natasha's diary

Last night I attended a gathering of supposedly wide-awake singles in Ikebukuro (my favorite Tokyo place name--"Pond Bag"). At the door, everyone was given an electronic badge called an iTag to wear. The idea was to punch into the tag some info about yourself so that when someone who has something in common with you approaches, their badge flashes something like "Hello Natasha, I'm Hiyoshi. I also work in publishing." This is supposed to make it easier to start a conversation.

Thanks but I don't need this. I punched in that I collect old Bugattis; that my favorite sport is pole vaulting; and that I speak Hungarian. Funnily enough, this information solicited no responses from other tags but I did meet several people who agreed with me that if you need a tag to help you engage with other people you probably don't have much of interest to say.