Branding Vs. Brand Guidelines: What's the Real Difference?

Marketing is famously filled with jargon. The problem with jargon is that it quickly becomes meaningless. There are some foundational terms and concepts that are easily conflated and that lose sharpness over time. One fundamental term that I’ve seen have a broad range of interpretations is “branding” itself. Most commonly, I’ve seen people use “branding” to specifically refer to “brand guidelines.” However, in my experience brand guidelines are just a very small subset of what branding is.

Let’s dig in and see what the distinctions are.

What is Branding, Anyway?

First things first, let's define what branding actually is. At its core, branding is all about creating a meaningful, emotional connection between a brand and its audience. It's about making people feel something when they see your logo, hear your name, or encounter your products. Think of it as the heart and soul of your brand – the intangible magic that makes people choose you over the competition.

For example, Nike is a brand that has nailed the art of branding. It's not just about their iconic swoosh; it's about their "Just Do It" ethos. Nike has become synonymous with athletic achievement, determination, and the pursuit of excellence. When you wear Nike gear, you're not just wearing sports apparel; you're embodying a winning mindset.

Another standout example is Coca-Cola. Beyond their sugary beverages, Coca-Cola has created a timeless and universal message of happiness, togetherness, and sharing. Their branding campaigns, like the iconic "Share a Coke" campaign, have touched the hearts of millions worldwide.

Brand Guidelines: The Rulebook

Now, on to brand guidelines. These are like the brand's rulebook. They lay out the dos and don'ts, ensuring that your brand's visuals and voice are consistent across all touchpoints. Brand guidelines are essential to maintaining a cohesive image, but they're not the soul of your brand. They're more like the uniform your brand wears every day.

Let's take Old Spice as an example. Their brand guidelines ensure that no matter where you encounter Old Spice – whether it's in a TV commercial, a print ad, or on social media – you'll recognize that quirky, humorous style. The brand guidelines keep the Old Spice persona intact, but it's the brand itself that makes you smile.

Harley-Davidson is another brand that knows the power of guidelines. Their brand is synonymous with freedom, rebellion, and the open road. While their guidelines ensure consistency in logo usage and typography, it's the brand's strong identity that makes owning a Harley a lifestyle choice. You can intellectually recognize the logo, but it’s the brand that makes you feel something.

Branding = Culture Relevance

So, why is it crucial to distinguish between branding and brand guidelines? Because understanding this difference can take your brand to a whole new level. You see, branding is what makes your brand relevant in culture. It's about tapping into the zeitgeist, reflecting societal values, and creating something that resonates with your audience on a deep, emotional level.

Think about Apple. It's not just a tech company; it's a cultural phenomenon. Apple's branding revolves around innovation, simplicity, and challenging the status quo. They've made owning an Apple product a statement about individuality and creativity. When you see someone with an iPhone, it's not just a phone; it's a symbol of a shared ethos.

Red Bull is another brand that's deeply ingrained in culture. Their branding is all about pushing the boundaries of what's possible. From extreme sports events to content creation, they've made "gives you wings" a lifestyle, not just a slogan.

Emotion = Fans

One of the most powerful and enduring things about branding is that it turns customers into fans. When you create a strong emotional bond with your audience, they become your biggest advocates. They'll wear your merchandise, share your content, and defend your brand in internet debates. That's the power of a brand that connects on a deeper level.

Take Nike again, for instance. Their emotional connection with fans goes beyond sports. When they released the "Dream Crazy" campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, they tapped into the broader cultural conversation about social justice. This move not only solidified their brand's values but also won them a legion of new fans who admired their bold stance.

Another example of this phenomenon is Disney. Disney's branding is all about nostalgia, magic, and storytelling. They've created a fan culture that spans generations. From Mickey Mouse to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney's branding is a masterclass in creating lifelong fans that keep coming back (and bring their kids with them).

When asked about the role of a brand, Dan Wieden distilled it down to “Move me, Dude!” That sums it up pretty well. If your branding isn’t making someone feel something, it’s time to rethink and find ways that it can.

The Takeaway

So, the next time a team member uses branding interchangeably with brand guidelines, you can offer this distinction. Brand guidelines are essential for maintaining consistency in design and voice, but branding is the heart and soul of your brand. It's about creating an emotional relationship, winning more fans, and becoming culturally relevant. When you get branding right, the guidelines become part of your daily work in delivering the magic of your brand to the world.

The TLDR: Branding is about emotions, connections, and culture. Brand guidelines? They're just the stewards and hosts who make sure the party goes smoothly.

