To Work or WBC, and Fake Swingers

Everyone at work seems totally distracted, and I don't think it's because the two owners (also brothers) had an escalated altercation that broke into fisticuffs last night (true story).

No, I would have to say that it's because about half the people currently in the office are closely huddled in front of the tv by the entrance watching the World Baseball Classic. They told me that yesterday Japan beat the US in the semis, but personally I could care less... I'm more interested in the NCAA tournament, even if my team's already out. If you don't care about either I won't hold it against you. As much as I'd like to ignore it, I guess it really is true that Japanese love their baseball, and even more so than they do soccer.

This brings to mind something only tangentially related but that has always struck me as funny - the fake swing. Whether it be a fake golf swing or a bat swing, you will see people doing practice swings all over the place here, from the office to the train platform. Don't believe me? Well there's even a poster about it. This guy has an umbrella, but you'll see it more often than not totally empty-handed, and in addition to the baseball/golf swing you may see a budding pitcher practicing his curve ball depending on who you watch.

What prompts this you might ask? A trip to any school sports club will provide the answer. I first ran into this back as an exchange student when a friend joined the tennis club - he told me that for beginners they actually have you just swing at air 100 times to practice your form before you're "ready" to step up and hit a ball! Who knows how long it'll take you hitting a ball before you're ready to actually take on an opponent, maybe years.

You may be thinking that this happens in baseball practices all over the world, and indeed my capoeira instructor harps about form when we practice as well. But if you think this and you haven't seen Japanese people practice then you don't know what I'm talking about - they can just practice swinging for hours without playing a real match or scrimmage, which to me is like making a cake and then not eating it. They are obsessed with proper form and will take it to the utmost extreme. I don't know if their desire for perfection before they even get started is admirable or masochistic, but at times I think it's a little from column A and a little from column B. It'd certainly take all the fun out of sports to me. I guess it's better than having them read a book about how to hit a ball, but I still think the best way to practice hitting a ball is to... hit a ball. With someone, preferably in a situation somewhat gamelike. Call me a purist. :P

Heading home!

Ok well I haven't made any official announcements on here yet, so for those of you that don't know I'll be back home next month for 3 whole weeks! The dates are April 14th to May 4th, so mark your calendars and stop by to say hi.

It's so great getting home to see people... although I must admit that I think a month or so of 'home' is about all I could take before I'm ready to come running back to Japan.

English Company Names in Japan

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Cherry Blossoms: Millenium Edition

Ok this is the real deal: Japanese people do not mess around when it comes to the sakura. Every year I am continuously impressed with the fantastic weather coverage of the sakura blooming schedule online, and this year is no exception. I checked online for the peak blooming time around the country (which is always meticulously followed and documented), and found the next latest and greatest in superfluously detailed applications to more than fulfill your sakura quotient - the Sakura Simulator 2009 shown above.

The Sakura Simulator gives you a visual representation of not only when peak blossom is anywhere in the country with a quick search, but also what the country or any area you select will look like on on any day from now through May, which is when the last of the sakura up in Hokkaido will be done. As you can see above, March 29th will be a beautiful day to be in Japan... or atleast the half of it up through about Tochigi or so.

My plans this year are to have the obligatory hanami in Yoyogi at least once, hit up the Kanamara festival again, and check out some night blossoms over at Yasukuni Shrine. I love this time of year in Japan!!!

More PS1 gamers than PS3 gamers?

Ok, I don't play video games half as much as I used to, but I saw this poll over at WhatJapanThinks and just saw it as a sign of colossal fail on the part of Sony in the gaming world.

The poll showed a number of interesting things - 1st, as usual Xbox is basically non-existent in Japan, but this time around Nintendo is totally pwning Sony, selling twice as many Wiis as the PS3. After following up the PS2 which dominated Nintendo's Gamecube, that's a huge turnaround in Nintendo's favor. This round was Sony's to lose, and they apparently did so with gusto.

What shocked me about the poll though was the numbers of people playing older systems - people still using PS1 and even SNES still outnumber those who have bought a PS3! Two words: you fail. The public has spoken, and the average person apparently doesn't care if games get any prettier. Nintendo was right - a more interactive gaming experience is more attractive than graphics ever could be... to the common public at least. Real gamers'll buy new stuff no matter what just to get the newest games, but then I haven't put myself in that category for years now. I still play SNES games (on an emulator), and the last system I bought myself was a handheld: Nintendo DSi. The last home system I bought myself... PS2 maybe? Had a Gamecube c.o. a friend who knows who he is but didn't buy it myself, and I've thought of buying a Wii but just don't feel like spending the money.

Now of course these are numbers for Japan only and have nothing to do with the US or anywhere else, but still interesting. I'd also be interested to see a heads up of home consoles against handhelds, or even just a similar poll on handhelds that you could compare to this home console one.

For another fact you may not know, the former president of Nintendo was the richest man in Japan last year at 7.8billion USD on the strength of Wii sales, but thanks to the shit economy has been downgraded to be worth a mere 4.5billion and 3rd richest.

The exporting of Japanese culture

In doing some researching for my job (for the moment), I've noticed what to me at least is a disturbing although not entirely startling trend.

It started with nihonshu, which you probably know as sake. Looking at the market and export numbers it's gained quite a bit of popularity abroad lately, especially in the US as a trendy drink that's more "cultured." It's caught on easier in the US than Europe since the latter is more strongly dominated by wine culture, but is still seeing more and more growth in larger cities around the world such as NYC, London, Seoul and Shanghai. France is pretty slow to catch onto this because they are still firmly ensconced in their own culture of cheese and wine apparently. Export figures have steadily risen on the strength of the market in the US doubling in the past 5 years and tripling over the past 10.

Contrast this with nihonshu sales in Japan, which have fallen steadily over the same periods. The younger Japanese sees nihonshu as too old school and out of fashion, and even the older folks are starting to shift more towards drinking shochu, the other indigineous drink of Japan. It has Chinese/Korean roots and is actually marketed as soju (Korean name) in the US, but local production of shochu in Japan is high and rising, while at the same time more and more people are leaving the nihonshu up on the shelf.

The most important names in discussions of sake these days also probably aren't what you'd expect. Some discussions I ran across of sake have foreign expert John Gauntner as the big hope for Japanese sake brewers to stay afloat - the thought is that for domestic sales to pick back up, the only way is to go international and show young Japanese how much the rest of the world loves nihonshu, meaning that it's ok for them to like it again too (translation: foreign = cool in Japan). There's also Philip Harper, a Briton who has become the first foreign sake brew master... the fate of sake may progressively be less and less in the hands of Japanese.

Then again today I was looking up numbers on bonsai - you know, the little trees that Mr. Miyagi made in Karate Kid. Like shochu this too finds its roots outside of Japan (China in this case), but Japanese made noticeable adjustments that set them apart from their original counterparts. Anyway, apparently producers of bonsai and related products in Chiba were really hurting as local interest waned, but then about 5 years ago exports out to Hong Kong and China especially but also the EU really started picking up. Exports doubled in 2007 and have grown over tenfold since the beginning of 2005. Yet again, exports step in to fill the local void in the market for a Japanese cultural staple.

I guess I could also throw sumo in there as well, in which foreigners seem to grab quite a bit of the news lately... a European won the Emperor's Cup for the first time last year, and the whole sport is a flutter after a slew of wrestlers get caught smoking marijuana (2 of the 3 I remember caught were foreign). I don't see how there could be sumo without foreigners now or anytime in the near future.

So what's it all come down to? Japanese culture isn't popular enough in Japan, so exporting it looks to be it's only hope for survival. Will it take the rest of the world to show Japan that its culture is actually worth preserving? I hope not, but if so I'll do my part. Heightened appreciation for traditional Japanese culture is good, I just wish there was more of it amongst Japanese as well.

Yes We Can!! A Last Action Hero... that we can believe in!

Ok, this one's long overdue...

I've been waiting to post this one for about a month now! Apparently the page got so much traffic that the owner had to take it down for a while, but it's back online now so enjoy. Yes, it's that damn good that the site got slashdotted.

Some people will apparently make action figures of just about anyone, including the first black POTUS. I just love that term... POTUS. Sounds so much better than President and crams all that information into 2 succinct syllables.

Anyway I don't want to steal this guy's thunder, so head on over and check the fun this guy had with Obama: Last Action POTUS. Samuel Jackson move over, and Darth Vader prepare to meet your maker. You will not be disappointed, I guarantee.

