Sean Matsuno

@HMBrough_ I meet a surprising number of Americans who think their kids are going to have the same idyllic summers and just get As and a good SAT score and waltz into an ivy like they did who will even admit they couldn’t get in today with their app (Banking on legacy admissions maybe?)

Americans best start believing in hagwons...they're in one.

@HMBrough_ I can’t speak to French (or Mandarin…) but the annoying conjugation hell of Spanish I find more annoying than Japanese, including kanji Tones in Mandarin definitely seem like an X factor though

Looking at my partner’s French course…wtf is this s***. It’s like playing on Beginner while Mandarin is playing on Legendary.

AI has legitimately saved me some time recently but alas still doesn’t have enough taste to help me find a proper gardener

@HMBrough_ Learning Japanese instead of Spanish, over the objections of many around me, was probably one of the most prescient choices I made as a kid. For one, it helped lead me to a life changing job. Longtime follower. Drinks on me if you’re ever in Japan again, DM anytime.

My view of learning foreign languages in the post-AI era is that it’s worth doing, but only as a way to signal intelligence, discipline, commitment, and cosmopolitanism. The actual utilitarian value of foreign language learning is questionable. There is NO native Mandarin speaker who is impressed by me having the speaking skills of a Chinese 4-year-old (though I somehow doubt a toddler knows how to say “he drank too much liquor this evening, so he should not drive.”) and writing skills worse than one. And still, I get amused and positive reactions from native speakers I encounter. Precisely because they recognize the difficulty of what I’m attempting, and respect me more for it. You know what does not get you respect? Spanish. I spent years in Hispanic societies, and got good enough to do full patient histories in Spanish, but precisely once had someone praise me for knowing the language, even though I obviously don’t look Hispanic. And I think that’s because people recognize that Spanish is a fairly simple language to learn. Even if they don’t know how the American foreign service classifies languages, they intuitively get it. So if you have to pick a language in the post-AI world, pick one that’s tough, ideally Mandarin or Japanese. Korean is an option too. Don’t pick Russian because everybody hates Russia these days. You’ll suck at the language for a long while, but it won’t matter because everyone will recognize and honor you for what you’re trying to do.

The lengths people go to to prevent flooding

@MikeIsaac Every now and then I think about an alternative universe where I emigrated to Europe instead of Japan, then I look at the mild winters in Tokyo vs real deal ones in a lot of the EU where I likely would have turned up and realize I probably made the right decision

california life for 20 years turned me into a huge baby im out east and keep complaining about how im covered in sleet and it’s KMS levels of lacking sunlight and all people can tell me is “oh but last week was way worse”

Incidentally this is also why I learned how to make basic cocktails. The ancients were right: turns out cheap liquor tastes better if you mix it with stuff

All this cooking discourse reminds me of when I was in college and learned how to make mapo tofu. Recipe carried me through first crummy job, even impressed a few people. Still make it today That and canned tomatoes (pasta and such) made for many cheap, easy, and good meals

@ruth Sick reference (and disgustingly true) PS miss you all

@sean Well, their cheese selection is excellent. So yeah maybe not for you.

Lived near a Trader Joe’s for awhile, went twice, never went again. Just not my thing, was never all that impressed, but maybe that’s because I’m a diva about food.

@wil_da_beast630 Chris Rock called this out years ago, not sure this is new

I'm starting to see why the young guns are having trouble forming healthy relationships. For women, the NUMBER ONE most attractive trait in men is "being in a relationship" with another woman.

The point in life where staying up on NYE no longer matters

Don’t need Christmas food, fugu is enough

@MikeIsaac I remember randomly renting the original Norwegian Insomnia at Blockbuster one weekend night* in college, thinking “who the heck is this guy”, and have been a massive fan ever since * yes, I was not captain of the football team or any other team but it worked out anyway

i love these two weirdos so much

@ouranometrian2 Not “more” per se, but have had some great PM, BD, and management opportunities unlocked because I’m EN/JP bilingual

What job pays more because someone could speak more than 1 language. Or what career opens more doors because of knowing more than 1 language. Let's assume your first language is english, the lingua terra

@kumix_615 近年で結構行ってますので、おすすめほしいなら聞いてくださいね

Nonalcoholic beer situation has improved, though unfortunately not as many IPAs as I’d prefer

Filing a police report for the stolen autumn this year in Tokyo

@shagbark_hick No, seriously, don’t. Feel free to DM if you want to know more.

Why don't I ever hear anything about Laredo, TX? It's got a quarter-million people, border proximity, decent climate. Kind of strange everyone's piling into Austin but not going for Texas towns like Laredo. What gives?

@pandemona Posted the same earlier today!

the following feed tonight is the twitter i love and remember. go jays