Latest Model From Pioneer

THE KING is here: PIONEER LX90
THX Home Cinema Network Receiver

Arriving early 2008

Price ~7000$

http://www.avland.co.uk/pioneer/sclx90/sclx90.htm


you will be amazed.....

PS . It seems that still big companies like Pioneer don't make products only for profit but look also for their image... (S1-EX speaker is another example of such a product)



Greatings from the beatifull Greece

Stratis

Above words I pick from a forum that I searched on google. It's nice to hear the fact that Pioneer didn't only aim for the big bucks, instead are searching for better quality and output. So, this latest products is announced to be in market somewhere around January. Price, from this site it is about $7000~ and another site is about ₤5000. Even if you let go your second hand Kancil, you can't afford to own this product.

If you put on your web browser and search for the terms "SC-LX90" thousand of pages will list out about this latest models of Pioneer. Now websites are starting to review and discuss in forums. Great responses from people out there who really cares about sound and video quality (also big bucks in their bank account) especially in US and Europe country.

So, congratulations to all Pioneer teams for this marvelous project.

Yokohama...

In Malaysia, when we mentioned Yokohama, first thing in mind would be the car battery. But here in Japan, it is very famous place combining modern and historical building (macam Melaka la lebih kurang) and with a very romantic kinda atmosphere. So, for those couples out there, better check out for this place.

On the SEA BASS with Miyaoka-san and Abe-san

Since this week is my final week here in Kawasaki, they are planning to take me out for a dinner. I believe last time they did the same thing to Asiq-san. 3 Kawasaki members joining for this trip, Abe-san, Miyaoka-san and Okamura-san. Soon after 6.00pm we went to Shin-Kawasaki station to Yokohama and we had a boat-ride on the SEA BASS. I enjoyed a great view of Yokohama city from this SEA BASS (it's pronounced as Bus, not Bass as bass and treble). I tried to take as many pictures as I could, but guess what??? I forgot to charge my battery! Demit! But it still have 14 min of battery, well that sufficient enough, plus my handphone camera is always useful on emergency moment.

With Okamura-san at the sushi restaurant

We ate sushi at a shopping mall which I just never knew the name. The sushi was very great taste (except for the Nato). With stomach full of food, we heading towards Sakuragichoo and I took the Keihin-Tohoku line back to Kawasaki.

To find more about Yokohama, visit here

Ginza...

So... what so special about this place? Those who are in real-estate business should take note on this place. It is consider the most expensive place in Japan! If you have 10 million yen (about RM300K, you could not even buy a square-meter of the land here. So, if your grandfather have an acre of land here, you might probably become the next millionaire.


I landed on the Yurakucho-eki that day and walk about less than 5 minutes before I reached this lovely place named Ginza. Once you put your foot onto this place, you'll feel very exclusive like you are among one of those rich people. Unlike other places, they don't use an automatic door at their entrance, instead, they are hiring people to open it manually for their customers.

I don't enter most of the shops, after realizing the amount of moneys inside my pockets. In addition, I am a man! If I were a women, for sure I am the first person who'll be in all those stores out there. So, if you are crazy about those branded stuff (I really mean major branded stuff) and you have excessive cash in your pocket (or at least a platinum credit card), than I am strongly recommend this place. I am very lucky that sight seeing doesn't cost a single cent. :)

The road are not meant for vehicles. People are all the way on the road (maybe only week end kot). So, even if you are rich, you still have to walk!


So 2 place that really interest me.
1. The Apple Building... featuring the latest products from Apple, iPod and Mac. Those are really cool stuff. I tried some of the products, and I am seriously felt like want to buy it. So, this is the power of marketing~


2. The Sony building... Showroom for latest Sony Technology. I like the interior design of this building. So, as you might know, I am one of the biggest Sony fan (except for Plasma TV, receiver and Car Stereo - I still prefer Pioneer's .... :p Sorry Oyabun, don't sack me after this) . I own some of Sony product such as Digital Camera and.... Owh... that's the only Sony product left I guess.... (Owh ya... I got 1 Sony Memory Stick... is that count..??). Sony have a wide range of products, most of them entertainment base. There is one latest technolgy developed by Sony. But seriously I don't know what's the purpose of the product. Maybe just for fun kot. Dah banyak sangat duit, buang2 sikit tak rasa nyer.


The sun slowly went down. So, according to this website the mosque located near Ginza. So, I think I better find out where it is. I search the map around the town for Hiroo St. but it was all in vain. I went the Koban (somekind like pondok polis) nearby, and started to ask the officer, where the hell on earth is Hiro St. I thought St there means street, so I asked Hiroo-dori wa doko desuka? The 3 officers have no idea where it is located. Starting to searching the map nearby, one of them even make a phone call tried as hard as they can to just do me a small favour. While searching, one of them keep on interviewing me, and I just answer as far as I could. Language is really a barrier ever since I am in Japan.

