Today we had a meeting at Mother New York, and despite the meeting being in the little, window-less conference room, there was a huge spread of snacks for us to nibble on during the meeting. The best was the candy corn-Swedish Fish-jelly beans combo in the big green bowl. Holy cow! It was like corn syrup overload. To keep myself from experiencing any feelings of candy overwhelment, when I ate the jelly beans, I only ate the Tropical Punch ones. You know, its all about keeping your snackage in check.
© a good appetite, 2007
TOKYO, Oct. 19 — On a narrow Tokyo street, near a beef bowl restaurant and a pachinko parlor, Aya Tsukioka demonstrated new clothing designs that she hopes will ease Japan’s growing fears of crime.
Deftly, Ms. Tsukioka, a 29-year-old experimental fashion designer, lifted a flap on her skirt to reveal a large sheet of cloth printed in bright red with a soft drink logo partly visible. By holding the sheet open and stepping to the side of the road, she showed how a woman walking alone could elude pursuers — by disguising herself as a vending machine.
The wearer hides behind the sheet, printed with an actual-size photo of a vending machine. Ms. Tsukioka’s clothing is still in development, but she already has several versions, including one that unfolds from a kimono and a deluxe model with four sides for more complete camouflaging.
These elaborate defenses are coming at a time when crime rates are actually declining in Japan. But the Japanese, sensitive to the slightest signs of social fraying, say they feel growing anxiety about safety, fanned by sensationalist news media. Instead of pepper spray, though, they are devising a variety of novel solutions, some high-tech, others quirky, but all reflecting a peculiarly Japanese sensibility.
Take the “manhole bag,” a purse that can hide valuables by unfolding to look like a sewer cover. Lay it on the street with your wallet inside, and unwitting thieves are supposed to walk right by. There is also a line of knife-proof high school uniforms made with the same material as Kevlar, and a book with tips on how to dress even the nerdiest children like “pseudohoodlums” to fend off schoolyard bullies.
There are pastel-colored cellphones for children that parents can track, and a chip for backpacks that signals when children enter and leave school. The devices’ creators admit that some of their ideas may seem far-fetched, especially to crime-hardened Americans. And even some Japanese find some of them a tad naïve, possibly reflecting the nation’s relative lack of experience with actual street crime. Despite media attention on a few sensational cases, the rate of violent crime remains just one-seventh of America’s.
But the devices’ creators also argue that Japan’s ideas about crime prevention are a product of deeper cultural differences. While Americans want to protect themselves from criminals, or even strike back, the creators say many Japanese favor camouflage and deception, reflecting a culture that abhors self-assertion, even in self-defense.
“It is just easier for Japanese to hide,” Ms. Tsukioka said. “Making a scene would be too embarrassing.” She said her vending machine disguise was inspired by a trick used by the ancient ninja, who cloaked themselves in black blankets at night. To be sure, some of these ideas have yet to become commercially viable. However, the fact that they were greeted here with straight faces, or even appeared at all, underscores another, less appreciated facet of Japanese society: its fondness for oddball ideas and inventions.
Japan’s corporate labs have showered the world with technology, from transistor radios to hybrid cars. But the nation is also home to a prolific subculture of individual inventors, whose ideas range from practical to bizarre. Inventors say a tradition of tinkering and building has made Japan welcoming to experimental ideas, no matter how eccentric.
“Japanese society won’t just laugh, so inventors are not afraid to try new things,” said Takumi Hirai, chairman of Japan’s largest association of individual inventors, the 10,000-member Hatsumeigakkai. In fact, Japan produces so many unusual inventions that it even has a word for them: chindogu, or “queer tools.” The term was popularized by Kenji Kawakami, whose hundreds of intentionally impractical and humorous inventions have won him international attention as Japan’s answer to Rube Goldberg. His creations, which he calls “unuseless,” include a roll of toilet paper attached to the head for easy reach in hay fever season, and tiny mops for a cat’s feet that polish the floor as the cat prowls.
