Exploring Rikkyo University

Photo: Pizza delivery in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan

Yesterday, I woke up late, and walked around Ikebukuro on my own. I found a business called Pizza-La which apparently does pizza delivery on the 3-wheeled vehicles you see in the photo.

I came across Rikkyo University, a neat Japanese university. I explored the campus, and took the following photo from the top floor of one of the buildings. It might have been building 10.

Photo: The view from the top of a building at Rikkyo University

At Rikkyo University, they have vending machine rooms– that is, rooms dedicated solely to vending machines. There are also entire sections of building lobbies that are dedicated to vending machines. Why are there so many vending machines in Japan, and so few in Vietnam? I would like to investigate what it would take to establish a vending machine in Vietnam. It seems like a good business opportunity.

I set up mobile email on my Japanese phone, so now I get unlimited messaging for 300 yen for 30 days. It’s a really good deal, actually. It works like standard email, so I can send and receive emails to any email address. Now I feel connected everywhere :)

I went to PacSec and got there in time to see Benny on the panel. I also stayed there for a free dinner, and met some cool people in the technology and computer security field.

I discovered that I can buy an RFID reader at Yodabashi Camera in Shinjuku. Haven’t gone there yet, but I might try to do it tomorrow. It should work with the Suica / Pasmo cards that are commonly used here. I haven’t done any research into how they work, though. It is likely they have some kind of unbreakable encryption. Still, I think there are a lot of neat applications for RFID, and I’d like to dip my toes in and see what it’s like.

Akiba came to visit our hotel in the evening. It was his first time actually coming inside the hotel. He’s a really interesting guy. I would like to work with him on something.