TOKYOMANGO

Get your hand-printed limited edition TokyoMango t-shirt now (2 weeks only)

My friend Ben and I made a test run of TokyoMango t-shirts on Saturday. They're really nice, do you want one? If so, you can buy one here. Below are the details:

- All shirts are 100% cotton.
- Each t-shirt will be hand-silk screened by me and Ben on his Yudu machine. The shirt logo was custom-designed by Ben. Mango design courtesy of my web designer James.
- The Women's tees come in a t-shirt style (pistacio and white) and a spaghetti strap ribbed tank (yellow).
- The Men's tees come in orange and white. In the pic above, Ben is actually accidentally wearing a girl's tee, but you get the idea... the sleeves will be more manly on the one you get.
- You can choose a custom colored tee for $25. Just shoot me an email with your preference after you place the order.
- The sizes tend to run a little big (except for the tanktops). They might shrink in the wash.
- Some of you will receive a free surprise Japanese toy or gadget with your t-shirt! I'm just gonna randomly stick them into bags, so keep an eye out.
- We're taking orders over the next two weeks only, at least for this first printing. They'll ship at the end of those two weeks, when Ben & I will silkscreen them by hand.
- Last day to order is Monday, October 5th.

UPDATE: T-shirts are no longer for sale. Maybe we'll do another round sometime!

Visit me at Boing Boing!

Have you guys seen the new Boing Boing? On Tuesday, the award-winning blog got a makeover and had a relaunch. I'm now one of their regular feature writers, which means you can read a lot of my work there now. This week, I wrote about a seasonal fruit called the Red Kuri Squash and told the romantic tale of a man in New Zealand who found a long-lost wedding ring in the ocean. Other writers include BG's Rob Beschizza, science journalist Maggie Koerth-Baker, BOffworld's Brandon Boyer, and, of course, the four legendary original Boingers &mdash Xeni, Mark, David, and Cory.

If you're not a Boing Boing reader already, come visit often!

Profile of Megastar creator in Make Mag Vol 19

For the past several issues of Make Magazine, I've been profiling some talented Japanese makers whom I met on a recent trip to Japan. The current issue, Make Volume 19, features an interview I did with Takayuki Ohira, the inventor of the ever-so-popular Homestar and Megastar planetariums. He's really quite amazing. Please take a read, and if you like it, you should buy or subscribe to Make because it's full of fun, creative stories like Ohira's.

Sparky the Robot on Studio360

My interview with San Francisco artist/roboticist Marque Cornblatt airs on PRI's Studio 360 this weekend. You can listen to the segment here and check out the slideshow at Studio 360's web site. Cornblatt and I actually took his RC robot to the Museum of Modern Art completely unannounced to see if we could get in — it was a prank of sorts, and we had no idea what would happen. Lucky us, we not only got into the galleries, but we scored three free tickets!

A guide to Japanese beaches (from three years ago)

The first magazine cover story I ever wrote was this Tokyo area beach guide for Metropolis in June 2006. I only mention this now because those of you who are reading TokyoMango in Tokyo are probably dying from heat right about now, and this may help you find a quick escape in the ocean somewhere nearby.

Four hundred years ago, a ship from Mexico wandered onto the shores of this Boso Peninsula town, and the local fishermen’s wives helped them out. Today, two kilometers of soft, white sand welcome visitors to this sister city of Acapulco for hot sun and easy surfing. The atmosphere is so pleasant in Onjuku that it inspired one man to write a famous children’s song, “Moon Desert.” There are fireworks and beach volleyball in August, and high-quality lobster dinners in September.

Life's a Beach (Metropolis)

Story about AR Figure Aris on BBG

At Boing Boing Gadgets today, I wrote a feature about my visit to Geisha Tokyo Entertainment, the quirky start-up that created Augmented Reality Figure Aris:

Aris folds her tiny hands across her aproned lap and smiles. "If you need me, please poke me to get my attention!" she says in a peppy, high-pitched voice. "Just don't poke me in a weird place! "

As if to deliberately defy her request, Taisei Tanaka, who is sitting next to me in a soccer jersey and jeans, lifts up Aris' poofy skirt with a stick, revealing the ends of her black thigh-high socks and a glimpse of her blue panties. Aris screams at the top of her lungs. "Please stop! This kind of thing is not good!"

