{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "Bottling hipness", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/151090515173/", "html": "Bottling hipness\n

vzx:

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baroquespiral:

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polyaletheia:

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Portland is big in Japan. I had no idea.

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imagine when this hits anime

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@kontextmaschine

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Portland\u2019s the closest mainland airport to Tokyo Narita (beating Seattle by 5 minutes) and the exchange rate has been favorable lately so we\u2019ve got a decent stream of tourists coming through. I guess they like what they see.



(the absurd lines at the city\u2019s more gimmicky food chains - Voodoo Doughnuts, Pine State Biscuits, Salt & Straw ice cream - are always polyglot and there\u2019s a mall downtown that as far as I can tell exists to sell luxury goods to asian tourists. I was there yesterday and the designer handbag places by the entrances were still going but past that was grim though they did a good job of disguising it - empty storefronts dressed as displays, filling the highly visible atrium floor with a mall operations office and a few national chains at least one sub-class level below what they would\u2019ve had before and given way too much square footage - never seen a Gap with that much open space. I don\u2019t know if that reflects a downturn in the tourist trade - more likely the Chinese economy than Japan, in that case - or just losing a big draw when the Apple store moved to its own temple across the street.)

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