Chris Hardie: Recent Episodes
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I lost some momentum writing about our trip to Japan after the first two posts when life and work got busy, but appreciate those of you who diplomatically asked if there was more coming. Pardon the pause, I'm hoping to wrap this up in a few more posts soon!
On the third day of the trip we were still adjusting from travel and the time zone change, but were starting to get our bearings. We started a load of laundry in the hotel, which was a total upgrade from laundry experiences in U.S. hotels: you could monitor the location of empty machines (and time left on occupied machines) from your hotel room TV, the machines were all-in-one wash/dry so no having to move clothes around in between, they included detergent in the cost of the wash and it was automatically piped in, and had a self-service passcode to lock the machine until you could retrieve your items.
After breakfast, we took a train to the Tsukiji Outer Market area and browsed the stalls, full of interesting food and other wares. People waited in long lines to get just the cut of meat or seafood they needed.
Then, it was time to start making lunch! In one of the nondescript buildings in the market we took an elevator up to a private kitchen classroom:
We learned about the cuisine of the Okinawa region, which is known among other things for being a blue zone, where people tend to live longer than in the rest of the world. Studies and data have attributed this to their plant-based diet, active outdoor lifestyle and strong social networks (IRL!). We got to experience at least one part of that as we made tofu from scratch, sliced and diced various vegetables, and worked it all in to a beautiful stir-fry.
The chefs made sure the young people in our group were an integral part of the meal prep, which was great.
Yum! After the meal was over we headed back to the hotel to regroup, and then our family headed back out on our own to Akihabara, the "electric town" or "nerd district" known for its tourist-optimized presentation of electronics, games, arcades, anime culture and more.
It was super busy and an overwhelming assault on the senses. It was one of those moments where I could feel how much my normal existence is geared toward the relative quiet of small town living; there were probably more people wandering those few blocks at that hour than live in my city as a whole at home, and there were a million flashing, beeping, whirling, shiny things to look at with every step.
I think I would have loved it as a teenager and could have spent hours playing video games and wandering in and out of the various Radio Shack-like storefronts imagining what kind of high-tech-music-movie-assistant-android-robot thing I could create from parts, but as an adult I was just happy to see it, survive it, and move on. 🙂
But just when I thought maybe the density and intensity of the Tokyo experience might be wearing on me, that evening we had what was one of my favorite experiences from the whole trip, a visit to the teamLabs Borderless digital art display. It was unlike anything I've seen before, one of those artistic and spiritual experiences where I felt something inside me shifting a few steps toward hope and life. As we took in each new "room" I was alternating between stunned silence, tears and giddy laughter with my daughter. It was a tightly orchestrated presentation of sight, sound, movement, smell (yes, almost every room had its own programmed olfactory experience) and touch, and it was just incredible.
Tired from a long day and knowing we were headed to a new town the next, we decided to take a hired ride back to the hotel instead of navigate the walking and subway rides needed. In preparation for such a situation I'd already downloaded the Go app and created an account, so it was as easy as Lyft or Uber to get picked up, and we were back in no time.
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I'm sharing highlights and photos from my first trip to Japan. Previously: Intro, travel, Tokyo exploring.
At the end of our first full day in country, we met up with our travel group, four other families from across the U.S. and Canada, along with our local guides who would be helping us navigate our adventure. We were glad for a relatively small group, and even though none of the other youth were as young as our daughter, it was still great to have a mix of kids and adults along the way.
The next morning we met up in the hotel lobby and headed to the metro station for our first adventure.
The metro subway and train system in Japan lived up to its reputation as reliable, well designed, safe, easy to use and quite comfortable. It was our main way of getting around throughout our trip and it was so nice to see and experience such a successful, pervasive mass transit system that had clearly received significant investment over the years.
Waiting for a subway train in TokyoRiding the subwayTemple timeWe headed to one of many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples we would see in Japan. These incredible places each represented their own celebration of some aspect of or figure in their respective religious traditions, with architecture, landscaping and experiences that separate them from the surrounding secular world. Just to be in a building that was constructed many hundreds or thousands of years ago (and sometimes already burned down/bombed/moved/reconstructed several times), or to wander through a space that was clearly so meaningful to the people who visited, was an honor.
