Anthropomorphamophone...

I'm sure this video is doing the rounds of the internet. You've probably already seen it. I usually don't pass on this kind of thing, but I'm making an exception.

Also, I know it's wrong to anthropomorphise the animals we share the planet with - we shouldn't treat them like they have our motivations and awareness. Ahem, Big sis, certain sock-wearing dogs come to mind.

But this was too just too cute not to post. It melted even my icy worn-out heart.

I predict tears from my mother. She did once cry floods at a cartoon about a family of worms.

On valuing the cogs

In the last entry I looked at a very negative aspect of the Japanese character. In this entry I want to talk about a much more praiseworthy aspect of Japanese thinking.
If you zoom in on the picture above, you’ll see an ad I snapped on the train a few days ago. Can you guess what it's for? It’s an ad for a classified magazine that lists part-time job vacancies.
In the ad you can see such a part-timer, a cook, holding a whisk and crying floods of tears. They’re tears of joy. The caption reads ‘An Italian (customer) is ordering a second helping of my carbonara!’
I love this ad. It really sums up the Japanese idea to work and service. They take pride in doing the best they can do, no matter how lowly the job may seem. Even a part-time worker earning minimum wage is encouraged to feel responsibility and a sense of earnest obligation. Accordingly they feel proud of their achievements and full of self-respect, whatever the post.
A powerful symbol of this responsibility / respect equation is the uniform. In Japan, everyone wears a uniform: From the old woman cleaning the toilets to the construction worker waving on traffic. The uniform signifies a valued role. Each cog is important to the working of the entire clock.
Customer service in Japan is by far the best in world. Going home to Ireland I’m met with such gruff, unfriendly, sloppy service. I think in Ireland employers (and customers) forget the value of every worker. And because the worker feels he (she) has no worth, he (she) feels no sense of obligation, no sense of self-respect. So quality suffers.
I think I (we?) could learn a little from the Japanese. I’m going to try and ensure that each worker I meet feels recognition for what they do and is encouraged to take pride in their work. Watch me as I smile at my waiter, make eye contact with the cleaner, say hello to the security guard.
I give it a day - I'll be criticizing the server for her peasant hands again before long!

New-thinking nails

出るくいは打たれる (deru kui wa utareru - The nail that sticks up gets hammered down / Don't make waves!).

This is probably Japan’s most famous proverb. The other day I spoke to my cousin, who recently started learning Japanese, and he reminded me of it. It must be on some compulsory curriculum or something. It was one of the first sayings that I learned, too.
It’s a pretty quick route into the Japanese psyche. Conformity, compromise, and consensus: These ideas are valued almost to a fault.
They helped the Japanese achieve their economic miracle, allowing automation, standardisation and collectivism to prosper.
But they’re also holding them back from the innovative thinking needed to set this greying, faltering society on a new course - There's a lot that's not working right in this great country.
You have to be pretty brave to put your head above the parapet in most any country, but in Japan they’re waiting for you with a hammer in hand. Perhaps as those ageing hands weaken, new thinkers will come to the fore.
It’ll not be me though – I bruise easily!

