Abe Pollin, RIP

The longtime owner of the Washington Wizards passed away yesterday.  The Washington Post’s obituary is here.

Japanese man marries video game character

Boing Boing has a report and video.

NPR on Tokyo Vice

Great NPR rendering of an anecdote from Jake Adelstein’s book, Tokyo Vice, which I’m going to buy and read over the holidays.

 

Survival of traditional sushi restaurants in changing times

Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about the state of sushi chefs and restaurants in Japan. Fewer young people want to undergo the long apprenticeship, so there are fewer traditional restaurants.

35-year time lapse view of Shinjuku

Via Danny Choo.

Yukio Hatoyama business card

President Obama is making his first trip to Japan in office, meeting with Prime Minister Hatoyama, who took office a few months back.

Here’s then-Representative Hatoyama’s business card circa 1997, when he was Secretary General of New Party Sakigake. I was on a trip for work that involved some meetings with politicians.

Yukio Hatoyama business card, circa 1997

1997 Yukio Hatoyama business card, reverse, showing his district in Hokkaido on the map

Tweed is the “new black”

The New York Times covers growing infusion of 1890s textures and styles into men’s fashion, home decor, and other parts of the culture.

Pluto’s demotion and implications for astronomy

Wired interviews Alan Boyle, who has written a book on Pluto’s demotion from planet to “dwarf planet” back in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union.  The interview goes over the intensity of the debate, and the fact that the demotion may change the way we think about the solar system and what features are studied.

I tend to think that Pluto was always kind of a rip-off as a planet, and got what was coming (j/k).

A close one…

Woman falls in front of an oncoming subway train in Boston, which stops just in time.

Why Japanese homes often lack central heat and insulation

Wide Island View explains, via Japundit.