it's a squeeze!

J spied upon this 1.4m tall Tokyo-ite all dressed in 70s gear 2 tables away from us.

We finally arrived in Tokyo this evening, having done all the touristy visits in the Kansai region, and now back doing what we probably would do at home too - having a coffee, watching the people go by and drawing in our books. On difference is Tokyo's late night TV. It is a strange humour, to have a detective series where the lead detective's special skill is flinging his wig (boomerange style) at criminals and the female detective has perfected the art of attacking using the suction power of those rubbery breast-enhancers.

J: Young people born in Tokyo or even Osaka are really lucky.
Y: Why do you say that?
J: I mean, look at all of them here - there's so much more they can do, the creativity and - .
Y: I don't know about that. It must be terribly competitive and pressurising. How do you stand out in a place like Tokyo?
J: [puzzled] I don't agree. Why is there a need to compete at all? You can just do whatever you are good at.
Y:... You know, you are not wrong... maybe it's my small pond mentality to say that. When you're not in a small pond, who cares about being a big fish? It's just the whole big ocean -

Space, physical space, is a previous commodity in Tokyo. The price of our hotel room - luxurious by Tokyo standards - is evidence. Unlike "global" Singapore which tries its darned best to remain "relevant" to the rest of world, there is an insularity here that comes from having a homogenous population and a fairly self-contained and sufficient domestic market. Similarly the Tokyo-ites seemed to have evolved and made good the limitations of space, and in their design responses, made this into an art. J calls this the "aesthetics of squeeze". Ah, a most Japlish term!