Again via Gen. And again, this rings so, so true to me.

The smug, tone-deaf arrogance (and serene self-assurance) of Aso remind me greatly of my old bosses at Dentsu, who clearly suffered from Dunning-Kruger. Via gen.

WARNING SERIOUS UNCANNY VALLEY GROSSNESS. No prize for guessing where it comes from. (A friendly reminder to the design staff: DON'T DATE ROBOTS!)

Via John Robinson, for Matt Jones: "You can't not make infrastructure." As disgusted by their reality as I am - they're a massive subsidy of the Japanese concrete industry, not an effective erosion-control measure - these are *stunning* pictures of tetrapods, by a variety of folks. Not to be missed.

A largely visual, coffee-table book on the hypermediated urban visual environment, understandably if unfortunately Nippocentric. The texts were too poorly designed to read comfortably, at least standing in Kiasma's gift shop...

Analyst: "I don’t think the Skype kind of application is going to become mainstream.” And the total world market for computers is five.

The Japanese translation of a piece I wrote for Adobe a year or two back.

Not sure a few asocial dudes make a trend. And it's far from a Japan-only thing - haven't they ever heard of Real Dolls? Nevertheless, watch out if these go animatronic. Called that a long time ago.

"And so the Japanese keep themselves very well informed. When they travel to the west, they know where to go. They consume culture in a way we, its progenitors and original makers, are too complacent to."

If "Individuality" makes you shine, I wonder what effect individuality would have.

*Incredibly* kind and flattering commentary on my July talk at Keio by a influential Japanese tech writer. (He compares me - favorably yet! - to Messrs. Jobs and Lessig. I am humbled.)

The article I was interviewed for, and do not appear in

<nelsonmuntz>