Flowerpot men..

That's who these guys reminded me of last week, the Bill and Ben of Yoyogi park. Lazing around the fountain, soaking up the attention and happily posing for photos with passers by, these two were certainly an interesting looking duo that fit in quite well with all the other extroverts that hang around the park..

Elvises Inc.

There was some major backjob action going down amongst the Elvises last Sunday. In Japan (China, Asia et al.), dragons are generally seen as creatures that protect Buddhism. Add equal parts of denim and leather, and a heavy dose of 50's rocknroll music, and you get the famous dancing Elvises of Yoyogi park..

Maid in Japan..

Strolling through Yoyogi park on Sunday afternoon, and admiring kanzakura trees (thanks Neil) I spied a young lass decked out in full maid gear, stepping on someone's head! After a little further observation I surmised that it was probably some kind of satsuekai, where a group of young enthusiastic photographers get their click on with a young model. It wasn't all head stepping though for this young maiden, as the small group soon took up residence in front of the early blooming trees for a bit more straight up clickery..

Mean machines..

Not sure what else you might call them, but one thing's for certain, these tricked-out bikes most cdertainly stuck out amongst the others parked at Yoyogi today..

Hanging out..

..the washing, Maruyamacho style!

Windy city..

Yes, this post is dedicated to bikes falling down. The icy wind on a Tokyo Winter day is merciless, like the wall..









Disclaimer: No bikes were harmed during the taking of these photos.

Somewhere somebodies daughter.. 10

..is being interviewed, with her friend!

Back to business..

Driving beats returned to the park today, perhaps the gods were smiling.. The same crew that so often put on the Sunday afternoon raves across the road during the summer were having it large on the main stage of the Yoyogi park events area. Apparently it started at 10, but the way most of the punters were grooving I suspect that for many of them it was 10 pm, and the night before. It was a real party too, a people falling down and loving it party, complete with cheeky stage dancers, bubble machines, and huge queues for the toilets.

In short, it rocked..

Come out and (cos)play!

The cold Tokyo winter afternoons are no deterrent for these guys, then again the humid summer ones aren't either. One thing I can never understand though, is the way some of cosplayers hide in the darker corners of the famous Harajuku bridge and shy away from the cameras. Okay, so they're probably in need of some downtime but jeez.. they put loads of money and time into dressing up like all manner of monsters and freaks, then go out into a crowded public place in one of the most populated cities in the world just to get all coy when a lense is pointed at them?

Still, there are enough extroverts happy enough to strike a pose to make this place easily one of the more interesting spots to visit on a quiet Sunday afternoon in Tokyo..

Somewhere somebodies daughter.. 09

..is shooting a music video.

The infamous Hotel Lumiere..

The Hotel Lumiere, located in the middle of a Maruyamacho street full of love hotels was the unfortunate location of a woman's death at the beginning of last month. She had checked in with a man in the early morning hours of Jan 8, and her body was found in the bath at around 4 pm. I was walking through the area when her body was found, and while I didn't know what was going down, the amount of police, detectives, and emergency vehicles that filled the surrounding streets made it obvious that it was something pretty horrific. As a completely unrelated piece of useless information, the hotel is situated around 100 metres from where the Shiespa pump room exploded in the summer of 2007..

The Shirts get a drummer!

After 18 months of playing as a three piece, using sequenced tracks and/or "borrowing" drummers for live shows, The Shirts are stoked about the new guy: Rob. Rob and I played way back before squadcar in a band called Bender, had quite a large repertoire of original rock and cover songs, and did regular shows at live houses around the place. We even did a demo at M7 in Koiwa which I finally heard last week after around 6 or 7 years. Saturday saw us rehearse for the third time with Rob at Ongakukan-bis in Shibuya, and as we quietly drained the Chivas bottle supplied by the fifth shirt Andy, Kazue was kind enough to take a few pictures, of the rock!