Arrival in Japan

First impressions...

                    ...very hot and humid!

                    ...high tech consumerism very evident.
I'd noticed this on previous visits to Japan too, when for example everyone on the subway seemed to have a minidisc walkman at a time when they were still rare and prohibitively expensive in London. This time everyone seemed to have a sophisticated (i-mode) mobile phone, and I saw a couple of men with two in their shirt pocket!

Getting connected to the Internet wasn't easy...

Purchased a thick Japanese PC/Internet magazine, which included a free CD-ROM that contained installers for connection via numerous (mostly £12+ per month) ISPs.

My CD-ROM drive refused to read it, and I was subsequently told that some Japanese CD-ROMs are only compatible with the Japanese version of Windows (or Mac OS, Linux).

Phoned several ISPs, who all said that it wasn't possible to connect using an English version of Windows 98. They said I must install a Japanese OS.

I didn't believe them, because I figured it was just a question of configuring the dial-up settings. Maybe I couldn't run an installer, but it must be possible to configure manually.

Phoned Microsoft, who agreed with me!

Eventually tried AT&T (who offer an ISP service in Japan), and discovered that they do cater for English Windows 98 - although at significant expense. Signed up for a connection, at roughly £12 per month plus £7 per hour connection fee!

I then tried something that turned out to save me a small fortune. Using my new AT&T connection, I looked up the home page of freejpn.com [screenshot 10/08/01] - one of only two free ISPs that were mentioned or advertised in the magazine. As I had hoped, I could download the installer from their website instead of loading it from the CD-ROM. I tried executing the installer. It came up with screens that were unreadable, but I crossed my fingers and clicked the default buttons that I guessed said something like "Yes", "Next", or "Finished". A freejpn.com icon appeared on my desktop...

                   

...and when I clicked it I got this screen. Had to telephone freejpn.com to ask them to explain the five configuration settings. Did what they said, and - very fortunately - it worked! I was more than happy to put up with the advertisement bar that appeared at the top of the screen, which I couldn't get rid of. Oh, and the occasional inscrutable error message...

                   

I would recommend freejpn.com to anyone coming to Japan who wants to set up Internet access. All it needs is one long-distance phone call to gain access via your normal ISP, so that you can download their installer ... or better still, do it before you leave home.

Gained access to IEEE and ACM digital libraries using Telnet and Lynx...

The IEEE and ACM digital libraries are essential for serious research in computing. However, access to them is restricted to individuals and institutions that are paid-up members. SBU pays for annual membership, so anyone with an SBU account can access them. Working remotely, I used the following procedure...

        Browse the IEEE/ACM digital libraries [IEEE Xplore screenshot], then

        ...connect to the SBU unix server via Telnet, and

        ...use Lynx [example screenshot] to download relevant pdf files, and finally

        ...FTP from SBU server to my PC.

Most websites are inscrutable when viewed using Lynx, but fortunately both the IEEE and the ACM have clearly taken great care to ensure that their sites are accessible.

What I found on the Internet...

I began trawling the web, mainly using the Google search engine (which I found to be much better than any other search engine). I also trawled through usenet groups via Google Groups.

It was quite easy to find information about the Japanese higher education system in general, but I didn't find much (at first) about computing courses within Japanese universities.

I began compiling a links archive to contain all the useful links I would discover throughout my sabbatical period, and added lots of articles to my articles archive.

Began arranging visits...

After countless hours/days/nights searching through the IEEE and ACM digital libraries and trawling the web, not to mention refining the html templates for this web diary, I then began following up contacts and arranging visits.