Assyafaah Mosque

(Clockwise from top left: the front facade; the prayer room; the view from the entrance hall towards the prayer room with a praying boy standing)

Fourteen percent of Singaporeans are Muslim Malays. As a result, you frequently encounter mosques throughout the city (often next to Hindu and/or Buddhist temples). Assyfaah Mosque (pictured above) is probably the most innovative among those.

The mosque is located in the northern part of Singapore, off the beaten track for tourists. Take the MRT North South Line (the red route on the Singaporean metro map) and get off at Sembawang station. Walk a bit to the east from the station and turn left to go up along Canberra Road. After a five minute walk, the Road starts curving towards right. The back facade of the mosque will then appear on your left. (As of December 2009, Google Map's location for the mosque is 250 meters off, by the way.)

The arabesque front facade may attract the most attention, but personally, the beauty of this mosque lies in the prayer hall. After taking off your shoes and walking through a rather low-ceiling entrance hall, a vertically spacious room appears with an inward-sloping pitch-white wall inscribed with Arabic letters as if they were part of contemporary minimalist furniture design. The space creates a tranquil atmosphere, letting visitors remember that Islam is a tolerant religion. As a non-Muslim, I still feel comfortable to stay inside the mosque for a while.

Although in front of the building rises a stand-alone brown spire with the crescent moon and star symbol, there is neither a minaret in the traditional form nor a dome. People in Switzerland may be happy with this mosque.

The mosque is designed by Forum Architects from Singapore. Who talks about lack of creativity among Singaporeans?

Fish head curry at Gayatri Restaurant

To taste fish head curry, a Singapore specialty (pictured above; the pineapple slice must have been removed to show the fish eye, though), I visit the Gayatri Restaurant, following a gourmet friend's advice, during the lunch time.

Unlike other Singaporean foods, a fish head curry is not a cheap food. The menu says it costs at least 20 Singaporean dollars (still only 10 euro, though). For Mondays and Wednesdays, however, the Gayatri Restaurant serves it for 15 dollars. And it's a big portion because the fish head is quite big. I realize it's a dish for at least 2 persons. But it is possible to finish by yourself because you cannot stop eating, thanks to the Asian addictive taste of umami. The fish head curry pot is served with a large banana leaf used as a plate.

Fish head curry is a great encounter of Indian and Chinese cuisine styles. A profound mixture of Indian curry spice meets with Chinese fish soup broth. As a result, the curry soup is less thick than the usual Indian curry while it's thicker than the usual Chinese soup. It leads you to a new world of taste. The tomato-based curry includes not only a giant fish head but also pineapple slices and okuras. I didn't know okura could be this tasty. The fish head is surprisingly meaty: lots to eat in the forehead and cheeks (and don't forget there is the other side of the fish head). The fatty texture behind the eye balls adds an extra richness to the whole culinary experience. I eat it with a naan bread, but I regret it because eating with rice is a better way to savour the curry soup.

When I ordered the curry, I asked the waitress to bring a cup of masala tea after the meal. She seems to forget it. And the restaurant gets quite busy. But don't worry. Each table in the Gayatri Restaurant is equipped with this:

When you press the appropriate button, someone immediately comes to your table.

The Gayatri Restaurant's interior

Race Course Road, a street on the edge of the Little India district that the Gayatri restaurant faces, has other Indian restaurants serving fish head curry such as Muthu's Curry (the restaurant which invented fish head curry, according to Time Out City Guide Singapore) and Banana Leaf Apolo, which appears to set the trend of serving foods on banana leaves in these restaurants. For repeated visitors to Singapore, it would be fun to try these other restaurants as well to see which one serves the best fish head curry in your opinion.

Club Street

Erskine Road

Koon Seng Road

Mango sago with pomelo at Ah Chew Desserts

After the Peranakan dinner, my friends take me to Ah Chew Desserts, a traditional Chinese dessert shop. It's packed with youngsters. Mango sago with pomelo is beautiful. Pomelo, a grapefruit-like fruit that seems to be widely available in Singapore, tastes a bit insipid on its own. But with the strong flavor of mango, the grape-fruit texture of pomelo becomes an excellent twist to the dessert.

