Machete Landing

Yokogawa DL1450 // Digital Oscilloscope (Japan, 1998) 

Ad for the Sharp X1 - Japan, mid 1980s

Panasonic Calculator model JE-855U, 1972 by gerson lessa Via Flickr: This space-age calculator was made in Japan by Panasonic in 1971/72, with case molded of ABS plastic. The display is composed of small glass tubes, just like a radio’s, one for each digit. They used to glow with a green light. Unfortunately this specimen is out of order. It is 16 cm long.

Sony CFS-W600 (1985)

Japanese samurai cowboy. 

Because family

I still think that my favorite urban legend/folklore fact is that there are certain areas in New Orleans where you cannot get a taxi late at night not because it isn’t safe, but because taxi companies have had recurring problems of picking up ghosts in those areas who are not aware that they are dead and disappearing from the cab before reaching the destination and therefore stiffing the driver on the fare causing a loss for the company.

An occupational hazard of cab driving I had not previously considered

I love that the nola problem here is not “ghosts in my taxi cab,” but “ghosts are FUCKING BROKE DEAD BASTARDS & I GOT BILLS”

Horror is when ghosts get into cabs and scare drivers Magical realism is when cab companies have to develop policies to prevent ghastly fare-theft

In a book about the tsunami in Japan in 2011, the writer talked about how there was a huge increase in reports of ghostly activity. Apparently in Japan treating ghosts rudely is basically considered the stupidest thing you could possibly do. For months after the tsunami, taxi drivers would pick up a passenger only to have them give an address in one of the devastated areas. The cab driver often looked up halfway to the destination to find their fare had disappeared. Not wanting to be impolite to the person (even if they were dead) they’d drive to the address, open the door to let them out, then drive away.

Yeah this all checks out

If there’s anything I’ve learned from Japanese horror, it’s that Japanese ghosts will not hesitate to kill you if you fuck up their social script. I have no experience with New Orleans horror, but I presume their ghosts are much more chill.