Friday, December 11, 2009

to be eco-fair, I just wasn't in the mood

So yesterday I dragged my butt to the Tokyo Eco-products 2009 expo. Some colleagues had gotten there an hour before me and were heading to lunch when I arrived, unhungry. So off I strolled on my ownsome with the remnants of a migraine making the crowds and very bright lights difficult to endure.

I knew my workmates had thoroughly checked out the big name tech exhibits and frankly, the huge number of people at those mega-stands was enough to have me heading in another, more down-to-earth, direction.

Though there were around 700 exhibitors, I only stayed around two hours. Not just because of my mood but also because unfortunately I was not able to grasp that much, having such limited Japanese (virtually no reading skills) and feeling invisible as I was ignored by most booth staffers (particularly the male ones).

I did end up mini-interviewing a couple of English-speaking women exhibitors and might follow up those stories. One is a small biz that grows organic cotton and then, using only human-power, spins & weaves it into beautiful soft cloth. The other was a very dynamic young entrepreneur who started her own line of natural cleaning and beauty products.

So though it wasn't an earth-moving experience for me, I know I was just feeling "crusty" as one friend might say, and there was so much to see and learn, I was happy to see so many children and teenagers. And despite what I felt was an overabundance of greenwash, many people will enjoy the whole positive green atmosphere, I'm sure.

In fact later today on Our World 2.0 you can read my boss' (way more enthusiastic) vision of the thing, which I must say is interesting - almost as if he were at another show. When in fact he was just in another headspace

Thursday, December 03, 2009

did the computer eat my brain?

New computer-less career/lifestyle wanted:

Vivacious and hard-working forty-two-year-old seeks a way of life that does not require eye strain, neck problems caused by mouse-shoulder, not to mention skull-penetrating electro-magnetic signals and/or radiation.


No, just kidding, I like my job. I guess I'm just feeling disheartened on this the 3rd day of a nasty migraine that hit me hard after I had a record month of headache-freedom. Doesn't help that Aran starts tossing and turning before the crack of dawn, forcing light-sleeping me to suffer extended jet lag along with him.

Which reminds me, I've gotta get off my duff and install my camera software on our new Mac Mini (the PC was unresuscitateable) so I can upload my Portugal pics before too much time goes by. I never did finish uploading the ones from our trip to southern Japan in July...

But to go back to my dream: What does an apprentice bread maker clear, I wonder? Anyone know any bakeries that are hiring? Oh, or if I (or The White One herself for that matter) ran in the right circles, I could start a gourmet doggie catering service. I say the right circles cuz the average Japanese person is likely not going to pay me much for their pup's chow in this deflationary period.

Though on the latter point, supposedly the Bank of Japan is likely to act and the government's pondering new stimulus (more!) to try and avert another recession.

I admit to having a low to average economic intelligence quotient but what with Dubai and all, I have suspicions about the state of health of the world's economic systems, despite what many would have us believe. Don't you?

Ok, well, though I've got the brightness set on medium, that's enough computer for now.

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