According to my friends, this kind of traditional Chinese desserts is no longer cooked at home. Today's youngsters whose mother doesn't know how to make these desserts flock this place probably because it's something new to them.

Peranakan cuisine at True Blue

I didn't know what Peranakan meant before I came to Singapore. The term refers to those Chinese people who migrated to the Malay Peninsula under the Dutch and then British rules. They developed their own culture half way between Chinese and Malay. Houses on Koon Seng Road are one example. And we are talking about East Asians, which means the unique culture, of course, includes its unique (and delicious, of course) cuisine.

True Blue Cuisine, recently relocated to 47/49 Armenian Street in the city center, offers authentic, if a bit pricey by Singaporean standards (which means not pricey at all, if not budget, by European standards), Peranakan cuisine. A friend of mine, who usually doesn't eat spicy food (thank you for having dinner with me at this restaurant, Joel), enjoys it. What blows my mind (or my taste bud) is a dish called ayam buah keluak. It's chicken stew with black nuts (seeds of a tree known as Pangium edule). The key is this black nut which is as big as a chicken egg. The waiter teaches us how to savor these black nuts. Open it, scoop the paste-textured black content inside, and eat it with steamed rice. When I start eating it this way, I cannot stop. The umami taste of black nuts just makes me keep wanting to eat rice. That's the kind of dining experience I miss a lot in Sweden.

All the other dishes are also excellent. There is a hint of Chinese-ness both in cuisine and in decor (see the above picture), but it's a whole new experience. Imagine what if China is located in a tropical area. A must-go if you are in Singapore.

Arab Quarter

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It is rather surprising to learn that the area known as the Arab Quarter has Singapore's most bohemian street, Haji Lane. Lined up along this small alleyway are colorfully painted (often with graffiti) old houses converted into boutiques and cafes (photos 01-04 and 10). My favorite is Going Om (63 Haji Lane), a bohemian cafe playing cosy music with felt carpets and low tables to sit down by taking off shoes. The entrance is decorated with potted plants to shield the cafe away from the outside world (photo 09). The atmosphere is perfect. Only if they served proper mint tea.

Arab Street (photo 05), one block northeast from Haji Lane, is halfway between bohemianism and more traditional Islam with beautiful displays in a series of silk dress shops (photo 06) along this street, which also sees halal Swedish cafe named Fika, which does not appear to serve kanelbulle (Sweden's signature cafe bun).

London has several Muslim immigrant quarters, but as far as I remember, none of them have any contemporary twists like these in Singapore's Arab Quarter. Where does the difference come from?

Centered in the Arab Quarter is the Sultan Mosque (photo 07) whose illuminated view at night is beautiful:

Bussorah Street, the street leading to the Sultan Mosque, is a bit touristy. Sleepy's Sam, an apparently popular budget backpacker hotel, is located here. Its presence is noticeable because lazy-looking Westerners, chatting in front of the hotel, are so out of place.

Burmese foods

Pictured above is pickled tea leaves rice with fried chicken which I have for lunch at Inle Myanmar Restaurant on the basement of Peninsula Plaza in Singapore. The friend chicken is nothing special, but my mind is totally blown by the rice mixed with pickled tea leaves, fried peas, peanuts, toasted sesame, sliced fresh garlic, shredded fresh tomatoes, chili, dried shrimps, vegetable oil, and lime juice.

It's just delicious.

Ingredients are not particularly special. Chinese, Thai, and Indian influences can be traced. But when they come together, the taste becomes something that I haven't experienced before.

For dessert, I pick hsanwin makin (semolina cake). I didn't expect much because sweets from developing countries are usually just sweet and unsophisticated. I was wrong. This cake is not too sweet. The texture is not too hard, not too soft, just right for enhancing the taste of the cake. I'm pleasantly surprised.