This day's visit was to Kinryū-zan Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple in the Asakusa district of Tokyo. Before you get to the temple itself, there's Kaminarimon, the "Thunder Gate" that was first built in 941 and guards the entrance to the temple. As with many of the sacred locations we visited, commerce was never too far away, with a Starbucks in the background here, a little shopping or eating to do there.
Kaminarimon gate at Sensoji temple, with coffee options nearbyIf you make it through that gate, you can wander down the Nakamise-dōri, a narrow street of shops and eateries that very much cater to the tourist crowds.
The Nakamise-dōri shopsThe bustle and crowdedness was not my favorite, but it was fun people-watching. Then you arrive at the inner gate, Hōzōmon, which grants you access to the inner temple complex. The lanterns and statues inside these things weigh hundreds or thousands of pounds, and are pretty amazing to look at.
Hōzōmon gateAs with many other temples and shrines, there are purification and cleansing rituals you can go through before entering using combinations of water and incense, along with opportunities for prayer and reflection along the way.
Using water from a special fountain to purify before approaching the templeEven though the temple itself — not pictured here out of respect for the sacred space — was very crowded, I found it meaningful to see it and have a few moments to try to appreciate its significance. On the trip as a whole we tried to teach our daughter and ourselves about the importance of these cultural and religious spaces, both as destinations and as symbols that we might not always fully understand, but that we could respect and learn about as a way of expanding our understanding of other people's experiences in the world.
Mechanized sushiWe took the subway to another area for lunch at a Kura revolving sushi bar. If you've not been to one (there are 60+ U.S. locations), you haven't yet experienced the delight of selecting your menu items on a screen and within a minute or so having them arrive by conveyor belt to your table.
Menu ordering tablet at Kura sushiOur daughter enjoyed this immensely and the food kept coming.
Fishing for sushi at KuraSpeaking of eating a lot, on this trip I learned about the phrase and concept "Hara hachi bun me" which suggests that we eat until we feel about 80 percent full, instead of going for the feeling of being all the way full. There's apparently research (and perhaps common sense) showing it helps with lowering body fat, avoiding dementia and increasing lifespan, but in general it just felt like a nice idea to keep in mind for my own life.
Between all of the walking we did (usually 15,000 steps per day), the significant heat and the modest appropriate portion sizes we encountered, I found it rare that I felt stuffed or heavy as I often do when eating at restaurants at home, and generally just lighter on my feet. I don't want to romanticize or over-generalize about healthy eating in one place versus another because a lot of it is obviously about the choices we make wherever we are, but I did feel like I had more opportunities to be healthy on this trip.
Shrine timeAfter lunch we walked through the heavily touristy shopping area on Takeshita Street, which included my first in-country McDonald's sighting along with a micro pig cafe. Yes, for just ¥2,750 (about $18) you could hold and pet a micro pig for 25 minutes. They were fully booked for the day.
Then we headed to the Meiji Shrine, celebrating the 122nd emperor of Japan, Emperor Meiji, and his wife, Empress Shōken. In contrast to the urban bustle of Sensō-ji, this shrine was located among 170 acres of mostly forested area, and felt much more serene.
The entrance gate alone was a sight to see:
Traditional torii gate found at the entrance to many Shinto shrinesWe heard a lot about the Meiji era and its significance in the country's history; he basically oversaw a huge transition from the feudal shogun era defined by regional power structures to Japan as a more unified country and industrial world power. I guess that earns you a place in history, and a massive shrine.
With space being quite limited in Japan, culturally significant sites like this shrine are not necessarily safe. It sounds like there are plans to carve out a few of those acres soon, tearing down a bunch of trees and building a stadium, hotels and office buildings.
After a hot and sweaty trek back to the hotel, we rested a bit and then headed back out to the restaurant Torishige Chubo, known for its grilled chicken. My goodness did they serve us a lot of chicken. Well past the 80% mark.