Tanaka has every right to lift up Aris' skirt. He is her creator, after all. Besides, Aris is not a real person; she doesn't even really exist. She is an optical illusion, a three-dimensional projection of a brown-haired girl in a maid outfit who lives inside of a cube that looks like an oversized die. The cube has QR codes pasted on each of its sides that uses image recognition, motion-tracking, and other computer-generated data to project images into space when recorded with a webcam.

Read it here.

My NYT Magazine article on 2D Love is online!

My New York Times Magazine story about guys who are in love with anime characters is online. The main protagonist is Nisan, a thirty-something year old man who has a body pillow girlfriend named Nemutan. This is a photo I took of Nisan and Nemutan during our interview, at his favorite salad bar in Hachioji. Read it here, or buy the print version of the NYT Magazine this coming Sunday to read it on paper.

Love in 2D [New York Times Magazine]

PARC theme day on Boing Boing Gadgets

Hey guys, if you have a sec hop on over to BBG to check out the stories Steven and I are doing on PARC, the esteemed Palo Alto Research Center. Don't miss photos and diagrams of the first ethernet cable in the world, the carpet on which graphical user interfaces were conceived, a mirror that helps you comparison shop, a gallery of caution signs, and interviews about what it's like to work there.

BB Video episode from Maker Faire 2009

Maker Faire, my favorite artsy crafty geeky event of the year, was a couple weeks ago. I walked around with Make EIC and fellow Boinger Mark Frauenfelder to check out some of our favorite things. Link

TokyoMango on the Wall Street Journal

I was interviewed for the Wall Street Journal's Front and Forward section, which is in today's paper, about 3 tech trends from Japan: virtual boyfriends, augmented reality tourism, wearable remote controls, etc. I don't get the print version of the WSJ, but you can find it here.

TokyoMango on the WSJ

On BBG: Coffee in a can is big in Japan

On BBG today, I wrote about coffee in a can which, as far as I can tell, is largely a Japanese phenomenon disguised as a manly American one.

When I was a teenager in Tokyo, I used to drink coffee all the time — from a can, from a vending machine, often at the train station on my way home from school. In went a 100 yen coin, and out came a piping hot 250 ml can of delicious brew, pre-mixed with cream and sugar. Coffee in a can is everywhere in Japan, and when I moved to the US, I wondered why it's not as prevalent here. Why? It's so much more convenient and cheaper than searching for a Starbucks.

Read: Coffee in a can from a vending machine is big (and manly) in Japan

On BBG: My letter to JJ Abrams, and an interview with my mom

This week on BBG, I wrote an open letter to JJ Abrams about popping my Star movie virginity. I also interviewed my mom on her quirky gadget usage habits.

Read:
JJ, you popped my Star (An open letter to JJ Abrams about the new Star Trek)
My mom Mary on her video game addiction, her stupid GPS, and the gadget she wished she had

Born Rich's cool geek of the week

I'm BornRich.org's cool geek of the week. Wait, am I a geek?

See the interview here

Video: My talk at Ignite SF

Here's a very nicely edited video of my 5-minute slideshow presentation at Ignite SF at the Mezzanine (a night club) on April 1st. There was a technical glitch, and you can see me give the slidemaster a dirty look when it starts getting screwy. It was fun though—I am grateful to have had the opportunity to face that kinda situation in front of hundreds of people. Next time I won't freak out, I promise.

Japanese gadgets and toys at Ignite SF
Download it from iTunes

Video: Me and Urawaza on View from the Bay

I hesitated about putting this up on TokyoMango-a LOT-because it's kinda embarrassing to see myself on TV, but here it is: a clip from my appearance on ABC's View from the Bay in July 2008. I'm actually also on their new digital network show, Home with Lisa Quinn on Live Well HD, but I haven't seen that yet. Don't laugh!