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Andrew “Oyl” Miller is an advertising Creative Director and Copywriter. He spent 15 years working at Wieden+Kennedy on brands like Nike, PlayStation and IKEA. You can check out his work on his website.

Nike Proves It Builds Differently With New Web3 Platform "Dot Swoosh"

Nike is quietly building an industry giant in plain sight.

This week, the iconic footwear brand announced the launch of a new platform, Dot Swoosh, to support its continued up-leveling in the digital and virtual space.

While web3 and NFTs have been slaughtered in the recent bear market, Nike has been steadily building and showing a long term conviction in the power of web3.

If we look back in history, Nike is always first when it comes to innovation. They led the charge with redefining athlete sponsorships back in the day, by not just using them as corporate sponsors, but by elevating them to god-like cultural figures. See: Michael Jordan.

Nike was also early in playing with having a simple web page. When other companies didn’t understand the new technology, Nike was playing with it. The same came be said with YouTube. When it was just considered a place to watch trivial cat videos, Nike dropped its athletes into the mix and created viral sensations that transformed how people thought about the platform and what it can do for a brand. See: Ronaldinho Crossbar Challenge and Kobe Jumps an Aston Martin.

Nike did stumble when the Amazon-ification of the world first rolled out, as they still leaned too heavily on traditional retail and distribution. However with the appointment of CEO John Donahoe, former CEO of PayPal, the company completed a full pivot to a digital offense and its direct to consumer business has started to really drive profits.

Maybe this led to Nike’s early bet on the metaverse.

With the splashy acquisition of RTFKT in 2021, Nike signaled belief in the emerging web3 space. A space that makes a natural fit for Nike with its easy analogs in digital and virtual fashion. They even filed all the right patents for creating virtual footwear, “Cryptokicks”, and entire platforms based around the buying and selling of virtual shoes and apparel.

A big issue at play here, is Nike now has a direct path to tap into the robust sneaker re-selling market. How it used to work was people would buy exclusive kicks from Nike, and then turn around and sell them for three, four, ten times more in high end sneaker shops or online. This is big business. And one that Nike can’t get its claws into. However in a world where every physical sneaker comes with a virtual “twin”, there will effectively be a receipt or proof of ownership for every pair of shoes you buy. Cutting out the cheap knockoff market and adding a layer of authenticity to re-selling.

Imagine if you had proof that you owned the first Air Jordan? Or Air Max 1? This kind of social proof, is exactly what the promise of NFTs is built on. People will find value in the virtual authentic sneakers, just the way they pay 10x for sneakers they never intend to wear, but hold onto for investment purposes. Before today, it was a black market. From today, we can see Nike is intending to build a platform and peer-to-peer marketplace where you can buy, sell and trade those virtual sneakers to others.

This has never been done, and it’s hard for the uninitiated to imagine. But it’s basically the fashion and physical goods equivalent of Steve Jobs pulling out an iPod and saying “music will never be the same.” Only in web3, there is this notion of creator royalties and smart contracts that truly have the potential to level the playing field. If Nike can continue to operate in an open source, web3 ethos, this could be a seriously game changing move.

It potentially gives an individual creator the ability to create a Nike shoe, and sell it for others to use across the metaverse, in popular video games, in Roblox, in Fortnite, in a million other games and services and avatars not invented yet. Nike has enable digital sneakers, digital products to go live and have ownership tying back to the individual creators. Not only Nike will benefit from this. In web3, because of the nature of the smart contracts, the financial incentives are spread out.

No longer will you just be a consumer of shoes or jerseys, you will now be a part owner. It’s like a mix of owning the product and a share of the company. It’s a new behavior that is still undefined, but what Nike is signaling and building is nothing short of revolutionary.

It’s like, if you used Amazon back in the day when it launched, and every time you bought something, you also earned a fractional share of Amazon stock. That’s the promise of web3’s mantra: Read. Write. Own.

And in Nike’s case, for fans of the brand, you might also say Read. Write. Own. Just Do It.

If you are interested in Nike, shoes, fashion, digital or simply the evolution of business, ignore this move at your own peril.

Andrew “Oyl” Miller is an advertising Creative Director and Copywriter. He spent 15 years working at Wieden+Kennedy on brands like Nike, PlayStation and IKEA. You can check out his work on his website.

Limewire: From mp3 Piracy to NFT Marketplace

Millennial music pirating darling Limewire sprang back into headlines this week after decades of dust and silence. The once foundational music piracy service, was buried in lawsuits and eventually out-scaled by legitimate streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify.