I won't have a chance to visit Myanmar for the foreseeable future. That's why I tried this Burmese restaurant in Singapore, to expand the range of cuisine I've been exposed to. And I made the right decision. Special thanks to Linus, who told me about how good Burmese foods are.

The Japanese occupation of Singapore

(From top left clockwise: A poster by Asahi Shinbun, Japan's major newspaper, to celebrate the occupation of Singapore; A poster with a warning against self-congratulation after the victory; A signboard for a food distribution point.

My Singaporean friends appear to agree that the National Museum of Singapore is the best place to learn the history of this city state. At the entrance to the history gallery, I'm given what they call "companion" with a headphone. This gadget with a screen plays a role of explaining the theme of each exhibition section and historical items on display. Type the number written on the floor or next to the item on display, and the companion starts the explanation either in audio or on screen. An innovative way of museum exhibition.

One interesting fact to learn is that in the early 20th century, when Singapore was thriving as a trade port and a financial center under the British rule, the authority encouraged local people to attend school in order to overcome the shortage of skilled labor forces necessary for the economic prosperity of Singapore.

My main interest in the Singaporean history lies in the Japanese occupation period (1942-1945), something Japanese people never learn at school. After defeating the British navy on 15 February 1942, the Japanese occupation authority summoned residents in Singapore, family by family. Women and children were immediately let go home. Malay and Indian men were also let go home. Chinese men, if local police collaborators told the authority that they had a record of anti-Japanese behavior, were executed. (Japan was at war with mainland China at that time.) No one knows how many Chinese people were killed by the Japanese occupation forces.

Economically, the Japanese occupation of Singapore was a disaster. Food shortage forced the authority to ration foods to local residents. There was an attempt to transfer Singaporean men to farms in Malay Peninsula to increase food production, which was a complete failure.

Those killed during the occupation period were commemorated by the Civilian War Memorial, looking like giant white chopsticks sticking upright to the sky:

Little India on a Sunday evening

Attracting a huge number of male migrant workers from South Asia, Little India on a Sunday evening exudes kind of a festive atmosphere. My journey through the area starts at C.M.K. 2001 Restaurant, opposite to the Mustafa Centre (more on this Singaporean institution later). Teh Halia (milk tea with ginger) revives me.

Walking down one block on Kapor Road to the south, I spot a mobile phone shop run by Chinese Singaporeans. As I need to buy a prepaid SIM card, I just pop in to get one by presenting my passport and paying 15 Singaporean dollars with 3 dollar worth extra talking time allowance. Since there is a promotional campaign held at this store, a further 6 dollar worth credit is added. Calling rates are very cheap (8 cents per minute for a call, 5 cents per text). I'm amazed how visitor-friendly Singaporean mobile phones are.

Further down on Kabor Road, I notice a very narrow alleyway on my left. Just out of curiosity, I venture into this alleyway only to find that this is a (literally) red-light district. South Asian guys flock the entrance of a red-lighted hair-salon-looking place in which a few women are sitting on chairs. There are also several groups of South Asian guys who appear to play gambling.

At the end of the alley, turn right and then turn right again to walk into Rowell Road. The right side of this road is dotted with brothels. South Asian men are gazing through the bar fence into scanty-clad women.

Back on Kabor Road, I walk further down to the south. The road has a huge number of South Asian men (not a single woman in sight), some chatting to each other, some just standing alone. New high-rise residential buildings on the left have grocery shops and electronic product shops on the ground floor. On a parking lot pop up some stalls and booths for viewing cricket on TV.

At the end of Kabor Road, I turn right. Two-story shop houses in this part of Little India look cute in yellow.

I go across Serangoon Road, Little India's main street, to Kerbau Road. After one block, the road is pedestrianized and absolutely packed with South Asian men (not a single woman in sight). I notice many men hold a cup of yellow hot liquid here. Corn potage soup? I manage to find out a shop selling this yellow stuff. There is a long queue in front. I ask one guy drinking it. He tells me it's masala tea and I have to pay in advance and then join the queue to get a cup of mine. I follow what he told me and enjoy the spicy taste of malasa tea along with many South Asian guys.

