Annual Sushi Eating Day

Next week in Japan promises some un-forgettable sites and a fair amount of indigestion. Setsubun—the symbolic start of spring which comes Friday, February 3rd—has of late turned into Annual Sushi Eating Day. In a triumph of marketing, not unlike chocolatiers on Valentine’s Day, Japan’s sushi makers have turned an old fable into a marketing bonanza.

Well, actually, not so long ago, "in the late1940s" a famous samurai gulped down an uncut sushi roll prior to winning a difficult battle. This explanation—courtesy of The Economist—seems either dubious or a misprint. Anyone who saw The Last Samurai knows that they were all gone by the 20th Century. Besides, exactly who was fighting who in Japan during the post-war period? The main point is that you have to eat the whole roll, no cutting allowed.

Though The Economist is likely 100 years off on their JPN history, since they are a business mag, let’s believe them when they say that Lawsons, Japan's second-largest convenience store chain, sold some 200,000 fortune rolls in 2002 and expects to sell 2.3m this Setsubun at ¥380 ($3.30) each. Seven-Eleven, the largest convenience-store chain, last year saw sales grow by more than a third, to some ¥3m.

Sushi anyone?

PS: This beautiful photo is by Adam Polselli

Geek is the New Black

In response to my last post, one reader—probably my only reader—commented that Horie-san’s jeans were “not very attractive.” Well, gentle reader, in Uncle Swint’s neighborhood, that seems to be the point. Geek is the new Black.

At least according to Kaori Shoji, local fashion guide, care of the International Herald Tribune. Here are excerpts from her recent article.

Frumpy Geekiness is Height of Tokyo Cool
TOKYO, January 19, 2006

You would never think such a thing could happen, but evidence points to the once-unthinkable conclusion: It's hip to be a geek, at least if you live in Tokyo.

Fashionwise, this means boys in specs have come to have almost the same subtext as boys in leather jackets, and the same goes for oversized lumber-jack shirts, discount shop jeans, shapeless sneakers.

The whole look now is about not trying. In addition to glasses, the other must-have item for the sexy geek is the sweatshirt and pants set, known in Japan as the jyaajii, or jersey. The Japanese jersey is at once nostalgic and embarrassing; you may find a Japanese who has never worn jeans, but you won't find anyone who has never worn a jyaajii. We wore it during our school years (mandatory during gym and extracurricular activities) and later, men held onto their sets as the ideal home/loungewear.

Pure stretch polyester, totally unflattering on the male body and kitsch to the very core, the jyaajii was a metaphor for the caricature geek, the standard uniform for the stay-at-home guy, munching donuts in front of the computer as the bluish lights of the screen flicker on his glasses.

That metaphor is outdated now as even Comme des Garçons Hommes has come out with the ultimate anti-fashion statement, consisting of classic, old-school jyaajiis that sell for more than ¥40,000 a set (women's sets come with polyester pleated jyaajii skirts). The Japanese sports label Onitsuka Tiger, once considered too absurdly nerdy for words, has opened a Parisian outlet.

"The jyaajii is a strange outfit," says Masanobu Kotani, an Onitsuka fan. "It's neither streetwear nor sportswear. No one can look good in it, not even Brad Pitt or David Beckham. Still, we can't not wear it. Personally, I can't think of relaxing in anything else than the jyaajii."

Kotani will take pains to dress nicely when he's out on a date with his girlfriend, but the minute they return to his apartment, the jyaajii comes on.

"My girlfriend says I look cute and geeky. She says it makes her feel secure that I won't go off and have affairs on the sly,"

For full article see: Shoji in the IHT

Media Mogul/Fashionista arrested in Uncle Swint's neighborhood

Last week, the nationally televised investigation of media mogul Takafumi Horie brought the Tokyo stock exchange to a halt. Investigators raided Horie’s office and apartment in Roppongi Hills—right down the street from Uncle Swint’s house. The press and the police were everywhere.

Horie’s company Livedoor has dropped to just a quarter of its former worth. Last year it peaked at a market cap of US$8 billion. It is now valued at around $2 billion. Still, not bad for a 33 year-old. If you are worried about investing in Livedoor stock, you can buy Horie Jeans instead. Fashion-forward Horie is famous for thumbing his nose at Japan Inc.'s dark suit culture by wearing jeans and t-shirt to work--everyday.Dressing like Horie won’t get you $2 billion. But it won’t get arrested either.

For background read Christian Caryl’s End of a Rebel Culture in Newsweek.

Trainsqueezing

Uncle Swint rides a bike to work. Today, it took seven minutes.

But, most people in Japan are not so lucky. There are 15+ million people in the Tokyo metropolitan area, many of whom commute for more than an hour to get to work. There are trains everywhere. But, not enough, as shown here in this sequence by Andy Gray. Click here for a bigger version. You can see his other excellent photos at www.japanwindow.com

Just another day of Zen in Japan.

Ugly Japan

Excerpted from The Economist Tokyo Briefing

Shigeru Itou, Japan’s top urban-planning expert, spent two years ranking the country's most hideous spots. In “Ugly Japan”, the report he released in December, he dubbed Tokyo's Nihombashi bridge the “country’s ugliest sight”, followed by a bike park and a bubble-era ghost village. The bridge, from which all distances to Tokyo are measured, was thrown across a critical stretch of river in the 17th century to promote trade. It was elegantly renovated in the early years of the 20th century, but in the 1960s, to Mr Itou’s horror, an eight-lane motorway was built on stilts a few metres above it, blocking all daylight and making the bridge a blot on the landscape.

[Ed. Go here for a pix of Nihonbashi today (Bashi = Bridge in JPN).]

Mr Itou, a professor emeritus of Tokyo University, says his report is not merely an exercise in sadism, but a way to inspire efforts to beautify the landscape. He heads a government panel with the purpose of promoting a “Japan beauty renaissance” and undoing some of the architectural crimes of the last century. Such is the professor's influence with Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, that he requested a study into restoring Nihombashi to its former glory by rerouting the highway above it. Mr Itou will submit a full proposal for the renovation by September. If the plan goes ahead, work will be finished by 2012.

Singing and Biking in the Rain

This is not me on the bike. No one was on hand to hold my umbrella on Saturday evening after work. Nonetheless, I did what I said I would never do: I joined the legions of bike riders in Asia who calmly ride down the streets under the cover of an umbrella.

To my surprise, it was ENORMUS FUN. Like a roller coaster ride.

By the time I reached home, my pants were soaked. But, I was safe. This is not something I recommend on a regular basis. But, every once and a while, it’s better than leaving your bike at work.

Louis Kahn on Art

My friend Tom has just watched "My Architect" a documentary about Louis Kahn (Salk Institute near San Diego and the Kimble Museum in Ft. Worth)
The Salk Institue, La Jolla, California
Tom writes: “I was struck by this statement by Louis Kahn. As good a definition of art as I have heard.” And Tom has heard everything. See if you agree:

"A Work of Art... is not a living thing ...that walks or runs. But the making of a life. That which gives you a reaction. To some it is the wonder of man's fingers. To some it is the wonder of the mind. To some it is the wonder of technique. And to some it is how real it is. To some, how transcendent it is.

"Like the 5th Symphony it presents itself with a feeling that you know it, if you have heard it once. And you look for it, and though you know it you must hear it again. Though you know it you must see it again. Truly a work of Art is one that tells us, that Nature cannot make what man can make."