My team at eSolia published a couple new blog posts, on checking your laptop battery health and asking AI about IT terms. Check them out! 😎

On 2nd June in 1859 (166 years ago), the Yokohama port opened for business, after the US-Japan trade agreement the following year. I’ve been fortunate to live here in Yokohama for years now, and enjoy the international feeling of especially the port areas of Sakuragicho and Kannai. ⚓️

Do you feel an age or generation gap working with people from younger or older generations? I know I do. I’d love to hear your experiences. Δ

There’s a 1963 phone from NTT called the “model 600”, very much like the Bell model 500, which you can view among others at the NTT History Center of Technologies in Musashino, in west Tokyo. I hope to visit some day. ☎️

A few months ago I learned about Tilley and Dreyfuss’ work “The Measure of Man and Woman” which if you think on it, was just so revolutionary. Design barely even considered measurements of people prior to this, but now it’s ubiquitous. 👫

We are debating finally cancelling the landline in our house, which made me think of the phone icon which was designed with the Bell Model 500 in mind. I wonder when this icon will become incomprehensible to younger people? In 10 years? 20? 📞📱

My firm just launched our new “Tech It Easy” blog with IT tips in English and Japanese from our team members, like this post on keyboard shortcuts. We hope it might come in handy. 😎

Version 3 of the static site generator Lume was released after a Herculean dev cycle. It’s an incredibly flexible and powerful SSG written in Typescript by Óscar Otero.

When our tree flowers and I start hearing uguisu calls, I always feel spring has come. 🌸

A dog wearing a harness is lying on the floor indoors, looking outside through a window at a blossoming tree and residential buildings.

Saw Wicked on Broadway a few years ago with A, and now we saw the IMAX movie. Theater buffs will like that It’s chock full of cameos of the original stage performers and even the writers. Casting and performances were on point, with lots of humor. 💚🩷

A promotional display for "Wicked" showcases characters in a fantastical landscape, including the main characters of a green witch and a woman in a pink dress with a mystical backdrop.

I loved Think Again by Adam Grant 📚. I’m going to set aside regular time for re-thinking, try to abandon best practices, and “not get stranded at the summit of Mt. Stupid.” 😅

Some of the fam went to Sapporo and Otaru in Hokkaido. I had to work, but they brought some hanasaki crab and we ate it last night. Wow, it’s reaally good! 🦀

Learned about our local evac center’s “Hamakko Toilet” at today’s event. It’s a sewage pipe you fill with pool water at one end, set toilets above opened man holes, and periodically flush by opening a big valve at the other end. 🚽🚽

A sign provides instructions for using emergency toilets in Japanese during disasters.A person in a hard hat and safety vest is using a tool to open a manhole cover on a sidewalk, while another person wearing a mask observes nearby.A person is reaching towards an open portable toilet with blue walls and handrails.

Had a local disaster prevention event today. A civil servant / volunteer fireman said we should not assume Yokohama city will prepare enough food or supplies, and that we need to ready our own. A sobering thought! 🧯🚒

A signboard at a school serving as an evacuation area provides information about earthquake-resistant water supply in Japanese.A concrete emergency water dispensing station with three metal faucets and a sign, located outdoors near a tree and fenced area, at a disaster evacuation center in Yokohama Japan.

If you do any system admin and use the terminal, starship.rs is a really easy value add. For instance if you’re in a vps that just has bash installed, running the starship installer gets you a decent prompt in 10 sec.

A terminal window displays a Git status check showing a clean working tree on branch "main" with Starship prompt information and prompts.

Web-toolbox.dev is an excellent & convenient bilingual English/Japanese site for web devs by K (thanks!), with various tools for generation, encoding, SEO, text. 🛠️

A website displaying a Base64 encoding tool is shown with Chinese text being converted to Base64 format.

I want to learn more about storytelling, and The Perfect Story by Karen Eber 📚 has been great so far. The author posted on LinkedIn about a new Japanese translation, which you can find here.

I searched on the word “Hygge” after eating lunch at a cafe called that, and found this cozy little book on the topic: The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living (The Happiness Institute Series) by Meik Wiking 📚

Our dog goes to daycare with a big unit of a black lab, whose human is French, so I decided to compile a French dog command list, with Japanese and English, to try to communicate next time we meet. Assis! 🐾

A black labrador and a Shiba Inu are lying on the floor next to each other.

Happy Valentine’s Day 😍 special chocolate from Blue Cacao!

A box of assorted chocolates is placed beside a dark gift bag labeled "BLUE CACAO."