楽天TechCrunch Article

以下のページは、私の友人がTechcrunch（320万の顧客数を持つ世界で最も有名なテクノロジーブログ）内で楽天について書いたニュース記事です。

本日追加された和訳バージョン：
Japanese

原文（英語)：
English

目指せ世界一!

Happy Birthday Ant!

Soundtrack: "Knights of Cydonia" by Muse

Especially for The Ant-Man: a collection by French photographer Cedric Delsaux of Star Wars characters in urban Parisian settings.

Source: Hypebeast

Full Disclosure

Soundtrack: Eery Silence
Sorry for the lack of recent Konjoe updates. The nefarious ulterior motive of this blog was to provide a soapbox for me to write for an audience, but that void is now occupied by Business School applications. Thus, this new advent of non-entries is acts as a harbinger for the status quo of this blog for at least the next few months.
I hate to end this entry on such a forbidding note, so I will convey the recent joy of receiving my copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as well as Animal Spirits! Animal Spirits is being compared to the immortal works of Keynes, thus I couldn't resist. PPZ addressing the undead and I similarly couldn't resist.
Strangely, reading these books in parallel, I am seeing thematic consistencies about the "human condition." PPZ fundamentally is addressing the common thread of all zombie lore: humans as automatons. This is a gross oversimplification, but just wait till I oversimplify Animal Spirits! Akerlof and Shiller's work is fundamentally about human emotions and how they drive our actions like a hunger for brains!
Too much of a reach? Yeah, but at least I got my ending!

Golden Week 2009

Soundtrack: Charlie Winston's "Like a Hobo"
Just got back to Tokyo from a spectacular visit to the land of my younger brother.
Here are some quick photos:

Kyoto Sakura

Soundtrack: Pablo Casals Kol Nidrei


Two weeks ago (yes I'm behind, but with good reason that will be explained later) I spent the weekend in Kyoto with family. We all got together to enjoy the annual Hanami (花見)
or Sakura (櫻) Cherry Blossom viewing. The kanji for Hanami actually translates directly into "flower" (花) "viewing" (見). They are in bloom for about 2 week (depends on the weather of course) but Hanami tends to happen in 1 of 2 weekends bookending the blossom period.
My first day in Kytot was brief, I arrived late on the Shinkansen from Tokyo with one of my cousins from Tokyo. We went out to dinner at Al Camino (I know linking to myself is bad form, but I'm saving you from another gushing review). The next day we had a delightful breakfast, and spent pre-lunch time sightseeing.
The first stop was Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple (化野念仏寺). This is an ancient (9th century) cemetary, complete with bamboo forest and new "modern" cemetery attached. Created by Kukai (774-835), the founder of the Shingon Sect of Buddhism, it evolved to become a monastery for Amida Buddhism. In the 12th Century, Honen (法然), the founder of Pure Buddhism (or Jodo Shu) fully transformed it into a school. The large Buddha is from the Kamakura period (1183-1392), and the main temple was built in 1712.
It is incredibly beautiful, and I've attached some photos. Kyoto is a fantastic city, and this section, nestled in the mountains was only a few minutes car ride away from downtown, but it felt like it was worlds away.
There are about 8,000 stone Buddhas throughout the temple, many still being discovered scattered throughout the bamboo forest. The interesting thing about many of these stones is that Buddha gravestones are traditionally marked with the names of the deceased, but these bare no traces of any such markings.
Annually, on my Birthday actually, they have a 1,000 candle offering (Sento-kuyo) to these stone Buddha who are in honor of their possessing the spirits of the deceased. I'd love to get back and see this.
Next up: Ghi-ohji, a moss temple that was within walking distance of Adashino Nenbutsu-ji. This is a latter period temple (12th century). It reached it pinnacle of publicity when the poet Heiki Monogatari composed a story about the 2 sisters Shirabyoshi (singers/dancers) and their mother who all became nuns at Ghi-Ohji after the temple fell out of favor of the ruling lord of that area.
This tale was actually mirrored in a recent story of a Geisha, Chishoni, who became a nun to take care of Ghi-ohji after it had been untended for decades.
Next up, lunch in the Meditation Halls of Tenryu-ji, the head temple of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. Tenryu-ji is fantastically beautiful, and the cherry blossoms were an incredible addition.
The meditation hall is a new building (built last 20 years) and is separated from the main buildings by a sprawling pond. The hall has a private koi pond, with some truly monstrously sized Koi (black being the largest, with the white and orange koi being much smaller).
On to the festivities, we all enjoyed Tamano Hikari (the family brand) and went around introducing ourselves, and somehow I got conned into making the toast. It went well, but the art of the toast in English is very different than the Japanese method.
The food was fascinating, and a monk came to greet us, explain some of the history of the temple and the food. My understanding is that this food is designed to "eat to live" rather than the excess of "living to eat." The food is divided into 6 basic flavors: bitter, sour, sweet, salty, light and hot. Other disciplines are applied, such as the food is designed to be "light an flexible, clean and neat, conscientious and through." Needless to say, it was entirely vegetarian, and ingredients with strong odors were not included.
I found one mantra to describe their philosophy inscribed in english:

