Wow!

In Passing

On the train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong.

Factory Girls

The first time I ever visited a factory in China was about 10 years ago.  It was to an electronics factory in Dongguan that primarily made calculators.  I was there to make a promotional video for the company, and it was definitely an eye-opening experience.  Seeing the thousands of workers, and rows upon rows of assembly lines, it was in some ways fascinating, but it also raised so many questions.  As I watched them with their heads down, screwing in the calculator covers, one after another, or pressing all the buttons to make sure they worked, doing this non-stop for hours on end, it made me wonder about the life of a factory worker.  Was this as good as life got for them?  Was leaving the rural countryside for a factory job what they aspired to?  Did they realize there was more out there beyond living in a factory dorm and working 14hr days only to make a couple hundred dollars a month?  What did they think about all day as they repetitively worked on the assembly line?  Did they dream of something more?  Were they hoping this was just a stepping stone for them?

Well, I just finished reading a book called Factory Girls: Voices From The Heart Of Modern China, by Leslie T. Chang, which answered a lot of these questions.  The book takes an interesting look at the everyday lives of migrant factory workers - their motivations, their goals and dreams, their struggles, even their social lives.  Here is an exerpt:

When you met a girl from another factory, you quickly took her measure.  "What year are you?" you asked each other, as if speaking not of human beings but of the makes of cars.  "How much a month?  Including room and board? How much for overtime?"  Then you might ask what province she was from.  You never asked her name.

To have a true friend inside the factory was not easy.  Girls slept 12 to a room, and in the tight confines of the dorm it was better to keep your secrets.  Some girls joined the factory with borrowed ID cards and never told anyone their real names.  Some spoke only to those from their home provinces, but that had risks: gossip traveled quickly from factory to village, and when you went home every auntie and granny would know how much you made and how much you saved and whether you went out with boys.

When you did make a friend, you did everything for her.  If a friend quit her job and had nowhere to stay, you shared your bunk despite the risk of a 10 yuan fine, about $1.25, if you got caught.  If she worked far away, you would get up early on a rare day off and ride hours on the bus, and at the other end your friend would take leave from work - this time, the fine 100 yuan - to spend the day with you.  You might stay at a factory you didn't like, or quit one you did, because a friend asked you to.  Friends wrote letters every week, although the girls who had been out longer considered that childish.  They sent messages by mobile phone instead.  Friends fell out often because life was changing so fast.  The easiest thing in the world was to lose touch with someone.

The best day of the month was payday.  But in a way it was the worst day, too.  After you had worked hard for so long, it was infuriating to see how much money had been docked for silly things: being a few minutes late one morning, or taking a half day off for feeling sick, or having to pay extra when the winter uniforms switched to summer ones.  On payday, everyone crowded the post office to wire money to their families.  Girls who had just come out from home were crazy about sending money back, but the ones who had been out longer laughed at them.  Everyone knew which girls were the best savers and how many thousands they had saved.  Everyone knew the worst savers, too, with their lip gloss and silver mobile phones and heart-shaped lockets and their many pairs of high-heeled shoes.

The girls talked constantly of leaving.  Workers were required to stay six months, and even then permission to quit was not always granted.  The factory held the first two months of every worker's pay;  leaving without approval meant losing that money and starting all over somewhere else.  That was a fact of factory life you couldn't know from the outside:  Getting into a factory was easy.  The hard part was getting out.

Face Box

I went to a fun exhibition called "Face Box" by Le Gun magazine at the R. Newbold gallery in Daikanyama.  Basically, they had a number of cardboard heads that you could put on.  You were encouraged to strike a pose, take a polaroid, and contribute to the collection of photos.

Sunday Morning

The Happiest Place On Earth

I went to DisneySea today.  It's right next to Tokyo Disneyland, and is unique to Japan.  As you can guess from the name, DisneySea is a water themed park.  However, the coolest ride wasn't actually a water ride.  It was Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull.  You are taken on a night ride through the jungle in Indy's truck, as you swerve this way and that to avoid death from all sorts of things, including poison darts, giant spiders, and that huge rolling boulder!  The effects are awesome, and there is one of those cameras at the end that takes your photo as you plunge into the unknown.  I was too cheap to buy the picture, so I just snapped a photo of the screen.

Look at my face!  If that isn't a perfect advertisement for "fun and excitement", then I don't know what is.

Beer Testing - Round 12 (Battle Royal Japan 2!)

Since the trains were out yesterday due to the typhoon and it was difficult to get around, we decided to stay in and do some beer testing!  We did a 6 beer challenge, with Yebisu going for it's first title defense since winning top spot earlier this year.