This week on BBG: Running, heat, and gadget reviews

On Boing Boing this week, I wrote about how I am (maybe) training for a Marathon using Nike Plus and visited a fire department in San Francisco to find out how they deal with heat. I also reviewed the new Flip UltraHD and the Plantronics Voyager Pro and a bunch of really cool trail runners.

This week on BB: cables in Africa, otaku culture on the DS, and cable guy porn

This week on Boing Boing Gadgets and Offworld, I wrote about:
- Why underwater cables might not solve the problem of Internet access in East Africa.
- The "sex with the cable guy" fantasy, and whether it happens in real life.
- Why the new DS Lite game Rhythm Heaven is the perfect conduit for understanding otaku culture.

Follow the links below to read any or all of them.
Underwater cables in Africa (BBG)
Sex with the Cable Guy (BBG)
Understanding otaku culture through RH (Offworld)

TokyoMango on BornRich.Org

Haha, I'm BornRich.org's Cool Geek of the Week. And yes, that really is me holding hands with the Dalai Lama. I had the honor of meeting him in Dharamsala, India a year and a half ago.

This week on BBG: 3D printer art and dog poop compost

It was my first full week as an editor at Boing Boing Gadgets, and I wrote two fun stories for our Printers and Gardening theme days, respectively: a photo gallery of museum-grade sculptures made with 3D printers, and an illustrated guide on how I am composting Ruby and Malcolm's poop.

High-end 3D printer art on BBG
Composting minpin poop on BBG

Come see me at Boing Boing Gadgets

Starting this week, I'm going to be writing regularly for Boing Boing Gadgets. BBG is a sister site of Boing Boing (whom I guest blogged for last fall), and it's now a three-man, one-woman team including Joel Johnson, Rob Beschizza, Steven Leckart, and me. Most of the stories I write there will be about technology and how it is infiltrating our lifestyles in fun, creative ways.

For now, visit the Intro post and keep checking back on BBG's Main Page.

Kazuhiko Hachiya, creator of the first flying anime plane, in Make

The profile I wrote about Kazuhiko Hachiya, a very well-known idea man and maker in Japan, is in Volume 17 of Make Magazine. You can read it here.

I will be writing about cool Japanese makers like Hachiya in each of the upcoming issues of Make Mag (except then next one, which is a special issue) so keep an eye out!

My radio piece on Japanese women artists, and Studio360 in Japan

The Studio360 Japan special airs tomorrow on NPR, but you can listen to all the segments online starting right now. Super exciting! Basically, Studio360—an award-winning arts and culture radio show hosted by Kurt Anderson—got a grant to go to Japan for two weeks and find a bunch of insightful, contemporary stories that will paint a larger picture of what's going on there right now.

I went out and met some amazing young women, including Toast Girl and Erina Matsui, who are breaking the mold of conventional aesthetics and expectations and doing really cool shit through their art. Leital, one of the producers, and I went everywhere from Golden Gai to Takashi Murakami's studio to interview these artists. Then we met up in NY to edit the piece together. You can hear my segment right here:

Everything else is right here:
Studio360 in Japan!

Impress Watch article about my desktop

Impress Watch, a Japanese tech journalism site that I frequently link back to in my gadget coverage, is publishing a weekly series about people's desktops. This week's desktop is mine! The title of my piece, roughly translated, is: "A desktop that is much cleaner than my scattered brain looking for story ideas." (記事ネタ探し中の頭の中よりも遥かにすっきりしたデスクトップ)

Read it.

I'm speaking about Japanese tech culture at ETech

I was invited to speak at ETech, O'Reilly's annual flagship emerging technology conference. It will be held in March in San Jose, CA. My thingy will be on Wednesday, March 11 at 2:55PM, and I'll be talking about seemingly strange web apps and gadgets that actually give us great insight into the foundations of Japanese popular culture. The conference is kinda expensive, but there are some great speakers on the lineup—Joi Ito, Gary Wolf, Mary Lou Jepsen—well worth it if you want to hear some of the best idea people talk about what's up and coming. Details on my talk are here.

