God Please save Japan.

The past two days have been absolutely terrifying as my wife and I sit in our home in Chicago, unable to do anything at all, while continuously watching the news feed on NHK and trying over and over again to phone my mother- and father-in-law in Sendai, wondering if they are OK. Seeing the horrifying images on the news, I can't stop wondering if Mom and Dad are safe, if they have anything to eat, where they are, if they're cold or possibly scared... I can't stop thinking about my wife's Uncle, Aunt and cousins who live in Fukushima Prefecture. How are they holding up? Did their house survive the disaster?? The only fact my wife and I have is that Mom and Dad survived the catastrophe. We know this only because Dad was able to send a couple of text messages to my sister-in-law who then relayed them to us.

I see so many people's homes and lives washed away by the 10-meter-high tsunami. I see families on TV desperate for help and in dire need of safety and rescue. I often can't fight back the tears that spill from my eyes out of feelings of despair and fear for the lives of all the people in northern Japan, not to mention the helpless feeling of not being able to do anything to help them.

Power and telephone services are down throughout the region which has completely cut us off from any way of communicating with our family. Something so very simple as making a phone call is impossible, which is a powerful fuel for the feelings of worry and anxiety that have overwhelmed our home. To make matters worse, the growing concern about the Fukushima nuclear power plants' condition adds yet another degree of uncertainty and concern.

How will Japan manage to recover from this horrible disaster? Will the people of the country that I love so dearly ever be able to return to their normal lives? An 8.8 magnitude Earthquake is absolutely unimaginable. Unfortunately, the obscure nature of what lies ahead is bound to continue for quite some time.

Scandals in Sumō

I never had too much interest in Baseball, and to be honest I am completely uninterested in American Football. Basketball bores me and most other popular sports like Golf, Tennis and the rest just put me to sleep. I rather like soccer but don't have enough interest in it to follow the careers of players or memorise team stats.

After spending the vast majority of my years hating sports in general I was really happy to find one about which I'm genuinely excited, and that fully captures my interest to the point where I'm disappointed when I've missed the televised events.

The sport that I love is Sumō! Every year I really love watching every televised match of each of the six annual tournaments. I enjoy keeping up with the wrestlers' statistics and watching their careers develop. I get excited about the history of Sumō and hearing about the achievements of the retired champs in comparison to the those of the up-and-comers.

Having explained this, I can scarcely find the right words to describe the disappointment I've been feeling after learning of the recent scandals and schemes that have plagued the only sport I love. The tragedies started this past summer when upper-ranking (ōzeki) wrestler 琴光喜 (Kotomitsuki) was expelled from the Sumō Association for his involvement in an illegal gambling ring that ran bets on professional baseball. Now, just yesterday it was announced that the 2011 Spring Tournament has been cancelled due to the latest scam, known as the 大相撲八百長問題 (Ōzumō Yaochō Mondai / Sumō game-fixing problem) in which wrestlers participated in match-fixing in exchange for financial reimbursement. 3 lower-mid-level wrestlers have been found to have incriminating text messages on their phones proving that they're guilty of the crime. Unsurprisingly, both the baseball gambling ring and the match-fixing problem have direct ties to the Yakuza, bringing further disgrace to the time-honoured sport of Sumō.

I don't know what the future holds for Sumō, but for now, there a lots of hard-working, honest people and fans who are greatly impacted by the cancellation of this year's Spring Tournament. Tickets were already being sold, preparations already being made, and excitement already building. Hopefully we'll still have the summer to look forward to. Hopefully the wrestlers who are sincere and honest still have bright careers to look forward to. Hopefully those that have ideas about participating in any shady activities will pull themselves together and steer clear of any wrong-doing. It would pain me greatly to see such a treasured tradition fall into the depths of shame and dishonour. I'm sure there are others who feel the same as I do, and probably many more who carry feelings that are even more impassioned than mine.

The poster used as the image for this post is about the investigation into the current match-fixing scheme. The title reads, 元大鳴戸親方『八百長―相撲協会一刀両断 (Moto Ōnaruto-oyakata 「Yaochō - Sumō Kyoukai Itten Ryōdan」). Doing my best translate this (after getting a little help from my wife), it would say, "Sumo Association Elder, Naruto-oyakata on Match-fixing - Getting Straight to the Core Issues."*

*Note: "Naruto-oyakata" is the proper way to address the current Japan Sumo Association Elder and head coach of the Naruto Stable, 隆の里俊英 (Takanosato Toshihide).