Defending Champ

Name: Yebisu

Origin: Tokyo, Japan

Alcohol: 5%

Price: USD2.56/can USD0.73/100mL

This beer won convincingly, beating out 12 other beers in the last Royal Rumble with a solid score of 8/10.

Challenger 1

Name: Suntory Super Blue

Origin: Tokyo, Japan

Alcohol: 5%

Price: USD1.25/can USD0.36/100mL

This beer is meant "For Refreshing Times".  And it claims "Original Clear Taste".  Well, if by "clear" they mean it tastes like water, then yes, it does.  Another light and tasteless 3rd grade beer.  Final score 6.2/10.

Challenger 2

Name: Kirin Golden Moment

Origin: Tokyo, Japan

Alcohol: 5%

Price: USD1.33/can USD0.38/100mL

With a name like "Golden Moment", you'd expect this beer to be the best memory of your entire life.  It supposedly "delivers you a great harmony of refreshing and full body taste." However, this 3rd grade beer was a bit wheaty and although it had a bit more flavour, it wasn't exactly memorable.  Final score 6.65/10.

Challenger 3

Name: Suntory Clear Strong

Origin: Tokyo, Japan

Alcohol: a whopping 8%

Price: USD1.27/can USD0.32/100mL

First of all, the can's design is pretty ugly.  It should get minus points just for that.  It was another bad sign when it sounded fizzy coming out of the can, like pouring a soda.  And the foam looked like soap suds.  All this, and we hadn't even had a taste yet.  The very first thing you notice when you put it to your lips - it tastes sweet!!  Like someone poured sugar into it.  Upon closer inspection of the ingredients, there are a lot more things in it than just water, hops, and barley. Among them, yes, sugar.  This was the beer equivalent of competing on steroids! How else would you get up to 8% so inexpensively?  Pump it full of other crap!  It definitely had a kick to it, but tasted like sugar water, soda, and beer mixed together.  Final score 1/10.

Challenger 4

Name: Kirin Stout

Origin: Tokyo, Japan

Alcohol: 5%

Price: USD2.13/can USD0.61/100mL

Now I'll be the first to admit that comparing light 3rd grade beers to stouts is like comparing apples to oranges, but it's a battle royal!  Anything goes!  I should also remind you that my judgments are biased against stouts, because in general, I'm not really a fan of that heavy, bitter taste.  As well, I usually like drinking my beers quickly, while they're ice cold, and stouts aren't meant for that. Nevertheless, I am trying to be as open-minded as possible.  This one claims that it's roasted aroma and creamy foam will "enrich your precious time."  And in fact, it did have a nice malty aroma and was very smooth.  As stouts go for me, this one was not bad.  Final score 7.5/10.

Challenger 5

Name: Yebisu Premium

Origin: Tokyo, Japan

Alcohol: 5%

Price: USD2.54/can USD0.0.73/100mL

I thought I would at least put 2 stouts together, so that you could get a comparison.  Now this has to be the slickest looking beer can ever.  Too bad I don't like dark beers, otherwise I would be buying this all the time based purely on the packaging.  Taste-wise, pretty much the same as the Kirin, except just a little fizzy for a stout, making it kind of a hybrid, and perhaps slightly more familiar for some people.  Final score 7.65/10.

So although the 2 stouts completely destroyed the other challengers and they were pretty even between themselves, Yebisu remains the defending champ.

Typhoon Day

Even though today there was a typhoon, the trains were shut down, and we couldn't really go anywhere, I still managed to find some sunshine..

Daily Special

Menu on the wall of a noodle shop in Tokyo.  Nice type layout.

Meant For Each Other

What's Your Sign?

Call me a simple guy with simple needs - I just like this ultra-straightforward layout and type execution. Great 2-colour graphic.

They Think Of Everything!

I went grocery shopping at a supermarket in Tokyo, and goddamn, they even incorporated an umbrella holder into the cart design!  Freaking amazing..

Better Than Rambo Getting Shaved Dry

I had a week's worth of stubble that needed to come off, so I thought I'd see what a local Japanese barber shop was all about.  There just happened to be one right around the corner, so why not?

Walking in, it had the sterile scent of a hospital, and one look at the equipment, and you knew that this mom 'n' pop joint was old skool.

Apart from the fact that they shaved my whole face! (I kept worrying that it would grow back thicker??) - other than that, it was a pretty relaxing experience, but not cheap - ¥2000 (U.S.$20).

Sticker Of The Day

Loungin'

Met some friends at this nice chill spot in Shibuya called Respekt.  It's a cafe in the daytime, and at night, turns into a great place to hang out for a bit of food and drink.

http://www.sus-shibuya.com/