A few things that surprised me about Tokyo, besides how different it is from China and how much more similar it felt to the West. People drive on the left side of the road. This one girl I was walking behind after the U.S. lost to Slovenia was, by all indications, drunk off her ass. […]
I’ve made my way from the North ‘jing to the East ‘jing, which is in a whole other country, so that probably explains most of the differences. It’s the battle of the two giant Asian capitals: Beijing versus Tokyo. Which is better? Cleanliness: The Japanese may have borrowed a lot from the Chinese, but they stopped […]
I had the great fortune of visiting a public Chinese hospital yesterday — Beijing Tongren Hospital (北京同仁医院). Bright and early on a Monday morning, around 7, I asked the taxi driver to take me to the hospital. He drops me off on the opposite corner of a busy intersection, with the hospital rising high above […]
Two special things today this year: 21st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square … incident. National Doughnut Day, celebrated the first Friday of June every year. Krispy Kreme is handing out free doughnuts! Alas, it’s only “national” and not “international,” so even though there is now a lonely KK in Shanghai, I don’t know if it […]
Sometimes, it’s easy to forget how little Beijing is, despite being the political, cultural and social center of the universe China. But this infographic by Chinfographics, which is already on its way to becoming a vital source for China statistics, reminds me that Beijing still only makes up less than 1 percent of China — at […]