For the second straight day it's rained for hours on end. The streets around Shibuya were all flowing with at least an inch of water all the way across tonight. Rather than get soaked like last night, tonight I borrowed an umbrella from the hotel and walked to an Italian restaurant for dinner... now, you may ask, "what is Tim doing eating Italian in Japan?" When I went to India last December I ate Indian food three meals a day for a week, and it burned me out so badly that I haven't eaten Indian food ONCE since then. Even though I love Japanese food MUCH more than I loved Indian food before I went to India, I still decided after my first day here that I would only eat one Japanese meal per day during my time here, and for the other meals I would enjoy some of the vast variety of international cuisine available here in Tokyo. Here's the Japanese meal roster so far:

Wednesday lunch: Sushi
Wednesday dinner: Tempura
Thursday lunch: Katsu
Friday lunch: Ramen (And oh, it was soooooo good. REAL ramen, not like a cheap-o Cup o'Noodles)

So tonight I had a margharita pizza at a decent little Italian place on the north side of Shibuya. By the time I left the restaurant the rain had tripled and it was absolutely POURING down. So I umbrellad up (I made that word up right then) and walked across the street to a hip-looking CD and DVD shop. Fished around for a while... new Beck album, new Verve album... checked out some Japanese architecture magazines... then decided I was tired of waiting for the rain to stop, so I just headed back for the hotel. Made it back with soaked shoes and a soaked left arm -- the umbrellas here reflect the smaller stature of the people, clearly.

Let me just say this: I don't know of a more beautiful people in the world than the Japanese. Yes, I'm speaking in general terms, and no, I'm not just referring to the way they look. I'm not super into Asian women, but the women here are pretty. That wasn't my point, though. The people themselves are beautiful to the core. The people are intelligent, interesting, interested (in others), and supremely kind. Perhaps any friends of mine who have been on missions here will disagree about that last part, that perhaps they don't see the Japanese as kind because they had doors slammed in their face for a couple of years, but I will argue that the topic of religion tends to bring out strange emotions in people. I left my mission loving the Spanish people, but still convinced that they were rude, rude, rude. On subsequent visits to Spain (five trips there now), I've realized that it must have just been the name tag they had a problem with, because they're always way nice to me now. They care about what I have to say now. It's probably the same with the Japanese.

As a visitor to the country, I feel welcome. It's like they go out of their way to recognize that their service of you, or their conversations with you at work, or their kindness to you, is truly going to be a representation in your mind and memories of their culture and society as a whole. It doesn't seem fake! The smiles, the "thank you, sirs," the "good morning, sirs," the "how are you today, Timmy?" at the office, the host at the restaurant tonight who asked my name when I came in (Tim-san, I told him) and then said "Goodnight, Tim-san!" as I walked out... it's a sign of a people who have simply mastered the art of customer service. Well, not just customer service, but also the art of being a "host." The people at work are tremendously kind: "What are you doing this weekend, Timmy?" Me: "I think I'm going to take a Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto." Them: "Oh, let me write down for you the name of a wonderful temple you must see there." Then they scribble it down on a paper.

[Side note: I've canceled my trip to Kyoto, sadly, because I have no desire to walk around a far-away city in the rain all day. I'll just have to pray that I'm given another opportunity to come to Japan in the future. I'll sleep in tomorrow instead and try and kill the last of my jet lag.]

So that's that. They're simply wonderful here. I feel a desire for my co-workers at Red Hat Japan to succeed. They're so kind and so focused and devoted and hard-working that I simply want them to succeed. That emotion is driving me on this project I'm managing.

OK, bed time for me.

In Japan there's a gadget for everything, and just like during my first trip here last December, I continue to be amazed by two gadgets in particular: the Washlet and the public vending machine.

The Washlet: I won't go into too much detail about my fascination with the Washlet, because I already bored you with it during my last trip here. I've publicly stated since my mission to Spain that I'm a vocal fan of the bidet, and the Washlet's bidet-like features really make my bum happy.

