How Japan Gets It Done

Japan is nothing of not punctual and well organized. It is filled with rules both spoken and non. This suits me to a tee in almost all situations. One perfect example is that after work, I know there will be a train waiting for me at the platform at 9:01. Very different from my life in NYC, where you are never quite sure when that train will show up. It makes the biggest difference in the morning. I don't have to worry about being late. And for anyone who knows me...I HATE being late.

One further example of Japan's fascinating rules: the protest march. Now, in NYC, and in almost any other city in the US, protests, riots, parades, are a major headache. It means delays, road closures, and sometimes property damage and worse. Let's see what a protest march looks like in Japan.


Coming. And going.


See how all of them stay inside the orange cones. They do this every time. I have see more than 10 of these "protests". On this day they were chanting some (weak sounding) slogan, pumping their fists, and waving their flags. All of this was taking place on a main street in Ginza on a Saturday. And not one person was delayed. How do they do this?


See my man there in the yellow and blue jumpsuit? He is controlling the traffic light to prevent any delays. They force the protest marchers to travel in small groups. This is the head of one of those groups.


Through this technique the protesters get to say there fill: inside the cones, and only in small groups, and only for the so long as the cops say...AND us regular people, be us walking or driving, are neither inconvenienced or delayed. Man, Japan does have some stuff figured out. Another thing they got down is cars. They are currently kicking all kinds of sand in the face of the US manufactures. One of their newest efforts is the Nissan Dualis.


It is like a mini Murano. (What's up Lisa!) But you may be asking yourself...what is that big thing behind it. Oh, that's nothing. Just a real life transformer robot!


Yeah...so I took a bunch of pics. I won't bore you with them all. But, come on...it is not everyday you see a huge ass robot. For those of you who care, here it is in action.



Nissan is doing well to get a lot of attention for this basic (but bland) mini-CUV. Plus, to release it at the same time as all the Transformer hype...marketing genius.

Moving on.

Last weekend I was able to get a good ping-pong session in. After it, and after I had had a couple of drinks, I found myself bowling. Yes, bowling.


It was kinda cool that it was all black lit and all, but still, I usually think bowling is beneath me. apparently not. And the worst thing, I did have to wear bowling shoes. They were not THAT bad, but I somehow don't have any pics of them. And I was relieved that I didn't have to hand over my shoes to anyone. This lead to some black light photos.


And just in case you forgot what these Air Max 90/360 One Time Only's look like in regular light.


And after some "help" from a friend, I grabbed this picture. I am not usually such a rule breaker...but it is what it is. Enjoy.


MUSIC

I'm lovin' this Chamillionaire track featuring Slick Rick. It's got a nice rolling beat with some strings, piano, and West coast synths thrown on top. Plus, how can you deny the eye-patch?!? [via The Fader]

Next we have a single from Marc Ronson's album featuring Lily Allen. I got lots of love for the song. I got only a little love for the video. I am not really feeling the Roger Rabbit tribute. Take a look and tell me what you think.



And lastly, here is a dope Catchdubs remix of a Lil Wayne track. It is some slow banging goodness. He just keeps tossing different stuff at that simple beat. [via Pinglewood]