Random cuteness: the baby and the bicycle..

Sadly the sunny afternoons at Yoyogi park will have to remain a memory for the moment, as the dreary days of yet another winter become an inescapable reality. Not but a month ago it was all sunshine and happiness at the park for one and all. The bicycle baby, for me, certainly represented all that is Yoyogi happiness and wonder, and with a shared enthusiasm for all things shiny, the kid made my day..

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..

Bono in Tokyo

U2 singer, humanitarian and and philanthropist Bono Vox is in Tokyo this week, and yesterday took part in a tree planting activity with Japanese and International elementary school children. Also present were (everyone's favorite) Tokyo Governor Ishihara, designer Tadao Ando, Japanese astronaut Mamoru Mori, and ex Miss Japan Norika Fujiwara. There were environmentally orientated speeches, the kids sang, and then all took part in the initial stages of a tree planting project designed to create a forest on a man made island in Odaiba. Bono is here for the African summit, where he will encourage Japan to pledge more aid to ailing African nations. Bono was also recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work in Africa.

Photos by uber photographer and friend Andy McGovern.

Inside the.. Supermarket?

Continuing the tradition of bringing to you the most cutting edge images from inside this exceptionally interesting mega-city:

Maruyamacho Poraroca, aisle 3..

Koji and Eiko by ~lumi-mae

I have gotten a bunch of hits from all over in the past 24 hours through a link to a pic on my site from a manga artist named Lumi-Mae. The artist submitted a pic for a contest on Deviant Art, and the setting of his/her pic was the staircase that joins NHK and Yoyogi parks, a regular haunt for us on weekends. Anyway, interesting and random, you can find my original post here, and here are both of the pics..

Koji and Eiko by ~lumi-mae:

Fugu...

Fugu (pufferfish) is a delicacy here in Japan, even though it contains lethal amounts of the poison tetrodotoxin in the liver, the ovaries, and also the skin. Only specially licensed chefs are allowed to prepare and sell it to the public, and the consumption of the liver and ovaries is forbidden. Some sources claim that about 150 people still die each year from fugu poisoning, while others say it's only about ten to twenty..



This cool looking Fuguya-san was found while waiting for D-man in Umegaouka last week..