upcoming installments. First, you’ll need a computer, any computer. It doesn’t even have to be your computer, although next week I’ll be covering what to look for in buying yourself a computer if you do want it to be your computer. Second, you’ll need a web browser and access to the internet (helpful for reading this website, I hear). Also, it wouldn’t hurt to have a willingness to give feedback or contribute to a discussion on the topics covered, since multiple viewpoints will almost certainly be better than just mine. That’s it. Odds are you already have these things, so you should be all set.

I thought there was going to be advice?

Remember back in the first paragraph I said I was going to offer advice to JETs? And remember how I haven’t actually offered any advice yet? I should fix that before the end of the first installment. So, here it is, quicky advice to hold you over until next week. If you haven’t already, check out SagaJET’s links page, which has a huge list of websites you may find useful (including some really nice sites about teaching English).

Once you check that out, leave a comment or send an email if you want to see a specific topic covered in the future.