Japanese vending machines: According to Wikipedia, there is one vending machine for every 23 people in Japan. I love that I can get a hot chocolate beverage and a Pocari Sweat from the same machine, perfectly temperature-controlled.

Anyhow, I'm staying in Shibuya. Our corporate deal with the hotel got me upgraded to a 32nd-floor room with an amazing view looking south. It's absolutely breathtaking. I had a great day at the office in my first day of meetings today... very productive. I had sushi for lunch and tempura for dinner. Hopefully I don't burn myself out on the Japanese food. I do love it, though! I went book shopping with my co-worker Mori-san after work... Of course I don't understand anything on any of the pages, but it was fun to look at book covers.

I discovered today that the LDS Temple here is only about a kilometer from our office. I was going to wait to go check it out until later, but seeing that it's so close, I might walk over there tomorrow at lunch to see it. And I think the local chapel is only a block from my hotel. That should be nice come Sunday morning!

OK, I'm way tired. Jet lag is a drag and always will be. Last night (Tuesday night), my first night here, I crashed at 9:30 PM and woke up this morning at 4:30 AM. The sun was up by 5 AM, and I ended up going to swim laps in the pool since I was awake that early. Plus I hit the sauna. Tonight, though, I'm forcing myself to stay up later (it's 11:19 PM right now) so I can get up a little later in the morning. The sooner I can get onto a regular schedule here, the better.

It's 7:00 AM on Monday, and I'm waiting for my taxi to arrive. Since I'll be gone 12 days, it was cheaper to take a taxi to the airport than to leave my car there... and I didn't want to ask anyone to get up this early to take me to the airport.

I'm flying Northwest Airlines, first to Detroit and then to Tokyo Narita. From there I'll take the hour-long "airport limousine," which is actually just a bus system, to my hotel in the Shibuya area. Then I'll sleep and make an attempt at being refreshed for work on Wednesday. More than likely, though, I won't be able to sleep at first, so I'll end up walking around the streets like a zombie on holiday. Hopefully this time I can make some more reports about wonderful gadgets and devices that only seem to be gound in Japan.

UPDATE: I discovered today that Cuba has an Olympic freestyle wrestler named Disney Rodriguez.

This one's simple: Ricky Rubio from the Spanish basketball team.

I mentioned to Courtney at church today that I find it interesting that when the logo for the London 2012 Summer Olympics was first introduced last year, I (and most of the world) though it was absolutely repulsive, and yet now when I look at it I find it to be an exciting and innovative design.



Millions of words have been written about the concept of innovation, but I feel like it's important to note that the true value (or brilliance/luster/necessity) of an innovation often isn't seen until much time has passed. Think of the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, the electrical work of Nikola Tesla, the writing of Charles Bukowski, or even more recent items like Weezer's Pinkerton album. It's almost as if the innovator has an uncanny -- and often inexplicable -- ability to look into the future and solve problems that don't really even exist yet, or speak to an emotion that isn't felt yet.

And for every unheralded invention or creation, every piece of true innovation that could indeed stand the test of time, there are just as many innovations celebrated (and over-celebrated) in their own time, but whose long-term value starts to taper off within the first years, even sometimes within months. Think of the Segway, the El Camino, that TV show "Dinosaurs" (remember that?), and every piece of exercise equipment now collecting dust in the rafters of your parents' garage. Don't ever discount the value (or lack of value) of an innovation simply because it isn't popular in its own time.

I wouldn't be surprised if by 2012 we see much, much more design like the London 2012 Summer Olympics logo, perhaps to the point that it may not even be deemed too "special" anymore.

News hit last night that North Korea's Kim Jong Su has been stripped of his silver and bronze medals after failing a doping test. What sport do you think this cheating dynamo participated in? Was he a weightlifter? A runner? A swimmer? No, my friends, he was a rifle shooter. That's right: a rifle shooter has been banned for using steroids.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/olympics/2008114967_olynews15.html

Sarcasm: I've been rifle shooting quite a few times in my life, so I understand how the need to bulk up that ever-so-important index finger would give me a competitive advantage while pulling the trigger.

