japan :: tokyo :: general

[pooMonger]

I guess the real question then is, why the decline?

 

how did japan fall from grace?

 

I remember when I was a kid, I saved up money over months to go to Sam Goody for that dope new sony walkman.

 

nintendo used to blow my mind with the quality of games they produced, nowadays not so much.

 

is it just the age-old tale of resting on laurels?

[pompadork]

 also, japanese products kinda disappeared from the appliance world.

 

http://panasonic.jp/range/ne_bs1200/

 

 

Built in little dumpling steam mister. Japan wins. 

 

Also sort of off topic but re: sony design, this book came out recently 

 

http://www.sonybuilding.jp/eventspace/opus/SonyDesign/

 

http://www.amazon.co.jp/Sony-Design-Making-Deyan-Sudjic/dp/0847844994

Edited May 16, 2015 by pompadork

[herpsky]

http://panasonic.jp/range/ne_bs1200/

 

 

Built in little dumpling steam mister. Japan wins. 

 

Also sort of off topic but re: sony design, this book came out recently 

 

http://www.sonybuilding.jp/eventspace/opus/SonyDesign/

 

http://www.amazon.co.jp/Sony-Design-Making-Deyan-Sudjic/dp/0847844994

i don't think those steamer microwaves are sold outside of japan, no? like ヘルシオ and etc

[martin_henk]

can someone please enlighten me about wtf is going on with nagoya? we've been to maison ywt for lunch which was quite tasteful. but getting a drink after 9PM in anything else then kabukicho places seems to be impossible? 

 

really... please hint me something like temma area in osaka. such a major letdown. we walked around yabacho and osu area sat night and it was a very very sad situation

[martin_henk]

sometimes i think the japanese IT people are fucking retarded. they just can't come up with innovative ideas. it's a blatant knock off of mistobox. they just can't fucking create any gamechangers ala uber. i know that the whole culture is about "出るæ­ã¯æ‰“ãŸã‚Œã‚‹" but all they seem to do is to circle jerk.  if i see something new from japan, 99% of the time it's a knock off of some bay-area based startup's idea. 

 

Also, japanese people who work in IT constantly share bullshit clickbait articles and æ„識高ã„ç³» inspirational stories. So stupid.

 

Gone are ye olde days when companies like Sony actually put out interesting products. 

 

I recently bought a TV in the US and my friend was like "oh did you buy a sony? a panasonic?" i was like fuck no, i bought a korean tv because they look good, cheap, and last a long time. no fucking "sony timer". also, japanese products kinda disappeared from the appliance world. it's either korean or american. sucks that something the japanese used to be so proud of is like getting phased out everywhere.

 

even videogames. gross generalization but japanese games SUCK now. 

 

hey... check out balmuda or cado for some rare examples of successful new wave kaden stuff. i guess part of the problem in jp is financing and management of smaller operations. most startup stuff is big and resources are available to zaibatsu related peeps only. if big corps really think they need innovation they will throw money at foreigners like crazy. the jp dudes in the office with a toiec over 900 are taking care of it. look out for sunstar. ldn office did their new products for example... for what reason? dunno....may be also related to the big kaisha small kaisha relationship, whereas a small vendor will always be bound to one big player solely. sucking up losses and whatnot in times of economic downturn and on top having little variety in experience 

Edited May 17, 2015 by martin_henk

[donburi]

^good point above about difficulty of financing small companies. The venture capital scene is relatively tiny there and people aren't willing to take risks on small businesses, usually. That said the startup scene is growing at a pretty rapid clip, especially in Tokyo and (surprisingly) Fukuoka, where there are large numbers of young people. 

 

@herpsky

Japan has a surplus of educated talent, manufacturing knowhow, and the right mindset to create excellent products. What's happening now appears to be, from my perspective, a crisis in confidence. Japan, as a country, is basically being a downer about its future, despite being insanely successful in maintaining its huge economy after the 90's crash. Given a slight cultural shift and encouragement by the government, I can see a culture that rewards taking risks on startups and new ventures. I think it will only take one or two examples of new successful consumer-oriented businesses to see this happen.

 

Watch what happens in the next 5 years.

[Fuuma]

NEW BAE

 

https://instagram.com/uchidayuho/

 

What are those?

 

[DaBestSpoona]

sometimes i think the japanese IT people are fucking retarded. they just can't come up with innovative ideas. it's a blatant knock off of mistobox. they just can't fucking create any gamechangers ala uber. i know that the whole culture is about "出るæ­ã¯æ‰“ãŸã‚Œã‚‹" but all they seem to do is to circle jerk.  if i see something new from japan, 99% of the time it's a knock off of some bay-area based startup's idea. 

 

Also, japanese people who work in IT constantly share bullshit clickbait articles and æ„識高ã„ç³» inspirational stories. So stupid.

