What’s this about? Colleagues asked: “Hey Chris, so what’s actually in that mobile HAM radio device, what do you get for 550EUR?” - I’ll sum that up here. I’m coming back to the hobby after 20 years, so also discovering what’s possible now. 20 years ago, I used CB-radio. After getting HAM radio licensed here in Japan, I got a decent HAM radio transmitter for hand held use, a Kenwood

Let me capture my favourite hiking spots around Tokyo. This can give others hints, and I have a convenient page to refer to when choosing a hiking tour together. When you are in the area and in the mood, let me know! I’m out in the green almost every weekend. As for planning: I have more details for the trips on the wiki. You can simply cut’n’paste the start station

When I lived in Munich, the Alps were near - but I never got into the habit of hiking. Munich had plenty of green spots already in the city, I had a woods directly behind the house, great for jogging. Tokyo is very different. Full trains, skyscrapers and lots of concrete push people into hobbies like camping, or hiking. Tokyo has a great public transport, it’s easy to get to

We get workplace computers refreshed in 3 year cycles. My old system was a Thinkpad T590 with 32GB memory, and 8th gen Intel CPU. When it was up for refresh, I did choose a Macbook, and got a “Apple Macbook M2”, 2023 model, with 16GB RAM. I work as Linux engineer, doing support/development/communication. My goal is to use Linux directly on the AppleSilicon hardware. Now after some months, it’s time to recap what I settled with, and how well I can do my work with the system.

HAM radio? HAM radio or ‘Amateur radio’ is the use of radio frequencies for noncomercial private purposes. After the German unification, I had been doing CB-radio in Germany. CB is ‘Citizens Band’, these are a few frequency channels which can be used without any license. I had gone as far as setup a metal antenna on the roof of the house, had spent nights with friends on a mountain, trying

When I came to Japan in 2016, I had my German drivers license translated by the Japanese Automobile Federation. For ~4000 yen I got translations. Like some other expats from Germany, I got the idea that I would then have to run through normal Japanese drivers school and pass the exam. Public transport in Tokyo is great, so I kept it at this. Now in my 8th year in Japan,

How do Germany and Japan think about World War 2 (WW2)? Why are some of my friends not visiting the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo? This is my attempt to sort out the information I received about the 2nd World War, and observations how people think about that time period today - in Germany and Japan. East German views on WW2 As most probably know, Germany had been separated after the

Sorting my pictures from this year, I got reminded of the various pieces of tech I got into contact with.. The tech year started with writing an article in how Kanji are input with normal keyboards. The area between Japan, Kanji and technology stays interesting for me. AsiaBSDCon In April, we had AsiaBSDcon in Tokyo. I’m much more active in the Linux world, but BSD covers other interesting areas, for example NetBSD with support for older hardware.

Background Most flat rental agreements in Tokyo are limited to 2 years, and can then be renewed. Renewal is mostly uncomplicated, the tenant just signs again a paper. There is a catch though: in most cases, an estate broker was doing the initial flat search, and at contract renewal they receive again money from the renter: a monthly rent. I was living in this flat for almost 6 years, renewal

I was born in former East Germany. At the German unification in 1990, I was 12 years old. A recent TV documentary made me rethink on my East German memory, my take aways about that time - also including how my parents and East German friends perceived that time. How influenced unification and the time after my thinking and my life? East Germany memories Just a view pieces, but they form a picture.

I have some retro hardware in Germany - in the last weeks I had access, and got to play, try out, find out what works. Capturing the summary here, so I can lookup further activities for the next time I get access, and maybe for others to share ideas for fixing and further debugging. Robotron EC1834 I was born in former East Germany, before the German reunification. Around the unification time, I got a ‘Robotron EC1834’, one of the last personal computers of East Germany, released 1986.

Transport in Tokyo I’m a German, living in Tokyo since 7 years. Cycling is one of the hobbies I took with me to Japan. How to people get around in Tokyo? By train/bus: there are many train stations, e-payment is easy, it’s cheap, on time - so this is by far the most heavily used method By car: this is much less used. To register a car, one has to