araisara

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...

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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)

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

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 ...

is quite well written.

And a follow-up post is thought-provoking.

A Nigerian newspaper

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?

Tyler Brule bashed Sweden on his FT column last weekend.

Laundry room surveillance

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

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...

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

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)

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)

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...

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.