Yikes. 1.34am again. It was yesterday too. I’ve been wanting to write for a few days now, but, well, it’s not going to happen, I mean, not in the way that i would like. So rather than it not happen at all it’ll happen like this.

It’s turned out that Pepe (pictured above) is heavily trademarked, copyrighted and has all his rights reserved, so until a new Pepe is made the brakes are on his twitter / website / book.

Japan Podshow is doing very well. We’re close on 12,000 downloads now – that excludes listens using the built-in flash player, YouTube and Facebook video views. There are rumours that for the next episode George and I will be reporting from an NHK TV set… more on that if it all works out.

Tonight I was fortunate to meet the founder of a fantastic online Japanese music store – we have an interview for Making it in Japan, and hopefully a decent prize for Japan Podshow listeners too. It’s pretty exciting – now we have an established online presence we’re being approached by some pretty cool people with collaboration proposals. If only we had the time!

Last week saw an extraordinary turn of events. Thanks to the stuff we’ve done on Japan Podshow, a business owner from Australia who was wanting to make a video here in Japan to promote his brand, was put in touch with me via a friend whom I met on Twitter – would I like to direct / shoot the video? It sounded like a pretty interesting project.

Aside from getting to spend some time with the very cute and ultra-nice Rei Hamada, I was also able to learn a fair bit about shooting video in dark, crowded bars.

But of more significance for us, we now have the full-time use of a Canon HF-11 – the most advanced consumer level HD camcorder on the market at present (well, the Japanese market at least, it’s yet to be released in the US / UK).

The camera is AMAZING. It takes TV-quality video, I kid you not. Looks incredible on my 17″ display. Great sound too – especially with the gun-mic we have for the shoe. I’ll be posting a podcast filmed at Koenji Awaodori next week, which provides a great demo of the incredible image stabilisation system this thing has.

I can’t over-emphasise just how much of a dream come true this is. Along with the lighting rig and extra mic that we were gifted we now have our first full ‘studio’ setup. I am deeply grateful to the business owner and my friend InvisibleGaijin for this extraordinary act of trust and generosity.

I also have a strong feeling that this came to us as a result of us strongly wishing it to, and working hard to enable it to do so (preparing for it). You may laugh, but I have the evidence!

You know, they say that if you want to succeed at something, you just have to get up and give it a go, even if you have no idea how you’ll be able to do it. Don’t worry about the HOW. Here’s a perfect example of that. We’ve been wanted an HD camera for months, but haven’t had the funding. And this happens, out of the blue. Incredible.

We’ll be doing more shooting with this company when they’re back in Japan.

I’m looking forward to a friend’s birthday party this Saturday after work, and then on Sunday a launch party for Kat McDowell’s great new Album Echoes Over the Ocean (which incidentally we’re giving away on Japan Podshow). I’ll also be squeezing in a WordPress training session for a friend, and writing a bio for Kat too. I’ve also decided to redirect the effort I’m putting in Metropolis Magazine’s Metpod Podcast, and so will take half a day off work next week to meet with the magazine’s web editor to discuss my taking over (developing and maintaining) the website for the podcast (as opposed to audio sections).

My day job’s been pretty mental lately. So busy, I’m way behind with my regular work as urgent projects keep on popping up. I’m not bringing it home though so that’s OK.

Tomorrow morning (5 hours from now) I leave for the immigration dept to get my spouse visa renewed. Gaijin card expires tomorrow too.

Spent an hour on the phone to my brother in the UK tonight. That was wonderful. Really great to connect. I also like the fact that the call, made on my iPhone, was basically free thanks to Skype.

Oh, I’ve decided to not upgrade to Snow Leopard just yet – will wait till apps are updated as there’s no real rush and I need my computer to work, not just look sexy.

OK, must sleep. wiped out!

I wonder how long this routine can go on for?

jsoeph