ECONOCLASM

Fly Inn restaurant at Helsinki Airport Terminal 2

2012-01-09T08:40:00.000+01:00

If you use Helsinki Airport Terminal 2 for flying to other European destinations, take half an hour to eat at Fly Inn restaurant, located inside the security checkpoints. Its tree-featured interior provides the coziest atmosphere in the airport. Have the Fly Inn salad, green leaves with marinated tomatoes, watermelons, and lime vinegar dressing. This lime vinegar dressing is awesome. Complimentary bread is decent along with rock-salt-sprinkled butter.

21st century Japanese calligraphy

2012-01-02T12:32:00.002+01:00

One of the traditional things to do in Japan on 2nd January is kakizome or the first calligraphy of the year. So I'd like to share with you a 21st century form of Japanese calligraphy (named "kuhsho" or spatial calligraphy) invented by Team Lab in collaboration with professional calligrapher Sishu. Enjoy.

美の壺(ｂｉｎｏｔｓｕｂｏ) from TEAMLAB on Vimeo.

Your neighborhood greengrocer

2012-01-01T08:24:00.003+01:00

About a few minute walk from my parents' place in an eastern suburb of Tokyo, a greengrocer still remains in operation. My mother is a regular customer, and the store owner tells her whether each vegetable and fruit is worth buying each day. He goes like, "Grapes from Yamagata (a prefecture in northern Japan) are great. Those from Yamanashi (another prefecture immediately to the west of Tokyo), though it is famous for grapes, are not very good." According to him, the best potatoes come from Mikatagahara (near Nagoya), onions from Awaji (an island off the coast of Osaka), and so on.

Such a greengrocer in your neighborhood enriches your life. Compare this to shopping vegetables and fruits at the ubiquitous supermarkets. There is no one whom you can ask which oranges are good. Each day they just put vegetables and fruits in bulk on the shelf. Customers cannot tell whether today's "harvest" is better or worse than usual. The only information you get is the price.

On the other hand, there's no fishmonger in my parents' neighborhood. My mother ends up buying fish at a soulless supermarket, and my parents complain that their fish doesn't taste good.

Ranting against supermarkets may sound like an out-dated anti-modernist complaint. But think about it. Do you enjoy going to a supermarket to buy foods for today's dinner? If the shopping involves the encounter with a food connoisseur like the greengrocer in my parents' neighborhood, even the process of shopping becomes fun. Greengrocers are like DJs for music, curators for art, journalists for world events, consultants for corporate management, or interior designers for opening an attractive shop.

Grand cleaning

2011-12-31T08:32:00.002+01:00

In Japan, the last few days in December is when people clean up their home on an extensive scale (we call this oo-soji or grand cleaning). And today I helped my parents do this grand cleaning, well, only a little bit. :P

Which reminds me of what I always don't understand: why is any modern house designed to be difficult to clean up? Perhaps talented, influential house interior designers in the Western world only have wealthy clients who can afford hiring house cleaners and thus never care about whether it is easy to clean.

The Monocle Cafe

2011-12-25T00:43:00.003+01:00

Every half a year, Tokyo sees something new. The latter half of the year 2011 saw the opening of Hankyu Men's Tokyo, a department store specializing in men's fashion, in Yurakucho (the area right next to Ginza). Although it may sound unusual to people outside Tokyo, the whole department store building dedicated to men's fashion is nothing new in Tokyo: Marui Men for youngsters and Isetan Men's for grown-ups have been around in Shinjuku for ages by now.

What's really new about this department store is a cafe on the lower ground floor: The Monocle Cafe. Monocle is a magazine that has been advocating for the ideal urban environment which, of course, includes cafes. Perhaps unusual for such a magazine, the editor Tyler Brule has decided to open the magazine's own cafe in Tokyo.

Omotesando Koffee, one of the best coffee houses in Tokyo, is in charge of coffee served. The food menu includes katsu (Japanese pork schnitzel) sandwiches, which consist of a succulent pork fillet, crispy deep-fried breadcrumb, thick tonkatsu sauce, and slices of toasted smooth-textured bread. It's probably one of the best katsu sandwiches served in Tokyo.

But the Monocle Cafe is not only about coffee and foods. The wooden interior design, implemented by Maruni, a Japanese wooden furniture manufacturer in business for more than 80 years, creates a heartwarming atmosphere. Especially, their Hiroshima lounge chairs, designed by Naoto Fukazawa, the leading Japanese product designer, have such a smooth, beautiful surface of the back rest that is comfortable both to lean against and to watch when the chair is not occupied.

Last but not least, the cafe staff is super customer-friendly, even by judging from very demanding Japanese standards of service quality. When the kitchen ends up serving a different food than the one I order, they don't just apologize but first throw away my cup of espresso to replace it with the one just brewed in time for my food served. Then they deliver everything to my table (by default, customers order coffee and foods at the counter and take them themselves to their table). When I realize I need some sugar for my espresso, the waiter standing nearby just notices it and brings a sugar container to my table. This kind of services can be overwhelming to customers, but the Monocle Cafe staff know how friendly services do not feel too much.

Also great about this cafe is that customers can read a sample Monocle magazine and that some of the tables offer electric sockets.

When you visit Ginza, do stop by at this cafe. You won't get disappointed.

Added on 8 January
On the second visit, I had Monocle curry (curry with rice in Japanese style) and yuzu squash (Japanese citrus sparkling juice). For foreign visitors, these must be interesting. But for Japanese people, they are nothing special. And today's staff was less professional. Another problem is the cafe's WiFi access. You first have to email a blank message to obtain the password to get access. For foreign visitors like me who have no 3G internet access, this is super useless. Having said that, it's still worth visiting for cozy interiors, katsu sandwiches, and Omotesando Koffee's coffee kashi.

Rolex Learning Center, and the future of architecture exhibitions

2011-12-24T19:03:00.002+01:00

I visited an exhibition entitled "Architectural Environments for Tomorrow" held at the Museum of Modern Art Tokyo. Co-curators of the exhibition are the Prizker prize-winner Japanese architect duo SANAA.

The exhibition begins with a model of the Rolex Learning Center, designed by SANAA, and ends with a short, looping 3D movie entitled "If Buildings Could Talk" by Wim Wenders, which features the Rolex Learning Center. There are a few other interesting installations by other architects and artists (the boundary between architecture and art is increasingly blurred these days), but at the end of the day, the whole idea of this exhibition seems to be symbolized by this SANAA creation.

The Center, located in the campus of Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, is a future of the college building. Three things characterize the building, all of which enhance the academic and learning environment. First, it is a one-floor building with no wall separating rooms. You can easily spot where your buddies are. In an academic environment, the exchange of information and opinions out of casual meetings is often quite important a trigger for coming up with (and triaging) new ideas. If your friends, colleagues, and acquaintances hide in a room, upstairs, or downstairs, this won't happen. I myself experience a tall wall between different floors in an academic building, both in London and in Stockholm. It is really tall. Trust me.

The second feature of the building is light. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows separate the inside and the outside of the building throughout. There are several circular "courtyards" which allows the sunlight to flow in to the area far away from the outline of the building. The wavy building structure allows the light and the shade created by the sunlight to change over time in a day not in an obvious way.

Finally, the hills. The floor of the building is a rolling field. There are gradual, organic slopes up and down. It is like a park. And in a park, people often go up on the hill and sit down there to get relaxed with the vantage point view. The hill slope also helps people to lie down in a natural way. With the light flowing in and the distance view thanks to the open-plan one-floor structure, the inside of the building can play a role of a park with hills.

What's important in studying is taking a break from time to time. Hard-working is important, but breakthrough ideas often occur to people's mind when they feel relaxed after hard-working. Very few academic buildings can provide researchers and students with this relaxing atmosphere. The Rolex Learning Center just does that.

Now, everything I just wrote here is what I noticed by watching the Wim Wenders's 3D movie of the Center, by sitting close to the screen on the floor with low-height sofas to lie down against, so that I feel like I were actually inside the building. (The movie does show students lying down on low-height sofas placed on those slopes.) The Learning Center's model that I saw at the beginning of the exhibition didn't really help me understand SANAA's design concept this way. Here I saw the future of the exhibition on architecture. Understanding architecture (or space design in general) without actually visiting it is essentially impossible. Most exhibitions on architecture face this problem. With 3D movies, this eternal issue can be resolved as Wim Wenders successfully did.

Seafood in Japan

2011-12-24T15:25:00.061+01:00

A good friend of mine took me to his favorite upmarket sushi restaurant. Since it was the last minute booking, we ended up at "table seats" instead of "counter seats" and because of this, the waiter on the phone apologized to my friend. I, as a Japanese person brainwashed by European dining culture, thought sitting at a counter in a restaurant was inferior to sitting at a table. In a proper Japanese restaurant, however, it's the other way around. Sitting at a counter is more desirable, perhaps because the chef works inside the counter and sitting at the counter allows customers to see how the chef cooks foods.

I didn't know this before. I'm foreign to Japan.

At a luxury sushi restaurant, you don't eat sushi only. You start with other seafood dishes. So we first had raw oysters with ground black pepper. I didn't know black pepper goes well with oysters. Then we had two kinds of fish grilled: nodoguro (also known as akamutsu) and mehikari (also known as aome-eso). Both tasted impressive (and I'm frustrated as I don't have enough vocabulary in English to describe the subtle taste of different kinds of fish).

The variety of fish eaten by Japanese people is just beyond my memory capacity. The other day, my mother served sashimi of sayori and kohada (which is the name of a child konoshiro). Some fish even changes its name as it grows (kohada is an example). For most of the fish, the translation into English doesn't make any sense as foreigners don't eat them. So I just use the Japanese names here.

Omotesando Koffee

2011-12-23T08:56:00.002+01:00

If I'm asked to recommend the best coffee shop in Tokyo, I immediately mention Omotesando Koffee because it combines the Japanese tradition and the 21st century design philosophy at its best.

The traditional side is represented by the house that houses the shop. It's a small, old-style residential house. Facing the alley is an old-style wooden gate with a roof. Inside the gate spreads a small garden surrounded by a concrete block wall (typical of the mid-20th century Japanese urban landscape) and a wooden house. A narrow flower bed along the wall accommodates non-conspicuous flowers and grass plants.

Inside the house sits a cubic kiosk within which the shop owner brews and serves coffee to customers over the counter. The design of the shop is all based on the cubic shape. The signage at the entrance on the alley is a black metal square ring on a stand. The white paper menu on the counter divides its surface into multiple squares each of which lists one particular coffee (espresso, macchiato, cappuccino, etc.). Each component of the kiosk is also a cube, since it's meant to be mobile: the house is planned to be demolished soon (though the house owner just decided to postpone the plan). Finally, the koffee kashi, the original baked custard designed to stimulate your appetite for coffee, is cube-shaped. All this consistent design philosophy, along with the interior of a Japanese old residential house, creates a tranquil atmosphere, tranquil enough to focus your five senses to the present moment of tasting coffee.

There's no seat or table inside. The shop is more of an Italian bar where people just hop in and quickly gulp a cup of espresso. It is in the middle of a quiet residential area three blocks away from the busy Omotesando boulevard. A little bit difficult to spot, but it is worth visiting as nowhere else can offer such an experience.

If you need a second opinion, I would mention that Monocle magazine editors love this place so much that when they opened their own cafe on the basement of Hankyu Men's department store in Ginza last autumn, they asked Omotesando Koffee to train their barristers and decided to serve its coffee and koffee kashi at the cafe.

Hackney Pearl

2011-12-15T09:19:00.000+01:00

The Hackney Pearl (11 Prince Edward Road) is a cafe located within a minute walk from Hackney Wick London Overground station (one station to the west from Stratford). Once you get off the station, you might wonder if you come to the right place, as the area is quite run-down. But you are right. The cafe is located almost like in the middle of nowhere. Still, it is one of the best places to eat in London. My onglet steak (for 15.50 pounds) was simply awesome, the best steak I've ever had in years. The staff is super friendly. The decor is homey, in stark contrast to the landscape through the floor-to-ceiling windows facing the street (which increases the feeling of coziness inside). If you visit London for the Olympic Game next year, it's worth a trip.

Pinchito

2011-12-12T09:25:00.002+01:00

There are quite a few Spanish tapas restaurants in London. But most of them are rather disappointing. Pinchito Tapas, a couple of minute walk from Old Street station, is an exception. The black-and-red interior invites you to the trendy Barcelona bar atmosphere, vibrant with Spanish-speaking customers while maintaining the right amount of noise. Each tapas dish is presented beautifully and tastes delicious. The service is proper.

Another discovery in Stockholm

2011-11-12T20:01:00.001+01:00

I've finally discovered a Stockholm cafe that I like in every aspect: coffee, food, the interior, and the appropriate level of business (ie. some seats available).

It was totally by chance for me to discover a cafe called Foam. The other day I was walking on Karlavägen, a pleasant boulevard in the poshest district of Stockholm known as Östermalm. I noticed a rusty blue metallic door with cute-looking tiny windows in an otherwise standard-looking building on the street corner.

It looks like an entrance to a hip bar or something. But it was in the early afternoon, and I saw some people entering and exiting from the place. Out of curiosity, I entered the place.

Inside spreads the interior rather different from what I imagined from the entrance door appearance. I immediately liked it without understanding why. Customers are all well-groomed and trendy types. I just had a cup of espresso quickly. It tasted slightly sour, but within an acceptable range (unlike coffee served by many other cafes in Stockholm).

Today, I revisited the cafe for lunch. I didn't expect much in terms of foods, honestly speaking. But my sourdough bread toast sandwich with tomato and mozzarella, when served, smelled very nice. I never had this pleasant smell when I had a toast sandwich in Stockholm. It turns out that they use tapenade (Provencal paste of olives, capers, and anchovies) to make the otherwise standard toast sandwich a bit different. (Sourdough bread is so popular in Stockholm right now). And it tasted excellent. Accompanying salad was also pleasantly fresh (which is not easy in Stockholm's winter).