Mr. Kawakami said that while some of Japan’s anticrime devices might not seem practical, they were valuable because they might lead to even better ideas. “Even useless things can be useful,” he said. “The weird logic of these inventions helps us see the world in fresh ways.” Even some of the less unusual anticrime devices here reflect a singular logic.
A pair of women’s sunglasses has wraparound lenses so dark no one can see where the wearer is looking. These are intended to scare off sexual harassers on Tokyo’s crowded trains, where the groping of women is a constant problem. The same is true of some of the solutions for schoolyard bullying, a big problem in Japan.
Kaori Nakano, a fashion historian, wrote a book with a chapter on how to ward off bullies with the “pseudohoodlum” attire. Her advice includes substituting a white belt for the standard black one in Japanese school uniforms, preferably with metallic studs or tiny mirrors, and buying short socks with flashy patterns.
“Japan is so fashion conscious that just changing the way you dress can make you safer,” Ms. Nakano said. “Culture plays a big role in risk prevention.” Ms. Tsukioka said she chose the vending-machine motif because the machines are so common on Japan’s streets. For children, she has a backpack that transforms into a Japanese-style fire hydrant, hiding the child. The “manhole bag” was also her idea.
Ms. Tsukioka said her disguises could be a bit impractical, “especially when your hands are shaking.” Still, she said she hoped the designs or some variation of them could be marketed widely. So far, she said, she has sold about 20 vending-machine skirts for about $800 each, printing and sewing each by hand. She said she had never heard of a skirt’s actually preventing a crime.
But on a recent afternoon in Tokyo, bystanders stared as she unfolded the sheet. But once she stood behind it next to a row of actual vending machines, the image proved persuasive enough camouflage that passers-by did not seem to notice her. She said that while her ideas might be fanciful, Japan’s willingness to indulge the imagination was one of its cultural strengths. “These ideas might strike foreigners as far-fetched,” she added, “but in Japan, they can become reality.”
From the NY Times:
Mucinex DM should be considered a hard core drug. I had to come to work today, despite feeling like utter and complete crap, because I had a meeting scheduled, that took two months to get everyone's calendars aligned just so. I hauled my ass into an Evelyn car from the car service on Vanderbilt, and proceeded to have hallucinagenic dreams the entire ride to work. My meeting went by in a haze, and included a man wearing a blazer with no shirt, a black patent leather raincoat, and a shiny silver briefcase. And that was not even the hallucinagenic part. Immediately thereafter, I left work and took another cab home. Where I promptly crawled back into my nest on the couch and slept all day — in between watching random episodes of Private Practice on abc.com.
So...at a certain point, the Ricola Sugar-Free drops don't cut it anymore, and I had to resort to actually going to the drugstore to buy something with a real medication inside of it. I searched around for some sort of homeopathic cough medicine at Duane Reade, and could not find anything of the sort. This process took about half an hour, given how crappy and mentally numb I felt — it was like I had gotten a lobotomy along with catching the flu.
offered, half-hidden, the gem of these three concerts: Debussy’s three-movement “Ibéria,” from the orchestral suite “Images.” The casual listener finds welcome here, happily caught up in bullring brass bands, guitarlike rhythmic flourishes and the exotic Phrygian melody of Spanish tradition. Indeed, the high oboe’s yearning, descending triplet figure in “Fragrances of the Night” is unforgettable. On the other hand, closer listening, or maybe a different kind of listening, identifies in “Ibéria” not local color but an extraordinary exercise in abstract art. The detail is teeming and exquisite. The orchestration does not so much color notes and intervals as inhabit them. Movement professes the regularity of the bar line but violates that regularity at every moment. “Ibéria,” like Debussy’s ”Jeux,” must be very difficult to conduct. I have been listening to “Ibéria” for more than 40 years, but Wednesday may have been the first time I actually heard it all. The Cleveland and its music director, Franz Welser-Möst, played with astonishing transparency, yet never overlooked the travelogue nature of the music’s surface. Like James Levine’s Met Orchestra, the Cleveland manages to be clear without loss of weight. Even when the sun isn’t out, visibility is unlimited." — Bernard Holland for the NY Times
An old taxi.
