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02.21.02
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I'm in Osaka now. Today's pictures chronicle
my trip here, beginning with the Bullet train
(shinkansen) in Tokyo station and culminating
in my new office in the National Tower, Osaka.
For the next couple of weeks I'll be working
on the new website of Matsushita Corporation,
which is the enormous parent company of other
large companies such as Panasonic/National,
Victor, and a whole slew of others that you
probably wouldn't recognize the names of.
A truly giant corporation, kind of like a
Japanese Pepsico -- has its finger in many
pies and owns more things than you care to
think about.
The pace of the project is amazingly
hectic.
They're way behind schedule and that's
why
the main contractor (Accenture, a division
of Arthur Anderson Consulting) is calling
in people from other companies like
myself
to help out. They pretty much expect
me to
work from 9:00 am to midnight, seven
days
a week for the next two weeks. It's
crazy,
I know, but that's what these guys
have already
been doing for the past month or two.
Matsushita is a VERY traditional, old-school
Japanese company -- really stereotypical.
Everyone is male and wears blue suits and
smokes constantly. They all seem to be counting
on lifetime employment as they drone through
their jobs. There are calisthenics played
on the TV in the morning. At exactly 5:00
p.m. the company song is played over the
loudspeakers (imagine a national anthem written
for Disneyland) and everyone has to drop
what they're doing, stand and face the East
window, which looks out over the production
plants, and observe a moment of silence and
respect for the workers in the factory. When
the song finishes everyone goes back about
their business.
Doesn't it just make you really appreciate
good 'ole, self-centered, full-of-myself-but-I-don't-care
American individualism?
02.19.02
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I always thought that photographers made
interesting candid photo subjects. It's kind
of like catching them at there own game.
When you look though the lens of a camera
sometimes you feel detached from the scene
in which, in reality, you are participating.
It's a false sense of objectivity.
Interestingly, photographers, unlike most
candid subjects, rarely suspect that they
are being secretly photographed. Most people
will glance your way if you have a camera
in your hand and wonder whether or not you
took their picture. No such problem with
fellow photographers. They're in a world
of their own, and they never suspect that
someone else might be interested in photographing
them.
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It looks like I may be going to Osaka
again, but this time for real. I should know
for sure by this afternoon. However, unlike
last month's false alarm, this trip is only
supposed to be for two weeks.
Actually, it's a perfect time for me
to go away because Karen and Jack are going
to visit Melody, Brett, Otis and Sylvie
in New Zealand this Friday. They'll be gone
for two and half weeks.
It should be fun for Jack to see a bit of
nature. He's almost seven months old and
he hasn't ever seen grass yet, let alone
a warm, sandy beach. I'm kind of sad that
I'm not going to be there for his first trip
to the beach.
02.17.02
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Umbrellas are everywhere in Japan. People
use them to keep the rain off, they use them
to keep the snow off, and they also use them
in the summer to shade themselves from the
intense sun.
Personally, I hate them, and I hate how they
use them here. It's just too crowded and
they get in the way. I'm taller than most
people in Tokyo so I'm always getting poked
in face by people's umbrellas. I don't mind
it so much if it's really pouring down, but
people will whip out an umbrella here if
the sky looks even a little bit gray. In
general, they just can't stand to be rained
on.
I used to think that it was a vanity thing,
that they didn't want to ruin their hairdos,
but now I'm not sure. One of my coworkers
told me that it's because people are worried
about pollution in the rain. Dirty rain.
Who knows if it's true or not.
02.15.02
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As you might have noticed, I've been
on a
bit of a theme kick as of late.
Today's theme -- bathroom fixtures. You may
think it's banal, but lets face it, all of
us spend a part of every day in the proverbial
'can.'
I like to approach my Hunkabutta picture
taking process in a documentary manner, meaning
that I aim to record the details of contemporary
Tokyo life, both for my own personal use
and for posterity.
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