"First, let us reflect on out own work,
let us see whence this comes;
Secondly, let us reflect how imperfect our
virtue is, whether we deserve this offering;
Thirdly, what is most essential is to hold
our minds in control and be detached
from the various faults, greed, etc.
Fourthly, that this is taken as medicinal
is to keep our bodies in god health;
Fifthly, in order to accomplish the task of
enlightenment, we accept this food."

After this unforgettable lunch, we walked through the adjoining grounds of Tenryu-ji, past were my mother had a similar Hanami lunch with her relatives when she was a teenager. We walked along a neighboring river, crowded with boats viewing the sakura from the river.
I bid my farewells here, and caught the shinkansen back to Tokyo.

Yakushima: Mononoke Mori

Soundtrack: Brahms Symphony No. 3 in F, Op. 90: III Poco Allegretto
My last day in Yakushima, I got to sleep in til 5:30.
Another spectacular meal (this time breakfast) at the ryokan. Japanese breakfasts have become my favorite in the world (thus far). Its a nice balance of food groups while still remaining light. A little egg, a little fish, miso soup, picked vegetables and some rice. Only thing that could possibly improve on this is to add some bacon.
I pick up a kilo of local tangerines for the trail and I catch my ride to the trailhead. The ride was our first sign of bad weather: our tiny car was being blown around on the narrow mountain roads, and the sheets of rain killed the visibility. To make matters worse, I’m not entirely prepared. I may have my rain jacket, but the Japanese hikers have full gators and rain pants (many with umbrellas too), and my pack is not even pretending to be waterproof.
I meet 3 fascinating grad students I buddy up with. 1 biked all the way down from Kyoto (took her a week) and the other 2 are visiting Yakushima for the first time. They all got to the onsen last night, and they actually remembered me from the Jomon Tsugi trail yesterday! Their midnight onsen trip means they are functioning on even less sleep then me. Impressive guys, and fantastic hike companions. I wouldn't have made it through some of the more dangerous washed out portions without their helping hands.
While beautiful, the trail turns treacherous very fast. If reading my father’s mountain medicine journals has taught me anything, I should have turned back. The trail turns into a river, and the river turns into a torrent. Getting down was very difficult, but I made it to my jetfoil just in time. I am soaking wet seated next to properly attired families with their children crawling around, but the hike was well worth it, and I’ve on the shink ride I finished Capote’s In Cold Blood and put a dent in Kafka by the Shore.
I grabbed a delicious Kagoshima Beef Bento box to eat on the train. I am constantly amazed by the quality of food everywhere I go here. Every city has some local specialty they are proud of, and as long as you have an open mind (and flexible palate) you can always get an amazing meal.

Happy Birthday Brolai!

The Happiest of Birthday Wishes to the violiniest of the violinists, the mathematicianist of the mathematicians, the craziest of the crazed, the most adverturous of the adventurers, and the brotherliest of brothers: my Brolai.
Happy Birthday!

Yakushima: Jomon Tsugi

Soundtrack: Elgar's Cello Concerto 1st Movement performed by Jacqueline du Pre

From Yakushima

Second day in a row I’m up at 4am, I picked up my Bento Breakfast & lunch and I’m at the Bus Stop by 4:45. Its pitch black out, but the bus quickly fills up with fellow climbers. The trail head is packed full with breakfasters, so I hit the trail to beat the rush. After a quick jont through a cave, I follow the lumber railway up a ridge where I see the sunrise at 7. Truly stunning landscape, I try not to take too many photos. It was so beautiful that I could take a video of the entire hike and watch it over and over.