However, as we've seen, companies and IPs can undergo radical transformations and reimaginings in the web3 era. And so, next up is Limewire, who according to new management is fully pivoting into music NFTs. While there have been a host of web3 native music NFT platforms coming into the limelight, none of them have yet to reach a widespread adoption or traction. Could a former major player have the brand recognition needed to jump start the official beginnings of the web3 music revolution? It's only a matter of time until someone gets a critical mass of artists on board, sorts out the smart contracts and begins allowing artists and listeners to participate in the growth and profits of musical acts.

In their initial volley, Limewire is looking to launch with artists unreleased, live and bonus tracks. Effectively giving artists an easy route into NFTs, by only requiring them to test out the platform with their forgotten or cast aside tracks. If the traction gains momentum, you could imagine artists starting to launch new albums onto the service and finding out what the financial and fan reach rewards might be. Musicians, long unfairly squeezed for mere pennies per stream on Apple and Spotify, represent a key demographic to demonstrate the freeing powers of digital ownership. And abstract concept that needs its Robin Hood moment. If a struggling musician or group of musicians could come out and declare that they have become profitable off of their music NFTs, that could create a watershed moment similar to how struggling visual artists have found success in the initial phase of jpeg based NFTs.

Expanding into music, would also allow NFTs and web3 in general to prove that an "NFT" is really just a bit of coding, with the power to raise any sort of digital content. This isn't about the shoddily illustrated animals that have dominated early NFT branding. NFTs are simply like "html" or "http", they are a protocol, like web pages that can be applied in infinite ways. To say that you "don't like NFTs" is like saying you "don't like websites." Do you not like all websites? Do you not like the internet? NFTs, like webpages or the internet are not one thing. They are simply the underpinnings that allow for passage of digital ownership. I feel like once music NFTs rise into public awareness, the depth to which people understand the emerging technology will grow. This is simply the evolution of the internet and a new frontier of what is possible with digital behavior.

When you "buy" an NFT, you are not "buying an NFT." That's like saying you "bought a receipt" when you bought a piece of art or a book. The NFT is simply the record of the transaction. There is nothing inherently valuable in that. It's just the record of who paid what for what asset. The record of ownership, combined with the digital asset is what gives NFTs their power and value.

In the future with music NFTs, you could imagine it working like this. Say an unheard of artist released an album on a music NFT platform like Limewire. Fans would be able to buy a share of the album or an individual track. From here, fans would then be able to "stake" their album and generate passive income every time the album or tracks were streamed. The artist themselves would generate the highest percent of income every time the track was streamed. If the artist happened to blow up and get millions of streams, the early owners of the music NFT would see their investment rise. The initial NFTs would be more valuable based on the popularity that the artist gained. If the artist didn't blow up, there would still be proportionate profits based on the size of their fan community.

Imagine an already established artist like Kanye West dropped a music NFT. Let's say Donda 3 was dropped onto Limewire. It would be like any high profile NFT drop, and there would be a massive queue of people trying get get one of the limited edition NFTs, that would allow them to earn profits based on the crazy amount of streams they imagine Donda 3 will receive. With the staking of music NFTs, the longer you stake, the more you stand to gain. So if you consistently buy blue chip artists on their release, you will create a steady stream of income based on the number of streams they get. Currently, all of that action is going back to Apple Music and Spotify. The artists, unless they have separate deals directly with the streaming services, get mere fractions of pennies per stream. It can not support their careers. Web3 stands to use smart contracts to guarantee sizable profits go back to the creators of content. Whether they be visual, motion or music artists. Their name and contract is baked into the NFT, and every time someone interacts with or buys the NFT, the profits automatically go where they are deserved. No record labels. No middle managers stealing profits. It's all out in the open.

Record companies and streaming services could adapt to web3 and get in on the profits by creating their own native web3 music platforms. That way they would be able to offer distribution and a more fair deal to artists to stay involved in the process. Of course, artists like Kanye would be better served to create their own web3 music platforms, where they have the scale and power to recruit other acts, give them a fair deal, and get percentages of all of the action. Major athletes like Michael Jordan and LeBron James are already establishing their own web3 native brands, which will give them massive scale and influence in the space. All public creators need to be taking this seriously, as the earliest ones to get in will profit the most and dictate the ground rules of web3.

Limewire will be one of the first public tests of music NFTs. It will take a combination of major acts and independent artists to move the needle in this space. But due to the nature of smart contracts, a more profitable future is guaranteed to artists in web3. And the interesting addition is that early fans of artists, also stand to profit alongside the music they like. This is the nature of web3 and potential benefit of merely participating and engaging with the new era of digital culture.

Street Fashion in the Metaverse

Street fashion might not sound like a perfect analog for the NFT space, yet early on it's seeming like a match made in metaverse heaven.

Lately, Bobby Hundreds, owner of the street brand, The Hundreds, has become an NFT uber-evangelist on full blast across his social channels and podcasts. He's turned into this inspirational, almost Steve Jobs type figure, who has made it his mission to open up the NFT space and personally onboard as many people as possible.

Last year The Hunrdeds had their own NFT drop called the Adam Bomb Squad, consisting of illustrated bomb characters that have graced the brand's streetwear for decades. The founder of Hundreds ah-ha moment was when he realized they were sitting on this deep legacy of IP and a super passionate community: the two main drivers of a successful NFT project. After a few tests, The Adam Bomb Squad was a success. Selling out its first mint and now experiencing a healthy life cycle on the secondary market. This has only fueled Hundreds enthusiasm and conviction in the space. And like I said, he's bringing as many people with him as possible. Including all of his OG streetwear friends, which means street fashion could really be the next big thing to follow art into the metaverse.

Another early streetwear foray into the metaverse famously came from RTFKT and their fusing of meta-video game, hyper aesthetics to create a line of virtual sneakers and become the first famous metaverse fashion brand. Nike took note and acquired RTFKT just when their heat couldn't get any hotter.

Streetwear circles tend to be tight and insular, so it was no surprise, yet also a pleasant surprise, when RTFKT tapped streetwear legend Jeff Staple to bring his game-changing and iconic Pigeon Dunks into the metaverse. The alchemy of the old and new came together to create an instant classic. What must have first felt like an experimental lark for Staple, turned into his own ah-ha moment in the NFT space as he witnessed the awesome community embrace and power that comes when an authentic creator offers something meaningful and heartfelt in the space.

And so after the hype of the drop settled down, Staple is approaching the metaverse again, this time with his own solo NFT project.

Enter the Stapleverse.

A connected community universe built around Staple's iconic Pigeon brand. Here, hypebeasts will be able to mint "Feed" and later have the option to risk throwing their feed to turn it into either a "Pigeon" or "Poop." It's the kind of risk it all layer that we've seen implemented in a few NFT projects. Like the Bored Apes Serum, which takes away your original Ape forever and gives you a brand new Mutated Ape in return.

The website is slick. The passion and creativity leaps off the screen. The art for the first drop is perfectly executed by illustrator B. Thom Stevenson. This week, Chapter 1 dropped. It presents a series of graphics that represents the highs and lows of living in New York. As the project builds out, Staple envisions adding references to new cities around the world to the Stapleverse.

There is a roadmap for the Stapleverse, and it's already clear that Staple has the passion and energy to keep creating in the space. With a known, authentic creator behind the project, confidence rises that this will not be a rug pull. Staple has already been a part of NFT history and now is looking to build off his legacy in the space.

There is a strong psychological connection between hypebeast street culture and NFT culture. Both worlds center around literal "drops" of their products. In both space, catching wind of early hype is credibility and currency, as well as often the difference between those who ape in early and those who live with FOMO in perpetuity.

For those who need the right Nikes that no one else has, or the t-shirt that only came from one single shop, NFTs area a kindred spirit. For streetwear and NFTs are both markers of status. And as our lives turn increasingly digital, it figures that we will need more than just a follower count to signal our status and what we are into. Found out about Bored Apes before anyone else? Your Twitter profile will be the judge of that. Get in on the first Stapleverse drop? Just flash your wallet. From now on, your cool points will be stored on the blockchain, available for all to see and judge. It's Supreme drops, but for the web3 savvy.

You won't see the long mysterious lines of people with insane kicks in questionable New York or Tokyo alleys. Instead, these early streetwear adopters will be going on whitelist quests inside of Discord servers. All hell bent on finding out first, where the the latest cool is at.

Here Come BALLERZ NFTs

NFT mania is the trend that just can’t seem to go out of style. As we hold our breathes to see if they will go the way of fleeting cultural moments like Beanie Babies or Laserdisc, each day sees them setting new sales records and grabbing more splashy headlines across the internet. Some argue they are merely jpeg files that anyone could simply right click and save to their desktop, while others claim they are the units of a global (intergalactic?) revolution.