By the time I go back to Mustafa Centre where I meet my friends, it gets dark, but the crowd does not seem to go away anytime soon. I briefly get into Mustafa Centre. It sells everything from foods and clothes to bags, drugs, jewel, gold bars, and even India visas for 24 hours every day. On the last day of my stay in Singapore, I come here again to buy a cabin-sized suitcase for only 19 Singaporean dollars because my lost luggage never comes back to me before leaving Singapore,

After a quick supper, my friends take me back to the red light Rowell Road for a bohemian bar (Food#03 at 109 Rowell Road). They serve me with a glass of masala tequila. I learn that this bar used to be a brothel. But the house owner one day gets arty, and converts the brothel next door into an art gallery and this one into a bar. South Asian men flock the entrance of the art gallery, just like they do in front of a brothel, being perplexed with what the hell the place is all about.

On the way back to the hotel, I walk down Serangoon Road with an endless series of colorfully painted old shop houses illuminated.

Zouk

Singapore has a world-renowned nightclub: Zouk.

Ranked 13th in DJmag magazine's Top 100 Clubs chart in 2009 (the second highest outside Europe, following Womb in Tokyo), this nightclub cannot be missed for a 30-something who still loves club music (that is, me).

What impresses me about Zouk is the sound quality. I have to say, the bass sound is not as powerful as Room 1 of Fabric in London. The high-pitched sound is not as clearly-heard as Cocoon in Frankfurt. However, that's an extremely tough competition to win. Zouk's sound system and accoustics is much better than all the usual nightclubs you can find anywhere (including Room 2 of Fabric, whose acoustics is pretty bad in my opinion).

The DJ on the deck tonight is Dubfire, apparently a famous DJ in the house music scene. But I didn't really know his music. With the excellent sound system, however, I do enjoy his DJ set featuring minimal techno tunes (if I pick the club music category term correctly). The sound system, I believe, is crucial for enjoying the kind of music you don't usually listen to. People behind Zouk seem to know this.

The crowd is, surprisingly, ethnically mixed. If this were in London, I would see mostly white people only. Here I see faces of Chinese, Malays, and Indians with several white people and a couple of black girls, just about the same proportion as the nation-wide one.

Unlike Womb in Tokyo serving a bowl of fresh tomatoes on the bar counter for free, Zouk doesn't offer something (perhaps unnecessary) extra. Unlike Fabric in London, the floor doesn't get too dirty.

Those behind the Zouk nightclub ever since it opened its door back in 1991 deserve a round of applause. It's not so easy to establish and maintain a decent nightclub in Asia where clubbing culture is essentially absent.

ION Orchard

The latest addition to the cluster of shopping malls along Orchard Road is ION Orchard (part of its facade pictured above), designed by Benoy. The whole exterior and interior is curvy and futuristic. The signage is horrible; very hard to navigate yourself inside the mall. Once you go up or down to another floor by the escalator, you don't see the escalator for further upstairs or downstairs. Some escalators without notice take you to two floors up. A great (half ironically half seriously) design for visitors who don't want to get bored.

Without summer trousers due to lost baggage, I have to buy one pair and this shopping mall helps me find a rather good one.

Newark Airport

I use Continental Airlines whenever I fly to the US from Stockholm. Which means I use Newark Liberty International Airport (1 hour drive from New York City) as a transit quite often. With a long transit time, I can then venture into New York City.

On the way back from Texas to Stockholm, this time I feel too exhausted to venture into New York City even though I have 6 hours of transit. So I explore the airport a bit. I learn two good things about this airport.

If you're in Terminal C and have plenty of time until your flight departure, head for gate C124. From the floor-to-ceiling windows near gate C124, you will have a perfect view of New York City's skyline in the distance.

Also, the food court near gate C124 has one excellent food stall called Sarku Japan. I tried their chicken teriyaki with steamed rice. They serve just cooked chicken teriyaki and stir-fried vegetables with perfectly steamed rice (I mean, they make just right the amount of water for steaming rice) in a generous portion. Five dollars 66 cents filled my stomach with a pleasant feeling left.

