Hate: Racism

I anticipate encountering a not-insignificant amount of racism in Tokyo over the long haul. I feel that as a guest staying on vacation, my presence is appreciated and almost celebrated, probably because as a foreigner, i'm inherently something of a curiosity. I'm interesting and welcomed specifically because my visit is a limited time affair. It's my understanding that as a resident, the sitation would be quite different. I've heard tales of discrimination when applying for credit cards or opening bank accounts, i've heard of landlords who discard applications immediately upon seeing the applicant's name in katakana. Having spent my whole life at the proverbial top of the racial food chain here in the US as a white male, i assume it's going to be quite a shift when i'm suddenly part of the"out group."

Love: Courtesy

The Japanese have a certain ingrained politeness to them which floors me every time i'm there. Tokyo is a positively massive city, but the people there are amung the most courtious and polite people ive ever been around. this is a stark contrast to how things are in New York, LA, or just about any other major city ive been to. The idea that you can have the excitement and intensity of a big city with the politeness and courtesy of a small town is simultaneously baffling and extremely appealing to me.

Hate: The Weather

I’ve heard some unsavory tales about how hot and humid Tokyo gets in the summertime (and by, “summertime” I apparently mean June up until the end of September) and I can only speculate on what Osaka might be like, since it’s alleged to be even more fiendishly warm then Tokyo. I have never had a very good relationship with heat, and even less with its evil, electronics-destroying cousin, humidity, which apparently make their living ravishing the Japanese islands with alarming regularity. Combine that with the somewhat traditionalist methods that the Japanese tend to employ when dealing with the elements and you have a recipe for a sweaty and incredibly uncomfortable Puma.

Love: Kuidaore

I really love the culture there surrounding the Osakan concept of kuidaore. What it means is to bankrupt or ruin oneself on extravagance in food and drink. For practical purposes, it means that the Japanese play hard. It's not uncommon at all to enjoy happy hour at an izakaya, then go to a restaurant for dinner, and then to go another izakaya for an after dinner drink or two. It’s extravagant, sure, and I’m sure that most Americans would consider it to be very wasteful, but it's fun.  Interestingly, it reminds me that my father is often very much like that. He's always had a fairly firm "you can't take it with you" attitude which led to more than a few extravagant meals over the years. I can't help but there's some connection there... and that my father would have loved Japan if he had gone there 

Love and Hate

So I’m in a place where I actually consider moving to Tokyo, like, I really, seriously consider it. I try to be realistic about things like this but at the same time; I do have a tendency to get a little carried away. In an effort to keep a level head and not get as swept up in the idea that "the grass is always greener," I am going to log things that i expect to love and hate. This initiative is somewhat inspired by the somewhat contentious, but often rather insightful blog, 1000 Things About Japan, wherein a nameless blogger describes items she would and would not miss about Japan if she happened to leave there. In my case though, I'm going to go with things that I currently believe i would either love or hate about living there. If I eventually move, it would likely be very interesting to see how this stacks up against how i really end up feeling. 

Stress

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before in this space, but I've come to realize that stress is the absolute assassin of creativity. As i've gotten older, as my professional duties have become increasingly "important," as the stakes, real or imagined,  have gotten higher; i've noticed that my ability to simply organize my thoughts and put them down on paper has become harder and harder to bring out.
It's quite frustrating.

Other factors maybe at play as well.

Perhaps the Twitter/Facebook lifestyle of just posting in bite-sized bits has led to a situation where I actually think in them too. 

But then again, maybe my attention span has simply shrunk over time like -oh, look at that...

Tokyo, Sake, and Effort

Sometimes, despite all I've done with regard to my trips to Japan, i can't help but be disappointed in myself.. I've somehow managed to go to Tokyo five times now in the past six years, twice within the past 9 months. I would expect someone who has done this to, at the minimum, speak the language conversationally, but instead I still find myself muddling along, barely able to count to 10. 

Every time I went, I've envisioned blogging every night at my room, posting pictures and sharing details about my trip, and ever time I've posted maybe once or twice, and spent the rest of my time wandering. 

This is not enough.

It's not enough because I really want to share my experiences, i want other people to understand why i love that city the way that I do, and often, when i bring someone there, I accomplish that. It feels as if i drag them out to the other side of the world and say, "LOOK!"

Fortunately, the city tends to speak for itself, and out of the half dozen or so people I've been responsible for bringing to Tokyo, a generous number of them have decided that it's a place that they want to visit again.

I suppose by that measure, I've been successful. 

I'm also a bit of a sake ambassador to my friends, breaking stereotypes and introducing people to premium sake. I've helped many understand what sake really is and how it should be served...

But that's still not enough.

I want to find a way to spread this information more, to teach reach out and share what it is about Japan, about Japanese culture, about Sake with as many people as possible.  I've had ideas about how to do this, and now I'm thinking that maybe i need to start taking them seriously. 

My goal is to update my Sake Blog at least weekly and, in an effort to get my writing back up to snuff, update this blog daily. This is the first day, the goal is to make thirty, we'll see how I do in the next few weeks. 

NPD Madness

Normally, I look at the NPDs and I can, if I think about it enough, figure out what the driving factors behind the numbers might be. But this month...

PlayStation 3 214.5K
PSP 84.0K
Xbox 360 443.5K
Wii 253.9K
Nintendo DS 398.4K

I'm baffled.

I'm just going to leave this here

Learning from the master

Apparently...

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Voice of Reason

Sony execs tend to say a lot of dumb things, Ken Kuturagi made a career out of doing so  with the confidence of a man who firmly believes that he possesses a Steve Jobs-like Reality Distortion Field, unfortunately he sounded more like a lunatic to most, Kaz Hirai, on the other hand, comes off as an awkward spin doctor, desperate to peddle his wares, and lets not even talk about Jack Tretton.

