Salon.com Books | The gay/hipster index

"The United States of America is on the verge of losing its competitive advantage," economist Richard Florida wrote last fall in a Harvard Business Review article based on his new book, "The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent." "It is facing perhaps its greatest economic challenge since the dawn of the industrial revolution." Even more provocatively, he later declared that "Terrorism is less a threat to the U.S. than the possibility that creative and talented people will stop wanting to live within its borders."

Lots of interesting stuff at Salon lately. This book by Richard Florida, "The Flight of the Creative Class," is about the most fundamental motivator of our economy in the U.S., the coalescence and utilization of smart and creative people.

Cities and States need to think not just about how much their services and infrastructure benefit their people, but how those things will impact the decision of someone somewhere else when he considers where he wants to live and work. People only make this decision a few times in their life. Once before college, once after college, and maybe a few more times throughout life as their career or the economy of their particular location changes.

So cities and States should create infrastructures and promote, or at least create tax incentives and reduce regulatory hurdles to those activities that bring in smart and creative people.

I really don't think it would take too long for a city to become cool, if it really wanted to. It would be difficult politically to get support from locals, but in the end it would be much better for them. Some of this backward mentality can be seen in Georgetown, in Washington D.C., where locals have prevented the establishment of a subway station for years. Out of the three biggest 'cool' areas of D.C., Georgetown, Adams Morgan, and Dupont Circle, only Dupont is easily reached by the subway. Makes for a pretty un-cool city, in my opinion...

This also touches on the national aspect of the problem -- we need to continue bringing in the smartest people from overseas. First we got the German physicists because of the Nazis, and kept up the flow by having the best universities and the most open society. Now, even if it's a necessity, a stricter immigration policy threatens to derail that flow. This should be a critical issue on the minds of every person involved in immigration policy, and it should be recognized that it may even be in the best interests of the U.S. to allow a terrorist in rather than to deny a scientist.

The scientist may create hundreds of thousands of jobs, bring new products, and improve our standard of living, whereas the terrorist will have a hard time even killing even a few thousand people. (To keep this in perspective, 31,904 people died in passenger car crashes in 2003.)

My wife and I both speak Japanese fluently. She does because she grew up speaking it with her parents at home in the U.S., and spent summers with her relatives in Nagoya. I do because I lived in Japan through part of elementary school and junior high, and returned to Japan periodically over the years, while continuing my interest and study of the language in daily life.

I also speak Mandarin Chinese, and although my vocabulary is somewhat limited, I do have very good pronunciation and fluency. I began studying it in college, spent some time in China, and have continued trying to practice and study that language as well.

Since our son Oliver is now three months old, my wife and I have been thinking about how to teach him more than one language.

It's been assumed between us for a long time that we would at least try to teach him Japanese. It would seem a shame for him not to learn it as we both speak the language. But the situation in the world has convinced me that everyone in every country is going to need all the tools they can get to compete in the future. Resting on our laurels is not an option.

Thomas Friedman has come out with another book titled "The World is Flat" on the subject of globalization and global competition for knowledge work. I'm not sure when or whether I'll actually read it, as I follow these things regularly and probably am aware of most of what he's written in this book. But I do think he's right on the money in his views as to how much more difficult things are going to get as millions more people come onto the market for jobs that used to be geographically limited and therefore had a measure of natural protection.

So I'm thinking about trying to teach our son Chinese as well. Although there are various theories floating around about how best to achieve this, a practical approach seems to be simply for each parent to speak a different language. My wife would speak Japanese, and I would speak Chinese; he would pick up English in the beginning from the environment and his grandparents, then later from school and from us. Three languages may seem like a lot, but it's pretty clear that children have little difficulty adjusting to it, and it's clearly much easier than attempting to learn later in life.

Here in Northern Virginia we're also lucky to have a couple of schools nearby with bilingual Japanese-English education curricula through elementary and junior high school. If these schools seem up-to-par when the time comes, it might be a good option. There are also lots of DVDs and VCDs out there now for teaching language to babies and young kids. We will have to load up on these materials in order to create an environment in which he sees variegated use of these laguages on a daily basis...

