ASEM meets EFi-X Fans - Tokyo (Japan) 30 January 2008

by **WhiteDragon** on Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:08 pm IP:

On 30 January 2008 finished our meeting with EFi-X Fans in an almost family atmosphere with tea and coffee in a nice restaurant VIP-room on second floor in Tokyo.
Coffee was on us

hehehe

I placed the tables so that we got "round table" so all people was equal, developers and EFi-X Fans. I must apologise for using square tables instead of round

by **WhiteDragon** on Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:09 pm IP:

Foreword (Preambula)

Welcome to Japan,
This is the most offten heard sentence here in Tokyo.
And even if this was not my first time in Japan, and for sure not the first time in Tokyo,
I was again surprised by japanese culture and politeness.
In fact each time I am in Tokyo you wouldn't see me on streets, since i stay 24 hours in my hotel room and work from there, so do not expect to find me in any hotel without internet connection :lol:

Those rare walks i took in Tokyo this time (thanks to our japanese distributors) I used to Film with my JVC (Handmade in Japan) professional camera life in Tokyo and also our EFi-X fans and users conference.
My personal preference in any country i visit, i never go to any of touristic centers, but only to local places where you can find only local folk and almost no any foreigners.
This Tokyo trip was not exception from my personal tradition.

Experience and knowledge which i would like to share with any people who haven't visited Tokyo yet or not visit Tokyo offten:

1. Tokyo Road Maps.
Those you can find plenty on every corner in Tokyo , also in Subway there are many of those on almost every wall, but...
If you are not familiar with the streets, those are almost useless to you as foreigner and even if you are japanese but not living in Tokyo you may run into trouble, as:

Each Map is placed under most impossible angles, not related to direction , which means you have sometimes to stay on your head in order to see where you have to go.
Road maps are mirrored, turned 90, 180, 270 degrees.
And if you think you can see this, you are wrong. Maps are perfectly right printed with all right way placed fonts and letters, but the map itself can be turned complete unrelated to the direction, which will cause that on the next map on the wall you discover that you was walking all the time in a complete opposite direction.

2. Japan JR Lines and tickets
Probably this is the worst horror a foreigner can expirience.
To buy a ticket to some location is almost impossible for JR, you can never guess which kind of ticket you have to buy and all machines are made depending on the road and JR-Line you need to take, so there are no universal machines which match to every JR-Line. Besides of that you have exactly to know which line you need, which exist and which machine.
Do not take english printed JR-line maps, it is absolutely messed up, take Japanese version instead which is clearly structured. You may for fun compare those 2 and will have an impression that Tokyo have 2 JR systems, one for foreigners and one for japanese travelers.
Must mention that as a foreigner with english version of JR map you may not survive in JR at all.
If you buy wrong ticket in a wrong machine, the the only way you can see this when you go through the machine and the red lamp will shortly blink, which nobody in our ASEM team saw, with exception of me. The door will not be locked like in other countries, so you have in fact no any feel about you have a wrong ticket. Curious is that nobody will stop you, but be sure all will be recorded

It is very possible, on our experience, that japanese JR service do not always know which train you need to take and not always know own JR system well, which will give you extra surprises.
Our personal record this time was 4 times exchange the tickets and 3 times exchange the line.

JR and Delays caused by "Human Damage Accident"
This is maybe the most sad part of our trip in Tokyo, which i experienced several times but till today never wrote about it.
It is not a secret for anyone that in Tokyo is very high rate of suicidals and most choisen way is JR (jumping in the front of the JR train).
Something what i wish to say for all those who have such idea to do so:
Never do this irreversible mistake!!! Life is not something which you cause by yourself and not given to you for stopping it. Everyone have his very unique goal in life and you have to realise your dreams and ideas for all of us. If you do this kind of mistake, then who will do instead of you all those dreams and ideas?
And additionally i want to say to all the girls who do this because of boys:
They do not deserve you at all. If you wanna suicide then just take me instead, i am anyway single and it was my dream to have japanese GF who will be ready to die for me.

Japanese Salary day (25 January)
LOL. :lol:

This is probably most amusing day for all Tokyo.
Hundreds and thousands of Japanese men are completely drunk on the streets.
It makes me eachtime wonder that nobody do any bad things, nobody fights, nobody is unpolite, but everything is under control and extreme polite even in a complete drunk condition.
In EU this will end up very badly anyway.
In the morning entire city is complete awake and no any sign of alcohol , like nothing was ever happened.

Friday night
Like in almost every country on our planet in japan same with EU people got drunk in afternoon,
but what perplexes me a lot, most drunk people i saw on the street was girls.
Some of them fall down just in front of me :shock:

and several girls direct help them to stand up.
However very polite and extreme good organisation was all the time.
Selfcontrol is something we foreigners have to learn from japanese.

by **WhiteDragon** on Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:09 pm IP:

30 January 2008 right after the meeting with EFi-X Fans.

Place:
Time: 19:00 - 21:00
Spoken Languages: Japanese (with translator) and English

ASEM members in Tokyo:
President & Lead Engineer - Wilhelm von Vnukov (WhiteDragon)
CEO - Davide Rutigliano (TorqueX86)
General Manager - M.C.

Some of the discussed themes:

Discussed ideas & new productions
Future plans
Development of EFi-X & Wish List
(General discussion + noticed features of next EFi-X updates by priority)
Exchange of experience
Technical solutions and wishes
About EFi-X and EFi-X direct from developers
Answered all questions of users and fans

Thank you for joining our meeting and hope to see you on our next meeting in Japan or other countries.
Best wishes to you and your families.

by **WhiteDragon** on Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:12 pm IP:

VIDEOS & PHOTOS