Welcome to the highest tech city on the planet. The japanese are a fashion-minded people, drones who give priority to the well-being of groups rather than the individual. No problems working 9 to 3--AM--if that's what the company needs.
Went to a sushi place last night. How can I begin? Perhaps an analogy to rush-hour trains in tokyo, where they have designated pushers who forcefully cram the absolute maximum capacity of people into each car.. We're talking a person per square foot. Honest. (oh, a little trivia for y'all: the land opposite Tokyo station sells for: 18,000,000¥ per square meter. That's roughly $20Grand a sq. FOOT!)
so, back to the sushi. A conveyor belt carries little plates of sushi around a bar-like perimeter seating perhaps 100, and in the center stand 10 sushi chefs churning out these plates of two pieces. You have 30 minutes to grab all the sushi you want, stacking up your plates in front of you. Each plate costs 100¥, or 76 cents.
Then, there's bowling on floors 3 thru 6. Coin operated shoe dispensers. Fully automated scoring. Pressure-sensitive lane senses your position and that of the ball and switches between the score sheet, a video camera shot of the bowler's front, and a close-up of the pins as they are hit. And of course the requisite hard copy printout of your game history, including every pin left standing.
Everyone here has a cell phone. Everyone has rolls of little decorative stickers with a photographic likeness generated at coin-op booths. Ubiquitous vending machines carry soda, fruit juices, milks, canned coffees both hot and cold, teas, beer, wine, cigarettes.
Naturally the tamaguchi arose here. "Perhaps the tamaguchi pet was developed by computers to teach humans to nurture them." --Wired magazine.
...............a new day, new comments:
It's still pretty rainy. But no large, except for the recent realization that a rain-induced bike spill left 3 not insignificant holes/abrasions in my raincoat. aaa! Perhaps i can find some goretex repair kit in australia.
Charles and I are having a great time. His observations, stored over more than a year of living in Japan (really Nihon is the name of this country) are extraordinarily enlightening.
the nihonese don't run investments or the economy as america does. America embraces a form of Darwinian evolution for our companies, thinking strong individuals will generate a strong company and strong companies will generate a strong economy. Here, the collective is more important than any individual: not just in theory but actually in the thoughts of these people!! That is how they can work 14 hr days and not think to complain. The boss or senior is always right, never ever questioned even when making a disastrous mistake. And the outcome, if bad, is always the junior's fault. But good employees are not rewarded, nor bad ones fired for streamlining during downward slides of the economy, since the company whole is all that matters. Correspondingly, during economic good times, they don't hire lest the company suffer in future worse times. On a larger scale, things work in parallel: the stock market will support a hurting company rather than let it die. Thus, the bank interest rate is 0.3%.
Dinner last night was classic tokyo style. Waiters are replaced by a series of numbered plastic food models and an outdoor vending machine that spits out desired tickets upon payment with coin or bill. You take your tickets inside where they are redeemed for actual food. The quality wasn't bad, the food was cheap even by US standards, and the process was just hysterical.
today, charles has offered to teach me chinese, sort of in exchange for my explanations of music theory. He is another rare interested/interesting life-pursuit enthusiast. He wants to learn 8 languages by age 30. And he is a great host.
Having fun!
Love,
-xaq