As I was exploring the space and falling down various Discord rabbit holes, I came across a quirky little project that caught my attention: BALLERZ NFT. Like many pfp (profile pic) project, they featured 8-bit characters in various iterations. In this case, all wearing basketball jerseys and gear. Digging around surfaced precious little information. There was a website, with a high level and vague “roadmap” promising future utility and hinting at a variety of potential developments from some type of basketball arcade game, to real world meetups and parties.

The hype in the project’s Discord server fanned the flames of early members’ imagination. There was the documented fact of several project investors, Mark Cuban and Roham Gharegozlou, as well as rumors that various celebrities such as Jay-Z had already minted their own BALLERZ NFTs. Needless to say, all the talk was intriguing, even if the future was uncertain.

Then there was the steady march and countdown to the pre-sale, for which only qualified “OG BALLERZ” from the early days of the Discord were invited to participate.

Intrigued, and given early access, I minted three BALLERZ and waited for the reveal event several days later. When I signed back into the site on the Gaia marketplace, I was greeted with the following squad:

After the reveal event, the community went nuts. Hackers and coders were pulling meta data of the BALLERZ and creating all sorts of assets, from old school style basketball cards, to digital magazine covers, to 8-bit inspired team logos. All the while, the number of Discord members grew, leading up to the official public sale several days later.

With hype in overdrive, the rest of the 10,000 generative BALLERZ sold out in less than three hours. The admin of the project confirmed that there would never be more minted. This was it. Which only served to drive more FOMO and tweet storms from thirsty would-be BALLERZ looking to grab a player for themselves.

In a few weeks, the public marketplace will official open. There is wild speculation about the floor price from .5 to 20 ETH as die hard holders of the NFTs claim they will never sell. Meanwhile, the community has taken to Twitter campaigns to put the 8-bit ballers everywhere. From NBA player shoes to getting their own sneaker deals for their characters to billboards in Miami and NYC.

There’s no telling what the next chapter will reveal, but for now, the sky is the limit for this league of non-fungible ballers.

PODCAST RECO: BONG JOON HO ON THE DIRECTOR'S CUT

Rian Johnson sits down with Korean film director Bong Joon Ho to discuss the full span of his career.

There were two moments from his childhood that really seemed to stick with him and make sense as an origin story for his career in film. Bong was born in the countryside, in a lush, green town on the side of a mountain. When Bong was young, around 7, his father got a job in the city and he found himself uprooted into a concrete jungle. He said everything about the shift of environments was shocking to his system. He found the landscape harsher and colder. He found the people more serious and intense. He didn’t understand at the time why his family had to leave his birthplace and he wrestled to make sense of it in his own mind.

He also talks about how he watched Psycho around the same time, at age nine, and how it was his earliest memory of a film really sticking with him. He couldn’t believe someone could make something like that. He was fascinated by how the story unfolded, all leading up to the shocking twist at the end.

Flash forward to Bong’s filmography and you see these early imprinted themes strung throughout his work. He deals with themes of urban darkness contrasting against the beauty of nature. In his films you can feel that longing to return to the lush greenery of his childhood. Cities are often portrayed as cold and clinical places, full of calculating and equally cold characters.

Bong also speaks about the maturity of the Korean film industry. And how when he started out, there really was no industry and he would need to wear all sorts of hats to get his films going. Now, very quickly, there is an organized and unionized film system in place. He says as more opportunities have come, the Korean film scene has leveled up. He thinks that soon it will be on par with the craft and services you can find in Hollywood. In that sense, his films are much easier to make these days, because there is that shared understanding and experience in film.

He also speaks about the pleasure of being a writer director. He loves to plan out and craft his scripts. He’s working on a followup to Parasite at the moment, as well as another project. Like many creators, he has found the lockdown time to be a fruitful one and he has made good strides to set up his next projects. He also talks about his routine as a writer, and how he needs to work in cafes. He found the words hard to come by in the early days of the lockdown when everything was closed. Now that his favorite cafes are back, he is writing two films simultaneously. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to find out what those projects are all about.

Listen to this episode from The Director's Cut - A DGA Podcast on Spotify. Director Bong Joon Ho participates in a conversation with Rian Johnson on Director Bong's beginnings in the industry, how his early life informs his voice, and what guides him in his collaboration with actors.

Tokyo Typhoon Extreme Weather Tourists

The biggest typhoon of the past several decades hit Tokyo last weekend. Living near the center of the city, we were curious what things would be like at ground zero, before the peak of the typhoon arrived.