And a glass of cafe latte tasted very good. It's unusual for me to get satisfied from both foods and coffee in a cafe in Stockholm (the only exception is Mellqvist Kaffebar).

Then I looked around, trying to understand why I like this cafe's interior. The cafe comprises three materials that would usually look mutually incompatible: birch wood, grey concrete, and shocking pink plastic and textile. (It may not be birch or plastic, but what's important is what they look like.) Each material dominates one of the three sections in the cafe, and what's stunning is that the diagonal boundary between these sections (also the edgy shape of the wooden counters in the concrete area) makes the transition very smooth. As a result, the cafe has an integrated atmosphere that's unique. Randomly hung hand-blown glass lamps just enhance the vibe.

Depending on your mood, you can choose which section of the cafe to sit down. If you want to relax, go to the birch section.

If you're passionate, have a seat at the shocking pink section.

If you feel inorganic and modernist, stay at the concrete area. The presence of the other two sections, however, adds the cool feeling to wherever you settle.

Once you understand this, the totally-different looking rusty-blue entrance door now makes sense. It cannot be birth, concrete or pink. It should be something totally different AND provocative enough for walkers-by to peek in (as I did). Once you open the door, you cannot help saying, "Wow."

The cafe interior was designed by Note Design Studio.

Stockholm as one of the best travel destinations

2011-11-05T15:30:00.003+01:00

My feeling that Stockholm has been getting a lot more exciting in the past couple of years seems to be not so totally off the mark.

Worldwide travel guides such as Lonely Planet and Rough Guide pick Stockholm as one of the top 10 destinations this year. Lesser-known but more trend-conscious city guides such as Shift City Guide and Nectar & Pulse fail to miss Stockholm among their list of cities.

Perhaps I made a good decision to stay in Stockholm rather than running away after the first few years of dismal life (as you can tell if you read the previous posts on this blog). :)

And a couple of more discoveries in Stockholm: this time design shops in SoFo: Manos and Kiki. Both are on Renstiernas Gata, the street running north-to-south on the eastern part of Södermalm. I personally believe that SoFo, the bohemian district of Stockholm, is way too much overrated, but these two shops deserve such a hype.

Some of the recent discoveries in Stockholm

2011-11-03T20:53:00.000+01:00

Living in Stockholm is getting more interesting these days, partly because more and more unique and interesting places are opening up (such as Serrano and ZeeSide). But it's also because I was simply out of luck in the past four years: I didn't have a chance to visit a decent place, and even if I had, the place was packed with people and I was forced to leave for another mediocre place.

First, those newly opened. Restaurang Volt. I took a foreign visitor to our workplace to this restaurant a few months ago. In my view, this restaurant is simply the best in Stockholm. On the menu, they only mention ingredients. How meats or vegetables are cooked is totally hidden. Once they were served, it was clear why. For example, if you order carrots as the starter, carrots are cooked in several different ways (pickled, mashed, fried, etc.), a small portion of each is served on a plate. You'll be delighted by different textures and tastes out of the same ingredient. They also serve unusual drinks such as orange wine. If you want to enjoy a bit different dinner, this is the place to go.

Another newly opened place that I discovered recently is Juiceverket. What they serve is similar to Joe & The Juice in Copenhagen or Forbidden Fruit in Tokyo: freshly squeezed mixed fruit juice, smoothies, and nutritional boosters in a shot glass. But what's unique about this place is its interior. Very much inconsistent with our image of fruit juice, the wall behind the counter and the floor is what can be called rusty chic (which is by the way VERY unusual in fastidiously-clean Stockholm). Placed on the shelf are an antique television set, old books, mid-century jewelry boxes, and the like. Fruits are tacked together on one corner, unusual for a juice stand where oranges and apples and so on tend to dominate your sight. And I really love this place. It was only opened two months ago.

Then those that have always been there since I moved to Stockholm but which I didn't have a chance to visit until recently. Haga Forum. If you want to have a relaxed and tasty weekend brunch in Stockholm, this is the place to go. A view of the lake through the floor-to-ceiling windows and a restrained appearance of tables and chairs along with decently-cooked Swedish foods on a buffet create a cosy atmosphere from which you don't wanna leave.

Another gem found in Gamla Stan (the oldest part of the city) is Chaikhana (CAUTION: the linked website of theirs starts playing atmospheric music). The last time I came here, it was a winter Saturday and the place was packed (they don't have many seats here). On a weekday afternoon I recently visited the place, there were a couple of seats available. This is a colonial British India tea house (or so I feel). They serve a wide variety of proper tea (by which I mean NOT herbal tea or flavored tea). They also serve English afternoon tea with deliciously made sandwiches and cakes (I haven't tried English scones with clotted cream, but they do serve them). When they serve tea in a pot, leaves are taken away. So your second and third cup of tea tastes the same as the first one. When I asked for milk, they asked me back, "Cold or hot?" Milk for black tea has to be cold in my view (which is also what I heard as the proper way to drink milk tea), but they allow your preference to be reflected. Very professional. And if you like the tea you had, you can buy the leaf with a 10 percent discount. This is how all tea leaf sellers should do: have a cafe space and let customers try out different kinds of tea in a way they would enjoy tea at home (instead of serving tea in a tiny cup for trial). They also sell tea leaves by Mariage Freres, my favorite French tea house. I thought their leaves can be bought only when I visit Paris or Tokyo. But I no longer need to rush to Mariage Freres shops while being on a trip. In general, Swedes do not like tea unless it's flavored or herbal. Stockholm lacks a decent tea house that properly brew tea except Chaikana, an oasis for tea lovers in the capital of Scandinavia (I apologize to those in Copenhagen).

Mendeley, Sente, or Papers? No, Zotero and iAnnotate will do.

2011-10-07T12:41:00.001+02:00

This is a nerdy blog post, relevant only for researchers.

Every researcher needs to read academic papers. I often do this while commuting or being away from office. It often happens that I don't have a hard copy of the paper that I want to read while being away from office. I never know which paper I want to read in advance.

With the advent of iPad, this problem can be solved by storing all the academic papers in iPad. But that's not the end of the solution. Two more things need to be solved: annotation and bibliography management.

I often highlight some sentences in an academic paper. I also often add a note to the paper. I even sometimes draw a simple graph on the paper. This needs to be done on the iPad screen.

Plus, I need to manage bibliography. Currently, I'm using Zotero for bibliography management, but this Firefox plugin doesn't allow me to read a PDF file with the annotation function. Ideally, every time I download a PDF copy of an academic paper onto iPad, a new entry should automatically be created in this bibliography. Then it's going to be easy to create the section of references in my own paper, in my lecture syllabus, or in an email message that I write to refer my colleagues to the papers they might be interested in.

It seems there is no perfect solution for all these. Partial solutions are provided by Sente, Papers, Mendeley, and iAnnotate.

If I don't need to use an iPad (which is totally out of question but...), Mendeley is the best solution because you can automatically sync with Zotero, which is still the best solution to easily create bibliography while downloading a PDF file of the paper. After visiting the webpage of an academic paper in Firefox, click the reference icon that shows up on the address bar of the Firefox, and then bibliography information will be stored to Zotero and thus to Mendeley. Then download a PDF file from the same webpage to a folder on my desktop computer and drag the icon to Mendeley window. This allows me to read the PDF file on Mendeley, which allows me to annotate.

The problem with Mendeley is that its iPad application does not allow you to annotate. How stupid it is.

Annotation on iPad is not a problem with Sente or Papers. But both are rather poorly designed in terms of the automatic bibliography entry creation while downloading a PDF file of the academic paper. Plus, Sente's annotation function is stupid in the sense that you cannot associate your note to a particular sentence that's highlighted. Notes are only associated with a page.

In terms of annotation on iPad, iAnnotate seems to be the best application. However, it doesn't come with the bibliographic management function. An ideal solution is to combine iAnnotate with Mendeley, but Mendeley does not allow you to read the PDF file annotated with iAnnotate.

What makes things worse is that any of these iPad applications (Sente, Papers, and iAnnotate) is not free. There's even no trial version. Each costs less than 10 US dollars, but should I buy all of these to test which is the best among available?

It seems that's the way to go in the world of Apps. Buy several alternative applications for your iPad (or iPhone) and choose the best....

UPDATE:
It seems the quick solution is to use Zotero for bibliography management and iAnnotate for annotation on iPad (with Dropbox used for transferring PDF files from the desktop computer to iPad).

Zotero is very powerful. When you log on to a webpage of an journal article, the address bar shows an icon which can be clicked to create a new entry in the bibliography AND to associate this entry with the link to a PDF file on the web. Clicking this PDF link allows me to save a PDF copy. Since I don't use Firefox for any other purposes (Google Chrome is much better to surf the net), I can set a Dropbox folder for PDF copies of academic papers as the default download folder.

Then on iPad, launch iAnnotate, click the download button on the top-left corner (which shows the list of folders in my Dropbox), then click the PDF copy folder. This updates the list of PDF files in iPad. You need a WiFi for syncing PDF files between the desktop computer and the iPad, but in my office there is an eduroam wireless network. So there's no problem.

So, after reaching a webpage of an journal article, I only need to click four times (twice on the desktop and twice on iPad). Then I'm able to read a PDF copy on iPad. This is very efficient.

Akio Hirata versus Nendo at Spiral Garden

2011-08-21T13:33:00.004+02:00

Back in June, the Spiral Garden in Omotesando of Tokyo featured a retrospective exhibition of hats designed by Akio Hirata. Hirata, aged 86, has been the top hat designer during the last few decades. This retrospective exhibition, however, turned out to be an unusual one, thanks to Ooki Sato, a leading designer under the alias of Nendo, in charge of exhibition design. It also attracted a lot of attention. The original 12-day exhibition period was extended for one week. See this page for the photos of exhibition.

About a month on, Excite Ism, probably one of the best online magazines in the field of design in Japan, published the interview of both Hirata and Nendo. It reveals behind-the-scene episodes of this exhibition, which is intellectually stimulating in terms of design process.

The basic idea of exhibition is to display Hirata's hats among milliards of white, ordinary, mass-produced hats so that Hirata's originality will be enhanced in the eyes of viewers. It is true that Hirata's hats are very original. It makes you realize that the shape of a hat can be so flexible even though the purpose of a hat is usually thought to constrain its shape. Originality will be enhanced if it's surrounded by ordinariness.

Another key word to describe Hirata's hats, says Nendo, is freedom. Not a single hat looks similar. Therefore, it is inappropriate to show his hats in a standard, one-dimensional way of exhibition. Viewers should freely walk around and should feel the way they feel about these hats, rather than the way the curator describes them.

So what Nendo came up with is a space with white, mass-produced hats floating in the air rather randomly as if these white hats were clouds in the air. Although the interview doesn't mention this, I imagine those mass-produced hats should have been nothing else but white. White is the color of nothing, the farthest end of the spectrum from Hirata's originality. Now, these white hats should be hung in the air, not on the ground or on the raised platform, because that's how a hat is worn. A hat is raised above the ground but hung in the air by the person who wears it. When these white hats are hung in the air in a way of freedom, it must have been a logical progression to see them as clouds. This analogy gives an extra meaning to the way viewers see these hats by random walk: straying amidst floating clouds, which is a day dream or a fantasia. And each of Hirata's hats is a fantasia.

The interview also reveals that Nendo's initial idea was actually modified and enhanced by Hirata, who slightly changed the design of these white hats. Which is not Nendo's intention. However, once these white hats came to life under the supervision of Hirata as the professional hat designer, the space itself also came to life. Once each white hat became beautiful, says Nendo, the whole space also became beautiful. This episode reveals that good design comes out of interactions between designers, not solely from one individual designer's own idea.

Another important element that led to the success of this exhibition is the material used for those white hats. Nendo chose Smash, which is "a unique non-woven polyester fabric developed by textile company Asahi Kasei" (in the words of a Wallpaper magazine article). Since Hirata often uses natural fabric, Nendo says, the latest chemical fabric would make a great contrast. But it turns out that Smash creates a nuanced light reflection just like the real clouds.

The gallery space is also unique in the sense that it's got a high ceiling and there is a spiral staircase that surrounds a spacious circular exhibition space at the rear. Thanks to this structure, viewers can observe the cloud of white hats from above as well as from below, allowing them to appreciate Hirata's hats even more because Hirata's design changes its appearance depending on from which angle you look at it.

Nendo's design concept of creating an exhibition space in stark contrast to Hirata's hats, Hirata's professionalism as a hat designer, the unique structure of the exhibition space, and the characteristics of the material used (Smash) all interact with each other, often unintentionally, to enhance the attractiveness of Hirata's hats to full extent.

I believe that good design is the one with solid logical backing. This exhibition is an example where such solid logical backing was created by unintentional interactions of designers, although such "unintentionality" probably didn't materialize without Nendo and Hirata's consistent approach to design.

Chinese wife diary

2011-08-16T16:15:00.000+02:00

This is the logo for a comic book written by a Japanese otaku man of age 40 who got married to a 20-something cute Chinese girl. The comic is about this Chinese wife who, by speaking broken Japanese (which makes her even cuter in the Japanese men's mind), makes the author (and the reader) notice the daily-life difference between Japan and China and what contemporary China feels like. Just releases last week, it has become the top selling comic book at the Amazon.co.jp online book store. The book is a collection of blog posts by the author, and so you can enjoy the cartoons here (not in China, though, as the hosting blog site is blocked by the Chinese government).

The logo, designed by manga comic book editor-designer Hideki Satomi, is praised by the author Junich Inoue as emanating the lovey-dovey feeling.

Why? What makes this logo lovey-dovey?

First of all, the font. It looks like the kind of letters young Japanese girls (maybe Chinese girls as well?) often write. The first two and the last two kanji letters do not enclose any space, suggesting something loose and sentimental.

Second, the five yellow stars (which must be those five stars in the Chinese flag), one red circle (which must come from the Japanese flag), a crescent (which may suggest sleeping at night together), and a heart that follows the kanji letter whose meaning is a wife) are all scattered around, to symbolize happiness as a result of sense, not of reason.

And finally, the central kanji letter whose meaning is a wife is slightly bigger than the other four, indicating that the husband has a slight inclination to show off how cute his wife is.

In addition, this kanji letter in the center is the combination of the letter signifying a woman (the left half) and the other meaning a home (the right half). By scaling this letter up a little bit, we feel the happiness of the guy who has got a woman at his home.

The color of red is used maybe because this is the color shared by both national flags of China and Japan, bearing some analogy to the international marriage or simply because the color of China to most Japanese people is simply red (not because they are communist but we traditionally associate China with red).

Why Apple?

2011-08-15T14:58:00.003+02:00

If I remember correctly, their first sensation was the blue first-generation iMac. By now, almost every commercial image with a desktop computer (either in an advertisement or in a shop) comes with an iMac, not a Dell or a HP. Then the iPod, whose design has become the standard in the portable digital music player industry, and the iPhone, whose design has become the standard in the smart phone market, and most recently the iPad, whose design is quickly becoming the standard in the electronic book reader industry.

I usually go for what everyone else does not have. By now, however, my desktop PC is an iMac (both at home and in office); my laptop a MacBook Air; my portable digital music player an iPod Classic; my mobile phone an iPhone 4 White; and I'm now thinking of buying an iPad 2 after learning that Amazon's Kindle doesn't really satisfy my needs. And the reason is there's something irresistible about Apple's product design.

I always wonder why Apple always manages to come up with what can be called the universal design. All the other manufacturing companies end up copycatting Apple's design and end up with inferior design to Apple's (the only possible exception is Naoto Fukazawa's Infobar). I'm not an expert in industrial design. In particular, I have no knowledge of electronics. So it is impossible to answer this question in a fundamental way. But that doesn't discourage me from thinking about this puzzle.

One of the keys seems to be thinness. Apple makes a lot of engineering effort to make products thinner than those produced by competitors. And thinness appeals to us as consumers, perhaps because almost every electronics product wasn't thin before. What's attractive as an image often coincides with what's not been available so far.

But this explanation seems only part of the whole story. It's probably also about simplicity or simple-looking appearance. Electronic gadgets tend to have multiple functions, which leads to too many bottoms on their surface. But perhaps not a single consumer will use them all. There is a gap between how consumers use the product and what the product looks like. Apple successfully narrows this gap. It's perhaps nothing surprising that Naoto Fukazawa manages to come up with a smart phone design that goes on par with iPhone, because that's exactly his design philosophy: narrowing the gap between how consumers use the product and what the product looks like.

(To be continued.)

How was flash memory invented?

2011-08-05T11:19:00.000+02:00

Fujio Masuoka, a former is the inventor of flash memory, the data storage chip used worldwide in mobile phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players. The August 1st evening issue of Asahi Shinbun (a Japanese newspaper) features his interview in which he reveals how he invented flash memory.

When he joined Toshiba, he first worked at the research and development department. He invented a high-performance memory chip, but it didn't sell at all. He then asked for the transfer to the sales and marketing department in order to sell the chip on his own.

He flied to the United States and visited many computer companies. But he failed and got transferred back to the R&D department within a year.

But this experience let him learn one thing. American companies repeatedly told him, "We don't need a high-performance chip. We just need the minimum level of quality. Don't you have a chip that's much cheaper?"

This led him to come up with an idea to design a chip that "must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data" (from Wikipedia on flash memory), which is clearly less functional but reduces the cost of production by more than 75 percent.

What I find interesting about this episode is that it was Americans' (or Westerners' in general, I would say, in comparison to Japanese) mentality that allowed him to invent flash memory. Japanese people tend to pursue the best quality products while Westerners (Americans in particular, I guess) are often satisfied with something that is just functional enough for daily use. If he sticks to this Japanese mentality, he wouldn't have been able to invent flash memory.

Some discoveries in Stockholm

2011-08-04T00:46:00.001+02:00

I've discovered a few things in Stockholm recently: one excellent budget eatery, one stylish and cosy outdoor bar, and one cool store for babies and children.

The excellent budget eatery is Serrano. This is a proper Mexican lunch place. They stuff food ingredients into burritos and quesadilla after you order. They come with baby leaf salad. An extra 10 krona buys you a cup of mixed tropical fruit juice. My fajita burrito makes me smile (which is rare when I eat lunch in Stockholm). Both of my two friends eating together also say they like the food. In the US, this style of Mexican lunch place is extremely popular. Finally, Stockholm has one. (Forget the ubiquitous Taco Bar. It's just no contest.) Plus, it opens until 8 or 9 pm (which is very unusual for this kind of budget restaurant in Stockholm). It's located near Central Station and inside the Liljeholmen Torget shopping mall.

The stylish and cosy outdoor bar is Zeeside (see also an article by the Spotted By Locals blog). It's located on the shore of the newly developed neighborhood of Henriksdalshamnen. It can be approached by a boat from Luma in Hammerby sjöstad or from the southeastern shore of Södermalm. The vibe is just awesome with a great view of the water sandwiched by Södermalm and Hammerby sjöstad, the white bar counter evoking the sense of being on a beach, and white, orange, and pink design chairs (which are not only good-looking but also comfortable). There's no cheesy music in the background. But most importantly, the bar foods are fantastic. My tuna salad (with avocado, watermelon, pumpkin, etc.) is something that doesn't even remotely resemble the foods served elsewhere in Stockholm, in terms of the freshness of the ingredients and the creativity of choosing what to mix in a single plate. Both of my two former New Yorker friends eating together are also impressed by their delicately-made burgers. On a long bright evening of Stockholm's summer, this bar just allows you to exploit the true potential of the Swedish capital. You can't really find something similar to this in other cities in the world.

Finally, the cool shop for babies is Sprall, where I bought a gift for the baby girl of my friend in Tokyo. The design of baby bottles and bibs is cute and Scandinavian. But this mushroom rubber doll really beats everything else. When a baby grab this doll, it cries. And the way it unfolds after a baby crushes it is kind of artistic. Its branches are located near Östermalmstorg and inside the PUB department store on Hötorget.

I don't know when Sprall was opened, but Serrano and Zeeside were opened within the past one year. Increasingly, Stockholm sees more and more cool places popping up. When I moved to this city four years ago, it wasn't like this. Most of my favorite places in Stockholm weren't there at that time.

How to survive Stockholm's summer

2011-07-07T04:16:00.001+02:00

Although it is much easier to live a life than during the cold, long winter, Stockholm's summer still requires a bit of effort for me to survive.

First, I need to make sure the darkness while I'm sleeping. Complete darkness during the night lasts only a few hours. I need a thick curtain in my bedroom (which is rather hard to find in a shop because Swedes prefer letting in light to inside the house/apartment as much as possible) or need to wear an eye mask. Otherwise, the early morning sunshine around 4'o clock wakes me up (and that's why I'm blogging now at 4 am).

Second, I need to always check whether my favorite shops, cafes, restaurants, and bars are open before going out. Many, especially decent and non-touristy, places in Stockholm shut down during the summer because they go on holidays for a month or so. Stockholm's best contemporary art gallery Magasin 3 is closed during the entire summer (see this post). My favorite delicatessen Hantverkargatan 14 Specerier was luckily open yesterday, but they told me they will close from next week until 1st August.

Third, I need to make sure I bring a jacket when I go out. With the sunlight, the summer in Stockholm is pleasantly hot. That is something much better than living in Tokyo. But in the shade or when it gets cloudy, it becomes rather chilly. I caught cold the day before yesterday because I forgot wearing something on top of a t-shirt.

Finally, as the metro trains run less frequently (many Swedes disappear from the city to go abroad to enjoy the real hot summer or to stay at their summer house in the countryside to enjoy an inconvenient but simple life (often without electricity), I need to go out earlier than usual so that I will arrive at the destination in time.

Otherwise, it is a pleasant period to stay in the city as long as you manage to have a place to live, about which I will blog next time.

A `Smart' Smart Phone that is not iPhone

2011-06-02T21:19:00.000+02:00

Buying an iPhone is like following the crowd. But other smart phones are not cool design-wise: they are all poorly copy-catting the appearance of iPhone. Those who want to be different face a particularly difficult dilemma when it comes to having a smart phone.

This is soon no longer true if you live in Japan. Check this out.

(But I don't live in Japan. I guess I go for iPhone White...)

Work permit extension

2011-05-19T22:44:00.005+02:00

As my work permit will expire at the end of August, I posted my application for its extension today. The Migrationsverket (Sweden's immigration office) apparently wants to pick a fight with foreign researchers. In the application form for foreign visiting researchers, one field to fill in is entitled:

Permanent address in Sweden

I moved in April of 2009, June of 2010, and September of 2010. I'm moving next month, at the end of July, and next May. What is my permanent address in Sweden?

(If you don't understand why I --- and most foreigners in Sweden --- have moved, and will move, so often in Sweden, see this post.)

Alaska & Seba - Back from Eternity

2011-05-08T11:33:00.000+02:00

A lovely liquid funk tune from the year of 2006. A high-quality MP3 file (or a WAV file) can be purchased at Beatport.

Hälsingborg

2011-05-03T17:11:00.010+02:00

It seems not well-known (yet), but Hälsingborg is perhaps one of the best middle-range restaurants in Stockholm. Try their "Forest" three-course dinner set (the damage: 465 kronor). The starter makes use of umami of mushroom to its full extent (which is quite rare in the Swedish dining scene; they don't understand the fifth taste of umami). The main course is le gibier of wild boar. And the dessert is a well-done chocolate mousse (I love it even though I usually don't like the taste of chocolate).

The restaurant is located very close to the Arlanda Express train platform of Central Station. If you are a visitor to Stockholm and look for the last-minute dinner before heading to the Arlanda Airport, this is a place to go.

The Prototype - Cascade (Cutline remix)

2011-04-30T16:35:00.003+02:00

Gotta let this get known to many people. Here's some dose of drumstep. The original is already big. But this remix is even bigger.

Added on 5 June: This tune is now available at Beatport as part of the compilation album.

My 22.5-hour "Easter" holiday

2011-04-28T23:59:00.005+02:00

As I worked everyday during the four days of the Easter holiday, I think I deserve to do the following in the middle of a week.

Wed 27 April

15:30 Leave office early, heading to Cityterminalen (Stockholm Central Bus Terminal)

16:00 After struggling with the ticket machine that doesn't easily accept my credit card, manage to hop on a coach to Skavsta Airport just in time.

17:30 After more than a hour of sleep, the coach finally arrives at Airport. Queue in front of the Ryanair check-in counter even though I don't have any luggage to check-in. Non-European citizens are required to have the boarding card stamped by the Ryanair staff before going to the security check point.

17:40 Have an early dinner of Ceaser's salad that I took away from Hantverkargatan 14 Specerie. Restaurants at Stockholm airports are unbearable.

18:35 A Ryanair flight to London Gatwick takes off on time. During the two hour journey, read the latest issue of Monocle magazine.

20:00 The flight arrives in Gatwick on time with fanfare (you know what I mean if you've flied with Ryanair).

20:20 After struggling with the ticket machine that doesn't accept my UK bank card, just miss Gatwick Express to London Victoria.

20:30 With a takeaway cup of Caffe Nero's caffe latte, get on board to the next Gatwick Express train.

20:35 The train departs.

21:05 The train arrives at London Victoria station.

21:10 Top-up the Oyster card and head to Oxford Circus by tube.

21:30 Arrive at my friend's 30th birthday party at Aqua Nueva Spanish restaurant. Feel overwhelmed by the atmosphere of the restaurant which my London friend says is nothing special. That is the moment I realize I've become a country-bumpkin by living in Stockholm for more than three years.

22:00 Cannot really keep up with the speed of the conversation by Londoners, realizing that I've been spoiled by Swedish people's reserved way of communication.

23:45 Leave the restaurant and head to London Bridge by tube.

Thu 28 April

00:05 Arrive at Cable nightclub, chosen as the Best Club of 2011 by Time Out magazine. Told that they don't accept a credit card. That is the moment I realize I've been spoiled by Swedish ubiquitous acceptance of credit cards.

00:15 After walking back and forth to the nearest cash point, finally get into the nightclub. The legendary drum & bass producer LTJ Bukem is on the deck at a club night named Swerve, featuring smooth drum & bass aka liquid funk.

01:00 After getting used to a London nightclub atmosphere that I totally forgot about and finishing the purification of my body with the sound of drum & bass, start dancing. Bukem's DJ play is not my kind of taste, but some tunes just make me dance.

01:55 Fabio takes over. This is the moment that I am after by flying all the way to London. And his DJ play never disappoints me. Smooth and sexy with occasional funky or reggae-ish smasher tunes, one of which just makes me dance crazy while other people seem put off by complicated rhythms.

03:15 The Swerve party still goes on after the scheduled end time of 3 am. Don't want to leave, but have to in order to catch a coach to Stansted Airport.

03:20 Get on a night bus that is supposed to go to the coach stop, which actually doesn't.

03:35 Get off the bus and hail a cab and ask if the driver knows where the coach stop is. He says, "Have you never used a cab?" Yes, London cab drivers are the only service that England can be proud of to the whole world. Nowhere in the world can you find such a reliable taxi.

