An Australian friend who works as a mountain climbing guide in Nepal told me once that the extremely hard core climbers are usually Japanese... Doing something in the extreme, in a way, is a Japanese trait. Why else would we be known as the market with the most demanding consumers in terms of quality, convenience, and hospitality?
EXTREME Commuting is a hash tag on Twitter that is gaining popularity.
The idea is to play first and work later - on week days - and tweet about it.
Let's look at a day in the life of self-proclaimed leaders who spearheaded the hashtag/trend. They are two men, aged 29 and 34.
At 5:20 am, the duo meet up at Kita Kamakura Station, some 50km outside of Tokyo. Takahiko Shiina, aged 34, has left home at 4 am. His partner, Sota Amatani, aged 29, left Tokyo the night before and spent the night at a manga kissa, or coffee shop that specializes in providing private space and lots of comic books.
They head to an old Zen temple, Enkaku Temple. It is the first time for Amatani.
Their EXTREME Commute on this day started with a one-hour zen meditation.
Then, they moved on to Yuigahama beach just after 7:00am. Shiina rolls up his trouser legs and Amatani strips down to his boxer shorts and the two splashed about for around 5 minutes, though they claim "it felt like half an hour of fun!" They progress to using Shiina's tie as a blind fold to try to break a watermelon with a baseball bat - a traditional summer beach picnic event.
They manage the break the watermelon open on the fifth round of trying and lap up the fruit like a pair of hungry dogs, according to a Nikkei reporter who was with them and who reports on their EXTREME Commute of the day.
"I feel like I am at the extreme opposite position of a white collar worker right now!" proclaims Amatani.
Though the clock is ticking, the pair insist on wrapping up their excursion with a bowl of ramen noodles. They rush into a noodle shop before 8 am and devour their meals in under 5 minutes to catch the 8:12 train to Tokyo.
The rule is to play hard and never be tardy for work, they say.
Their EXTREME Commute started as a fun discussion over drinks. Now, they may have up to 10,000 followers checking their tweets on their latest adventure with other people sharing their EXTREME Commutes.
From 2 through 6 September, the duo called out to their followers to participate in an EXTREME Commute-athon. More than 100 groups have joined so far.
"It is more refreshing than taking a day off" because every minute counts and there is no dilly dallying around, it seems. And another important factor is to "try" and "challenge onself" to do new things.
EXTREME Commuting is a hash tag on Twitter that is gaining popularity.
The idea is to play first and work later - on week days - and tweet about it.
Let's look at a day in the life of self-proclaimed leaders who spearheaded the hashtag/trend. They are two men, aged 29 and 34.
At 5:20 am, the duo meet up at Kita Kamakura Station, some 50km outside of Tokyo. Takahiko Shiina, aged 34, has left home at 4 am. His partner, Sota Amatani, aged 29, left Tokyo the night before and spent the night at a manga kissa, or coffee shop that specializes in providing private space and lots of comic books.
They head to an old Zen temple, Enkaku Temple. It is the first time for Amatani.
Their EXTREME Commute on this day started with a one-hour zen meditation.
Then, they moved on to Yuigahama beach just after 7:00am. Shiina rolls up his trouser legs and Amatani strips down to his boxer shorts and the two splashed about for around 5 minutes, though they claim "it felt like half an hour of fun!" They progress to using Shiina's tie as a blind fold to try to break a watermelon with a baseball bat - a traditional summer beach picnic event.
They manage the break the watermelon open on the fifth round of trying and lap up the fruit like a pair of hungry dogs, according to a Nikkei reporter who was with them and who reports on their EXTREME Commute of the day.
"I feel like I am at the extreme opposite position of a white collar worker right now!" proclaims Amatani.
Though the clock is ticking, the pair insist on wrapping up their excursion with a bowl of ramen noodles. They rush into a noodle shop before 8 am and devour their meals in under 5 minutes to catch the 8:12 train to Tokyo.
The rule is to play hard and never be tardy for work, they say.
Their EXTREME Commute started as a fun discussion over drinks. Now, they may have up to 10,000 followers checking their tweets on their latest adventure with other people sharing their EXTREME Commutes.
From 2 through 6 September, the duo called out to their followers to participate in an EXTREME Commute-athon. More than 100 groups have joined so far.
"It is more refreshing than taking a day off" because every minute counts and there is no dilly dallying around, it seems. And another important factor is to "try" and "challenge onself" to do new things.
Comments
Post a Comment