This is the sort of thing that you could be forgiven thinking was a translation error. This is business in Japan.

As a previous prime minister, as well as someone who has been around the block a few more times than I have, I’m tempted to give him the benefit of the doubt that his prescriptions (politicians need a better academic grounding, particularly in history, and should spend more time thinking) are what’s required.

Tempted but not convinced. There is a disturbing lack of acknowledgment that the problems the current crop of Japanese politicians are dealing with differ vastly from those which Nakasone addressed in the early 80s. At that time, there was still broad consensus amongst the Japanese population that economic growth should be prioritised.

Contrast that with today. Japan is a prosperous and wealthy country and it’s struggling to adapt to the present day a political system that evolved to deal largely with the problems of rebuilding a shattered society. Western liberal democracies have had a lot longer to do this and even they struggle with it (see: the United States).

Nakasone’s view that politicians today just aren’t as good as the politicans of yesteryear is, in my view, both arrogant and wrong. The politicians of yesteryear didn’t have to deal with the problems that the politicians of today have to deal with. Indeed, you could argue that they sowed the seeds for the many of the dilemmas the country now faces.

It probably goes without saying that none of these arguments are raised with Nakasone by the interviewer. Perhaps he has answers to some of these points but since they’re never asked, I’ll never know.

Nippon.com looks like an interesting site but if this is the standard of interviewing we can expect, well, you’re probably advised to just give it a miss.

The article is terrible and I have no idea why anyone has linked to it (and, frankly, why Businessweek published it). It does little more than briefly summarise the situation at Sony over the past decade. Critical analysis is kept to the bare minimum. This despite the fact that it’s over 3,000 words. Where do all those words go? Partly into laying out Sony’s problems (or, to be more accurate, the problems identified by the apparently sole source for the story: Howard Stringer) and partly into just talking about Howard Stringer and his background. Don’t know who he is and can’t be bothered reading his Wikipedia entry? Don’t worry because the boffins at Businessweek have you covered. Want actual analysis? Well, shit.

As I was reading it, two things gave me pause to wonder how well the story had been researched. At one point, the authors Bryan Gruley and Cliff Edwards (as difficult as it is to believe, this piece of reporting required the efforts of two people!) point out that relations between the hardware engineers at Sony in Japan and the content guys in the U.S. were so strained at one point that Sony’s U.S. movie studio had difficulty getting Sony products for use in its movies. It contrasts this with the ease with which Samsung could put its phones in blockbusters like The Matrix.

By Samsung I guess they meant Nokia. Which, you know, is an easy mistake to make: one being a South Korean electronic behemoth and the other being a Nordic mobile phone manufacturer. I for one am constantly confusing Koreans and Finns (the ears are how you tell them apart).

Later in the article, Stringer uses the phrase ‘Lehman shock’ to refer to the global financial crisis that began with the failure of the investment bank Lehman Brothers. The article says that this is Stringer’s ‘shorthand’ for the GFC. This should be setting off warning bells. Have the writers of this piece done any research about Japan? ‘Lehman shock’ is not Stringer’s shorthand; it is the way that Japan refers to the global financial crisis. Shouldn’t you have, like, asked someone what this term meant if you hadn’t heard before? Maybe it would have cropped up in all the background interviews you did with Japanese people?

It’s then that it hits you that there is a remarkable absence of any reporting involving Japan.¹ Sure, Sony’s a global company, Stringer himself is Welsh-born (which the article duly notes) and Kazuo Hirai (the article suggests he is likely to succeed Stringer) divides his time between the United States and Japan but Sony is still a quintessentially Japanese company. What do its problems about combining hardware with software say about Japan’s problems combining hardware and software? What do its problems about embracing the Internet as a delivery platform say about Japan’s problems embracing the Internet as a delivery platform? What do its problems about adapting to change, particularly that brought by a foreign CEO say about Japan’s problems adapting to change, particularly that brought by a foreign CEO? I don’t know because these questions are never even asked, let alone answered.

Sony is a company of engineers, we’re told, and that’s the reason software sucks. Memo to Businessweek: Google? Chock full of engineers. Microsoft? Ditto. Apple? It’s engineers all the way down (to Jony Ive).