Hotel Review: Room Mate Grace

During my stay in New York over this weekend, I stayed at Room Mate Grace (125 West 45th Street) for two nights. The room charge (including tax) for what they call a "Petite" bedroom was 593.60 dollars for two nights, which is a bargain by New York standards. And luckily, my actual bedroom is "deluxe for 3 people" (one queen bed and one single bed as a bunk bed unit). The hotel is formerly known as Hotel QT, by the way.

The Good:
Good design. With orange as the theme color, the lobby, the breakfast space, and bedrooms are all nicely designed, making customers forget the fact that this hotel's physical structure could be a bit claustrophobic (that's why the room rate is a bargain).

Breakfast is included in the room charge, and served until 1 pm (an important consideration given that this hotel is located in New York, a city with loads of fun after dark!).

An iPod dock in bedrooms. A DVD player with a plasma screen is also available.

Free wireless broadband connection. Why do all the major hotel chains (Hilton, Mariott, etc.) still charge a hefty fee for Wi-Fi, by the way?

An empty small fridge. I think it's better to have an empty one than the one fully stuffed with drinks you may not like. You can buy drinks at the kiosk-like front desk (see below) in the lobby (they charge 4 dollars for a 500ml bottle of mineral water, though) or at a nearby deli store (see below).

Convenient location. Within a couple of minute walk from Times Square. Within a five minute walk from a 42nd Street/Times Square metro station exit where you can buy a Metrocard (which is not the case for many other metro station exits in Manhattan). Within a five minute walk from Bryant Park in front of which a coach from Newark airport stops (on 42nd Street).

A 15 second walk to the left from the hotel entrance takes you to a deli store (Cranberry Gourmet Deli at 115 West 45th Street) where you can save your money for dinner if necessary. And food is rather good.

The shower space is separated from the toilet space by the wall. Coming from Japan, I always find the bathroom in the West unpleasant. Why should I be forced to look at the toilet before and after taking shower? This hotel knows better.

The Bad:
Only continental breakfast is available.

The hotel front desk looks like a kiosk selling magazines and fresh drinks, which is a bit confusing for first timers.

Bed rooms on the 3rd floor may not be quiet during the night as a pool bar on the 2nd floor pumps out music until late.

The Ugly:
The lobby smells like "love hotel" bedrooms in Tokyo (the smell of some sort of antiseptic, I guess).

Verdict:
If you want to minimize your expenditure for accommodation in New York, this hotel should be one of the best bets.

Restaurants in New York

I found two good restaurants during my weekend stay in New York:

202 (75 Ninth Avenue)

Located on the exit of the post-industrial chic Chelsea Market to the 75th Avenue, this restaurant is a great place for weekend brunch. Their English breakfast has a nice contemporary touch in it.

The Stanton Social (99 Stanton Street)

A contemporary tapas-style restaurant in Lower East Side. With background music of good taste (including a Brazilian jazz tune from the 1960s), they serve a wide variety of foods in tapas style (ie. not in typical American style of a horrendously big portion). Baby spinach salad was beautiful with roasted corn bits functioning as a revealing accent of taste. Grilled hanger steak is much more than a typical American steak, accompanied with tater tots in Spanish bravas sauce. Yummy. And the friendly service is excellent to perfection.

Cafes/Restaurants in Boston

I've been staying in Boston for a week. Below is the list of restaurants and cafes that I found good.

Scoozi (235 Newbury Street)

A budget but stylish Italian restaurant on Newbury Street, the main shopping street of Boston. Shrimp scampi spaghetti is well-done. Background music of good taste is a plus. A take-out is available, too.

The Blue Room (1 Kendall Square, Cambridge)

A very nice restaurant serving contemporary cuisine located off the beaten track in Kendall (MIT's campus area). Grilled tuna with star anises, stir-fried shiitake mushrooms, and sticky-rice in coconut-curry sauce is very creative and highly recommended.

