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Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk
Messes around with big k8s clusters running on someone else's computer
my views, he/him, :rainblob:
@hugh_alt for spicy takes
@crablab.uk for my Bsky presence bridged
Matrix: @crablab:matrix.org
Website: https://crablab.co.uk
Signal: https://signal.me/#eu/7sUeT1cyKHlKDHX3a6uoO4BVy2qMsih-szSjDExF5d_1dn17KjFP2ZmFx5HwrCVk
Hackspace: rLab
DECT 📞: 4844
Joined: 2026-08-19 08:34:14
17 notes, 0 following, 0 followers
Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-08-19 06:22:21)
It's been a few months since I visited Japan; as you may recall I was traveling around *a lot*.
Here's a projection of all the places I visited, in numerical order.
Data comes from photo EXIF, plotted on OSM tiles and rendered with a Python script doing some Math.
A big question before I went was whether the Japan Rail Pass was worth it. I contend it was, but would people be interested in an actual analysis to prove that?
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-26 19:38:28)
Seems appropriate to wrap up this thread with an atmospheric telephone photo, as I'm now on my way home (via Shanghai) ✈️
Overall an extremely successful and enjoyable trip; not "relaxing" but that's not how I travel.
I'll post some more analysis of my JR Pass usage and perhaps some more thoughts later if people are interested 👀
Likewise, let me know if you want to see more photos of other underground attractions (don't want to spam).
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-23 17:01:18)
🍣 Reviews of some Japanse snackfoods from the last couple of weeks.
1. Custard bun thing. Pretty tasty, seemed to include cream too. Could have been a better custard.
2. Spam rice ball. Excellent - goes really well with the seaweed & the saltiness cuts through the glutenous rice.
3. Chocolate cream bun. Rubbery; came from a vending machine with a BBE in 2028 and tasted like it too.
4. Squid strips. Salty, fishy and tasty. Could do with a sauce to dip into.
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-23 14:41:48)
And a perfectly parked automobile. No notes.
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-23 14:39:15)
More telephones.
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-23 08:45:18)
It's almost 9am and I'm at this insalubrious bus terminal, smelling of diesel fumes.
More popular than the public transport is the tonkatsu restaurant here, that has a queue of hundreds stretching around the terminal 😅😂 Seriously!
Clearly this is excellent tonkatsu!
(Sadly I cannot take a photo, as it obviously contains many people)
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-22 15:35:54)
It's also worth sharing a photo of the dispatcher's console, used on the Shinkansen platforms.
Their role seems to be solely to open and close the platform edge doors, and some associated safety checks.
Looks pretty cool through!
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-22 15:32:39)
Time for some more phones?
Seems like the Shinkansen's character is keen on them too!
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-21 18:37:28)
Back to trains: the Kamome Shinkansen is the silliest railway. It's the shortest Shinkansen, and goes from Nagasaki to the middle of nowhere in ~20 minutes.
Why is that? Politicians in the next prefecture don't want the Shinkansen...
So instead, you get shuttled between Takeo-Onsen and Hakata where you can connect with the rest of the Shinkansen network.
Maybe one day they'll join it all up...
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-21 17:40:38)
Naturally, there is also a payphone here - priorities.
Being particularly remote and inaccessible, I wonder when it was last used? It's working, of course.
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-21 17:38:34)
On the surface there are various buildings in an advanced state of decay.
I particularly enjoyed the solitary digger, sitting on the spoil heap and looking out to sea 😢
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-21 17:31:34)
On the island is Ikeshima Coal Mine; which operated from the ~1950s through to closure in the late 90s.
Most of the "island" is actually spoil from under the seabed, and the surface buildings are largely abandoned and rotting away. But you can go on (a very limited) tour!
The mine itself is there and used for training, although the future of that is uncertain. Unfortunately access underground is not generally available :(
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B1%A0%E5%B3%B6%E7%82%AD%E9%89%B1
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-21 10:31:22)
It's now time to catch a ferry to a tiny island just off the coast; requiring the negotiation of two buses to the middle of nowhere - that was a little strenuous.
This is really quite rural Japan!
I don't really know how you'd do this trip without Google Maps; it's extremely hard to find information about these routes unless you read/write Kanji. Even with Google Maps, actually finding the right bus is a challenge and requires Google Translating images.
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-19 22:00:04)
Some more Kyoto ICC photos.
#architecture #brutalism #BrutalistArchitecture
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-19 21:54:23)
And in the same spirit as @janamarie, today I visited the International Conference Centre in Kyoto to appreciate the fascinating "metabolistic" architecture.
The home of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, but its cuboid cousin in Tokyo is more famous: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_International_Conference_Center
It's set in a lovely and extensive park, which was fun to explore.
#architecture #BrutalistArchitecture #brutalism
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Reply to @hugh@social.crablab.uk
Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-19 21:40:36)
I know what we're missing: more telephones.
Some of these are imposters; they're not actually branded as NTT.
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Hugh@hugh@social.crablab.uk (2026-05-19 16:03:21)
I heard fedi likes trains (especially @aetios). So here's some trains!
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