Tokyo Blog

A Japanese guy I know has a leopard skin handbag. Except in the west we don’t call them handbags (although that’s what they are), we call them ‘manbags’. The amazing thing is, he pulls it off. The other amazing thing is that, in Tokyo, it’s common to see a guy carrying this kind of bag, usually with both straps slung around the one shoulder.

What isn’t quite so common to see on the streets of the metropolis, is a man IN a bag being carried by another man, but when I was in Kichijouji the other Friday night, I actually saw this happen.

We came around past the entrance to the station, and there was a girl crouched over a guy who seemed to be injured or maybe even dead. There were 4 policemen stood around scouring the far side of the street in anticipation of something. More people gathered and the girl seemed like she was sobbing. Then, from behind us came another policeman carrying something made of rubber or plastic. When he arrived at the scene, the policemen tried lifting the guy off the floor by his arms, but he started freaking out, and screaming at the top of his voice. We guessed he was another casualty of over-drinking. The police were all around him and a few of the people from the crowd had started to close in to get a better view. I could only see from the shoulders up on the guy on the floor, but I saw the bag go over, get pulled up and then zipped up, so that just his head protruded from the end. Everyone stepped back, and the four policemen, followed by the fifth, carried the guy (still screaming) from the front of the station, to their police car, place him on the back seat, then drive away, sirens blaring.

The Japanese: Lords of invention.