News

Recently I spent a day exploring Nagoya. I didn't have time to see hardly anything except the Toyota factory museum which was fascinating. Even better though, I found 3 new Dorayaki.

This is a project I started a long time ago but was delayed. I wanted to time circuit training using my Zaurus but there wasn't a suitable application to do it. For more details and downloads, see here.

Several months after closing my eBay account, I discovered that my personal details and credit card information are still stored on disk. eBay is implicitly committed to protecting my data. If eBay gets hacked my data may be stolen even though I am no longer a customer.

Here comes thaicheck version 1.2. Similar to a spelling or grammar checker, thaicheck is a tool for checking the validity of Thai letter sequences in Thai text files. This version adds a repair function for broken sequences.

The key feature of this version is the repair function, I have tested this extensively on the SEAsite dictionary as I knew it had many mistakes. This version has been rewritten to cache the input and output but as it already had a clean design and compact implementation you probably won't notice any speed improvements. I also tidied up the rule concerning the "vowel letter" ru.

I had previously converted the SEAsite dictionary from HTML to bedic format for use on my Zaurus PDA. At the time, I noticed there were a large number of mistakes with the letter order. During development of my Thai letter sequence repair tool, thaicheck, I have generated a "fixed" dictionary.

You can find the new SEAsite bedic file on my Thai dictionaries page. Although I have corrected the Thai letter order errors, there are still many spelling mistakes. Another slight improvement on the previous version: I managed to remove many duplicated senses.

I'm sorry but I found a few spelling mistakes in my Thai glossary files for toMOTko. I have fixed the errors and converted the files to the most recent toMOTko format.

A few months ago I made a number of improvements to TVK but I forgot to announce it! The new version has rewritten sizing code and redraws the font at any size you need. The project page has all the details and many screenshots.

The new font system means that the keyboard looks a lot neater. The size of the widget is automatically selected based on the font size and you can zoom in and out using keyboard short cuts.

As you might expect from finishing this months ago, I have been using it regularly. You will see from the screenshots that I have tested it on many systems. I will soon release a new version of Sontana that will feature this new version.

I was honoured to find myself credited as a translator in the latest release of my favourite operating system, MorphOS. I've been pushing for support for Thai language in MorphOS and AmigaOS for some time now and have had some success with both, the developers simply needed someone with enough knowledge of the language to give them some technical help.

I'll never actually be able to complete the translation myself as you should always use a native speaker to make any translation. However, I hope that my work is a good starting point for any Thai person who wishes to complete the job. It's also useful for the developers to have to deal with Thai words and fonts while they test and debug the system.

thaiconv, my tool for converting the coding of Thai text files, has been improved and is now available to download.

In this version there is support for Unicode Byte Order Mark (BOM). This is unnecessary in UTF-8, however, some software inserts it when saving files. thaiconv can now recognise the BOM and this improves file type detection. A new parameter allows thaiconv to directly write to a file. There are also some other minor bug fixes.

Dorayaki are my favourite Japanese traditional cakes. I would like to introduce to you the different flavours and types.

Modern computer systems still have problems with sending email in Thai to someone in Japan. I was so fed up with this problem I wrote jax2th, a tool to rescue mangled email.

I moved to another country and I had to change many aspects of my life but just because I changed location doesn't mean that I have changed my fitness regime. I still eat a balanced diet and try to train whenever I can.

During the hot and humid season I only have to get changed to start sweating and after a run I jump into a cold bath but never really cool down. It's essential to stay hydrated, but that's easy because all vending machines seem to sell isotonic drinks. Alternatively, just drink a double espresso before changing and you can get that heart pumping and sticky body feeling as if you've just run 5 miles!

For short distance I run up Daimonji-yama, a local mountain. It's not very high and only takes about 20 minutes but it's very tough on your legs and stamina. It's quite popular with walkers so when I go with friends we have to go quite early in the morning to avoid them. You may be familiar with the runner's concept of "second wind", well my colleague Kojima-kun has taught me a new one: "second sleep". That's when you get up early to go running and go back to bed when you get home.

For LSD (long, slow, distance) I run along the Kamo riverbank. Kyoto city is based on a block layout so there are traffic lights at almost every junction. Road running quickly becomes tedious due to the constant start/stop rhythm. I prefer to run on soft surfaces anyway. It's quite pleasant to run by the river, I can almost make believe I am out in the country.

For regular Karate training I found a local JKA dojo that has a surprisingly smooth natural wood floor. It's very hard to hold a strong stance and you soon find muscles you didn't realise you had! The instructors have a lot of experience so I am lucky to train under them, even if Master Kise seems to have invented a number between 6 and 7 when counting out the exercises.

I'm keeping notes as part of my regular training so I hope to be able to remember everything I've learnt. I've been picked up on all the mistakes I know I'm making and others. I think the main differences between training here and in the UK are all based on emphasis. The style of teaching is "learn by doing", in the UK there is a lot more explanation. We take more short breaks, in the UK there is a lot more cardiovascular type exercise and stretching.