Before we set out, we looked at a couple of live cams of Shibuya. There were only a handful of people out, toting umbrellas and braving the elements. But the winds didn’t seem to that intense at the moment, so we looked at each other and decided to go check it out first hand.

We rolled over to the bus stop a couple of minutes from our house. Luckily a bus was just pulling up when we arrived so we hopped on. There were only two other riders on the bus. So we could already feel the effects of the evacuation mentality. We rode all the way to Dogenzaka, making no stops on the way as no one was at any of the bus stops.

When we left the bus, it was only raining lightly. It was still sage to use your umbrella and not have it blown apart by high winds. We walked the deserted alleys and streets around Shibuya station. Many of the shops and cafes had fully boarded up windows, giving the whole environment the look of an apocalyptic movie set. We continued on, walking the empty streets and snapping the occasional rare photo of a barren Shibuya.

We were on a scouting mission to see if anything was open. Being around noon, we had lunch on our minds. With the boarded up windows, it didn’t look promising. However as we walked Basketball Street in central Shibuya, we saw a light burning brightly in the distance. As we approached the window, we discovered it was a ramen shop—working at full capacity. Just looking in the window, you wouldn’t guess the circumstances odd at all. Chefs moved in tight choreography. Spinning, draining scoops of noodles, stirring vats of steaming broth. All as happy customers slurped away as on any other day.

And who were all these fools inhaling ramen under these locked down circumstances? Were they all reflections of us? Disaster tourists? Or rugby fans eating off the pain of cancelled games. Or bitcoin miners waiting for the conference to resume.

After a leisurely and dry lunch, we headed back into the streets in search of more nothingness. The rain now more persistent. The drops bigger. But still no wind. We ducked into Don Quixote. The meme-like Japanese super everything store. Whose multi-jingles and enthusiastic staff were on full blast. Ramen and Don Quixote, the two pillars of Tokyo remained unfettered by the weather event outside.

We picked up some batteries and spare lightbulbs because they were on our shopping list. Then we walked on. The rain amping up even more.

At the crossing, cameras and reporters stood in the elements talking to the random handful of folks passing through. We were stopped. They were doing something for British TV, around rugby. But with the games called off, they turned into typhoon chasers. They asked if we were here for the rugby or the bitcoin. Sadly no. They asked if we thought the typhoon was going to be bad. I said something about reports usually being overblown. At which point a gust of wind blew back my umbrella, shattering the skeletal core beyond repair. With any luck, I’m some sort of meme to American ignorance in the UK thanks to the comic timing of a gust from the god of wind.

From the interview on, the weather turned increasingly violent. We turned into the tunnels above and below Shibuya station, and walked their empty halls. Every now and then we’d pass another explorer like us. Earlier we had thought of walking home, but with the winds, we caught a cab. One of a hundred lined up at the station after the buses and trains had stopped. We rode home and looked out the window for the rest of the day as the winds pended. The trust of the typhoon came at night, after the house was asleep. But our photos and videos of a barren Shibuya made our wet excursion to the city center worth it.

Saturday with the National Pastime in Japan

Time was when baseball was the American pastime. It may still be in name, but recently football and basketball have broken away to the top of the American psyche. Baseball is still a major sport, but it no longer holds the urgent, most relevant place in the nation’s heart.

Hop the Pacific Ocean to Japan. Here, baseball has deep roots and a culture unto its own. The major leagues see the fruits of Japan’s baseball culture with the yearly all-world exports that come to America. The culture that is spawning these talented ballplayers runs deep. It’s baseball, but it’s also not an exact copy of the American version. It’s not even called baseball for starters. It’s YAKYU. It has its own rhythm, tradition and strict belief system born out of the Japanese spirit.

Japan has made the game of baseball their own. Transforming it into its national sport on its terms.

Baseball is everywhere. Walk down the streets any day of the week and you’ll notice packs of young ballplayers, in full uniform and helmets traveling around like rabid baseball gangs. With bat bags and gear in tow, they travel in full team packs. They head to and from practice. They stop and take shadow cuts in the alleys. They worship the game. A visual reminder of how pervasive the game is.

On the subways, people of all ages wear the hats of their favorite Japanese league teams. Young school kids hang stuffed team mascots from their backpacks. On game day, people will fully gear up in uniform, hat, holding tenants or plastic team bats. More baseball worship throughout the city.

