will.i.blog

Harvard launches high-end fashion line

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:16:55 -0400

Times must be really tough. A Harvard source has also told me that the engineering and ESPP departments are in disucssions to form a high-end luxury hybrid car manufacturer, with the assembly lines to be manned by workstudy students.

Traditional Japanese breakfast, served in ryokan hotel room as...

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:12:22 -0400

Traditional Japanese breakfast, served in ryokan hotel room as we lounged about in yukata. Later that day, we had butter rolls, saltines and water for lunch.

Return to America tomorrow. The combination of sumo wrestling, bathing in hot springs, and fighting off a viral infection (thank you Osaka street meat) did not leave as much time for blogging as I hoped, but more highlights to come next week.

Japanese garden at Tenryu-Ji, perhaps the most beautiful sight...

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:06:02 -0400

Japanese garden at Tenryu-Ji, perhaps the most beautiful sight we’ve seen thus far.

Clash of Civilizations: Yokozuna, meet McDonalds.

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:03:35 -0400

Clash of Civilizations: Yokozuna, meet McDonalds.

Mashmallow Men, attack! Needless to say, this was awesome.

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:01:47 -0400

Mashmallow Men, attack! Needless to say, this was awesome.

Video

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:19:22 -0400

“Standing Only”, most delicious sushi.

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:13:29 -0400

“Standing Only”, most delicious sushi.

Making friends with Harajuku girls.

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:12:00 -0400

Making friends with Harajuku girls.

Japan, Day 2. Jet lagged and still on Eastern Time, we got a...

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:11:01 -0400

Japan, Day 2.

Jet lagged and still on Eastern Time, we got a very early 7am start to the day today. We started out at the Meiji Shrine, a temple to the deified emperor Meiji, who ruled through the early 1920s. We thought we had a geisha sighting at the Shrine, but alas it was only an upperclass woman in a very elaborate kimono dress getting married.

After Meiji, we headed to neighboring Harajuku, the hipster part of town here where you can see young teenage girls dressed in all manner of bizarre fetish clothes, like the Little Bo Peep girls in the picture above. The packed shopping strip (the picture on this post) is lined with stores that sell “bad english” tees that often have misspelled words, poorly translated phrases (“Give peace the chance”), or just phrases that don’t make any sense (“Clime Time Happiness”?).

Most bizarre event of the day: shopping at one of the larger department stores just off the strip. The 6-floor store was teeming with what had to be over 100 employees literally yelling through voice amplifiers at the top of their lungs some indistinguisable Japanese advertising the deals the store was offering. I’m going to post a video showing some of this. It was a shopping experience entirely unlike anything I’d ever seen, and really makes you understand just how important fashion is to Japanese youth.

Afterwards in search of food, we food on some back alley a “standing only” sushi bar, picture above. This is literally what it says it is: a small storefront, nothing more than 200 square feet, with a sushi bar and standing room only. For $15 a piece, Joe and I got a beer and the best sushi we have ever eaten. The salmon melted in our mouth like butter; the squid legs were also very sweet and delicious. I only hope this is a premonition of the sushi to come.

Afterwards we beat a hasty retreat from the sun and into the Sapporo Brewery headquarters - into their beer museum and tasting lounge.

Some initial impressions of this remarkable and highly unique country. In a place like Japan that is so culturally different from the U.S., the first thing you realize is the presence of many cultural anomalies absent from America. The dress and emphasis on fashion, and the ubiquity of the “Harajuku girls” even far away from the Harajuku district is most jarring to the foreign eye.

What we didn’t immediately pick up on however was the absence of a lot of things we take for granted in our public spaces back in the States. In particular, public areas in Japan have no benches, and the streets, despite being spotless, are totally devoid of garbage cans. It’s almost as if the public spaces are not meant for public consumption; everyone, even the Japanese, are guests there, and not meant to loiter. So don’t rest or sit down on a bench; and don’t leave any garbage around, even in a trash can - take it with you.

The parks here are not public parks in the American conception - there are no Central Parks with their great lawns meant for suntanning. Instead, the one’s we’ve seen are conceived as shrines and gardens for the Emperor. The public can walk through and pay homage to the Emperor, but this space clearly belongs to the emperor - not to the public. Whereas our parks are testaments in some ways to our democratic spirit, here they seem to reinforce the highly stratified society exemplified by the emperor. Perhaps the highly original and individualistic dress of the Harajuku girls, literally just outside the Meiji Shrine gates, is a reaction against this stratification and dedication to the group over the individual.

Japan, Day 1. Joe and my 24-hour commute from his apartment in...

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 10:02:00 -0400

Japan, Day 1.

Joe and my 24-hour commute from his apartment in Boston to Tokyo, Japan is complete. We’ve just arrived and settled in to our hotel (small room, hard bed, comfy slippers). The travel wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be; we occupied the time primarily with Sudoku competitors, eating complimentary bread and cheese sandwiches, and trying in vain to get our Delta personal TV screens to work.

Initial impressions of Japan? Tokyo is a huge city, but we seem to have found a nice corner to stay in here in the district of Shinjuku. The streets are incredibly clean and busy; the lights bright; the skyline beautiful. There are an inordinate amount of people walking around with surgical masks on (we were given complimentary ones upon our arrival).

Joe and I will aim to update this blog daily. Our itinerary for tomorrow is to look around Shinjuku; visit the Meiji Shrine; people watch in Harajuku; and also check out the largest intersection in the world in Shibuya (you’ll know it from Lost in Translation).

