Shake! 350 GPS Mini-Review

I'm quite pleased with the Shake! 350 GPS. It is indeed possible to update the database using a Mac or Linux PC: just download the update file, place it on a Secure Digital (SD) memory card, put the memory card in the GPS, and finally instruct the GPS to load the update.

I was concerned about the Centrality Atlas II GPS receiver and its reception quality. The JROAD models use the more famous SiRF III receiver, known for its ability to get a position fix fast and hold onto GPS signals. But the Atlas II seems quite adequate, at least with limited testing.

It's a little too easy to turn the unit on accidentally. The touch screen is also a little too sensitive on occasion. And the English translations are sometimes odd. However, given the very limited market, this unit is still quite useful and a good value.

English GPS Navigation

The Japanese domestic car market has the world's highest penetration of factory-installed navigation systems. It's not hard to figure out why: the road system is complicated, and making a wrong turn could add significant delay due to traffic congestion. Many of these navigation systems are extremely sophisticated and feature Bluetooth wireless connections to mobile phone accessories, television reception, live traffic reports, and even photo albums, to remember the children you rarely see. Auto manufacturers make a lot of money selling these systems.

Japan's early and enthusiastic embrace of these systems means that portable navigation devices (PNDs) haven't really caught on yet. However, the market is changing. Flash memory now competes favorably with DVD storage, and many Japanese are willing to accept 80% of the function at 10% of the price. Also, up until this year expatriates only had two choices for English-language navigation systems. Both are full sized DVD-based (and/or hard disk-based) systems priced at about $2,500 installed. Nissan offers one of these systems, both for its own vehicles and for other vehicles. They do work fairly well in English, with English voice prompts, but street names are still in Japanese. Most owners learn to save locations into the navigation system's database, perhaps struggling to reach the destination the first time. Another option is to enter a landline telephone number, and the navigation system will guide you to the general area corresponding to that number. These capabilities are extremely valuable to bewildered expats, and there's no question these big screen systems have advantages.

This year two companies started shipping English language PNDs for the Japanese domestic market. One device is called the Shake!350, sometimes also written as SHAKE 350, from GrandMap Navi. This device weighs just over 150 grams and has a small 3.5 inch touch sensitive color screen, rechargeable battery with home and car chargers, car mounting bracket, 1 GB of flash memory with a slot to add more, USB cable, English voice prompts, and, best of all, English (i.e. Romanji) street and location names displayed on the map and in the location search screens. With a little on-line comparison shopping I was able to find a brand new one on sale for a mere 29,000 yen. The company seems to provide free downloadable database updates on its Web site, although all the Web pages are in Japanese. Even so, I could figure it out with a little help from Google's translator, and they do have a PDF copy of the product manual, in English.

Unlike some of the factory-installed systems, PNDs don't have gyroscopes or other motion sensing features that augment GPS. Thus the GPS signal will occasionally drop out in tunnels and in urban "canyons," with tall buildings blocking GPS satellite coverage. Also, the screen is typically much smaller, and car installation isn't as neat or integrated. However, one major advantage (which some higher priced Japanese mobile phones share) is that you can take a PND on a bicycle or on a walk. There's also the price advantage of course.

These trade-offs seemed acceptable to me, so I ordered a Shake!350 today, and I should receive it later this week. I'll try to post a product review in a couple weeks. For the record, JROAD also offers two PNDs in this narrow category (i.e. domestic Japanese PNDs with English language support): the JRN400 and JRN410. These two models are pretty much identical, except the JRN410 has flashing LEDs that signal left or right to the driver. The LEDs seem like overkill on top of voice prompts, but Japanese gadget makers have never been shy about adding gimmicks. On paper the Shake!350 looks slightly better overall, although JROAD may have the superior GPS receiver. Both share one major disadvantage, especially for Mac OS X and Linux users: they run Microsoft Windows CE (a.k.a. Windows Mobile). How do I update the Shake!350's database using Mac OS X, for example? PocketMac or Missing Sync may do the trick. I might get lucky and be able to mount the device just like any other USB drive to copy files, and hopefully a simple file copy is enough.

Japanese PC Market Declining

The Associated Press has an interesting story confirming what I observe all around me: the Japanese are rapidly entering a post-PC world. (Slashdot has the details, among other places.) Of course you'll see PCs, but they aren't by any means the center of the universe, and sales are declining with mobile phones, game consoles, the iPod, and home entertainment devices all taking marketshare.

One possible reason not mentioned in the article is the Japanese language: is the QWERTY-style keyboard comparatively more useful to enter Japanese text than a mobile phone keypad? However, I think Japan is leading the way and that other PC-saturated markets like the U.S. and certain European countries will exhibit similar trends.

The comments on Slashdot are interesting, with many people pointing out that PCs make great word processors, and that word processing doesn't require ever more powerful systems, so the churn rate is diminishing. I think that's true, but is word processing particularly important, especially at home? Word processing arose at a time when people still mailed business letters and documents. With ubiquitous e-mail, do people really need full blown word processors? I seldom fire up a word processing program.

My new and comparatively low tech Korean-made mobile telephone paired with a Japanese service provider offers rich e-mail (including sounds, pictures, videos, and compatibility with popular word processing and spreadsheet formats, plus PDF), a built-in answering machine and voice recorder, camera, video calling, direct PictBridge printing (Bluetooth or USB), personal information management functions (calendar, alarms, address book), Web browsing, a Japanese-English dictionary, and iPod-like functions (audio and video), among other features. And this is the simplest model I could find. Of course it makes sense that many people don't want or need a PC.

