Heja!

Best in the World - or so

It has to be mentioned and is really smth to boost over:

Sweden, with a population of 9 millions (less then Tokyo….) took 14 (fourteen!) medals in the Olympics!!!

WE are so good!

The ice hockey yesterday was just an outstanding thrill and amusement. We couldn’t find a Swedish flag to buy beforehand, but we managed to create a couple our selves. Today it enthrones the office. After all, there are some advantages with the grand country up north! The Father land. The country of the midnight sun, the open country, with the strong and beautiful women, the land with the inherent feelings for fairness and equality, with the great nature and clean air. And the country with no fake shy- or humbleness :-)

Pic; Curling team Norberg, one of the Gold winners!

Bag Ladies

I am a nerd when it comes to handbags. I believe there is one ultimate handbag for every occasion. The challenge is to find THE handbag that is optimal for as many situations as possible. There is not such a thing, of course. The closest you can come is to find one bag for every situation – which of course is not realistic. So there has to be compromises. (Nevertheless the illusion to find the optimal handbag is a guiding principle whenever passing a Hand Bag Shop :)

In Tokyo handbags are important business and most importantly when it comes to famous and expensive brands. The outstandingly most frequent model you see is Louis Vuitton’s. The daughter and I actually counted how many L V handbags we saw during a stroll to Roppongi the other week. After a 20 minutes walk we had spotted 16 LV bags. One thing that makes it remarkable is the cost of the purses. The most simply model costs at least 150 000 yen (10 000 SEK or 1000 EUR!). But most of them are around two three times more! It is amazing much money to put on handbag. Secondly, and additionally amazing is that these extraordinary popular models have the LV-logo printed all over! So the carriers are actually living billboard for the brand. Thirdly, they are obviously also at the same time signalling “Hey, I can afford this kind of bag” :-).

But as it happened I run into another famous brand’s shop close to my house. And (veeery) surprisingly I also became an owner of a brand handbag….. This was under the New Year sale – so the price was off 30% and the ordinary price for the bag is far below LV's! (Info provided in case anyone close to me worries). However, it has to be said; wearing a high quality handbag is a very nice experience! Let me quote the founder of the brand where I made my fantastic bargain, Giorgio A. When he talks about fashion his guiding principle is that good style fashion should: “….give confidence but not define the personality”. I buy that!

What makes it so special?

When I arrived here the first time, 6 years ago, I immediately fell in love in this country! Often I see that happen to others temporary visitors, or inhabitants (that quite often planned to stay for a short while but ended up living here for 6, 15 or 20 years!).

Something in this country and city certainly attracts and fascinates a lot! So what is it then that makes this happen? Hmmm. Some of the uniqueness I experience is the polite- and kindness in people you meet. Japanese people are very kind! Another trait is the hard working almost passionate devotedness’ to duties you see around. Let it be the guy giving away ad’s on the street, the top manager in all employers meetings or you co-workers. It is impressing! Not to mention the safe and secure environment you experience out there. No worry if it is in the middle of the night in narrow streets or in stations. You do not experience any threat what so ever! You can see children out in the evenings and can tell by looking at them that they feel safe. It is also (mostly) a joy to see how carefully and neat things are arranged, let it be packaging, flower arrangement or outfits in the streets. Let it be punk rockers or official trendsetters. Yeah, I think above gives a glimpse of some of the things that strikes us westerners when arriving here. However, one bi-effect of living here for a while is when listening to the news from the home country over Internet. It has hit me several times that everyone seems so bloody psyched up. In interviews about trivial subjects the voices are quite often shrilled and the approach almost as if the end of the life on earth is near. Even the weather reports seems to be a matter of life and death. Hey, calm down, life is short and the spring is around the corner. (Also in the country up north where the sun goes down :-)

Well, well, well

There are downsides also. Just let me drop the constant fear of the next big earthquake. It is not a matter of IF but WHEN it will happen in this, from a geological point of view, quite badly located country.

And I just hate to hear people hawk and sniff loudly (rudely!) around me, especially in the mornings and when the distance in the train is just a couple of centimetres. Urrrk.

There are some other things as well. Another time, maybe.

Congrats!

Five (5!) Grammis to the king of rock, the world saviour and the handsomegoodlockingdammniceirishfellow guys.
On top of that they will actually come to Tokyo soon :-)

http://www.data.org/
http://www.one.org/
http://www.joinred.com/

Science Fiction UX

I haven’t quite recovered but let me tell you about the Health Check I had last week. Just a regular health check but it was the most extensive examination I ever have experienced. Gosh, I was examined straight up and up side down, from the sides, back and front and inside out. The whole experience was framed by that the first thing I had to do was to undress and get into a kind of “uniform pyjamas” approximately 6 sizes to small, for me.

Believe it or not but all in all there were 13 stations for different kind of examinations! The medical clinic was moreover spread over 5 floors. So for more then 2 hours I, and everyone else called in for examination that day, was busy travelling up and down between the floor in our great uniforms in pink an blue. It was an unrealistic feeling over it all – or as we participated in a futuristic incomprehensible movie. Except for the extensive health check I had to spend the entire evening before filling in approximately 50 questions. The spectra of question covering everything form my inner felling (“any time felt so sad that you feel that you would like to die?”) to trivial questions such if I have experienced tension in my shoulders. Furthermore in the morning I had to prepare and bring samples of both the big thing and the small thing, if you see what I mean. (Well I did not manage so well with both of the samples but I spare you the details). As the crown of the day and all activities, we were all provided lunch to intake at the medical centre.
So what kind of stations was there in the health check up? Well, here is the list. BTW I was asked in written beforehand to refrain from drinking and eating from 9 o clock the evening before. But I thought what the heck – it is just a health check up not an operation. But listen carefully to my advice; Refrain from eating and drinking the night before you are going to experience a health check in this scrupulous country!

This is what you have to conquer, after providing the various samples you brought with you and the 50Q-form you also provided!
1 Blood sample and blood pressure
2 Gynaecological examination; this is a story in it self. Not so bad actually.
3 Lung X-ray
4 Breasts X-ray.
5 Measure of the stomach (!). This I just have to tell you about, you get some liquid to swallow; thereafter you are put into machine and asked to lay down. The “Driver” of that equipment starts navigating as it is an gaming machine, and demand you to turn to the left, to the right, roll around, lower your head, down with your feet turn around and around three times. It was quite funny. Of course all instruction was in Japanese. Lot of laughs!
6 Heart beat measure (?) with cables all over the body.
7 Ultra sound for measuring – I think – the kidneys and liver.
8 Sight check
9 Hearing check
10 Height and weight check.
11 Breath out and in check.
12 Meet the doctor, do I have any question? Actually I had. Q: Why did they measure my stomach? A: Because they measured the stomach! Mmm, aah I see!
13 Left and right eye, deeply photographed, Puff, puff with air straight into your eyes. This was the most uncomfortable part, for me being phobic about eyes.

Afterwards it was quite interesting to see the other clients during the lunch, all in their own clothes dressed up again, and not just other anonymous science fictions co-actors.