Case in point wrt my last post: walk between the Yodobashi Camera buildings in Nishi-Shinjuku and you’ll see scads of people standing still, sitting on hand rails or on the benches provided by the store, all silent tapping on their phones—sometimes 2 phones! This is the Pokémon Go Square. Wild!
When I first came to Japan, at age 18 with a backpack and a guitar, I came to Tokyo at the end of February in 1997. That is almost 30 years ago! I am sitting in this little park drinking a canned coffee just watching the people like I did back then. And yet so so much has changed.
Lovely 20° day in Tokyo
Sure picked the wrong day to have a quiet walk around the neighborhood: it’s Tokyo Marathon Day! Already seen some mad costumes and all the streets are being blocked off.
Made it to my hotel in Tokyo. What up Famichikis! Been a few months! Gonna hit the konbini and then crawl into bed. Wiped… Cannot believe how many people were lined up at immigration.
Sent my monthly newsletter early since I am about to get on a plane to Japan. See you next month!
Started Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky 📚
A little audiobook for the plane ride
Wednesday, February 26, 2025 →
Birthday hangsang! 🎈🎂
This aside from Ben Evans recent newsletter:
(A very successful Silicon Valley VC once told me never to invest in a company called ‘labs’ because “they don’t know what they want to build”.)
This is me chuckling in has two shutdown labs in my work history. 😅
Omg it’s past midnight. I been watching that King Los freestyle reacts for hours! 🔥 🔥 🔥
He’s a lyrical zodiac killer. 🐏🐂👯🦀🦁🌬️⚖️🦂🏹🐐🏺🐟
2025 is gonna be a good year for #hiphop 😊
Vancouver Art Gallery 🎨
Started listening to the long Samir Amin essay from 2004 The Liberal Virus: Permanent War and the Americanization of the World which seems appropriate after finishing the latest Pankaj Mishra book. 📚
In an area of downtown Vancouver that I don’t frequent very often, and has changed significantly since I used to live in the area 25 years ago
Been dreaming and looking at old photos from Hawaiʻi and India. I had some memorable hotel experiences there, and would love to to go back.
Wednesday, February 19, 2025 →
Finished The World After Gaza by Pankaj Mishra 📚
I’ll need time to process this. Pankaj Mishra’s righteous teardown of Western tradition (racism, slavery, colonialism) puts Gaza and the Shoah in a wider context as he tries to wrestle it away from politicians with narrow agendas. Astounding work.
I am going to this! In fact, there will be a couple of open social Chads there. Come join us!
website design inspo (sound on) y-n10.com
Started reading: The World After Gaza by Pankaj Mishra 📚
Had this on pre-order and it just dropped. One of my fav authours so I couldn’t wait to start!
AI Energy Score: ranking models so developers can choose based on energy consumption
Currently reading: The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay 📚 #AmReading