Jenny Lawton
A proud native of the Second City, producer Jenny Lawton joined Studio 360 in 2007. Since then, she's produced the show's American Icons special on I Love Lucy, lots of stories in the Aha Moments series, and a portrait of the Japanese tea ceremony from Kyoto. She also serves as the managing editor of studio360.org and coordinates the show's internship program. Jenny started recording interviews as a Watson Fellow in India and Spain, researching the origins of flamenco dance. She cut her teeth in journalism at Chicago Public Radio, where she filed stories on culture, politics, technology, and the environment for WBEZ as well as NPR's Morning Edition and PRI's The World, among other programs. Jenny was awarded a USC-Annenberg/NEA Arts Journalism Fellowship, and lectures about radio and sound design at NYU and her alma mater, Kenyon College.
Comments [3]
I disagree that the all -way-cross intersection would not work in New York. Having lived in both New York and Japan, I think New Yorkers and its many visitors navigate the sidewalks better than the Japanese do their sidewalks.
The Japanese have to be aware all the time of those around them, those in their group. This is of fundamental importance and failure will lead to being put outside the group, the greatest fear in Japan. So while they walk in the street, it is not really a time to pay so much attention; it is down-time so to speak.
I was once walking along with a young lady who was carrying an umbrella, she unintentionally whacked several people with it. Neither they nor she said anything about it.
Item 1: the toilets here in the US are like outhouses with splintered toilet seats by comparison to Japanese ones
Item 2: One of the wisest comments I heard about Japanese culture was in response to a comment by a tourist that "The Japanese are all so nice." "No" replied the long term Tokyo resident - "Some are nice, but nearly all are merely polite." (Because of strong social norms and expectations.)
Item 3. I used to cross Shibuya twice every day. I miss the "being in a school of fish" feeling sometimes.
Item 1 - there's a good story for you to do on Japanese high-tech toilets. There's often a control panel like on Star Trek's Enterprise; many options. When you stand up, the flushing is automatic.
Item 2 - There are a lot of "helpful" signs in Japan. Many treat the train passenger or pedestrian as an idiot - and there is little or no enforcement. Lots of young people sit in the "silver seats", reserved for the elderly, and pretend to be asleep. I have a collection of photographs of bicycles parked in the "no bicycle parking" zone. When you understand more about Japan, you will realize that signs are a substitute for personal interaction / confrontation which the Japanese dislike.
Item 3 - Shibuya kosaten (crossing) is a trying experience; quite remarkable. The You Tube video does not do it "justice" at all. Typically it is a surge of people in all directions. The Starbucks at the north side of the crossing is the busiest in the world. In Tokyo, Shibuya is popular solely because it is popular.
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