stevenveltema

For some reason, this reminded me of the Japanese "Music Sirens" that were made mimicking the sound production methods of the wartime air raid sirens. If you are in Oita, you can hear one of the few instruments still active every day at 10am when the Tokiwa store opens: https://www.airraidsirens.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26999

I have used urushi for both kintsugi and wooden ware and while I can't speak to your urushi in particular generally do not get it on your skin. Similar to other resins, even if you have no reaction initially the more you come in contact with it, the more likely you are going to have a reaction. It's quite common for craftsmen that have worked with urushi for years to suddenly become sensitized to it. Also, some people can have severe allergic reactions to uncured urushi so care should be taken if this is your first time working with it. This is a reaction to uncured urushi however, cured urushi is quite safe.

For use on wooden tableware I would suggest.

- 1 coat of urushi diluted 1/2 with pine turpentine. Apply liberally to allow it to soak into the wood then wipe the entire surface down removing excess. Place in a closed box with (but not touching) a wet towel (make sure it doesn't dry out) for roughly 1 week. The moisture + time will cure the urushi.

- repeat 1 or 2 times (or as many times as you like) with undiluted urushi letting it cure between each coat.

bemmu, I love the candy service. I think there is a lot more you could do with it with a bit more love.

A bit of advice from an expat coder of 20 years in Japan, 13 of that in Oita, Kyushyu.

1) Build the community that you want to participate in. Find a nearby area with a bit of population gravity and start a group, watch it wither away, start another, repeat, repeat, repeat. A more formless drinks in an open office with coders/designers/local businesses/artists/makers can be a lot of fun and there are generally more of these people nearby that you might think. I'm currently working on starting up a hackerspace/fablab downtown.

2) Get involved in any kind of quasi-local information systems group/NPO etc, even if only related tangentially and work their connections for 1). If your good, give out lots of free advice to local businesses and use the group to raise your profile locally as the goto guy to again attract talent for 1). City and prefectural offices can give you leads. Also you might try a regional bank as local banks in the countryside are always getting asked by small businesses about IT and usually have advisors/connections.

3) Regularly travel to where the interesting action is. It's the price for not living in a rabbit hutch in a major city and 3 hours is doable if it helps your long term sanity. You are close enough for overnights to Kobe and Osaka which both have lively developer communities. Once a month can do wonders.

These are all things that helped me when I joined an inaka startup (which is a long, dark, and interesting story itself) and now starting my own company just this week.

Anyway, in the countryside it can be hard to maintain your sanity. I have found at various times martial arts, running, motorcycles, hiking, zazen, pizza, and just doing things like drinks with the father's group from my kid's elementary school to be very helpful.

good luck

don't know about a lever, but practically all vending machines have a phone it them that can call home about being short on drinks etc. There are also specific machines that have water, speakers, and a screen in addition to the usual fizzy drinks that the local municipality can use in an emergency to give out drinks free, display messages, and sound warnings. These machines are rather few and far between at schools or near city offices, but I have seen them here and there.

Vending machines are not vandalized regularly here, but on occasion there is a bust of theft either by breaking them open or machining fake coins so it's not unheard of.

Wristwatches are like the buttons on a sleeves of a suit jacket, little or no functionality needed but fashionable as long as they are out of the way. The last thing we need are smarter buttons.