Category: Uncategorized

Was on a business trip to Osaka last week.

Although surprisingly the Shinkansen was packed, the lack of tourists was obvious.
Had 30 minutes to walk around Osaka Castle, but could hardly see foreign tourists.

Corona Virus is definitely taking it’s toll on Japanese Economy

I have been very happy with Ricoh GR for street photography, carrying it with me all the time.

But as it is aging and new models coming out I considered moving to Ricoh GR3. Tested, compared to previous models, compared to Fujifilm X100f, but then decided to wait for the X100V.

It is out and looks quite impressive, and I want it so much.
Since I am on a business trip, will have to wait till I come back to Japan to test it and then make a final decision, but most chances are that I will buy it.

(Just realized I did not blog about passing JLPT N2 and previous experience of JLPT N1)

I passed JLPT N1.
Maybe I should write “I barely passed”, but it does not really matter.
I passed JLPT N1.

When I passed JLPT N2, I told my friends that I plan to take N1 a few years later without studying as a way to measure my level, and so I did.
Tried once and failed. A few years passed so decided to try again. Had several books at home, but eventually did not study AT ALL.

This time it felt better than previous examination, but I had less confidence in the listening part than the previous time.

Delighted by the achievement. Not happy with the actual score, but have no motivation to do the test again.

Thinking more about it, not very surprising, nor strange. But it did intrigue me for a few seconds.

During morning rush, a woman in her 20s entered the train and stood with her back to me. I was obviously not staring at her smartphone, but did notice she opened Tinder, closed it immediately, then moved to the browser and closed most of the open tabs, some of which were well known porn sites.

As if she was “cleaning” her smartphone from last night activities.
I think I was mostly puzzled by the need to clean. Is it because she does not want to be embarrassed while surfing in the train, or is it that she does not want her co-workers, friends notice it. I guess it is the latter, but I will never know.

As I love Coffee and work very often in Cafes in Tokyo, it sometimes happens that I recognize and get recognized by Cafe Staff.
Only this morning I went to Tully’s in Tamachi 田町, and was greeted by a woman who works at another Tully’s branch. I recognizer her, and she recognized me as well.

She explained that she came to assist only today as they had personnel storage.

Again, amazing how I bump into people around Tokyo. A small Town

Received an email from Yahoo about the Breach proposed settlement .

Had an account between 2012 to 2016 – Yep

But! reading further down found that only residents of Israel and the United States are eligible.
I am an Israeli citizen, but I did not live in Israel during this time period.

So, am I eligible or not? Why only Israel and US? Weren’t people in other countries affected as well ?
Very strange indeed

Interesting numbers from The Economist about the Top ten countries for Book publishing.

As I believed for a long time, and now clear from the numbers, Japan is by far the biggest in book publishing per Million People. China and Korea are second and third.

Just finished reading Talking to Strangers by Malcom Gladwell.

As always, written very well and triggers thinking, but I was missing conclusion and tools. It is obvious that we bring bias when talking to strangers, that we do not really know when people lie to us. But are there there tools or methods for us to re-asses the situation, slow down and handler it better.

Malcom starts and ends the book with the story of Sandra Bland, describes the mistakes that where done as well as the police policy change that contributed to the incident. I found this analysis interesting, but not helpful as I live and Japan and do not encounter such scenarios.

Could relate a lot to transparency and how we perceive other people which also connected to my past work experience.

While working in a small startup, I kept feeling that my opinion is being ignored. Another Group Leader’s opinion was usually winning, when I felt (and sometimes knew) he was wrong. I realized back then that the way we communicate, look, perceived, determined this bias towards him. While I was being appreciated for being Technically strong and usually correct, I could not move the company and people towards my opinion. At some point, the R&D manager told me he perceived my opinion as pessimistic. I was rather shocked as I did not perceive myself the same way. I could have said I am more realistic, but definitely not “pessimistic”. That was an important lesson to me as I realized that my communication style was perceived wrong, not only by strangers, but by the people I work with every day.

Many years passed since then, but I keep seeing bias in companies towards employees that may be more charismatic, create an aura of “I know what I am doing”, while in some cases it is the wrong path. Companies and people do not have tools to distinguish between the “real deal” to the Charismatic “False Prophet”.

Diverging a bit, Sabbatai Zvi was a false prophet who started as a super star, as the prophet of the Jews, but ended up converting to Islam and bringing hardship to many Jewish communities.
Do we have tools to recognize the “false prophets” around us, and protect ourselves and companies ?

Apparently, this brand started in 2018 by Nakata Atsuhiko from the comedy duo Oriental Radio .

How surprised I was walking in Shibuya and seeing something that looks like Nazi Symbols. Did not really understand what it was until I search the internet.

Website as well as Nakata’s website have some more logos and symbols which remind me of Nazi Germany logos and design. Maybe it is a way to create attention and make money, but obviously I don’t like it.

Nakata Atsuhiko is recently not on TV and focusing his time and efforts elsewhere, including a Youtube channel where he talks about history and more. Did not watch it, but I will definitely check it out now.

Visited Mori Museum in Roppongi last week and loved the idea by Maruyama coffee of Gacha Gacha Coffee.

Actually, the interesting part was not the Gacha Gacha, but the self service system that was implemented there.
After one selects his favorite coffee (or Gacha Gacha machine), and then move it to a grinding machine and a pour over machine.
Love it, and will be interesting to see if will be implemented in other places.

Or maybe actually it requires more man power and effort than standard Cafe