We haven't made any final decisions about how to approach this, but it will be an amazing process... :)

This article in the Gulf Daily News floored me. They have Gaelic festivals in Bahrain now?

THE second annual Bahrain Gaelic Festival was held at the American Express Bahrain Rugby Club yesterday. . . . DJ Krazy Kevin also entertained the audience.

I would love to have seen all the kilts alongside the turbans... ;)

Another CNET series here on the latest developments in technology and gaming in South Korea. Very interesting. I really have to work on my Korean.

There's an interesting article on CNET about some of the changes Japan has been going through. It looks like they are finally on track to have a more efficient economy.

From the article:

1. The keiretsu way is fading. Nearly 70 percent of Japanese contracts were given to related corporate subsidiaries in the keiretsu network five years ago. Today, it's about 20 percent, according to Naoyuki Haraoka, chief executive director of JETRO San Francisco.

2. A radical change for "salarymen." One controversial workplace experiment involves the Western-style concept of pay raises based on merit rather than on seniority.

3. Bigger is not always better. Some Japanese companies, such as Panasonic, employ nearly 300,000 people--triple the number at Intel and Dell--but experience much lower profits.

4. Falling behind in population. The country's population could drop from 127 million today to 100 million by 2050, exacerbating a labor shortage in the tech industry.

5. Lack of discipline blamed. Critics of Japan's education system say a shift in emphasis to creativity has dampened interest--and national strength--in hard sciences.

See also this page.

Check out (via memepool) mdunkerton's video of a couple of japanese guys doing crazy matrix-style ping-pong in the traditional style of bunraku, with men in black suits secretly moving things. This is AWESOME.

Update 2/04: No longer at the above site... Check here at NTV.

Gen Kanai weblog: The sad story of Takako Konishi

This is one of the weirdest things I've ever heard.

WSJ.com - Tokyo Cuisine: From Udon Noodles To Seafood, Freshness Is the Secret (Pay)

Nice review of some of the good restaurants in Tokyo. I sure wish I could get back over there sometime.............

"This is a dear chicken transformation set. It is made from the two-tone felt cloth of yellow and orange, and even if it takes, it is finished to the pop impression. Please observe the feather of the chicken currently attached to the both sides of a hat. please imagine a profile when a cat covers it is as dear as it blows off involuntarily — since it can equip with the head volume to which the reed of a chicken also attached ??[sic] hat on a piece of Velcro, attachment and detachment are easy"

Found this hilarious site from Chanpon. It's called PetOffice, and the page I quoted above is here. I can't stop laughing at the pictures or the Engrish... ;D It's a bit scary the things people will do to their pets.

I went to a lecture by Minister Agawa today at the Japanese Information and Cultural Center in D.C. I've been clued in to a lot more of these things since my wife Yuki started working at the Japanese Embassy a few weeks ago. :)

He talked about the influence that some major 19th century individuals have had on cultural exchange between the U.S. and Japan, after their pioneering visits to America. Foremost of these were Yukichi Fukuzawa, founder of Keio University, Jo Niijima, founder of Doshika University, and Umeko Tsuda, founder of Tsuda Women's College.

I actually have most of the books in the "Fukuzawa Yukichi SenShu", a collection of most of his works, and it's an incredible trip to read. I am fascinated by the man, and it was interesting to learn that the reason Minister Agawa's English is so good, is that he studied in Hawaii as a child in an exchange program founded by Fukuzawa's grandson! It's amazing how one man's travels could have influenced generations of Japanese and Americans...

One of the most interesting things he said though, came out during the Q&A session. He was talking about the diversity in the U.S., and how diversity has been slowly increasing in Japan... But he said that there are a lot of people now in the Japanese government considering making a radical change in immigration policy -- really opening it up, as a solution to the problem of Japan's aging population.

If this were to occur, I think we could see a very different Japan in a matter of a few years. Systems would be forced to change, and there would be a great young new source of ideas (and turmoil) for the society to deal with. I actually really hope that they do this, as it could change Japan very much for the better.

I started reading Shonen Jump in 1986, when I first moved to Japan, and now, after all this time, they're starting to sell it here.

