Tokyo’s Muslim

I don’t know where this came from, but I’ve been thinking of that game non-stop for a week now. I’m even thinking about buying a TV and PS2 just to play it.

I specifically LOVE this part.

The only part of Firefox that I really miss using is the awesome Rikaichan plugin.  I’ve managed to emulate it, poorly, by using a Json call to a dictionary I setup on my server.

To use this, drag the link below into your Bookmark bar.  Select some text and click the “Translate” button; you will get a translation, if it can find one.

Translator

I can imagine a few benefits to doing it this way, over the long term.  Mainly, keeping the information in a DB somewhere means someone can aggregate the information and provide you with additional services (“You are constantly misunderstanding X kanji”, for instance).  I can’t say anything about privacy implications.  

This is free for your use.  The backend is dirt simple and I’m using the Edict dictionary for the translations.  I’ll publish everything once I find a suitable place to do so.  Sorry for the speed (my server sucks – if anyone else has a better place, or even one that I can use Tokyo Tyrant with, I’d appreciate a message :))

You can download the Javascript source here.  You can download the php backend code here.  I did it all in one sprint from 2 AM to 10 AM, so please don’t bother me about the lack of comments, I’m sure you are smart enough to understand what is going on.

It is a cruel reality truth that foreigners in Japan have a hard time finding a place to stay.  I paid my dues while looking for a real place to stay with a 1 month stay in Okubo, the infamous “Korean town” of Tokyo.  Although centrally located, real estate values here can’t compare to neighbouring Shinjuku.  This is undoubtedly due to the (minimal) crime in the area.

Oddly enough, my stay in Okubo was quite good.  The location was clean, there was a Halal grocery around the corner, and I was never accosted (even when walking outside late at night).  Unfortunately, the shared house was sold to someone else and I had to move out.  I have a wealth of stories from my time here (like the time I ran outside in my underwear to help a woman who was attacked by a purse snatcher), but they will have to wait for another time. :robot: