Happy Chinese New Year

In a world of multiple, co-existing modernities, it's only fair to celebrate multiple, co-existing new years. 2010 began over a month ago. Now the year 4708 is upon us, bringing my attention to a recent article on CNN Asia edition about the revival of the Chinese dress in Singapore.

Every now and then fashion designers take a stab at bringing back traditional clothing to the mainstream. Shanghai Tang comes to mind. But each time their success is met with limitations. In East Asia, for a woman to feel and represent the modern, her clothing must look modern, or Western. When I lived in Seoul, I wore two hanbok-inspired tops, a sartorial move that was met with surprise and amusement, not really by my non-Korean colleagues, but rather by my Korean associates. Was the traditional dress too confined to certain holidays and special occasions to make the quantum leap to daily wear?

Which is why I'm all the more piqued by the bold and striking designs from Mazzario Cheongsam and My Mandarin Collar. Would they make it into regular wardrobe rotation? Judge for yourself.

A Word About Toyoda

Are you okay? by Daifuku Sensei. Toyotas comprise the majority of Japan's armada of taxis, such as this cab in Tokyo.

An empire is slowly crumbling, and with the accelerator pedals out of order, it's impossible to stop the decline. When I first heard about the automotive recall by Japan's largest car manufacturer, I brushed it off as a minor footnote to the corporate biography of the most powerful company in Japan, if not the world. But this wasn't Hyundai circa 1986. This was Toyota, is Toyota, and a car company in free fall.

I'm not hopeful about Toyota's future. I say short that stock, and do it now. The scandal has been met with denial, indifference, and even arrogance, quickly followed by primal fatalism.

Martin Jacques ruthlessly noted that empires in decline usually do not notice an ongoing state of deterioration until it is too late. What does this mean for a company that embodies post-war Japan? I foresee seismic changes ahead, a threat to business as usual that's also an opportunity in disguise. I hope I'm not alone.