Now granted they’re a different type of engineer and maybe what you meant were hardware engineers. Maybe this says something about the problem besetting Sony. (Ooh, an avenue for inquiry!) Any reason to believe that’s changed? All these new whizz-bang products from Sony like tablets and phones and laptops, I guess they’re all going to be running same great new Sony software now that Stringer’s reoriented the ship? Oh, what? They’re running Windows and Android? Software written by someone else? That Sony has no relationship with? Did you ask Stringer (or indeed any Sony executive) about whether they consider the outsourcing of their software to third parties an issue? That it prevents them from adding anything unique to their products that might differentiate them from cheaper ones from Samsung and other manufacturers? Oh. No, I guess not. I guess you were too busy admiring the Central Park reservoir.

There is a great article to be written about Sony. This is not it.

Those seemless updates have a downside, though. I use Google Maps three or four times a week. I also live in Japan. Until Saturday, when viewing Google Maps in English, the application displayed placed names in both kanji and romaji. On Saturday that feature was turned off in favour of what Google trumpets as single-language labels.

Bryce Stout, the Product Manager, proudly writes:

Using a single language can help users by making the map easier to read.

Really? Did any users ask for this feature to be enabled? Was it tested with users? Was it tested with users that actually use Maps in those countries? Surely there’s at least a good reason for why you did this:

We hope this change makes it easier to browse, explore and discover the world around you.

So the rationale behind this change is so that those playing at home can be virtual tourists? That’s great but I actually live here and was using Google Maps to, you know, get around.

Japanese kanji are notoriously difficult to read. This is particularly the case for place names. That said, names will often be written in kanji in addresses and so on. For those of us living in Japan whose language isn’t at native levels, Google Maps was a godsend for showing both kanji names and their transliterations. What Google seems to think made Maps easier to use has in fact made it more difficult.

Google allows you to switch native labels on but why is there not an option just to display both? Why am I being told what’s easier for me? And why is existing functionality being removed?

This is the world of web software. You are renting time. If you like something and it changes, tough. File a feature request and hope (pray?) that it is answered. I’ve written before about the impotent rage a user can feel when a software company makes a change to software you use and depend upon. I suppose it is a feeling to which we should become accustomed.

In all of this Google hate, I would like to note the helpfulness of Google’s Maps Twitter account. After realising the complete uselessness of Google’s Help Forum from my previous encounter, I decided this time to take to Twitter. My blasts of fury provoked sympathetic tweets from my friends and followers and (much to my surprise) an actual response from Google! In fact, two responses!

As grateful as I am that Google’s employees took the time to respond to my pleas (and I am grateful), it’s still frustrating to have a feature just removed without warning. That this came basically the day after Google changed the behaviour of Google Instant felt like a classic one-two. A reminder that web software is theirs, not yours.

Back to Work

http://feeds.feedburner.com/back2work
Merlin Man (he of Inbox Zero fame) and 5by5′s Dan Benjamin have joined forces to waste at least an hour of your week and prevent you from getting back to work. I jest, of course. The idea is to discuss strategies to help you work better. I’m not sure how well that works but I’m enjoying listening to it anyway.

The Brainy Gamer Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/brainygamerpodcast
The only thing that’s disappointing about the Brainy Gamer Podcast is that there aren’t more of them. Michael Abbott was almost entirely responsible for me buying a PS3 (which might not sound like an achievement but, given the state of my relationship with Sony, is really more akin to the Paris Peace Accords).

Build and Analyse

http://feeds.feedburner.com/buildanalyze
One of the new podcasts and I’m listening to and, like most of the new additions, a member of the 5by5 network. Dan Benjamin (of The Talk Show and the Pipeline fame) has expanded his podcasting empire throughout 2010 and, together with Tumblr co-founder and Instapaper owner/developer, Marco Arment, discusses iOS, Mac and mobile web development. It’s pretty Apple-centric at present but they do detour into coffee from time to time.

Downloadable Content

http://feeds.penny-arcade.com/padlc/
I’m pretty sure this one is gone and yet I hang on just in case.

Dungeons & Dragons Podcast

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/rsspodcast.xml
Downloadable Content may have bit the bullet but the boys from Penny Arcade still make an appearance every so often on the D&D Podcast and, when they do, I put everything else on hold.

Front Page

http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/podcasts/frontpage.xml
The Front Page is one of the casualties of the end of my commute. Without a daily trek to and from work I’m often a few days behind at which point listening to the news is kind of beside the point. I do still like this podcast, though, so I’m hoping I can fit it into my schedule somewhere.