From Yakushima

I leapfrog a few hikers before I hit an old ruin on the other side of the second suspension bridge. I scarf down my breakfast bento under the sakura. Some sort of archaeological dig is going on nearby. I recognize the tools and the markings from my paleontology days.
Once I reach the old growth trees, I realize that I can no longer avoid the final message of Mononoke Hime: life from death. I am surrounded by trees growing from the bodies of their ancestors.
Once I hit the end of the railroad tracks, the real climbing begins. Apparently, the prepared climbers come equipped gloves. My hands came away in working condition, but I see why they recommend gloves now...

From Yakushima

The first major stop was the Wilson Stump, which is about the size of my apartment.

From Yakushima

Jomon Tsugi, the main attraction, was about 2.5 km further up. By the size, they estimate it to be 7200 years old. A sample taken places it closer to 2150. I have to say, as striking as Jomon was, it had no context. The entire area around it has been dug up and re cultivated. I preferred the undisturbed sights on the ascent.

From Yakushima

Even on the way down, it was difficult not to photograph everything. I made some friends on the way up, and we went of to Yakuland, passing hordes of monkeys on the roadside, staring us down with their beady red eyes. I got back to the ryokan around 5, where the incredible hosts had arranged a car for me to get to the tomorrow’s trail head. They also had prepared a beautiful dinner with a flying fish expertly prepared.

From Yakushima

To Yakushima

Soundtrack: Mos Def's Quiet Dog

I love the Japanese train system. Whether it is the inter-Tokyo subways and trams, or the nationwide Shinkansen, they all are run with the superb efficiency, respect and professionalism I am being totally spoiled by everywhere I go in Japan. (A short aside, I am writing this from a Starbucks with waiters… yes, real waiters.) So after a very pleasant and sleepy jot down to Hakata, I switch trains to Kagoshima. It is here I run into a nice family with a child (I’d say he was about 6) who stares and intones at me “GAIKOKUJIN.” His parents and I laugh and exchange pleasantries. Whenever I see a Shinkansen now, I think of Richard “Hamster” Hammond’s thoughts when he saw one “Is it supposed to look like that?”
A few hours later, I’m enjoying a beautiful day in Kagoshima. I even doff my jacket and sweater to absorb some of that delicious Vitamin D. I enjoy some local eats, as I wait for my jetfoil to Yakushima. Japan celebrates local foods from all of its towns. While Yakushima and Kagoshima share the similar agriculture, Kagoshima does have a reputation for excellent dairy products. I take plenty of photos of Sakura-jima, but it isn’t quite clear enough to see the steam rising from the summit.
The jetfoil is full of climbers for Yakushima who are all discussing other local peaks. We pass a few of the mountains they have submitted, and oceanic crags that would make awesome fortresses. We catch the sunset as we dock at Yakushima, which is much more built up then I was expecting.
Unfortunately, I arrived too late for the buses, and taxis are few and far between. A nice man in a van volunteers a ride. While this would be sketchy as hell is any other country, I’m totally comfortable hitching in Japan. It’s only a 10 minute ride to my ryokan by the sea, but the driver and I discuss my plans for my weekend. He told me 2 nights is not enough. He is right, so I’ve packed my days to the hilt. In addition to Jomon Tsuigi and Shiratani Unsuikyo, he recommended the onsen which comes with the tide, and a waterfall on the other side of the island. In the summer, you can also catch the sea turtles laying their eggs. Maybe next time, but now I’m here to hike!

Best Pizza in Japan (Yet): Al Camino

Soundtrack: Bud Powell's Un Poco Loco
I was in Kyoto this past weekend for 花見 (hanami, or Cherry Blossom viewing but more on that later) and my first night there, we went to the best Pizza restaurant I've been to in Japan: Al Camino.
I have enjoyed some fantastic meals while living in Japan. These have obviously included regional specialties particular to areas of the Islands, but more surprisingly, some foreign cuisine re-interpreted with delicious results. I use re-interpreted in a very lose sense. The first step seems to be the studying and mastering of the foreign cuisine, followed by subtle additions. It's hard to describe, but as with many of the imports I've encountered here, they all are refocused with a particularly powerful lens, making the end result intense and fascinating. I digress, I started this entry to talk about Al Camino!
I wrote a few pages dissecting the wine we had and the pizza and even evaluating the decore, but I'll save you the trouble and just share the essentials. While the baking process was traditional Italian (wood burned super heated clay stove) and the chef was actually imported from Italy for his incredible skill, the ingredients were not so traditional. He mixed familiar favorites (pepperoni & olive) with Japanese style (eggs & mayonnaise) with his own preferences (selected squash and prosciutto). The result was a pizza that held the cheese together, was thicker than the New York style but no where near the massive Chicago.
The be all and end all being this: best pizza in Japan.

