A New Decade

When this song was popular I would tell people that I liked The Verve when they were still just called "Verve". Childish but maybe you understand what I mean if you recognise this cover.

The lyrics dont mean a whole lot to me but the guitar riff still sticks in my head.

Youtube: A New Decade The Verve Hammersmith 1997 (3min)

Anyway, very quiet here today. Here are some shots. Next few days will be even quieter, fresh air, no cars, no ATM's working, just like in prehistoric times. City of 35 million all to ourselves.

Quiet city...


Quiet city...

There, now I have more than 1 post in December.. what a good blogger.

Friendship, Time Management, and British Transport

I have not written anything for a while. Better than writing for the sake of it.

So I thought I would copy someone else's work, an article on being a foreigner from the Economist Christmas Double Issue!

But I cant even find the work I was going to plagiarise.

I've just got back from a week in London, week and a half. Last night I quickly, for my own interest, jotted down who I saw and what I did each day. I was kind of astounded at how much I did, like some overweight person who writes down everything they've eaten for a week. Probably explains why I slept all the way on the plane home. Plus a good chunk of the afternoon after I got home. And all night.

The good news is that I was not jet lagged despite the day being the night. I reckon you cant get jet lagged if you don't have any normal sleep patterns to begin with.

So I thought I could write something on time management (doing the important things, not just doing everything faster), or on friendship, or on London transport and snow and the media, or reflections on being back in Tokyo.

Sod it.

Here are some pictures of the what I ate for dinner. Picked up from the 7-11 on the way home from the gym. Lazy, but I got to say it was pretty darn tasty!

I thought this was maybe pork but it's actually strips of side bacon with a creamy sauce and lots of fresh rice underneath. If you want to be really grossed out I cracked a raw egg into it before chucking it in the microwave. It was good.
I am always attracted to broccoli for some reason so this was going to be a winner.
2 cans of beer, because I deserve it for working a 10 hour day on jet lag and then getting to the gym!

Today was a good day

Was it Ice Cube who said "Today I didn't even have to use my A.K., I got to say it was a good day"

The picture above is not Ice Cube it's New Model Army, about the financial collapse. Because it shattered our illusions it was a good day. I like the cover.

Anyway... here is my day.... all done on foot!

Sunday in Tokyo. Better served by perhaps Lou Reed.

Wake up.

Rub eyes, New Zealand qualified for the world cup yesterday. Too much sake at a ramshackle little bar in Golden Gai that could fit no more than 6 people. Must have been good quality because I have no hangover.

Coffee. Shibuya crossing, pay respects at the shrine of Hachiko, the faithful Akita dog who waited in that same spot every evening for 9 years. The Japanese love loyalty.

Bought a couple of 80's Japanese punk rock CD's, as reccomended by bar manager in Golden Gai...

Breakfast in an arts centre cafe: rice, hot tea, pork and potato. Delicous.

NHK Centre at Yoyogi, outdoor stage at the Tokyo Dance Music Festival. Completely free. It is sunny, crystal clear, 20 degrees. A perfect day weather-wise.


Walk on, Yoyogi park, check out the random people: dancers, musicians, actors, dog trainers, walk about and soak it up.

Meiji shrine, one of the most revered spots in Japan, where did all the tourists come from? yikes!

Home, nap, then ..... 13km run around the circumference of the Imperial Palace. Visually stunning after dark.

Shower, down the local for dinner. Nothing too heavy. 3 beers. Great service. Take away cake for dessert.

Home, serious leisure mode now... DVD! In Bruges. Bloody excellent. Highly reccomend.


Work Monday, people were like "why are you grinning, you look like you've had the best weekend!"

Well, maybe ...

Typhoon!

Vietnam was hit by a typhoon last week. Mum wrote a really good letter to us about the impact and to let us know she was ok.

I think people don't often get the whole "my mother lives in vietnam" thing, maybe a picture (and a letter) paints a thousand words. So for a bit of a change....