A new taxi.Bump No. 1 occurred when city officials said that the all-type logo was not flashy enough. Trying again, the designers placed a bold T set in the middle of a black circle, something evocative of public transit. (Particularly if you’re from Boston.) Davin Stowell, the chief executive of Smart Design, recalled the concept. “Let’s make it iconic and big,” he said. “Everybody knows what it is. You don’t need the words.”Meanwhile, the NY Times is running their own design contest for readers who feel that they could do a better job. Of course, since those wanna be taxi designers will never have to deal with the beauracracy of working with the Taxi & Limousine Commission and the City of New York in the way that Smart Design did, I am sure that everyone else's ideas look much more cohesive (or not), Like James Cox's (a designer from the UK) concept:
Bump No. 2 occurred when it dawned on city officials that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority intended to use the T designation for the future Second Avenue subway. Lest any confusion arise, Smart Design was asked to restore the words to a prominent position in the logo, which now had the original “NYC” and “AXI,” flanking a shrunken version of the T in a black circle.
Bump No. 3 occurred when NYC & Company, the city’s official marketing and tourism organization, unveiled its own NYC logo, a bulky ligature designed by Wolff Olins. “A number of agencies have incorporated it,” said Matthew Kelly, a spokesman for the Bloomberg administration. “That consistency is good from a customer service perspective and we plan to continue broadening its use.” With that, Wolff Olins’s NYC was substituted for Smart Design’s NYC. And the new taxi logo was born.
“I chose the Roadgeek font, which is a clone of Clearview, the new font used for highway signs. Like your [The Times’s] graphics guy, Jonathan Corum, I also felt that the medallion number was something to draw attention to. Given the strength of the yellow livery, as a marker to help cabs stand out, I’d also put the medallion number on the roof (like the police do) as a way of tracking them via cameras and helicopters.From Jonathan Corum, a graphics editor at the NY Times, we get:
“I’ve removed the rate card information from the side of the door. Whilst this is useful information, people gawping on the side of the road trying to figure out how much their cab is going to cost slows down traffic. So I’ve dropped the minimum fare info on the window, so that customers will know what the least amount they have to spend is, and would promote clear signage of the rates as soon as you get into the car. I’ve kept the ‘hail’ man logo, and paired it up with a strong lowercase Roadgeek, once more to make it clear that this is a cab and if you don’t understand English, then the logo should help you out.
“In deference to the NYC brand, I’ve dropped the ‘official’ logo on the back end of the car. I’d also consider a cute viral branding strategy on the hood: ‘Taxi by NYC,’ as if to say, ‘This is how we do cabs, deal with it,’ in the style of so many chic SoHo designers.
“I wanted to add the original original design wasn’t that horrible. Showed evolution of ideas, a maturing of the identity. Didn’t mess with the livery color and got on with the business of informing users. The problem as one of your commenters mentioned is design by committee. In this case, the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Their requirements turned what was a workable identity into something horrible, when it really didn’t need to be. The customer hires a designer for a reason to design. They will have a brief, an outcome they’d like to see and a theme to get there, but they should let the designer create. A good designer will relish this, and be the artist they truly are. All that said, the other changes LED signage on the roof, more space in the cab and enviro friendly statements are nothing but a good thing. Maybe this new design will be discredited and ignored. We all just want to catch a cab after all and enjoy our ride, not place it in MoMA.”