Shibuya with Studio360 crew on three hours of sleep

Day 2 of Tokyo with the Studio360 crew = breakfast meeting with the fixer, a quick guided tour of the Tokujin Yoshioka exhibit at Midtown, and a walk-through of Shibuya with producers Leital & Pejk & the show's host, Kurt Andersen. We took purikura, which should be showing up on the Studio360 blog soon enough. I only had three hours of sleep so I don't remember what I talked about or whether it made any sense. Parts of what we recorded today will be used to intro my segment on contemporary women artists, which will air in January.

It was rainy and cold, and I'm happy to report that I'm back in my room, in sweatpants, ready for my early evening nap that prohibits me from ever getting over jet lag but is nonetheless entirely irresistible.

Zen gadget design article on Gizmodo

On Gizmodo this week, I wrote a feature that explains why Japanese cell phones, despite their proliferate use and fancy shells, are not very useful.

Japan is the epicenter of Zen, a concept with deep religious roots and a mandate for simplicity of appearance and lifestyle. But when it comes to native gadgetry, Zen is only skin-deep. Japanese cell phones are sleek on the outside, but once you open the clamshell, the interface is a complete mess. While American-made phones are leaning more and more towards simple interfaces and clean design, Japanese gadgets continue to be plagued with feature overload and nightmarish interfaces that are totally impractical.

Read Why Zen Software Design Does Not Come From Japan

Cosplay photo gallery on Wired.com

My photo gallery of cosplayers at Tokyo Game Show was published on Wired.com this past weekend.

Read Japanese cosplayers keep fantasies fresh (with Febreze)

Me on Asian Week talking about the importance of toilet jokes in Japan

I was quoted in an article in AsianWeek titled Cool Japan: Why Japanese remakes are so popular on American TV, and where we're getting it wrong.

Basically I just spouted off my opinion about I Survived a Japanese Game Show and other silly things to the reporter. Of course, my kicker quote had to do with toilet jokes:

“To make a really successful Japanese variety show, you have to have really crass humor and there’s a lot of slapping involved and there are a lot of violations of basic rights to privacy,” Katayama said, referring to shows where people are pulled from toilets or shot into the sky from porta-potties. “That would never fly in the U.S.”

Link

The Dalai Lama talks about his family: Buddhadharma

The feature I wrote for Buddhadharma magazine about the Dalai Lama's bipolar youngest brother is now online. I was at his home in India almost two years ago, and had the amazing opportunity to interview both him and his brother (yes, the Dalai Lama!) in Dharamsala, the home of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Brothers First: What's it like being the Dalai Lama's kid brother? (Buddhadharma)

Related:
My post on Boing Boing introducing the article
Q&A with the Dalai Lama's brother (Giant Robot)

What I've Been Writing About on Boing Boing

I keep forgetting to update TokyoMango with the posts I've been doing on Boing Boing. In case you haven't already been obsessively visiting the most wonderful blog in the world, here are some of the things I've written about in the past week or so:

- A new law in China that will humiliate jaywalkers by posting their photos in public;
- A couple that got married in a funeral home;
- An ancient Mayan underworld discovered in Mexico;
- German comic book art commissioned by Harajuku's La Foret;
- Calligraphic manga about Musashi by Slam Dunk artist Takehiko Inuoe;
- Winged cats!
- An in-depth Japanese humor tutorial;
- Akino Kondoh's Ladybirds' Requiem;

and
- An awesome music video showing the Japanese electropop version of an French sixties pop song.

Also, Mark posted a fascinating article about women who hire professional seducers to induce divorce.

Today on BB: Yoda and Facebook, Vintage Game Patents, and Mona Lisa Remixed

On Boing Boing today, I wrote about how Hiroko Yoda was denied a Facebook account because she shares a name with a Star Wars character; vintage video game patents found via Google; Mona Lisa remixed by famous contemporary artists.

Yesterday, I wrote about extreme ironing—the best adventure sport ever; an awesome photo gallery of Israeli girl soldiers; and the World Air Guitar championships in Finland.

TokyoMango on Boing Boing!