Shibuya Flash Mob

Not a bad April Fools!

Thanks Japan Probe

LED Equalizer Shirt

Soundtrack: Tomoyasu Hotei's Howling (From the album Electric Samurai)

Living in Tokyo, and working for an Internet Company, I would be remiss to not mention the crazy items I come across everyday.
Case in point: the Equalizer LED T-Shirt.
Yes, it claims to actually take sound in and turn it out in the shape of a wearable LED Equalizer.
No, I have not seen it in the wild but I imagine it's only a matter of time. Not like its ridiculously expensive either, ¥3,800, which is about $40USD. Not bad for the craziest T-Shirt I've ever seen.
I will try and restrain myself from blogging exclusively about gadgets or other crazy Japanese stuff, but I couldn't help myself this time.
Check it out here, complete with indecipherable English translation: Rakuten Borderless

Japanese Website Profile: Mixi

Soundtrack: Boy Named Sue
Question 1: What is Mixi?
Mixi is Japan's #1 Social Networking Site, boasting an 80% market share and over 10 million users.
Question 2: What makes it unique?
While microblogging sites like Twitter, and now the new Facebook UI enable 140 characters or less, Mixi emphasizes full blogs but in a social setting. Purportedly, the purpose of this is to purportedly connect people with common interests.
Question 3: How are the handling privacy policy stuff?
Like Facebook, they backed off from some recent heavy handed Privacy policy revisions, but they have banned their users from dating.
They have a persistent "invitation" only policy, which is typical of beta sites, but seems highly unnecessary for such a broadly used service.

Bacon Meal

Soundtrack: Rolling Stone's Tumbling Dice
Inspired by my friend DickLi, I've put together the Ultimate Bacon Meal:

Beverage: Bacon Vodka
Appetizers: Baconnaise Dipping Sauce with Bacon to Dip
Salad: Baconnaise Caesar Salad with Bacos
Soup: Leek, Potato, Bacon Soup
Main Course: Bacon Explosion
Sorbet: Bacon Sorbet
Desert: Bacon Chocolate

The perfect movie to enjoy while cooking? Babe: Pig in the City
Perhaps the lack of good bacon in Tokyo is getting to me...

Boyfriend's Arm Pillow

Soundtrack: Radiohead's Bodysnatchers

The obvious followup to the Lap Pillow: the female centric companion product, the Boyfriend's Arm Pillow! While not the massive seller the Lap Pillow is, it is slightly cheaper at 8,500 Yen.
A great excerpt from the BBC piece about this:

Ms Suzuki, who is separated from her husband, says the pillow has other advantages.

"It keeps holding me all the way through. I think this is great because this does not betray me," she told AP.

Lap Pillow

Soundtrack: Biz Markie's Just a Friend
Japan is full of crazy stuff, and it's hard to ignore this.
Case in point, the Lap Pillow. Designed for "lonely men" to rest their sad little heads upon. While its sold over 3,000, reportedly its a popular joke present at office parties. This may be true, but to even think of this concept... it just boggles the mind.
The icing on the cake? It costs the equivalent of $90.

Japanese Victory at the World Baseball Classic

Soundtrack: Queen's We are the Champions

Around the office today, everyone had their cellphones switched to the World Baseball Classic Championship (yes, cell phone TV is that common). I remember reading about this in a Poli Sci article a long time ago, but it was mostly about international sports economics. I didn't think the WBC would survive, and while less than 3% of Americans tuned it, it was a huge deal here.
Here's a Japanese news clip about the American reaction courtesy of Japanprobe.

雨男: ameoto: rain man

Kiss the Sky by Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra
The kanji for Ameoto translates precisely into Rain Man.
In Japanese, being a Rain Man (or women, its equally applicable) has nothing to do with Dustin Hoffman or Autism.
It means that the person in question is always followed by rain. For example, this person's involvement in any outdoor activity seems to be accompanied by rain.

大勢: oozei: lots of people

大: Big
勢: Power
Together they mean: lots of people,
but individually: Big and Power.
Interestingly, after asking around, when people see these two kanji together, their mind doesn't immediately think "Big Power." Its interesting that kanji has evolved from individual character meanings to an almost alphabet, where people do not think of their individual meanings in order to determine the what they may mean when coupled together.
I actually find the word dissection to be a interesting way to learn new vocabulary, but more on this later.