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I went in to my first trip to Japan with a few concerns: would I stand out as an obnoxious, clueless American tourist? Would any of the Japanese language practice I’d been doing with our daughter be useful? Would we see and experience “enough” to make the extended travel needed to get there and back worthwhile? How much would I need to work on the newspaper from afar, and how much would the time I wasn’t working weigh on me?
The first concern was exacerbated when I subscribed to The Japan Times and read article after article about how overtourism to the country is creating challenges and sometimes harming local communities and businesses.
We visited a number of cities in Japan including Tokyo, Nagano, Matsumoto, Nara and Kyoto.I also went in to the trip with a lot of excitement. Excitement about experiencing a part of the world I’d never been to before. About watching my daughter take in a new place and culture. About getting some distance from the day-to-day production activities of the newspaper. Excitement about my first international travel since living in Switzerland and since the pandemic. And more.
The trip we ended up taking was wonderful, and more than lived up to my expectations. We saw beautiful places, met great people, ate delicious food, got lots of walking exercise, experienced the highs and lows of international travel, and came out the other side with a new appreciation for life in Japan. I’m so grateful.
In this blog post and a handful of posts to follow, I’ll be sharing some highlights from our almost two-week trip, along with photos and links where I have them. Enjoy!
Travel thereWe had a fairly smooth trip to Japan, 7,000 miles spread across two flights and 16 hours.
We packed everything in to our carry-on bags and while it was a bit more to lug around with us, avoiding any concerns about losing luggage was worth it.
During our first attempted landing on the flight to Detroit the pilot did a touch-and-go where the plane briefly made contact with the runway and then took off again, presumably because we were going too fast with not enough runway left. That was a first for me in commercial flights, though it was something I'd done plenty of during my own private pilot training years ago. The relieved clapping that erupted from many passengers when we landed for good a few minutes later was one of those nice reminders that the ability to travel the world safely by air is not to be taken for granted.
Our long flight from Detroit to Haneda airport went "left," if you're curious, cutting across Canada and following along the Alaskan coast, then down toward the islands of Japan. We spent the 13 hour flight reading, watching shows and movies, sleeping and just staring in to the distance. I was also able to do some work for the newspaper that needed to get done.
I may share more expansive comments later on the gear and gadgets that I used for this trip, but one worth noting early on is Airalo (affiliate link), a service where you can buy eSIMs to provide cellular data access when traveling internationally. In the past we've opted for our mobile carrier's offer to use our regular mobile data plan while abroad for a non-trivial daily fee, which can quickly add up and doesn't give much flexibility. With Airalo I was able to pre-purchase 15 GB of data on Japan-based mobile carriers for roughly US$20 total, install the eSIMs on our phones, and then activate those lines when we landed. It was so nice and gave us peace of mind for staying connected, getting directions and looking things up wherever we were. It looks like Airalo supports purchasing plans in over 200 countries.
When we landed we did the whole "wait in long lines and answer important questions about our legal and travel status while completely exhausted" dance, before meeting our driver for a shuttle to our hotel.
Tokyo, first impressionsOur first experience of Tokyo was driving (notably on the left side of the road) through the downtown rush hour bustle at the end of the business day. In many ways it was a familiar experience: people looking at their phones, listening to their headphones or chatting with friends or coworkers as they navigated their way home from work.
But it also stood out to me early on that the vehicles were generally much smaller, the bikes and related bike/pedestrian pathways more numerous and the mass transit options more plentiful than anything we're used to in the U.S. Midwest.
As is usually the case when we leave the Midwest, we noticed the strong deference by vehicle drivers to pedestrians and cyclists, which held true throughout all the places we visited in Japan. (And that doesn't even begin to touch on the significant investment Japan has made in its excellent subway and rail infrastructure, more on that soon.) Pedestrians seemed to return the favor; when the crosswalks stopped indicating it was time to cross, everyone (except the occasional clueless tourist) stopped and waited, no jaywalking here.
After driving in to and through Tokyo for a bit it was tempting to think we had some sense of its size and shape, but we did not. "Oh, this part kind of feels like Chicago, maybe?" quickly gave way to "I can't believe it just keeps going!" (Tokyo proper has around 14 million people, greater Tokyo is closer to 40 million; Chicago proper is around 3 million, greater Chicago is around 10.) The place is amazing, huge, sprawling, and other than the neighborhoods right around our hotel, at no point during several days there did I really have my bearings.
Checking in to our hotel, the Villa Fontaine Grand Tokyo - Shiodome, was smooth and easy, made possible by the English-speaking hotel staff who knew exactly what we needed to get across the finish line from a long day of travel.
After we unpacked and converted some dollars to yen using the currency converter in the hotel lobby, we went in search of food. We wandered a bit and had to ask directions once but quickly found a place attached to a nearby subway station. Though we were tired and unable to summon even basic Japanese phrases, we were able to order a meal that hit the spot: dumplings, fried rice and chicken.
Our first meal in TokyoAfter being confronted with high prices for airport food and snacks on our travels, we gratefully noticed that our meal and drinks were only about US$17. This was partly due to the USD to JPY exchange rate, one of the factors contributing to the flood of tourists visiting Japan. (The lack of tipping/gratuities as a practice in Japan also meant no awkward "one more question for you" screens on tablets when paying for food and meals; hopefully it also means that the workers involved were receiving a fair wage.)
Then it was back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep.
Tokyo, day 2We'd planned for our first full day in Tokyo to be mostly an acclimation and resting day before meeting up with the rest of our travel group that evening.
After breakfast at the hotel, I grabbed a copy of the local newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, something I try to do any time I travel.
July 5, 2024 front page of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaperSince becoming a newspaper publisher it's been fun to compare and contrast how different publications handle content decisions, layout, ads, fonts, spacing, etc. but even before then I've appreciating reading about what events, issues and stories might be on the minds of local residents. Reading through a paper printed in Japanese using a live translation app was slow-going but still enjoyable.
We decided to walk over to Hama-rikyū Gardens, one of the many beautiful public parks in Tokyo. Surrounded by a mote, it's a lovely combination of ponds, bridges, lush green landscapes and wide open spaces.
A bridge in Hama-rikyū GardensBut the overriding factor in our experience was the high heat and humidity, which turned out to be a theme on the trip as a whole. While we had a few cooler days along the way, most of the time we were just sweating it out in 90 degree temperatures wherever we went.
We'd brought clothing with us that was more in line with what locals seemed to wear — almost always pants or long skirts — but because of the heat we almost always opted for the much more touristy-but-comfortable look of shorts and t-shirts. So much for not standing out.
We wandered around some more but mostly hung out at the hotel, read, watched TV, re-packed our day bags and got ready for the adventures ahead.
Stay tuned for additional posts about our trip coming soon!
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Earlier this year I launched a blog to share some short, informal reflections about my life in local news and newspaper publishing. It's called stumble.press. Since it's where I've done almost all of my limited personal writing lately, I thought I should mention it here on my main personal blog.
My posts so far have covered everything from newspaper finances to pet obituaries, from how we went about increasing our subscription rates to stepping away from Twitter/X, from how our metered paywall works to adventures with U.S. Postal Service mail delivery, and from how much disk space a newspaper issue takes up to hiring and management practices. I also occasionally link out to other articles and resources I find useful.
If you're interested in following along on this adventure, you can visit stumble.press, subscribe to the RSS feed, or sign up to get an email notification when there are new posts (just check the box next to "Email about journalism and newspaper publishing posts"). And of course I welcome your feedback and comments.
The artwork for this post was generated by DALL-E 2 from my prompt "a drawing of someone who appears to be drowning in a pile of newspapers."
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It's been about four months since I became owner and publisher of my community's local print newspaper. In the spirit of transparency and working out in the open, we recently shared our first report to the community about our operations, health and future plans. I also geeked out a bit with a blog post on some of the tools and technology we're using to run the paper.
I'd like to say a little more about what it's been like for me personally.
