Matt Ketchum's 'Above & Below': A gonzo odyssey through the personal, professional, and bizarre.
Matt Ketchum's 'Above & Below': A gonzo odyssey through the personal, professional, and bizarre.
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I had most of this issue written by yesterday morning (Monday, May 8th), and right before I went to finish it, I noticed that a colleague of mine on Linkedin - which, despite my distaste for it, I consider the crème de la crème of popular social media platforms - had posted yet another article about Japan’s particular and tumultuous relationship with remote work in this post-pandemic-ish world of ours that I found irksome. And as such, of course wanted to comment.
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/business/economy/20230507-108211/
See, I’m extremely passionate about de-coupling from my work, and often, and for various lengths of time, usually between an afternoon and a week.
Does that mean you don’t like what you do? some may ask. Of course not, I’m very happy with my lines of work.
*Is there something wrong with your work place? *others inquire. Quite the opposite, I have a great work environment and enjoy it immensely.
Everyone, all together: Well then, what is it?!
Its simply because, while I’ve got a good record of performing under pressure (we’ll get to part of that later in the issue (or will we, hmm?)), I prefer to be in a, for lack of a better phrase, pleasant state. Not too bored, and not too busy; just right. I’m generally much more creative and productive, not to mention efficient, when I’m relaxed, happy, and in a decent mental and physical state. I’m willing to bet a lot of others out there are, too.
Yes, there are different types out there. I’m a millennial and grew up with stories of all those “Type A”s in Finance or IT or Advertising being constantly on and hustling incessantly, and ok, sure, that’s admissible. I guess. Doesn’t sound very nice to me, but if that’s how you operate, sure, go 4 it. Just, you know, chill the fuck out when in my general vicinity.
And, if I’m being honest, the whole exasperated, “but I’m just so busy!” comment has a particular nuance in the Japanese business world which more often than not sounds very suspicious to me, like if I just peek a little bit behind the metaphorical curtain, I’ll just discover serially incapable management and a permanently under-resourced workforce. Like, if someone were really good at what they did, they’d have all the free time in the world to pursue happiness or find meaning or whatever precisely because they figured out how to optimally run their business. That so many businesspeople are so damn busy just tells me that they can’t get shit done in a timely manner, if at all.
So yeah, I’m into taking time off to explore stuff, basically. Escape from the grind so that I come back and slay.
Now, the above article states that its about a 50/50 split generally, but across all sectors and all sizes of organizations, which is a totally unhinged thing to report. Why would you include relevant numbers to remote work capability for, say, the construction industry - which I presume has a comparatively high rate of on-site work - in the same findings as, say, graphic design - a sector, in my experience, anyway, that is often but not necessarily in-person.
Additionally, “remote work” - a nebulous term that requires further definition to have precise meaning - is mentioned 5 times in the article, while “work from home” - an already precise phrase requiring no further definition - is only mentioned twice. I suspect that “remote work” and “work from home” are interchangeable amongst the vast majority of workers surveyed, but this is not clarified, and so I’m left with a big question mark about whether this article is about remote work in general or working from home specifically versus working in an office.
To which, of course, I ask, “What about working remotely from a farm, or perhaps a boat?” The point I’m trying to make here is, its not a binary between office or home, and yet its being measured as such, which tells me the nuance of the conversation is lost already.
That second point in particular feels a little bit nit picky, but I do think it matters. In order to determine the efficacy of remote work policies across the spectrum of industries, we need to have a granular understanding of how its’ employed within each specific industry. My impression of this article is that its just a bunch of “harrumphs” and “yuhuh”s, which doesn’t get to the crux of the issue at all, which is:
If remote work makes sense for you and your business’ current circumstances, evaluate and deploy upon determining reason to do so. You have a duty to your people to provide the best work environment you can in exchange for the best product they can produce. If you’re just enforcing office rules because that’s what you’ve done before without a substantial MO behind it, kindly shuffle off.
Note: my circumstances are mine alone, and I recognize that not everyone has the same work-life balance through no fault of their own. That sucks, I dislike it, and I have done whatever I can in my power over the last… at least 7 years of my career?… to affect positive change in my local workspaces with the authority I’ve been given, and will continue to do so. So yeah, not, like, flaunting privilege here, folx.