03:45 Just five minutes before the departure time, arrive at the coach stop. Get on the coach. Put ear plugs and eye masks. Immediately fall asleep.

04:40 Arrive at Stansted Airport. Queue in front of the Ryanair check-in counter even though I don't have any luggage to check-in. Non-European citizens are required to have the boarding card stamped by the Ryanair staff before going to the security check point.

05:25 Buy a box of smoked salmon and crayfish salad and a bottle of freshly squeezed orange juice at Pret in the waiting lounge after passing the security check point.

05:35 Arrive at the boarding gate for the Ryanair flight to Stockholm Skavsta. Start eating my breakfast while passengers start boarding (which means the queue just moves from one gate to another gate).

05:40 Finish breakfast. Jump the queue with the Priority Q.

06:05 The flight departs on time. With ear plugs and eye masks, fall asleep immediately.

09:15 The flight arrives at Stockholm Skavsta on time with fanfare.

09:20 Get on the airport coach to central Stockholm. Put ear plugs and eye masks and fall asleep immediately.

11:00 Arrive at central Stockholm.

11:15 On the way home, stop by at Mellqvist Kaffebar to have an early lunch and whole coffee beans. Reconfirm that they serve the best coffee in Stockholm. Toasted sandwiches are also good.

12:00 Arrive at home. Take a shower.

12:30 Check my work email. Reply if necessary.

13:30 Leave home.

14:00 Arrive back in office.

Acid Black Cherry "Koi Hitoyo"

2011-04-23T22:14:00.001+02:00

This is a cover version of the song that I liked when I was 12 years old. The melody and the lyrics still move my emotion. The original is too cheesy to listen due to its poor accompaniment. So I prefer this version though this promo is cheesy...

The Future of Credit Unions

2011-04-22T14:25:00.004+02:00

This is mind-blowing. Can you imagine that this building is a credit union branch?

The Sugamo Shinkin Bank's Shimura branch in a suburb of Tokyo, designed by Emmanuel Moureaux and opened last month, perhaps represents the future of credit union branches.

Even the interior of the branch is unexpected for a credit union.

Notice ATM machines on the left

Some of the other branches of Sugamo Shinkin Bank are also designed by this architect, judging from her own website.

(The photos in this post are all linked from Excite Ism.)

Alicia Keys "Unthinkable" (Lenzman dnb remix)

2011-04-21T08:48:00.001+02:00

Alicia Keys - UnThinkable (Lenzman Drum'n'Bass) by Crisu Pissu

This beautiful remix of Alicia Keys will probably never ever be released... And I must say this remix is better than the original.

Added, 28 May 2011: You can download a 320kbps MP3 file of this track here.

Magasin 3

2011-04-17T19:26:00.001+02:00

Part III of my "Rediscover Stockholm Spring 2011" campaign targets at Magasin 3, Stockholm's reputedly best contemporary art gallery. I always wanted to visit this place, but every time I had an opportunity, Magasin 3 was closed (like this) or I caught cold due to cold winter. Finally I manage to arrive today.

I planned to have lunch at a cafe nominated for Gulddraken 2011 award nearby which turns out to be closed over the weekend. Yes, it's Stockholm.

The entrance of Magasin 3 is perplexing at first glance:

It turns out both of these two doors are the lifts which take you to the first floor on which Magasin 3 gallery spaces are located. And the left lift is a big one, looking like the one for lifting stuff, not people. This is a nice prelude to the world of contemporary art.

The first thing I do is to have lunch. Cafes and restaurants in museums and galleries are not particularly impressive in this (self-claimed) capital city of Scandinavia. And so I avoid having coffee. But a baguette sandwich and a Sicilian lemonade imported from southwest England are both pretty good. Another pleasant surprise.

This weekend Magasin 3 hosts a contemporary dance performance. I imagined it would be performed in the middle of art gallery with art works in the background. No. It takes place in an empty gallery space, which is a bit disappointing. But the dance itself is of high quality. With no music in the background, two female dancers, one of them looking boyish, the other wearing a rather nerdy sweatshirt (even though she looks very beautiful), interact with each other by body movements as if they were one person and his/her own self, trying to identify with each other. After lots of trial and error for about 10 minutes, they finally get connected. I've never watched contemporary dance as seriously as I do today. But I like it.

The exhibition features the best pieces of work collected by Magasin 3 and its associated partners throughout Europe in the past decade or so. The way the curator puts these pieces together in the gallery space is sometimes nerve-disturbing, which is great as the role of a gallery is to add value to art works with the way they display. After being exposed to contemporary art during my five years of life in London, I think I have more discerning senses in contemporary art than the average person. And I can tell you many works are pretty good. My favorite is a video installation which shows the artist obstructing a queue of several lorries from moving forward at night for about 10 minutes (Person Obstructing A Line Of Containers, by Santiago Sierra). Lorry drivers, of course, get frustrated, honking a horn repeatedly and flashing the light, which becomes a kind of sound and visual art. A giant heap of black confetti (Sans titre (Le Terril), by Stéphane Thidet) creates a sense of uneasiness, because it looks like a heap of coal, suggesting something heavy, but each piece of the heap is a very tiny piece of paper, unnerving your commonsense. Another video installation showing street demonstrators in Albania carrying mirrors instead of protest banners (The Landscape Is Changing, by Mircea Cantor) also distorts your commonsense as you start wondering what these demonstrators try to demonstrate. Do they protest against what the city looks like (which mirrors reflect) or do they actually support what the mirrors reflect?

But other works are more disturbing. One video installation (Barbed Hola, by Sigalit Landau) shows the artist herself, naked and standing on an Israeli beach, playing a hola-hoop with the barbed wired hoop... Another video installation (History of the Main Complain, by William Kentridge) is a black-and-white (and red) animation made of a series of hand-drawing cartoons, showing a person is beaten up or hit by a car. An animal-looking sculpture (Animal, by Peter Fischli & David Weiss) has an ass hole (literally) through which you can peak into this animal's stomach (which is completely empty), and this behavior itself starts making you feel uneasy (Why am I looking into an ass hole only to find nothing?).

You can see the images of all the works in the exhibition, including those mentioned above.

Overall, the exhibition is of great quality. But I got mentally tired when I got home. There is a tendency for contemporary art exhibition in Stockholm to get gloomy, perhaps because ordinary people in this country are more or less happy.

The building that houses Magasin 3

DJ Fresh - Future Jungle EP

2011-04-16T19:00:00.001+02:00

DJ Fresh has been a very productive and successful producer of drum & bass music in the past decade. Such an artist could have become conservative, sticking to his own style that is known to be successful. However, Fresh keeps reinventing himself, and his latest release, Future Jungle EP, pushes the frontier of drum & bass even further. In particular, the tracks entitled Ice Cream and Arkanoid are the new kind of sound that cross-breads jungle and dubstep and lets it grow under the parenthood of the early 1990s rave music. Listen to the official teaser:

Fresh - Ice Cream - Future Jungle EP by RAM Records

Fresh - Arkanoid - Future Jungle EP by RAM Records

If you love this sound, click here to purchase the EP (or each single track) as high-quality MP3 files at Beatport. (Beatport is my favorite music download site for club music.) It's on sale at iTune, too.

Outlook Festival 2011

2011-04-11T20:43:00.000+02:00

This bass music festival in Croatia on 1-4 September seems like a bomb. They focus on club music that features the bass sound: reggae, dub, drum & bass, dubstep, hiphop and the like. It's held on the beach. And the festival takes place in a country that's exotic enough to most of us. I might be going.

Snickarbacken 7

2011-04-09T19:30:00.000+02:00

As the second instalment of my Rediscovering Stockholm in Spring 2011 campaign (the first one was the Sven-Harry's art museum), I visited Snickarbacken 7, another new addition to Stockholm.

Entrance

It is a concept store that houses a shop selling clothes, furniture, and other items, an art gallery, and a cafe, occupying a high-ceiling ground floor of the 19th century building with church-like vaults in Gothic style.

Frankly speaking, the exhibition at the art gallery (Galleriet S7) was disappointing. It occupies the best part of the space, the church-like vaults, but the narrow, long shape of the gallery space appears to backfire; you cannot appreciate the work from a distance. A video installation which keeps showing two hands without any movement at all was set up at the rear of the vault space, which can be seen from a distance (and indeed from the entrance). But this video installation doesn't seem to benefit from such a long-distance viewing.

The store appeared interesting. On the shelf is the kind of stuff I usually don't see in other retail shops in Stockholm. (But as a foreigner who needs to move to a new apartment at least once in every year due to the notorious rent control, I don't feel like buying a new piece of furniture.)

The vaults

The cafe (Kaffeverket) is probably the best attraction of Snickarbacken 7. I enjoyed apple-ginger juice with mint leaves. A cup of cafe macchiato was not too bad, which is a rarity in Stockholm. A toasted sandwich of jamon serrano, manchego, and paprika paste sauce on levain bread was okay, though . With nice background music in good quality of sound, the stone floor intentionally left rough, and the vaults on the roof, the atmosphere is cozy. Perhaps due to its location (slightly off the main shopping area), it's not packed around noon on Saturday. Another plus in a city with all the good cafes being particularly busy over the weekend.

Lars Kleen at Sven-Harrys Art Museum

2011-04-03T18:40:00.001+02:00

I visited the Sven-Harrys Art Museum, the latest addition to Stockholm's landscape. From outside the museum building looks a bit tacky with its golden panels. Once I get inside, however, the atmosphere is more modest and minimalistic. White walls are typical of art museums these days, but the wooden, rather than concrete, floors reflect a sense of Scandinavian roots.

The museum's opening exhibition features a Swedish artist named Lars Kleen. There are two massive sculptures on display on the ground floor, which at first glance look like an industrial architecture using disused materials like metal bars, wires, ropes, veneer boards. A fad in contemporary art these days is the recycling. So far nothing surprising.

When a museum clerk slightly pushed the second gigantic structure with his leg, I saw the structure swinging. I realized what I see is no "nothing surprising". I started investigating how the sculpture is assembled. A few minute's study revealed that 75 percent of this massive structure is actually hanging by just four ropes from the central part.

Displayed on the way upstairs are two miniature sculptures, both of which again consist of one part suspended by another part. I started feeling some sort of dangerous dependency.

And the last sculpture on the upstairs floor is this:

(The photo is taken from vastrasicklao.se.)

I sat down on the bench and looked this up for a while. It looks impossible. The center of gravity of this structure looks so high. It's not hanged from anywhere. It's just standing. And the thin legs of the house-looking structure, which seems to me a sort of Shinmei-zukuri (Japan's oldest architectural style used for shinto shrine such as Ise Jingu), touch the lower part with tiny pieces of wood in between. How can this be supported?

And for no reason (or perhaps for obvious reasons) I started thinking about the massive earthquake and tsunami that destroyed many coastal towns and nuclear power plants in Japan three weeks ago. I started seeing Japan in this structure. For whatever trick it may be, something unthinkable is realized with human creativity. But its basis looks so fragile. If the 20-meter tsunami wave hits this structure, it will break down for sure, no matter how ingenious the way to construct it is. And what's worse, we don't know why this is possible, just like we don't really know what radioactive radiation really does to human health. Without knowing its exact mechanism, our life heavily relies on it. The electricity to Tokyo this coming summer will be expected to be severely under supplied.

I wondered if I should ask why this structure actually is standing. Perhaps leaving it unknown is the whole point of this art. But I couldn't resist. The museum clerk told me it's a sheer act of balance. Still I cannot really believe it.

I imagined what if the artist used brand-new materials to make this, instead of recycled ones. I would feel just impressed and perhaps praise the skill of the artist and human creativity in general. The use of rubbish to construct this act of balance is probably crucial here. The museum clerk said some visitors, especially men, felt like doing something similar by themselves, by collecting rubbish. (That's quite Swedish a way of reaction, by the way.) This episode even makes it scary. People think, "Well, I can do it."

It's a well-thought-out installation. I tip my hat to the artist and the museum curators who pick his works as the opening exhibition.

I now have one more favorite place in Stockholm.

Flat hunting again

2011-03-31T20:45:00.000+02:00

March is over, and it's about time to do flat-hunting again. I need to evacuate my current flat by mid-June. If you know someone who is planning to sublet their apartment from May or later (I wouldn't mind paying double rent for one and a half month), please let me know.

And I got contact via this blog from someone who is moving to Stockholm this August and worried about flat-hunting. Here's what I can tell.

It seems it is a political and social taboo to support for the abolition of rent control in Sweden. In other countries, this kind of policy is perceived as a bad one, but politically it's not feasible to scrap. But I've never ever ever heard any single Swede say that rent control should be scrapped. I still don't really know why.

Why making friends in Stockholm is difficult for foreigners

2011-03-29T22:40:00.000+02:00

Foreigners in Stockholm often say it is difficult for them to make friends with Swedes. Oft-mentioned reasons include the shyness of Swedish people and the closed nature of their community (e.g. they hang out with their high-school friends only).

My view is different. It's probably more about the difference in views of the world between the two sets of people. Whenever the survey on people's happiness is conducted across the world, Sweden is always one of the happiest countries. This seems particularly true in Stockholm: 96 percent of the city population like Stockholm. Grown up in such an environment, one would acquire an optimistic view of the world.

Foreigners coming to Stockholm are more or less those who aren't satisfied with their own country. Otherwise why do they live abroad? Grown up in such an environment, they would acquire a rather cynical view of the world.

People become friends because they enjoy being together. They enjoy each other's company because they feel relaxed in the presence of each other. They feel relaxed because they share their views of the world.

So foreigners moving to Stockholm and Swedes grown up in Stockholm won't feel comfortable with each other and thus don't become friends.

That is my scientifically-unproved conclusion.

Missing milk tea in breakfast

2011-03-28T20:51:00.003+02:00

While I was living in Tokyo and London, I would almost everyday have a cup of milk tea for breakfast. This habit of mine discontinued some time during my first years of life in Stockholm. Instead I have a cup of espresso with a dash of milk (the original macchiato, I suppose) in breakfast.

The reason is that once I leave home, I cannot have a cup of coffee that fits my taste bud in Stockholm, as I ranted some time ago on this blog. By now I know there are a couple of places that do serve my kind of coffee such as Mellqvist at Rörstrandsgatan 4 and Drop Coffee at Wollmar Yxkullsgatan 10. But these places are out of my daily way. And my workplace has an espresso machine by Nespresso, whose coffee just doesn't please my taste bud no matter how many times I try.

You might say I could stop drinking coffee then. However, I will have a withdrawal symptom unless I have at least one cup of coffee per day. To avoid suffering from bad coffee, I decided to brew espresso in the morning (with coffee beans bought at Mellqvist).

If you live in a foreign country, you need to give up several things. A cup of milk tea in breakfast is one of such things.

Visit Stockholm blog

2011-03-27T17:37:00.003+02:00

Although it's meant for those planning to visit Stockholm, the Visit Stockholm blog is one of the very few sources of information in English on what's on in Stockholm. It's worth checking at least once a week.

Below are some of the newly-opened places in Stockholm mentioned in this blog:

Snickarabacken 7 / Bianchi Cafe and Cycles / Sven-Harrys Konstmuseum

And the blog also lists award-winning restaurants, cafes, and bars in Stockholm:

Best bars selected by Bartenders' Choice Awards 2010 / Best bars, restaurants, and cafes selected by Gulddraken awards / Best cafes selected by New York Times / Best nightlife spots selected by Washington Post

Now it's officially the summer time; the daytime length just gets longer and longer; the sunlight is warm even though the temperature is still around zero degree; persistent snow (with gravels sprinkled for the purpose of making the surface less slippery) has disappeared from the ground to make urban pavements easily walkable without getting your shoes dirty (because of the slip-stopping gravels). It's time to explore Stockholm again after six months of hibernation.

H&M Spring 2011 ad campaign

2011-03-26T22:39:00.002+01:00

Just when a "spring" arrived in Stockholm earlier this week (NB: temperature above 5 degrees Celsius feels like a spring in Sweden), H&M launched its new ad campaign. The ads like those two shown above are everywhere in Stockholm.

And I liked these two pictures without knowing that the model is a super famous fashion model named Gisele Bundchen. Was it because of her celebrity aura or because of H&M's clothes? You might think it was the former, but I actually think it was the latter. As evidence I didn't like her other ad photos.

A loose silhouette accentuated with a couple of tightened parts (the top and bottom edges of the jumpsuit or the waist part of the dress) is certainly IN this season. Those girls who manage to incorporate this rule in their fashion clearly stand out in the crowd in Stockholm.

It's interesting to see if girls in Stockholm will flock to this trend or keep their 4-year-old (at least) trend of wearing a cropped black jacket with a long white t-shirt covering the whole hip (with black shiny leggings attached since two years ago), when the real spring finally arrives in late April.

Growth-reducing structural change

2011-03-06T19:14:00.000+01:00

Dani Rodrik finds an interesting fact about economic development: Workers in Latin America and Africa have moved to lower labor productivity sectors in the period 1990-2005.

The Boot Room Eaterie

2011-02-23T13:14:00.052+01:00

I never imagined that I would have an excellent dinner in England.

The Boot Room Eaterie is well worth visiting if you happen to be in Leicester (Street address: 29 Millstone Lane).

For a starter, I had Ham Hock Terrine, Pineapple Chutney, Poached Egg (5.95 pounds). The terrine was beautiful done. As far as I remember, I never ever liked terrine. But this one was different. The chutney and the egg served the role of an excellent accent in taste.

My main dish was Scottish Beef Medallions, Diane Sauce, Dauphinoise Potatoes (18.95 pounds). I didn't know what Diane sauce and Dauphinoise potatoes are, but they are apparently among British home cooking recipes. Here at the Boot Room both were nicely done, enhancing the juiciness of the beef.

Although I was already full, I couldn't resist trying Cherry Almond Tart with Clotted Cream (5.60 pounds) for dessert. It turned out one of the best dessert dishes that I had in England.

Complimentary bread also tasted great. The service was good. The graffiti-like signage for the loos was cool. To my surprise, I had a pleasant dinner in the middle of England.

Economics changes the world

2011-02-13T15:47:00.001+01:00

An example of how economics (more specifically, behavioral economics) changes the world can be found at a gym in Boston. (HT: Greg Mankiw)

Jambokula

2011-02-09T21:03:00.000+01:00

In Stockholm, it's difficult to find a hidden gem. Every good place is well known to everybody, perhaps due to the Swedish idealism of equality.

But now I know one hidden gem in Stockholm: Jambokula.

At this restaurant in Kristineberg (an area of Stockholm just in between the city center and the suburban area), you can enjoy what I would call sophisticated Tanzanian foods. Even the dessert is gorgeous. You won't be disappointed.

Direction: Take the Green metro line towards Hässelby and get off at Kristineberg station. From there, walk 10 minutes by using this map. The opening hours are a bit erratic. So make sure call them at 08 631 0266 beforehand.

The basic facts about world poverty

2011-02-08T18:09:00.000+01:00

In 1981, 52 percent of the world population were poor. By 2005, the number has been reduced to 25 percent. This reduction is mostly due to the achievement in China.

That's the summary of findings by two World Bank economists Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion. By "poor", they mean their daily consumption is below 1.25 US dollars, which is the amount of money you need to spend to satisfy the basic energy requirements in the poorest 15 countries.

Open Page by Lenzman featuring Riya

2011-01-11T10:45:00.000+01:00

One of the most beautiful tunes in the drum & bass scene right now. The dark base line, the jazzy piano, the melancholy but still positive vocal, and the beautiful hi-hat beats all create a soothing, aesthetic atmosphere.
Lenzman - Open Page (feat. Riya) - Metalheadz by Lenzman

Il Cafe

2011-01-02T22:32:00.001+01:00

A nice cafe finally found in Stockholm. It's called Il Cafe. Their coffee is properly brewed. Their panini sandwiches are properly toasted. The menu is interesting. Although they run out of them today (they say it's because of the new year), they offer southern Italy pesto mozzarella sandwiches. The pesto is usually the one from Genoa. In the drink menu, they have to die dreaming, Dominican milky orange juice (if this webpage is correct).

What's more, Il Cafe's interior creates a unique atmosphere with Finsta's graffiti. Unlike many other fastidiously stylish places in Stockholm, however, it maintains a laid-back vibe. And the unisex small toilet is wonderful. The wall is full of graffiti, but for some reason it looks arty as a whole. Some of the graffiti messages are witty, making you smile while you are doing your thing.

There's one problem, though. Just like any other nice places in Stockholm, the cafe is quite busy. It's better to arrive early for lunch. Arriving at 11 am on Sunday, only one table was left.

Everybody flocks to a nice place in Stockholm. There's no hidden gem in this city.

Econoclasm Tokyo Travel Guide 2010

2010-12-30T09:28:00.000+01:00

http://sites.google.com/site/econoclasm/pdf/TokyoGuide.pdf

In case you plan to visit Tokyo soon.

Milk potato soup (easy to make but tasty)

2010-12-28T18:50:00.002+01:00

1. Microwave a potato for 3-4 minutes.
2. Peel the skin of the potato.
3. Cut the potato into several chunks and put them into a blender.
4. Microwave 200ml of milk for 2-3 minutes (skip this step if you
prefer cold soup).
5. Add the milk into the blender.
6. Add half a teaspoon of salt and a full teaspoon of sugar into the blender.
7. Switch on the blender.
8. Serve the soup and add a dash of olive oil and a pinch of coarsely
grounded black pepper.

A quote from The Rough Guide To Sweden

2010-12-20T13:24:00.004+01:00

"The other Nordic nations love to make fun of the Swedes. Witness the joke about the ten Nordic men stranded on a desert island. On day one, the two Finns have felled half the trees on the island for firewood. On day two, the two Norwegians have constructed a fishing boat from some of the wood to catch fish for supper. On day three, the Danes have set up a co-operative to organize all the work. On day four, the Icelanders decide to lift everyone's spirits with tales of the brave men of the ancient sagas. And on day five, the two Swedes are still waiting to be introduced to each other."

Info

2010-12-11T23:25:00.000+01:00

The post on Zollverein was uploaded.

One more post on my trip to Cologne, Essen, and Bochum will be uploaded later.

Japanese foods outside Japan

2010-12-11T22:06:00.004+01:00

In her latest cartoon in the December 5th issue of Mainich Shinbun (Japan's fourth or fifth major newspaper), Rieko Saibara, a Japanese cartoonist, reports "Japanese foods" she encountered outside Japan. (This particular cartoon can be seen on this page until December 19th.)

1. Katsu-don in India

Katsu-don is a bowl of rice topped with deep-fried breaded pork fillets. In India, it is stir-fried pork and vegetables soaked in the soy-sauce based marinade used for yakitori (skewed chicken).

2. Zaru-soba in Manaus, Brazil

Zaru-soba is soba noodle served cold on a bamboo basket (topped with shredded nori seaweed), accompanied with dip sauce made of soy-sauce, soup stock, sake and sugar. In Manaus, the dip sauce is black rice vinegar.

3. Cha-han in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia

Cha-han is Chinese-style fried rice. The good one contain little moisture in it. In Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, it is a bowl of vegetable oil with rice sunk on the bottom.

4. Norimaki in Myanmar

Norimaki is a sushi rice (with raw fish inside) rolled with nori seaweed. In Myanmar, rice is boiled with sugar only.

Well, these are rather extreme examples of wrong interpretations of Japanese foods outside Japan. But it explains why I don't want to eat Japanese foods outside Japan. Non-Japanese people that I meet outside Japan often assume I want to eat Japanese foods. That's totally wrong. It's much better to eat European foods (or foods of immigrants' countries such as Lebanon and Ethiopia) if I'm in Europe.

Papa Grappa

2010-12-03T23:44:00.002+01:00

By chance, I found a grappa bar in Stockholm. It's called Papa Grappa on Hornsgatan 76 (a few minute walk from Mariatorget station). It's certainly not the best bar in Stockholm in terms of the atmosphere, but thanks to this, it's not packed even on the Friday evening. Grappa certainly doesn't fit the busy atmosphere, I guess. Following a waiter's recommendation, I had Sole Rosso Sangiovese Ris. It's got unique aroma and slightly sweet taste. I enjoyed it.

Hotel Review: Art Hotel Tucholsky

2010-11-28T20:10:00.000+01:00

I stayed at Room 103 of Art Hotel Tucholsky for two nights from 26 to 28 November 2010. It cost 79 euro per night (as Single Room Comfort).

The Good:
The bedroom. It is decorated with minimalist design that gives an impression of cleanliness. I especially like Artemide's white, hollow oval-shaped lamp stand that brightens up the entire room. Windows seem to be sound-proof as I didn't need to wear earplugs while I was sleeping even though the room faces a street busy with cars. Despite near-zero outside temperatures at night, the room was warm enough I didn't need a blanket. The bathroom is clean and tidy.

Breakfast (included in the room charge). It's not fancy, but they just do it right. You can choose from German breakfast, English breakfast, French breakfast, etc. I tried German and English. Both were very tasty, allowing me to make a fresh start of the day. Waiters and waitresses are very attentive and nice.

The location. It's just 7-8 minutes walk away from Bochum Hbf railway station. The hotel is in the district of Bochum where lots of bars and restaurants are clustered. A supermarket (REWE) is just a few minutes walk away.

The Bad:
They don't offer shampoo in the bathroom. Given the design hotel features, I didn't expect this to be the case. You're advised to bring a small tube of shampoo.

There is no reception. A counter at the bar/restaurant on the ground floor of the same building (where the superb breakfast is served) serves as a reception desk. This is a bit confusing, although the staff immediately let me check in on a busy Friday evening.

The Ugly:
The small entrance space leading to the staircase smells of chemicals, with bits of construction materials scattered as if they were in the middle of renovation.

Verdict: If you happen to be in Bochum, this hotel is definitely worth staying. The bad and the ugly are something unexpected from a boutique hotel like this one, but you can deal with them.

Zollverein

2010-11-27T16:42:00.000+01:00

Kokerei Cafe, recommended for lunch if you visit Zollverein. They serve "typical coal miner meals" in an excellent way for an affordable price.

It's perhaps not a particularly new idea to convert the former industrial complex into something cultural. Beijing has the 798 Art District; Toronto has the Distillery District; Berlin has the Berghain nightclub (by far the best nightclub that I've ever been to). But Essen's Zollverein former coal mine industrial complex, particularly the Kokerei (coking plant) designed by Fritz Schupp (the 4th and 5th photos above), is probably the most aesthetic. It's worth a visit if you happen to be around the Ruhr district of Germany.

Cologne Cathedral

2010-11-26T15:27:00.066+01:00

The Gothic architectural design, I learned, appears at its best if it's used for a very tall building. The Cologne Cathedral already looks magnificent from the outside, but the real beauty is inside. Soaring, rather thin pillars that are absorbed into the pointed arches on the high ceiling creates a kind of space that contemporary architecture cannot replicate.

Climbing the south tower (for 2.50 euro) is worthwhile not because of the view from the top (which is obstructed by the 2-meter high wire netting) but because of the views through windows on the way up. You don't often look down on a modern city landscape through the Gothic windows, do you?

And I'm surprised to see some contemporary art that's part of the cathedral. Gerhard Richter's contemporary counterpart of the stained glass window is only subtly out of place and somehow in place:

Among those stained glass windows, I love these:

Restaurant Review: L'Escalier

2010-11-26T14:01:00.114+01:00

My lunch in Cologne was had at L'Escalier (Brüsseler Strasse 11; phone # 0221 205 3938).

They serve a two-course, delicate French lunch for 17.50 euro. The trick behind this affordable price for sophisticated dishes is serving in small portions. Having said that, every bite is enjoyable at this restaurant.

As an appetizer, three small heaps of orange-colored vegetables, pumpkins finely chopped and fried, carrots finely chopped and fried, and carrots thinly sliced and pickled, are served on a wooden, rectangular tray. Along with them come a basket of bread including fantastic home-made potato bread. The accompanied lemon butter is very nice. The amount of bread is generous enough that customers won't leave the restaurant with a hungry stomach.

Today's starter is carrot and ginger soup. Slightly frothed on top with chopped parsley, the soup that includes bits of carrots warms up my body frozen by near-zero temperatures outside. The amount of ginger in it is just right, not too much to disturb the taste of carrot and not too little to be insignificant.

The main course is a small chunk of pike-perch steak and several pieces of dumplings (nothing inside) served on vegetable ragout with tarragon flavor. Even though it is only a mouthful, pike-perch steak is beautifully done. And tarragon prevents the taste bud from getting bored with the otherwise straightforward taste of vegetable ragout.

After being satisfied with the foods, I feel like drinking a cup of black tea. This can be a risky way of finishing the meal. Black tea in Germany tends to be very poorly served. The most typical is a glass cup of hot water with a teabag and the lid, which is a total disaster to infuse black tea properly. (Why don't they put the tea bag into boiling hot water on their own before serving it?) But no such worry at this restaurant. They serve Darjeeling tea properly in a black tetsubin (Japanese cast iron tea pot).

Two waitresses work diligently and attentively. Even when I reveal my lack of knowledge on French foods (I couldn't tell tarragon from lemongrass), they just nicely correct my ignorance. They know what they are serving, so you can talk to them about the foods served. Of course, they speak English pretty well.

Highly recommended if you are around Cologne during the lunch time. It's a few minute walk from Rudolfplatz U-bahn station.

All Saints Day at Skogskyrkogården

2010-11-06T18:11:00.004+01:00

Skitsch

2010-10-15T18:06:00.001+02:00

Just around the corner from the Bvlgari Hotel, Skitsch is a nice interior good / furniture shop in Milan. The store sells Senz umbrellas, a must-have if you live in a place where it's windy whenever it rains (which is true in Stockholm).

The Kungsholmen restaurant

2010-10-05T06:14:00.033+02:00

I went to Kungsholmen, a famous, eclectic cuisine restaurant on the southern shore of the Kungholmen island in Stockholm, for dinner with Japanese economists. All of us are impressed by the quality of food. This is something. We are all from Tokyo, the world's capital of cuisine. Our taste buds are very picky.

Vietnamese beef salad, although it doesn't really taste like Vietnamese, is a pleasant experience with occasional sweetness of fruits in it. And veal entrecôte with chanterelles mushrooms is divine.

The restaurant looks like a luxury food court. Dinner tables are surrounded by food stalls of 7 different cuisine (including sushi and Swedish) in which you can see chefs cooking. But they are part of the decor. You don't have to go to these stalls to place an order. Waiters and waitresses come to your table to take your order.

As they do serve some Swedish dishes, the restaurant is recommended to anyone including visitors to Sweden.

National Cinnamon Bun Day

2010-10-04T06:07:00.015+02:00

October 4th is the National Cinnamon Bun Day in Sweden. The cinnamon bun is the most common baked good, found in almost every cafe in Sweden.

And I don't like it at all.

A taste of drumstep

2010-10-03T19:52:00.003+02:00

There's a new sub-genre of music emerging at the intersection of drum & bass and dubstep. It's called drumstep. Here's a taste of it. Do wait until 1 minute and 8 seconds pass, when the gist of drumstep reveals itself.

Added on 5 June 2011: this tune was awarded the best track of the year 2010 by Drum & Bass Awards 2011.

Du Chef

2010-10-02T18:06:00.031+02:00

Yesterday I found a nice lunch place in Hammerby sjöstad. Du Chef, a tapas restaurant in the evening, serves Swedish lunch, charging 85 krona between 11:00 and 12:30 or 75 krona before 11am or after 12:30. (This pricing scheme reveals when Swedes have lunch most likely: quite early.)

As usual for lunch in Sweden, you pick a main dish (either meat, fish, or vegetarian), help yourself at a salad buffet, and slice bread on your own. Of course, an unlimited amount of coffee (or tea bags with warm, not hot, water) is included in the price.

But the main dish (skewered salmon with grönsaksris, which is supposed to be stir-fried rice with vegetable but tastes like vegetable pilaf, and skärgårdsröra, which seems to be one of the Swedish specialties, made of cream cheese, finely chopped anchovy or shrimps, chives, and finely chopped boiled eggs) tastes good. Certainly better than any of the lunch places in my workplace.

If you are around in the area of Sickla Udde around the lunch time, don't miss it.

Taking taxi in Stockholm on Friday afternoon

2010-10-01T02:36:00.002+02:00

I went to Ikea to buy a desk for my apartment. On the way back, I took a cab.

It was around half past three in the afternoon. The highway was pretty busy. Swedes seem to leave office quite early on Friday. The taxi driver decided to get off from the highway and took an alternative route. The taxi fare meter kept the number rising and rising. What's the point of going to Ikea to buy a cheap, big furniture if bring it home by taxi costs more than the furniture?

Then the taxi driver, still on the way to my apartment, asked me if my company would pay the fare. I said no. Then he stopped the meter at 450 krona (48.6 euro), saying, "Friday afternoon is the bad time to take a cab. I didn't expect to take this long route."

It's perhaps something good about Stockholm.

A great catering service in Stockholm

2010-09-23T16:54:00.008+02:00

This evening I had one of the best dinner meals that I'd had in Stockholm at a PhD defense party. The caterer's name is Thomas Omfors.

If you plan to throw a dinner party by hiring the catering service in Stockholm, think of him as an option.

Johan Cöfcrantz Ramsey

2010-09-17T02:02:00.038+02:00

With my colleagues, I went to a small jazz club (Glenn Miller Cafe) in Stockholm tonight. And my mind was blown up by an amazing jazz drummer named Johan Cöfcrantz Ramsey. He's a dynamo. He lifts up and down the tune very effectively with his drums. The way he changes the rhythm during the improvisation is always unexpected and dramatic, but he manages to avoid unraveling the whole tune. Usually, a jazz drum solo starts after other musicians stop playing, but in his case he's already started his solo when the audience realizes the solo has started. It's just fun to listen to his drums. Such a drummer is very rare in jazz, I suppose.

The experience was close to the one I had in New Orleans. Only if at least one of the other players were as assertive as he was. (I don't really like a band led by one musician.)

A theory of the origin of the state

2010-09-12T20:40:00.000+02:00

I always wonder what caused the emergence of the state. The answer to this question has an important implication to poverty reduction in developing countries because one of the biggest causes of underdevelopment is state failure (the best example of this is Somalia).

Google search takes me to an interesting theory proposed by an anthropologist named Robert L. Carneiro in his 1970 article. In a nutshell, the state emerges in agricultural land surrounded by mountains, seas, and deserts. In such an area, when all the cultivable land is cultivated, villages start fighting each other to conquer more pieces of land to sustain the population. When the conquerors rule the conquered, there is a need to create the administrative structure. This is the origin of the state.

But this theory was proposed 40 years ago. There must be a refutation to this theory, or some refinement to this theory by now. If I learn those, I will write a sequel to this post.

Housing in Stockholm (again)

2010-09-01T09:29:00.000+02:00

After 3 years of living in Stockholm, reading a news article on the rental housing market in Stockholm like this one doesn't make me feel anything. Otherwise you as a foreigner won't be able to feel happy in this city.

But when I read that new arrivals from foreign countries to Stockholm University are camping in the campus because they fail to find an apartment to live, this sounds too much.

As far as I know, none of the political parties in Sweden ever mention this issue in the upcoming elections.

I'm moving (again) later this month. I was lucky to find a Swedish PhD student who studies in the US for a year from this autumn. Which also means that I have to find yet another apartment after he comes back next June.

That's life for foreigners in Stockholm. If you plan to live in this city, be prepared.

Lunch price in Stockholm

2010-08-31T07:42:00.000+02:00

A survey reveals the average price for lunch (main dish, side salad, and coffee) in Stockholm is 76.9 kronor (8.2 euro, 10.2 US dollars, 6.7 UK pounds, 880 yen). My impression is that this is the minimum price for lunch.

Göran Lindberg and Sweden's dark side, by The Observer

2010-08-20T09:25:00.000+02:00

A friend of mine living in UK told me about this article on Sweden by The Observer, a Sunday newspaper. It's a long article, but worth reading if you wonder what Sweden is like.

"Normalization" of Sweden

2010-08-18T07:44:00.003+02:00

The general election is approaching in Sweden, and the incumbent government ministers are proposing what I would call "normalization" of Swedish society, presumably with an aim to win votes in the election reported to become quite close a race.

Two days ago, the minister in charge of immigrants' integration to society proposed to allow low wage jobs for refugees, by saying, "There is a difference between a well paid job and one that is poorly paid. However, the difference between having and not having a job is much greater."

Yesterday, the education minister proposes to allow smart students to take advanced classes in high school rather than to wait their fellow pupils to catch up, by referring the current Swedish education system as following the Jante Law, the key word to understand the Scandinavian societies.

For someone living in most other countries, it's hard to understand why these two policies are just proposals rather than the reality. But that's Sweden, cherishing the equality of its citizens more than anything else.

This is so true...

2010-08-05T08:20:00.000+02:00

Source: XKCD

I often visit the website for a university to learn how to get there. It usually takes at least 5 minutes to obtain that piece of information...

HT: Chris Blattman

Jante Law

2010-08-01T17:33:00.000+02:00

Don't think that you are special.
Don't think that you are of the same standing as others.
Don't think that you are smarter than others.
Don't fancy yourself as being better than others.
Don't think that you know more than others.
Don't think that you are more important than others.
Don't think that you are good at anything.
Don't laugh at others.
Don't think that any one of us cares about you.
Don't think that you can teach others anything.

HT: Andaje

America, meet Yoshiki (LA Times, July 25, 2010)

2010-07-30T12:19:00.000+02:00

LA Times features X Japan.

Leaf Cafe in Pordenone, Italy

2010-07-28T19:14:00.000+02:00

I'm staying at a friend's place in Italy this week. This friend of mine is running a cafe in Pordenone, a town in northeastern Italy. Today I worked with my laptop all day at this cafe, and I came to a conclusion that Leaf (the cafe's name) is my ideal cafe: proper coffee, quality sweets, stylish but not intrusive decor, soothing background music, free wifi, tasty lunch, and some twist in menu such as matcha latte.

What is democracy: a case of Egypt

2010-07-27T15:17:00.002+02:00

A long time ago, I listed up the requirements for a country to be a democracy often mentioned in social science studies. Here's the list:

A1: Suffrage is universal - (nearly) all adults can vote.
A2: The executive is directly elected or indirectly elected by legislature.
A3: Elective legislature exists.
A4: Opposition parties are allowed to exist.
A5: No gerrymandering (ie. manipulating electoral rules and districts in favour of the ruling party) is undertaken.
A6: Press freedom is ensured.

B1: Opposition candidates can freely run for office.
B2: Opposition candidates can freely conduct their electoral campaign.
B3: Voters can freely cast their ballots.
B4: Votes are neutrally counted.

C1: The executive is checked and balanced by legislature and judiciary.
C2: Non-elective veto players do not intervene politics.

The Economist magazine recently reported how the Egyptian ruling party has held power for a long time.

First, those who would oppose the ruling party find it difficult to register as voters.

Few people register because the legal period for doing so is short and comes many months before elections. Besides, registration involves a visit to a police station, which many Egyptians prefer to avoid.

This can be seen as violation of condition B3 above.

Second, condition B1 is violated:

The parties allowed to run for the People’s Assembly, Egypt’s parliament, are selected by a committee controlled by the ever-ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), which is headed by Mr Mubarak. Independents can stand, which is how the Muslim Brothers, banned as an organisation, field their candidates. But they risk arrest on some pretext, and harassment even without one. (...) Since 2005 there have been elections for the presidency, too, replacing the previous embarrassingly unanimous referendums. The next one of those is scheduled for September 2011, albeit under restrictive rules that, in essence, allow the NDP to choose not only its own candidate but his opponents as well.

Condition B2 is violated, too, if we regard the post-election period as the campaign period for the next election:

In the previous presidential poll, in 2005, nine selected opponents were allowed to run against Mr Mubarak, yet he still grabbed 89% of the vote by the official count. His closest challenger, Ayman Nour, a youthful lawyer, was locked up in prison on flimsy charges of forgery soon afterwards and released only last year.

Condition B3 is also more obviously violated:

In the parliamentary election of November 2005 voting was spread over three rounds because a ruling by the constitutional court required that judges should monitor it closely. The Brotherhood, wary of showing too much strength and so provoking a backlash, fielded candidates for only a third of the 454 seats. In the first round they trounced most rivals. In the second and especially the third round police simply locked many polling stations and sent everyone home.

The last half of the article talks about Mohamed ElBaradei, a potential presidential candidate. The strategy for the government to sabotage his campaign is to punish his supporters:

Kuwait, a country friendly to Egypt’s regime, summarily expelled a group of Egyptian workers who had innocently created a local support group for Mr ElBaradei. In advance of his scheduled visit to the rural province of Fayoum in May, companies that rent equipment for public events received warnings not to work with him or risk having their equipment seized. Private television stations have been “advised” to pay less attention to the upstart, well aware that their owners’ useful government links may be at stake.

