BIG LEO XIV 🇺🇸

It’s a cosmic tragedy and also somehow perfectly fitting that Zohran is like the only major politician in America who actually does anything and he can’t be president

The US and Japan have the most underrated mutual obsession on the planet. Japan worships American BBQ culture. Texas-style brisket restaurants in Tokyo have 3-hour waits. American Barbeque, a chain in Osaka, charges $80 a plate and sells out nightly. Japan's wagyu beef revolution was literally built by importing American cattle genetics in the 1800s. Americans worship Japanese food culture in the exact same way. Omakase spots in NYC and LA run $300-500 a head with 6-week waitlists. Ramen went from a $7 lunch to a $22 "experience." Every serious American pitmaster now studies yakitori technique. This tells you everything about why the US-Japan alliance is the most durable in geopolitics. Trade agreements and military bases hold countries together on paper. Genuine cultural admiration, where both sides look at the other's food and think "I want to be part of that," is what makes it stick. A Japanese creator looking at a photo of guys grilling steaks in a backyard and saying "someday I'd like to join" is the most honest expression of soft power that exists. No government program produced that. A grill and 40 pounds of meat did.

Thinking about the time my uber driver got cut off and yelled “COCKSUCKER!!!” then immediately looked at me in the rear view mirror and blurted out “not that there’s anything wrong with sucking cock!”

TIME Magazine Cover, March 27, 2006: Are Kids Too Wired For Their Own Good?