Reflexions

A Sojourn for the Senses

We only had a couple of days in Tokyo, but thanks to advice from our friends (and reward-point nights at the Hilton), we maxed out on fabulous restaurants for an ultimate culinary vacation: In Ginza, we cooked beef and pork shabu shabu at Shabusen, which the International Herald Tribune once called one of the top 10 restaurants in the world… We had a traditional two-tray lunch at Kanda Yabu Soba, a 128-year old noodle shop in Akihabara… We had $15 fruit juice with all the society girls at Tanaka, which treats oranges and pineapples the way other brands treat diamonds… At the chic Shinjuku yakitori shop, Imaiya Honten, the chicken is so fresh you can eat it raw or cooked any of a dozen other ways (see this review of the chain's original)… Window shopping in Omotesando (more for the actual windows than the brands inside—see below) we ended up at Yoku Moku for coffee, dessert and souvenirs for lucky colleagues… Finally, we treated ourselves to an outrageously good (and expensive) omakase chef's-choice dinner at famous sushi-ya Sushi-Kan.

Keeping the World in Perspex

Today I spent the day drinking good coffee sitting in a comfortable chair (7D) beside a window looking out at the Arizona desert from a height of 33,000 feet. I was supposed to be writing, but on a clear morning, flying from LA to New York, I was mesmerized the stunning topology below. The land winds and folds through canyons, escarpments, plains and badlands punctuated only occasionally by human activity. A Joycean stream-of-consciousness passage from the planet itself.

United has given up on the cattle-car economy market for the main coast to coast routes. They've ripped out most of the coach seats and converted all their 757s to business class busses. Even the food is great.

Not that I'm letting them off the hook. Earlier in the month I had to fly up to the Bay area, which should be a simple one-hour hop. It took 8 hours; 2 more to fly than if I had just driven the distance.

24 hours on Mt. Kenya

Or: Shooting an elephant in your pajamas

After five days of meetings and field trips regarding microfinance in and around Nairobi, I had a little more than 24-hours before my return flight. Fortunately, l was able to spend it at the Serena Mountain Lodge, 7,200 feet up the slopes of Mt. Kenya, overlooking a watering hole visited by a constant stream of local wildlife. You can actually shoot (photograph) an elephant in your pajamas—also Cape buffalo, bushbuck, waterbuck, forest hogs, hyenas, mongoose, genet, baboons and colobus monkeys.

Inclusive Finance in Kenya

On behalf of my Thai client, I attended a meeting of the UN Advisors Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors in Nairobi, hosted by Equity Bank, a local microfinance institution that has not only grown to capture a third of the local market for bank accounts, but also become a symbol of national pride, as chronicled in the July issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

The day after the advisors meeting, we left hotels early in four-wheel drive vehicles and headed north on the highway that climbs along the ridge overlooking the Rift Valley. On the way the road passed through slum areas, new suburban housing developments and ultimately agricultural land and green open country. By the time we left the highway to turn eastward, we were more than 9000 feet above sea level.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on a New Africa

I'm leaving home tonight for meetings in Bangkok and Nairobi. Somehow, through the weird time-travel of redeyes and datelines, I will stone-skip across three continents in four days…but only one night.

Anyway, the world is finally turning global attention to critical issues in Africa, only to discover that Africa is not what they thought it was. (Sometimes fashion is a good thing). As I was doing some research, I came across this fascinating video from the TED conference.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was a World Bank vice president and is  a fellow at the Brookings Institution, but from 2003-2006 she was finance minister in Nigeria. She promotes investment, rather than aid, as the best way to help Africa.

A Spa Day for the Mind

I’m at the Harvard Faculty Club after attending a meeting of the Learning Innovations Labs alumni (where I was a Visiting Scholar in 2002). More about the fascinating meeting later. Meanwhile, rather than bothering local friends and colleagues with last-minute visits, I’ve decided to spend the day soaking up some smart with a sort of “spa day for the mind.” After a leisurely breakfast in the conservatory, I intend to be hanging out in the reading room with about a millenium of accumulated academic knowledge represented by the other occupants, dropping in on some of the museums, browsing the bookstores and generally hanging out in the square and strolling the 300 year old sidewalks.

I noticed, when I first visited Cambridge years ago that I was noticeably smarter just being here. Maybe I can even make some critical progress on my long-rumored sense-making white paper.

Harvard

The Cognitive Design of Airport Terminals

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said: “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”

Saint-Exupéry was not a designer, but an aviator and author (The Little Prince). Too bad he wasn’t an airport designer (although he did once manage a desert airfield). Because late last night, I rode out to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport to pick up my wife.

Thailand’s brand-new international airport is an award-winning architectural masterpiece. The AIA raved, “Leafy roof forms protect you from the sun and it provides a beautiful way to get from one end of the space to the other.” It is has been a godsend for contractors, vendors, and VIPs. But no one seems to have ever considered how the facility might actually serve the average passenger, especially after a 25-hour flight.

Virtual Jet Lag

I attended a day-long meeting in Amsterdam today. I did it by phone from home in Southern California, so I dialed in Thursday night starting at about 1 am. I'm not sure that the phone charges will be less than the airfare would have been, but after traveling so much lately, I really appreciated the organizer's flexibility--allowing me to timeshift and placeshift. But after failing to catch up on sleep afterwards, I'm nevertheless struck by how similar my virtual jet lag today feels compared to the real thing.

Rough Landing

I finally arrived in Halifax from Los Angeles last night after--get this--36 hours!

Missed my first flight because of a massive traffic jam on the 405 freeway. Wandered around LAX for hours with a cart loaded with massive suitcases (arctic clothing for Thai colleagues) trying to get reticketed. Took a red-eye to Boston. But that was just the beginning...

I Madonnari in Santa Barbara

Every year in Santa Barbara during the Memorial Day weekend, the Santa Barbara Mission is the site of I Madonnari, a festival of European-style street painting.

This year was the 20th anniversary of the event, originally the first street painting festival in North America, which benefits the Children's Creative Project. As described on the festival's website:

A moment of strange grace

I'm in Bangkok for a few weeks. We left LA late Saturday on a non-stop to Singapore. In the long, long night, when as usual I was the only one awake, I started seeing the first newsfeeds about the tsunami on the seat-back monitor. At first, they estimated only about 700 casualties around the world. By the time we landed the estimates were up to 7,000. Today the toll passed 70,000 and it's still just beginning.

I appreciate all the messages from those who knew we were headed for Asia. So far everybody we know is ok after the wave. But the first two acquaintances I called lost friends or family. It's a terrible, terrible thing. And as big as the tragedy is in Thailand, it is nothing compared to other countries.

Not everyone may appreciate this, but there is a moment of strange grace in this. The sudden fearsome power and long cruel reach of this disaster makes even the worst things that humans do to each other seem very small and petty, no?

Airliner Water Quality

EPA tests find bacteria in water on some planes By Seth Borenstein Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON--Water on some of the nation's airplanes may not be fit for drinking or even hand-washing, a preliminary federal study found. The water on more than one out of every eight airplanes randomly tested by the Environmental Protection Agency was tainted with coliform bacteria, evidence, it said, that human or animal waste is in the water. Federal officials disclosed yesterday that the bacteria were found in water samples drawn from the restrooms and kitchens of 20 airplanes tested between Aug. 3 and Sept. 9. In all, 158 airliners were tested.