I recently set up Google News Alerts, a wonderful service that e-mails you search results from Google News whenever they show up. My first big payoff is this story, going beyond the mat documenting the 1976 “boxer versus wrestler” match between Muhammad Ali and my favorite Japanese wrestler, Antonio Inoki. It’s a great read (excerpt quoted below):
“Now Herbert [Muhammad, Ali’s manager] came to me and he said these Japanese people have come to him with all kinds of money to go over and fight this wrestler, Inoki, in Japan,” says Bob Arum, who promoted the exhibition. While Arum has promoted some of the biggest fights in boxing history, he has also promoted other extravaganzas, most notably Evel Knievel’s attempt to jump the Snake Canyon in a rocket car.
Ali’s handlers began putting the fight together in April of 1975, when Ali met Ichiro Yada, the then-president of the Japan Amateur Wrestling Association, at a party in the United States. Ali asked Yada, “Isn’t there any Oriental fighter to challenge me? I’ll give him one million dollars if he wins.” Ali was probably joking but Yada brought his comment back to the Japanese press. When Inoki read Ali’s words, he relentlessly pursued a match, finally getting him to sign a deal in March of 1976.
The money was without a doubt great: $6 million for Ali, $4 million for Inoki. And the bout seemed like it would be nothing more than fun, entertaining fare. As Arum put it, “Professional wrestlers are performers. The thing is a fraud.”
However, Inoki had not planned to put on a show. To him and his manager, it was a serious fight between a boxer and a wrestler. According to Pacheco, “Ali’s fight in Tokyo was basically a Bob Arum thought up scam that was going to be ‘ha-ha, ho-ho. We’re going to go over there. It’s going to be orchestrated. It’s going to be a lot of fun and it’s just a joke.’ And when we got over there, we found out no one was laughing.” Continue reading Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki: Beyond The Mat
This blog has a great rant about how much “Pan-Asian” restaurants suck. In trying to cover the whole damn continent they get it all wrong and water it down way too much to please the yuppies. In DC the big crap-fest is Raku, but there are some Thai fusion-type restaurants that fit the description as well. But Mr. O-Dub can tell it better than I can (link via The Melting Blog):
Memo to All “Pan-Asian” or “Asian Fusion” or “Asian-Infused” Restaurants:
First of all, just admit it: “Pan-Asian” is your way of charging exorbitant prices and exploiting naive white people who don’t feel comfortable venturing into a restaurant run by actual Asian immigrants.
Second, stop skimping on the flavor and spices. Are you interpreting the Greek prefix “Pan” in “Pan-Asian” to mean “not even remotely”? I’m talking to you, Zao Noodle, king of bland.
Third, if you’re going to co-opt Asian food, stick to the cuisine of one country. You can’t offer watered-down versions of pad thai, adobo, sashimi, and bi bim bop on your menu. You’re destroying the ongoing struggle of Asian Americans to convince everybody else that we’re not all the same.
Go to downtown Annandale, Virginia, and you’ll see more Korean-language signs than English ones. In addition to the Korean markets and dozens of restaurants, the area sports a kick-ass karaoke box with tons of Japanese songs. But a lot of the Korean business owners don’t join the chamber of commerce and don’t want to participate in building one of those newfangled “walkable” downtown shopping centers that have been springing up all over the country. The Washington Post has the story:
‘Koreatown’ Image Divides A Changing Annandale
When a contingent of Annandale’s civic leaders named their downtown “The Annandale Village Centre,” they were aiming to re-create the experience of Old Town Alexandria, where people can walk to specialty shops on brick sidewalks along quaint streets.
The Annandale Chamber of Commerce’s Web site and brochures published by Fairfax County try to convey old-fashioned charm, with photos of downtown scenes: a Civil War-era church, a rustic barn and a farmers market.
In reality, the face of downtown Annandale — a collection of aging strip malls and low-rise office buildings — has changed from white to Asian, and its unofficial, oft-invoked moniker is Koreatown.
The census says there were only some 66,000 Koreans living in the area as of 2000, but I suspect that it’s grown much higher by now. Also, the relatively small number of Koreans actually living in Annandale is deceptive. The bedroom communities for Koreans are sprawled out just like the rest of the area, so Annandale is just a concentration of shops. The evidence of the Korean diaspora in the DC area is impossible to miss: Korean groceries abound, there are more Korean convenience store operators than Indian ones, Korean churches are everywhere, and there are several competing chains of Korean grocery stores. I love it because it means I can get Japanese food ingredients wayyy cheaper than I can get them at the Japanese market in Bethesda.
