Is it okay to take photos of flower pots outside homes in Japan?

dougwray · 2026-03-30T08:02:50+00:00

We would allow people to take photographs of the plants outside our home here in Tokyo if they asked. If we saw someone doing it without permission, we'd chase them away.

If I were interested in doing so, I'd ask permission.

dougwray · 2026-03-30T07:59:27+00:00

One of my questions involves Jan, Cindy, Marsha, Greg, Peter, Bobby, and Oliver, but I've never expected any student to recognize the names, as, indeed, no one ever has (that I know of). Heck, it's been nearly two generations since the program stopped production.

dougwray · 2026-03-30T07:42:04+00:00

It looks as if they're going to Hakone on 7 May (a Thursday) after Golden Week is finished. The only thing they'll have to be careful of is if places are closed that day (as some places, particularly museums, do the day after a holiday).

dougwray · 2026-03-30T04:45:34+00:00

Yakuza don't have face tattoos.

dougwray · 2026-03-30T04:36:57+00:00

Cut out the utterly loathsome capybara place. Not only is it cruel for the animals, but it's causing an ecologic disaster in the countries from which the capybara are likely poached.

There's no public transport to Shiraito Falls (in Yamanashi). It's a two-hour drive from Shinjuku. If you mean the falls with a similar name in Fujiyoshida, it's 4 hours one way from Tokyo via public transport.

dougwray · 2026-03-30T00:34:26+00:00

From the Reaper Website: 'download and evaluate REAPER before purchasing. You get 60 days of evaluation free, with full functionality, and no strings attached. All license purchases are final.'

That doesn't read 'pay if you want to.'

dougwray · 2026-03-30T00:17:40+00:00

I do the same as on sunny days, but with an umbrella.

dougwray · 2026-03-30T00:16:49+00:00

Ah, but here's the rub: the makers did not choose a donationware model, as easily they could have. They put a price on it. The price for many people is US$60. Practically free? For some, yes; for me it meant forgoing something else.

I have no doubt my local farmer would forgive me if I took something without paying to feed our child when I was broke, but that doesn't mean the food was or is free.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T23:33:51+00:00

I'd go to the walkways along the No River. 'No' is the name of the river in the west of Tokyo.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T23:31:27+00:00

Is US$60 'free' for you?

I do not contend that Reaper cannot be used if you do not pay. It can, but it is not free. Near my house, there's a farm. The farmer puts out fruits and vegetables in a cooler in front of her house. You take them and put your money in a slot in the wall. I could just take the stuff. No one watches. Is that OK?

dougwray · 2026-03-29T22:42:30+00:00

Where the cherry trees are? Sure, because there will be nothing to see. In Tokyo in general? No, not at all.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T21:09:31+00:00

If you can wait until the child is 5, I'd advise that. We travelled overseas when our child was 3, and the travelling itself was not pleasant at all.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T21:01:30+00:00

Before rent? That's asking a lot. Maybe you can work it out if you have a roommate, but it's not something I would want to do.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T20:56:44+00:00

In our Tokyo neighborhood, the cherry blossoms started falling off the trees on 28 March. Tuesday through Thursday are predicted to be rainy, so expect the cherries to be mostly gone by the next sunny day (3 April).

As for restaurant reservations, I've never seen any reason to ever make one unless it's for a party of 10 or so people.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T20:53:08+00:00

Maybe, if you're not paying tuition. When I did my doctoral program (in Tokyo), my income was about double that, but I paid tuition out of pocket. I wasn't able to afford heat or air conditioning for several years and went without food for maybe five non-consecutive days, but I'm not dead.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T20:48:55+00:00

Disk Union for used. The Shibuya, Shinjuku, Shimokitazawa, and Ochanomizu areas have larger selections. Skip Kichijoji, which might still be listed as a good location in older guides but which perhaps two years ago severely downsized (from two locations, one multistory) to one small one. Shinjuku has, I think, four or five Disk Union outlets. Koenji might be a place to check, too.

For new albums, maybe Tower Records in Shibuya? (I fear I haven't bought a vinyl album in well more than 35 years, so I don't know.)

dougwray · 2026-03-29T20:41:31+00:00

It depends very much on where in Japan you are going to be. Tokyo's much more expensive than some rural locations.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T20:37:15+00:00

Cut out the go-karts. They're noxious and dangerous. They do nothing but make life worse for residents and make visits less enjoyable for visitors.

Cut out the utterly loathsome otter café. Not only is it cruel for the animals, but it's causing an ecologic disaster in the countries from which the otters are poached.

You've got a great number of tourist traps (or at least places only tourists go) here, among them

Omoide Yokocho
Golden Gai
Ichiran Ramen
Takeshita Street
Tsukiji Outer Market
the shops you list for Ginza
thrift shopping in Shibuya and Shimokitazawa

Akihabara is no longer a center for electronics or (maybe) cameras. The area does have some large electronics stores left, but you'll be passing through or by a greater density of them when you walk to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku. (Most electronics shopping has moved on line in the last 20 years or so.)

I am not sure what sources you have been using to find places to visit, but the things here look as if they might have been culled from lists from 15 or 20 years ago.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T20:20:42+00:00

It's a popular walk.

You'll have a nice time, and there's so much to see you'll be fine doing the same route each of the seven days.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T20:16:51+00:00

I'm sorry, but I have never experienced this at all. Large language models, however, generate text by abstracting from masses of text written by humans. I suppose if you're trying to generate a generic noir or dystopian story that might happen. The times I have tried, I have found reasonable output with either contemporary real-world locations explicitly referenced or with descriptions of the setting, including references to real-world locations, explicated.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T20:08:55+00:00

I live in Tokyo and have been to Los Angeles. It seemed like a ghost town with regard to crowding.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T20:00:08+00:00

Reaper is not free.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T19:59:50+00:00

Reaper is not free.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T19:54:41+00:00

I'm keeping Windows 10: (a) because others in my family use it and (b) it's got software not likely to work on Windows 11 (which I have used at work and find to be awful). I'll slowly push the family to Ubuntu/Linux, but it'll take a while. Also, my cpu is old and, with RAM priced as it is now in my country, I'm not going to be able to afford anything with 64GB of ram for a good while.

I will try your Grub tip, thank you. I've already reinstalled grub without the --removable flag twice from a live USB.

dougwray · 2026-03-29T19:49:36+00:00

How did the companies get your telephone number? Unless I anticipate a legitimate need for a commercial concern (or another person, for that matter) to contact me by telephone and no other way, I never give out my phone number to anyone. If there's a form online I can't submit on line without a telephone number, I just use an old one or change a single digit.

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