It is now Sunday, March 10th. Tomorrow will be the second anniversary of the disastrous March 11, 2011 Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima disaster. I pray for all those whose lives are still affected and hope that time quickly heals them. Since it is Sunday, and the weather is now getting fully into Spring, I thought I'd let you enjoy some view of blooming plum blossoms that I shot near my home. Please use these photos freely if you wish.
Calling out to the birds and insects, "Time to wake up!"
An old lady was tending these by the side of a park walkway. I said, "Thank you!" to her for growing such beauty for everyone.
An old guy grows Bonsai trees out by a busy street. No one steals them or vandalizes them. He is proud of his "children." Of course, they are beautiful.
Across the street stands a huge plum tree that is the first to alert the neighborhood that "Spring is here!"
Near an apartment building, a lone tree pushes out a few lonely flowers
This tree stands in the strong sun-light and it shows as it is a festival of blooming flowers
Along the "Magic Trail" another plum tree alerts its neighbors to wake up and begin pushing out buds and leaves.
And don't forget, if you are in the Tokyo area, our annual Hanami (flower viewing and eating and drinking party) will be held for two days on April 6 and 7 at the Tamagawa river.
Yesterday, I went to Daikanyama near Shibuya with my friend. Daikanyama is a very high-class shopping area full of boutiques. Of course, because of that, it's always full of beautiful girls and women walking around in high fashions and $700 dollar shoes. Because of this, I knew I had to dress up. I had on an expensive custom tailored business suit... My friend,Shea, had on a polo-shirt and short pants. I was fashionable. Shea, was, well, frankly speaking, a complete embarrassment and stuck out like a sore thumb...
Everyone else is running around in winter coats and jackets but my friend Shea looks like he just stepped off the plane from Miami... Come to think of it, he did! (See the lady on the right with the gray coat? She is thinking, "My goodness! Look at that dumb foreigner! It's still winter time!" - (even though it is 65 degrees F!))
As we sat at an outdoor "convenience store cafe" watching the world go by, I spied a couple of foreigners walking on the opposite side of the road. They had a map in their hands and were obviously looking for a building. They walked back and forth a few times, looking at the map, then discussing just where in the heck they were going... They seemed kind of lost.
Roadside convenience store cafe in Daikanyama
I said, "See those two guys? They're lost. And you know why they are lost?".... Shea just shook his head... I screamed, "They are lost because the Japanese can't draw a map to save their f*cking lives!..." Shea laughed. I knew then that I had to finally share the truth with the world about World War II that I have learned from living in Japan. And that's why we're here, dear reader. Move over Smithsonian Institute! Now I am going to relate to the world what I told Shea and that is, I believe, one of the untold true reasons why Japan lost World War II... Seriously. But first, some facts about Japan and the Japanese: 1) Generally speaking, to be politically correct, the Japanese are Cartographically challenged; meaning the Japanese can't draw maps. Nope. They can't. If you've ever been to Japan before then you know that, while having a map is better than not having a map, when you are looking for a particular building in Japan, using a Japanese map is a sort of exercise in Zen Buddhism. The map can get you "sort of" close to your destination, but actually finding where you are going will require you to be able to connect with some other-worldly power like Obiwan Kenobi. "Use the force, young Luke! Use the force!" Besides using the force, you'll also have to ask several people where the building or address you are seeking is located. In many cases, even if you ask the next-door neighbor, they won't know. 2) The Japanese (well, at least my wife and all the people I know who live in Tokyo) have a terrible sense of direction. They never know which way is North, South, East... Whatever. They don't have a clue. I haven't been able to figure out why that is exactly but I think it is because Tokyo is such a massively big city with 40 storey buildings in a 360 degree direction all around you. Since the buildings are so high up, there are Tokyoites who have never seen the sun rise their entire lives! (You think I'm joking, but I'm not)... Since these good folks don't normally see the sun rise, nor set, they have no idea which way is East or West. (Unless they go to someplace like Guam - which doesn't matter about directions, because all the Japanese know about Guam is that it is a 3-hour plane ride away to an island and it is warm.) Since they don't know which way the sun rises, they certainly haven't a clue as to which way is south. 