These episodes violate condition B2 in a broad sense. But we could treat them as an additional condition for democracy: opposition supporters are not economically threatened by the government.

Isao Hashimoto (2003) "1945-1998"

2010-07-26T21:32:00.001+02:00

A work of art can be more powerful than any social science studies or any politician's speech.

Chris Blattman's blog post took me to this video today. Please watch this with sound.

The video shows when and where which country conducted nuclear weapon tests (and the two actual uses of the weapon) in the periods 1945-1998.

After slowly showing three explosions in 1945, each second of the video represents a month and locates nuclear weapon tests conducted in that month (if any) on a map of the world. Each test comes with a tone (different for each conducting country), which is particularly effective to create a sense of something chilly going on when many tests are shown to be conducted in successive months.

You could convey the same information by listing these tests this way. But Isao Hashimoto's work is way more powerful to convey the message.

Lake Barcis

2010-07-25T19:24:00.037+02:00

It's a hidden gem in northeastern Italy: Lake Barcis. The turquoise water surface changes its expression depending on the sky as we arrived on the day of the precarious weather.

araisara

2010-06-18T20:29:00.002+02:00

From this week's edition (June 14, 2010) of Nikkei Weekly...

Having been raised in Beijing, Sara Arai acquired the ability to combine the cultures of China and Japan --- sweeping dynamism and delicate beauty --- to create original fashions. ... In [her latest collection for autumn/winter 2010-2011], Arai used a traditional Japanese dying technique called yohenzome, which gives color a unique characteristic. This little-known technique is said to have its origins in the early Heian period (794-1185). Yohenzome-dyed fabrics seem to change color when light hits them from different angles. ... Under fluorescent light, a yohenzome article that is red under the sun changes to black.

I wanna see her collection in video, not in photos, as photos cannot express the changing-color feature of yohenzome (陽変染). Unfortunately, the video of her latest collection doesn't seem to be available online. (The photos are here.)

This is mind-blowing. The technique dating back to more than 900 years ago is revived to add a 4th dimension (time) to the three dimensional world of fashion with the color created by fluorescent light beyond the imagination of the original inventor of this technique more than 900 years ago.

I love this kind of attempt to broaden one's imagination.

The official website of araisara is here.

Flat-hunting in Stockholm still continues...

2010-06-14T21:26:00.000+02:00

Although I just moved in to the current apartment two weeks ago, I have to keep looking for the next apartment to move in because I have to move out by the end of September.

Today I view one apartment in Kristineberg, the area I've never heard of before. It's located at the western edge of Kungsholmen (perhaps the least fashionable---the most laid-back, in other words---district of central Stockholm). It's a very quiet area with lots of green space. On the way to the apartment from Kristineberg metro station, I only see one supermarket in front of the station.

However, somehow it feels different from other uninspiring (sometimes even depressing) suburbs of Stockholm. After viewing the flat, I explore the area a bit. Just a few minute walk takes me to a good view of Tranebergsbron (an arch bridge connecting Kungsholmen and the area called Traneberg). Then, totally out of blue, I find a Tanzanian restaurant called Jambokula. Unlike usual eateries in a suburb of Stockholm, the decor is very neat and, when I'm browsing the menu at the entrance, a very tempting smell of foods floats into my nose. This is very, very unusual in Stockholm, I must say. When I think about it, I've almost never had this experience in this city. Swedish cuisine doesn't smell anything. All those trendy cafes and restaurants never ever tempt me by smell (even if food is actually good). It's such a shame that it is about 3 pm when I'm not hungry...

Then I walk down to Kristnebergs Strand, an unpaved footpath on the edge of the island of Kungsholmen. The view of Ulvsundasjön bay is beautiful. I'm told during the summer people barbecue here. That would be very nice, indeed.

I keep walking and enter the area known as Hornsberg, a former industrial area where urban redevelopment projects are ongoing. Red-bricked factories appear to date back to the early 20th century, judging from the presence of ornaments on the facade. It even looks beautiful. There is a well-designed skateboard rink, too. Post-industrial chic. That's what I miss in Stockholm. Finally, the missing piece for my image of a city is found here.

Then a massive shopping complex called Lindhagen where a branch of the major supermarket chain ICA, probably Stockholm's biggest, spans two floors of the spacious building. For every consumer good, all the brands available in Sweden seem to be on the shelf although, for some reason, the meat section is rather small (smaller than the entire section for sausages or for cheese), and they don't sell my favorite Nuremberg sausages. The shopping complex is far away from any metro station. Bus 49 stops in front but every 20 minute at best. Unless you have a car or live really close by, there's no point of visiting this place.

If I live in this area, Fridhemsplan is the closest busy area. I have lunch at a French-influenced cafe called Et Encore, located inside Grandpa, a well-known hip boutique. The menu is different from other standard cafes in Stockholm. A toast sandwich is fine, but the accompanied salad of not very fresh tomatoes, cucumber, and lettuce (a very typical salad in Stockholm) makes everything collapse. What's worse, their coffee is Caffe Monteriva, which I hate. By the way, they forget serving me with coffee. When I claim it after finishing the sandwich, a shop attendant gives me a macaron for free (which tastes good), telling me with a smile, "It's French, not Swedish." It seems a pure quality of Swedish sweets is what some Swedes also notice.

In Fridhemsplan, there are two big supermarkets. On the way home, I shop at one of them, DagLivs, which turns out to be one of the best supermarkets in Stockholm.

Extra charges for low-cost airlines

2010-06-13T12:13:00.001+02:00

Although a low-cost airline is a great way of traveling in Europe, you always feel ripped off when you book a ticket. This is because the amount you pay is always higher than the price you first see on the booking webpage.

To reduce this psychological pain, I take note of how much I need to pay more than the price shown immediately after the search, for four low-cost airlines that I often use, if I need to check in luggage, want to take the desired seat, and pay by credit card.

Ryanair: 29 euro (20 for 1 check-in luggage up to 15kg, 4 for priority q, and 5 for credit card payment).

EasyJet: 29.75 euro (11 for 1 check-in luggage up to 20kg, 9.5 for speedy boarding, and 9.5 for credit card payment)

Norwegian: 21 euro (8 for 1 check-in luggage up to 20kg, 8 for seat reservation, and 5 for credit card payment)

Air Berlin: 5 euro (for credit card payment)

Coffee in Stockholm

2010-06-12T23:40:00.000+02:00

One thing I don't like about Stockholm is the taste of coffee. Swedes, the world's second most coffee consumer in per capita terms (after Finland), seem to like sour coffee with a higher amount of caffeine than the average in the world. This taste preference extends to espresso, too.

Here's the typical experience of me drinking espresso or cafe latte in Stockholm. The first taste is pretty bad. But as I spend some money for this cup of coffee, I cannot really throw it away. So I keep drinking. By the time my tongue gets used to (or paralyzed by) the taste, my head starts feeling dizzy.

After three years in Stockholm, I almost dislike coffee.

But finally, finally I encounter a good cup of coffee in Stockholm. I visit Mellqvist Kaffebar on Rörstrandsgatan, the street known as little Paris (which I rather strongly disagree with), on the early Saturday afternoon. Just like other popular cafes in Stockholm, the cafe is rather small and, of course, packed with customers. The seating is not designed for a long stay, however. By the time I get a cup of single espresso, a counter table facing the window to the street gets vacant. I sit down and sip the espresso. A taste with several layers spreads within my mouth. This is a rare experience in Stockholm. What makes coffee fascinating is the mixture of different flavors which cannot be immediately verbalized. Coffee in Stockholm is easy to verbalize: sour. This one is not. When I look up, a board on the wall tells me that the coffee beans at this cafe are a blend of Brazilian Carmo Sitio Grota Sao Pedro (Google suggests Sítio Grota São Pedro is a famous coffee farm in Brazil) and Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Gibi Natural. And the beans are roasted by Haugaard (whose blog seems to be this one). Although its brie and salami sandwich is not perfect due to hard-to-bite bread, it seems I finally find my favorite cafe in Stockholm.

Kate Gilmore (2009) "Blood from a Stone" showcased at Crystal Palace

2010-06-12T20:29:00.002+02:00

Instead of Magasin 3, which is already on summer vacations (see yesterday's post), I visit Hudiksvallsgatan, known by some as Stockholm's Chelsea, referring to the area of New York well-known for the clustering of art galleries. (For details about this area, see the post in my other blog Stockholm4Foreigners.)

Crystal Palace, a gallery that only recently moved to Hudiksvallsgatan, showcases video installations by a New York-based artist Kate Gilmore. Her work entitled "Blood From A Stone" catches my eyes. (A clip of this video can be seen on the artist's website.)

The video begins with the dark grey wall with ten shelves (also in dark grey) at the height of a person's head. The artist herself, dressed in a red top and a white skirt with little pink patterns at the hem, starts putting a white cubic box on one of the shelf. By watching her struggling to lift up the box, we learn she's trying to do a job that appears to be too tough for a woman. Once she manages to place the box on the shelf, white blood splashes at the back of the box and flows down the dark grey wall. She keeps lifting up white heavy boxes, one by one, and every time she places it on the shelf, white blood splashes and flows down the wall. She repeats this ten times until all the shelves are complete with the white box. The video ends.

Her movement in this video essentially goes against two laws of nature: gravity and the fact (or the artist may say everyone's perception) that female human beings are born to be physically weak. Each time she overcomes these two challenges, white blood splashes as if it suggested going against nature would hurt. But she places white boxes against the grey wall, and the color of blood is white, not red. It seems what she is doing is morally correct if the color of white represents purity

A few walks away, Galleri Andersson Sandström features another New York-based artist Barton Lidice Benes. His 2005 work entitled Painting attracts my attention. It consists of five picture frames in green, blue, brown, orange, and purple, respectively, which showcase dozens of tiny items the artist collects around the world, ranging from a fragment of a banknote of some country (a recurrent motif in his works) to a tiny toy doll, from a used condom package to a case of drawing pins. Since each item's color matches the picture frame's color, each set of junk looks very pretty as a whole. This is perhaps a nice way of displaying your own tiny, junky objects that you accumulate over your life.

Hudiksvallsgatan really appears to be Stockholm's Chelsea this weekend.

It's already the summer vacation period in Stockholm...

2010-06-11T22:36:00.001+02:00

I feel worn out every day this week. I feel like being stimulated by unexpected contemporary art works. From all the pieces of information that I gather, Magasin 3 appears to be the best contemporary art gallery in Stockholm. Why not visiting Magasin 3 this weekend?

So I visit its official website for what's on right now, only to find that it's already closed for the summer.

I knew this place closes down during the summer vacation period, which typically spans from mid June to mid August. But it's still the first half of June!

I really don't understand this city...

Bijin-tokei

2010-06-05T23:39:00.005+02:00

By reading The Nikkei Weekly, the English version of Japan's financial newspaper, I've learned one recent fad in Japan.

A website called Bijin-tokei features a photograph of a Japanese bijin (good-looking girl) showing the current time written on a chalk board. It automatically renews the photo every minute so the website does work as tokei (clock). According to the Nikkei Weekly, the website attracts 370 million hits a month.

It's also available as an iPhone app, a Google gadget, or a Dashboard widget for Mac OS.

This is very Japanese. I just laughed out loud when I read the Nikkei Weekly article about this website.

What's more, the website recognizes where you are on the earth. I'm in Stockholm and the bijin shows the Central European time instead of the Japanese time.

If you are an anti-sexism Swede, don't worry. There is a male version called Binan-tokei as well. :)

Swedish House Mafia

2010-06-04T08:29:00.001+02:00

Although I'm not particularly into house music, the name of Swedish House Mafia has reached my ears. Initially, I thought they were British or some other nationalities using the term "Swedish" without any reason. The Wikipedia reveals that that's not the case. They are Swedish, or at least living in Stockholm.

If I go to the nightclub in Stockholm where they play on the DJ deck, therefore, it should be the world class nightclub party. I check their DJ schedule. For the next three months, they have no plan to play in Stockholm.

It seems I should really forget about nightclubs in Stockholm.

ABCDE 2010 in Stockholm (Day 1)

2010-05-31T20:59:00.001+02:00

The annual World Bank's conference on development economics (abbreviated as ABCDE) is currently held in Stockholm. I attended a couple of sessions and below is what I learned. Some are backed by solid evidence while others are speculation.

From Abhijit Banerjee's speech:

The failure of microfinance to have a large impact on firm creation and firm growth (Banerjee et al. 2009; Karlan and Zinman 2009; a summary by FT) may be due to its targeting of poor people and small-scale firms. It is medium to large scaled firms that are missing in less developed countries (LDCs) if the firm size distribution is compared to the one from developed countries (Hsieh and Klenow 2009), and that type of firms is probably the driver of economic growth. Governments in LDCs and development assistance agencies, however, have ignored these medium and large scaled firms.

The lack of evidence for the positive impact of education on economic growth may be due to the falling return to primary schooling relative to secondary schooling while education policies have been targeting primary school attendance in the past.

Evidence from conditional cash transfers shows just a small amount of cash incentives dramatically improve human capital investment. We do not have a good conceptual framework to explain this phenomenon.

The issue is how to get policy-makers to stop and think when we do not know at all how to change institutions as the fundamental cause of economic development.

From Geoffrey Heal's speech:

A solar panel power generator today costs 1.8 dollars per KW, cheaper than a diesel power generator. Like mobile phones which have revolutionized telecommunication in LDCs, solar panel may revolutionize power generation in LDCs in the near future.

From Keijiro Otsuka's speech:

Nigerians used to eat rice only on festivities like Christmas, wedding parties, and funerals. Now they eat rice every Sunday.