Now entering the fray, SCEA's Director of Marketing, John Koller: 

"I think it remains to be seen where Nintendo goes with 3D on a portable... Having been in the portable space for quite awhile, I think it's an interesting move but one I'd like to see where they go from a demographic standpoint. 8 and 9 year-olds playing 3D is a little bit of a stretch given where some of our research is right now." 

 As usual, Bill Harris over at Dubious Quality had an interesting rebuttal to the idea that Sony should be opening their mouths at all about this particular topic. It's recommended reading.

If there was one image to sum up the last three years, it would be every Sony executive wearing a dog collar with NINTENDO stamped into the leather, walking on a leash behind Satoru Iwata.

This Exists

The Bill Paxton Pinball Machine... Some things you just can't make up.

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/03/bill_paxton_the_pinball_game.php

Tokyo 2010

For the longest time, my plan has been to go back to Japan in May, for better or worse, a twelve week project at work is going to prevent that from happening. Since that became a reality, I've been working on alternatives, and this morning, I think I came to a decision.

Tokyo Game Show

Although now a shadow of its former self, TGS was once the worldwide flagship of game industry trade shows, and I think it's time I paid a visit.

I have until August to come up with a plan.

Oh Apple...

So now Apple's gone ahead and removed all WiFi finding applications from the app store, Carmi Levy from Betanews wrote up a very interesting article on the how and why of this sudden maneuver. It looks like more manipulations by Big Brother.

All this comes just as Apple gets set to begin shipping iPads to an adoring public. Retail availability in the US is now set for April 3, and sometime toward the end of April in Canada. This means potential buyers are already deciding how much hard-earned cash to bring along when they wait in line overnight to buy one. Will they cheap out for the basic Wi-Fi version, or will they go full-on for a 3G-enabled iPad?

The timing of the latest app takedown is no coincidence: Apple and AT&T clearly want to influence potential buyers to stretch for a 3G-capable version to at least hold out the potential of ongoing subscription-based revenue. Think of this latest move as a scorched-earth strategy for wannabe-Wi-Fi-only iPad users. I'm betting that around this time next month, Wi-Fi-only iPads will be only slightly more difficult to find than two-headed Lincoln pennies, as Apple's carrier-friendly/consumer-unfriendly supply chain strategy snaps into focus.

http://www.betanews.com/article/Suddenly-Apple-hates-WiFi/1268062591

The Rise of Apple

For years and, every time someone would tear into Microsoft for some alleged monopolistic behavior while simultaneously lauding how benevolent Apple is, I've felt compelled to point out to them that deep down, Apple is far more malevolent then Microsoft could be on their best day. Steve Jobs has always been a monopolist, and the company he created thrives on having absolute control over all aspects of the user's experience.

It's ironic that Apple once made a commercial likening themselves to some sort of savior that would topple "Big Brother," 1984's icon of an all knowing and all controlling government. As Apple grows in power, their fist grows tighter, and I keep seeing more and more articles likes these:

Apple has allegedly been pressuring music labels to ditch Amazon MP3's "Daily Deal" promotions, lest they be excluded from being promoted through the iTunes machine. According to anonymous executives speaking to Billboard, Apple has always been uncomfortable with the labels double dipping with both iTunes and Amazon, but the company has ramped up its complaints lately in an attempt to retain its lead in the online music market. Though Apple still remains in the number one spot among all music retailers, the move is indicative that Apple takes competition from Amazon very seriously.

Speaking about iTunes, another major label executive told Billboard that "[t]hey are . . . diverting their energy from 'let's make this machine better' to 'let's protect what we got.'"

Some of those threats have apparently worked: labels representing Corinne Bailey Rae, Lady Antebellum, and Ke$ha have all reportedly pulled out of Daily Deals consideration in favor of staying on Apple's good side. And, because Apple's distaste for the Daily Deals at Amazon has become widely known in the industry, other labels have decided not to play the game at all by holding back their online offerings on the street date and the day before.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/03/apple-stepping-up-pressure-on-music-labels-to-snub-amazon.ars?

The Fall of Sony

This is a fantastic article about the comedy of errors that have led to Sony's fall from grace. Recommended reading for anyone who's curious.

There's no better example of the arrogance of the modern Sony than the launch of the PlayStation 3. It was the last of the current generation of game consoles to market. It cost more than all its competitors. Kaz Hirai, then president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America and now the head of the entire ball of wax worldwide, said infamously, "The next generation doesn't start until we say it does."

http://gizmodo.com/5477633/how-sony-lost-its-way

Developer Quote of the Day

"There are lots of games where you shoot and kill people, so this time we wanted to try and see how we could convey the good feeling of shooting robots." -Shinji Mikami on his new project, "Vanquish"

Well That Was Brief

my Blog-a-day streak ended at.... 2

go me!

Bayonetted

I picked up Bayonetta on new year's eve at my local "we're not overly concerned with release dates" store and have (subtracting most of new years eve and new years day, along with the entirety of my evening tonight) logged in over 10 hours already. I'm seriously hooked on this game. Sure, the narrative is completely nonsensical and extremely eye-roll inducing, but the design is top notch and the action is genre defining.

More to Come...

The One a Day Project

Someone over at Neogaf suggested that the bloggers unite and try to write SOMETHING on their blogs every day between today and December 31st.

Today my something's going to just be that after being told for years about how amazing it supposedly is, I finally watched the first episode of Lost yesterday. Looks pretty damn interesting so far, but I was eager to get back to Bayonetta, which i'll talk about in more detail tomorrow or so.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=383799