A little bit about myself...

Some of you might be curious about who I am and why I write this rubbish. I'm British (if you hadn't realised) and I've been living in Japan since 1988.

I have had the good or the bad luck to see Japan slide from a world leader in the "bubble economy" years, when anything was to be had for the asking (and the money), to now, where unemployment is on the up, and the life expectancy for men actually went down last year, as the suicide rate affected it!

I'm lucky, though, that I can still find work, and suicide is not currently an option as far as I'm concerned. As well as writing instruction manuals in English for an electronics maker, and speeches and newsletters for service clubs, universities, etc., I also write magazine articles. You can often find something I've written in the Web editions of various publications ( try the back issues of J@pan.Inc (www.japaninc.net) as well as in the printed edition. If you publish a magazine or periodical, and you think it would benefit from an injection of my wit and wisdom, I will be delighted to consider any serious requests. Send me an e-mail message at hugh@j-views.com.

I've been living in Kamakura, about 45 minutes south of Tokyo by train, since the beginning of 1999. It's a really nice place to be -- my workroom looks out over wooded hills, with a constant breeze coming in from the sea, and I can be in the grounds of a 14th-century temple within 10 minutes of setting off from home. I get up to the bright lights of Tokyo reasonably often for article research and so on as well as carrying out the documentation of a major computer project of a securities house in Tokyo (names have been withheld to protect the innocent).

Japan's a great place if you like toys -- the pictures here are the results of one of them, a Nikon digital camera. Although I'm not really a photographer, I get pretty reasonable results from it, and it's a great thing to carry round with me. Other toys: a TRGPro Palm device with a wireless modem (not so much a toy as a necessity), a home-built computer, which keeps gowing (again, a necessity) and a rack full of MIDI equipment.

This is a RealAudio version of one of my more recent MIDI pieces.

		Below is my wife, Yoshiko Nishio. So far, despite my encouragement, she has yet to put up a Web site of her own. You can contact her at ynisho@kamakuranet.ne.jp.This photo was taken the other day as we stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant by the seaside, looking out over the bay to Enoshima, a crowded tourist spot for the Tokyo crowd. About 12 minutes by monorail and another 6 by light railway from our home (yes, our local train is an overhead monorail).
			The two of us at the local "Flower Center" (botanical gardens) in Ofuna, just north of Kamakura. About 15 minutes' walk away from where we're now living. The tropical houses are pretty good, and the waterlilies have to be seen to be believed. Actually, Ofuna's an interesting place to be -- cheap (for Japan) fruit and vegetables, and a pretty lively little place. Kamakura, as befites one of the world's tourist spots, is a little more beautiful and sedate.
Oh yes, don't forget - feed a child by visiting the Hunger Site and clicking - you pay nothing - the sponsors give the food.