unforum

[The_Cube]

Well.............

[doublecross]

Back from hols so have just read this thread - impressive work indeed!

My hunch is we have to find our man and ask him for the answer, and I don't think it can be guessed without doing so (although given some silvers, I could be wrong on that one!).

What are our man's instructions if approached about the search? Probably not to respond to any general publicity, but to respond if asked directly, either by e-mail or in person? Thus any search for him is probably to find the 'fifth degree of separation', i.e. someone who knows him, who will then enable him to be contacted directly.

Great work to find the background of the photo. Satoshi may no longer be there, of course, but there may be local information as to where he has gone.

[Cinana]

Hey, like if he moved, he would have had to leave a forwarding address. That's what we do in US. If you move, you fill out a form at the Post office and then your mail begins to be delivered to your new address.

I know the workings of the USPS pretty good. However, not sure what the protocol is for foriegn countries. Their post offices are generally privatized.

[kksweety]

just out of interest. Has anyone looked into that building on the right? May be a hotel or tourist office or something, perhaps something with a guestbook? Long shot maybe but still an idea

[poozle]

[BZ]

Has anyone tried submitting the Longitudinal/Latitudinal coordinates for the place the picture was taken? Or even better, the coordinates for that guy's house?

It's entirely possible that this card is an exact opposite of Polar. How hard would it have been is Polar had said

[Zephonith]

This whole thing intrigued me somewhat (I read about this on the Japundit blog) and I read a little Japanese, so I did a bit of research. I noticed that every single thing I read about Kaysersberg and the Alsace region mentioned wine, so I put "satoshi" and "wine" together in google in Japanese and came up with this guy, Satoshi Yamamoto. It's really hard to tell because a.) my facial recognition skills are quite poor and b.) the two photos are vastly different in angle/light/clothing etc, but it looks to me like he could possibly be the guy you're after.

He has contributed to a book on wine and is currently head sommelier at a French restaurant in Tokyo called Mikuni.

These sites have a few more pictures of him, but none are of a high enough resolution to be able to judge anything, and they all suffer from the fact that he's dressed in a tux and completely out of the rather casual attire of the photo on the card.

http://www.el-saito.co.jp/event/92-wine.htm
http://www.sommelier.jp/event/020327/junkeshow.html (3 rows down, 3rd from the left)
http://www.exwine.com/yamamoto_gast/profile.html

However, I can't pinpoint any direct link between him and the exact location he is standing in - a google for that turns up nothing. That's all I have I'm afraid. Good luck!

[lambda.phi]

What about using face recognition software to assess the degree of similarity between photos? There are a few demos available for download.

[pingofirst]

Thinking that Satoshi didn't come only to visit Kaysersberg. I check what could be the link between Japon and the area.

I am not sure if it helps but here what I found.

The town of Freiburg in Germany (50km from Kaysersberg) has a japanese twin city: Matsuyama.
There is an artist call Satoshi Matsuyama however he doesn't look like our guy.

Also there is a copper iron sulfide call: fukuchilite. this product was first found in Hanawa mine (ahita prefecture in japan). This product was only find in 1 other place: Fanny mine in the Thur Valley around 60km from Kaysersberg.

that it for now...

[Nerd]

[quote="tc"]

[ramsfan]

My current trainee was educated in Frieburg, so I'll ask if he's on the medical staff there. If he's a visiting prof, we've hit bingo. If not, she'll just think I'm mad, word will get round, oh well, I'm meant to be paranoid in this job.

[Uhtoff]

fwiw the OED describes the use of a billion to mean 10^12 as 'dated', and accepts the usage to mean 10^9. The OED compact link is below -

http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/billion?view=uk

I guess we have to wave goodbye to the good old milliard...

[cheetahfur]

What i have tried doing, as he must go to that area often, he MUST stay in accomodation, so i have been looking up local hotels in the area and sending them email.

*fingers crossed*

[DarkHuman]

Or live in temp housing, or a friend's house, or a place MC puts him up, or at his step-mom's with a diffrent last name. (just saying, you could hit every hotel, hostel, et at, and still never find him....but good luck!

[poozle]

I doubt it will work, afaik hotels aren't allowed to release visitor data.