“New York City taxis have long displayed three pieces of information: a list of fares, the words ‘NYC TAXI’ and the medallion number. “The most prominent feature of the new design is a large, awkward ‘NYC (T)AXI’ — everyone knows it’s a New York City taxi, so there’s no need to shout it. There’s also no need to have every taxi look the same. “My proposed redesign would highlight the most important piece of information: the medallion number. Encouraging riders to remember (or at least notice) the number of their cab is a simple and cheap public safety measure, and would likely speed the return of lost property. A large medallion number would also be much more legible at a distance, or when the cab is moving.”However, it should be noted that both Michael Beirut (Pentagram) “For all that, though, these are all deliberate decisions. So someone clearly designed it, which is a cause for applause.”
Every time I catch a bad cold that causes me to lie in bed coughing up a lung all night, I always reach for Ricola's Sugar-Free Lemon-Mint cough drops. My trick is to put one in my mouth and slowly suck on it and then try to immediately fall asleep before another coughing attack happens. Sometimes you can trick your cough this way. And usually, I stop coughing — and most times, I wake up with a very small, little cough drop remnant left on my tongue. The beauty of this is that because the cough drops are sugar-free, there is no icky sugar residue coating my teeth with fur in the morning, nor do I suddenly get a bunch of cavities. AND, I slept through the night without coughing!
Sara and Scott came over this morning for brunch. The last time that we all got together was in February, when we had brunch the day after we moved into our new apartment. Being that it was Scott's birthday the next day, it was a celebratory brunch, for many reasons, which I will not get into here. It was so wonderful to see them, and I was sort of sad that they had to leave. You know how with some couples you never really run out of conversation topics? It was like that with Scott and Sara — honestly, I swear we would still be talking, if they did not have to leave to see a friend, and if we did not have to organize out our storage space.
We had dinner with Juliana and Eitan this evening at Amazing 66, in Chinatown. I was coming down with the flu, so did not eat so much, other than the entire platter of stir-fried dau miu (Dau Miu (Chinese: 豆苗; pinyin: dòumiáo), literally Bean Grass but actually snow pea vines, is a Chinese vegetable that has become popular since the early 1990s, and now not only appears on English-language menus, usually as "pea shoots", but is often served by upscale non-Asian restaurants as well. Originally it was only available during a few months of the year, but it is now grown in greenhouses and is available year-round.).
Tonight, I met some old friends from when I worked at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, at a place called Common Ground, in the east Village. Sarah was in town from Portland, and I finally was able to give her the birthday gift I bought for her back in August, but never mailed. (Kristy, yours is still in my car trunk. I swear, I will mail it before Christmas.) I have not seen Sarah in about a year and a half, nor have I seen Abbey since last December at a craft fair. And although I have seen Hallie more recently, it was still way back in June. So, it was really nice to hang out, and catch up on how what we all are doing, and what is going in and fill one another in on any gossip. I miss working with my MSLO friends — we had a good row, I thought. We would have lunch together. And at one point, we all ordered the same Gap down vest in one shipment — literally, the whole row had the same exact jacket. I miss that.
As we were boarding the the plane back to JFK, the Iberian Airlines fellow told us that our seat assignments were wrong. I was a bit stressed that they might actually send us back to Romania. But, oh wow! They moved us to business class seats, just because! How delightful to think that you are going to be sitting all squashed in coach, having to eat your sad little shopping bag full of snacks for dinner, and then suddenly, poof, you are making the left turn on the jet bridge, headed towards business class. I sort of felt like Cinderella, actually.
On the way back to JFK, we had a six hour lay over in Madrid. Normally, lay overs are annoying, but Barajas Airport is pretty fabulous, as far as airports go. And compared to the airport in Bucharest, Barajas was a freaking palace. I almost kissed the terrazo floor, when we landed. We spent the time eating more torilla Española on baguette, and doing some shopping. We jokingly contemplated buying an entire leg of Iberian ham, but thought that bringing a whole ham haunch into JFK would not get past those drugg sniffing dogs in customs too easily.
