Categories
Books Kirainet

"A Geek in Japan" Presentation in Tokyo

Some weeks ago I presented for the first time one of my books outside of Spain; it was here in Tokyo in Aoyama Book Center. It was also the first time that a foreigner presented a book in this bookstore, so they were not sure if many people would come to the event because the book was in English (to tell the truth I was also not sure), but eventually more than 50 people showed up and we had a fun time together.

.

The Spanish news agency EFE came to the presentation and interviewed me; the next day some articles about the event were released on newspapers of the Spanish-speaking world:

Here I extract and translate parts of the article published by Terra.es, here is the original article:

The infinite curiosity of Héctor García, a Spaniard that has conquered Japan

After almost eight years in Japan, Spaniard Héctor García, one of the responsibles…

Photography and story-writing lover, and a recognized expert of the Internet, García (Calpe, 1981) devotes a part of his time to share with the rest of the world his “geek” view of the world, a term that, in his case, defines as an “infinite curiosity” to understand and comprehend all thing related to Japan.

The computer screen is the window that he uses to narrate all the curiosities of the country, through the digital “ecosystem” formed by his awarded blog, one of the 10 most read blogs in Spain with over one million monthly visits, and his profile in social networks.

This computer engineer has complemented his virtual side with his book “A Geek in Japan”, published in Spain in 2008, translated into 5 languages and presented this week in English in Tokyo, his adoption city and main scenario of his work.

García explains that his book, a fruit of many years of learning and posts of his blog, is useful to get to know the most interesting places in Japan, but it centers more on the cultural aspects of the country.

……
……
For Héctor García, the “Japanese mentality” changed with the disaster; he emphasizes the image that has been engraved in his mind: the people in a “silent panic” that, even days after the earthquake, walked crestfallen all over the crowded streets of the city.

He confesses that Japan never stops surprising him and that, after having worked in several companies, he has found his place in the Internet industry, more specifically in the technology department of Digital Garage, one of the companies in charge of introducing the social networks Twitter and LinkedIn to Japan.
……

I was also glad to be featured on the website of RTVE, Spain’s main national TV channel; and in the main newspaper of my province (Alicante).

.

.

.

.

My book at Aoyama Book Center

準備できた!そろそろはじまります!

A geek in Japan presentation

Héctorplasma

.

Thanks you all very much for your support!!

You can buy the book online on the following places:

English version:

Other versions:

Categories
Cinema Videos

No more "Eiga dorobou"

In many Japanese movie theaters, just before the movie starts, the following video is shown. It explains that uploading/downloading movies to/from the Internet and recording with a camera inside a theater are crimes punished by law.

No More “Eiga dorobou”; “Eiga dorobou” means “steal movies”:

Categories
JapanGuide

Keya no Daimon 芥屋の大門

During my stay in Fukuoka after the earthquake of last March, one afternoon after telecommuting, Ale and I went for a walk around Keya no Daimon 芥屋の大門. “Keya no Daimon” is a torii door located in Keya beach in a really tranquil town called Itoshima, south from Fukuoka. Our poor friend CaDs couldn’t come with us because he still had a lot of work to do.

Memories from Fukuoka

After 20 minutes in the car following the coast line, we found a parking place next to a small house in front of the sea.

Refugees in Fukuoka

On our way to the beach the canes and the sand paths reminded me of Mediterranean beaches.

Memories from Fukuoka

Memories from Fukuoka

Refugiados en Fukuoka

At the beach, protected with huge concrete wall (to prevent disasters in case of tsunamis) we found this torii door that marks the beginning of the route to get to “Keya no Daimon” (Great Door/Torii of Keya).

Memories from Fukuoka

Memories from Fukuoka

Memories from Fukuoka

The Great Door of Keya is up there in the background, sitting on the rock. To go there we had to get into a small forest with well signaled paths.

Memories from Fukuoka

Refugiados en Fukuoka

Views of the beach of Keya when we were almost arriving to our destination!

Memories from Fukuoka

And finally we arrived to Keya no Daimon, it was not as big as we thought but it’s really beautiful being all alone isolated on top of the rock.

Memories from Fukuoka

Memories from Fukuoka

On our way back we bumped into this lady drying hijiki algae. She was one of the few people, besides us, that were on the beach. Places that are not on travel guides, even though not “famous”, are usually more quiet and many times much more enjoyable.

Memories from Fukuoka

If you want to read more, Ale also wrote about our visit to Keya no Daimon in his blog.