Also check out the deep dive we did on the akiya mondai’s history over at PR firm Parthenon Japan for even more details on the matter from a different angle, and send me a message if you wanna discuss. This has been a lot of work, a long time coming, and has ruffled any number of feathers as well as interest, so I think we deserve it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/realestate/japan-empty-houses.html
Ziv Nakajima-Magen (NTI), Tracey Northcott (Tokyo Family Stays), Emil Gorgees, Blank Kobayashi (ARK Reform), and I (well, not so much me recently due to scheduling conflicts) have been holding weekly podcasts on the various aspects of real estate in Japan, titled JREPs (Japan Real Estate Experts) for the past… 2 years? Wow, time flies.
That’s been a blast, but late last year the team had the great idea to hold a live speaking event for our fans earlier this year in January, and, well, we did!
Sold out and then some, the 5 of us spoke & answered questions live from the audience for about 45 minutes each, and then did a joint Q&A at the end.
Web3 (you know, crypto and all that stuff) has been in the Government of Japan’s sights for sometime, but, well, they’re pretty bad at execution and blah blah blah its complicated but the fact is there’s a narrative being pushed, yet no one actually understood what was being communicated or how to even make a judgment call on if they really wanted to engage with it or not. And then FTX happened and kaboom but only kind of in Japan, Western exchanges started exiting, Binance made a power play, and the government released a timely white paper outlining its grand Web3 vision.
And then the AI craze happened, with the Government of Japan timidly dipping its toes while Japan Inc. patently rejected implementation, all while the people, once again, threw their hands up and collectively implied, “what the fuck are you talking about?” at precisely the moment OpenAI’s Sam Altman arrived on the shores of Japan bearing gifts of some kind of another.
Confused? Yeah. You’re not alone.
So I gathered a small entourage of industry leaders, policy advisors, and, well, me, in a small thatched roof hut in Yugawara to barbecue wild boar and sample local beers while brainstorming what in the hell we can do from a governmental, industry, and community level to provide publicly accessible and reliable information on these and other technologies that, like it or not, are very much part of the modern world right now.
Massive success. Developments in progress. Next two events scheduled. Stay tuned.
So the above is all about me. I’ll give that away for free anytime, anywhere.
But below is full of personal recommendations and comments on travel, music, art, cinema, gaming, wellness, real estate, and much more, both in Japan and outside of it, well, that doesn’t come for free.
I stumbled across the psychedelic fusion of ethnic Turkish & Danish rock a few months back and they’ve been on my go-to list ever since. The rhythm section in particular is bonkers good, delivering groove after groove with remarkable consistency, but there’s very little to not be impressed by here.
https://open.spotify.com/album/3o9VCOZFC4DLp4hvyS1zd8?si=oZicqrjmRcCRdDrmilYcxA
I’ve been real interest in video games that don’t directly involve physical violence (even if its childish) for a long time, but was first actually shown it by a girlfriend I was with in the game development industry when I lived in Seattle. That game was called Layers of Fear, and I’m still mesmerized by it.
Ever since, I’ve been on the lookout for narrative experiences that are similarly creative, and have been presently surprised often enough. Recently, there’s been a stream of text-heavy RPGs which simultaneously hearken back to the tabletop gaming days of yore as well as using the visual medium as a means to update how we’ve traditionally consumed text content, and Citizen Sleeper is one of the newest entrants into that subgenre.
Taking some of Disco Elysium’s themes & styles and incorporating them into a narrative environment informed by various tropes from claustrophobic & existential sci-fi media of the past 4 decades, Citizen Sleeper isn’t so much exciting as it is enthralling.
Honestly, I don’t like game reviews. Just like with all other art forms, reading an analysis of something and letting that inform your decision to engage with it or not is a great way to become boring real quickly. Instead, I try to let a producer’s own designs, scripts, mechanics guide my decisions - which does produce its fair share of duds, to be clear - and so when I came across Citizen Sleeper, I thought, “huh, that’s somewhat unique” without much else in regards to expectations.
And, as ever, I gave it a go. This time around, I uncovered a gem.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1578650/Citizen_Sleeper/
We’re off to a galloping start on getting the 15th volume of our now-decade long flagship event series - Blood Rite - together. A joint project between myself and long term collaborator, occasional bandmate, and good friend Thom Skuld, we knock ideas back and forth to get what we consider a very refined reflection of the state of contemporary extreme music in Japan.
This 15th installment is already booked for Saturday, July 8th at one of the most notorious venues of Japan’s underground - Earthdom in the Okubo district (erroneously also referred to as Shin-Okubo, but that’s just the name of a station) of Shinjuku - run since 2006 by one of the most creative businesspeople in alternative music and storied drummer of Deathside, Mukai-san.