I thought Korea was supposed to be a developed country. Why is it that there continue to be so many immigrants to the US? Don’t know if you’re reading this, Mr. Marmot, but as someone who attended one of those Korean churches, maybe you can shed some light.
At first I couldn’t figure out what the hell it was but then it hit me: FARA stands for Foreign Agents Registration something (Upon further investigation the A somehow stands for “Unit”), so this must be a 1997 list of Japan’s registered foreign agents! Nice!
“The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) Unit administers the FARA and maintains a public office to make all registration materials available to the public. In addition, it administers and/or provides advice for certain other statutes related to either matters requiring registration with or notification to the Attorney General.”
And from the Q&A:
The purpose of FARA is to insure that the American public and its law makers know the source of information (propaganda) intended to sway public opinion, policy, and laws. In 1938, the FARA was Congress’ response to the large number of German propaganda agents in the pre-WWII U.S.
On a side note, this fear of German propaganda agents continues to this day. A good friend of mine was recently rejected by the CIA because his great grandfather and grandmother came to the US from Germany in 1932, a time when Ellis Island record-keeping was shoddy and there were many Nazi exiles from Weimar Germany. Are we really in danger of Nazi brainwashing these days?
Anyway, check the Q&A for what exactly a foreign agent is. Basically, it’s any individual or corporate entity that is in the country operating under the direction of a foreign country. US law requires these people to register with the government and disclose their activities and funding.
While most of the entries for Japan are for arms of Japanese government agencies or industries, many are for political consultants and PR firms working for them. I hope none of the people listed mind me outing them since it’s public information and all. Here are some interesting bits:
Butterfield Carter and Associates — The registrant contacted U.S. Government officials regarding U.S.-Japan whaling policy. $45,000.00 for the six month period ending December 31,2002.
Caparso, Anne Smith (Active Libertarian Activist and Lobbyist) — Employer: Government of Japan, Embassy. The registrant’s activities are designed to advance the foreign principal’s ties with congressional staff and the policy community. The registrant contacted congressional staff to discuss foreign policy and domestic policy issues occurring in the United States and in Japan and between the United States and Japan. The registrant provided reports to the embassy on current events in Congress relating to foreign policy. $9,600.00 for the six month period ending September 30,2002
Daniel J. Edelman, Inc. — Employer: Office of the Japanese Consul General. The registrant provided the foreign principal with strategic counseling. $30,344.02 for the six month period ending September 12,2002
Hecht, Spencer & Associates, Inc. (Lobbying Firm) — Employer: Government of Japan. The registrant rendered government relations and political consulting services to the foreign principal in connection with U.S. Government positions, actions and legislation regarding claims against Japanese nationals, including corporations. The registrant contacted U.S. Government officials in opposition to H.R. 1198 and S. 1154, bills entitled “The Justice for United States Prisoners of War Act of 2001.” In such contacts, the registrant also addressed related legislative and policy matters on S. 1272, the POW Assistance Act of 2001; H.R. 2835, a bill to authorize the payment of compensation to members of the Armed Forces and civilian employees of the United States who performed slave labor for Japan during World War II; H.R. 5235, the Former Prisoners of War Special Compensation Act of 2002; and the San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan (1951). $180,000.00 for the six month period ending August 31,2002
And on and on. In all there are about 60 groups receiving a few million dollars from either government or private sources. I’m sure it’s all very benign — lots of research and legal representation, some image-control propaganda. I’m not saying these people are spies in our midst — just thought it was interesting. Enjoy!
Before I go, I just wanted to post an excerpt of an email I got from Saru the other day.
* * * * *
With regard to your question about the historic value of the yen. It
was set at 360 to the dollar during the occupation. There is a story
that attributes the choosing of this value because “yen” means round
and someone thought it would be appropriate since there are 360
degrees in a circle. At any rate, this may be apocryphical.
It stayed at 360 until August 1970, when Nixon pulled the US off of
the gold standard, effectively ending the Bretton Woods System. The
Japanese call this “nixon shock.” By this point, because the Japanese
were running substantial current account surpluses, the yen was
considerably undervalued. The Japanese government tried to keep it at
Bretton Woods levels, but eventually gave up and let it float. Since
it was undervalued, it rose pretty quickly from about 360 at the start
of 1971 to stabilize around the 300 mark until the mid-1970s. It hit a
high of 183 in the late 1970s and then fell again back to the mid-200s
by 1980. Then it skyrocketed in the mid-90s. You can check out the
detailed numbers yourself at the address below if you’re interested.
