Sumida Hospital's Clinical Trials Program Seeks Participants in Tokyo
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Several years ago I enrolled in Sumida Hospital's clinical trials program, participating in one of their paid clinical trials. Despite the commitment, I found it a rewarding experience both in monetary value and blog-worthiness. I described the experience in detail here: The Clinical Trial
Since I'm on their mailing list, I receive occasional invitations and information regarding their other clinical trials. They currently seek Caucasian and Hispanic participants on an on-going basis for a number of well-compensated clinical trials. The requirements vary based on the specific trial.
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
FYI ONLY - These are general requirements that seem to reverberate through most all the clinical trials.
- healthy person of Caucasian or Hispanic background (both parents must be Caucasian or Hispanic)
- age between 20 and 45
- weight between 40 kg and 90 kg
- able to refrain from smoking during the clinic stay
* Please note that these are just the major general requirements. There may be other requirements or conditions not listed here that could cause ineligibility for a particular trial.
Please contact Sumida Hospital through their website if interested. Please let them know that David Pavlina referred you, as this simple act helps to support my blogging efforts.
Here's the link to Sumida Hospital's site. Here you'll find a list of the current clinical trials open for application.
http://www.clinicaltrialstokyo.com
How to Receive SMS Passcodes Abroad
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Although I've lived overseas in Japan for some time now, I still maintain a "presence" of sorts in my USA homeland in the form of bank accounts, credit cards, Paypal, etc. The Internet with its access-anywhere convenience makes this reasonably easy; however, I smacked into a challenge when seeking to boost the security of my online financial accounts. My ultimate goal was to setup multi-factor authentication wherever possible--a feature supported by most major online services, especially the money-related ones.
Some sites use handy token apps like "Google Authenticator" to provide the second authentication factor, but most I found use SMS--messaging the one-time password (OTP) to your phone upon login. The problem I have is that sites like Paypal require a USA phone number to send the SMS to. But I don't have a USA phone number because I live abroad. Am I forever doomed to answer recycled personal questions when logging in?
Does Amazon Ship This Thing Abroad?
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Although Amazon Japan offers loads of stuff to satisfy my discriminating American sensitivities, there are times when I surf Amazon USA and find an item that tickles my fancy. But will Amazon USA ship this thing to my Japan home? Here's a quick tip for finding out...
Training the Train Molester
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Wait...is that his hand down- what?!?
Oh, shit. This is real life.
Being half asleep coming back from an exhausting job in Shibuya and on my way to a photoshoot, I wasn’t sure if this was me being half-delusional on behalf of lack of sleep or verifiable reality.
Nope. It’s definitely real life.
Being half-asleep on a train in Japan is nothing out of the ordinary. Actually, most people catch up on their much needed REM cycles in transit and then magically wake up when they arrive at their stop. It’s like an Asian superpower that I have somehow been able to adapt to in my gaijin way. It's no wonder every time I go back to the States, everyone wonders why I fall asleep in a car. My body just goes into Asian work-power mode. Sleep on the train, get up when your subconscious hears that magical intercom announce your approaching stop in its monotone yet elegant way, and then go, go, go. You can sleep on the train ride back home. My body is trained to sleep in transit. I don’t think at this point it will ever adapt otherwise.
Anyways, so there I was--half-asleep, listening to my iPod on shuffle, on my second home in Japan also known as the train system, and I awoke to something disturbing, confusing, and alarming.
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