 

Gone are ye olde days when companies like Sony actually put out interesting products. 

 

I recently bought a TV in the US and my friend was like "oh did you buy a sony? a panasonic?" i was like fuck no, i bought a korean tv because they look good, cheap, and last a long time. no fucking "sony timer". also, japanese products kinda disappeared from the appliance world. it's either korean or american. sucks that something the japanese used to be so proud of is like getting phased out everywhere.

 

even videogames. gross generalization but japanese games SUCK now. 

 

 

Sony still makes the best TVs at the top end, XBR series still highly reviewed.  Panasonic was well regarded for the best picture quality for their plasmas up until last year.

 

All the Japanese ppl in tech doing big thingz are living life in Palo Alto and SF.  Why make 40k a year in Tokyo when you easily pull 130-160k in the states.  Ruby is still pretty hot.  

 

My company tried to push block trades, automation, algos, data analytics, and modern order management into the Japanese market, and its pretty much the only market where we were not successful in penetrating.  Nobody over there seems to be interested in modernizing stock trades, they rather use paper/pencil/phones calls.  Nomura bought one of our biggest competitors and did nothing with it, just let a once successful company rot.  Nothing is going to improve there tech wise as long as lifers make all the decisions and not take risks.    

Edited May 18, 2015 by DaBestSpoona

[raddy]

SV is a crazy anomaly relative to everywhere. I'm not that comparison is super meaningful. There's definitely some forces that stifle TKO being a good option relative to Sing/HK for fresh businesses, but I don't think the issues are "cultural" or "talent" at all.

 

@DaBest -- Didn't realize we were in similar-ish space. W.r.t to Nomura, from the side of the biz that I've interfaced with, I've always felt they've had surprisingly modern tech infra. 

[DaBestSpoona]

Nomura is modern techwise in the US, saw them present at a conference about their real time trading analytics.  I was specifically referring to Instinet, what happened to them?  I havent seen any press releases in a while about their volume. 

[pompadork]

http://www.fashionsnap.com/news/2015-05-19/the-cup-laforet/

[pompadork]

 

smh, Anarchy. 

[insomnia]

*watches 'Enter the Void' once*

[conqueror]

is that yoon? thought she was married to verbal.

[pompadork]

She still is as far as I know! Cucked. 

[raddy]

@DaBest -- Instinet global or just chi-x? Being an ECN post tick change in Japan is pretty much impossible biz I think. I was actually thinking of their DMA tech on the Japan side w.r.t to tech. 

[djrajio]

Isn't the rumor that Chi-X will be increasing the rate for passive orders in the near-future.

ECN/PTS business is really tough these days.

[PREV]

Has anyone attempted to stay overnight in a manga kissa and if so, were you able to sleep? 

[raddy]

@djrajio-- Looks like they're almost 2%-ish of notional still actually -- higher than I'd have expected given how things have gone. Japanese regulators send pretty mixed messages in terms of what role they want the ECNs to play. I expect with the exchange move out to the same physical colo next year there should be a bump in foreign participation at least. (If it ends up being one site to manage)

[pompadork]

2000 people in line at that omotesando gelato haku event. smh. 

[lchi]

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Edited August 20, 2015 by uizm

[pompadork]

I don't imagine there's only one place in all of Tokyo that serves that. 

[lchi]

-.

Edited August 20, 2015 by uizm

[conqueror]

it's tokyo - there's prob more than one place where you can pay a girl dressed in a kapital sukiyaki western shirt (denim or cotton) to take a shit on your chest so i doubt finding a few dumplings is gonna be a challenge.

 

(inb4 "they're not dumplings bro!!!!!")

Edited May 30, 2015 by conqueror

[lchi]

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Edited August 20, 2015 by uizm

[herpsky]

one time mrip and i went to kabukicho and some annai dude who spoke perfect english approached to take us to fuzoku. maybe he can point you in the right direction. lol.

 

the kaptial store near my shack is always pretty well stocked. they have all kinds of crazy shit. plus, it's no visvim i doubt standard issue items, which i presume is what you are looking for, should be available. japanese store usually has crazy stocks despite their sizes and staff are always willing to go out of their way to go to the warehouse / other stores to find items as long as you cop retail. 

 

other sites of interest near kapital: OG margiela flagship (i think this is a must visit unless you an SEXIH denim daddy), yaeca, continuer, wild life tailors, afuri, sarutahiko and if you are feeling ridiculously adventurous, biotop. 

 

you can walk to daikanyama. it's may be a 10 minute walk.

Edited May 30, 2015 by herpsky

[lchi]

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Edited August 20, 2015 by uizm

[lchi]

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Edited August 20, 2015 by uizm

[herpsky]

as long as you don't wander off alone and drink lots of strong zero, you'd be ok

[lchi]

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Edited August 20, 2015 by uizm