The Bank of Japan used to have great stats, but I checked today and
for some reason they only have effective exchange rates indexed at 100 for March 1973.
Incidentially, when my boss first went to Japan back in 1971, he said
it was his first real lesson in economics because the yen just kept
getting more expensive and more expensive. On a similar note, 94-95
would have been a great time to have been teaching English and getting
paid in yen. Jesus I wish I were six or seven years older sometimes!
↑ A sentiment that is communicated silently in Japan all the time, such as in encounters with people like this:
I also had no respect for train etiquette. I learned that, first of all, it’s a real taboo to bust through the gates and not pay. It is also a taboo to talk on your keitei (Cell-Phone) and to make a scene by talking too loud and animated. Also, eating a meal while you ride the trains is a real no-no too!
HOWEVER, some foreigners, like some of thhe people in my circle off work-friends, including myself do not ALWAYS follow these rules. I have tried hard, but on occasion, you recieve an important phone call while on the train. You can either just brush it off or answer it, and once you do that, you perpetuate the “Filthy Gaijin” stereotype. I have learned that you can bust through the games and no-onne, I mean NO-ONE will say anything. I have seen this point proven when someone I knew jumped through the games, and went back to ask for directions to the same train attendant who saw him do it.
It was totally disrespectful of the norms of Jjapanese society, but what can you do? It was so easy and convenient. Sure, I would get pangs of guilt when I first did it upon arriving in Japan, but that lasts about as long as the walk from the platform to my seat. In less than a minute, my thoughts had shifted to that foxy little school-girl who’s rubbing her naked.. supple.. lovely smooth tanned thighs agaist my leg. Ahh, the upsides of being a young white man in Japan.
I have also felt guilty when some drunken gaijin acts like a food on the last trinas, pissed drunk. I have seen the patience of some commuters tested to the limits when some drunken dude being so annoying that I’m sure he would have been beaten to a pulp anywhere else in the world.
I have eaten entire McDonalds meals on the train, late for work and needing to fill my stomach before meeting a potential client. I have also talked on my cel phone, taking and making calls that could have easily been postponed until my desitantion.
Lest it sound like I’m trying to criticize this guy, let me say that I’ve done all that and worse in Japan, and he atones for his sins later in the post. I totally understand where he’s coming from, for the most part.
The Asia Pages pointed me to this WP article about how tough it is for Indian customer service workers to deal with racist Americans who want to deal with Americans.
I agree that the Indians aren’t to blame for wanting to use their English skills to feed their families. But I have to tell the lame-asses who hired them: Indians accents are hard to understand! Even as someone who has lived abroad (though not in India) and who deals with shitty accents for a living, I have to ask the customer service people to repeat themselves almost every sentence. I’ve had a few customer service experiences where the person was in India but easy enough to understand and sometimes even friendly, but 7 times out of 10 (I’ve had to call customer service a lot lately) I feel like I’m lost in a foreign country.
We’ve been screwed so hard by companies in the customer service department that I’m not even going to bother asking for courtesy anymore. They can be complete assholes as long as the problem gets solved. But I don’t think it’s racist or too much to ask to speak with a customer service representative that actually speaks my language. I’m not the typical moron who needs everything explained step by step, but if there is no manual included with the product I buy (and there’s usually not) and it’s not working I need someone to tell me what’s wrong with it. And if possible I’d like to understand it the first time it’s said. That is all.
Our friend Saru has, after a long hiatus, posted a new piece over on his blog. Neither of us here holds a candle to Saru’s knowledge of economics, so I won’t try to offer any additional comment right now. Here’s his lead, go read the rest over at his blog, and check out some of his older pieces. Posts may be rare, but always well written and informative.
Recent developments in the ongoing takeover battle between internet upstart Livedoor and old guard Fuji Television for control of Japan Broadcasting are making things interesting for Japan watchers.
Yesterday came the unexpected news that the Tokyo District court had ruled in favor of Livedoor, ordering NBS to halt its intended direct issuance of new shares to Fuji in an effort to dilute Livedoor’s holdings. Yahoo! Asia News ran this rather optimistic analysis of the ruling, describing the court’s decision as, “turning the clock forward on Japan’s capital markets.