After spending about 15~30 minutes, finally they found the Hiroo station. So, I have to take a subway Hibiya-Line from Ginza station to Hiroo Station about 12 minutes and walk about 15 minutes from the station. Luckily after arriving, there still some time for maghrib prayer. Moral of the story, if they said the word "near" it is very subjective. Korea is near Japan, but don't ever try to walk from Japan to Korea.

Friday Prayer

So, ever since I'm in Japan, I have never been to any Friday prayer. Firstly, unlike in MPT, we have break for Friday prayer, here non of them are muslim I guess. Secondly, mosque is quite far away. There is no way I can go to the mosque and return back in 1 hour. So, last Friday was a holiday, I took this golden opportunity for a Jumaat prayer at Tokyo Camii at Yoyogi-Uehara (as my previous post). Dhuhr started around 11.25am, but I reached there around 11.35am (it took me more than 1 hour from my hotel room to this place) and I saw some Indonesian people were smoking outside the mosque. Demmit! Maybe I just missed the jamaah? I then asked one of the Indonesian guy, "Udah solat Jumaat ya Pak?". Then he replied, "Belum lagi Dong! Kebiasaannya, jam 12.30 atau jam 1 baru mulain. Dibawahnya ada acara bazaar. Silakan ke bawah." Without any further due (mcm ayat MC la pulak) I made my way to downstairs of the mosque. There's a bazaar full of muslims selling thing, mainly food. So, this is my first time seeing halal food were sold ever since I am in Japan. I bought kebab, not one but 2. It's been a while I haven't eat meat, it's good to taste the juicy and creamy beef, mixed with potato and salad.


So, around 12.45 I came inside the mosque hall. Soon after entering, the bilal azan. Prayer begin. The imam maybe a Turkish, giving the khutbah in 2 languages 1. Japanese and 2. English. Content was about surah Al-Ikhlas.


So, finish pray, one more time I went downstairs for more food. I'm not starving anyway, but I wanted to keep some stock inside my stomach. I bought a kari ayam with rice (since the kebab was running out of beef). I spend more than a thousand yen buying foods here, and I did bought 3 Indo-Mie from an Indonesian with about 80 yen per pack (About Rm2.40). I wait until 2.45 for the Asr prayer before I went off.


So, walking back I went to a Museum, Koga Masao Museum of Music, not far from the mosque. Seriously, nothing interesting about this museum to me, in addition I don't know who the hell this Koga actually is and what kind of music he played, but from the writing he had composed about 2 to 3k songs in his career, that's impressing. Considering not to waste my entrance fee, I just find out a great angle and snap a face of me around the museum. The picture beside is a picture of me, with the a mini monument of Kuga holding an acoustic guitar.


Next destination before I went back home is Yoyogi park. I Heard some of sexaphone melody. Few people are playing sex around here, as picture above, very sempoi with the bicycle and the taugeh note on the basket playing some complicated yet beautiful song. At the other opposite side of the road, there's noise which sound like a dance music. I walk nearer and saw the background of TDF - (Tokyo Dance Festival). Owh, great...!!! It is another application of Pioneer product, Pro DJ which is made by MPT (I'm with HBG - Home Business Group, so got nothing to do with this products). I just don't know how to dance, so I just stood by and watching for a few moment, took some picture, before I walk back home.


So, this is the final picture I took before I walk back home.

For more picture, visit my flickr

Mosuku~

Is planning really can give a better result. I bet i is! Well unlike previous week end. I really go everywhere and kinda lost in the middle of the way, and hoping that I found something interesting along the way. The night before I went out for last week end, I did some research on the internet (lucky internet don't make perangai that day!)

What did I planned actually? Beside searching on interesting place, I bet you can guess by reading the above title; mosuku - it's a kana pronunciation of mosque. So, I am here for a month and never been to any mosque for pray. (what a shame I am..!) Ok! At least I did it last week! Why did I planned so? Well, this coming Friday is a holiday for Pioneer Kawasaki. I don't know what holiday it is (and don't even bother asking!) either it's a public holiday, company holiday or it is a deepavali holiday? (we don't have any holiday for last deepavali - so kira qada' la). So, since the holiday falls on Friday, then there is no reason for not going for a Jumaat prayer (Now I am bermukim in KWS, so I have to!)



There is a few of mosque around Tokyo I can found from the list in the net. And most of every site will show the Yoyogi-Uehara st mosque as their first enrty. Harajuku station is the nearest station to get to Yoyogi-Uehara street.

I went to Harajuku and explore some places that I haven't been during my first visit. First place was the Takeshita Street. Plenty of teenagers out there, went out with some friends and buying creep at dozens of crepe shops along the road.