Buy One Anyway.

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:39:07 -0400

Buy One Anyway.

Video Clears Up Obama Photo

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:19:00 -0400

Video Clears Up Obama Photo:

Thanks Steller for the link. My favorite part about the video is Sarkozy.

Where is stimulus money going?

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:24:22 -0400

According to a USA Today study, counties that supported Obama have received twice as much stimulus funding to date than those that voted for McCain.

This probably isn’t a case of Obama directing money to his supporters. Instead, it likely tells us something about the types of voters more likely to vote for a Democrat than a Republican. Then again, it could just be a random aberration in how the small sliver of stimulus thus far paid out has been distributed.

Ahhh Matt Drudge, you miss nothing. I don’t blame you,...

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:16:42 -0400

Ahhh Matt Drudge, you miss nothing.

I don’t blame you, Barack, but still…

Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Presidential Power

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0400

Two books I just finished reading recently: John Meacham’s American Lion, a political biography of Andrew Jackson, and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, a study of Lincoln’s presidential leadership. Jackson served as our 7^th president from 1829-1837; 24 years later, in 1861, Lincoln was improbably elected our 16^th president, and served four years before he was assassinated shortly after his second inaugural.

It was interesting to read these biographies consecutively because in many ways Jackson set the stage for Lincoln. Jackson defined the modern presidency by aggregating power to the White House and away from Capitol Hill; Lincoln masterfully mobilized the power of the presidency to wage a successful Civil War and free the slaves.

Before Jackson, Congress, not the president, was the country’s most important political force. One telling statistic: the first six presidents vetoed a total of nine bills over 40 years; Jackson alone vetoed a dozen. Indeed, George Washington said that he declined to veto many bills he disagreed with out of deference to the legislature. By vetoing so much legislation and allowing his voice trump that of the House and Senate, Jackson recast the presidency – the only position elected by the entire country – as the central figure in American politics.

Jackson also set forth the importance of a united Union, led by a federal government to which states are deferential. During the nullification crisis of 1833 South Carolina tried to repeal a federal tariff that was not to its liking. Jackson’s defense of the Union and dismissal of Carolina’s nullification efforts would later be one of only four documents considered by Lincoln as he crafted his first inaugural address.

In her study, Goodwin hits on her “team of rivals” concept and drives it home throughout the book so that it almost becomes a biography of four: Lincoln, plus three rivals for the presidency who later became integral members of Honest Abe’s cabinet. Yet Lincoln throughout comes across as rather Jacksonian: he has his own Kitchen Cabinet of advisers, but at the end of the day the decisions are his own.

Like Jackson, Lincoln is driven by a central idea: above all the Union must survive; and the president must seize strong executive power to make this happen (from the suspension of habeas corpus to the Emancipation Proclamation fiat).

In its youth, the survival of the Union was a pressing, uncertain question; these two books, taken together, argue that it was a strong presidency more than anything that bound together North, South, and West.

If you had to read just one of these book, pick up Meacham’s Jackson Pulitzer Prize winner. The author’s ability to consistently put Jackson’s acts and accomplishments in perspective, and demonstrate the transformative nature of his presidency, sets his study apart.

Much has happened during my nearly two-week blogging hiatus: I...

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:02:00 -0400

Much has happened during my nearly two-week blogging hiatus: I left my job of two years as a consultant; moved out of Manhattan; turned one year older (wiser?); and spent a week in Colorado, a beautiful state replete with vistas like this one. (The only sad part about my Colorado trip: it was my fourth time west of the Mississippi, but the first time I went that far west and did not stop in Vegas.)

In 10 days I’ll be off to Japan. To my loyal readers (probably just Juan): I will try to update regularly throughout my two weeks there, so stay tuned for some sumo wrestling pics.

80,000 people turn out to see Cristiano Ronaldo introduced as a...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:30:24 -0400

80,000 people turn out to see Cristiano Ronaldo introduced as a Real Mardid player. The man speaks for about 90 seconds, and all these people come just to see that. Unbelievable devotion; I don’t know that would even happen if Lebron James came to the Knicks.

This is what happens when the government runs companies

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:05:03 -0400

When it was deciding where to build its new compact car, General Motors Corp. made a point of saying it would push politics aside and use strictly commercial criteria.

So Tennessee’s three top officials were astonished last month, in a meeting with GM, when they were told the first two criteria were “community impact” and “carbon footprint” — or how the choice would affect unemployment rates and carbon-dioxide emissions.

All the sites had merits, but the Michigan plant had additional attractions. It is embedded in a struggling state that is a Democratic stronghold. The Orion site, 35 miles from GM’s Detroit headquarters, is also close to tens of thousands of current and former United Auto Workers union employees, whose pressure previously helped persuade GM to scrap plans to build the car overseas.

"We're at the point where we don't want respect. We want to win. And there's no guarantee we'll get to a final like this again, so it's disappointing."

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:13:34 -0400

- Landon Donovan, after the U.S.’s crushing 3-2 defeat to Brazil.

I’ve never been happier - and more disheartened - with the U.S. team. We played beautifully in the first half, and like against Spain, capitalized on all of our scoring opportunities, while denying Brazil any goals.

Conceding the goal 38 seconds into the second half was deflating to our morale, and it was all downhill from there.

Bravery.

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:29:00 -0400

Bravery.