The weirdest thing is that it's in English, but you read it from right to left, like Japanese. The other night I stopped in a 7-11 here in Denver to get some junk food, and they were actually selling it on the magazine rack! I really felt strange when I saw it... some sort of culture shock or something. As if I had seen apple pie with squid and seaweed on top...

I thought about getting a copy, but it's $4.95... I did notice that the pages are all black and white though, rather than colored as in Japan. And the whole thing is only about 1/3 as thick as the Japanese ones...

Man, to see Japanese culture filter into America like this is just so strange — I can't even describe the feeling it evokes in me...

Check out this hilarious story about new hairdos in China for the year of the sheep/goat (羊)...

I wish I could go to Singapore and see everyone walking around with this... (LOL)...

I've come across an amazing project. It's really too bad they haven't been promoting it more, but here it is. Submit your 4-page magnum opus to the denizens of Earth, 52,000 A.D. Deadline December 31st.

What I love about this is that everyone is allowed and encouraged to participate. We can give so many different accounts of our lives, what is important to us, and how we see the world... Imagine what it would be like to read this much information from ancient mesopotamian civilization. This project just boggles my mind. :)

Seeing a post on Joi Ito's site reminded me how horrible aspartame is for humans. I have a good friend in Denver who drank tons of diet soda and always felt like crap. He thought it was just fatigue or something — he always felt tired and had cold symptoms.

So I came across this book published by disinfo.com called "You Are Being Lied To." You can buy it from them, or off Amazon. Anyway, I bought the book for my Mom, and it came with a PDF version that I read. It has an extremely disturbing but detailed story about the history of NutraSweet (aspartame), and people who have died from it. One man died in his mid thirties after having felt fatigue and cold symptoms for a long time. He died suddenly, and it was found that his body was overflowing with formaldehyde.

So I got my friend to read the article and he quit drinking it right away, and felt like a new man. Felt way better all around. Anecdotal evidence, sure, but you can't deny what this stuff breaks down into and creates in your body — very very bad for you.

This is disgusting stuff, guys. You can read the article Joi linked to here too. Please, anyone who is drinking this stuff, think twice about drinking a diet soda. There are other solutions. Diet RC Cola uses Splenda, a new sweetener that is totally safe for the body. You can buy packs of Splenda in most stores, or you can also buy stevia, a root from the amazon that's sweet but contains very few calories. It's something like 100 times sweeter than sugar for the calories...

Update:

This is by no means a clear-cut issue. Check here for an analysis and further links supporting the proposition that aspartame is perfectly safe for most people (thanks to Richard Heggland for the link). As many of you have said, "everything in moderation" is a good motto.

The New York Times has published an amazing interactive look at a conceptual project for ground zero, developed by well-known architechts unsatisfied with the city's efforts so far. This article describes the project illustrated by the flash presentation (click image).

The architects criticize the process put in place to develop the new ground zero plan, saying that it's too bureaucratic and doesn't involve architects at the fundamental stages where they really need to be involved. They came up with the plan as a hypothetical scenario just to see what they could do together. It involves a memorial at the actual site, two huge twisting towers adjacent, a number of museums, and the conversion of a huge length of West St. into a long park and pedestrian mall.

This plan sounds orders of magnitude better to me than any I've seen yet. I'm sure the entire plan would never get made, for political and other reasons, but maybe the city will be smart enough to at least consider some of the ideas... particularly the towers. :)

I made only one entry yesterday, an entry of silence, in commemoration. But I've deleted it now, because we all have to move on, and get beyond the whole thing. We won't forget it. We don't have to worry about that.

But we do need to achieve a new state of mind. We need to lose our fear, and gain back our courage and resolve. We need to be hopeful about the future... :) Let's get on with it. :)

I was thinking today about how interesting it would be to read someone's blog back to the '20s or '30s, if they had existed at the time... The obvious follow-up question is "How many of today's blogs will still be around in 40 or 50 years?"

It's an intriguing question. How many really have the tenacity to write regularly about their comings and goings for their entire life? The kids who are blogging now will probably give it up when they go to college, maybe when they move somewhere and take their first job... Who knows what percentage of them will take it up again...

