Women in Art in Japan/Anywhere

don’t often say much about art and feminism but a young woman visited me recently wanting advice about how to get into the art world. I didn’t know what to say to her. So much went through my mind- it will be harder than it should be for you, run for the hills! You’re parents […]

Japanese Transhumanism

For an exhibition I have coming up in December, I decided to make some of my own ‘Human Enhancement Technology’. I met with a representative of Japan’s Transhumanist society the other day and want to share notes of his ideas from our meeting. I wanted to ask him what people in Japan are concerned about […]

Maturing Societies

For a long time, since I was a teenager I’ve felt that it seems like societies develop along similar lines to people. They seem to go through similar developmental stages: toddler tantrums, naive grasping childhood, traumatic selfish teen years, driven and ambitious 20s, a gradual mellowing and establishing 30s, etc etc. Today I heard an […]

Heatstroke Tips for the Humid Weather

So I got some incredibly good advice today about surviving the effects of the humidity and heat when they hit. Last year was a killer heat wise. I could barely get out of bed and stay awake longer than a few hours at a time. Apparently, when the air is very moist, your skin can’t […]

Narcissism Becoming a ‘How To’ for Success

While I was catching up on cleaning the house my YouTube videos were rolling. They went from Jon Ronson to psychopath spotting to narcissistic personality disorder. It was doctor Ramani Durvasula a clinical psychologist talking about their traits and how they are often rewarded by society. It’s common knowledge that there are a higher percentage […]

Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan

This morning while I was getting ready for work there was a knock on the door. I looked at the little intercom screen and saw a very dapper, older Japanese gentleman in a tweed jacket and a smart Japanese lady behind him. I thought I’d better see what it was about, particularly as they would […]

Serotokyo

I don’t like to think of myself as a proponent of biological determinism but.. some things just make more sense as joyful or harmful when we compare them to how we spent most of our time on earth and where we did most of our evolving. I think Tokyo is a really good experiment in […]

May Sickness

In Japan there is a phenomenon called May sickness, or gogatsu byou. I’ve lived here for four years and this is the first year I’ve heard about it. The idea is, after the frenetic excitement of April, which is when people start new schools, universities and jobs, the reality of life sets in and a […]

Tokyo Commuting

I’m very lucky in that I mostly miss the worst rush hour cram of salary men and women, as per numerous YouTube videos. But even at the best of times it can be an infuriating experience. Life as a typical ‘salaryman’ here is incredibly tough. I greatly sympathise with the long hours, strict code of […]

Creativity and Hierarchy

Pablo Picasso said that ‘without great solitude, no serious work is possible.’ It occurred to me today that some of my favourite pieces of work that I’ve done were not made in ‘great’ solitude (although that is much easier) but they were done in an environment of equality. For me it is hierarchy that is […]