Public Address | Cafe | Field Theory: Japan Stories: Part One

George Darroch

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 00:17:52 +1300

Fascinating Hayden, thank you.

Kumara Republic

Fri, 24 Dec 2010 23:25:18 +1300

New Japan sauna is a representation of a jaded era. For the reality, witness the right wing bozos rally every weekend while the Chinese tourists indulge two blocks over.

To a large degree, Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara is a kind of figurehead for these bozos. The ABC (the Aussie one)…

Jim Cathcart

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:35:35 +1300

I wasn't in Japan in 1991 but I doubt that were busloads of mainland Chinese floating around urban Japan. Tourism is now one of Osaka's only lights on the horizon and the uyokou dantai have been more strident than in any of my 15 years here. The world has much…

recordari

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 09:24:44 +1300

For the reality, witness the right wing bozos rally every weekend while the Chinese tourists indulge two blocks over.

But that was happening in 1991. 'Slow to change' would be another way of looking at it. Witness the longest post-bubble economic stagnation in the history of forever. People have written whole…

Jim Cathcart

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 04:03:23 +1300

Japan is actually a country in a spiritual crisis and flux. For all the fawning and adoration, this is a country lost and straitjacketed by its own isolation. New Japan sauna is a representation of a jaded era. For the reality, witness the right wing bozos rally every weekend while…

Geoff Lealand

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:43:00 +1300

Finding fruitful employment for all these millions of people is a real consideration. I recall passing by an open trench in central Tokyo on a quietish Sunday night. In NZ, a barrier and a couple of hazard lights would suffice; in Tokyo it required four blokes standing around the trench…

recordari

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:26:16 +1300

One striking memory from living in Tokyo for a year in the early nineties was Obon week. Apparently 11+ million leave town (the Kanto Plain, that is) at the same time. A day of absolute carnage, followed by a quiet week in Tokyo. Was kind of surreal.

Simon Grigg

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:11:22 +1300

Some of the malls here give free umbrellas as you leave into the rain. The protocol is that you are supposed to return them next time you visit. The Thai people do as a matter of course. The tourists perhaps less so (since the protocol is not written) although I…

Raymond A Francis

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 20:05:10 +1300

Wow, sound just great, the sort of thing we all should do

Robyn Gallagher

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:40:04 +1300

(The Asia NZ link at the bottom needs an http:// in it.)

Public Address

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:40:04 +1300

Discussion from blog post.