Valentine's Day in retrospect

Ok I'm going to recommend that my dad leave the room on this one given his history with the subject matter. You gone now? Don't worry, we'll wait.





Ok now let's get down to business.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and in Japan as with I believe Korea and who knows where else, Valentine's Day is celebrated by women giving chocolate amongst other things to men, which is traditionally reciprocated a month later on White Day (I prefer to celebrate Pi Day myself).

As such, I received a ridiculously delicious and addictive present which I must share with the rest of the world - are you ready for this? Potato Chip Chocolate by a company called Royce'.

I simply cannot stop eating these things... just writing about them and looking at that picture makes me want more. Imagine the crunchy, salty goodness of a fine potato in chip form mated with the sweet and creamy disposition of chocolate. It's an Odd Couple match made in heaven! If you'd like to try your own I can give you a link to Royce's homepage, but alas it's all in Japanese. Anyone domestic to Japan by all means order your own.

Elsewhere in the Japanese Valentine's Day world, I found this link at Japan Probe showing off some interesting candy:

That's right, Ultraman chocolate. I think the big thing is that since these are chocolates geared towards guys, who don't get as much joy out of chocolate for chocolate's sake like girls do, there has to be another element to it.... I wouldn't be surprised if alcoholic chocolates like those Jack Daniel's ones I've heard of sell well.

There was also a roundup of various asundry V-day Japan statistics on another site I check.

I dunno, to me it just seems simpler to have it go both ways on the same day instead of delaying it a whole month. Just seems like the confectionary and card companies trying to cash in. I have heard that giving of chocolates and whatnot do offer enough stimulus to start some relationships since some people are too shy to approach someone otherwise.

Oh God, here comes the yakiimo guy again...

Rio for the Olympics in 2016!!

If you live in Tokyo, there is no mistaking that they are making a bid to host the Olympic Games in 2016 - there are signs about it everywhere with this fruity looking rainbow ribbon thingy as seen above. The nationalistic right-wing mayor of Tokyo has been fighting for this forever... since they failed to get the nomination in 2012 at least. Their competition this time around? Madrid, Chicago, and Rio de Janeiro.

Up until recently, I was rather indifferent to the whole issue and wished Tokyo best of luck - I mean why not, right? Well I'll tell you why not. You see, there's this park in downtown Tokyo - the biggest one, actually - known as Yoyogi Park. This place is amazing, and you can find just about anything going on there during the warmer months of the year, from bands, drum circles and performances to people practicing all manner of hobbies from capoeira and juggling to... stand up comedy and fake sword fighting choreography. You can find people playing all sorts of sports, and it is a premiere spot for hanami in the Spring as well as host to any number of cultural festivals throughout the Summer. This place is like my haven - a place of solace to protect me from going mad when I'm feeling stressed from living in this uber-urban concrete environment that is Tokyo. It's got it all, and I'm not even going into the full details of this place by far. Here's some videos I found of a guy walking through Yoyogi on a typical Sunday - check them out.

What does this have to do with the Olympics? Well I'll tell you what. They're talking about ruining this park to make way for new Olympic facilities!! Concreting over even a section of this party would be a travesty - I don't care what they build or how much added traffic and revenue this place gets, sacrificing this park is not worth it and I can't believe they'd even consider it... oh wait, this is Ishihara we're talking about, so yes I can.

So in short, to all this I say Rio for the Olympics in 2016!! I'll be rooting for you all the way as I think S. America is ready to host the Olympics. Sorry Chicago, but they've already been in the US enough times to give Brazil a shot and I'd like another excuse to go down there... besides capoeira, Carnival and the World Cup 2014 that is. Maybe next time.

By the way, BBC seems to agree with me that Rio is the right choice - there's a precedent for World Cup hosters to follow up with the Olympics as well: Mexico '68/'70, Germany '72/'74, and Atlanta '94/'96.

Canada: welcome to the EU

I'm having a hell of a time trying to get hits on the board for this new website at work... the people who normally handle search engine optimization (SEO) have only done so for Japanese pages and aren't exactly fluent in what changes are needed for an English website. Most of their knowledge carries over, but it still means I need to put in some effort that they can't... sigh.

So anyway skip forward to me talking to this one SEO person about our google analytics account - she tells me we got a hit from someone in Europe for some reason, which I thought was odd since I had just checked it and the only hit I saw outside of Africa and Japan was in Canada. She pulls up the map, and sure enough I had to explain to her that it was in fact Canada and not Europe.

