Compromise and Conceit

Infernal adventuring…

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An Australian statistician and role-player living in Japan, interested in the theory and practice of role-playing…

Category: Meat Life

  • The Allies’ World War 2 Race Trap

    Back from Beppu and continuing my reports on the book War Without Mercy that I introduced here before my travels commenced. I’ve finished the section on allied and Japanese war atrocities, which were numerous and terrible on both sides, and which I briefly mentioned in my previous post, and now I’ve also read the section…

  • Japanese Micro-brewery Beers

    Here is a selection of local micro-brewery beers that I have recently sampled, assembled on my kitchen counter as a representative cross-section of these companies’ offerings. The two with the owl logo are from Hitachino Nest, whose bespoke brewing plan was explained to me and Sergeant M a few days ago. The others are all…

  • The Japanese Bespoke Brewing System

    Is bespoke brewing a uniquely Japanese phenomenon? My friend Sergeant M is in town from Australia, so last night we went for a few drinks in Kichijoji. After dinner at Bloomoon we headed to holic beer bar, which serves a wide range of imported and local brews. Sergeant M is a fan of microbreweries, and…

  • Under the Northern Sun

    Summer is nearly here, and I’ve been longing for that great mass of super-heated air to roll in off the Pacific and turn this whole island into a sauna, because since April I’ve had few chances to blog, role-play or really do anything except work, work work. I’ve been teaching to what the Japanese would…

  • Chaos and Communism

    Primo Levi’s The Truce is a beautiful book that contains many insights into the human condition. For those who have not had the good fortune to read this masterpiece, it describes the year or so period over which Primo Levi recovered from his experience of Auschwitz and his return to Italy. Having been rescued by…

  • Boxing and Brothels

    Apropos of nothing, here is the website of one of the brothels that operate in my local suburb, Kado Ebi. I walk past this brothel (actually, it’s a soapland) on my way to my favourite restaurant, Bloomoon, or when I’m passing Kichijoji’s hammock cafe[1]. It says a lot about the attitude towards sex in Japan…

  • In Praise of 300

    Despite the many controversies that beset it, 300 is a very impressive queer cultural critique. I was sitting in a bar last night watching the ending, and mulling over how brave the director was to attempt a mainstream blockbuster movie focussed so strongly on the cultural politics of homosexual relationships. To the best of my…

  • Australian Service 101

    I have a colleague – let’s call her Miss P – who lived in Australia for a few years, in Melbourne and Perth, and has a bank account there (with ANZ). She had some questions today about her account, and has tried calling a few times but is daunted by the English required, so today…

  • Is This Virtual Human Trafficking?

    The Guardian today has an article on gold-farming in China about gold farming in Chinese labour camps, which claims that prisoners in labour camps in China were (are?) forced to play computer games at night after they had spent the day at hard physical labour. The prison then sold the products of their labour to…

  • Did Employee Death Rates Increase Under the Australian Home Insulation Program?

    This is a follow-up to an old post on reduced fire risk under the Australian Home Insulation Program (HIP). Blathering critics of that program have suggested that, in addition to “causing more fires” it also “killed Aussie workers” because under the HIP it is known that 4 installation workers died, two of heat exhaustion and…