#91: 1 December 09
FROM THE EDITOR
Angelica Lim, English Editor
newsletter@…
Greetings DEvas,
Can you believe it’s already December? Here in Kyoto, the hills are dotted with trees of deep red and gold, a beautiful sight to behold despite the chilly weather. If you get a chance, I highly recommend dressing warmly and going for a bike ride along Kyoto’s Kamo River. It’s relaxing and gorgeous!
Along with enjoying the vivid fall colors, this past month I also was lucky enough to witness another regularly-occurring Japanese event: the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo. While definitely not relaxing, my one day in Daiba was certainly inspiring.
I saw dextrous factory robots with human-like “hands”, graceful, eco-friendly mannequin robots made out of cardboard, adorable robot seal pups, and even a handsome ping-pong playing robot. One robot, wearing a hachimaki, cooked okonomiyaki for interested onlookers. My question is: when can I get a cooking robot in my home?
Have a great New Year, everyone 
ROTA LEADER REPORT
Chiharu Kawai, Rota Leader for December
leader@…
December is here already, and Year 2009 will be over in a month. Time flies, doesn’t it? Was it a good year for you? Probably for many of you it has been a painful year. The value of the Japanese yen keeps rising; deflation seems to deteriorate further into a vicious circle; the economy doesn’t seem to be coming back; the job market looks disastrous; etc., etc. Not much good news at all! I guess it’s time to “forget about this year” to party in the hope that Year 2010 will be a better one. Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season!
MEMBERSHIP TEAM NEWS
Misao Kajiro, Membership Coordinator
membership@…
Total membership was 352 as of the 30th of November.
Welcome Edward Middleton to DEJ! Please send your introduction to the main list.
Our Tech Coordinator, Smita, has returned to India again but I hope she can join us from her home there.
DEJ’s year-end party will be held with other tech-related groups on the 17th. You will see more details in this newsletter and we look forward to seeing many of you there.
WEB TEAM NEWS
Cathy Cox, Web Content Coordinator
web@…
We’re now just three months away from the target date for the launch of the new and improved DEJ website. The new site will be powered by Wordpress – the website platform of choice for budget-conscious minds these days! Actually, there’s a Wordpress workshop being offered by Media Tectonics this Sunday (December 6) for anyone interested in a hands-on introduction to this easy-to-use web solution.
This month also brings SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 to Yokohama from December 16-19 – a must-see event for all those interested in computer graphics and interactive technologies!
SUBMISSIONS TO THE NEWSLETTER
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Editors (E to J) who can help in publishing this newsletter.
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The Digital Digest is brought to you by the Newsletter Team:
Koko Iwata, Yoko Kawabe, Angelica Lim, and Ailsa Wylie.