Shack Attack

Last Train

Maybe they've got this in other cities in the States, but coming from San Francisco, where major transit lines run on the half hour all night long, Tokyo's "last train" thing was entirely new to me. This is a pretty big city, too big to cheaply taxi or easily walk home, so missing the "shuden" (終電＝しゅうでん＝"shuuden"= "last train") means you're not getting home until morning. There are all sorts of ways to pass the time, from partying at a club to to karaoke to reading manga at a manga cafe, but if you plan on being home that night, you had better make your shuden.

Shinjuku station around 11:30, when the last trains are starting to leave:

These guys have already missed their final trains, and are going to be sleeping on the steps of the station entrance. In a short while, they'll be joined by Tokyo's homeless population, quietly and politely unfolding their cardboard-box homes after the doors of the station close.

The Hanzomon's last Oshiage-bound train pulls up to Kudanshita station:

This is what it feels like to be on a shuden. Absolutely packed, and when you hit a big transfer station, you move halfway down the car, pushed by the waves of disembarking and boarding passengers.

Context: I was out tonight on a date of sorts, with a girl named Saori (a follow-up to last week). We went to see "Burn After Reading," the newest film by the Coen brothers. My short take on it: funny and worth watching, but not their best work, and probably better seen on DVD. Dinner after the movie:

For those following my tumultuous (ha!) love life, Miyuki and I split up a few weeks ago. Her future was in France, mine is either in Japan or the States, and we both got too busy with things to see each other. Such is life.

Tofulator

Icanhascheezburger.com has turned into a total meme factory. They figure out the hottest in consumer-generated hilarity, repost and brand it, then run ads on the side. Genius.

The newest piece of their media empire is Tofulator, which joins I Can Has Cheezburger?, Pundit Kitchen, Fail Blog, and Engrish. Tofulator's niche is funny video captions:

I dunno, I think they're pretty funny.

Takoyaki Is All Kinds of Delicious

Takoyaki is a combination of the words tako (octopus), and yaku (grill). I'm not a big octopus fan, and really can't deal with it raw, but the tako in takoyaki is but a small part of its battery goodness.

The batter next to a takoyaki pan, an electric griddle with round indentations. Grease the bottom a tiny bit, pour in the batter, and when the time's right, use chopsticks to flip the ball over and finish it.

Somebody brought delicious apple pie, but there wasn't enough for everyone, so we hid in the bathroom and had a secret, exclusive pie-eating party.

You get used to the "V for victory" sign when you live here. Maybe too used to it; I hope I can kick the habit before I get back to the states. Crap, I totally forget what westerners do with their hands in photos.

Drinking on the trains is A-ok.

Alia on the right, maybe the coolest girl in the whole wide world. She's from my school in the states, and we're trying to hunt down next year's housing right now. I really like the expression of the Japanese girl off to her right; it's a pretty classic "wtf are these gaijin up to?" look.

Otsukare!

Want to make some Takoyaki yourself?

"Takoyaki" (from About.com)

Tako means octopus in Japanese, and takoyaki are known as octopus balls. Takoyaki venders are very popular in Japan. To make takoyaki, a grill pan for takoyaki is used. The pan has many small cups to pour the batter.

Ingredients:

* 1 2/3 cup flour
* 2 1/2 cup dashi soup
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 lb. boiled octopus, cut into bite-size pieces
* 1/4 cup chopped green onion
* 1/4 cup dried sakura ebi (red shrimp)
* 1/4 cup chopped pickled red ginger
* *For toppings:
* katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
* aonori (green seaweed powder)
* Worcestershire sauce or takoyaki sauce
* mayonnaise

Preparation:

Mix flour, dashi soup, and eggs in a bowl to make batter. Thickness of the batter should be like potage soup. Put oil inside cups of a takoyaki grill pan. Pour batter into the cups to the full. Put octopus, red ginger, and green onion in each hole. Grill takoyaki balls, turning with a pick. When takoyaki become rounds and brown, remove them from the pan and place in a plate. Put sauce and mayonnaise on takoyaki and sprinkle bonito flakes and aonori on the top. *makes 4 servings

