People of the night.. 02

On any Friday or Saturday night, if you are walking through Shibuya or any other hub of this fine city you are bound to come across people enjoying themselves in extreme ways. Crowds of people pouring themselves out of cheap izakaya nomihodais, often expressing themselves with the kind of freedom not usually displayed in times of sobriety (ie. screaming and jumping on eachother), and occasionally tending to some poor party casualty that had momentarily forgot their limits. Party boy here just couldn't help but put on a show for my camera, and to the delight of all his friends and passersby, he successfully celebrated the animal that lies within us all..

Beautiful..

Tucked away in the backstreets of the Dogenzaka love hotel district, Beautiful almost defines the paradox between Shibuya's youthful innocence, and it's often dark reality. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as nothing says 'den of inequity' better than a bright pink cave-like entrance adorned with neon snake lights and big plastic stars..

Random night shot.. 08

On some stormy nights Shinjuku takes on a kind of surreal glow, as the collective explosion of neon hits the clouds and lights up the sky. It's really something to behold..

The Come to my Shirts Party, Dan Jury!

The award for the stupidest event name goes to.. Valentine Records Presents vol. 6! This Friday, The Shirts, Come to my Party, and Dan Jury will be coming together to rock at Gamuso in Asagaya. Sure to be a great show, cos they all are..

Video CM by Emily of CTMP..

Gotham city..

Okay, so this aspect of Tokyo is pretty played out I know, but the Goths of Harajuku always make for an interesting photo or two. Gotham city (Bat girl) here in particular has post-worthy written all over her, the others, maybe not so much..

Somewhere somebody's daughter.. 08

Tucked into the sanctuary of Shoto's Nabeshima koen, one may find any number of creative entities filming for tv or movies, or even shooting for magazines. On this fine day it was a group of fine lovelies getting what looked to be the 撮影会 (Satsuei Kai) treatment from a dozen or so eager photographic enthusiasts. Danny Choo has experienced the seemingly surreal world of "Group Idol Photography", and explains the dealio quite well here. Berry Waffle is a company that organizes such events, and for a mere 10,000 yen one can enjoy a full 60 seconds of free clickery..

TUC Shops

You have to love the little loopholes.. The TUC shop is the place where you go to get your winnings from Pachinko. They are usually located next to (or around the corner) from the Pachinko parlor, and so as a separate entity enable you to win money in a country that technically forbids gambling. You see, in the Pachinko parlor you win little silver ball bearings that you take to the counter at the end of your session and trade for a receipt, which you then take to the TUC shop and exchange cash money..

ばさし： Horse..

Horses at home are generally for either riding or betting on, I guess since I've been in Japan so long it was only a matter of time before I'd start eating them..

Shiespa: One year on..

Went by the Shiespa building this morning to see what it looked like one year on, what I found was pretty much to be expected: the building is still boarded up and guarded 24 hours a day, a flower adorned table sits in front of the fenced off building, and media were beginning to arrive and assemble their gear. The house that once stood beside the destroyed pump room has now been turned into a car park, and the rest of the houses that were so viscously shaken have been restored to a somewhat untouched condition. Interestingly, the flower pots at the end of the street that had been ripped apart and upturned by the blast remain on the road, somewhat destroyed.

Another interesting thing came to me today in the form of a comment made on a Youtube video I posted about the explosion shortly after it happened, the poster clarifying that I had made a mistake with the date I put in the video, but also adding this:

"The owner of this chain..they have one in Roppongi which also had some trouble a while back) lives in the neighborhood in a huge house, probably worth 8, 9 million dollars. His name hasn't come up in the press. Wonder how he managed to do that."

The Shiespa Gas Explosion: revisited

Today marks one year since the Shiespa gas explosion that killed three people. It was a quiet sunny Monday last year when we heard an almighty explosion that shook our apartment building more than any quake had ever done, my Mum was visiting and she remarked that it sounded like a bomb had gone off. A quick investigative trip to the balcony revealed a huge plume of smoke rising into the air, just a couple of blocks down the hill. I grabbed my camera and jumped on my bike and was there within a couple of minutes of the explosion. I arrived to a scene of chaos, dust and concrete filling the air, and a small group of people slowly converging on the scene. A couple of police sprinted past me communicating through their shoulder radio piece what they could work out had happened, and for a few minutes the handful of people stood, stared, and tried to work it out themselves. It was a good 10 minutes before the police cordoned off the area and the real media began to arrive, and for the next few days it became the centre of one of the nations major news stories. At that time we didn't know if it was a bomb or what, we didn't even know if anyone was inside the building when it had exploded, but as the chaos ensued it became pretty obvious that there were people both inside, and walking past that had been majorly injured.

Park Life: Rave on...

With the Summer festival season in full swing, so come the weekly Yoyogi park raves. Last Sunday's effort was fairly typical of what you will find, with the party starting early afternoon and drunken revellers enjoying the freak until well into the late evening. Wine seems to be the order of the day (as your beer supply seems to dissapate with uncanny speed), and everyone is your friend at the Yoyogi park rave.

The Guardian Angels

Fallen over in a drunken mess somewhere in Shibuya and can't get up? Hundreds (if not thousands) of random strangers ignoring your obvious incapacity to move? Never fear, the Guardian Angels will be along directly to assist and protect you, though mainly from yourself.

The Guardian Angels Safety Patrol are modeled on their LA namesakes, but have an inarguably easier task. While I have seen them attend to the kind of over-exuberant karaoke and izakaya casualties that become inevitable on the streets of Shibuya come Friday and Saturday night, they do seem to be much more of a visual than actionary entity. Having said that, Shibuya's streets have cleaned up a LOT over the last few years..

The Bangladesh Festival 2008

Lots of life in the park this weekend for the Bangladesh festival. Not so much in the way of numbers of people, but the energy, the sun, and the beer all made notworthy appearances. As far as the entertainment went, a couple of the comedians were funny enough, but the highlight for me was the Taro Taiko group, which shook the park in righteous fashion mid-Sunday afternoon.

Boys and their bikes..

Maybe it's like when you get a green car and then you see them everywhere, I am noticing more and more the amount of customized bikes that are getting around the city. From your totally color co-ordinated narrow bar go-ped (fixed wheel), to your more elaborate (and expensive) professional road bikes. This guy was happy for me to take his pic, but after he told me that his bike cost him just under 100万円 (about $10,000), I wasn't going to ask him if I could take it for a spin..



I was quite happy however to let "Dancing Oji-san" take the Durcus for a quick lap around the food table area.

Random Gorgeousness.. 02

Nothing like going to a festival, sitting on a plastic mat in the sunshine, drinking beer with your friends, and watching the world go by. Especially if your world consists of this..

Domina

Domina dresses sexy to make money for bags and shoes and to be able to afford her semi-upmarket mansion apartment in a place that makes her feel accomplished. What she does with her whips behind closed doors is arguably this side of legal, but probably dripping in the kind of content confined to those photo books you hide under the coffee table, not on it.

Actually I can only guess what was happening during this random encounter in a back alley of Shibuya, but I can say that I was allowed one picture only. As for those photo books, I do have Rikki Kasso's Tokyo Undressed, and yes, it's under the coffee table..

The NHK building

The flagship building for Japan's national broadcaster explodes with light in the late afternoon. A massive block of mirrors, waiting to catch the sun, the Docomo building pales in comparison in moments like these..

Parklife: Cow bloke

There are a bunch of people on any given Sunday, trotting around the park, becoming the centre of attention they obviously crave to be. Cow bloke here enjoyed his dancing, seemingly oblivious to the distraction he created from the actual performer.

Text addendum from Elmimmo: "That's Milk Suzuki, voice of the Tokyo Milk Babies rock band."

Still a mad cow if you ask me..

Random night shot.. 07

Station kiosk lady, Shin-Koiwa circa 2003. A perfect place to buy beer, cigarettes, gum, and newspapers you can't read..

Inside love hotels.. 04

So many hotels, such little time.. Seriously though, cheap Romanesque statues aside, this mid-range of the hill's finest has a definite Western classical twinge to it, not unlike something you may find (the gaudier hotels of) in northern Europe..



More and more hotels provide the lone hunter with every opportunity to find company that modern technology is able to provide..



And when in Rome..

Qualia

Qualia rocked Electro Lust last week at The Baron in Nishi-Azabu. A calculated blend of electronica and rock, not unlike the early stylings of New Order, with the amazing rhythm section of Issei Kobayashi and Zak Bond holding together Scott Mintz's plethora of squelches and bleeps with the utmost of precision and groove. Qualia have only played a couple of shows so far and have a lot to look forward to, especially when the clock starts sending properly.

Band photos by Basak Ulukose..





Short mini-movie from Qalia's debut live at the Garage, October '07:

Random Gorgeousness.. 01

Wherever you look, Tokyo is full of it. You just can't escape the style, beauty and youthful exuberance of this great city. This new series is dedicated to random gorgeousness, Tokyo stylee..

Shibuya Tasuichi:

Somewhere somebody's daughter.. 07

.. is being photographed by about 6 guys!

Park Life: Give Peace a Chance

The "Give Peace a Chance" festival at Yoyogi on Sunday played host to a number of different visual artists and musicians. The lack of crowds didn't dampen spirits though as just about everyone I encountered was seizing the sunny opportunity to down a few mid afternoon beers and savour the creative works..