To sum it up: I'm loving it!
As I said when announcing this adventure, "this is a thrilling opportunity to continue exploring my interest in the questions of where and how people get their information, and what informs the decisions they make about their lives, values and communities." It has been exactly that. From the people involved to the details of getting the paper out the door each week to the writing, editing and publisher decision-making processes to the bigger questions of our role in the community and how best to meet people's information needs, it's all been thrilling.
One thing that's surprised me a bit is how much love there is for the Western Wayne News newspaper.
I knew that our team and the paper's previous owners Brenda and Jim had built a lot of goodwill in the community over the years. And I knew that the paper had a loyal readership that takes the paper very seriously. But I had no idea just how strongly people feel about the paper as an important part of their lives! They call us just to say how much they like the paper. They write the nicest notes to accompany their renewal payments. If it doesn't show up in their mail, they call us right away. They fawn over stories. They notice little changes. They ask about our health and growth, and wonder about ways they can help get the word out. Not just once in a while..almost every day. It's amazing and humbling.
(I will admit that after several years in my journalism degree program of studying the declining public appreciation for the value of journalism and local news, I may have brought some cynicism with me about this. I was ready to work hard to make the basic case for the existence of a local newspaper and quality news reporting. But so far, I haven't had to; people seem to get it. There are a lot of things contributing to this and I'm sure there are still many folks out there who might benefit from some persuasion in that regard, but it's been a relief and a wonder to feel like I'm swimming with the current instead of fighting against it.)
The weirdest part of the whole experience is when I'm talking to someone or wandering around town and I see or think of something that might be interesting, useful or newsworthy to the community, and have the thought "somebody should get the word out about that." Then, I realize that the "somebody" is probably us. 😃 It's also been surreal to be at this particular moment in the history of our local news ecosystem, where the daily Gannett paper that I have read, contributed to, analyzed, criticized (reminder to self: buy Jason, Bill and others a beer soon) and closely followed for so many years has effectively paused its news coverage indefinitely. Barely a day goes by without a call from someone lamenting its decline and subscribing to our paper to try to fill that space.
A few people have asked me about how much of an investment this new venture has been. I think the question behind their question is about the sustainability of newspaper ownership, both financially and personally. A few things about that:
I'm not sharing the price I paid for the newspaper as that gets into parts of the story that aren't mine alone to tell. I was told that I paid more than "the market" might strictly suggest this particular newspaper is worth. If so, I did that because after a significant amount of due diligence work, I felt confident in the paper's value, its importance to the community and the opportunities it presented as a foundation for growth over time. Not just growth in revenue, but growth as a hub for community health and civic engagement, To me, as someone who cares deeply about the future of this place, that is worth a lot.
Is it profitable?
If you look at the numbers we shared in the 2022 Q4 community report, you'll see that at a basic level we have more income than expenses. Yay, right? For now, this is possible because I'm paying myself the lowest wage of any of our regular employees, and because our employees, contractors and contributors work incredibly hard for the wages they are paid. I have already made some progress on raising compensation, with plans to further increase that over time in a way that's sustainable for all of us. Beyond that, the purchase price financing terms also affect what happens to any remaining profit, at least for a while. So a snapshot of one quarter indicates that we're in a good place, but there are a lot of other factors that will determine if we can be profitable in the longer term.
Have there been challenging parts?
Oh yes. I enjoy working with my colleagues but going from a fully distributed/remote work life to one that involves an hour of commuting each day has been a big change. Our newspaper production process alone is currently spread across all 7 days of the week, let alone all of the other business management and growth tasks I'm handling, so I've given up a fair amount of family and personal time. As much as I feel at home managing a business and a team, there are the stresses and worries that come with that. There are days when I just want to get one particular thing done and instead end up working on a plumbing or power or rodent issue. And so on. But, I'm fortunate that these are mostly all challenges of my own choosing, and that I do not have to tackle them alone.