Princess Mononoke: もののけ姫

Soundtrack: Theme for Princess Mononoke
Updated: 3/23
I'm back in Tokyo, after many sleepless nights in Yakushima (full story forthcoming) but first 3 quick points:
1.) That trailer I had up earlier was terrible, so I had to take it down. I blame the bad English dubbing script.
2.) I didn't cover the main theme of Princess Mononoke earlier because I thought it would give too much of the plot away. In hindsight, with my trip to Yakushima behind me, I realize that I will have to address this theme now. The idea of renewal, and particularly life from death is always on my mind in forest hikes, and Miyazaki masterfully incorporated that into Princess Mononoke.
In preparation for my trip to Yakushima (屋久島) this coming weekend, I purchased and watched Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫). I've never been a fan of Anime before, but this film is a truly captivating work of art. The film cells alone are museum worthy, and mixed with the epic scope, I would recommend this film to absolutely everyone. I actually watched it twice already, once in Japanese, and once with subtitles. I had difficulties the first time around, I'm not very familiar with the feudal style Japanese, and the animals (seemingly telepathic) communications are "spoken" in a style that I could not easily understand. Yes, there are talking animals, mystical realms, and its all set in feudal Japan at the dawn of the Iron age, but don't let these fantastical elements deter you. They may all be the stereotypical makings of a good versus evil opera, but somehow Mononoke is able to address these paradigms without being a slave to them.
The film opens, playing with these notions of the absence of a simple good / evil dichotomy. An attack on a village in North Honshu by what one presumes would be a clear evil, is later revealed not to be so simplistic. While protecting the village people, the protagonist, Ashitaka, is afflicted with a deadly curse (which later turns out to also grant him inhuman strength). Miyazaki is able to subtly propose the idea that the an action cannot be simply be judged right or wrong by whom the actor or the recipient of the action is. Simply put: the lack of morality of an individual does not lessen the impact of the repercussions of their actions.
Every character is portrayed with care and no individual is presented in unsympathetic light. Without giving away too much of the plot, the film draws parallels between the various tribes of animal's dying self-protecting order, and homosapien's (very specific reason I did not use "man" here) self-protecting rise to power.
The characters even ask the protagonist what side he is on, all the while the audience knowing that there are no sides. To see with "eyes unclouded" was Ashitaka's mission, and through him, the audience is able to perceive the beauty and majesty of Miyazaki's creation. Did I mention it was all inspired by Yakushima?

Voltaire on Languages

Soundtrack: Rolling Stone's Sympathy for the Devil
"je ne suis pas comme une dame de la cour de Versailles, qui disait: c'est bien dommage que l'aventure de la tour de Babel ait produit la confusion des langues; sans cela tout le monde aurait toujours parle francais."

"I'm not like a lady of the court in Versailles, who said it was unfortunate that the adventure of the tower of Babel has produced confusion of languages; otherwise everybody would always speak French."
-Voltaire in 1767

Voltaire speaks to the French stereotype (reiterated in The Onion's Our Dumb World entry France: One Nation Above God, read it, its hilarious) that the French believe French is the one true language. Living in France, you definitely get that impression. In Japan, however, it is quite the opposite. A foreigner speaking Japanese is regarded as a novelty, even in Tokyo where there are entire districts dedicated to reproducing Americana, Britannia and the other _anias.
Even the simplest usage of the language impresses. I remember asking a concierge where the bathroom was (less than 5 words) and being complimented on my "beautiful Japanese."
Here are two more quotes, that open Charles DeWolfe's book on sounding intelligent in Japanese, that I believe are now quite out of date, but still amusing:
"The foreigner in Japan, so long as he is not thought to be permanent immigrant, is treated very politely, but always as an outsider. If he speaks Japanese at all, not matter how badly, he is praised for this remarkable accomplishment, as though we were an idiot child who suddenly showed a streak of intelligence." -Edwin O. Reischauer, 1977
and
"...Seeing that you speak Japanese, they will wag their heads and smile condescendingly, and admit to each other that you are really quite intelligent- much as we would do in the presence of a pig or an ape of somewhat unusual attainments." - Basil Hall Chamberlain, 1904

Gun O'Clock

Soundtrack: Black Keys' Strange Desire
"Tell me Sage, do you sleep with a gun under your pillow?"
I've seen many a crazy alarm clock while living here in Japan: an alarm for deaf people, a rolling alarm clock, a flying alarm clock etc... but for me, the only way to wake up is guns blazing, its just the right way to start the day.

