Shibuya Sepia..

Messing about with my iPhone, Shibuya looks great in sepia..

Shibuya de Ohara..

I have to admit, sometimes I walk around this place and run into something that I have no idea about, (actually make that often) and Sunday was one of those days. My first thought as walking down a closed off Dogenzaka was that this was some kind of an Awa Odori, which it very well may have been. But anyway I was walking down to get some lunch and didn't really bother finding out, I mean it's just walking down the street on a Sunday, you don't have to know everything! What I did know was that these dancers, that seemed to come from far and wide, were having a great time spinning and singing their way up and down Bunkamura and Dogenzaka, that and.. I was hungry!

Postscript: Thanks to Elmimmo for filling me in, this was actually the Shibuya de Ohara Festival, inspired by the Ohara Matsuri in Kagoshima. As I said, sometimes I have no idea, fml.. >_<

Tokyo Graffiti.. 01

Shibuya seems to be covered in graffiti these days, a lot of it is just basic tags done with a black paint pen, but some of it gets quite creative. As for this little tag/sticker combo, to quote one of my favorite sayings: "what does that even mean?"..

Kyuu Yamate and 246: The trap..

This intersection is a bit of a trap for motorists heading into (or through) Shibuya as bike cops often sit there waiting for motorists to go through a stop sign before pouncing, and on this sleepy Sunday afternoon it also became somewhat of a hazard to one cyclists health. While walking to Daikainyama we chanced upon the aftermath of an accident between a bike and a car, all were fine, but for a bent up bike seat and an obviously rattled salaryman's composure..

More trains going by..

Shinsen station, Maruyamacho, Shibuya. The Inokashira line takes you to such wonderful places as Shimokitazawa and Kichijoji, and through the tunnel is about a 45 second ride to Shibuya station..

The Okay Idea live at the Ruby Room..

Friday night's Ruby show kicked off with The Okay Idea powering through their set of electro rock/pop gems. It was the debut performance for our buddy Russell and the set also included some new material, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing these guys some more as the Summer goes on..

People of the night.. 04

Rainbow-haired tout dude is a regular fixture of the Shibuya night, most often seen as we wind our way past Wendy's while on our way out. His job is to talk passersby into eating at the Izakaya he works for, and gets a percentage of their total bill as his wage. He once told me that he can make up to 1,000,000 yen a month just by helping people choose where they eat, I was thinking to earn that kind of scratch he'd wanna be pretty convincing..

AU promotion at 109..

There's almost always something going on in front of the 109 building in Shibuya, and last weekend it was some kind of promotion for one of the big three mobile phone companies, AU. I couldn't tell you what they were promoting, as more interesting to me were the crowds of guys with their digital cameras hanging on every word that the head promotion girl was saying. I'm not sure they were there to find out about the new phone either, but it did remind me that idol worship is alive and well here in Japan..

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!

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!

Saori Hara: STOP! STD girl #3

Following in the footsteps of Nana Natsume and Sasa Handa, Saori Hara is the new postergirl for the STOP! STD campaign. The campaign is run by Soft on Demand, reputedly one of the largest AV companies in Japan, and is aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. Saori is yet another gravure idol turned AV star that also makes regular appearances into popular mainstream media. She also maintains a weblog, containing information about her day to day activities, as well as lots of pictures of food and her favorite fluffy animals..

The Christmas lights of Shibuya..

Shibuya is quite beautiful in the holiday season, the lights that adorn the trees on Dogenzaka for example..







Koen dori is not too shabby either..