When I was in Akihabara, my friend was very interested in visiting a maid cafe. I was a bit curious, too, because I had been hearing a lot about the maid cafes of Japan. We ended up in a chain maid cafe called maidreamin located very close to the Akihabara Station. To find it, you do have to go in what looks like a side door and then up some stairs, but the very large logo on the wall will tell you that you are on the correct path. In 2018, there is a ¥500 cover charge for entry +…
This is a sort-of review of the book Dragon’s Egg by Richard L. Forward. Imagine a world of tiny creatures who exist with neutrons and live at a pace much faster than humans do. The cheela, once plants, become mobile and live through “turns”, their version of days. With twelve eyes and a rather malleable body, they evolve gradually. Their changes over time both pre- and post-human contact mirror human civilization both amusingly and sadly. Amongst those we meet are Pink-Eyes, who becomes their Jesus and beseeches the god “Bright” to still be kind to the cheela; Swift-Killer, who becomes…
Abbott, E. A. (1984). Flatland. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc. A. Square, a perfect parellelogram with equal sides, begins by explaining his world where the more vertices one has with regular angles, the higher in status one is. In fact, the highest are polygonal and are indistinguishable from circles. Like Gulliver, A. Square visits other lands that are different from his own. In A. Square’s case, he visits Pointland and Lineland, two worlds rather different from his own two-dimensional existence. He attempts to enlighten the Monarch of Lineland and a self-proclaimed god in Pointland and is himself enlightened by a…