Guess what? Starting today, I'm going to be guest blogging on Boing Boing. As you all know, Boing Boing is the ultimate directory of wonderful things, so I'm honored to contribute to it and give many thanks to Mark, Cory, David, and Xeni for letting me infiltrate their lovely web space with my whatever-I-end-up-writing. I'll be doing this for the next two weeks, so check in once in a while to see how I'm doing. And feel free to send tips—I can always use some good ideas, and this time they don't necessarily have to have anything to do with Japan. Thanks!

Meet me.
Read BB.

Japan's Hottest Celebrity Bloggers on Wired.com

When I was in Japan in February, I went to an event casually named the Blogger Dinner. There, I met 30-40 Japanese bloggers. We had Indian food, talked about what we write about, and did a quick slideshow presentation introducing our blogs to everybody (I talked briefly about TokyoMango).

Anyway, what I found out was that the word "blogger" has different connotations in Japan. There, if you're a blogger you're probably a hot celebrity who keeps an online diary, or blog, to enhance popularity. I researched some of the top "bloggers" and put them together in a gallery, published on Wired.com today. Check it out!

Japan's Hottest Celebrity Bloggers [Wired.com]

A Brief Tour of the Japanese Web

When I was in Japan reporting on the feature about Nico Nico Douga, my friend Ichiroo showed me all these different applications on his laptop. All were immensely popular forms of time-wasting entertainment in Japan. (One of the strangest things I heard that week was that Japanese school girls all have the McDonalds web page saved on their cell phone favorites—and every time they reach a new destination, they download a coupon, stake out the nearest McD's, and buy cheeseburgers.)

I wrote a short article about the quirky world of the Japanese web as an online extra to the Nico Nico piece:

I'm sitting in a smoky room on the second floor of a Tully's Coffee in Western Tokyo, looking over the shoulder of Ichiroo Kiyota as he types on his laptop. Kiyota, an executive at Six Apart Japan, is showing me around some of the most popular — and useless — Web apps in the country.

Continue reading A Brief Tour of the Japanese Web

Wired.com's ASCII Art Contest Winner Gallery

A few weeks ago, I had a reader ASCII art contest on Wired.com. It was a follow up to the story about 2channel and Nico Nico Douga in the June issue of the mag. Two Japanese web experts judged the contest, and the results were published in a gallery yesterday.

Link

Facebook Japan Story in The Japan Times

The article I wrote about whether Facebook Japan will make a dent in the local SNS market was published in today's edition of The Japan Times:

Japanese Facebook takes Model T Approach

By LISA KATAYAMA
Special to The Japan Times

Late last month, as part of a rare work-vacation trip to Asia, Mark Zuckerberg made a quick stop in Tokyo to announce the launch of Facebook Japan. Facebook, a social-networking Web site that the 24-year-old new billionaire created while he was a Harvard undergraduate, is one of the most popular online communities in the world. But as Zuckerberg stood on stage at the Aoyama Diamond Hall convention center in his boyish red hair and black blazer, the audience was skeptical.

Link

My Interview with the Dalai Lama's Youngest Brother

Tendzin Choegyal is the Dalai Lama’s youngest brother. Aside from being related to one of the holiest persons alive, TC is a rebellious soul who dropped out of college, spent a couple of years as a paratrooper in the Tibetan contingency of the Indian army, survived alcoholism,and found peace through a blend of Buddhism, lithium, and reading the news on the Internet. When I met him at his home in Dharamsala, India—the Himalayan town that houses the Tibetan government-in-exile—we talked about reincarnation, war movies, Steven Seagal’s crazy outfits, and the preservation of Tibetan culture.

The following is a reprint of my interview with Choegyal, published in Issue 52 of Giant Robot magazine. A feature-length profile will be in the Fall issue of Buddhadharma, which goes to press in July.

Japanese Cell Phones: Too Complex to Use?

A short news/analysis piece on Japanese cell phones I wrote is on Wired.com today:

TOKYO -- Steve Jobs' new iPhone, expected to be unveiled Monday, is headed to Japan by the end of the year. But the device's famed ease of use may actually be a turnoff in Japan, where consumers want features, not simplicity.