We’re aiming for 5 bands total, and already have 3 booked, and we’re already quite pleased with the lineup. So far, we have:
One of Japan’s newest entries onto the international Black Metal circuit, Evil!
https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/rites-of-evil?from=embed
Osaka-Tokyo Collaborative Blackened Crusties, Swazönd!
https://swazond.bandcamp.com/album/cursed-inheritance?from=embed
Putrid Buzzsaw Deathgrind chrono-hackers, Mortify!
https://mortify666.bandcamp.com/album/grotesque-buzzsaw-defilement?from=embed
Only gonna get better as we onboard the last 2.
Curious about Japan’s underground, either the bands and venues, the culture, or the business dealings? Shoot me a message through the button below.
https://www.kaalamusic.com/contact
If you can’t tell from the above section header and image, this issue’s section on wellness or fitness or whatever marketing term is en vogue right now is on the hot yoga aspect of that regiment.
So, up front - and without asking why hot yoga at all? - Lava, compared to other hot yoga studios, is attractive for 2 reasons:
They’ve got studios all over Japan, and membership levels that give you access to them
Enough of their studios are mixed gender so a guy like me doesn’t have too much trouble booking a session, regardless of where I am
Really, there are 3 major health-related reasons I’m an avid… student? goer? doer?… of hot yoga.
The first is that the whole “clear your mind” meditation thing just doesn’t work for me. I’ve got a pretty active and critically engaged mind and I simply can’t just switch it off. What I’ve come to realize in the last few years, though, is that I’ve been approaching meditation all wrong: I don’t need to remove all sensory experience, but rather overload myself with it to achieve a flow state.
The second is that I’m stiff as fuck. Seriously, how can someone be so ridiculously inflexible as this? And I simply can’t abide by that as it actually affects my ability to interact with the world around me, and so I’ve spent at least the past 18 months reclaiming the flexibility I’m guessing I had in my younger years.
And the third is easily the most fascinating: how can I possibly sweat this much. Sure, a typical hot yoga class is 60 minutes in a room with a temperature of 35-38°C and humidity of 55-65% doing pretty rigorous stretches so you’d expect to sweat some, but at first it was honestly frightening just how much water I could pul from my body. Now? It’s a challenge to see how much moisture I can pull from my guts.
I had most of this issue written by yesterday morning (Monday, May 8th), and right before I went to finish it, I noticed that a colleague of mine on Linkedin - which, despite my distaste for it, I consider the crème de la crème of popular social media platforms - had posted yet another article about Japan’s particular and tumultuous relationship with remote work in this post-pandemic-ish world of ours that I found irksome. And as such, of course wanted to comment.
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/business/economy/20230507-108211/
See, I’m extremely passionate about de-coupling from my work, and often, and for various lengths of time, usually between an afternoon and a week.
Does that mean you don’t like what you do? some may ask. Of course not, I’m very happy with my lines of work.
*Is there something wrong with your work place? *others inquire. Quite the opposite, I have a great work environment and enjoy it immensely.
Everyone, all together: Well then, what is it?!
Its simply because, while I’ve got a good record of performing under pressure (we’ll get to part of that later in the issue (or will we, hmm?)), I prefer to be in a, for lack of a better phrase, pleasant state. Not too bored, and not too busy; just right. I’m generally much more creative and productive, not to mention efficient, when I’m relaxed, happy, and in a decent mental and physical state. I’m willing to bet a lot of others out there are, too.
Yes, there are different types out there. I’m a millennial and grew up with stories of all those “Type A”s in Finance or IT or Advertising being constantly on and hustling incessantly, and ok, sure, that’s admissible. I guess. Doesn’t sound very nice to me, but if that’s how you operate, sure, go 4 it. Just, you know, chill the fuck out when in my general vicinity.
And, if I’m being honest, the whole exasperated, “but I’m just so busy!” comment has a particular nuance in the Japanese business world which more often than not sounds very suspicious to me, like if I just peek a little bit behind the metaphorical curtain, I’ll just discover serially incapable management and a permanently under-resourced workforce. Like, if someone were really good at what they did, they’d have all the free time in the world to pursue happiness or find meaning or whatever precisely because they figured out how to optimally run their business. That so many businesspeople are so damn busy just tells me that they can’t get shit done in a timely manner, if at all.
So yeah, I’m into taking time off to explore stuff, basically. Escape from the grind so that I come back and slay.
