And So It GoesThe day-to-day detritus of Calton Bolick's life in Japan.Wandering through Aoyama- October 13, 2003 Robert wasn't kidding about the breadth of the Tokyo Designers Block. Damn, my feet hurt from all the walking. Aoyama is NOT an area I hang out in, so even walking around there was an experience. Further proof, if any were needed, that Tokyo is a world-class, exciting place to be, something I sometimes forget during my mundane day-to-day activities. More later.http://blogs.salon.com/0001306/2003/10/13.html#a209 Tokyo Designers Block- October 11, 2003 Well, this looks interesting. It seems that this weekend there's some sort of artdesign festival going on all around Tokyo (predominantly in Aoyama, it appears) called the Tokyo Designers Block. Not mentioned, according to Robb Satterwaite (of Tokyo Food PAge fame) is the container city: On October 9, a new 39,600m2 "city" comprised of 200 six-foot containers will come to life in the Aomi Area of Odaiba. Featuring container bars, container theaters, container museums and container shops,...http://blogs.salon.com/0001306/2003/10/11.html#a207 No Luck- October 8, 2003 No ballot faxed from California was waiting for me at the office: not that it would have made a difference, it seems. Yes, I know that my single vote would have been less than a rounding error in this election, but I would like to have had the chance to at least add my voice to the minority and to have given me the sense I was doing my part against the onslaught of the barbarians. Polls closed back in California at noon Tokyo time, about the time I went to lunch with a co-worker at a nearby...http://blogs.salon.com/0001306/2003/10/08.html#a206 Crushing the Would-Be Governator Long-Distance- October 7, 2003 Okay, a bit of hyperbole, but it looks like I may be voting in the ridiculuous circus that is the California gubernatorial recall election, despite the fact that I'm typing this in Tokyo. MXG mentioned to me--and I confirmed at the US Embassy Tokyo website--that the California Secretary of State has ruled that given the short timeframe for the election, faxed ballots would be accepted. So I checked at the Federal Voting Assistance Program website, downloaded a PDF of the Federal Post Card...http://blogs.salon.com/0001306/2003/10/07.html#a204 Macroeconomic reading; or, I'm going cross-eyed- October 7, 2003 Still rereading Paul Krugman's The Accidental Theorist, and I think I'm getting a better handle on macroeconomics. Of course, some of what he says doesn't apply any more: Krugman's advice in the book for solving Japan's economic woes by increasing the money supply and therefore stimulating demand (in other words, printing money) has changed in his more recent writing, because thanks to the Japan's near-zero interest rates, it's in a so-called liquidity trap. Of course, I'm still at the point...http://blogs.salon.com/0001306/2003/10/07.html#a203 Random Book Stuff- October 4, 2003 Given the recent hoo-ha over currency exchange rates (a bit of economics that affects me directly), I've started rereading Paul Krugman's The Accidental Theorist, hoping to get a better handle on the whole issue, which involves, among other things, the US current account deficit, the Bank of Japan's interventions to keep the yen weaker, the question of whether the dollar needs to be weaker (or, really, how soon the dollar should be weaker), and if 80's-style trade protectionism will make a...http://blogs.salon.com/0001306/2003/10/04.html#a202 |