Indeed, Japanese handsets have become prime examples of feature creep gone mad. In many cases, phones in Japan are far too complex for users to master.

Read the full story

Otetsudai Networks on The Japan Times

My feature about Otetsudai Networks, a location-based mobile staffing service started by a Harvard business school grad, is featured in the Japan Times' technology section today.

Ryoji Kaneko is always looking for work. It's been six years since the 25-year-old aspiring actor moved to Tokyo from his home in Hyogo Prefecture, and he's still waiting for his big break. He can't get a regular side job because the auditions and the occasional gig require him to have a flexible schedule. To pay for food, transportation and the occasional fishing trip, Kaneko relies on Otetsudai Networks.

Continue reading...

Urawaza on Lifehacker

Check out the excerpt of Urawaza on Lifehacker today. I wish I had all those commenters fact-checking my book while I was writing it! It didn't even cross my mind that gook was a racist term, and I had checked the baby frequency thing with one viable source but maybe they were wrong. In any case, I'm psyched to have a segment on my book on the most popular tips and tricks blog on the Internet.

Urawaza on Lifehacker

Me on CBC Radio Talking about Hiroyuki Wired Feature

I was interviewed by this guy, Jian Ghomeshi, on the CBC's popular radio program, Q, yesterday morning. The topic was my Wired feature on Hiroyuki Nishimura. He asked me about how I found him (everyone asks—Hiroyuki is notoriously hard to track down), why he's so unconventional, and whether 2channel and NND were going to lead to a revolution in the formality of Japan.

Listen to it here

My Death Note Article on Wired.com

I wrote a short article about the movie Death Note for Wired.com:

Death Note is a live-action sci-fi movie about a notebook that kills anyone whose name is written inside it. In the past year, the original manga upon which the movie is based -- which was previously adapted as an anime, a novel and a two-part TV series -- has been linked to bullying cases in China and Virginia, and an unsolved murder in Belgium in which the killer claimed to be a character from the franchise.
"It's not the kind of movie that parents would encourage their kids to watch," says Shusuke Kaneko, Death Note's director.

Read the story.

My Wired Feature about Hiroyuki Nishimura and the Japanese Web is Live!

My WIRED feature about Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of 2channel, and his two web sites—2channel and Nico Nico Douga—is now online at Wired.com.

The story is in the June issue of the magazine, too—the 15th anniversary issue—but the web has all kinds of fun extra features, like an ASCII art gallery, a video of me explaining the sites, sample Nico Nico Douga videos, and two extra articles about Japanese web culture and its influences in the US.

I spent 10 full days in Japan this February reporting this story—I interviewed dozens of people who are active bloggers, engineers, and entrepreneurs in Japan's web industry, and really dove into the culture of innovation and forward-thinkingness that exists there. It was a fascinating journey.


Read Meet Hiroyuki Nishimura, the Bad Boy of the Japanese Internet

Inside the Bizarre World of Japanese Pick-Up Schools (Story on Wired)

Last spring, I met Satoshi Fujita, one of the most famous pick-up artists in Japan. My brother came along, and we sat down at a coffee shop with four of his students for two hours, listening to the men talk about their extremely manipulative and effective techniques for NANPA—the Japanese art of picking up girls. It was the most entertaining reporting I'd done in a long time.

The story I wrote about it—along with a beautiful photo gallery of all the master and his horny disciples—is featured on Wired.com today:

Satoshi Fujita is not a good-looking man. He has oily skin, beady eyes, short legs and a boy-band wig to cover his balding head. But that hasn't stopped him from becoming Japan's most sought-after dating coach for geeks.

Fujita's Pickup School for Men Who Can't Get Any teaches geeky, insecure men of all ages how to gain confidence, score dates and get laid -- all based, he says, on a proprietary "science" he discovered after a decade of careful research.

Continue reading...

CBC Radio Show About Japanese Internet Culture

I was on a CBC radio show today talking about Japanese internet culture, 2-channel, and other random stuff.