In all truth, though, it looks like he tested positive for a banned muscle relaxer that aids in preventing trembling. I just don't understand why some people think they're going to get away with this stuff. They've *GOT* to know that strong anti-doping measures are followed in every single Olympics sport. Who do these people think they're going to fool? Science? Not a chance.

Rather than leaving on August 18th, I'm going on the 25th instead. Arriving in Tokyo on the 26th. Working the 27-29 in our Tokyo office, then spending the weekend relaxing or maybe taking a trip somewhere on a bullet train. Then working again in the Tokyo office from September 1-5. I'll fly home on the 6th of September. Should be a really productive work trip.

Vegan Week was dead by 10:30 this morning. It's now Vegetarian Week. Evan McNabb and I are doing the challenge together. The minimum challenge was to go Vegetarian for the week. I took an extra challenge and was going to try Veganism for a week. This morning I decided that since I'm leaving the country next Monday, this is not really the best week to try something extreme like being a Vegan. So I'm falling back to the original challenge, which is to go Vegetarian for the week. I'm also adding a "but still attempting to cut back my dairy usage for the week" component. So far, so good.

I'm going to Japan for two weeks, leaving on the 18th. I have a work project that will be taking me there. I've been putting in nights and weekends, but it's still not enough to make up the time difference. So I'm going over there and working hand-in-hand with my team-mates there.

Problem #1: I lost my passport. Well, indirectly. I lost the fire box that I keep it in. It's like a little fire safe that purports to protect documents and belongings from a fire. I've looked everywhere in our apartment for it, but it's nowhere to be found. I've spent all day today chasing it down, though, and it turns out that I left the box in the Hillsborough St. apartment when I moved out three months ago. So I talked to the new tenant (my old neighbor Tom -- he moved into my place when I moved out) and he said he never saw it. So then I called the super of the apartment building and he said he had seen the fire box, but that he threw it out after I didn't come back for it within a month. I didn't realize it was missing until yesterday. So I'm choosing to not get upset about it -- I'll just have to roll with the punches and get a new passport.

Problem #2: My birth certificate was in the same fire box. So now I have no way of proving my citizenship, which is a vital part of getting a passport. I'll get on the phone with Charleston, SC on Monday morning and order rush service of a new birth certificate. No problem.

Problem #3: Even if I *can* get my birth certificate, this isn't the first time I've lost my passport. I'm horribly ashamed to admit it, but it's actually the third time. I had my mission passport, but I lost it some time between May and December of 2000. I went to L.A. to get a new passport that month, though, so I could go to Norway to meet my new step-family (before they moved to California). With all of my college apartment moves, though, I lost that passport by November of 2004. I got a new one then, and I've been keeping it in the fire box ever since. So now I've lost my passport for the third time, and I fear that they won't give me another one. I know they put limits on the number of passports they'll give someone in a period of time, so they may choose to make me wait. If they don't give me another passport, I'll have to cancel my trip. If they *do* give me another one, however, I fully commit to retaining the services of a bank safety deposit box.

I haven't posted much about the lead-up to my personal week-long vegan challenge, but I'm writing now to announce that it's postponed for a week. Evan McNabb and I have been coordinating that we would both challenge ourselves during the same week: I would go vegan, and he would go vegetarian. But we spoke on the phone tonight and he thought we were doing it NEXT week, not this week. So it's delayed for 7 more days!

[My readers would've likely found this tip useful two weeks ago, but I just got around to writing it.]

When watching ESPN -- specifically SportsCenter -- always keep another channel available so that you can switch to either easily with your "Last" or "Recall" button. That way when Brett Favre is mentioned you can quickly escape the continued (and neverendingly stupid) turmoil with nothing but the press of a button.

[end of tip]

Seriously, though, last weekend I was watching the Yankees/Sox game on ESPNHD, and I noticed that the ticker had the bottom had a special section just for Brett Favre news. I have no idea why his news wasn't placed in the "NFL" section. The ticker seriously looked like this:

MLB NFL NBA Golf Tennis Favre Olympics NASCAR

It was so ridiculous that it made me giggle.