Speaking of, there's a lot of gratitude to express:
To the team at the paper that I get to work with every day, who have navigated a time of transition and uncertainty by doing their best to welcome me with kindness, embraced the opportunity to try new things, and made sure I know what their work and the paper as a whole mean to its readers and subscribers. To the long-time readers of the paper for being open to the idea that new ownership could actually work out okay. To Brenda McLane for all of the time she spent making sure this "succession" and transition went smoothly, and continuing to cheer us on after. To my family for being understanding and flexible as I figured out a new schedule, routine and work life, and for being excited for me at every step of the way. To my friends and wider community for cheering me on and offering their support. And to the many others who have shared a kind word. Thank you all.
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I’m excited to share the news that I’m diving fully into the world of community newspaper publishing. As of October 1, I’m the owner and publisher of the Western Wayne News here in Wayne County, Indiana. If you’re not familiar with it, WWN is a weekly print newspaper that covers news, events, sports, government meetings, … Continue reading So, I bought a newspaper
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This week I'm turning forty-five years old. To mark that occasion along with my graduation, some friends came out to tackle an invasive species removal project at a local city park: A tradition started five years ago as a gift from my wife Kelly and the friends who participate, I like celebrating with an activity … Continue reading Forty-Five
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This month, July of 2022, I completed the master's degree in journalism program that I started in 2019 at Ball State University. My diploma is not yet in hand but all course work is completed and all credit requirements are satisfied. I'm quite proud to be at this milestone, and I'm grateful for what I've learned … Continue reading I finished my journalism degree
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As we start the new year, a big question on my mind is: what will become of our relationships with people we don't know, people who aren't like us? It's tempting to feel like the social contracts in place to ensure we aren't blatantly reckless with each other's lives, health or humanity have started to … Continue reading Social Contract
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I've come to accept in the course of my media and political work, and in pursuing my journalism degree, that getting adults to examine or improve the way they encounter news, journalism and other media is a long, slow process, when it's even possible at all. Indeed, reversing and repairing some of the trends we've … Continue reading Helping kids learn media literacy
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A few folks have asked what I've been working on since leaving full-time employment at the end of 2019. Here's an update: Graduate studies I've continued my graduate studies in journalism, and I'm currently planning to graduate next year with a master's degree focused on reporting and storytelling. My classes thus far have included: Studies … Continue reading What I've been working on
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You can't successfully operate in a distributed/remote work model unless your organization is built on trust. So many teams and companies are wrestling with questions around if and how to continue some version of distributed/remote work, now that public health concerns may not require it any longer. Unfortunately, these conversations often focus on the mechanics … Continue reading Trust is key to successful distributed work
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This week I had an enjoyable conversation with Brian Krogsgard for the Post Status Draft podcast. In the hour we covered a lot of ground from my professional journey and life, from what it was like to wind down a consulting business to my time working at Automattic to how people both in and out of … Continue reading Post Status podcast interview
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When I was a kid I regularly asked my parents to buy a video camera so I could experiment with making home movies. I had many ideas for characters, scenes, angles and even edits I would do, just sure it would result in hours of entertainment for family and friends. I also suspect there was … Continue reading Interview of a lifetime
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Our dog has a drinking problem. That is, when she drinks water there is something in the way her throat works that causes her to regurgitate some or all of the water soon after. In her younger years she would throw up quietly and move on. As she's aged and as her health worsens, it … Continue reading Scenes from a pandemic
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A few months ago I had an idea for a new tool and service that I thought could be useful to WordPress developers and agencies who manage lots of WordPress sites, but who can't or don't want to go all in on automatic updates. After spending some time thinking through the details and researching what … Continue reading A new venture, WP Lookout
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I've launched a new blog where I'll be posting most all of my future technical writing about technology, software and hardware including release announcements and code examples from my various personal projects, reviews of gadgets and services I use, how-to articles and more. If you'd like to know about new posts there, you can subscribe … Continue reading My new tech and software blog
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As I read about and watch the events unfolding around us in recent months I find that I have more questions than answers, and unfortunately more despair and anger than I do hope or clarity. I'll get to the questions in a moment. First, the things I know: Black Lives Matter. The open wounds of … Continue reading World on fire
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