(Original Source)

Facebook Groups: E-Mail Marketing, Evolved

Facebook messages are my generation's email. Sure, there are things you can't do with Facebook- back up or own your data, email people outside of the network, attach files, forward- but for casual communication, many people are willing to trade flexibility for convenience. Want to message your friend? Just type in their name. Link to a photo album, cool video, or blog, and they'll see a little preview. There's no spam, and you can be absolutely sure that the person sending you mail is who they say they are. Facebook messaging is a warm, fuzzy, fun version of email....at least until the happy-go-lucky kids sitting on giant Facebook groups realize that they can leverage what's potentially the world's most powerful online marketing platform.

Facebook groups are huge- the largest reach into the millions- and viral. Whether it's "We Hate the New Facebook Layout" or "Save Darfur" or procrastination, coming up with a title and a tiny bit of copy that touches the hearts of internet adolescents can create groups of tens of thousands in days.

What's are the implications for marketing? The biggest is that a facebook group has a channel to each user's Facebook inbox, a much more personal, friendly communications space than email. Within the walled garden of Facebook, our spam detectors are off; messages are fewer, get read more, and receive the benefit of the doubt. Furthermore, since groups are formed around particular themes, members self-select based on love for a cause, idea, or product, making it easy to sculpt messages to fit them.

That's not to say that a marketer can just pay a kid for his facebook group. One of the reasons we feel safe in the garden of Facebook is the real name culture, the idea that everyone is exactly who they say they are. Yes, it's possible to create a fake persona, but what's the point? Facebook is about connecting with people from real life online, and any person that can create a fake persona witty, exciting, or friendly enough to convince people to friend him would be better off just joining as himself. Because we know who is on the other end of the messages and links that pass through facebook, there's trust and accountability. If a marketer bought the six million member Guiness World Record group and sent them a message advertising an online casino, he'd get shut down pretty quickly- not only can users report a message as spam, but when messages are sent to large groups, the delivery is delayed a bit as facebook vets for obvious violations of its terms of service. Facebook groups are not simple mailing lists.

What if, though, someone had a little more brains in them? A girl named Yuri Campbell owns a 7,700 member "Tokyo Pride" group. What if she were to work with a club to arrange discount tickets to an event, requiring submitting an email address to get the discount? What if she were to send out a series of free newsletters over the messaging protocol, then weave in Japan-related products and events (using affiliate links)? What if she partnered with a company selling audio walking tours of Tokyo or seminars on how to pick up women in Asia, and sent out a series of Frank Kern-style squeeze messages, writing like an enthusiastic friend but building up the pressure until the readers can't resist buying?

I think there's a sweet spot where Facebook messages deliver content people want, fly under the spam radar, and effectively convert recipients to email/blog subscribers, or even right to customers. I'm not saying I'm looking forward to it, but when you have millions of people subscribed to thousands of what are funamentally mailing lists, someone's bound to figure out how to leverage them. It's not going to be long before the happy-go-lucky Canadian that owns the 2 million member 90's nostalgia group to realize that with a few smart partnerships and a little marketing training, he can make a healthy buck.

Actually, maybe not- the most effectiv e use of facebook groups will be people that own the biggest group in a meme, then leverage it right as the meme is peaking. 90's-boy might be able to sell a few t-shirts or harvest emails, but the real money is going to be watching for a new meme, getting a related group going with a quickness, and then immediately turning around and converting your members' interest into $$$. It should be interesting to see when this starts happening in large numbers, and whether Facebook or its community do anything in reaction.

Rape is Not the Cure for Lesbianism (duh)

"Hey, what should we do about lesbians?" "Let's rape them! That'll make them see how great men are!"

I'm pretty disgusted by passive homophobes already, but words just fail here. This is one of the worst things I've seen in a long time (note to email subscribers: I think you have to go to the actual post to see the video)

It sucks that we still have homophobes in America; anyone not working for the freedom to love is an active agent in its repression.