How the hell does someone make a mistake like that you ask? Well let me just show you the Japanese version of the world map and let you figure it out:
They put themselves in the center of the map, making them just as arrogant as the Europeans, and putting Europe where a Eurocentric mind might expect to find Canada. I guess it's one of those things that you usually just take for granted, but it does tell you a little about how you view the world. You can really mess with kids by showing them different maps of the world and how Japan isn't at the center of them. By the way, I think the kings of map manipulation for the purposes of self-gratification are still the Aussies...

Ugh... potatoes

Ok, so it's Sunday afternoon and I was out late last night - my old roommate is moving to Sweden to be with my other old roommate, so we had a whole bunch of beer and sake in a huge karaoke marathon... after this and last week, I'm done with karaoke until at least Spring.

So yeah, anyway too much sake makes Doug's head hurt in the morning, and there's this guy outside singing about potatoes on a loudspeaker... ugh. He's trying to sell yakiimo out of his car, which I have no problem with, but instead of sensibly just going to a park or somewhere where people would normal gather like all his normal street vendor friends do, he feels it necessary to roll through my neighborhood and advertise by singing off pitch about how delicious his stone-grilled sweet potatoes are. What is this guy, the ice cream man? I simply cannot see people running out of their homes to line up for their very own sweet, sweet potatoey goodness. Geez.

There are entirely too many people in this country driving around with loudspeakers attached to their cars. First you have the notorious black vans of the uyoku and your standard political campaigners, then I've heard drivebys of people selling kerosine for heaters in the winter or collectors for big garbage items the standard people won't take, and now sweet potatoes.

Some of it really is ridiculous and unnecessary, but then again when is a loudspeaker attached to a car that's not police or fire department-related ever really necessary? I think "frickin sharks with lasers attached to their heads" are more practical than a black van with a loudspeaker - every bit as superfluous but at least more fun. As far as the political messaging goes, there's this stupid rule that you can't have any political messages or debates or anything on tv, including commercials, so these guys feel that the only way they can get their point across is to drive around with a mic and pollute the air with their bombast. It's like the 1950's out here or something. And who actually listens to these guys anyway? I can't imagine anyone hearing some old guy ranting on on his loudspeaker about... whatever and thinking "you know, he's right!"

For a country that screams up and down about how you shouldn't bother other people, this is rather paradoxically obnoxious behavior if you ask me.

What the hell?

Sometimes when you're bored or just feeling random, it can be fun to just type random things into that search bar on Google and search away. I once spent an afternoon laughing myself giddy after a lovely search of the word 'ugly', both the web and images. Warning: if you turn off the mod filters you can get some really bizarre shit showing up in those images depending on your search.

Another good search is ninjas, which for reference:

1. are mammals.
2. fight ALL the time.
3. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

Anyway, for whatever reason, yesterday I typed in "what the hell" just to see what'd pop up. What the hell I figured. I never really thought about it before, but checking out the first link a bit was sort of interesting. There's this guy that's all worked up about hell being an invention of the Roman Catholic Church along with the idea of Purgatory. To him, "hell" is simply a mistranslation of a handful of terms, and points out a number of hellish facts that kept me interested for a bit. I find it interesting that so much stuff seems to be coming out of the woodwork to try to disspell all the mystique surrounding the Bible and Biblical times, and even historical documentation of the church in the years soon after - I like hearing about what early Christians did, and how Christianity has evolved over the centuries.

So hey if you're bored then go to hell! Where the hell is hell? I dunno, apparently some valley out close to Jeruselem or something.

Rent-a-Friend services?

You would think that after a few years living here I would run out of stuff to be shocked at, but Japan is just an endless source of shock and awe. I was reading about the "rent-a-friend" culture developing in Japan over on the BBC the other day, and it goes much further than I ever knew about, so I figured I'd share my thoughts.

First, the story. It starts off with cat and dog cafes, where people who can't afford or handle actually owning a pet go to enjoy their pet time in hour-sized helpings. They even let you take a dog out for the afternoon and go to the park or whatever. This is old news to me, so we'll just move on to the juicier parts.

