How the Japanese Yakuza birthed the Video Game Industry

If you’re even remotely interested in mental health, you’d have heard about the benefits of journalling. While it may seem like an obvious thing today to put your feelings down on paper, the positive impacts of the practice wasn’t discovered until the turn of the millennium. In this episode, we explore the story of how a failed musician led to the discovery of psychological benefits of journalling, and how a couple of friends in search of a novel business idea gave (new) life to the famed Moleskine notebook, which embodies the idea of an elegant journal. I invite you to think about what could result from each of us broadening our horizons, and diving deep into something that intrigues and excites us. I started doing that recently, on my Substack. And it's been thoroughly rewarding. Check out my recent deep-dive: Why are we missing awe in life?   If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn   

Happy New Year! In the first episode of 2025, we travel back to Florence in the medieval ages, and how the adoption of double-entry system of accounting inadvertantly led to the rise of sketching, and thus, more realistic art.  How are you documenting your intellectual journeys this year? Here is how I am doing mine—through longform reflective writing and sketching: Why are we so tired all the time? Why we understand time wrong   If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn

Did you know that no other animal really laughs? The closest to laughing is the "play sounds" that some apes make when tickled. So then how come humans laugh? And why did we evolve to wield and perceive humour, as a species?  In this episode, we trace the origins of the funny bone, and discuss why we often don't need impeccable jokes to make us laugh.   If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn I now have a YouTube show! Check out To Your Heart's Content where my co-host Deepak Gopalakrishnan and I interview a broad range of people who are in the business of Content—from musicians to marketers and artists: https://www.youtube.com/@TYHC-6PC

In this episode, we explore the connection between language and the perception of colour, and why colours may not be as black and white as we imagine them to be. For instance, the sky wasn’t observed to be blue from the beginning of time. In fact, there was no ‘blue’ just two millennia ago. If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn I now have a YouTube show! Check out To Your Heart's Content where my co-host Deepak Gopalakrishnan and I interview a broad range of people who are in the business of Content—from musicians to marketers and artists: https://www.youtube.com/@TYHC-6PC

In this episode, we trace the unexpected origins of video games—in the notorious Japanese crime syndicate, the Yakuza. Tune in to find out how a lost Portuguese ship that stumbled on Japanese shores actually sowed the seeds, which when combined with domestic isolationist policies and the enterprising spirit of Japanese entrepreneurs, led to this innovation. If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn I now have a YouTube show! Check out To Your Heart's Content where my co-host Deepak Gopalakrishnan and I interview a broad range of people who are in the business of Content—from musicians to marketers and artists: https://www.youtube.com/@TYHC-6PC

In this episode, we travel to medieval Japan to trace the origins of Kodawari, or the Japanese pursuit of perfection, that is still proudly held by artists, artisans, fashion designers, and chefs in the country. Does this mean that everything is perfect in Japan? What if the secret lies in having a collective great sense of what could be perfected and what shouldn’t be expected to be perfect? If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn I now have a YouTube show! Check out To Your Heart's Content where my co-host Deepak Gopalakrishnan and I interview a broad range of people who are in the business of Content—from musicians to marketers and artists: https://www.youtube.com/@TYHC-6PC

In this episode we talk about the magnificent elusive creatures who can hold their breath for over a hundred minutes, who possess a sound-based navigation system that’s better military systems, and whose evolution has confounded marine biologists and palaeontologists alike: whales! 🐳 Whatever we know about whales today, we’ve learnt with much difficulty, over centuries, with experts of various disciplines putting tiny pieces of puzzles together across space and time. What could we discover if we look at ourselves with this kind of curiosity, sustained interest, and resolve?   If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn I now have a YouTube show! Check out To Your Heart's Content where my co-host Deepak Gopalakrishnan and I interview a broad range of people who are in the business of Content—from musicians to marketers and artists: https://www.youtube.com/@TYHC-6PC

Today, we explore the disappearing art of Buddhist papermaking in India, which is only practised by less than 10 Tibetan households in a remote village in Arunachal Pradesh. Invisible to the observer, each plain sheet of paper, painstaking handmade over several days, carries inscriptions preserving the Monpa tribe's history, memories of migration, and their religious and ecological roots. We ask ourselves what we can do as travellers, to extend the life of dying local traditional artforms. If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn I now have a YouTube show! Check out To Your Heart's Content where my co-host Deepak Gopalakrishnan and I interview a broad range of people who are in the business of Content—from musicians to marketers and artists: https://www.youtube.com/@TYHC-6PC   Music Credit: Lama Tashi  

In this episode, we discuss the artistry behind something we across everywhere around us that we don’t pay attention to: fonts. We trace the history of the couple in mid-18th century whose carefully hand-cut “type punchers” gave rise to elegant letters in printing fonts, and the clean and spacial aesthetic used in book production even today. Just as these simple fonts were created by complex contours that were hand-crafted, and shaped by years of varied experience, the places we travel to have so much history and complexity, waiting to be uncovered by those who are curious and patient-enough to seek them. If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn I now have a YouTube show! Check out episodes of To Your Heart's Content where my co-host Deepak Gopalakrishnan and I interview a broad range of people who are in the business of Content—from musicians to marketers and artists: https://www.youtube.com/@TYHC-6PC

In this episode, we go back to a time when Science was considered blasphemy, reading was synonymous to reading the scriptures, and a University meant a religious guild, and trace the history of a reference system so simple, yet monumental: the index. We discuss how we could all benefit from having an index of our lives—important memories and learnings—in our head. If you liked this episode, do consider rating the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can reach out to me on Instagram: @‌postcards.pfn I now have a YouTube show! Check out episodes of To Your Heart's Content where my co-host Deepak Gopalakrishnan and I interview a broad range of people who are in the business of Content—from musicians to marketers and artists: https://www.youtube.com/@TYHC-6PC