St Patrick's Day in Tokyo

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write about St Patrick's Day. The last few days have been crazy. I've been working and meeting up with cousins visiting Japan and sorting out my tax return and giving notice on my apartment.
That last one was kind of a major milestone. It means I'm really leaving. I will no longer have a place to live in Japan come mid-June. I've had a love-hate relationship with my apartment. It's old and crumbly, and the ceilings are too low, and you need a special knack to get every appliance to work. But it is cheap and spacious and homely, with a great positive energy and lots of light, and it has put a roof over the heads of many happy visitors. I'll be sad to say goodbye to it.
Meeting up with my cousins over from Ireland has been so great, too. Family is family - I haven't seen these people for YEARS, but they were so interesting and so easy to get on with and we shared so many mannerisms and turns of phrase. I guess there's a lot more to be said for the power of DNA than I had realized. Plus, I've been spreading the joy of karaoke to new converts. I might be showing you some videos. Perhaps even a bit of Danny Boy. Try to hold back the tears.
The big event on Paddy's Day this year was the illumination of Tokyo Tower. Usually it's a dull orange, but for one night only the tower got a taste of the shamrock and glowed a beautiful emerald green. It was like a spaceship had landed in the centre of the city.
I met friends after work at Roppongi Hills and took some pictures of the tower from afar. It was SO cold, the coldest day of the year so far. Typical that Irish weather arrived on our national day. The sun had been splitting the trees for weeks before!
We took shelter in a nearby restaurant and enjoyed a beautiful dinner and some green tea. Powered up, we walked from Roppongi Hills to the tower itself. We couldn't get over the beauty of the illumination. As we neared, the tower seemed so huge. They achieved the effect by beaming green movie-studio sized lights from four corners onto the tower's strucure. My favourite photo is where I caught the beams of light in the dark - they're like ghostly ectoplasm.
I cannot emphasize enough how freezing my friends and I were and yet how undaunted we remained. It was too moving and beautiful a sight not to appreciate to the fullest. Plus, I guess we were dressed like Eskimos and Canadian husky runners so we didn't suffer too badly.
The cold was a good excuse to hit an Irish pub and water the shamrock. One Guinness for 7 euro is not an every day indulgence, but for the day that was in it, it was well worth the price. I JUST made it home on the last train, luckily. It shows I've improved in strides from my time living in Australia when I hardly ever managed to make the last ferry home.

Decisions, decisions

A lot has happened over the last few days. My future has become more certain. I WILL finish work on May 31st and I WILL leave Japan for Europe in mid to late June.
I got some very positive feedback from one of the European universities where I'm interested in doing a master’s. But I don't want to jinx it by telling you which one. Nothing will be officially confirmed until June. It could all still fall through.
I hate uncertainty, so I feel very glad to be settling things and finally making plans.
My friend taught me a weird Japanese expression that's used when someone finally makes a big decision: 清水の舞台から飛び下りる (kiyomizu no butai kara tobioriru). Disregarding the metaphor, the literal translation means to jump off the viewing platform of a famous temple set high in the hills of Kyoto! It sure conveys an image of the magnitude of the decision.
This is a culture obsessed with suicide. Just look at the language - "we've" brought you hari-kari (should actually be hara kiri) and kamakazee (should be kami kaze) to name just two misspelled atrocities.
I used to think such a fixation was morbid and unhealthy. I must be assimilating: now I'm more of a mind that death is just as much a part of life as anything else. Maybe choosing your own time to go is another stage of living. Or maybe that just works for the Eskimos! (Get the ref., Dad?)

Data Analysing Robot Youth Lifeform (what's the movie?)

While in Odaiba, I stopped by the Miraikan Science Centre. Set in a futuristic glass construction, the centre is made up of exhibits to educate and entertain. The focus is on interaction and learning by doing.

I enjoyed the experiments that showed how your brain plays tricks on you. I had fun trying out the touch sensitive panels that allowed you to draw animated graphics on a table with a computer pen. But I LOVED getting to see Asimo.

Asimo is Honda’s latest robot. He is designed to be an interpreter and home-life assistant. He’s like C3PO with a backpack. In the video above, he’s welcoming us to the Miraikan Centre and apologising for having kept us waiting.

The most interesting thing I noticed was how we humans quickly get used to interacting normally with a robot: When Asimo first came out he bowed to us all. Not a sinner in the crowd bowed back. But after the 15-minute presentation where we kind of got to know him, he said goodbye and bowed again. This time everyone, unbeknownst to themselves, bowed right back. It was like he’d passed the personality test. The damn robot is already better in social situations than I am. Interacting with him was a very weird experience.