All I know is that if people continue these sites, at least some of them will be an incredible trove of introspection for future generations. Imagine being able to read hundreds of differing accounts of September 11, 50 years hence...

The potential of this medium is not only in connecting people in the here and now, but also in documenting the feeling of a particular moment in history, according to individuals... A chorus of unique voices that will inevitably convey something much more nuanced than AP or Reuters ever could.

I remember when my Grandfather was in his last days. My mother set up the video camera, brought me into the sunroom of my grandparents' house, and told me to ask him about what his life was like... What was life like during the infamous great depression, which he had lived through, seen with his own eyes? He talked about a number of things that had struck him, especially about helping the many homeless migrants get by, even while he was struggling to make ends meet.

The more voices we can save for posterity, the better. The human stories that we can tell are what bring meaning to our lives — not technology or science, or even progress. Let's not waste the opportunity we've been given, to pass on some of the meaning we find in our lives. Let's embrace it.

It is a serious drag not having DSL anymore. I've been dealing with this mind-numbing situation for about 6 months. But soon, soon my friends, I will have DSL once more... And then I won't have to abstain from using the web on the weekends...

But, no, this is not germane to the post at hand, my brothers... I am posting to share with all of you a couple of interesting reviews of books and films that I found, which perchance you may go see, and be entertained.

A film called Satin Rouge is discussed on Salon, about a pudgy middle-aged woman in Tunisia who finds herself through belly-dancing. It sounded really interesting earlier today, but now, I'm about to crack up. No! Maybe it's cool! Maybe! No, I can't be serious right now... ;)

A book review on Salon about Cicero — just the thing I would love to read if I had the cash to blow on more books. Looks cool. I do want to read this one sometime. Hopefully it's more entertaining than Plutarch.

And on Shift, a film that really looks neat — Hotel, by Mike Figgis... Yes. Looks to be a good film to see sandwitched between espressos and pseudo-intellectual conversations! :) I love that. (BTW, I use that term self-mockingly, although I actually believe that 'pseudo-intellectual' is a term coined by pseudo-intellectuals to cement their egos and their tenuous status. Hmmm.)

Joi Ito has posted an interesting story about the "Blueprint for Japan 2020." It sounds like there will be quite a few interesting ideas put forth in this document, but it makes me wonder what is really necessary to create change in Japan...

All such programs are probably helpful in some small way; one of course can't expect that isolated efforts can make a huge difference, but they are certainly worth attempting nonetheless.

But what interests me is the larger question: What will it take to really effect change in Japan? I think the answer is clear. It will take a slow, far-reaching change in the Japanese culture, and a concomitant change in Japanese consciousness, to bring it about.

I think we've been seeing signs over the past 6-8 years that Japanese culture is slowly changing, mostly under the unbearable economic pressure of this 10+ year stagnation. But how long will it take for those changes to really affect the consciousness of the man on the street, eventually causing him to break with long-held traditions and do something radical?

Japan has proven able to maintain a staggering amount of its indigenous culture through successive uphevals and massive societal change. The matted tangle of traditions must be slowly pulled apart now, until its strands begin popping, one by one, and we finally end up with a flexible web: able to react almost instantaneously to changes in the world; able to keep up with the ever-quickening pace of globalization.

I've been thinking a lot about blogging recently, since I started this project a couple of months ago. A story on Joichi Ito's blog gave me a lot of food for thought recently, as well. (BTW, he also went to Nishimachi ;)...

I have begun to want to blog everything cool that I see in my life, and I don't have nearly enough time to do it. I can't imagine how all these bloggers out there of working age manage to find the time to post stuff every day... I guess a lot of it is not that interesting, but it still takes time...

My plan is basically to get this blog working the way I want it before I start law school next year, so I'll be able to write about all the issues I encounter. It should be pretty interesting... I just hope that I can manage to get on the Uberman's sleep schedule prior to law school. Having 4 extra hours each day would seriously ameliorate my need for time to fuel my obsessions... :)

Sunday we went to chinatown in New York again, and hung out with Yuki's sister Christine... She had never been there despite living an hour outside the city her whole life. What is it about people that prevents them from exploring the area around where they grow up...?