Microlending

Soundtrack: Dvorak Symphony 9 Mvt 1

Something awesome is upon us: OptinNow and kiva microlending sites, allowing you to make small loans (a couple hundred USD seems the norm) directly to entrepreneurs in developing countries.
Differences between the Kiva and OptinNow:
OptinNow is Christian, and has been around since the 1970s and the loans are made through OptinNow, then handed to the entrepreneurs. The site also has a very cool interface that makes it easy and desirable to choose enterprises you deem worthy of investment.
Kiva is nondenominational (as far as I can tell) and while its interface isn't as awesome as OptiNow, it does have a direct lending model.

Thoughts on Facebook

Soundtrack: Act III Scene 2: Trauermarsch
I was recently asked by a friend whether they should have a Facebook page.
While Facebook is a huge distraction to one's (by this I mean my) normal workflow, I believe they are on the cusp of something truly epic. With the advent of their comment boxes, affiliations with news portals, and most prominently, their adoption of OpenID, we are witnessing Facebook's grasp finally catching up with its reach.
I believe, that with these aforementioned technologies, Facebook will encompass the web with what I will not call Frame. Your web experience will now be viewed through the Facebook Frame: shaped by what your friends suggest, and attuned to your own preferences. Instead of waiting for you to search for something, Facebook is enabling a new system where information will come to you suggested by your family & friends, instead of you searching for it.
Facebook isn't looking to become an entry point like the Portal sites of yore, they creating a new Framework in which to view the web.

Workplace Haiku

Soundtrack: Chopin Prelude in D-flat major
At work, we are asked to write daily emails (日報) summing up our thoughts for the day. I often times express mine in Haiku form, my first entry was just an observation:
働いているキーボードは降ってる雨のように鳴いている
or
"Busy keyboards sound like falling rain"
This created a riotus uproar demanding that my following entries be submitted in poetic form. Naturally, Haiku was the medium of choice. If it was in English, it would be a sonnet. French some sort of Rondeau and German, an instructive but gruesome fable.
I was thus reminded that Haiku's typically require a seasonal reference, making an already difficult form of poetry even more challenging. I decided to supplement the Haikus with Senryus, a comical form a poetry that has looser form and content expectations.
I will be sharing some of these Haiku and Senryu on Konjoe.

Dog Takes Care of Monkeys

Most of the Japanese TV-shows I've caught are panel-style ensembles, where they eat food, show soft-news clips (like this one), share stories, judge comedians, or interview celebraties. In my quest to increase my exposure to Japanese, I try to watch this stuff. Here is a sample:

You can see why I limit my TV watching here. Instead, I'm trying to watch some Japanese series (mostly anime recommended by friends), and I'll be posting some thoughts and reviews here.

Dino 246

Soundtrack: Rolling Stone's Gimme Shelter

As the age of the gas powered supercar winds down, I think it is only fitting that we look back on some of this age's finer moments. Case in point, the most beautiful car ever made: the Dino 246. While its sibling, the Dino 206, has the smoother lines and artistry of a light speed sculpture, the 246 was its automotively refined successor. Followed by the angular designs of the 80s, this car has been recently revisited as a design paradigm for current Ferrari creations. Unfortunately none of these modern callbacks match the inspired design and risks taken with the 246.
The Buggatti Veyron provides the perfect bookend to the era of the gas powered car. Like the Concord, Titanic and the Hindenberg before it, the Buggatti represents the ludicrous ultimate end of an enterprise gone wild before it comes crashing down (or people realize how ridiculous that end actually is). Not that gas powered cars won't continue to crowd our streets, the gas engine will simply be slowly phased out in favor of more efficient energy systems (as soon as someone perfects them, I still believe that the current options need refining).

風船: fusen: balloon

Soundtrack: 99 Luftballons
風: wind
船: ship
Total random thought, but I like the kanji for balloons. Basically, the first kanji means wind, and the second one means ship. So naturally, the next logical question is what is the kanji for things that I consider to actually be an "air ship." Things that carry passengers, like zeppelins and hot air baloons.