Tron: Legacy. A spolier-free review

The original Walt Disney movie, Tron, was without a doubt one of the most influential films of my childhood and I watched it with great appreciation several times. Tron: Legacy was a long-time coming and is probably the perfect modernisation of this 1982 classic. As a sequel, Tron: Legacy comes full-circle from its origins presenting the audience with a complete picture of today's technological age and the modern human condition. Back in the early 80s, Tron was ahead of its time, and technologically like no other film that had ever been seen before. In 2010 it's pretty much impossible to pull off a feat such as this, so the trend of the present day is decidedly "retro," and one of technological revivalism. The creators of Tron: Legacy obviously recognised this fact and created a new film filled with symbolism and imagery that captures this modern theme.

Much like the original, Tron: Legacy begins in the "organic" world. The story starts by establishing the history of where we started, summarising the events that unfolded since that time, and then setting the stage for where we are now. Present throughout the start of the film is an amusing "good versus evil" presentation of the conflict between open source and closed source, proprietary software. My linux / unix open source friends out there will enjoy seeing a middle-finger subtly and quietly raised in Microsoft's direction. (^_^) From there, we are led on a short trip down memory lane, and then onward into the latter-day Tron: Legacy.

For many viewers, Tron: Legacy might, at face-value, appear to be little more than a 21st century re-make of the 1982 classic. Indeed the imagery, events and characters in the film do appear to be just that: Tron (the original) with a face-lift. The truth is, however, that if the creators had decided upon vast, significant changes, they would have robbed us of a wonderful chance to feel nostalgic and re-connect with a film that many of us hold very dear. This film pays homage to the original by re-capturing its most highly-prized elements, while providing the opportunity to enjoy them in a way that leverages the recent technological advancements in film-making.

While Tron: Legacy is really so much more than a mere remake, it is certainly not without its faults. Much like the original 1982 film, the pace of Tron: Legacy is, at times, very slow. This is an aspect of the film that can easily distract the audience away from the main theme of the story. The movie also utilises time-tested elements of the "good rebels" versus an "evil dictatorship" that will strike viewers as cliché. Furthermore, IMHO, the use of 3D did little to truly enhance the overall impact of the film and would have been equally enjoyable in 2D. Finally, the film also incorporates a fair amount of unnecessary and unavailing motifs borrowed from Japanese culture. I decided, however, to simply chalk this up to a condition of the film-makers' desire to be trendy, and didn't let it bother me. These somewhat-disappointing aspects of the film are actually very easy to overlook due to the fact that the main point of the story was subtly but effectively delivered to the audience in a way that brings simple understanding to an elusive concept. I'm talking about the concept of Wabi Sabi. (Yes. That's right. No, this is not a typo.)

Wabi Sabi is a Japanese concept that encourages us to appreciate the perfection that comes from, or is contained in imperfection. It is only now that I can return to the point I was making at the start of my post: technological revivalism. In these terms, Wabi Sabi is the embracing of analogue over digital, organic over inorganic, "user error" over algorithmic perfection. Among the many different details that grab our attention while watching Tron: Legacy, including well-made and realistic CG animation, wonderful nostalgia-invoking images, interpersonal human conflict, and even a dash of romance, this theme of Wabi Sabi is mischievously evasive. It is clearly there, however, for the attentive viewer to see. The message that's hidden in this Hollywood production is a subtle warning that in our relentless pursuit of perfection through technology, we risk losing something very precious indeed, namely our humanity.

Before finishing this post, I'd like to say a bit about the soundtrack, which of course was created and performed by Daft Punk. The music in this film is a bit of a departure from the bass-thumping dance-floor techno that we've come to expect from these artists. Tron: Legacy is accompanied by a sound that's decidedly more ambient-techno, and works very well as what it was intended to be-- a soundtrack! My thought, while watching the movie, was that Daft Punk did a great job capturing the feeling of Tron and created music that definitely enhanced the overall experience without trying to take center-stage.

I predict that Tron: Legacy will likely be met with its fair share of criticism, and is almost certainly not going to be up for any Academy Awards. I couldn't care less about that though. This movie is for us-- the fans of Tron who fell in love with the film back in the 1980s. For some of us, it's a chance to share the classic story with a new generation, in a way that's relevant for them. My advice is: don't enter the theatre with any unreasonable expectations or preconceptions about what you're about to see; just go and enjoy yourself. I really had a nice time tonight and I'm glad I went. Being able to share the experience with my lovely wife, who had never seen the original, was an added plus. Walt Disney-- I know you and I haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye over the past couple of decades, but you did a good job with this one. Thank you.