Hypercritical

http://feeds.feedburner.com/hypercritical
This is probably my favourite new podcast. John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss issues relevant to the tech world. There’s an Apple angle often but it’s often about issues bigger than just Macs and iPhone. John’s observations are incredibly insightful and, because he doesn’t have a regular outlet (John has a blog but doesn’t update it that much), this is the best place to hear his thoughts.

The Japan Considered Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/JapanConsideredPodcast
Am still subscribed to this but, in my heart of hearts, I know it’s gone.

JapanesePod101.com

http://www.japanesepod101.com/wp-feed-audio.php
I have about 40 of these backed up. I promise I will get to them.

The Moth Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/themothpodcast
I can’t believe I’ve only been listening to this for a year but it’s a terrific podcast. Recommended by Dave.

New Yorker: Comment

http://feeds.newyorker.com/services/rssfeeds/comment_podcast.xml
The Comment section of the New Yorker is a short essay that begins every issue of the magazine. At least 50% of these will be written by Hendrik Hertzberg and be about the filibuster.

New Yorker: The Political Scene

http://feeds.newyorker.com/services/rss/feed/campaign_trail.xml
This is still my favourite discussion of politics. Although their discussion of the recent earthquake in Japan was laughably poor, there’s usually a nice smattering of experts to talk about whatever issue is most timely.

NHK English News

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/rj/podcast/rss/english.xml
Same problem as the Front Page podcast. I wish NHK put out their Japanese-language news as a podcast.

Slate’s Spoiler Specials

http://www.slate.com/podcast/id/2144834/
I’ve caught up from last year and am now only 11 podcasts behind. I still have /Lust, Caution/ on the list, though.

The Pipeline

http://feeds.feedburner.com/thepipelineshow
If you don’t include The Talk Show (see below) this was the first 5by5 show I started listening to and it’s still one of the best. Hosted by Dan Benjamin, I thought this one might run out of steam as Benjamin worked his way through friends and associates. Thankfully, that’s not the case (or he just has an incredible rolodex).

The Talk Show

http://thetalkshow.net/index.xml
Suspended for a brief ‘two week’ hiatus, The Talk Show has returned as part of the 5by5 network. Notable for a running segment in which hosts John Gruber and Dan Benjamin dissect a new James Bond film each week (they’re working their way through the series in order). This alone makes it worthwhile.

東京slow style

http://www.tokyoslowstyle.jp/podcast.xml
I still listen to Sasha as he continues exploring odd and different parts of Tokyo. This is the only podcast I’ve ever listened to which seemed to use an animated GIF as the image it displays on an iPod/iPhone. I assume it’s an animated GIF because as the show plays it cycles through images relevant to what’s being talked about. Kind of impressive just for the effort that goes into that side of things.

8-4 Play

http://eightfour.libsyn.com/rss
There’s not a lot of video game-related podcasts in this list any more but this is a new one that’s found its way on there. 8-4 Play is a translation company based in Tokyo. The reason I’m listening to the podcast? The company is home to Mark McDonald (formerly of EGM) and he leads a biweekly podcast with the rest of the 8-4 Play crew. The Japan angle is excellent for me.

37signals Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/37signals_podcast
It’s not as regular as it was when it started out but if you enjoy listening to the guys from 37signals, you’ll enjoy this.

So that’s who’s on there but who fell off the list? Only one podcast! Incredible! And it only fell off because it stopped being recorded.

• アクセス The podcast was cancelled! Now I’m never going to find out what ガガンボン means.

Update: Subsequent to writing this, I posted on AVCon’s Facebook page that their donation drive was inappropriate and that they should reconsider their decision. Without any correspondence, they deleted the comment. I guess they’re not interested in people that don’t agree with them and they don’t think it’s in bad taste to start asking for donations at this time.

Disclaimer: I am no longer an organiser of SMASH! Sydney Manga and Anime Show. The views here are my own and do not represent the views of SMASH Inc.

Today the pre-eminent anime and video games convention in Adelaide, Australia, AVCon, announced on its Facebook page that it was soliciting donations from the general public to assist in bringing a special guest to this year’s event. The guest is not named and there is no discussion of what happens if the guest does not eventuate.