熱気球: Hot Air Balloon (kanji breakdown: high temperature+spirit+sphere)
ツェッペリン飛行船: Zeppelin (kanji breakdown: zeppelin, in katakana; avaiation, the first two kanji; and the last one being ship again)

French Teens Give Foreigners a Bad Name

So 3 French kids were caught stealing about 1 million Yen ($10,000) worth of games and gaming systems. This, even after the number of crimes committed by foreigners has dropped for the third year straight. Their defense: "Japanese people shouldn't be so trusting." Way to think that one through guys.

Pocari Sweat

Soundtrack: Muse's Our Time is Running Out

The Virtual Tokyo Marathon was sponsored by by Otsuka Pharmaceutical, makers of Pocari Sweat. This reminded me of a friend of mine, Joe, and his immortal question: "Who is Pocari, why are we drinking his sweat?"
The answer: It is not sweat and there is, disappointingly, no Pocari.
The strange English name is an endemic here in Japan. You see people wearing poorly written or nonsensical English (often referred to as Engrish, a recent example I encountered was a woman wearing a shirt reading "I'm Constapation"). The analogy given to me by a friend is that English in Japan is like Latin in English. The layman is not always fully versed on the langauge or the meaning, but they like to plaster it all over the place.
Anyway, back to Pocari and his Sweat. The name was supposedly derived from the fact that it replenishes the nutrients you sweat out: such as electrolytes.
The name Pocari is derived from the Japanese for lightly or ぽっかり.
As for how it tastes: like sweetened water and no, I do not drink it that often because the name is still off-putting.

Japan's UNESCO Sites

One of my MANY goals for while I'm living in Japan is to visit all of the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization World Heritage Sites. Here is a run down of the sites, courtesy of UNESCO:

Cultural

• Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area (been here)
• Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu ()
• Himeji-jo (been here)
• Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) (been here, everyone should visit this)
• Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities) (been here)
• Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara (been here)
• Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama ()
• Itsukushima Shinto Shrine ()
• Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and its Cultural Landscape ()
• Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range ()
• Shrines and Temples of Nikko (been here)

Natural

• Shirakami-Sanchi ()
• Shiretoko ()
• Yakushima (Going later this month)

I'll be posting my impressions of each of these sites.

Tokyo Marathon: Virtual Edition

Soundtrack: The Postal Service's Such Great Heights

Tokyo is a great city to run in, and unlike Paris, many locals partake. So many in fact, that the March 22nd Tokyo marathon is a madhouse to get into. 250,000 people applied for the lottery for just 35,000 spots. Colleagues and friends who want to participate suggested that I just go to the Taipei marathon. However, these doubters didn't account for the wonders of the web: yes, you can now virtually run the Tokyo marathon using custom avatars. The ultimate lazy runner's marathon, your avatar can even have a bulbous head with birds nesting in your hair.

Japan's Sewage Gold

This has been covered internationally, but "A sewage treatment facility in central Japan has recorded a higher gold yield from sludge than can be found at some of the world's best mines."
Article at: China Daily
So... many... easy... jokes...

オタク

Soundtrack: David Bowie's Oh! You Pretty Things
オタク (n) (col) geek; nerd; enthusiast
While "geek" or "nerd" in English carries some negative weight, オタク in Japanese does not have the same connotation. A better translation might be "connesieur." This is because seemingly EVERYONE here is some sort of オタク. Whether that be an Ahkihabara computer nerd (this is the first image that comes to mind when people use オタク), a Shibuya fashion nerd, a Harajuku anime nerd or a Music nerd. These are by no means mutually exclusive titles. I fully admit to being 2/4 of these.

"You can count on me": 任せて

Soundtrack: Junior Kimbrough's All Night Long
任せる 【まかせる】 (v1,vt) (1) to entrust (e.g. a task) to another; to leave to; (2) to passively leave to someone else's facilities
I'm constantly trying to directly translate my English thoughts and speaking style into Japanese. This is 1.) ill-advised 2.) near impossible. For example, I use "no problem" alot in English, which directly translates into "問題ない”but sounds very unnatural when used in similar context to the English "no problem." The more direct translation of "問題ない” is that "no problem exists." A friend of mine suggested using "任せて" which, when dissected, means ”obligation entrusted to me” or more naturally "you can count on me."

Why There is a Soundtrack

Soundtrack: Ibrahim Ferrer's Boliviana
I love music and
音楽は一種の魔法であり、ミュージシャンにはある種の力がある。
Music is a sort of magic, and musicians have a sort of power.

