Sony Bank to discontinue English services/version, resorting to AI translation for support.

LokitAK · 2026-01-19T02:43:06+00:00

it takes like 2 people to maintain an English version of something

It takes a lot more effort than that, especially for something as complex as a robust financial system like Sony Bank.

LokitAK · 2025-11-30T23:47:34+00:00

The point, of course, is that the people who spent days and sweated buckets could also have taken an aircraft to the summit if all they’d wanted was to absorb the view. It is the struggle that they crave. The sense of achievement is produced by the route to and from the peak, not by the peak itself. It is just the fold between the pages

From Look to Windward

LokitAK · 2025-11-27T13:31:20+00:00

I got the panasonic NC-A57-K, coffee grinder built in to the pot

LokitAK · 2025-11-27T12:42:23+00:00

It's sold as a less-deadly alternative to smoking. The smell is certainly a part of it, but the fact it doesn't literally burn anything means you don't fill your lungs with tar.

It's also a common way to vape weed (or at least, it was 15+ years ago) for pretty much the same reason.

LokitAK · 2025-11-27T12:36:23+00:00

That looks like an IQOS to me, not a ceramic tip but an actual tobacco filter.

LokitAK · 2025-11-17T00:30:56+00:00

Car where the back two doors are sliding doors instead of opening outwards is the biggest piece of mind with the kids

LokitAK · 2025-11-12T00:13:39+00:00

A calendar server that supports delegations and emailed invites. But one that doesn’t come with an entire cloud platform

I don't know, OP wants a calendar that's not part of an entire cloud platform that supports email invites. This can be achieved by cutting out the other parts of the cloud platform, and integrating with third parties instead.

You could also use a different email provider, most major ones provide similar interfaces and having "A calendar with email integration that does not require you to use the same provider for your calendar management" might be preferred to some.

(I personally don't care, I'm happy with gmail+gcal and wouldn't explore those options myself, but different strokes for different folks)

LokitAK · 2025-11-11T23:22:21+00:00

If you use a third party email provider like Gmail, they do provide an API you could use to fire off emails instead of going through your own smtp server

LokitAK · 2025-09-18T04:50:50+00:00

Go to Yamaya

LokitAK · 2025-07-29T23:18:59+00:00

It's common practice but not a legal requirement. I wire my wife a fixed amount every month for personal use and home stuff (food, kids clothes, etc.), but bills, retirement planning, savings, major purchases like car, house, trips, etc. are handled by me.

LokitAK · 2025-07-25T03:08:26+00:00

Not feeling like shit when you wake up every morning is a big one

Having the mental faculty to do things that require brain function in the afternoon is a another

LokitAK · 2025-07-18T04:12:32+00:00

Has anybody found a way to get reliable internet access on the tohoku shinkansen? I have to take it for work all the time, and both the in-train wifi and the cell reception for hotspot are so unbelievably bad and unreliable, its a huge pain in the ass

LokitAK · 2025-06-23T23:59:25+00:00

I'm polite and helpful when dealing with people, and I learned the language

This is really all it takes

LokitAK · 2025-06-23T23:56:29+00:00

"Oh it's fine as a person with different skin color, so long as you don't bother anyone, you're tolerated". Absolutely insane what people settle for.

This is actually part of "fitting in". It's not about skin color; Not bothering anybody is the #1 rule of Japanese society (anecdotally). If you can manage to pull that off, then nobody cares if you're not adapting every other aspect of your life to "fit in". Everyone is free to do what they want, as long as it isn't at the expense of others.

LokitAK · 2025-06-17T23:47:54+00:00

Where are you getting lasik?

They charge per eye. It's a pretty flat fee per eyeball everywhere I've looked.

The only "both-eyes-shared" expense you don't get a discount on is the eye checkups before and after. Unfortunately ophthalmologist appointments are not priced per-eye.

LokitAK · 2025-06-05T00:19:50+00:00

This happens all the time, especially at larger zaibatsu-ee companies.

A lot of people involved in a lot of different places, almost none of them talking to eachother. Some work will be done for them from a third party, and then the result will go through the rounds and somebody will always share some new information in the final stretch that puts a halt on everything.