Tokyo's Space-age Seashore

I visited Odaiba yesterday. This is one of the newest areas of Tokyo. It's built on reclaimed land across from the city centre, just on the other side of Tokyo Bay. It's super modern, super clean and super spacious (by Tokyo standards).
As it's built on reclaimed land, if a big earthquake hits, it's complete toast. I mean the sea will totally swallow all these beautiful, futuristic buildings back up. Remember, people, that when it comes to earthquakes, it's all about the foundations. If you're on good land, it doesn't matter if you live in a hovel (ehem, me), you'll be okay.
I tried not to let thoughts of imminent destruction preoccupy me as I enjoyed a pretty good but overpriced lunch. I guess I was paying for the view. It was amazing. Tokyo Bay, Bay Bridge, Tokyo Tower and the city's most famous scrapers were all served up to me. Check out the pictures in the album 'Odaiba'. You'll even see the replica Statue of Liberty we have. It's too kitsch for words, but I feel it kind of works. It gives us stressed out Tokyoites a feeling we're on holidays even though we're still at home.
Odaiba is definitely a town for 'playing'. They have all the amusements you can imagine. Museums, galleries, water parks, concert venues, game centres, restaurants, shopping complexes. Imagine La Defense in Paris with a lot more Sega!
The newest of these attractions is called 'Muscle Park'. It takes the game centre idea and applies it to your body and mind. Think batting cages, balance games and tests of strength and endurance. I don't really need a game to tell me I can't throw, can't count and can't do a push-up to save my life. But with a group of friends I think you'd have a blast trying out all the fun activities.
I'm a simple man with simple tastes. One of the best parts of the trip for me was taking the monorail home. This space-age train snakes around the complex, by the seashore, and winds over the bay. For the price of the journey home you can enjoy the city from an array of new angles.

Korakuen – Only in Tokyo

I’m sorry, but this is going to be a bit of a blog dump. I had a crazy busy day yesterday. I have SO much to say.
And I’m not even going to tell you about it all -just the crazy theme park, the roller coaster, the orchid festival, the new art centre, and the new café. I’m leaving out the 12km walk through the city, the hour of yoga, the tofu restaurant feast and the two-hour karaoke session.
I swear I fit more in yesterday than I usually do in a month. I guess I’m worried I might be leaving this great city soon and must make the most of it while I still can.
So the picture above is of Korakuen in the centre of Tokyo.
Korakuen is the craziest place in a city that’s already pretty out-there! I’m sure it’d be illegal in most countries. I dread to think how many Irish health and safety regulations they’re breaking. Hello! there’s a roller coaster running through a building alongside a major motorway. And this in one of the most earthquake-prone cities in the world!
And you know if you get bored of all the shopping and coaster riding, there’s one of the city’s biggest indoor baseball stadia to one side of the complex, and a massive hot spring and water park to the other. Sheer madness.
I had my Sunday breakfast on the terrace of a café in the park. I bathed in the unseasonable sunshine (18 degrees and no coat on March 4th!!!) and sipped my coffee. As I sat there, the roller coaster roared just above my head. Below me a water ride splashed and screeched. To the left, merry-go-round music did battle with the din of the attractions. It sure wasn’t peaceful but it was definitely very Tokyo. If you come to Tokyo, a trip to Korakuen is a must.
You can see more pics in the 'Pats Big Day Out Mar 07' album.

Thunder Dolphin Roller Coaster
In case you were wondering, I DID ride the coaster at Korakuen. As you can see from my expression, it was amazing – pure enjoyment. It’s a hell of a way to see the cityscape. Just before the first drop you have a 360-degree view of Tokyo’s sprawl. I highly recommend the ride to any visitor to Tokyo.
The scariest part is when you come through the hole in the building and feel like the coaster is going to plummet down to the cars on the motorway below. Like I said, in most countries, you couldn’t get away with construction like this.
Thunder Dolphin Roller coaster also wins the award for funniest warning ever: ‘Once the ride starts you may not get off!’ Oh really?

Orchids

I got a free ticket to attend an International Orchid Festival in Tokyo Dome, one of the city’s major baseball stadia. I’m not a big gardener or lover of flowers, but I thought it’d be cool to see some beautiful, rare plants.
In fact, it was the world’s tackiest event. It was Hyacinth Bucket’s dream come true. One gaudy display after another – think cotton wool rivers, toy racoons frolicking, and more greco-roman statuettes than you can shake a stick at. There were even samurai warriors dressed in armour made of orchids, for goodness sake.
The funny thing is, it made me feel closer to home. My parents would have LOVED it! When I saw a display made of broken umbrellas, bicycles, ladders and orchids I was transported back to my parents’ garden in Ireland. Their copper cistern planter or washing machine drum flowerpot would probably have won first prize.

