w00kie's ramblings

Month: November 2008

  • Why do Japanese octopus wear headbands?

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    w00kie
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    I’ve been wondering about this for a long time: why are たこ always represented wearing 鉢巻? I mean, I understand the mouth, but where does the headband come from? Is it because hachimaki is a symbol of hard workers and the tako with its 8 “arms” must be good at multi-tasking? Photo courtesy of kamoda

  • Train accident on my way to work

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    w00kie
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    This morning, on my way to work, my train stopped one express station after mine. Some accident had happened on the line and the traffic was stopped for 2-3 hours. No way I could get to work, and once the train would start running again there’d be no bus left to bring me from the…

  • U.S. Elections impact on Japan

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    w00kie
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    I don’t know if we will see any real difference here with Democrats instead of Republicans at the helm over there. All I know is this made me laugh right after lunch. A friend of mine who works in a cargo ship brokering firm forwarded me a market report written by another broker: Following the…

  • 3-day weekend in Karuizawa

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    w00kie
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    I spent last weekend, which was a 3-day holiday with 文化の日 on monday, in 軽井沢, which could be compared to the Gstaad or Courchevel of Japan. Of course, it’s a pretty far-fetched comparison: the ski-station could barely be called a hill, but anyways that’s where all the rich CEO’s buy fabulous chalets and come chill…