Firstly here is a link to the typhoon path

These are videos etc on YouTube of the flooding

************************

Hi there
In a particularly active year in the West Pacific the weather people have counted 25 typhoons so far this year. Many of them have hit the Phillipines and then veered north, but this week we had one come right across Quy Nhon.

We had been watching the progress of the storm on an internet site I have boookmarked, as it approached the coast and noted that it was forecast to upgrade from a "tropical Depression" to a Level 1 typhoon just before the eye reached the coast.

The high winds and squally showers started in the middle of the day on Monday 2nd Nov and increased steadily all day and through the night. I understand the eye of the storm passed through or near to Quy Nhon during the night and the high winds and heavy rain continued until the following morning decreasing only slowly during the day.

I was alerted to some of the damage when I fielded a phone call from an expat on a train at our Dieu Tri Station, late on Tuesday. She said the group of cyclists she was travelling with were on a train at Dieu Tri Station and had been stopped there since 5.30am - about 12 hours at that point - with no information about when or if they might be able to continue. There was very little information available from anywhere at that stage, though we knew the emergency rescue squads would be out assessing the situation as the day went on. The universal answer to enquiries I was making here was "we won't know anything until tomorrow morning". Most of our guests were resigned to waiting it out when we told them what we knew and were able to help them alter travel plans etc. By the evening I was greeting people with "so where are you not going to, today?"

By Wednesday morning the storm had moved inland, through neighbouring Phu Yen Province and expected to end up in Cambodia. Reports now revealed that there was a big landslide affecting both road and rail to the south of Quy Nhon in Phu Yen Province. And the two big rivers that water the Tuy Phuoc area adjacent and to the north and east of Quy Nhon, had both breached their banks with severe and large scale flooding.

The little stream that normally flows under the bridge on the the road from QN to Phu Tai junction had turned into a torrent that flooded Tran Hung Dau St from the area of the Twin Towers (Thap Doi) out, and prevented road access from the city to Route 1. Houses ibordering Tran hUng Daoa Street in that area were flooded to a height of more than a meter.

Our Dieu Tri train station was completely surrounded by flood waters and not accessible by road at all. All the villages in the flood plane of the Tuy Phuoc rivers were underwater and we saw on TV survivors being rescued from rooves of houses, with small children having to slide down into the arms of rescuers waiting in a boat below.

In the afternoon we were able to confirm that access to the south from Quy Nhon was blocked by a large landslide in the next Province to the south (Phu Yen), affecting both road and rail routes.

We saw a couple of helicopters overhead circling overhead, assessing the damage in the surrounding area and by the evening we saw the first scenes on the local TV of survivors being rescued by boat: a woman wading to the rescue boat through flood waters up to her chin, whole families perched on the highset point of their roof, with the waters lapping at their feet. They would have been there for a couple of days by that point.
On Wednesday as the waters receded the first train left for the north in 2 days and some buses were starting to move. However, the rail route to the south remains blocked and is not expected to be cleared today (Thursday) The railways are offering a road service down to Tuy Hoa and connection to one train a day from there.

Reports are still coming in as to the extent of damage in rural areas and it is expected that there will have been a significant loss of life. One causalty that has affected us directly is the father of one of our staff who go up on to the roof to repair leaks after the storm had passed, apparently slipped and split his head open on the concrete path. Very sad, a lovely man who was the chief care giver for his under school age grand children, allowing their mothers to work without worrying about them.

regards
Barbara

*********************

Body Language

To add to the long list of things, that "just don't work like they should here". Alongside my keyboard, phone networks, ATM machines, electricity, taxi drivers, and so on.

Body language is great, right? I mean, you can go into a petrol station in the Tuscan countryside, ask for directions in English off a guy who doesn't speak a word of English, listen and watch as he explains, thank him, and then get to your destination. Without body language this type of thing would be near on impossible.

James said to me before I came, that "your normal reflexes don't work here". It's more than that.