I wanted to write about this for two reasons. First, I now live in Japan. The relevance of this will become obvious in a paragraph. The second is that I worked on SMASH! 2009 and 2010. In 2010, we brought five international guests to Australia as part of our event, namely Yuko Miyamura (the voice actress for, among other things, Asuka Langley Soryu), Tiffany Grant (Ms Miyamura’s counterpart for the American dub), Matt Greenfield (founded of American production company AD Vision), Shaun Healey (better known as Endling) and Mikiko Ponczeck (better known as zombiesmile).

Clearly, AVCon’s timing is atrocious. It seems the height of insensitivity for an event dedicated to celebrating Japanese popular culture to be soliciting donations for an anime convention at the same time as the worst natural disaster to strike Japan in recorded history is going on. Even if it were true that soliciting for donations was unavoidable, did it really have to commence today? Could we wait until we at least know the death toll?

As bad as the above is, I also find this offensive in the way that it seems to represent a growing trend among event management in Australia. What trend is that? Well, it’s the view that, if you didn’t bother to organise your event properly, there’s no shame in just hitting up the fans for however much you’re short.

Let’s be clear: AVCon is a giant event. It runs over 3 days at the Adelaide Convention Centre. According to Wikipedia, attendance for the 2009 event was in excess of 4,000 people while attendance for 2010 was more than 5,000. This is professional convention territory. Now AVCon sells a range of tickets for its event so there’s no way to know exactly how much it brings in in terms of revenue but it seems safe to assume that, with a single-day price of $30 in 2010, and discounting some of those 5,000 people as being children under 10, volunteers, sponsors and vendors, you’re looking at an event that brought in excess of $130,000. To put that amount into perspective, last year SMASH! had attendance of approximately 2,500 people. My understanding is that revenues were less than $70,000.

So here we have one event, which is at least twice the size of the other, asking its fans for donations to bring a guest. The other, which has ticket prices less than those of the big event, does no such thing.

What’s the rationalisation for this? From the AVCon page:

Why are we doing this? Well, bottom line is we didn’t want to raise ticket prices, because we’re sure you guys wouldn’t be too pleased with that.

The bottom line isn’t that you didn’t want to raise ticket prices. The bottom line is that you didn’t plan your event properly. If you can’t organise things and keep your event affordable, then you don’t do something this year. That’s the difficult decision a professional event management team makes. They don’t run off to their erstwhile fans asking for another $20 to $500.

I can tell you for a fact that SMASH! would have preferred to be at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre last year but that they couldn’t afford it. So instead they worked hard to be there this year. And they made it. Not because of luck, not because they had to beg their fans for money. They made it because they planned it.

That’s what you do when you care about your fans.

I left Japan in April 2009 to return to Australia to complete the work experience component of my Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. This is a necessary step to qualifying as a solicitor and, given that I had already completed the coursework component of the Diploma, had to be completed by November 2009 (lest my coursework component ‘lapse’ and I be required to do the whole thing over again).

After completing it, I stayed, continuing to work at the firm that had employed me. I didn’t really have much of a plan on when to return to Japan. I was hoping it would be soon (given that my wife was still there) but the Global Financial Crisis was still ongoing at that point and when there’s a Global Financial Crisis ongoing you don’t worry too much about things other than ‘Don’t fire me.’

While the firm at which I work is only medium in size, I’ve been lucky to… can’t find another word that means ‘work’ — work with a cool bunch of people. My boss is excellent and is in fact the reason I’m still working for them. When I told him that I needed to go back to Japan he not only was totally cool with that, he suggested that I try to work remotely.

I’ve been doing it for four weeks now and, while there are difficulties, it’s proceeding pretty well all things considered. I have my Australian number forwarding to Skype and am logging in remotely using Remote Desktop. The latency between here and the office makes things a little frustrating at times but it’s sort of hard to complain when you realise I’m sitting on almost the other side of the planet (the latency is actually about as bad back in Australia, so I think it has more to do with work’s connection than mine but let’s not whinge too much). Skype works great and I’m not even sure everyone I call even realises I’m not in Australia.

Other than that, Rui and I will move from our rented apartment into a rented house at the end of the month. I’m really looking forward to finally being able to turn my speakers up (the walls are paper thin here) and have some space to actually put books on shelves (most of our books have been sitting in boxes for the last 3 years). I’ll have to put up some photos on Flickr or Facebook or something. I meant to take some last weekend but forgot. Will try better next time.