お客様は神様です "The Customer is God"

I came across an article in the Japan Times today entitled, "In Japan, the customer is not king." I usually try to stay out of discussions like these since they have a tendency to turn into flame wars, but after reading the article and the responses to it, I was compelled to offer my response, which I included below. Here is a link to the original article; my response follows.

I hope folks won't mind if I play devil's advocate here. My comments are not directed at any of the responses, nor are they meant to imply that anyone is wrong or insensitive. I merely want to offer a different point of view.
I haven't yet had the experience of being a resident in Japan, but I have spent quite a bit of time there. Furthermore, as someone who works for an international company that does business with big companies in Japan (both the modern and the antiquated ones), I think it might be a mistake, categorically, to draw inferences about Japan's ability to compete in international business based on the experiences of customers in Japanese shops and restaurants. Since this article is primarily focused on the experiences of the latter, I'd like to focus on that.
I know people are fond of the 客様は神様　"Customer is God" proverb、but it's important to remember that there are other factors at work in everyday Japanese consciousness that work in the opposite direction, as well.
I'm reminded of a passage in a novel by 向田邦子 (Mukōda Kuniko) in which the author observed a group of western ladies ordering breakfast at a hotel. She was very surprised that the ladies were so incredibly particular about the way they wanted their meals prepared. She reflected on the example her mother had set for her as a child, and on the idea of having compassion for the wait staff and the chef and cooks who will prepare the meals. She concluded that it's better to stick to the menu and keep it simple when it's tolerable to do so. Here, it might be suggested that the concept of "Customer is God" may include the supreme compassion of a god (lowercase 'g'), and not just the omnipotence of one. Now, Mukōda-san was a Showa era writer, of course, and we might conclude that things are or should be different in modern Japan. With this thought in mind, however, it may be more than just a coincidence (and more than just mere complacency) that "The common (Japanese) man or woman on the street generally accepts the way things are delivered in their vanilla form," no?
The examples given in the article appear quite extreme, so if I may, I'd like to relay an equally extreme experience I had not that long ago. My wife and I were waiting for our waitress at a restaurant in our neighbourhood in Chicago. The waitress was busy with a customer at the next table who was asking to have one of her ordered items substituted for something else. She then started asking about what kind of bread they have and if she could have a bagel instead of the choices she was provided. When the answer was affirmative, she went on to request that the bagel be split in half, lightly toasted and that the center be pulled out. I couldn't help but think, "What the hell?" Maybe this is supposed to be OK, I'm not sure. It seemed really extreme to me and bordered on rude considering the tone she used when speaking to the waitress. Regarding the experiences such as the beer with no foam, couldn't it be that the measurement of portion size in Japan is all about the volume/quantity and not the size of the container as it seems to be in the West?
Anyway, no conclusions here-- like I said, I just wanted to offer a different perspective. I would like to end by wondering something, however. If we are to expect of Japanese customer service the same standards we've become used to in the West, are we perhaps trying to inject a sense of western individualism into a society that basically operates just fine without it?

Ukon No Chikara - Japan's incredible hangover cure

ウコンの力 (Ukon No Chikara / "The Power of Ukon") is a great power indeed and I have great faith in it. I was vacationing and working in Japan throughout June and the beginning of July this year. The night before returning to the U.S., I was out all night eating and drinking too much with some business associates. When I awoke the next morning in my Tokyo business hotel, I had to leave for the airport immediately after breakfast feeling absolutely *awful* and quite sick. Carrying my luggage around made it even worse. Before catching a cab to Ueno Station, I stopped at 7-11, bought 1 bottle of ウコンの力, and drank it down (the taste is neither good nor bad...kinda sweet). I was SHOCKED! By the time I arrived at Ueno Station 15-20 minutes later, I was already feeling 90% better! The only remaining symptom that lingered when I reached Narita Airport was a very mild headache which I knocked out with a couple of EVE A (150 mg ibuprofen pills). 15 minutes after that I felt like I never even had the hangover at all!

This is some amazing stuff! It *REALLY* works. I wish it was available in the U.S., although without the threat of a hangover I would probably be willing to get drunk more often. Perhaps the lack of availability is not such a bad thing.