As the picture above, you can see the red leaves are started to blooming. Enjoying this view is really an enjoyable moment. And it is not me alone who took the pictures, there are some of them enjoying the view as much as I did. Others may notice me like "what a jakun he is!", but who cares? It is my first time seeing this, so I have to act like a first timer! :)

[Keindahan dedaunan berguguran di taman memberikan perasaan kegembiraan berpanjangan]

Ok.. this is not orang gila baru terlepas dari tanjung rambutan. Even you can see some background people starring at him, but this guys just make it like they are not exist. People always wearing weired costumes here - in front of Harajuku station (as my previous post). So, if you are anime freak, like to dressing like you are one of the character, or you just love some complicated dressing and you are embarrassed to wear it anywhere on earth, here might be a heaven to you!

After spending a reasonable time sight-seeing the Harajuku town, it is time to find the mosque. I just walk away follow the sign board and of course my instinct, until there's a T-junction. With my reasonable Japanese speaking ability, I managed to communicate with the policeman (or maybe pak guard, i'm not sure) asking for some direction. [thanks to my sensei for teaching me Nihongo]



About 25~30 minutes walking, I finally made my way to the wonderful mosque. This mosque was organized by Turkey muslim (according to the site) and the oldest mosque in Tokyo. I just can't explain my feeling after entering the mosque. Imagine, almost a month not seeing a mosque, and this is the first time indeed I am visiting mosque in Japan. After done with the Asr prayer, I wait there for the Maghrib prayer. I meet some brothers from Pakistan and make pren with them while waiting for Maghrib. The Imam came in at 4.45pm for azan, hence lead the jemaah prayer.

Then I went off to Shibuya, before returning back to Kawasaki.

Another boring Sunday in Ueno

Ueno... Yes, once again I made to Ueno. But this time I took an early stop, in the middle of Tokyo city. Tokyo.. Full of buildings and I bet it is the same as New York City where the main agenda is business... business.. business... I just walk through the Eastern-Capital City while my camera keep on snapping some view.

Nothing much to tell here. I just walk around, enjoy the beautiful city but nothing interest me (again - maybe I just couldn't find any...) Here is the monument of a naked lady (Sorry guys, as this site was rated "U" I have to censored it out). As been told by Kak Liza, in Japan naked women is the symbol of beauty, so I am not shocked when I came here some of the posters painted a naked women picture was hanging on to the public.

Feel bored enough, I went to a road with a signboard Ueno. Just for few kilometers, I saw something familiar. It was the Shosen building. I mentioned bout it before - just scroll down and you'll see the picture. Yes, it was Akihabara, the electric town (I still think it is better to name it as electronics town!).

Know what? I have actually met Bruce Willis live! See the picture below if you don't believe my words... Haha... Actually it was a Bruce Willis wanna be. He looks almost the same but a little bit shorter and little bit un-handsome. They are actually on their promotion of Die Hard 4:Live Free or Die Hard. Movies here are a little bit lag maybe because of the translation process.

To fulfill my uncle request, I just did some market servay for Nikon D80. After doing some research it was Y91,800 (discount for the autumn sale - normal price was Y109,800). Then I saw the Sony DSC-T200 price was Y37,500, I quickly grab my handphone and use to conversion software - it was Y1125 only!!! It can't be. Why too cheap. I nearly took out my money from my wallet before I start realizing that it was the price for Japan model. Only Japanese language and no other! For international model, price was Y52,290. It's not fair! But what to do. It's not me who decide the price after all.

Heading towards Ueno with heart full of disappointment, I suddenly saw a shop selling blazer and that kind of stuff. There's a few items outside which I thought it was clearance stock sale. I bought one, very cheap one - yet look quit expensive. Not telling you the price, or else I will be embarrassed when wearing it in-front of you guys.


This time I walk through the street full of shops. Here is more like Chow Kit Road or Petaling Street. Cheap price and good bargain (very sad I can't bargain when I could not say a sentence in Japanese). I saw some foreign face down here. I thought it was Malaysians, but when I came near, the language was so strange. Maybe Thailand or Philippine I guess. Luckily I did not bagi salam or something to him.

On the way home, I bought some Tempura it looks nice on the replica outside the shop and at the same time my tummy feels hungry. I tapau it and eat it at my hotel room while watching some stuffs downloaded from my torrent list.

Shinjuku -> Shibuya

Yesterday was Sunday (Nichi Yoobi)as per planned, I went out from Kawasaki after took abit of light breakfast. I took a train to Shinagawa then transit to Yamanote line. Yamanote line will make a circle around Tokyo city, so I thought it was a good idea to took an opposite direction (moving counter-clockwise to Tokyo and Akihabara direction). After a while inside the train I started to feel bored and started to realize it was just a dumb idea took an extra time turning around.