Desi Dhaba (401 Massachusetts Avenue)

A budget Indian restaurant located near Central Square in Cambridge (in between MIT and Harvard campuses). Their curry lunch buffet (less than 10 dollars) was value for money.


Trident Booksellers and Cafe (338 Newbury Street)

A bookstore-cum-cafe that offers wireless broadband connection for free, serving all-day breakfast (egg dishes and pancakes etc.). Asian chicken salad was excellent. It's located near Hynes/ICA green line metro station as well as a bus stop on Massachusets Avenue from which you can go to MIT and Harvard.

Tealuxe (108 Newbury Street)

A cosy cafe properly serving a wide variety of tea.

Tremont 647 (647 Tremont Street)

A great restaurant in South End, the up-and-coming district of Boston, serving contemporary cuisine. Steamed Tibetan Lamb Momos for a starter and Pan Roasted Local Wild Cod for the main were beautifully done.

The Upper Crust Pizzeria (20 Charles Street)

A good budget pizzeria in Beacon Hill area. On the common table under an abstract tin sculpture hanging from the ceiling, you can finish your quick dinner with a tasty slice of pizza for the budget way below 10 dollars.



---
And I realize none of these cafes/restaurants have a counterpart in Stockholm...

2x4 versus Herzog and de Meuron

This is how Graphic artist group 2x4 transformed Herzog & de Meuron's Prada Omotesando in Tokyo:

(Photo source: Nikkei Woman)

A thought on democracy

Why does the international community these days criticize a coup while they are quiet about the democratically-elected government's attempt to restrict free media (as happened in Madagascar before the coup) or to extend the term limit for presidency (as happened in Honduras before the coup)?

Without free media, democratic elections cannot replace an bad-behaving government. Without the term limit, the minority who does not support the incumbent may keep suffering forever. (Imagine the US did not have a term limit for presidency, and George W. Bush won the third term.)

The reason is, I believe, the lack of scientific evidence on what aspects of democracy bring about good outcomes. If there's evidence, politicians and people in the media industry are unaware of it. The international community appears to believe that multiparty elections are sufficient. Alternatively, the media does not loudly report such issues as banning radio stations in less developed countries, and so the international community realize something is going wrong in these countries only after a coup takes place.

We should stop this. And I will devote my life as a development economist to tackle this.

Isola Linear

A kitchen suggested by Toyo Kitchen from Japan.
(The image taken from Excite Ism Concierge, October 30, 2009)

No more nukes. Pray to music.

I'm usually apolitical. And I don't want music to be politically charged.

But in this case, a political message makes music more powerful:

Best sushi in Stockholm

Stockholm has many, many sushi restaurants. I would say the number of sushi places per person in Stockholm is a lot more than in Tokyo.

And everyone in Stockholm asks me which sushi restaurant is the best in Stockholm because I'm Japanese. I didn't know the answer until today.

Sushi Bar Kirin at Brommaplan is the one. For the first time in ages, I feel comfortable eating foods in Stockholm. I mean, this sushi place offers the kind of taste I'm used to.

Although Brommaplan is a bit far from the city center, Sushi Bar Kirin is located quite close to the metro station. So it's not such a hassle to go there from time to time.

I'm grateful to Sandra for letting me know this place via her blog.

Developing Rural Areas

I listened to a podcast of Esther Duflo's lecture on rural development at LSE on 24 September, 2009. It is an excellent lecture in the sense that she synthesizes the latest findings in development economics research from the viewpoint of rural development. This kind of effort has long been missing. The past decade saw an emergence of high-quality research on economic development. But there are so many pieces of such research that it is difficult to grasp a big picture of what's known and what's not in a systematic way.

Anyone interested in economic development should listen to this lecture, available as a video streaming (scroll down within the video player window to 24 September 2009) and as an MP3 file (search for Duflo and click "mp3").

Gareth Pugh from Paris Collection Spring 2010

FT Fashion Editor Vanessa Friedman at FT praises Gareth Pugh's collection. (The image is taken from Style.com.)

