Category Archives: Japan

“Borderless Economics”: World Peace, Nirvana and other Economic Models

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Author @TheEconomist

The thing that you have to understand about Economists is that they’re generally an optimistic bunch, but they’re really annoyed by the complications of…reality. They love models: models are perfect and simple. Because they omit externalities and oddities, they work perfectly. The simplest of models involve but two variables: wine and cheese, money and time, socks and shoes, and so on. As you progress further in your studies of the dismal science, you must heartbreakingly accept that in the real world, there is almost no application for a two-variable model.

It’s heartbreaking because in the sterile simplicity of Economics, the world works perfectly. Everyone who wants a job, has one; everyone who wants to borrow money, can; if you want time off work, you just work fewer hours. In the world of Economics we are all Utility Calculators, and we’re very good at what we do. We scan the job market for opportunities, spot them, and train to be the next Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, or Homer Simpson, depending our utility/salary demands (shockingly, no one ever chooses to be homeless, or a drug addict, or unemployed in this model).

In the world of Economic models, not only do we all have jobs, but we all have jobs that we’re good at, so we make a lot of money. On top of that, we enjoy our jobs. In other words, if you simplify the model enough, you can actually create the conditions for perfect Human Capital Allocation.

My point is this: there are a few differences between the skills in this world, and where they are most needed (likewise, the low-skill human labor, and where that’s needed). It’s just of a pain in the butt that these two groups can’t find each other more easily. If they could, so theorizes Robert Guest, we could solve most if not all of the world’s problems. In a perfect Economic World, every product has the perfect price, there is no Economic profit, and everyone is maximizing their happiness. How adorable. Continue reading →

“What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” by Haruki Murakami

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Author @Murakami_Haruki

“All I can see is the ground three yards ahead, nothing beyond. My whole world consistes of the ground three yards ahead. No need to think beyond that….this was my tiny reason for living.”

Haruki Murakami, best know for his ‘stream of consciousness’ and brutally honest writing style, goes introspective on the weird random thoughts he has when he runs. In a memoir (of sorts) he draws from his life as a hugely successful novelist, seasoned bar owner, and, on most frigid New England afternoons, long distance runner, to bring us his views of the world, writing and running.

I read this book for Murakami’s thoughts on writing first and foremost. I’ve known of his quirky writing style for some time, and thought I might get a little insight into that groovy brain of his. Little did I suspect this book would be so spiritual. Continue reading →

“Whistling Vivaldi”: How Stereotypes Affect Us

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As a white man working around Asia, places like China, Korea and Japan, and wishing to stay here, I absolutely have to deal with the issue of race and stereotype. What may seem trivial now, as a single caucasian man, may at some point (eg. getting married, raising biracial children) become an issue for me and my family. And for anyone not living in Asia, there are class and racial divisions all over the world, as students and co-workers form cliques along predictable lines.

I remember in University, taking an Intermediate Mandarin class, where all the different ethnic and social groups would–unknowingly– cluster together perfectly: there were the white kids, the Chinese born Canadians, the Hong Kong kids, the Bi-racial kids, the Koreans, and some Philippinos. It was only several weeks into the class that I noticed these convenient groupings (I had done the exact same with my white friends). Were we racist? Were we trying to reject the other classmembers (and the Chinese teacher!)? Not at all. We enjoyed the arrangement, subconscious though it may have been.

But I do remember another class I took (briefly). It was an Asian studies course. There was one other white person in the class (phew!), and the goal of the class was to research the rich Asian influences in our community. This was a heavy course, and considered high-end credit, meaning very intensive projects. I was almost certain to be working later in Asia (that’s why I signed up in the first place), but I felt like I shouldn’t be there, and I felt like a fraud, that my research would be scrutinized, and my ‘findings’ would be immediately dismissed, as they were coming from a Caucasian student. The professor and the other students couldn’t have been more open and kind, but it wasn’t them I was responding to, it was something else. It was a subtle pang of anxiety I felt in the class, which led me to dropping the class before the end of the second week. Admittedly, I justified it by predicting academic demise, and felt sorry for the other white student who must be going through panic attacks in that class.Years later, I wonder if he ever finished the course, or politely dropped out after I did.

Make no mistake, my goal in reviewing this book was to identify techniques to alleviate, overcome, and adapt to living in foreign countries where I feel (and expect to feel) stereotypes and discrimination. So what are people really afraid of? What is this anxiety I keep mentioning. Are my Shanghainese neighbours afraid of me? Are whites in the US really afraid of Black people? In many cases, not even slightly. What I’m talking about are nice, friendly, ambitious, successful, otherwise, well-rounded people who still feel uncomfortable around certain groups–certain races, certain genders, certain cliques. Some of the research in this book brings forward a fascinating concept: people are generally agitated by what has been dubbed “stereotype threat”.

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“Tokyo Underworld: Fast times and Hard life of an American Gangster in Japan” by Robert Whiting

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I’ve spent time in a few countries around Asia, but never Japan. In my life I’ve probably met less than 5 Japanese friends, so studying the language didn’t really appeal to me. I studied Mandarin early on and ended up working in China, and I’ve always been clueless about the combination of classic and quirky in the Land of Rising Sun.

So the first Japan book is all about the Yakuza, rather than Hello Kitty.

Okay, okay, let me be clear, I’m not going to make any generalizations based on a book about crimelords. This is a really fun interesting book, not gruesome or overly violent as you might expect (seedy at times, devoid of morality, perhaps), and just a fun way to get into a totally foreign culture (apart from Sushi, Slam Dunk comics, and the Karate Kid movies).

At the outset of the book, I was pretty excited to learn of Japanese History right after the Second World War. What followed WW2 remains the most amazing Economic turnaround in history.

How long did it take the Mob to recover? It turns out that within 3 days of the American Treaty, the Gangsters were already in action in the Shinjuku, Tokyo and what follows is 300 pages of a crude, crass, corrupt and cold blooded account of those who survived and thrived there.

The book follows an American GI with balls of steel ( tough talkin’ Italian New Yorker named Nick Zappetti) who gets in early for the booming Japanese recovery, builds an Italian restaurant Empire and has to fend off would be conquerers.

The whole story is about, brace yourself, bribes. Bribes, bribes and more bribes (in that sense it was very educational!). Everything good that happens in this account is a long chain of payouts under the table, and of course, the anti-Americanism builds throughout the book as the Japanese economy roars back to life (with confidence, the locals grow weary of the Westerners).

We follow a cast of gangsters, grifters, wannabes, and of course, hookers. But while almost everyone in the book is what you might call ‘a bad seed’ the inner working of business (which goes all the way up to the Japanese political structure and American espionage) are amazing. Much of it was reminiscent of Perkins “Economic Hit Men” but with all the delicacy and stubbornness of Japanese ‘Wa‘ (meant to maintain harmony amongst all things). Ultimately that was the most provocative part of the book: not the hellish violence, or immature cavorting of multimillionaires, but the way Japanese maintained ‘face’ and their own sense of Japanese integrity, amidst a modernizing and ever more international environment.

The book closes wistfully as we say goodbye to the great Nick Zappetti, a foreigner who’s seen the best and the worst Japan has to offer.