(This picture would be 10 times nicer if I just move 3 steps to the left and 1 step behind)

When I reached Shinjuku, I just like a man arrived in jupiter. I just don't know where to go. I know there's alot of interesting places around, but being an alien (Gaijin) without knowing Japanese language and without any tourist guide could be difficult for me. And the worst part is I was totally alone here! I guess I just walk around. First I find interesting building named Takashimaya Time Square. I just jump went in and found out it was the one like KLCC ground floor; you know, shops for all the riches (I'll come back when I become rich one day!), and it doesn't suit me well. I just leave the building and just walk around.

Tired of finding nothing interesting, I just walk to Shibuya. On the way there I found a garden, some of the signboards said it was the Museum of the Meiji bla bla bla... I just walk around enjoy the scene of autumn inside the garden. Some leaves did fall down, but it was more or less same like Hutan Ayer Keroh. When I arrived at the Museum, there's a sign with "CLOSED" written on it. How dissapointed!

Through the other exit, it was not far from JR-East Harajuku-eki, there were bunch of people wearing some kind of gothic dressing. It was very interesting to actually see a scene like this. Then I realized, it was the helloween. Some of them holding paper written "Free Hug", but since I think my iman is still here, I am not hugging anybody. (actually I don't have the courage to do so, in addition, some of them doesn't really look cute to hug to).

At another section, there're alot of people playing guitar like SS (syok sendiri) in every corner and 1 guy, sing along with the CD player he brought and teriak2 like hell especially when it reached the chorus. Penuh perasaan pulak tuh! He must be just break-off with his girl friend or something. It looks exactly like tanjung rambutan thou, but it seriously cool that you can do whatever you wish to without any disturbance from "pihak berkuasa".

Along the garden, there's a street jamming session. There were a few bands in a row complete with their own equipment, jamming like in a studio. They play in turn, while one band playing, the other setting up their sets. Just like a mini wood stock. It was really interesting even though listening to a band with old woman playing guitar while singing with an awful vocal, but they really played from their heart.



Here you can see a group of people dancing rock and roll like a break-dance. It was totally awesome, they dance in a group and taking turns among them. People walked by just watching and enjoy their moment there. Not just these people are crazy, there are few teams that gather in different location doing the same thing. And some of them looks very nice with skirt, but dance the rock n roll stuffs. Dude, there is no way you can do this in Malaysia.




Next destination was the Shibuya. In this visit, I prefer Shibuya more than Shinjuku (maybe I didn't found anything interesting in Shinjuku). Shibuya for me is more like a friendly city (owh.. I just don't know how to use proper words to describe this). But since I already tired when I reached here, I didn't went to far before I decided to return home. I guess next time I'll make another visit here, and I do some research on interesting places in Shinjuku. After all, it is better you know what you are doing rather than just do it because people said so.

I return home and do some shopping at near-by supermarket. I bought sushi and kaki fruit. That was my dinner for that night before I lay down my head on the bed.

Where to go tomorrow

Tomorrow is Sunday, it's holiday and I don't have any plan where to go. Today, I slept the whole day; as last night I stay-up late till night browsing the internet and doing nothing. So, today I woke-up at 11 (damn I missed the free breakfast!) and continue to sleep after Asr (Asr is at 2:30pm).

I went out to buy a network cables. They only provide with 1 meter of network cable and I only can use my laptop on the desk. With this new 3m RJ-45 network cable, I am able to online on my bed and surf while I lay-down on the bed (see how lazy I am... actually I am not lazy, but I am efficient - Pinjam Nokia punya motto).

I don't know where to go tomorrow. I just asked few of my fellow friends who familiar with this Japan cities. After a few consultation, I think it would be cool if I went to Shibuya or Shinjuku. Shinjuku is a very famous place and I have heard about it dozens of times - but I have no idea what so special about it. Last Friday, Yamakoshi-san said he will go to Shinjuku for a dinner with his photography club. Then I asked him, what's so interesting about Shinjuku? After type something on his electronic dictionary, he said Shinjuku is a metropolitan city. It maybe a big city.

Hit here for a pdf version of this map.

Traveling in Japan is not difficult because the public transportation is very efficient. You can simply go anywhere (of course you must have enough cash in your hand) by train. For example the above map not all, but for 1 train company - JR-East Lines. They have a few more companies, but this is the famous one. If compare to our country, people prefer to travel using private transportation. One of the reason is the weather is very hot. Maybe, people don't like walking from the station to their destination. Or maybe there is other reason? But here, even the ticket fare is not as fair as Malaysia, but people still like to travel by public transportation. For example, one of the staff travel 2 hours daily - 2 trains and 1 buses - and it cost him more than my daily salary in Malaysia! But who cares? As long as they got a very good pay, then everything is settled down.