Next, we have the Campus Cafe, a new and cheaper alternative to the many hostess clubs and snack bars that have been around forever, but are apparently being hit hard by the recession. Now the Campus Cafe does fulfill every Japanese guy's dream of talking to girls that are way too young for them, but my faint hope when seeing the recession remark is that maybe this'll help J-guys sort out that they can just go out and talk to girls without having to pay crazy amounts of money just for them to sit down, and that doing so is actually more productive. Just to clarify, most all hostess club visits involve no chance of actually having a non-professional outing with the girls or even sex, thus it to me is pointless. It's basically paying $50+ (and that + can go waaay up) an hour to be teased by hot women that you can never have, and these places have regular customers. This to me is more futile than prostitution even - it's like mental prostitution. Sure maybe you can't get a girl to go home with you, but who can't even get a girl to talk to them?

They saved the craziest part for the end: the so-called Hagemashi-tai. This place rents relatives. Yes, you heard that right, relatives. Need people to fill the seats at that wedding or funeral? No problem. Got a dead-beat dad and need a replacement to help talk to the neighbors or take your kid to the park or go to that PTA conference? We gotcha there too. They even have a story of a blind guy that calls them up to rent-a-dad for a day to talk about his issues.

Ok, now I can understand that there are certain people out there that have difficulties talking to people and making friends - there are socially inept people the world over. And that sucks when you don't even have family there to back you up, so I feel for them there. But some of the stuff they describe towards the end just seems to underline something that's always been missing in Japan, and that's that they are seriously lacking in mental health support. They aren't very good at reacting to or even recognizing mental disorders either - sort of goes along with the "if we ignore it maybe it'll go away" mentality. Psychologists? Fuggetaboutit.

Call a rent-a-friend if that makes you more comfortable, but if you're having a rough time of life and need to talk about your problems, and your friends and family can't help out then that's when you turn to professional help. Basically though, with rent-a-friend you're just paying for a shrink without the professional training.

Anyway, again here's the full article if you're interested.

"Black" Obama

Just thought I'd share an interesting spin on things that I feel more than a few of you will get a laugh out of.

So the other day I was watching the news with my girlfriend, and she asks me a funny question. "Isn't it sort of offensive to keep calling him 'Black Obama'? Isn't that racist?" Utterly confused, I tell her that that is in fact his name. You see, our new President's name is Barack Obama. However, Japanese makes no distinction between 'l' and 'r' and also doesn't really do compound consonant sounds like 'bl' very well, meaning that vowel sounds always get put in the middle. Thus "Barack" and "Black" sound pretty much the same when transferred into Japanese. I had to say the name in English so she could get the difference.

I can just see now that this is going to lead to a bunch of hilarity over the next 4-8 years.

Not quite what Doc had in mind...

Alright, now I have always been one to push for Back to the Future technology - I want my flying car, Mr. Fusion, and 2-second rehydratable Pizza Hut as much as the next man. This isn't quite what I had in mind though.

Allow me to submit for your critique: the Skycar (full article here). The makers would like to take this car from London to Timbuktu, driving halfway and flying the rest. While they do get props being that it is a production model car that flies and for choosing Timbuktu as a destination, I can't say I'm totally sold. It's got a hefty price tag (50,000GBP), which is to be expected for a first of its kind sort of thing, and it doesn't hover.

This of course prompted me to search for the "Skycar", which led me to something I see as much more appealing - the Moller M400X Skycar. Read up on this thing as it looks absolutely badass. The manufacturer's performance estimates? Max speed over 300mph with fuel consumption over 20mpg running on ethanol, and all on the power of a bunch of rotary wankel engines. It's like a super-Mazda - Great Scott!! I'll hold out for this one I think.

New Pictures and videos.

Hey all, so the first round of new pictures and videos is up for your perusal - this time from my snowboarding trip up north. More to come soon.

photos
vids

Christmas in Japan - the music video

Again proving that some people have way too much time on their hands, allow me to present to you Christmas in Japan - the music video. Think of it like Spaceballs: the flamethrower, just less fun.



It may seem silly if you've never been here, but a lot of the things that show up point out the so very Japanesey things that happen at Christmas here, like the KFC chicken as a substitute for a Christmas dinner and changing the idea of Christmas lights to "winter illumination festivals". So very true and very, very wrong. That being said, I was on the way out to see some "illumination" with my girlfriend on Christmas when the norovirus fairy sent us promptly back home - ghah, scary!!

