Takeways from our trip to Japan

 

As I'm sitting in our hotel room passing time before heading out to the airport, I started thinking, what's my takeway from this trip? How do I feel? Do I recommend Japan as a place to visit?

Well, I feel rested, energized and ready to get back to the daily grind of work and daily home life. Not that I am complaining but it's nice to have a break. 

If I were to sum up the last 2 weeks in one word I would say: Impressed. 

I was delighted to experience this place, for real it was amazing. These are the 3 categories

Things I learned

Japanese Culture and History

The first thing I noticed about Japan is how clean, and orderly everything is. Their Airport, Train Stations, and Public Spaces are thought out and organized. The train station and subway stations are clearly marked so that you know where to stand when boarding and onboarding the train. People here follow the rules and it's the opposite of chaos. People are totally silent in the train, the only people making noise are the foreigners (mostly Americans) who apparently don't have the ability to read the room and be quiet. There are tons of customs and social protocols, which I got a pass for most of them since I am also a clueless American. I did make the effort to learn and respect their rules, I am a visitor after all. Whether I want to or not, I represent America to the people who see me. I was a bit peeved when I learned that tattoos are a big no-no for public pools and baths, thankfully you're fine if you are able to cover up. I had to hide my ooorah marine corp tat. 

The Japanese have an refined taste for beauty. This was the thing I enjoyed the most about this trip. The architecture, food, visual art, music they all show a deep appreciation about things beautiful. It's freaking amazing. 

World War II is somewhat taboo to bring up. The museums do mention it and their stance is to learn from the past and not deny it or hide it. 

The people here are mostly isolated, most people in Japan have never left the country, and if they did, they travel in big groups, as a result, most people (outside of Tokyo and Kyoto) have never seen foreigners. This is a double edge sword, the people here love their country and do not want outsiders to come "ruin it" for them. At the same time, declining birth rates creates a labor vacuum that gets filled with laborers from outside Japan. This is a dilemma for the country. 

Overall, I am impressed with the way things are done here, great results but the group thinking ('We' comes before 'me') has a price. Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. 

The biggest take away from me is a deeper appreciation of the Japanese Art and their way of life. 

Food, Food, Food

Sushi, good fancy sushi, and cheap ordinary sushi from chain restaurants, all really good. Rice, all kinds of rice, with vinegar, spicy, aromatic, sticky. 

I did not have a bad meal here. lol

Shopping: Things I am bringing back

Snacks. So. Many. Snacks. Kit Kats all flavors, gummies, weird flavored chips, and other snacks that I don't even know what they are. 

Thanks to the USD being strong against the JP Yen, electronics are so much cheaper here. This reason alone makes the trip worth it. 

Memories to Cherish

This trip was supposed to be about our oldest daughter, she had a senior trip here a week before we arrived and this is the last time we hang out before she heads out to college. I was glad to see her go ga-ga at the Nintendo Super Mario World at Universal Studios Osaka.  I will remember walking with my wife, holding hands in Tokyo Disneyland. I will remember all the dinners and tasty snacks we enjoyed. All the majestic architecture and the subtle beauty of the forest around Mt. Fuji. The cherry blossoms, the clear streams burbling on the smooth rocks. The old shrines, the quiet walks up the mountains. The busy Tsukiji Market with their fresh fish, meat and fruit smells. The shiny, loud and bustling shopping district in Shibuya. I'm taking all those memories with me. 

What would I do differently

Our youngest daughter had to stay because she didn't want to miss important school activities. Next time she is coming, We really missed her.  Learn how things work ahead of time. We didn't know how the Disney passes work. Other than that it was pretty painless. 

Conclusion

This was an amazing trip, I have to thank my wife M for putting it together. I promise I'll be more helpful next time, but she did an awesome job coming up with ideas for things that everyone will love.  Japan was a lovely trip. 

Hiroshima Peace Memorial

 

On August 6 1945 an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. I am writing these words less than a mile away from the center of the blast. It hard for me to believe that this bustling is standing on the site of a freaking nuclear blast. This morning we all went to the Memorial museum and it was an intense experience. The history books in the US don't show you the actual carnage. In fact, I thought that the whole city was pretty much vaporized and that the people that were killed didn't know what hit them. While that might be true for some of the victims. That wasn't the case at all for a lot of people. The victims of the bomb died slow, agonizing deaths. A lot of "survivors" died of cancer years later. This was hard to see. I felt...sad is not the word, it's something hard to describe. For me, this brought back memories of things I rather not think about. I never liked to see civilians getting hurt in Iraq and it was hard to see pictures of children burnt by the bomb. 

I like that Japan has embraced the Peace mentality and it's dedicated to nuclear disarmament. I like their statement on their museum basically saying that they will face the truth of their history and learn from it so that they don't make the same mistakes again. 

I'm glad I was able to come here. I am very impressed with the honesty in which Japan chooses to remember this chapter in history. 

JV

My review of "My Heart Is a Chainsaw" by Stephen Graham Jones on Goodreads

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an excellent book. I gave it four instead of five stars because I felt it was a bit too long, at four-hundred pages it felt longer than it needed.

Jade is a troubled teenager that knows everything there is to know about "slashers" horror films like Friday the 13th and Halloween. There's a killer in her little Idaho town and she immediatly realizes that she's in the middle of slasher herself, she must find the "final girl" to help her survive the imminent slaughter.

I like that the book is more than a good scary story. There's food for thought in there, commentary about social conditions of American's first people. There's also ton of slasher knowledge, you can tell the author is a slasher fan, you can totally see the Stephen King influences, specially the short story "The Raft" ...but I don't want to spoil it.

The neatest thing about the book was also the hardest for me to read. The author pulls off writing from the point of view of an slasher-obsessed teenage girl, at times her internal dialogue rambles away with forced metaphors or un-funny puns and it gets a little annoying, however it adds to the vibe of the book I suppose.

I picked up this book because I really enjoyed "The Only Good Indians" by the same author. That book gave me the heebie-jeebies for real. I was looking for a good scare. This book will give you that, but it's somehow "lighter" to read, not as horrific. If you are into that though, go ahead and read it, there's plenty of gore, blood and guts.

-JV

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Ten Years in Seattle

My wife and I fell in love with the PNW back in 2006. We went on a visit to Portland in the winter, it was literally the day I got my undergrad we went from the commencement ceremony straight to the airport, it was a nice trip. We ended up moving to Seattle in 2014 after 3 months of job-hunting, one failed interview at Amazon, a couple of false starts from Intel, finally a RFID company named Impinj gave me an offer and we haven't looked back. 

We wanted to raise our kids here, we liked that people here are educated and nicer, we love the mild weather, the mountains the tech scene. It's not perfect but we love it here. 

We lived in South Lake Union for the first five years. We wanted to know what it would be like to live in the middle of a city. Seattle in 2014 was growing fast, thanks to Amazon there were new building going up every week, and the atmosphere at the time felt exciting like Seattle was a boomtown. A new gold rush. 

Personally, we felt like this was an improvement. I was afraid that we weren't gong to like it, like it would be a big mistake. It was not. This is home now. 

We have made a life here. We bought a home in the Georgetown neighborhood 5 years ago and we want to stay. There are things about Seattle that annoy me, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I do miss good Latin food and the beach, but Florida is in the past. 

I didn't realize then how this tech migration would affect the city, how the infrastructure was not ready to grow with the population influx. Home prices are inflated, Public transportation sucks (still better than South Florida) and the job market is unpredictable. If I knew then what I now know. I'd still would have moved. The PNW vibe, the laid-back culture that gave us grunge music, Starbucks and Twilight is it for me. I can never say I am from Seattle because I have lived in too many places but I definitely call this our home. 

My Review of "The Creative Act: A Way of Being" by Rick Rubin on GoodReads

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the best books I've read.

Rick Rubin gives us his philosophy for creating art. He warns us against the things that block creativity and provides wisdom and tips to foster our best work.

The books reads like daily meditations.

I liked the book so much I read it as slowly as possible because I didn't want to be done reading it. I liked to read a few pages at a time and thought about what it was saying.

I liked the author's style. His words read like taoist book of wisdom.

I liked the perspectives I gained from reading this. I can apply what I read to almost everything creative.

Excellent read

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On Writing

 I've been thinking about writing lately. 

I am going to write that book. I don't know when or what exactly will be in it but I've known for a while that my true calling is writing. Nothing gives me more joy than the simple act of creating ideas with words. I want to share my voice, my thoughts and experiences with the whole world. It really doesn't matter to me if nobody reads it, it's the act of creating that excites me. 

I haven't decided yet if I want to write fiction or memoirs. Novels or essays. Write about tech or write about politics. Why not all? Maybe, but one thing at the time and first things first. 