Anyway, I love chinatown. Especially the pork buns and bubble tea... ;) If you're not familiar with it, they have tea shops all around chinatown that sell different flavors of these drinks with big tapioca balls in them... The balls are about 1cm in diameter, so you need a huge fat straw to suck them up... ;) They're really good though. I wonder if they have this stuff in Japan now...? I've heard it's really popular in Taipei and Hong Kong...

We hung out in one teahouse for a while... I love that place. You can order really good gyoza, spring rolls, shumai, and all sorts of funky drinks. ;) They had an awesome deal for lunch — $6 for a bubble drink, 2 appetizers, and a lunch entree... Ahhh. :)

So I spoke some Chinese, got a couple of magazines, and bought a used pre-modded PS2!! :P I've been wanting to play Final Fantasy X for about a year, but kept putting off getting a PS2 because I wanted to play the Japanese version... Well, at a store in chinatown, they sell used boxes with a pre-installed modchip, so you can play US and Japanese games. ^_^

I got it at a place called J&L Game Trading, at 28 Elizabeth St, right in the heart of Chinatown... They sell used and modded PS2s, which play original imports as well as US games. They also have a good selection of Japanese games for sale... :) Their phone number is (212) 233-3399, and you can email them here...

I'll upload some pics I took when I get a chance.

It's amazing. I lived in Japan during the peak years of the so-called 'Bubble Economy', from '86 to '89. I came to believe during that time that many aspects of Japanese culture and philosophy were superior to those in the U.S. I wasn't necessarily wrong, but I didn't see the whole picture either. Busy being assimilated by the economic juggernaut, I hadn't noticed the fact that America had superiority where it really counts — in its political and cultural system.

A recent story in the New York Times is titled "As Tokyo Loses Luster, Foreign Media Move On." A couple of choice excerpts:

In the last few months, newspapers closing their Tokyo bureaus included The Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The Independent of London, Dagens Nyheter of Sweden and Corriere della Sera of Italy.

Given the choice between covering a stalled Japan and a developing China that will probably overtake Japan economically by the middle of the century, editors choose the more dynamic country.

An even harsher note is struck in this opinion article from the same paper:

Japan is returning to its rightful place in the world, that of a middling country of vastly diminished and still declining importance in world affairs.

If you can watch this without completely cracking up, you've definitely been in Japan too long!!! I found this on Japander, where they have tons of videos of celebrities doing Japanese commercials... I thought the 'hops' beer ad in particular was insanely hilarious... ;-)

When I think about all these crazy Japanese commercials, I always remember the one that Mike Tyson did in his heyday, for Suntory Dry... "Hi, I'm Mike Tyson, and I like Suntory Dry!"... It was hilarious too, but I guess you had to be there. There's another one Schwarzenegger did for ramen, in which his eyes pop out like some sort of whacko... hehe... I'm sure most of you have seen it, but you should also check out Engrish. I think there are only two things that make me laugh until I'm seriously in pain. One is the South Park movie, and one is that site. :)

Friday, we had a pretty interesting night. Started out great, had a big challenge, and ended up 'ok' but not stupendous... We went to the Freer Gallery to see a film called "Twelve Nights", part of their annual Hong-Kong film festival. It was pretty cool... A funny story about a typically neurotic couple in a big Asian city... ;) You should definitely see it if you get a chance.

Afterwards, we went over to Adams Morgan on the subway to hang out. On the subway there were 4 or 5 black kids (13 or 14 years old) screwing around, and acting incredibly obnoxious. They were screaming, laughing, yelling, and one girl was running up and down the car swinging on the bars... It was not an empty car, this being a Friday night, and all the other passengers were pretty angry. So finally, I said to one kid "Why don't you guys just try to chill out a bit, ok?" And guess what? Of course, he starts threatening me. The girl started into some rant about me attempting to "talk black" (apparently because I used the word 'chill'), and they began to make racist comments about me and my wife Yuki (Korean descent).