3) In Japan, most roads do not even have names! You know that big road near my house where the buses go up and down on it? You know what its name is? Do you know what it is called? Nope. No one else does either. It is just called (depending on who you are talking to), "That big road near our houses that the buses go up and down on." I'm not making that part up either. In Japan, you have to be a true Zen Master to be able to decipher the craziness of the way roads are set up and what they are to be referred to as. Really. 4) And, on that issue, besides the roads not having names, since this is such an old country, the cities aren't set up like American cities. In America, the cities and streets are all relatively new (last hundred years or so) and lined up in a grid in rectangular blocks. The streets all have their own names and the blocks are numbered in a logical sequence. You know, "A" street, "B" street, "C" street, etc. with houses numbered in 100 blocks. In Japan, the cities are hundreds of years old so it is an indecipherable hodge-podge. So, dear reader, now that you know this information, this brings us to the point of the day and the real issue here: Knowing this information, you now know the truth why the nation that had not lost a war in 2500 years, a nation that hadn't been humbled in battle even once before, lost World War II... It had to do with addresses, roads and the post office in Japan. The Real Reason Japan Lost the War! You see, the longer the war went on, the worst things got. By 1942, things were going very badly for Japan. Japanese forces were spread thinly all throughout Asia. Japan needed all the soldiers they could get. All the able bodied guys were drafted and sent off to the front. Now, who were the guys who were probably in the best physical shape back in the 1930's and early 40s? Well, the people who were running around as part of their jobs! That's right! And who had jobs that required them to be physically fit and run around all day, everyday? The guys working at the Post Office. Of course! Think about it! Who says this: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"? The US Postal Service does, right? So the guys in Japan say basically the same thing, but, as the Japanese are wont to do, the verbiage comes out a bit different. Here it is: "Happiness is a loving each mail letter to be the delivery now!"... Or something like that. Anyway, the Japanese postal workers who ran around delivering mail all day were in much better shape than the guys sitting at office desks all day, so the government sent those guys off first to the front to fight in the war. And this caused all sorts of unintended consequences. Sure these ex-postal worker guys were rough and tumble and ready to go for the war effort, but, then who is left to deliver the important mail? Who could possibly decipher the address and the street system for delivering mail on time since the experts were now gone? Who could do these appointed rounds except the postal worker guys with experience who had been doing it for years and years? Nobody. That's who. You see when US soldiers sent letters back home asking for help, those pieces of mail got delivered correctly, promptly and on time and because a brain-dead chimpanzee can understand the American road and address numbering system. But, on the other side of the fence, when the Japanese soldiers wrote letters back home, those letters were now being delivered by confused housewives and replacement postal workers who didn't have a clue as to where anything was located. So whenever a Japanese soldier would write, "Trouble! Help! Send lawyers, guns and money!" then that letter would take an extra 3 or 4 days (more?) to get delivered... And, you know, when the shit is hitting the fan at the front, 3 or 4 days is a lifetime. And now you know the real reason why Japan lost the war. NOTE:Don't believe me? OK. Take this test and see for yourself. Here is a map of a typical US neighborhood. See? Everything is in a line and the numbers are straight and logical. If you start anywhere and go one street and turn right, then turn right at the next street, then turn right once again, you'll wind up right where you started in the first place....
Next is a map of Harajuku. Chaos. This is typical of Japan's streets... If you start anywhere and go one street and turn right, then turn right at the next street, then turn right once again, you won't be anywhere near you started from; you'll be totally lost and up serious deep-shit creek! Try it yourself! Take the "Mike Test"; start at any point, A, B, C or D. Go up a street and turn right at the first street you come to, repeat... See? You are now totallycompletely and hopelessly lost... Especially since you can't read any of the road signs!
The good thing about all this, though, is that the Japanese are kind. If you ask them directions, they'll try to help you... Not like these guys:
Pretty catchy title there, eh? I can see it now. You, dear reader, in front of a piping-hot bowl of Pink Slime! Mmmm good! Just like mom used to make!