On Saturdays, working men and women turn out to the local ballparks, in full uniform, to play the game. Here they use a rubber ball and sometimes play double or triple headers. These fully uniformed men and women, looking like pros, glide by on their bikes or scooters, racing to assemble at the fields. Many of them play for corporate, company sponsored teams. They play other companies. Coming together over baseball.

Locals stand and populate the bleachers, watching the hyper local leagues play their games. The talent level is amateur, but it’s full on baseball. Minus the hardball. But they keep at it, weekend after weekend. Holding onto the game in their way. Going through the routines. Swinging bats and limbering up before the game. Watching the previous game finish up. Communing with the gods of baseball. Or Yakyu rather.

In summer, the nation turns its psyche towards Koshien—the all Japan high school baseball tournament that dominates all media. Stars here become legends that endure for decades. Baseball in Japan rewards its followers with immortality.

As I pass by these Saturday games and observe them from the outside of the fence, I tip my cap to their diligent diamond worship. In a country where sport doesn’t hold the same cultural significance as it does in the west, there is something deeply significant with Japan’s connection to baseball. The inspiration and nostalgia moves me. All hail the national pastime. To Yakyu, the vehicle which transports the Japanese spirit. And every weekend, it gains a head of steam, rounds third and heads for home.

From the Land of the Rising Heat

Roki Sasaki.

The next monster of one hundred years.

A spindly 16-year old who was born to hurl a baseball. To throw at blinding speeds. All of his long-limbed body folding and unfolding in proper timing and efficiency, to unleash a sonic boom with the snap of his right wrist. Eliciting oohs-and-ahhs with every blaze of glory. Poor high school hitters, trying to make sense of phenomenal warp speeds—fanning blindly at the gust of baseball wind rushing past them. Failing with the futility of trying to drink soup with a single chopstick. No chance in this world or any other.

It is the stuff of anime or manga lore. A Chosen Boy, rising to national prominence. The Japanese Dream. Gracing the nation’s newspapers. Dominating long segments of airtime on nightly primetime. Triggering the tweets of celebrities. A whole country in rapt attention of Sasaki’s mound exploits. If you’ve been following Japanese baseball for any amount of time, you know the cadence and intensity the country’s mainstream fervor burns with. You’ve experienced the hallowed tones used to speak of these myths who emerge from the depths of Japan. Splashing to the surface fully realized, heaven sent from the mountain top, into the spotlight of Japanese media hysteria. First there was Dice-K, then Darvish, then Ma-kun. All moving along the celestial baseball timeline. Now, here stands Roki Sasaki. Number one in your program. Number one trending topic.

There is an obvious innocence when you see Roki standing on the mound. He’s just doing what he’s done every day of his life. It’s impossible for him to know that the very axis of baseball power now spins around him like a tightly wound slider.

It’s impossible for him to know that a single speeding fastball from his fingertips, topping 100 mph cracks the earth to its very core. That it sends a tremor over land and cyber space. A single Sasaki pitch, in less than a second, travels the world. The smack of the catcher’s glove, mass broadcasting a clear message. Announcing a presence. A baseball Spector. A new man-child has awakened in Japan.

Ready your scouts.

Prepare your fanbases.

Notify your coaches. Ping the redditors. The hype is resonating. Empty your pockets and prepare your best offers. Work on your Japanese etiquette. For soon, baseball innocence will be ready for market. This innate ability is available to be bought and sold. This lively arm is ready to join the arms race immemorial between Yankees and would-be-Yankee-killers. Always just one mystical pitching arm away from tipping the balance of power in the baseball universe.

Roki knows not which chalk line he is drawing nearer every day. His moment of crossing is coming. The final inning change. Until then, the redditors are worm-holing deep into a wikipedia frenzy. The American sportswriters are firing up their mobile word processors. We’ve got a live one here boys. Hear that? That’s the sound of a thousand bloggers cueing up lofty think pieces lauding the modernity of American baseball’s reliance on science, and bashing the archaic ways of Japanese ball that would put young pitcher’s arm in danger through stoic, traditional overwork. For in Japan, pitchers throw everyday without mercy. Without rest. (And in the darkest parts of Japanese baseball, without water.) For here, pitch limits don’t exist and taking a starter out of a game is viewed as a sign of weakness.

Young Roki is sparkling culture shock in the sporting world. The presumptuous and stubborn East versus West debate. Old school versus new school. Wrong versus right. Crystalized through the lens of sport. One of the most rooted in tradition sports. Which has yielded vastly different mentalities and ballplayers on two sides of the world.