You can download the podcast here.

io9 = The New Blog I Write For

One of my new gigs in 2008 is as a contributor to io9, Gawker Media's new sci-fi/futurism blog. On launch day a week ago, we got 3/4 million PVs and we're still going strong. I'll be posting there regularly and hosting a bi-monthly column about Japan and robots and futurism and stuff like that. Come read!

You can meet me and the rest of the bloggers here.

io9 Main Page

Miyazaki Rising: A Story of Power, Prison, and Sexual Harassment Part 5

When I got back to New York City, I wrote a letter to the president of Yamada's US branch, Stacy Akiyama, explaining what happened. I saw it as a clear case of sexual harassment.

Of course, Stacy came back saying that he didn't. In fact, he had a younger guy (who was also involved in the beer-pouring incident) write a formal letter of apology to the company but let Miyazaki off scot-free.That's how it's done a lot of times, I guess—they try to minimize accountability of the important people.

Ultimately, I settled for a shopping spree at Kenneth Cole. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but the 22-year old me was satisfied with some new leather boots and the corduroy skirt I always wanted, as a replacement for the outfit that was ruined by the beer. Besides, was I really going to take legal action against the company? No...that would be so un-Japanese of me, and besides, with all the top management denying that it ever really happened, the chances of winning were slim.

I quit a few months later and went to grad school to study women's human rights instead.

And now, five years later, Miyazaki and Stacy are both in jail.

The end.

(Read Miyazaki Rising: A Story of Power, Prison, and Sexual Harassment Part 4)

Miyazaki Rising: A Story of Power, Prison, and Sexual Harassment Part 4

We were a group of about 10 people—about 4 of us from the NY office, 4 from the LA office, the lady from DC, and Miyazaki from Tokyo. We hit up a couple of ordinary-ish bars but they weren't entertaining enough to be any fun with these old geezers in tow. So we ended up at Coyote Ugly.

The hot, busty girls at Coyote Ugly were standing on the bar dancing, grinding, and pouring beer into the horny dancing guys' mouths. Miyazaki looked entertained. The old man was dancing and smiling and having a good time. I felt like I had succeeded in showing this tight-lipped Japanese businessman a good time on his trip to the United States.

Then the girls on stage starting pouring beer down each others' cleavages. The crowd roared. Wet t-shirts and beer! Woohoo!

I felt something cold and wet on my shirt. I looked up, and there was Miyazaki with his beer bottle tipped over my chest. I stifled a scream, grabbed my co-worker's arm, and pulled her outside.

It was the most humiliating moment of my career. I was in Vegas, drenched in beer, standing outside a slutty club where a dirty old executive of the company I'd just started working for had treated me like one of his 17-year old hostess girlfriends.

My co-workers from NY were as pissed as I was at what happened. They walked with me back to the hotel, listened to me rant, and got me some dry clothes. They stayed up with me late into the night as I plotted my revenge.

The next day, while Miyazaki was eating breakfast, my immediate boss made him stand up and apologize to me in front of everybody—including the company's namesake and president Mr. Yamada. Old, drunk Miyazaki didn't remember a thing from the night before, but I'll never forget the moment he stood up and bowed down to me. I am sorry! He said. Words that, today, the entire country of Japan is waiting to hear from him for the crimes he committed.

To be continued...

(Read Miyazaki Rising: A Story of Power, Prison, and Sexual Harassment Part 3)

Miyazaki Rising: A Story of Power, Prison, and Sexual Harassment Part 3

Before I go on to tell you what happened on that night in Vegas, here's a little background on what makes Motonobu Miyazaki relevant today:

Miyazaki was sick of being the #2 guy at Yamada. In June 2006, he left to start his own firm, a direct competitor. He called it Nihon Mirise Corporation—a "rising company" destined for greatness. A credible source once told me that "Mirise" is a double entendre: "Mirai" means "future" in Japanese, but "Mirise" is also short for "Miyazaki rising." The company's name is drenched in one man's ego and desire for power.

Miyazaki took some of his loyal followers with him when he left, including some of the guys I used to work for. Things were going smoothly for a year and change—the company had money, clients, and a growing credibility.