I'm sitting in a cafe getting ready to go and the waitress is filling my glass of water. It's OK, I'm gesticulating, we are leaving, I don't need water, no we're going, it's OK, more hand waving. She smiles and nods and fills up the water. Doesn't help of course that they don't really have a word for 'no'.

It just doesn't work. All the things you've learned about how to communicate, and all the non verbal cues, 90% of it is simply turned off. It's like even with the language you still have to re-learn the body language piece. Massive blind spot! Who knows what cultural faux pas I am committing on a daily basis.

Go with the flow I guess, and keep learning.

Personality Test Results are In!

Spent all day Friday in 'Leadership Development Training' with about 20 other sales managers and directors.

We did computerised DiSC personality profiling and the results were shared across the group. I've done lots of these things in the past but not this exact system.

A host of Japanese guys I hardly know let alone trust got to see my graph, so I might as well share some with you.

D of the DiSC system stands for Dominance.

My dominance score was the highest of the entire group. That was a bit alarming. My S, Steadyness, was very low.

Some other snippets:

• Ras tends to be strong willed and seeks out new horizons (can't argue with that from Tokyo)


• He may be able to bypass conventional ideas and may avoid wasting time blaming


• Tending to be easily bored Ras may search for new opportunities


• He may prefer activities that require considerable mental or physical effort
  

Ras would increase his effectiveness by:

• Taking more time to think through possible consequences before taking action


• Listening and considering the thoughts feelings and experiences of others


• Learning to be in a group without being in charge (!!!)


• Developing tact and diplomacy..............................

Hmmm!

The Way of The Samurai

This is the cover of a book called Hagakure.

It is a transcript of works written 350 years ago by a Samurai.  Or rather, the retainer of a Samurai.  A rare collection of anecdotes and reflections, some are downright confusing, others brilliantly pierce our modern existence.  It is about following The Way, an undefinable way of living that is in keeping with principles of Samurai existence.  I wont try to go into it.  Buy yourself a copy, impress your friends.

Here is one for today.  I might add these in from time to time.

****

It is not good to settle into a set of opinions.  It is a mistake to put forth effort and obtain some understanding and then stop at that.  At first putting forth great effort to be sure that you have grasped the basics, then practicing so that they may come to fruition is something that will never stop for your whole lifetime.  Do not rely of following the degree of understanding that you have discovered, but simply think, "This is not enough."

One should search throughout his whole life how best to follow The Way.  And he should study, setting his mind to work without putting things off.  Within this is The Way

****

Good old Yamamoto Tsunetomo, I think it's cool.

Walk to Yoyogi Park

Harajuku Street is a bit like a Tokyo version of Camden. Goth-lite if you will.

Check out the dog clothing. They all have it.

Heres a couple of random things. These guys were playing Digeridoo. Sounded pretty good. Then there were the drummers, violins, saxophone, singing, humming, meditating, bongo playing, you get the idea.

This sign is self explanatory.

I'm testing a YouTube channel called Sumisumike. I uploaded some very crazy dudes dancing around like loons. They were pretty staunch.

You can see it here http://www.youtube.com/user/sumisumike

Hiking

Heres some pics from the hiking!

They are kind of around the wrong way, as obviously the sleeping was done after the hiking and eating, not before...

chilling out at top of Kobo mountain...

Picnic time

Well yes, actually, I did...

Nice folks....

Change

I made someone cry on Friday.

Let me rephrase that. One of my team cried on Friday. Oops.

We were talking about change. She is worried about the changes we want to make. I say, we have to move, this is the direction we are moving in. She says, but what if it is not the right direction? This can be very stressful for some people.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross spent years researching grief, and her concepts can be applied to change of all kinds. Denial gives way to acceptance and then, hopefully, commitment. There are no hard and fast rules, if change is a fact and not a possibility.

And so it is with moving country. You have this period of elation, almost hysteria, the facts of the situation escape you. It is like denial, it exists for positive change as well as negative.

We all want to be happy and relaxed in our lives, and in our work. We have a duty to demonstrate this, to show those around us that it is possible when they forget.

