Bicychology

Disclaimer: This analysis of Japanese people is out of focus.

Here's a clip I made a few weeks ago in Shinsaibashi while waiting for a friend. I was sitting down on a not-really-made-for-sitting-down piece of concrete, when I saw two of the several hundred bikes haphazardly parked on the sidewalk had fallen over, blocking a pedestrian throughway. I wanted to get the people going past, so apologies for the lack of focus, but when I finally got it focussed noone went by.

Japanese public culture is expressed more explicitly than you'd think in the 60 seconds I took to film it, as people walking and cycling by would rather queue up to make their way past the obstacle course the bikes pose than take just as long to pick them up and save everyone the hassle. I spent about 10 minutes chuckling to myself at the precession.

I'm the kind of guy who will stop when driving to put right an orange cone that has had one too many and tipped over (or I may steal it). Reason being that while I might drive around it fairly easily, it's going to piss off a lot of people after me, and I'm thinking of the big picture.

But not Japanese. Standing out in public isn't something many people want to do, and no more so when it inconveniences themselves for the good of others. Don't get me wrong: I love Japanese, but their attitude in large groups can be sometimes disappointing.
Having said that, Kiwis in large groups can get a little annoying too. I remember waiting for the Interislander ferry on a day when sailing had been cancelled until 12.30am-ish, and despite the insistent staff members pleading over the intercom, people waiting to get on refused to back up and leave enough room for people getting off. Needless to say there was unnecessary congestion. I can also remember being the age at the time that I had enough frustration boiling in me that I yelled out "For hell's sake, do what he says and back the fuck up!" Sadly the resolve of people who are sick&tired of waiting for a ferry for 12 hours was greater than my vocal limit.

This whole much-ado-about-nothing was classically summed up when the people who finally did pick up the bikes turned out to be the owners. Ha!

Moral of the story? People are sheep. Don't be one. You'll lose my respect (and wind up on my youtube channel).

Unadrumma

Disclaimer: This post features an off-beat. Boom-boom-tshh.

Guess what I bought in the weekend.

They take up half the room in my tiny apartment. Room well spent.

Now, to work out how to make them sound cool.

Shoestrings

Disclaimer: This video post contains frittish filming of noisy machinery. Not recommended for nature-lovers or epileptics.

Got back to Japan today. I've had plenty to blog about, but most of it involves videos or photos, and Chinese internet wasn't being user-friendly when it came to youtube or blogger. Now with the power of Japanese bandwidth, let me hit you with some posting.

Continuing the vein of Chinese factory postings, I visited a factory that make woven products this week. They were nice enough to show us around (I was nice enough to tell them their factory was clean, but they should really stop leaving products outside to collect dust and grime from the air). One of their chief production lines is dedicated to something I wasn't expecting: shoelaces. Don't know if these were Nike or what, but walking into the shoelace manufacturing room was a new experience if there ever was one. Literally hundreds of tiny machines bustling with mechanical motion, carving out repetitive actions that weave the fibres into the fat cord you struggle to knot when you're only 5 years old. As I mention on the video (though you'll struggle to hear me over the commotion, which I feel is the best word for it), "like manic typewriters". It looks down and dirty, but apparently the machines are only between 5 and 10 years old (usually with a lifespan of 15 years). Not stunning, just...mysterious. And kinda scary, in a way. The machines have such activity it feels like there's going to be a mechanical uprising at any minute.

Meanwhile, these guys also make lanyard straps. Which also involves hyperactive machinery. Enjoy.