Mini Love

Soundtrack: Iggy Pop's The Passenger
I am constantly conflicted by practicality versus pure awesomeness. While this Runabout styled Mini nailed a perfect 10/10 on practicality, the awesomeness gets still spectacular 9/10.
I like the idea of a Runabout: a tall 2 door hatchback. Thus far, there are slim pickings. The Range Stormer got watered down into the disappointing Range Rover Sport, the X1 is relegated to rumordom, the Wrangler is less reliable than a insert pun here and the 2 Door G-Wagon is... well, its actually the only solid one I can think of.
SUVs have nixed the "sport" component of their acronym and interpreted "utility" as meaning gas-guzzling-suburban-mom-machine. I'm glad mini has manned up (strange to admit to that) and re-imagined the Runabout, sadly its only a concept and will undoubtedly be distorted beyond recognition before I can give it a hug. So when are we going to hear about broader electric options?

Free iPhones

Soundtrack: Mozart's Requim Mass in D Minor VI
Softbank, Apple's iPhone carrier in Japan, recently annouced that due to struggle sales, they will now be giving the iPhone away for free.
Before the iPhone landed in Japan, there was alot of debate about how it play out in the savviest of tech markets. It looks like we have our answer now.
I hang out with alot of オタク (to be defined later) and the iPhone has not permeated this niche, which should have been the easiest target. After the week long lines in Harajuku were done, the hype was exhausted. People were unwilling to sacrifice the capabilities of the "normal" Japanese handsets: credit cards functionality, ewallets, auto-charging RFID etc... These are mostly hardware functions that the iPhone does not offer (yet). Even the software functionality has a few holes, most notoriously, the lack of emoji (which was later rectified by an app).
All in all, even for a Gaijin like me, the iPhone has some key Japanese features missing, but the strengths and sheer ingenuity of the device mostly make up for this.

The House of Small Cubes: Le maison en petits cubes: つみきのいえ

This film was shown at the National Gallery here in Roppongi, and I thought it was beautiful. It went on to win a well deserved Oscar, here is a little clip:

つみきのいえ
Uploaded by nankaiikamo

Definition of Konjoe: 根性

Optional soundtrack: The Rolling Stone's Street Fighting Man
根性 【こんじょう】 (n,vs) will-power; guts; temper; nature; spirit; (P) (From WWWJDIC)
I found this kanji when first came to Tokyo and was absorbing Japanese business books. After exhausted the supply of books I found in the US, I moved on to Tokyo bookshops. All of these books tended to follow a form, where they contained tips and keywords to describe characteristics and praiseworthy traits. 根性 was one of the keywords that stuck with me.
Recently, 根性 has been negatively associated with militarism but is also used in association with sports. Originally derived from the Buddhist tenant that "根性はその人間が持って生まれた性質" or that "Spirit is an innate feature of human nature." (This is my own translation, so I'd appreciate suggestions to improve it).
根性 is also used in numerous idioms, such as "かむ根性が無いなら、歯を見せるな" or "If you cannot bite, do not show your teeth." It's not always used in a positive fashion though, as the absence or perversion of this trait can be quite negative. For example, 泥棒根性 means a "thieving nature."
To help with kanji I carry a notebook (now in volume 4) and I used to write some of my favorite ones on the top of my hand under my watch (alla S.P.E.C.T.R.E). This was the kanji that carried to my first sleepless day of work a lifetime ago.

Banksy Doc

by docoBANKSY

To Blog or Not to Blog

Optional soundtrack: RJD2's The Horror
Good evening blogosphere! It is your lord and master, SAGE!
Yes, contrary to what you've heard, I am very much alive! Is this enough exclamation points for you!?
It has been many moons since we last spoke, and much has changed. But enough about me! I am hear to write about something much closer to my heart: my brain and its thoughts. This entry is announcing my grand return to blogging in order to expand the breadth of audience. That is all.
Where are you going? I have more to say! But not right now, fore it is late and the cafe isn't open all night.

Awaken the Sage

Optional soundtrack: Main Titles for Enter the Dragon by Lalo Schifrin

Welcome to Tokyo: built on the battlefields of Edo, shaken by the Earth’s mightiest earthquakes, home of Japan’s Imperial court for 120 years, inspiration for immortal works of art and new home of this blog’s protagonist: Sage.
Sage, man about town, has ventured forth from his native land to uncover a mysterious hypnotic force. He seeks the ability to cloud men’s mind and become a Living Shadow! He also has a day job just in case the clouding men’s mind thing doesn’t work out.

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Sage might one day eventually know!