New National Art Centre in Tokyo

I visited the 国立新美術館 (Kokuritsu Shin Bijutsukan - New National Art Centre) in Tokyo. It’s like a big glass peanut. I love the space. It’s so light in both senses of the word. I had a real feeling I’d been there before, even though it was my first visit. It turns out the architect also designed Kuala Lumpur Airport. I fell in love with that building when I stopped over in Malaysia. I have hundreds of pictures of it from all angles. So, I guess I like the architect’s style, if not the man himself.
You see, the architect, Kurokawa Kisho, is planning to make a run for mayor of Tokyo. His campaign is based solely on the fact that he doesn’t want the current mayor to be re-elected. He seems to have no other policies or ideas for how to improve the lives of Tokyoites.
It’s a fairly dirty story. The current mayor, Ishihara, wants to bring the Olympics to Tokyo. He has commissioned lots of new sites and stadia. It seems he ignored his old friend and put forward the designs of Ando Tadao, probably Japan’s most famous architect.
In other words, an unqualified, inexperienced architect is running for mayor to snub the friend who snubbed him!
The problem is that name-value counts for far too much in Japanese politics. If you are even a little famous and have a recognised name (he’s a celebrated architect married to an actress and TV personality) you stand a good chance of being elected.
The are many stories of near-nepotism in Japan. A politician passes away. Their son or daughter is taken out of a foreign university and comes home to win the seat without the slightest political background or training. In Japan, it’s all in the name.

More scandal from the art centre

Let me libel a few more people while I’m at it.
In the New Art Centre there was a big hoopla about the opening of Paul Bocuse’s first Tokyo restaurant. Great things were expected from this world-renowned French chef. But it hasn’t gone as well as hoped.
You can see the restaurant perched there on its big, concrete cone. Quite a dramatic location, it’s works very well at lunchtime.
The problem is at dinnertime. The museum closes at 6pm. So restaurant goers must scuttle in their finery past torch-wielding security guards to a special side entrance. Then they spend several hundred Euro to sit in a cavernous, echoing dome, while in the lobby below cleaners polish the floor and stack chairs. The designers just didn’t think it through.
And as all the food passes up through dumb waiter in the centre of the cone, it has reportedly been arriving in less than cordon bleu condition.
A case of more money than sense, methinks.

My new favourite place

I’ve just discovered this new chain called Koots. It’s like a 和風 (Wafu – Japanese style) Starbucks, or something. Their main business is selling green tea. But they do it in the style of a modern coffee shop. It’s all “Powdered green tea latte, tall size, soy milk and hold the sugar.” Nice 侘び寂び (Wabi Sabi – the Japanese idea of simple elegance) interior. Cool jazz playing in the background. And because it’s in the exclusive Roppongi Hills shopping complex, it’s a great place for people watching.
They also do a good lunch. It’s tasty, healthy and cheap. I had vegetable and soy milk soup, a Japanese basil and hijiki seaweed rice-ball, an Edam cheese and olive rice-ball, a powdered green tea latte, and two inari zushi (vinegared rice in a sweetened tofu pocket) seasoned with onions, seaweed, sesame and basil. Heaven. And all for 8 Euro!

Public Service Announcement

Just a quick warning. Please don't ever rent the Spanish movie 'Utopia'. I feel I have totally wasted an hour and thirty minutes of my life that I am never getting back. It was all style over substance. Plus the lead actress had her fringe stubbornly in her eyes throughout a good three quarters of the movie. I wanted to smack her. I love a good Saturday in with a glass of wine and a good movie. They have stolen that from me.
Today is 'Hina Matsuri' (Dolls' Festival) in Japan. For those of you who are really interested I have already blogged about this event on March 5th last year.
The sweet 'we' eat on this day is 'Sakura Mochi' (cherry blossom glutinous rice cake). Traditionally on this day, evening supper is a nice dish of 'chirashi zushi' (vinegared rice seasoned with fish and vegetables) followed by the above cakes for dessert.
I LOVE them but they definitely need to go in our ever-expanding weird Japanese food files. Imagine, if you will, sweet bean paste, encased in a cherry blossom flavoured glutinous rice cake, wrapped in a salty pickled cherry tree leaf. To die for!
Oh and for those of you who were thorough enough to read back to the 2006 entry, Happy Ear Day, too!