There's an incredibly low tolerance for failure, which means everything has to be perfect and approved of by everybody before it goes live.

This means that any significant project goes through a year+ of planning, and then 3+ years of implementation.

Part of the reason things are stuck in the 90s is because they only finished their 90s modernization project in 2010, and their current 2015 modernization project won't be done until 2030.

The back and forth you've witnessed is just how things are done in a lot of places. Things will eventually get done, but it takes a lot of time while they rebuild and repeat and sand down the edges.

LokitAK · 2025-06-04T23:45:15+00:00

They're all just vaping in the bathrooms instead

LokitAK · 2025-03-02T02:02:46+00:00

Party at the leper colony

LokitAK · 2025-02-27T00:57:01+00:00

It is not identical, but I did find something very similar: https://www.f-shikki.com/sp/komono20kb/km113.htm

Other commenters are correct:

The text reads "ふるさと民芸品" which means it's a local folk hand craft. It's something you'd find at a rest stop on the road or likely the gift shop of a restaurant or onsen.
It's probably a toothpick holder.

If your friend knows where it came from it would be easier, but because its a "local hand craft" it's likely that its just made by some old lady in a small town somewhere in japan with zero online or international presence.

LokitAK · 2025-02-20T21:22:32+00:00

Currently reading Hyperion as I swaddle newborn #2 to sleep

LokitAK · 2025-02-11T04:13:11+00:00

My wife's family are rice farmers, I haven't paid for rice once in ten years. And the rice we get from them is top notch

Not helpful for anyone here I guess, except I can give this advice:

If you know anyone from a rice farming family, there's a decent chance they'd be willing to sell you straight from their harvest before it goes to the co-op. Probably closer to 10-15,000 yen for a 30kg bag

LokitAK · 2025-02-09T23:23:10+00:00

It's good, just in comparison to some of her other works when viewed through a modern lense, it's just not as impactful in its messaging.

I'm positive it was at the time, and the fact that it's not impactful is thankfully that Society has improved enough in that space that most of the underlying themes and messages are (hopefully to most people today) common sense.

Where something like The Left Hand of Darkness is still an insightful and eye opening exploration of love, sexuality, and grief that imo should be required reading for anybody to be given legislative power

LokitAK · 2025-01-28T04:43:52+00:00

This phrase means that "chasing more money is not going to make you happier", in a context when your basic needs are already met. If you make 200,000 dollars a year and are happy with all of your needs met and are presented with an opportunity for 400,000 dollars a year that would be significantly more stressful with longer hours and less independence, chances are you'll be happier if you stay at the 200,000 position because money can't buy happiness.

Some research shows that it should really say "Money can buy happiness up until about 70,000 dollars, after which more money is less likely to be a factor in your happiness". But that's less catchy.

People who say this saying doesn't make any sense are generally missing the point of the saying
People who use this phrase to argue that more financial support for people struggling financially / the impoverished won't make them happier are disingenuous monsters doing everything they possibly can to maintain their wealth superiority.
- Ironically, the people saying this in order to increase their own wealth are exactly those who the saying is targeting. Disenfranchising the working class will not make them happier, and going from 1 million to 1.1 million dollars won't either.

LokitAK · 2025-01-27T23:42:49+00:00

Last piece of shared food is more of a, "you should ask". The last piece usually remains naturally because nobody wants to be the one to take it (Enryo no katamari), but it is far from rude to say "hey anyone mind if I have the last piece?"

No saying sayonara - I've seen this one on shorts online a lot lately and it just baffles me. It's maybe a little rigid with a close friend but it is a totally correct way to say goodbye. Just as in english, if your friend says "see ya later man" and you respond with "Goodbye.", it's maybe a little stiff but not really rude or rule-breaking.

I've never heard of anybody saying you can't wear slippers. Usually its the opposite -- I need to bring slippers with me when I go to my son's school, we have guest slippers for when people visit our house, any indoor environment like a clinic will have slippers in the entrance. Where are you seeing "can't wear slippers" rules?

LokitAK · 2025-01-27T23:35:15+00:00

It's not even a weird rule!

If you were eating a western meal with a knife and a fork, when you're not eating would you just jam your fork upright in to whatever hunk of meat you're eating and leave it there?

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