How big is Tokyo?

Tomorrow, I have to do a business trip. For this, I had to look up my way. Wow, this was tricky!

It is still hard for me to grasp how big Tokyo really is... Have a look at this image:


The upper map is a map of Tokyo's trains (full-size map is here). The lower map is the subway map (full image: here).

For easier understanding, I have added 2 pieces of information to the map:
1) The black circles in both images refer to the Yamanote line. A full loop takes about 1 hour. Interesting fact:"An estimated 3.5 million passengers ride every day on Tokyo's Yamanote Line, with its 29 stations. For comparison, the New York City Subway carries 4.8 million passengers per day on 26 lines serving 468 stations." (not to mention that the NYC subway operates 24 hours, whereas the Yamanote line does not operate between 1:30 and 5:00)
2) However, the maps do not represent the sizes correctly. My daily commute is highlighted as a red line. It takes about 20 minutes.

It would be interesting to overlay this map over Munich (which I cannot do now, because I have to wake up for my business trip, soon :-) Any volunteers?

Fun Stuff

This is probably the weirdest picture that I have ever seen:

It's hard to believe that this is authentic. However, it seems to be! Probably taken in Cañon City, Colorado, circa 1926.

This is quite amusing. Many people around me follow that advice.

A really cool user interface is here.

Life is beautiful

The weather in Tokyo is gorgeous now!! It is 12 degrees centigrade and clear blue sky!! After this blog entry, I will take a walk by the ocean.

Because of my recent promotion, I have some money to waste :-) I went shopping to Akihabara a couple of times. Now, I am Mr. Gadget!! I am totally impressed by the ipod shuffle that I had bought.
The interaction design of this device is amazing. I could not find any point that needs improvement.

I found another funny webpage: Fun ways to f*** with Japanese people's heads. I have recently developed some similar strategies :-)

For example:

1) At work, everybody is sooooooooooooo serious... It is almost surreal.... However, I try to make fun almost every day: I post funny cartoons at the walls of the lab; I talk in very rude Japanese to some very high guys (somehting like: hey dude, my throat is freaking dry; let's get f**** drunk after work); ... it's great fun! Basically, I can do anything, since I am already classified as a crazy outsider :-)

2) I have a new boss since December last year. My new team went drinking recently. There, he told that he likes Cabakura very much. Cabakura is a kind of hostess club, but there is no sex involved. Just flirting. The girls working there are very young (18-25). Very popular with older, married, Japanese guys (my guess is that what's not happening is more interesting to them then what happens - why is everything Zen-style here?). I said: "I have never experienced Cabakura." He said: "let's go someday!" Me: "sure!!"

Japanese ettiquette clearly separates topics from drinking parties and company life. So, the above topic is totally off-limit at the company (see point 1 from above). In our last team-meeting at the company, I was responsible for making the meeting agenda. I put as first point on the agenda: "when to go to Cabakura?". My boss was totally shocked: "Why do we talk about this at work?". I pretended not to know the etiquette: "But you had invited the team to go with you!". He was totally frozen. Hahahahahahahah. I will report about the Cabakura trip soon.

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Black belt in crazy

Nick, a friend from new york, has sent me a cool t-shirt yesterday. It has printed on it: "I got a Black Belt in Crazy".

This cause a little email exchange:

Hi Nick!
I just got your Tshirt. Thanks a lot! Nice present!
However, I do not fully understand the Print on the Tshirt.
(my awezome Gzerman Engliz Zkillz)
Shouldn't it rather read:
"I got a black belt in craziness"
than
"i got a black belt in crazy)?


His answer:

!! You astound me with your perception of English grammar. I think we
Americans would be like, "oh, okay".

But the real question is: what would a true "black belt in crazy" prefer?

But it's legit! At least in popular culture with songs like "Halfway
to Crazy". OK, rock musicians might not have the best English either.
Maybe it's a bit poetic(?).

My theory: English is a bit like a PC C++ compiler from the 90's! If
it compiles on at least *one* compiler, it is a "valid enough" feature
and okay!


Well, with the C++ analogy, it kind of makes sense to me now :-)

Analysis of Japan

I still get surprised by the Japanese world around me every day!

How come?

My co-worker (Brazilian, who is living for 20 years in Japan now) told me:
"I understand you. You get surprised every day. I only get surprised every other day". The real funny thing about this statement is: it is most probably true!

To understand Japan better, I had recently read a lot about Japan:
- Blogs about Gaijin (foreigner) superpowers: 1, 2 (I fully agree on both articles)
- "The Blue-Eyed Salaryman" (describing my general situation at work almost 100%)
- a German book about a guy's life in Japan (I fully agree with the facts in the book. However it is written in such a smart-ass way that it's not so much fun to read)

It is very interesting to see how much I can relate to these stories. Why are our experiences in Japan so similar?

A reason might be that Japanese people are extremely similar to each other ("Gleichschaltung").
Almost 1 year ago, my company had sent me to a seminar for "inter-cultural communication". One thing that we had learned there: assume that you take 2 random citizens of a country. In which country is the similarity between them the highest? I do not remember the exact statistics, but Asian countries were on top and Japan one of the leaders.

But to return to my initial question: The only thing that I have understood so far is that
it is impossible to understand the thinking processes of Japanese people.
I mean: of course, some high-level things always hold true (like the Gaijin Smash).
But the small details will always stay a mystery for me!

Anyways, I like surprises. It seems that Japan is the best place in the world for me :-)