Back in the 1960s, rice yields were the same in Africa and in Asia. Now yields in Asia double while those in Africa stay the same.

The green revolution in Asia was initiated purely due to technological reasons, not driven by policy or institutions. Then the market and policy responds to promote the use of high-yielding varieties by selling fertilizer or by installing irrigation. In Africa, this didn't happen because of the price control imposed by the government.

Rice yield can be higher in some parts of Africa (Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda) than in Asia. But rice farmers in Africa do not know even simple ways to increase yields such as creating bunds between fields and leveling fields (which are the norm in Asia).

From Sabine Bruntrup-Seidemann's speech:

In Benin in the 1990s, many civil servants were fired due to the structural adjustment programme. University students were no longer guaranteed government jobs upon graduation. These skilled, but unemployed people formed NGOs because it was when the international development assistance community started putting money to NGOs rather than the governments of LDCs.

From Tomoya Matsumoto's speech:

In a randomized experiment in Uganda (a joint work by Matsumoto and Takashi Yamano from GRIPS), giving fertilizer for free to maize farmers (and one-off 2 hour training of how to use fertilizer) increases the amount of fertilizer purchase in the following growing season. There was a similar intervention in Uganda several years ago. At that time, farmers didn't respond. What has changed in Uganda since then is the scarcity of land due to the rapid population growth and the opportunity to sell maize produce for good prices (merchants now come to rural areas to purchase produce). Maize farmers in Uganda, therefore, do care about how to maximize the amount of yields now.

Jackmaster - In The Mix For Lower End Spasm

2010-05-26T23:08:00.000+02:00

While packing my stuff to move to a new apartment, I was listening to Sonar Radio. And this DJ mix was played. (Click "JACKMASTER - mix for Lower End Spasm" to listen.) Excellent stuff.

Freakonomics Blog on May 18, 2010 ...

2010-05-26T21:02:00.001+02:00

is quite well written.

And a follow-up post is thought-provoking.

A Nigerian newspaper

2010-05-26T09:12:00.001+02:00

Monocle magazine is a good source of information on the reality faced by journalists in developing countries. In its inaugural issue back in 2007, they reported the most popular radio DJ in Afghanistan (the video version of the article is here).

The latest issue (Issue 34, page 61) features Next, a Nigerian daily newspaper, launched by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dele Olojede, who "claims rivals have tried to sabotage his distribution network, forcing him to organise direct sales and subscriptions." That's Nigeria...

According to Monocle, Mr Olojede plans to turn Next into a pan-African international newspaper by 2011, targeting metropolitan middle class people on the continent.

Sweden's downfall?

2010-05-22T14:35:00.000+02:00

Tyler Brule bashed Sweden on his FT column last weekend.

Laundry room surveillance

2010-05-21T07:46:00.000+02:00

And another news article that can become news only in Sweden.

If you just stop the practice of sharing washing machines among apartment residents, this problem will go away.

Gender equality in Sweden

2010-05-21T07:42:00.001+02:00

I'm rather surprised to learn that Church is the one to promote gender equality in this country.

But if a woman prefers to be "given away by her father" at the wedding, why should we discourage her from doing that? Yet another paternalistic attitude of the Swedish authority...

But this is the country where women are denied entrance to university because men are underrepresented (and these women sued)...

Flat-hunting in Stockholm ends, but continues...

2010-05-19T19:39:00.127+02:00

I found an apartment!

In the morning, I finally managed to receive a reply from one of the landlords whom I sent a message to show my interest. He suggested viewing his flat at 7 pm. I agreed. The ad of his flat was one of those appearing around noon yesterday, and I contacted him by 1pm. It seems checking Bostad Direkt very frequently and contacting immediately after finding an apartment of interest is the key to success in viewing a flat.

But this flat is available from 1 July. I have to find a place to stay in June. What's worse, I'll be away from Stockholm between late June and early July. I may need a storage space for my belongings while I'm being away.

Asking around in my workplace reveals that Shurgard is the storage space provider of the city and that finding a weekly apartment in June may be difficult given that the Royal Wedding over the weekend of 19-20 June attracts lots of Swedes to the capital city.

Most apartments on Bostad Direkt is available from early June to late August. Finding one only for June seems difficult.

Then suddenly my cell phone rang. I thought it was someone whom I contacted. But no, she found my own ad on Bostad Direkt. Her flat was not yet advertised on Bostad Direkt. Some landlords seem to prefer contacting on their own to potential tenants rather than waiting for them to contact.

Her flat is in Södermalm, a relatively more bohemian district of Stockholm, and available from 1 June to 30 September. That's what I was looking for as the second best option. During July and August, Swedes leave Stockholm for their summer house in the country side. Rental apartment markets get even thinner. If I can stay until the end of September, I can search in September.

I decided to view her flat at 5:30 pm by canceling my schedule in the last minute.

The Södermalm apartment is located in a residential area planned rather well with lots of green space and playground for children with architectural design reminiscent of the last days of modernism (lots of geometric motif including circles). There are several supermarkets nearby. The landlady wants to rent this apartment as she stays in a summer house during the summer. She leaves quite a lot of her stuff in the apartment. So storage would be an issue. Of course no washing machine, although she told me many tenants in this apartment building own their own washing machine, making it easy to book your laundry time slot according to your own needs rather than to everybody else's needs. It's got a nice balcony. I thought I wouldn't live in this kind of modernism apartment in the middle of city center in my life if I passed this opportunity. Also the landlady speaks English very well and is a nice person. A metro line from the station 6 minutes walk away directly takes me to the workplace.

Then I went to see the other apartment at 7 pm. It's located in an area called Gullmarsplan. Compared to other suburbs, there are quite a few stores in this area although most of them are of a nondescript kind. A nine minutes walk from the metro station (which will be a bit too long during cold winter) took me to the apartment which is rather contemporary unlike others in the same area.

When I rang the door bell, a young couple came out with one more girl who turned out to be another prospective tenant viewing the flat. This couple invited all the potential tenants around the same time. A few more arrived while I was viewing. They want to lease this apartment because they bought their own and will move in early July. Since renting an apartment directly from the owner (usually the government) is very hard in Stockholm (usually you have to wait at least 2 years), many people are unwilling to give it up even if they don't need it. Thus they come into the subletting market, which is a good thing for foreigners in Stockholm. But this sounds like something really wrong.

Anyway, their idea is that the contact will end at the end of December, but if both parties agree, it will be extended. The apartment is spacious, build only 3 years ago, and very pleasant. No washing machine, of course, but since the apartment is on the ground floor, a few steps take you to the laundry room. But all the evening slots for the next 7 days were booked when I saw it.

If this apartment were available from 1 June, I would probably take it. But given the expected hassle to find a way to survive June (so I cannot focus on my job), a rather long distance to the nearest station (which matters a lot during sub-zero temperature winter), a rather depressing neighborhood, and most importantly no assurance of getting this apartment due to many competitors (whom I actually saw in my eyes), choosing this apartment over the one I saw before today seems to me too risky.

So I decided to take the apartment in Södermalm. And the landlady happily take me as her tenant.

My flat-hunting in Stockholm resumes this September...

Finding an apartment in Tokyo back in 2001

2010-05-18T22:14:00.000+02:00

I found a blog post (by an American?) on finding an apartment in Tokyo in 2001. It seems foreigners find it difficult to rent an apartment in Tokyo. But they have a chance to view various apartments, if it takes a month to find a place to move in. I don't even have a chance to view many apartments...

Flat-hunting in Stockholm continues... (3)

2010-05-18T19:51:00.001+02:00

Morning: Find two new apartments. But one of them is available only until the end of August. It turns out that finding an apartment in Stockholm is much more unpleasant than I expected (I expected the worst, but it's even worse than the expected worst level). I'm not sure if I want to continue doing this during the whole summer. The other one, available until the end of May next year, has no telephone number uploaded. So I email them. So far I haven't received any reply when I emailed. Writing in English may scare them off. Perhaps I should write, "You can reply in Swedish." I can use Google Translate.

Bostad Direkt is not very user friendly. I cannot hide those apartments I have no interest. It's hard to spot which ad is new since the last time I saw. Plus, even if an apartment is already taken (which I can tell by looking at the "Personal Tray" in which all the apartments I have checked the contact are listed), the search result still shows it.

Then I get a call from the person whose apartment I'm going to visit tomorrow's morning. She tells me it's just taken...

Lunchtime: Find one new apartment. I immediately email him, after which I realize that the apartment is available from 1 July and I'll be away from Stockholm from 28 June until mid-July (I already booked the flight tickets, expecting that I should be done with the flat-hunting by the end of this month).

Evening: No new apartment found in the list. In total, there are 13 new apartments newly appearing in the list today for areas reachable by the metro in Stockholm. Nine of them, however, are available only during the summer.

Flat-hunting in Stockholm continues... (2)

2010-05-17T20:49:00.001+02:00

Before going to work, I checked Bostad Direkt to see if any new apartment is listed.

I found two. Both in the city center. One is small but no specified date for contract termination. The other is slightly larger and quite expensive with 1 August as the termination date. I called both of them. No answer.

Around 5:30 pm, I checked Bostad Direkt again. A few more new apartments of my interest in suburbs. I called one which will be available from 1 July until 31 December. (So I would need to find a place to live in June as I have to leave my current apartment by the end of this month...) I was told there were already a few people coming to view the apartment. So I was waitlisted. Unbelievable. The ad was uploaded sometime during the day today. So I have to keep watching on Bostad Direkt even during my working hours?

I called another one which is available from 1 June to 31 August. I managed to get an appointment to view the flat on Wednesday morning. The idea is just to secure where to live during the summer and to continue searching for another apartment from Sepember or even from August, as the rent of this apartment is not very expensive.

Coming home and eating dinner, I checked Bostad Direkt again. One more apartment of my interest in a suburb available from 1 June to 31 June next year (but without washing machines, of course). No telephone number is uploaded as a contact. So I sent email.

I will keep you updated about my flat-hunting in Stockholm, to show you how difficult it is. Watch this space.

Flat-hunting in Stockholm continues...

2010-05-14T20:15:00.001+02:00

I haven't found any apartment of my interest on Bostad Direkt since the last post. I guess it's about time to compromise.

Forget about using my own washing machine.

Forget about living in my favorite area of Stockholm.

Forget about staying in the same apartment for next 12 months.

As long as I can stay at least for next 4 months and I can go to work with just one change of trains, I should be happy.

This yields two apartments of my interest.

I called one place. It's already taken. The other one didn't pick up the phone.

Is the club music scene in Stockholm essentially dead?

2010-05-13T19:56:00.000+02:00

Kalendarium.se is supposed to be the best source of information on what's on in terms of the club music scene in Stockholm.

Today I discovered the site is dead. I can't believe this.

Cherry blossoms in Stockholm today

2010-05-12T20:38:00.000+02:00

Kungsträgården (top); Stockholm University Frescati campus (middle); Lumaparken (bottom)

Flat-hunting in Stockholm

2010-05-12T10:22:00.005+02:00

The worst thing about living in Stockholm is to rent an apartment. I'm currently renting an apartment from a Swede who was abroad for a year. He's back in the city now, and about two months ago, he asked me to leave by the end of this month.

I really don't want to move out from my current neighborhood called Hammarby sjöstad. Apartments in the city center are expensive and small. Other Stockholm suburbs are unpleasantly purely residential (no street life at all). But the only apartment listing website for non-Swedish speakers, Bostad Direkt, shows only a couple of apartments in this area during the last 1 month and a half. When I called them up, they were already taken.

Accepting the reality that I have to leave this neighborhood, I started searching for apartments in other areas by struggling with a poorly-designed search function of Bostad Direkt (it's de facto a monopoly, no incentive to improve their website). I want to stay at a new apartment at least for a year. But most apartments are only available during the summer time when apparently Swedish owners go abroad for summer vacations. Even if it's available for 12 months or longer, they usually come without washing machines due to the stupid norm of using the laundry room collectively in an apartment building, which is really unacceptable to me (and no Swede sympathizes with me on this).

I found a couple of places. One is actually a house in Nacka, an eastern suburb. I called the owner up and he told me the address of the place. I searched it on the online map. It was in the middle of a forest. I also searched it on the public transport journey planner. The nearest bus stop is 1km away. No way.

Another place is in Älvsjö (pronounced "elf-ho"). I went to see it yesterday. Älvsjö is located 10 minutes away from Stockholm Central station by the commuter train. Once I got off the train, I realized this area is a countryside. A small supermarket, a couple of depressing newsstands, a couple of depressing pizzeria, a Chinese restaurant serving sushi (which very often happens in Stockholm), and a barber. (This set of urban amenity is actually better than other suburbs.) Otherwise, they are houses with lots of green. No apartment building here. If you love nature, maybe this is an ideal place to live given the proximity to the city center. But I don't really appreciate nature.

The apartment was actually a set of rooms in one of these rural houses. The owner of the house seems to mis-classify it on Bostad Direkt. It's the basement with small windows and with worn-out furniture. I have to pass this opportunity. Otherwise I will kill myself.

Another place is in Bromma, a western suburb of Stockholm. This place is available only until the end of October. But I have to compromise. I can search again in autumn. I called the owner, and she asked me to call her back in the morning today. I did. She told me she would call me back in 10 minutes. one hour has passed by now. She didn't call me back. I checked Bostad Direct again. Her advertisement disappeared. Why doesn't she just tell me it's already taken?

Another place is in Vällingby (pronounced ve-ling-bu), another western suburb which is actually rather attractive the last time I visited there for the Massagotti cafe. I called the owner up. She didn't speak English at all.

Now I exhausted the list of apartments of my interest. I'm not sure if I find one until the end of this month.