Unfortunately, Yuki got angry at them too, and said some things that probably made them even more antagonistic, but when we were about to leave the subway, and one kid rudely pushed past my wife to get out, while threatening to smack her, I got pretty angry myself. I got up in his face and repeatedly asked him who he thought he was going to smack.

He was about a head taller than me (I'm 5'10"), and I'm sure he didn't realize I have been practicing various martial arts for 8 years, on and off, but he saw that I was serious and they backed off, resorting to immature insults from a distance.

Regardless of your confidence level, this sort of thing will always give you a shot of adrenaline, and it can be hard to deal with... Yuki was fine after a while, but it was a crummy experience. We agreed that it's sad these kids don't have any discipline. Their minds are so closed that they fail to realize the effect their behavior has on the other passengers. This is Washington, D.C. -- the capital of the U.S. Tourists see this sort of behavior and think that D.C. is dangerous, uncivilized, etc, and these people have no clue that it's because of them. Argh. Not only that, but it gives more than a bit of fuel to racism. A lot of people here would see that and decide that they should just never venture into D.C. The problem isn't that they're black, though -- the problem is that they are poor, uneducated, and undisciplined, and that they often live in an insular culture where these attributes are tolerated if not accepted...

Luckily, we got to Adams Morgan, and after relaxing at an Ethiopian restaurant for a while, began to feel better. We got some drinks at Tryst, and headed home having eaten a bit too much, but it was a good time altogether... :)

For those of you who don't know what this picture is, it's the subway map of Tokyo. I am nursing a serious case of wanting to be back there right now... It comes and goes, but it's back today. Why? I think it's because we're starting to do more stuff here in D.C., and it's reminding me of what a fucking cool city Tokyo is. At least a third of my self is shaped by my life there, and moulded by my connections to Japan... That part never leaves, of course, but vehemently reasserts itself periodically.

I miss the insanely groovy places that exist only there. The cafés that have furniture that's way too expensive, and play wacky jazz, and somehow manage to make money because everyone is willing to pay way too much money for a latte and a place to feel a slightly different vibe that night, while they chill with their friends...

And right now, even though I would usually bitch about it, I actually miss the blade-runner bitterness of superficial friendships you find there. The anonymity of knowing that maybe people are gossipping about you today, maybe someone else tomorrrow, but never so seriously that you should actually care. The mental space that everyone has around them, as a given, can be strangely liberating. To Americans it can seem cold and unfeeling, and it is sometimes... but it also allows you to cool off, just like the gray sky and cool concrete of a Tokyo afternoon in September. Your Black-Black and Oronamin-C are all yours, as you walk along the street, but you know that a pseudo-deep conversation is only a cellfone away... and you could meet in a new café every night in Shibuya if you wanted, and just hang out and feel that slightly different vibe...

Education is such an egregious problem in the U.S. I have been reading some facts on disinfo.com, and it's amazing. In 1840, over 99% of U.S. citizens were literate. Now, only 83% of whites, and 60% of blacks are literate. Why can't people realize that this is a failure? This country should have a 100% literacy rate, and should be producing the most creative minds on earth. That is a tragedy...

I was surprised to find something interesting today in the field of marriage and morals. Bush is pushing marriage to those on welfare as a way to better times. In all the talk about the benefits or detriments of marriage, or of its morality versus other familial arrangements, proponents always seem to argue that marriage is a cornerstone. But what is it a cornerstone of? A balanced society? A moral society? Maybe, but why?

Marriage is the cornerstone of self-discipline.

Marriage is where people really learn self-abnegation, self-discipline, and compromise. They also learn responsibility and cooperation, although these are learned in the workplace as well. People who internalize these lessons have a stabilizing effect on their surrounding community, and are more likely to be self-sufficient. Taxes can be low then, because government is not saddled with as many extra responsibilities.

Consider software systems: if there are 3000 clients and one server, and there is a task could be performed on either client or server, where should it be performed? If each client can easily handle the one task, the server may still have a very hard time handling 3000 such tasks simultaneously. Therefore, usually whatever citizens can do to be self-sufficient (rather than depend on the government) leads to increased efficiency and prosperity for society. I believe education falls under the same category of tasks, but I must go now... ;)