justin․searls․co

How to Pack Light

When I first pitched doing a RubyKaigi "Field Report" summary for Test Double, my wonderful and benevolent boss Cathy Colliver suggested that I make a short video explaining how I pack so light for each trip. It took me a few weeks to get around to it, but here it is!

I've been living with this setup for about 6 years now and have barely changed a thing. If there's a headline to be had here, it's that the less you carry, the less you have to worry about.

If you'd like to try out this lifestyle, here are some links of stuff in the video:

Turns out, there's more to it…

Travel Advice from Bing Chat

Over the last three weeks, I've been playing with Bing Chat as a sort of international travel and language advisor, and I've learned a few interesting things along the way that may help others get more creative with how they use AI.

There are three main categories where I've found Bing Chat helpful:

  • Generating ideas of where to go and what to do next
  • Translating phrases that straddle nuanced cultural differences dictionaries and translation software can
  • Answering "why" questions that would normally require a human

There's also one "gotcha" that's particularly interesting, but I'll cover that at the end.

Spoiler alert: there's more to this…

Tabelogged: ザオイスターバー コウベ
See with all my spots…

I visited this restaurant on May 21, 2023, and gave it a 3.2 on Tabelog.

Name: ザオイスターバー コウベ
Description: ハーバーランド、神戸、西元町/イタリアン、ダイニングバー、ワインバー

Which Google translates into English as:

Name: The Oyster Bar Kobe
Description: Harborland, Kobe, Nishimotomachi/Italian, Dining Bar, Wine Bar

Tabelogged: ニクスペシャリテ・マクラ
See with all my spots…

I visited this restaurant on May 20, 2023, and gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog.

Name: ニクスペシャリテ・マクラ
Description: 神戸三宮（阪急）、三宮（神戸市営）、旧居留地・大丸前/肉料理、ステーキ、ワインバー

Which Google translates into English as:

Name: Nix Specialty Macra
Description: Kobe Sannomiya (Hankyu), Sannomiya (Kobe Municipal), Former Settlement/Daimaru-mae/Meat dishes, steak, wine bar

Tabelogged: 七福神
See with all my spots…

I visited this restaurant on May 20, 2023, and gave it a 3.7 on Tabelog.

Name: 七福神
Description: 三宮（神戸市営）、神戸三宮（阪急）、三ノ宮（ＪＲ）/串揚げ、居酒屋

Which Google translates into English as:

Name: Seven Lucky Gods
Description: Sannomiya (Kobe Municipal), Kobe Sannomiya (Hankyu), Sannomiya (JR)/Kushiage, Izakaya

Go To Yakushima

Today I'd like to tell you about a very special place that not very many people will ever get the opportunity to visit.

After concluding my duties as a field reporter of RubyKaigi 2023, I found myself with a luxurious seven or eight days to myself. While at Kaigi, I asked several Japanese friends where I should visit in the southern island of Kyushu. Almost to a person, they said "Kagoshima".

So, I went. And it was great! The weather was warm, the nature was beautiful, and the people were easygoing.

Immediately, I wanted to go deeper. I got it in my head that if I went somewhere even more inaka I could prove I was a Real Vlogger by going on an adventure and then making a YouTube Short set to an epic piano score.

But… where to?

But wait, there's more…

Apple's LiveText is incredible

I mean, just look at this screenshot. I can confidently take a photo of a friend's hand-written note, search for one Japanese word that I knew was written on it to find it, then select the text and paste it into a translation app, maps, etc.

Coin lockers

In Japan, it's customary to use a coin locker at a train station to store your bags, so that you can spend time visiting a place without lugging all your stuff everywhere.

Unfortunately, this coin locker only takes five ¥100 coins (I've been spoiled by newer ones in Tokyo and Osaka that take IC cards like Suica) and I only had a single ¥100 coin on me.

So I went to a 7-Eleven to change a ¥1000 bill to coins and the attendant told me that they can no longer break change. So then I bought a bottle of tea in cash, but because these days you pay with cash using an automatic machine mounted in front of the register, it gave me back one ¥500 coin and three ¥100 coins. So I still only had four ¥100 coins when I needed five to use the locker.

So then I turned around and bought a donut with the ¥500 coin in order to break change again and this time I received three more ¥100 coins.

All so that I could pay ¥500 to use a coin locker… always an adventure!

Tabelogged: 草庵・中町井ｓay
See with all my spots…

I visited this restaurant on May 13, 2023, and gave it a 3.5 on Tabelog.

Name: 草庵・中町井ｓay
Description: 松本、西松本、北松本/そば、郷土料理、居酒屋

Which Google translates into English as:

Name: Soan/nakamachii Say
Description: Matsumoto, Nishimatsumoto, Kitamatsumoto/Soba, local cuisine, izakaya

A convenient truth

Lots of good convenience store discoveries this week!

  • A pizza sandwich filled with wieners and taco meat.
  • Bread-flavored gummies.
  • Fried and seasoned chicken skin, closely resembling the bottom of a KFC bucket
  • A canned whiskey that comes pre-mixed with water.
  • Individually-packaged cups of orange jelly housed in a larger cup
  • Sparkling water that's been fortified with… a lot of fiber?
  • Tangerine-flavored gummies designed to look like little popsicles
  • Frozen chocolate banana chunks made with otherwise-wasted bananas

So much innovation!

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