Well, I'm not too sure that Pink Slime is good for you (I'm a raw fooder anyway so my opinion about anything cooked is negative biased), but I will tell you that a good friend of mine, who is a long-time professional in the food industry, told me that Pink Slime is getting a bad rap. My friend has been in that food industry for years and owns one of the biggest food distribution companies in the United States - and he is not in the beef and pork industry - so he's not telling me 'Spin.' He told me directly yesterday at lunch that so-called Pink Slime isn't bad for your health at all... In fact, he said it was much better than the alternative. His exact words were this: "When a cow or pig is slaughtered there are all sorts of left-over little bits of meat that are scrapped off and minced up into a sort of "hamburger." Into this mix, Pink Slime, which is grown from bacteria is added, to fill out the product and hold it together. Usually about 10% ~ 30% of this "hamburger" consists of Pink Slime. It isn't bad for your health at all and is MUCH better than the alternative." Of course, being the kind of anal-retentive person who likes to learn stuff and double check my information, I looked it up. All this time I had thought that Pink Slime was poisonous and filled with all sorts of deadly chemicals, but it is not. Pink Slime is supposedly completely safe. Please refer to Pink Slime is Safe To Eat:
The
controversy over ammonia-treated beef - or what critics dub ‘pink slime’ -
broadened this week as it was revealed that the caustic cleaning chemical is
also used in cheese.
Related
compounds are also used in baked goods and chocolate.
Ammonia,
known for its noxious odor, became a hot topic with the uproar over what the
meat industry calls ‘finely textured beef’ and what a former U.S. government
scientist first called ‘pink slime’…
…For
example, ammonia compounds are used as leavening agents in baked goods and as
an acidity controller in cheese and sometimes chocolate.
‘Ammonia's
not an unusual product to find added to food,’ Gary Acuff, director of Texas
A&M University's Center for Food Safety, told a recent press conference
hosted by Beef Products Inc. ‘We use ammonia in all kinds of foods in the food
industry.’
After
critics highlighted the product on social media websites and showed
unappetizing photos on television, calling it ‘pink slime,’ the nation's
leading fast-food chains and supermarkets spurned the product, even though U.S.
public health officials deem it safe to eat.
The
outrage, which many experts say has been fueled by the term ‘pink slime,’ seems
more about the unsavoriness of the product rather than its
safety.
‘This
is not a health issue,’ said Bill Marler, a prominent food safety lawyer. ‘This
is an 'I'm grossed out by this' issue.’
OK. Now I hear you say, "Mike. Pink Slime? Well, what's this got to do with anything and why is this in a blog about Marketing and Japan?" Glad you asked that question. This little episode has everything to do with Marketing... I don't want to say it has anything to do with Japan as some readers may be having dinner while reading this.... Stick around, this is a very fascinating story...Let me tell you about it... Remember a while back in Europe the huge scandal about Horse Meat being in the hamburgers and meat products at several fast food restaurants and grocery store chains? Yeah, it is a big deal and still lots of heads are rolling over this scandal. I had thought that horse meat wasn't so bad to eat, but my friend tells me that, "Horse meat is nasty stuff because it's full of all sorts of chemicals and some of those chemicals are known carcinogens!" ....Ewwww! Horse meat could be cancerous?! Yikes! I didn't know that! So, now you know why people are up in arms about horse meat in their beef hamburgers... Please refer to: What's behind the horsemeat contamination scandal?
(CNN)
-- Horsemeat has been discovered in products labeled as 100% beef and sold in
Sweden, the United Kingdom and France. Food authorities in those countries have
launched investigations but the supply chain being studied includes still more
countries…
…In
one sample from Tesco -- Britain's largest grocery chain -- the horsemeat
accounted for about 29% of the burger.
This story was, and still is, huge news in Europe. CNN goes on to claim the reason for this tainted horse meat getting into the food chain. The article continues:
How did horsemeat enter the food chain?
Britain's FSA said the evidence it
had "points to either gross negligence or deliberate
contamination in the food chain."
"Gross negligence" or "deliberate contamination"? Hmmm? Well, lucky readers, this isn't exactly why this happened. Of course, it was deliberate contamination. No doubt about that. But why was it deliberate? Why would anyone deliberately "contaminate" the food? Well, folks it has nothing to do with trying to kill people... It has everything to do with Marketing and the Mass Media and sensationalism. Before this scandal broke about the horse meat, Pink Slime had been taking a big hit everywhere on the Mass Media. The revulsion by the public (due to typically uneducated and sensationalistic mass media fueled hysteria) created a back lash towards Pink Slime. Suddenly the public was grossed out by Pink Slime and thought they were eating 50 gallon barrels full of deadly Ammonium every time they ate a chicken nugget. Because the public outcry was so bad, even retailers had to try to placate their customers and so they began a campaign to stop buying products that had Pink Slime in them. Still following me here? OK. So the big grocery chains and the big fast food chains start complaining about Pink Slime and they begin an informal boycott of products that contain Pink Slime. Now, let's not forget something about sales and the free market; the customer is King! For distributors and whole sellers, the chain stores and restaurant chains are their customers; what the customers wants, the customer gets. Large retail stores have huge sales and very much clout. One contract with a large retailer is worth tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars a year in revenue for a distribution company.