Now, the above article states that its about a 50/50 split generally, but across all sectors and all sizes of organizations, which is a totally unhinged thing to report. Why would you include relevant numbers to remote work capability for, say, the construction industry - which I presume has a comparatively high rate of on-site work - in the same findings as, say, graphic design - a sector, in my experience, anyway, that is often but not necessarily in-person.
Additionally, “remote work” - a nebulous term that requires further definition to have precise meaning - is mentioned 5 times in the article, while “work from home” - an already precise phrase requiring no further definition - is only mentioned twice. I suspect that “remote work” and “work from home” are interchangeable amongst the vast majority of workers surveyed, but this is not clarified, and so I’m left with a big question mark about whether this article is about remote work in general or working from home specifically versus working in an office.
To which, of course, I ask, “What about working remotely from a farm, or perhaps a boat?” The point I’m trying to make here is, its not a binary between office or home, and yet its being measured as such, which tells me the nuance of the conversation is lost already.
That second point in particular feels a little bit nit picky, but I do think it matters. In order to determine the efficacy of remote work policies across the spectrum of industries, we need to have a granular understanding of how its’ employed within each specific industry. My impression of this article is that its just a bunch of “harrumphs” and “yuhuh”s, which doesn’t get to the crux of the issue at all, which is:
If remote work makes sense for you and your business’ current circumstances, evaluate and deploy upon determining reason to do so. You have a duty to your people to provide the best work environment you can in exchange for the best product they can produce. If you’re just enforcing office rules because that’s what you’ve done before without a substantial MO behind it, kindly shuffle off.
Note: my circumstances are mine alone, and I recognize that not everyone has the same work-life balance through no fault of their own. That sucks, I dislike it, and I have done whatever I can in my power over the last… at least 7 years of my career?… to affect positive change in my local workspaces with the authority I’ve been given, and will continue to do so. So yeah, not, like, flaunting privilege here, folx.
Also check out the deep dive we did on the akiya mondai’s history over at PR firm Parthenon Japan for even more details on the matter from a different angle, and send me a message if you wanna discuss. This has been a lot of work, a long time coming, and has ruffled any number of feathers as well as interest, so I think we deserve it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/realestate/japan-empty-houses.html
Ziv Nakajima-Magen (NTI), Tracey Northcott (Tokyo Family Stays), Emil Gorgees, Blank Kobayashi (ARK Reform), and I (well, not so much me recently due to scheduling conflicts) have been holding weekly podcasts on the various aspects of real estate in Japan, titled JREPs (Japan Real Estate Experts) for the past… 2 years? Wow, time flies.
That’s been a blast, but late last year the team had the great idea to hold a live speaking event for our fans earlier this year in January, and, well, we did!
Sold out and then some, the 5 of us spoke & answered questions live from the audience for about 45 minutes each, and then did a joint Q&A at the end.
Web3 (you know, crypto and all that stuff) has been in the Government of Japan’s sights for sometime, but, well, they’re pretty bad at execution and blah blah blah its complicated but the fact is there’s a narrative being pushed, yet no one actually understood what was being communicated or how to even make a judgment call on if they really wanted to engage with it or not. And then FTX happened and kaboom but only kind of in Japan, Western exchanges started exiting, Binance made a power play, and the government released a timely white paper outlining its grand Web3 vision.
And then the AI craze happened, with the Government of Japan timidly dipping its toes while Japan Inc. patently rejected implementation, all while the people, once again, threw their hands up and collectively implied, “what the fuck are you talking about?” at precisely the moment OpenAI’s Sam Altman arrived on the shores of Japan bearing gifts of some kind of another.
Confused? Yeah. You’re not alone.
So I gathered a small entourage of industry leaders, policy advisors, and, well, me, in a small thatched roof hut in Yugawara to barbecue wild boar and sample local beers while brainstorming what in the hell we can do from a governmental, industry, and community level to provide publicly accessible and reliable information on these and other technologies that, like it or not, are very much part of the modern world right now.
Massive success. Developments in progress. Next two events scheduled. Stay tuned.
So the above is all about me. I’ll give that away for free anytime, anywhere.
But below is full of personal recommendations and comments on travel, music, art, cinema, gaming, wellness, real estate, and much more, both in Japan and outside of it, well, that doesn’t come for free.