Then, in early November, all hell broke loose. Someone found out that Miyazaki had transferred over 100 million yen from Yamada International to his new company, and he was promptly arrested on suspicion of embezzlement. The scandal was all over the news. A co-conspirator was the president of Yamada's international subsidiary, Osamu "Stacy" Akiyama, who followed Miyazaki's order to transfer a bunch of money to Mirise after he left.

As the investigation continued, all kinds of other sketchy truths came out. A former vice defense minister was involved—he'd let Miyazaki treat him to dozens of expensive golf trips and meals (totally illegal). The duped company, Yamada, was found to have been padding bills from clients since the 1970s to meet sales goals. Akiyama was extradited to Japan, where he went straight to jail. (He made sure to feed and foster his dog before he left his home in LA.)

To be continued...

(Read Miyazaki Rising: A Story of Power, Prison, and Sexual Harassment Part 2)

 

Miyazaki Rising: A Story of Power, Prison, and Sexual Harassment Part 2

The following day, a corporate conduct expert sat us down in a giant meeting room and talked to us about sexual harassment. It's not okay to make suggestive comments to your coworkers. It's not okay for the boss to grab his secretary's ass on his way to the bathroom. Despite its obviousness to most people who have been in the workforce in America for awhile, the Japanese contingency sat there with blank stares. (What do you mean, it's not okay? I spent decades being loyal to my company just so I could be a boss and do that one day.)

The seminar ended at five, and then we had a dinner to go to. I don't remember what we ate. I do remember walking in a couple minutes late and getting in trouble with the lady who headed the Washington, DC office. I was the newest and youngest Yamada employee at the meeting, and it was slightly embarrassing.

To redeem myself, I invited the lady to go bar-hopping with us after dinner. She was older, but whatever, she said yes. And then she said, invite Mr. Miyazaki! I looked across the room at the senior managing director of our parent company. I flinched at the idea, then looked at my co-workers grinning from ear to ear, and thought, why the hell not? So I went up to the guy—sixty-something years old, and the #2 guy at the company at the time—and said, "Mr. Miyazaki, we're going for a drink. Would you like to come with us?"

Miyazaki said, "Yes. I have a 17-year old girlfriend in Japan." I said, "Wow. That's cool."

Actually, it's not cool at all. I knew immediately that Miyazaki was one of those DOMs—dirty old men who frequented hostess clubs and cheated on their wives and probably did all kinds of other unethical shit I don't even want to know about. I could only hope that he would behave himself or go off on his own at some point in the evening.

To be continued...

(Read Miyazaki Rising: A Story of Power, Prison, and Sexual Harassment Part 1)

Miyazaki Rising: A Story of Power, Prison, and Sexual Harassment Part 1

As promised, here is the story about my episode with jailed embezzler Mr. Miyazaki in Vegas...I will be writing it in installments, updated daily:

My first real job out of college was at the New York branch of a Japanese exporting firm in the defense and aerospace industry. My task was simple — I logged purchase orders for hot shot defense contractor clients and made sure their stuff got delivered to the Japan Defense Agency on time and undamaged. The company was Yamada International Corporation, a fully owned subsidiary of Yamada Corporation, a private trading house, well-known in Japan for delivering quality engine parts and spy equipment to the JDA—a faithful client.

I worked in a small office near Grand Central Station in New York City with about 15 others—all young, single, Japanese citizens who'd been living in the US with working visas for several years. We were a fun crew—we sent each other silly intra-office notes, bonded over which $6 lunch to buy from the bento guy who came every morning at 10am, gossiped about our colleagues at the parent company in Japan, and questioned why we couldn't wear sneakers to work or why all the women in the company had different titles than the men.

It was October 2002, and Mr. Yamada invited the entire company to an annual meeting in Vegas. Despite the promise of boring meetings two days in a row, we were psyched to be there—besides, it was Halloween weekend. My co-workers and I went to a Halloween superstore on Manhattan and bought costumes. (Tom was a pimp; Yukari was a french maid; I was a slutty pirate.) We each got our own rooms at a kitschy Vegas Hotel. On the first night, we partied it up at some fancy nightclub in the Bellagio.

To be continued...