Getting a deal with a major retailer is the Holy Grail for a salesman from any distributor. Of course, the stores also need to increase sales and profitability while cutting costs. So when a buyer at a chain tells a salesman that they no longer want to buy the beef product that has the Pink Slime in it, what is the salesman to do? The buyer now wants to buy the same amount of beef with no Pink Slime in it for the same price. Of course, the beef is sold by weight. But now the meat no longer has 10% ~ 30% extra weight in it that the Pink Slime accounted for. The stores want the same weight in meat yet they do not want to pay more or increase their beef prices to customers as that would hurt their sales! What is the salesman to do? Many of these companies now stood to lose contracts worth millions and millions of dollars simply because the possibly the public has been misinformed (again???) by a mass media that is only interested in ratings and selling advertising space. What is the wholesaler and the distributors to do? It's a big problem and a terrible dilemma. Back at the Corporate HQ, the bosses of all these distributors and whole sellers got together and tried to find a solution. What could they do? The process for making these beef and meat products had been the same for many years; it called for a 10% ~ 30% addition of Pink Slime. The products were completely safe, yet the public no longer wanted to buy them, yet they wanted the beef for the same price? How could the manufacturers sell their meats for the same competitive price when they suddenly had to eat an - sometimes up to - 30% increase in costs? They couldn't... The entire beef industry in Europe was in a crisis! Bankruptcy loomed for many. What to do? My friend I mentioned before from the food industry told me that this is EXACTLY what happened: The executives and presidents all met at a lodge in the country to discuss a way, any way, to rescue their industry and their businesses... It was a dark time for the industry... That is, until, as my friend described, one of the company presidents looked out the window towards the beautiful mountains in the distance and the fantastic country view... He stared at the mountains and contemplated life, the trees, the birds, his family, his entire purpose for living... Was it all to end this way? Just as the presidents of those companies were about to give up and throw in the towel, a lone horse walked up to the window, looked in at the presidents of the wholesalers and distributors and whinnied. Just like this:
And now you know.... The Rest of the Story. NOTE: Generally speaking, I don't really care too much about this as I never eat stuff that has been processed. May I recommend that you do the same? Please read: The Super Healthy Breakfast - Raw Food: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.jp/2012/02/super-healthy-breakfast-raw-food-live.htmlAs
OK. Japan has all sorts of cute things that I just don't understand and this came along my desk today from a friend asking for a helping hand.
OK. Here it is: The Tailly. The Tailly is the invention of Shota Ishiwatari. The Tailly is a motorized electronic tail that girls (mostly - I hope) wear. (Or maybe guys would wear it and it would stand erect when they see a hot girl - oh no, that would be on backwards then, wouldn't it?) It wags just like a dogs tail and somehow reacts to the wearers heart rate. When the wearer is calm, it wags slowly, when the wearer is excited, such as when they meet a friend, the tails wags more vigorously.... Just like a dog's tail would do.
Shota is doing come Crowd Funding and needs your help. He's got about two more days to hit his target of $50,000 (USD) in order to start production. Shota only has $14,000 right now and he needs help. OK, Shota, here you go... I hope you get a few extra bucks from this post. Good Luck! I don't think this will catch on, but who knows? maybe the next thing is we'll see humans at the park running around sniffing each others asses? To see more about the Tailly, click here: http://www.indiegogo.com/tailly
When will these people ever wake up from their slumber? The government can't even balance their budget or fix a pothole in the road on time and under budget, who-in-the-hell thinks they could fix the weather?
Anyway, Ahem.... in response to a post I saw by Aaron Egon Moser, I wrote, "The science is settled and the government must Do something to stop Global Warming! I'm all for a massive tax on higher heart rates and a VAT tax increase on heavy breathing!"
This, below, is for real...
...On one hand people who actually believe what they've been told on TV insist that the government is corrupt and in bed with big business and companies like Big Oil and Monsanto, then, a second later, they turn around and declare that we have to protect the environment and the best way to do that is to allow the government to have more control and tax us more!