SiCKO

Michael Moore's film SiCKO opened in Japan on September 1, and there was a special screening that day with a special ticket price that I attended. Go see it if you haven't already.

So here's my healthcare anecdote for today. I needed to have a chalazion removed. I was planning to travel to the U.S. anyway, so I called for an appointment over 3 weeks in advance. No availability; first apppointment is 3 weeks after that (6 weeks in the future).

So I visited our company doctor in Tokyo — yes, we have a company doctor — and she recommended an opthamologist which had an appointment available in three days. I had a meeting that day, so I checked the Tokyo U.S. Embassy's Web site, found another opthamologist, and they had an appointment in two days, which was earlier today as I write this.

I took the short subway ride over to their office. I arrived at 2 o'clock. I filled out a postcard-sized form and waited just a few minutes. An English speaking doctor who said he was also licensed in Nevada (!) examined me and, after a brief conversation, said he could do the minor surgery that afternoon. I went over to the operating area, and he quickly performed the procedure. Downstairs I paid my bill — I'm not on Japanese domestic insurance, which is atypical — and got a prescription form to take around the block to the pharmacy window. About 5 minutes there with a six question form (to prevent drug interactions), and after paying a smaller bill, I got my eyedrops. Then I was on my way.

The total bill, for the exam, minor eyelid surgery, and prescription eyedrops, in Tokyo, Japan? Just under US $100. That's less than a third of the Chicago price. And I got my appointment within 2 days, went in at 2 and was out before 4. In Chicago I've waited 90 minutes routinely after arriving just to see a nurse. That $100 receipt will be sent to my insurance company, which is great by U.S. standards but that form will be the longest. Obviously I wouldn't mind being on the Japanese domestic system one bit.

Michael Moore is right. Americans pay more for healthcare and get less. In one of the most expensive cities in the world it's cheaper and better, even for a foreigner.

Driving in Tokyo?

Am I crazy? Maybe.

I'm moving to a new apartment in a couple weeks, and it includes a parking spot. So I'm thinking about getting a car. For shopping and weekend trips, it'd be useful.

Typhoon Fitow Strikes Japan

Throughout the office building, a woman's voice advised, "We recommend you go home early today." I think most people heeded the advice and headed home before 6:00 p.m.

Typhoon Fitow is striking Japan tonight and overnight. You can follow the storm's progress at the Japan Meteorological Agency's typhoon page.

Passport to Delay

I hope the next administration in Washington improves the U.S. passport system. According to press reports, the system is broken, with long delays.

My passport expires in August, 2008. That means I can no longer obtain 12 month visas from many countries, because most countries will not issue visas that last longer than the passport itself. So I decided to pursue getting my passport renewed now, in person, at the U.S. Embassy (a.k.a. "The Fortress") in Tokyo. The Fortress is only a 15 or 20 minute walk away from where I live.

I filled out and printed the online renewal form, to be ready to go when I arrived. However, I quickly found out that it's the wrong form. You'd think the State Department would have the correct form available. The Fortress staff are quite friendly and helpful, so that's a plus. The cashier accepts U.S. credit cards for the fee and charges U.S. dollars, so there's no problem with foreign exchange. There's a fast and effective photo booth to obtain the proper sized pictures. All that works well.

The problem is that you have to surrender your passport to process the renewal, and renewal could take a couple weeks. Hasn't anybody figured out that's a huge problem for the prototypical global businessman, not to mention many other people? I'm still trying to understand how a U.S. citizen staying in Tokyo but without an alien registration card ("short term" stay) would be able to comply with Japanese law while getting a passport renewed. Most countries expect you to have your passport (or alien registration card, for longer term stays) handy at all times while visiting.

The other problem is that if The Fortress has your passport, you're stuck and cannot leave Japan. If I get an urgent call tomorrow to go fix some problem two hours away in Korea, there's nothing I can do. If there's a family emergency, I need to hope I can retrieve my passport from The Fortress.

So why does The Fortress need to hold my current passport in order to renew it? And why hasn't anyone figured out that's a huge problem? I could understand holding it for the day. (Most visa issuing countries will let you drop off a passport in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon, stamped with the visa.) But 10 days? Two weeks?

I can only imagine how much worse it could be at other embassies. As I said, the staff were quite friendly and helpful. It's the process itself that makes no sense in 2007.

While I think visas should be abolished for tourism and short-term business trips at least, I do want to applaud Australia for having the most convenient and trouble-free visa system I've encountered. The whole process is available online, instantly. You type in your passport details and your credit card details (for the small fee), click a button, and a few seconds later you have your visa. Airlines can electronically verify you have a visa when you check in and, if you don't, they can do the same thing for you on the spot. In fact, the whole process is so painless that Australia doesn't even call it a visa. Granted, if you're a citizen from a country that Australia wants to discriminate against, usually for economic stereotyping reasons, then the process is much slower and more painful.

"Tokyo Breakfast"

I'm not sure what to make of this Japanese television pilot that never made it into full production. It spoofs many bad American sitcoms.

But Does She Know Where Japan Is?

Smile, You're at a Kaiten-zushi

I'm headed to Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra in about a week, and I'll have a little bit of time for tourism. Any suggestions where to go, what to see, and what to do?