Winter has come.

From today I need to wear a coat, a scarf, and winter trousers to go out in Stockholm.

It's still autumn by Swedish standards which define winter as temperature below zero degree Celsius, though.

Gordon Ramsay Plane Food

Flying with British Airways from London Heathrow airport means that you depart from the new Terminal 5 building. After passing the security checkpoint surprisingly smoothly, I have dinner at Gordon Ramsay Plane Food. It could be the best restaurant in London. A poached hake, a rocket parmesan salad, and non-alcohol cocktail called Lemon Tree are all good. Usually, airport restaurants inside the security checkpoint are lousy. But it's worth visiting Heathrow Terminal 5 early and having the last meal in London at this restaurant. (A friend of mine, a frequent flier from Terminal 5, told me that the service could be slow for passengers whose boarding time is fast-approaching.)

Bolitas de espinacas at Navarro's

Have dinner with a friend of mine at Navarro's, probably one of the best Spanish restaurants in London.

Not every dish is great. (I said "the best in London".) Calamares rebozados are horrible. Brocheta de cordero isn't as good as the one I had in Madagascar.

BUT I have to write this down to remember. Bolitas de espinacas are fantastic. They are deep-fried, breaded balls of spinach and ricotta.

Long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets in Madagascar

There are always things to learn which you would not imagine unless you visit the field.

Long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (LLINs) are the main tool for combating against malaria promoted by the international aid community. These nets have insecticide ingrained into the fabric so that mosquitoes with malaria parasites will die as soon as they touch the net. People talk about its durability in terms of how long the effect of insecticide lasts.

Today the head of the malaria control department at the Ministry of Health in Madagascar told us the following:

In 2006, pregnant women and mothers with children under the age of five in the east coast area received LLINs for free at health centers. Since then, the malaria infection rate had been stable around 10 to 20 percent. Last year, it suddenly went up to nearly 50 percent. We investigated what happened. It turns out that those LLINs distributed in 2006 have holes so that mosquitoes can come inside the bed net. Why? People in the east coast tend to have the kitchen inside the house. They burn charcoal to cook. The cooking smoke makes bed nets dirty. So people wash LLINs quite often. After two years, LLINs are worn out.

It's not about the durability of insecticide but that of nets themselves that matter to Malagasy people.

Ambodisaina village in Atsinanana region of Madagascar

Hi from the capital city of Madagascar

On the day of our arrival in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar also known as Tana (pictured above), the current and former presidents of the country, visiting Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, agreed to set up a transition government which will supervise presidential and legislative elections during the next 15 months. (See BBC News for more detail.) On the way from the airport to the hotel by taxi, we saw many, many residents of Tana lining up alongside the road, waiting for the current president, whom the international community does not recognize the head of state of Madagascar, to come back to the country.

With my colleagues from Tokyo, I'm visiting Madagascar to launch a research project on the impact of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (famous for its preventive effect against malaria infection) on poverty reduction. If I have time and connection to the Internet, I'll keep updating this blog LIVE FROM MADAGASCAR.

Good design helps newspapers

A TED talk (February 2009) by the designer who revolutionalized newspapers in Central and Eastern Europe.



I would add that this guy's design of his presentation slides is also excellent.

The least hard-working nation in Europe

So this is why, ever since I moved to Sweden, I always feel discouraged from working hard.

By the way, the above linked article shows why Sweden's only English news media, The Local, is a crappy news outlet. It doesn't explain what "collectively agreed" annual leave or "collectively agreed" working week really means. This is the most crucial piece of information because the whole article bases its information on the statistics for these two things. If you don't speak Swedish in Sweden, The Local is the ONLY source of local news. This country doesn't have any printed media in English.

How to "Save As ..." in Excel 2007.

For the first time ever, I use Excel 2007. And I don't know how to "save as", that is, to save a file in a different format than the default Excel format.

So I google it, and find this page from Digg.