By the way, for any of you that may in the future think of spending Christmas in Japan then here's some advice:

1. Don't. Christmas is much better anywhere else, even if it's a vacation spot nowhere near where you're from. Thailand's nice, go check that out instead and come back afterward.
   
2. If you really insist on staying and have a Japanese girlfriend (really about the only acceptable reason for staying as I see it since you really have to have someone to share the holidays with around here), remember that everything is celebrated on Christmas Eve and not Christmas. This includes exchanging of presents, seeing "illuminations", going to expensive restaurants and staying at expensive (love) hotels. And yes, this basically amounts to a $500 Valentine's Day and has nothing to do with Jesus. Hallmark, eat your heart out.
   
3. Really, just go somewhere else. Just about everywhere in Japan (especially outside of Tokyo) closes down for a few days for New Year's, so you can't even really have fun anywhere unless you want to spend time with family/friends, which can usually be done better elsewhere. This closing includes all banking services, all retail stores, many restaurants... shrines will however be open and busy due to Japanese traditions of visiting them for New Year's Day.

So there you have it: Christmas in Japan. You've been forewarned. Oh, and if you're still not convinced that Japan and Christmas don't mix, read this. Now.

"Merry" Christmas and "Happy" Holidays!?

Ok I know this is a little late, but Merry Christmas everyone. I still made this post in time for New Year's, so enjoy the year of the Oxen. Maybe the milk'll taste better or something, or they'll finally genetically engineer chocolate cows - that'd be awesome.

Anyway, so I hope your Christmas was merrier than mine as I was puking and pooping my brains out with a nasty case of the norovirus. Yes norovirus - you gotta love that the first description I found searching for details actually used the phrasing "explosive diahrrea and projectile vomiting." Luckily it only lasts 1-2 days, but my are those an unpleasant 24-48 hours. I'm now over it with many thanks to the girlfriend for helping out, but now am in turn taking care of her with the left over medicine as she caught it from me.

This means that we will not be making it up to Miyagi today as originally planned, but will be going up on the 31st, meaning no stopover at the Ono residence and a direct trip to New Year's snowboarding excitement. She's pretty strong when it comes to sickness, but we're both just hoping now that she'll be good come the 1st for that first day on the slopes.

I believe this rivals, if not surpasses my Chiba Christmas for quite possibly the shittiest Christmas ever, literally. That year was spent in a lonely dorm almost entirely vacated, except for me and Matt. With both of us rather broke and kept from total loneliness merely by the company of each other, we decided to have the closest we could find to a "Christmas dinner" - KFC. While that was both crappy and depressing, it was not quite as crappy as the 10 times I spent sitting on and 2 times I spent facing the toilet this Christmas.

Not to end things on a bad note, on the plus side I did get a replacement camera from the missus, so hopefully more pictures will be on the way soon! Happy holidays to you all, and I'll let you all know when I'll be getting home next. Until then!

New vids for the week

Found a couple good videos that I wanted to pass along.

The first is about Chinese graffiti in Shanghai - very interesting that the cops almost encourage them in some cases as it dresses up the streets... some of the artists talk about how it'd be more accepted if more artists used Chinese characters instead of English, but that English letters are so much easier to write. It also says that they started off just copying but now many are starting to develop their own style - I'll be interested to see it when they figure out how to stylize the Chinese characters better.




The next video is just totally bizarre: Kei-truck drifting. I don't know how or why someone would do this, but I'm certainly glad that they did as it's hilarious! If you've ever seen these things driving around the streets it would just expound on how incredibly ridiculous this is. Needless to say, I love it.



I have another one, but it opens a whole other can of worms and thus deserves its own post, so hang on for that one.

An interesting take on Beijing

I ran across this editorial from an economist (I think) that just got back from China. I really found his take on Beijing to be rather interesting, and it definitely affirms my desire to get out to China one of these days. Thing is though, as big as China is it'd take an eternity to see it all so you have to be selective... of the two biggest cities on the mainland, Shanghai and Beijing, I think I'd have to lean towards the more culturally-centric Beijing over the economic center of Shanghai.

Anyway check it out - he talks about how Peking Duck is made, the Great Wall, Buicks and Mao, the Olympic buildings, and Chinese hip-hop. Good stuff.