cultural snapshot

This morning as I am eating breakfast, I meant to pop onto my blog and post about Jan Chipchase. Mike Roller told me about Jan in class last night- he is a top dog at Nokia and essentially spends his time observing emerging markets cultures. You should check out his blog (click on his name above) and look up his Ted Talk- it is both interesting and relevant.

Of course, as I got onto youtube to find Jan's tedtalk to post, I got a little sidetracked and found the video above. I'm not entirely sure why it caught my interest, but once I found it, I sat here, captivated, for the full four minutes. There is so much going on here that it is hard to break down...

First, what a totally cool snapshot of a culture. The caption on youtube explains that the person responsible for this video simply set his camera on a sushi conveyor belt in Tokyo. Apparently it was around midnight... The people in the video are not placed, and what they are doing is not scripted. Everything about the whole place is very Japanese- and the camera catches different people in various phases of their meal- from just sitting there, to washing their hands with a warm towel, to sushi chefs preparing the food, to servers clearing tables.

Second, I found it really amusing to see how the different people react to the camera. Some notice it and make faces while others miss it altogether and just keep eating. It's really beautiful, too, when the camera enters the kitchen and the whole point of view changes. I know it is breakfast time, but I could go for some sushi right now...hah!