I stumbled across the psychedelic fusion of ethnic Turkish & Danish rock a few months back and they’ve been on my go-to list ever since. The rhythm section in particular is bonkers good, delivering groove after groove with remarkable consistency, but there’s very little to not be impressed by here.
https://open.spotify.com/album/3o9VCOZFC4DLp4hvyS1zd8?si=oZicqrjmRcCRdDrmilYcxA
I’ve been real interest in video games that don’t directly involve physical violence (even if its childish) for a long time, but was first actually shown it by a girlfriend I was with in the game development industry when I lived in Seattle. That game was called Layers of Fear, and I’m still mesmerized by it.
Ever since, I’ve been on the lookout for narrative experiences that are similarly creative, and have been presently surprised often enough. Recently, there’s been a stream of text-heavy RPGs which simultaneously hearken back to the tabletop gaming days of yore as well as using the visual medium as a means to update how we’ve traditionally consumed text content, and Citizen Sleeper is one of the newest entrants into that subgenre.
Taking some of Disco Elysium’s themes & styles and incorporating them into a narrative environment informed by various tropes from claustrophobic & existential sci-fi media of the past 4 decades, Citizen Sleeper isn’t so much exciting as it is enthralling.
Honestly, I don’t like game reviews. Just like with all other art forms, reading an analysis of something and letting that inform your decision to engage with it or not is a great way to become boring real quickly. Instead, I try to let a producer’s own designs, scripts, mechanics guide my decisions - which does produce its fair share of duds, to be clear - and so when I came across Citizen Sleeper, I thought, “huh, that’s somewhat unique” without much else in regards to expectations.
And, as ever, I gave it a go. This time around, I uncovered a gem.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1578650/Citizen_Sleeper/
We’re off to a galloping start on getting the 15th volume of our now-decade long flagship event series - Blood Rite - together. A joint project between myself and long term collaborator, occasional bandmate, and good friend Thom Skuld, we knock ideas back and forth to get what we consider a very refined reflection of the state of contemporary extreme music in Japan.
This 15th installment is already booked for Saturday, July 8th at one of the most notorious venues of Japan’s underground - Earthdom in the Okubo district (erroneously also referred to as Shin-Okubo, but that’s just the name of a station) of Shinjuku - run since 2006 by one of the most creative businesspeople in alternative music and storied drummer of Deathside, Mukai-san.
We’re aiming for 5 bands total, and already have 3 booked, and we’re already quite pleased with the lineup. So far, we have:
One of Japan’s newest entries onto the international Black Metal circuit, Evil!
https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/rites-of-evil?from=embed
Osaka-Tokyo Collaborative Blackened Crusties, Swazönd!
https://swazond.bandcamp.com/album/cursed-inheritance?from=embed
Putrid Buzzsaw Deathgrind chrono-hackers, Mortify!
https://mortify666.bandcamp.com/album/grotesque-buzzsaw-defilement?from=embed
Only gonna get better as we onboard the last 2.
Curious about Japan’s underground, either the bands and venues, the culture, or the business dealings? Shoot me a message through the button below.
https://www.kaalamusic.com/contact
If you can’t tell from the above section header and image, this issue’s section on wellness or fitness or whatever marketing term is en vogue right now is on the hot yoga aspect of that regiment.
So, up front - and without asking why hot yoga at all? - Lava, compared to other hot yoga studios, is attractive for 2 reasons:
They’ve got studios all over Japan, and membership levels that give you access to them
Enough of their studios are mixed gender so a guy like me doesn’t have too much trouble booking a session, regardless of where I am
Really, there are 3 major health-related reasons I’m an avid… student? goer? doer?… of hot yoga.
The first is that the whole “clear your mind” meditation thing just doesn’t work for me. I’ve got a pretty active and critically engaged mind and I simply can’t just switch it off. What I’ve come to realize in the last few years, though, is that I’ve been approaching meditation all wrong: I don’t need to remove all sensory experience, but rather overload myself with it to achieve a flow state.
The second is that I’m stiff as fuck. Seriously, how can someone be so ridiculously inflexible as this? And I simply can’t abide by that as it actually affects my ability to interact with the world around me, and so I’ve spent at least the past 18 months reclaiming the flexibility I’m guessing I had in my younger years.
And the third is easily the most fascinating: how can I possibly sweat this much. Sure, a typical hot yoga class is 60 minutes in a room with a temperature of 35-38°C and humidity of 55-65% doing pretty rigorous stretches so you’d expect to sweat some, but at first it was honestly frightening just how much water I could pul from my body. Now? It’s a challenge to see how much moisture I can pull from my guts.
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