Standing in the gale-force winds, the kid was looking queasy. We could all see the storm was growing more intense. The rain had already plastered his hair to his forehead and his new black suit was starting to cling to him in ways Mr. Armani never intended. A typhoon was coming -- the seventh this summer to hit Japan -- and the kid's job, as newest employee, was to stand in front of a TV camera while the weather buffeted him about for the nation to watch. Sort of a talking weather vane.