Sean Matsuno

Japanese, Sichuan, and Italian cooking; whisk(e)y, wine, Nihonshu. Comedy fan. Twitter Japan 2008-2022

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

@MikeIsaac To be fair though, at least when it comes time for the merchandising the hot ones universe the flamethrower will finally make sense

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

I have no idea what @gopuff is but the fact that someone signed up with my email address and their customer support is powerless to fix it is pretty sad!

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

I’m actually quite good at mapo tofu, a skill honed over now decades

First because I had no money, now because I and the family really like it

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

Seeing all the delivery, we can’t cook etc discourse makes me think more people need to learn how to make mapo tofu or buy a 90’s stir fry cookbook

First day of living alone in college I went to Borders, bought one and fed myself with stir fry and barilla pasta cheaply, easily

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

For those who don’t know, there was a kind of stir fry trend back then. I think the 90s elders were right about that one

About sun-dried tomatoes maybe less so (still good, but only so useful)

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

Fixed a broken screen door doing this, was strangely reassuring knowing there were a ton of Japanese videos about it

[Brad Lemley @BradCLemley]

Here is a huge positive to modern life that gets no press.

I have an old 2009 Toyota, and the AUX port crapped out about a year ago. Went to YouTube. Young, enthusiastic guy explains how to fix it.

It is not obvious - involves taking the dashboard apart in a counter-intuitive way, but once you see it, it's a 15 minute fix.

There are actually dozens of videos showing how to do this, and they collectively have well over 200k views.

Had this happened in 1995, I would have just lived with it. But the combo of the replacement AUX jack available from Amazon and the video of the simple (but not obvious) fix, I fixed it.

I HAVE DONE THIS DOZENS OF TIMES. Replaced the control panel of my dishwasher. Replaced the ice maker in the fridge. Fixed a wonky sanding head on my drill press. Mastered a bandsaw technique that I use for my sculpture. On and on and on...

I think it is likely no exaggeration to say billions of fixes and skill upgrades have been performed worldwide that would not have been performed if it were not for the instruction freely given peer-to-peer on YouTube.

Take a moment to be happy about this. The busted item keeps performing, rather than going to the landfill. The person learning and doing the fix gains a sense of mastery and saves money. It's an unmixed blessing.

Stop doomscrolling. Think of what is busted in your house, find the YouTube video on how to fix it, and fix it.

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

@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?)

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

@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

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

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

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

@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.

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

The lengths people go to to prevent flooding

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

@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

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

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

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

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

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

@ruth Sick reference (and disgustingly true)

PS miss you all

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

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.

[The Wall Street Journal @WSJ]

Trader Joe’s totes are being carried in Seoul, Melbourne and Tokyo. Because there are no Trader Joe’s stores abroad, the bags now sell on resale platforms like Depop, eBay and Korea’s Karrot market for up to $10,000. https://t.co/W2Wbm6uFio

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

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

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

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

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

Don’t need Christmas food, fugu is enough

[Sean Matsuno @sean]

@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