I rub your brog: shoto

Showing posts with label shoto. Show all posts

Monday, June 23, 2008

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..

Thursday, June 19, 2008

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.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Looking for an apartment in Tokyo #8..

Shinsen Kouwa Palace: 2LDK, 155,000 per month

Deep breath, this could be the one.....

*edit: knocked back again, even after having been told "foreigners okay" for 3 weeks! This isn't fun at all..

Looking for an apartment in Tokyo #7..

Shoto Residence: 3DK, 180,000 per month

Applied for this one a couple of times before being "beaten" to the punch (at the 25th hour) by a Japanese applicant. The third knockback because we are not Japanese..

This one had an awesome balcony:

Monday, February 4, 2008

Looking for an apartment in Tokyo #6..

Shoto, 2LDK: 190,000 per month

Unusual to find something on the ground floor, this one was filthy but the landlord was gonna totally refurbish it before the new tenants moved in. Interesting little layout, even had a little yard. Too expensive though..