I'm amazed that many people think it's a stupid question. Many people don't answer the question, just saying the guy who asked this question is retarded. They say, "To publicize how stupid this question is, let's keep posting!" How mean they are. As a result, I have to scroll down quite a bit to find the solution:

RIGHT CLICK on quick access toolbar
SELECT Customize quick access toolbar
SELECT Show All Commands from "Choose commands from:" drop down
SELECT Save As
CLICK add

The guy who asked this question (and I myself) is not retarded. It's Microsoft Excel developers who are retarded. How can you design the updated version of software so un-intuitively to the users of the previous version? (They completely reshuffle which command belongs to which menu bar.)

And the most annoying feature of Excel, namely, a pop-up window always shows up when I want to close a file that is already saved in the non-Excel format, still remains in this new version of Excel. It is Microsoft Excel developers who are retarded.

And when I enter "mar2003" (as the survey identifier for the one conducted in Morocco in 2003; "MAR" is the ISO code for Morocco), Excel 2007 recognizes it as 3/1/2003 (as the previous version of Excel does). Who would enter "mar2003" for 1st March 2003? It is Microsoft Excel developers who are retarded.

I'll Be Your Love

Composed by Yoshiki
Performed by Nicole Scherzinger (vocal), Yoshiki (piano), Ikuro Fujiwara (conductor), and Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo on December 2002.



For most of you, this video is a rare footage of Nicole Scherzinger before she broke through as the lead singer of Pussycat Dolls. For me, Yoshiki's killer melody is the most important although I do think Nicole's beautiful voice really fits this song.

Done with the revision of the last chapter in my PhD thesis

My PhD thesis, completed two years ago, has four chapters. One chapter was already published in a non-peer reviewed journal. Another chapter was published as a book chapter. The third chapter was submitted to and then rejected by a journal and then re-submitted to another journal last April.

Today I finished revising the last chapter (finally) and submitted it to a journal.

Now I can fully move on to new research projects (until journal editors either ask me to revise the submitted papers or tell me that they decide to reject them).

Tokyo Subway Map for your iPod

I just discovered Gizmobies. It's a stylish protector skin for iPod, iPhone, Blackberry, and Nintendo DS. This is what I wanted for my iPod Classic. And my hesitation to buy an iPhone due to its rather ugly design will go away with Gizmobies.

It originates from America, and its Japanese store has the "Japan-only" patterns. I hope Scandinavian designers will soon join the bandwagon. They should do a better job.

And what's surprising to me is that one of the patterns available in US is the Tokyo Subway Map (see above). This is a cultural shock to me.

London's tube map is a design icon.


On the other hand, I always thought Tokyo's counterpart was ugly.


But for Americans, Tokyo is cool, and so its subway map is also cool, as it seems.

分島花音 (Kanon Wakeshima)

Ayumi Hamasaki + visual-kei + breakbeat + classical music? Kanon Wakeshima is at least different.

still doll


砂のお城 (Sand Castle)

"Open Page" by Lenzman featuring Riya

A beautiful DnB tune:

The Daily Telegraph on drum and bass

An Economics Editor of the Daily Telegraph, UK's conservative broadsheet newspaper, has a blog post on drum and bass (or DnB for short). Since DnB is my favorite music, I can say something about the post. The article is so not up-to-date to the current scene of DnB, but the following paragraph is right on about this genre of dance music:

There are few other genres of dance music - or sub-genres rather - that can cover such an expanse as DnB - from the bone shaking dance hits that ravish clubs to the slow, meditative intensely jazzy DnB that flourished in the late 1990s. DnB is about plenty of things - about playing with form, about confronting expectations, but the more you drill into it the less it is really about either the drums or the bass.

The article is outdated because it recommends Goldie, Roni Size, and LTJ Bukem to the uninitiated. They are great legends of DnB, but this music has evolved a lot since those mid-1990s stars. I would recommend Pendulum (if you like rock music), Chase & Status (if you like electro music in general), and High Contrast (if you like movie soundtracks or classical music). And to keep up with the latest scene, check out BBC Radio 1 programme Fabio & Grooverider (you can listen to the latest show online on demand).