I have a lot to say about the war in Iraq. There are many war memoirs but there aren't any stories written from the perspective of a Venezuelan nerd with ADHD. I did my whole tour, did not leave my post, but I realized in Iraq that I am not a warrior, I freaking hate violence with all my heart. 

I have a lot to say about tech. I am fortunate to work in a place where I see the state of the art advance. I love to write code but I am not your typical tech-bro. How many Spanish Speaking people do you know work in big tech companies as engineers? Not many. 

I have a lot say about being a Dad. This is the thing that came more natural to me. Loving my kids is easy to do. Not sure I can bring anything new, but then again, maybe I should say it and write it down anyway. 

Stephen King had a quote about you are only a writer if you get paid, and use your paycheck to pay the water bill. So if you are starving, and use your words to pay the bills, then you are a writer. 

Hmm, well, I don't know. I do write at work. I write technical documents and I write software. Writing software is just another kind of writing, you have different audience, one is the machine that transform the code you write to machine instructions, but the most important audience is other programmers. When you write code, other coders will eventually go over your code when they need to change it or debug it. Well, I digress. My point is that I am writer already, but now I want to write more than software and technical docs. I want to share stories, opinions and whatever else comes to mind. 

Stay tuned. 

My Review of "Is Math Real?" by Dr. Eugenia Cheng on GoodReads

Is Maths Real? How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics’ Deepest Truths by Eugenia Cheng
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In this book the author wants to let people know that if you hate math it's more likely because of the way you were taught. In fact, if there are things that don't make sense to you and you've asked "dumb questions" then you probably think more like professional mathematicians.

I found this book through to Ali Ward's Ologies podcast

Dr. Cheng talks about many mathematical concepts with an explanation of why and how mathematicians come up with concepts. I was blown away in the section "why is 1 + 1 = 2" because it turns the question on its head. We should think about "When does 1 + 1 not equal 2" for example, when you are painting, if you have one color, adding another color gives you a new combined color, not two colors, in this case 1 + 1 = 1. So then a good definition of *when* does 1 + 1 = 2 is in order.

I like that Dr. Cheng hates it when people try to use math to make themselves sound smarter as if knowing these things makes you a better, superior person somehow (it does not, it's your character)

I liked the little commentary on current events sprinkled here and there, I suppose that some people will balk at that, that's fine by me.

I didn't like that the material for me was introductory, I didn't walk about with new mathematical theory (well, at the end she goes into her category theory research) but it's an introductory book aimed at people who don't do math.

Overall, this is an excellent book. Highly recommend it. Math if for you and for all of us.

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My Review of "The Nineties" by Chuck Klosterman on Goodreads

The Nineties: A Book by Chuck Klosterman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is a collection of essays that cover different aspects of the 90's things like music, tv shows, the internet, politics, historical events of the era, etc. The author gives us his take on things and contrasts with how we see things today.

One main theme of the book is that people tend to judge the past through their current point of view. It's easy and tempting to judge history based on what we know now. He challenges that notion and tells us how we used to see and think differently.

I enjoyed this commentary, but to me, it's just that, commentary. Yeah there is some data and stats but this is a book filled with opinions and generalizations about a culture. Not that he's off the mark, but I don't know what to do with the information I just learned. Reading this felt like reading a entertaining article in a magazine...in the 90's. Fun, engaging but am I a different person after reading this? Did I gain a new perspective in life? Maybe not.

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My Review of "Exit Interview" by Kristi Coulter on Goodreads

Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career by Kristi Coulter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Exit interview covers Kristi Coulter's eleven years at Amazon. This memoir gives the reader an insider's view of the what is like to be a smart, capable woman in an the male-dominated, competitive world of Amazon corporate.

Kristi's frustrating journey comes across as honest and real. It helps that she is incredibly funny. The stories are incredible but as someone who has been at Amazon for five and half years (and counting) I believe 100% of what I read. I don't get to see sexism myself first hand because my team is mostly composed of men but I know enough to know it still happens.

A lot of the points brought up in this book resonate with me. I hate the fact that the women in tech problem is considered a "Pipeline" issue. It's also considered a women's issue or minority issue. When it should be considered a "everyone" problem. Particularly the group that can do the most to fix it: Men. (yes, myself included)

I recommend this book to anyone concerned with non-fiction current affairs. 10/10


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