Young Roki? He’s just trying to climb to the top of Japanese baseball Mt. Everest. He stands now on a Mt. Fuji peak, ruling Japan, and looking to claim legitimate baseball immortality by powering his team all the way to the Koshien title. To win the national high school baseball tournament. For in Japan, this conquest carries a perpetual cultural royalty. It’s a deep sporting honor on par with rising to national fame during March Madness. Even millionaire Japanese MLB stars, like Dice-K and Darvish still speak in reverent tones about their time at Koshien. Considering it the crowning jewel of their careers. For better or worse, it’s all down hill from the cultural highs of Koshien.

Hence the intense burn. Hence the meteoric pitch counts. Hence the literal embrace of giving everything for the good of your team. It’s an iconic sacrifice that echoes the Japanese love of the collective. The country rallies around, imbuing itself with a self-confirmation of their national identity, holding a mirror up top who they really are, all by living vicariously through young sports stars in the national spotlight. Young icons who leave fleeting but indelible impressions on the psyche of a nation.

And so now, in this moment, the world turns to Roki Sasaki. It turns for Roki. For now he unwittingly shoulders the weight and soul of this island nation. Shoulders that are still developing, that are already capable of unusual feats of diamond magic and of turning the world’s head with the snap of a lethal, embarassment-wreaking breaking ball.

Enter Roki Sasaki.

Shibuya Art on the Streets

Paint, air, time and ink on wall. Anonymous. Tokyo 2019

The Magic of Fresh Noodles and 100-Year Old Bricks

Tokyo Restaurant Review: Kamachiku

In the backstreets of Ueno, Tokyo, there exists a hidden gem. Buried in a tangle of unnamed streets and residential alleyways lies a transcendental udon shop called Kamachiku. Behind a pristine grove of bamboo shoots lies a 100-year old traditional brick warehouse. The historical building has been restored and renovated by famed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma—the visionary builder famously designing the innovative Tokyo 2020 Olympic stadium.

The warehouse turned udon shop is a far less public statement, but nevertheless, inspired turn of form. The central dining room has been carefully crafted inside the walls of the historic warehouse. A modern, primarily glass outer dining room has been built out from the warehouse, in a space next to a picture perfect Japanese garden. A long, single wood dining table fills the main hall, with seating for up to about 14. When sitting at this table, you essentially feel as though you are dining in the garden outside.

Kamachiku’s signature dish are their traditional Japanese wheat flour, udon noodles. Made fresh daily in the traditional Osaka style, the chefs only serve the noodles for as long as the day’s batch lasts. The menu also features a variety of side dishes, including a precisely prepared assorted tempura dish.

Although hidden away, don’t expect to find a seat if you stumble upon Kamachiku on a weekend. As the lines begin to form well before opening at 11:30. It’s best to get there a half an hour early and sit in the row of chairs set up along side the bamboo grove and Japanese garden. You couldn’t wish for a more ideal setting to wait for a fresh meal in such historic, yet modernized surroundings.

Website:
http://kamachiku.com/

Address:
2-14-18 Nezu, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

Kamachiku: Kengo Kuma’s 100-year old Japanese warehouse turned udon shop.

Kamachiku’s signature udon.

Exquisitely prepared, dry tempura and salt.

Detail of modern wood beams brought in to restore the interior of the warehouse.

The star of the exterior, 100-year old Japanese brick.

Sound On

Boy band billboard drive by.

Blaring auto-tuned lemon drops of pop.

Spreading over-produced white noise.

Look at all them leather-clad pretty boys.

Angst over nothingness.

Sales over somethingness.

Bleaching all taste from the streets.

Preaching mediocrity with all the right beats.

You already know what the music video looks like.

Pushing every pixel further out from life.

Same retouched photos of the immediate cute.

Putting synths on blast.

Critical thinking on mute.

Stretching expectations and pin ‘em on a backpack.

Instagramming them to a hashtag laugh track.

Look at the art-directed bad boy glares.

Frosted-tip, mean-mug stares.

Get lost in the artificial sheen.

Who cares if we ever know what they mean.

Read the lyric sheets and grow your knowledge.

Hang around at the uni ten years after college.

Street snaps over street smarts.

Thumbs up and glitter hearts.

Nice sample, who cares where it comes from.

And just like that, the billboard’s gone.

As the next one rolls in.

Next verse, same as the first.

Wash it away with the fat straw bubble tea.

As you wait in this line for two times eternity.

-o.m/