Hopefully, in return they will show us when we forget!

Gadget rage

Tried to get my Apple Mac working through the AirMac Extreme thinge I bought the other week, because there is only wired Internet connection here. Salesman confidently assured me it was the best option for my situation. Reassuringly expensive at least.

Fail. The AirMac thing has gone completely invisible, the troubleshooting guide of course doesnt tell you how to deal with that, and the Apple help line is not open today. Apple products can be so frusatrating when they are not being completely intuitive.

As a consolation I have connected my DJ CD to the hi fi that came with the apartment (and bizarrely had cassette tape and not CD). Small victories... Listening to an old Moby CD, 'Everything Is Wrong'. Good stuff.

Went running in Yoyogi Park again today. gotta get my iPhone so I can take photos, it is the most interesting collection of people doing stuff you've ever seen. There's the guy playing saxophone, just down from some lady playing violin, exercise classes, singing lessons, drama groups, a dog-socialisation-and-training area, girls doing photo-shoots, blind runners running in groups with guides, I mean you name it. There are even some people just 'going to the park', but they seem to be in the minority.

Autumn has arrived in Japan.

The leaves will soon be turning red in Kyoto, I might have go visit that, supposed to be amazing.

Even more important, they have launched the first Autumn beer - Kirin Autumn lager!

6%...

Kampai

So, what's it like?

Today is Nichi Yobi

This means Sun Day

The symbol for Sun is above. Kind of cool, I think you can easily recognise it as it's quite simple.

Watched Dragnet last night. I think I like 80's stuff a lot. Notice how all the films have the same dopey guitar soundtracks regardless of whether it's action, drama, comedy or whatever? But seriously, 80's films, life was so much more promising then. Before polar bears and uranuim enrichment and all that.

Also watched a feature on CNN on Margaret Moth. She changed her name from Margaret Wilson early on because it was too common. She's from Dunedin. She never cared what anyone thought of her, which is lucky. There's an edited clip of the feature here.

On finding out she was dying of cancer she said that if she'd been careful and had a quiet life, she'd probably be very stressed right now. Suddenly taking up skydiving and all that. But she felt that it doesnt matter how long you live for, so long as you live a full life. Top stuff.

In answer to the question above? No idea! Will come back to that.

Internet Privacy and Facebook

This is the last post including a picture of a cat for a while. Anyway, does anyone care about internet privacy any more? Or have we kind of 'got over that'?

Recent example: Facebook has agreed to let third party advertisers use your posted pictures without your permission.

I find it bizarre that people use all sorts of crazy monikers and stuff for their e-mail and login ID's, and then these same supposedly sane people share the most intimate details of their lives on the internet with facebook 'friends'. Most of whom arent actually 'friends' at all. The contact base grows at an exponential rate once you look to the second and third degree of separation, something which our brains arent naturally wired to appreciate but which geeks who work for large advertising corporations certainly do.

Corporations also possess the resources individuals lack, enabling them to arbitrage the differential between our ignorance and their expertise. As traditional revenue streams from print and television advertising collapse, greater emphasis is focused on those who can tap into the social networking revolution for financial gain. Big bucks, basically.

None of this any kind of great conspiracy, its just business. Facebook and other sites have a sole purpose in life and that is to generate advertising revenue by exploiting our personal networks. Members are not their customers, advertisers are. Same is true of Google, who save records of every search you've ever made by the way, and share it for cash.

Caturday and Internet Memes

Here's a video for Caturday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnP3CnvDcwM&NR=1

NAD CD Player is Crap

I bought a NAD CD player because I like NAD, I have a NAD amp, and I honestly believe NAD do their best to make quality products. So you should buy them.

My NAD CD player is a piece of crap. It opens and closes the tray at will, usually when a CD is half in it. It is the most annoying and supposedly high tech piece of junk. I want to take it back but I know I wont get around to it.

I wish I had bought something Japanese!

NAD should stick to making old fashioned amplifiers and not pretend to be a high tech company.

Crappy CD player.