After travelling more than 7000 miles to live here, I've changed my running routes and my dojo but I'm still training on a regular basis and doing the same kind of exercise.

My research is on storing 3D video. I have been studying this problem for several years and although I have a lot of experience of video and computer vision, this time I'm using a mesh object model and dealing with a lot of issues with storing mesh accurately and efficiently.

My main reason for coming to Japan was to continue research into 3D video. Kyoto University is one of the few institutions doing serious work on solving this problem; there are plenty of other places that could be doing this work but for one reason or another choose not to. I believe my research is going quite well, I am laying down a theoretical foundation and building up my capabilities although I haven't made any major breakthroughs yet.

I'm trying to live the Japanese way so I have to try to work the Japanese way. This means I can't ask my seniors difficult questions as much as I'd normally do in the UK, despite working at an enlightened institution. Some tasks can take a bit longer; I could probably cheat but it would be unfair to my colleages if I played on being a foreigner in order to get things done quickly when they are forced to use procedures that make it slower for them.

Yet again I seem to have inherited another very large legacy software code base, written in confusing style, misleading comments and some surprisingly illogical implementations. This has slowed me down somewhat but I can say emphatically now: Never again! Any code you give me had better be well documented and unit tested or I will bin it. Immediately.

In daily life it's much more important to be clear on what was agreed after a discussion. Some misunderstandings are, unfortunately, inevitable. I have to attend several meetings that are all run in Japanese, I'm only able to follow the basic gist and a few points. Sometimes this is useful enough and other times I wish I could be getting on with other things.

In general I don't feel that working here is massively different from working back home. I still hit the same "You can't do that thing you want to do, for no obvious reason" type problems. In Japanese, this becomes "You want to do that ? Hmmm, it's very difficult, let us ponder how not to say no for a while..." My response is now "No, it's easy! Just let me do these two tasks, that's all I want to do, no hassle for anyone else."

Now I've been here a year I can describe a little about what it's like. I'm still alive! Yes, living in Japan has been a very interesting, diverse and enjoyable experience. I didn't come here though because "it's Japan", I came here because I found the work I am interested in and the shift in environment I was seeking.

Many people assume that I will starve but finding something to eat is fairly easy, supermarkets have all the basic foods. It's not so easy to find pulses or wholemeal foods though. Restaurants rarely have a vegetarian option but with some looking it can be possible to find something I can eat. Finding a shop selling trousers or shoes that fit me is much harder.

On weekends I usually have to catch up with the mundane things, like housework and shopping but sometimes I take a few hours to visit some ancient temple or green park and I'm trying to make sure I see as much of Japan as possible while I'm here. I'm trying to study Japanese language every day but in reality I can only spare about an hour every other day. I don't have to use Japanese at work so I have no pressure to improve. However, thanks to Kyoto Alpha FM and 1seg TV, I think my listening is much better. I am sure my reading is better too. I'm comfortable to ask about things I don't know.

There are plenty of things that I don't miss from the UK but there are a few. For example, I'm glad I don't have to drive any more, it's so easy to cycle to work. On the other hand it would be nice to be able to meet up with my friends other than online. Things inevitably changed not just because of my location but now my work has changed quite a lot too. Following this first year of adjustment, hopefully the next year will be even better.

I seem to have started a YouTube channel. I have a DV camera and occasionally capture something interesting. Please see my videos page for more info.

This is a new Perl script to convert BibTeX bibliographies to Bedic format. Many researchers, particularly in technical fields use the LaTeX system to typeset documents. BibTeX is an extension for handling lists of references used in those documents. My script converts a BibTeX file to Bedic format, as used on Zaurus and other PDAs. See the project page for details.

It's about this potential break up song of yours. There's a few things I think you should know...

I decided to add a small section to my website with some observations, comments and opinion. To kick things off, I have a review of a book that explains why women always need more shoes.

I'm back home from hols in sunny Thailand. On this trip I took time out at Ko Chang and Ko Samet; two islands about 250 km east of Bangkok. Both have great beaches, although Samet has cleaner sand, less people in general; Chang is more happening in the evening.

Now I'm back in Kyoto, the weather is milder than I expected. On my way back into the country I experienced the new "anti-terrorist" security measures at KIX. I had my photo and fingerprints taken. I'm a bit annoyed by this:

1. The government already has my details on file due to my visa registration
2. The queues are now twice the wait to get through immigration. It took 2 attempts to capture my fingerprints
3. The only terrorist actions to have taken place in Japan were committed by Japanese people, but Japanese people are not being fingerprinted
4. Some of the signs in the airport are in low contrast red and green text on a blue background that were nearly impossible for me to read

Amnesty International has expressed concerns that the policy is anti-foreigner. This year Japan is expected to attract a record number of tourists. I can't see it happening but let's see.