Tokyo Blog

This site isn’t exactly great, as the avatars you create here don’t look particularly manga at all. Still, it’s a good laugh making one of yourself and your friends. I found I couldn’t easily make myself, but I could do my friends no problem!

This is a pretty funny clip via Japan Probe, that shows a section from the Japanese show TV Champion, where mascots from all over Japan take part in a battle for supremacy. In this round, they go head to head in a soccer match to the death.

Here we have a shot of a sign taken in Tokyo, incouraging commuters to take part in the Japanese tradition of bumping into each other. There are many examples of the bad use of English in warning signs and public information blurbs in Japan, all of which seem hilarious to English speakers! I feel a series coming on!

Picture taken by my good friend Trent McBride. Thanks Trent!

Last week I picked up a copy of Web Designing Magazine from Parco Ikebukuro. Actually, I’ve seen it in the magazine section of other book stores since, so I think it’s got pretty good circulation. Certainly better than Monocle, which is extremely hard to find in Japan, although it is all in English which might have a lot to do with it.

Web Designing is all in Japanese, but you can certainly get the jist of it, and it unearths some great new websites and profiles some great producers. It even deconstructs several websites in this issue, offering an insight into other designers’ creative use of CSS, XHTML and images. It’s a little bit expensive at ¥1280, but if you’re in the industry, you should grab yourself a copy.

Front cover is by Prismgirl.

I’m a fan of Nike basketball boots. Well, just trainers in general. So I’m interested to hear about a relatively new section of the Nike website dedicated to the classic Dunk series. There’s a load of colourways (that look identical to the last lot) coming out soon. These get previewed, plus you can make your own dunks. But you have to register first.

Horrible news about Nagi Noda, I’m afraid. The renowned artist and director, only in her mid-30’s, passed away this past Sunday from complications arising from surgery she had following a serious car accident that she was involved in last year. Her surreal approach to direction attracted clients such as Nike and Coca-Cola, but she also made promos for artists like The Scissor Sisters, Japanese singer Yuki, and Hikaru Utada. I personally liked her Hanpanda creation best of all. She’ll be missed.

News via Boing Boing, Tokyo Mango, and all over the web today and yesterday.

There’s yet another Flash microsite for Uniqlo up on the .com site (where I believe all the Japanese content has now moved following their global expansion), and it’s amazing as always (from a production point-of-view). It’s called ‘Uniqlo Try’ and deals with their line of bra tops! I’m not entirely sure if I’m exploiting all of the sites features at the moment, as I just navigate through the different women trying to find any that are remotely attractive. They’re talking about how they feel about bra tops, how often they would wear one, etc. Interesting.

It wasn’t so long ago now that I went against my own morals in the pursuit of expanding my horizons. I ate horse. Raw.

I feel bad about it, because I thought humans and horses had come to some sort of an arrangement, “I’ll let you ride me, and I’ll pull stuff around for you, providing you don’t eat me”. In Japan, they call a dish consisting of raw horsemeat, ‘Basashii’. Actually, I’d already eaten canned horse when I was in Kusatsu in Gunma prefecture, but eating it raw turned my stomach a bit. The flavour was OK, a little bit gamey with a taste of iron, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what it was I was eating. The thing that made me eat it was the prospect of being able to say I’d eaten raw horse to my friends and family back home. I don’t think it’s widely known that the Japanese eat horses. Next time someone offers it to me, I’m going to have to say “nay”.

They’re not particularly exciting, but I took some pictures the other day when I was out and about in Shinagawa. I took a trip to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, that just so happens to be in Shinagawa, inquiring about how to start a company in Tokyo. It turns out that people with working holiday visas have a hard time changing their visa status at all, but some Japanese companies hold enough sway over the authorities to make it happen for you. The other interesting point, is that you can’t join a company like this, or even change your visa status at all, after you have less than 4 months left on your working holiday. It just so happens I have 5 months and 5 days left on mine as of writing this post, and I sign a contract of employment on Friday! Phew. Extended play.

While we’re dealing with videos, I want to share this one too. It’s one of the tracks by Kiiiiiii I’ve been listening to a bit latley. I thought this was the remix, but I don’t suppose it really matters. It’s the version I like, and it’s pretty crazy.

Finally, I’ve uploaded the videos of the Asakusa Hanabi Matsuri (Fireworks Festival). I had forgotten about them and left them languishing in iPhoto. These should give folks a good idea of what it’s like at the Summer festivals in Tokyo. Really enjoyable. You can still check out the photoset at flickr too, if you haven’t already.

I’ll embed the vids here too, so it’s easier for everyone.

Asakusa Hanabi Matsuri from Stephen Smith on Vimeo.

Asakusa Hanabi Matsuri from Stephen Smith on Vimeo.

I’ve moved again, this time to Shinagawa. What you see above is the view from my balcony. Could you believe I’m on the ground floor? The reason it feels elevated from this persective, is because my apartment block is situated on top of a hill, and the ground drops way steeply at the back of the apartment, where the balcony is. The neighbourhood always seemed like a business district to me, but with expensive restaurants and shops to cater for those clocking out. It wasn’t a place I ever came to often. I only came here once before to see Kage Hinata ni Saku at the Prince Cinema. I’ve had a good look around now, but have found only skyscrapers and hotels, the odd expensive restaurant, and high class shopping arcades. Where’s the sushi? Where are the izakayas? It’s a fashionable district for sure, and I’m glad to be exploring a different are of Tokyo, but there will always be a place in my heart for Taito-ku, and the areas of Ueno, Okachimachi, Asakusa, Minowa, Iriya, Yanaka and Nezu. By far the most atmospheric towns in Tokyo.

It’s not a big deal though. Meguro, Gotanda and Ebisu are still only a stone’s throw away.

One thing I didn’t know about before coming to Japan, was just how many appliances, cars etc. are Japan only. The coolest of the bunch has to be the elongated bikes the bosouzoku wannabes and cool couples roll around on. I’ve managed to get a few pictures of bikes like these over the last few weeks.

You often see tiny girls in Shibuya tearing down side streets on bikes like this. It’s pretty amazing the way they handle them.

They’re definitely much larger than anything of this kind in the UK, and they’re often very loud, and sound maybe like some of them are extremely powerful, with a deep, slow-revving engine noise. Of course, people supe them up to no end, attching neons, mirrors and additional speakers, etc.

Actually, I really want one. I don’t have a Japanese driving license at the moment, but once I’ve been here a little longer, I’ve got to make it happen!

I mean, how cool is this red one, with someone’s tag scrawled on the front wing? Slightly reminiscent of Akira I would say. The whole fashion surrounding these bikes relates to the impression I get that somehow, Tokyo and motorbikes are inextricably linked.

I’m not a keen cyclist, but sometimes you’ve just got to get your bike from point A to point B. The problem was, point A was really, really far from point B. My journey took me past famous spots like Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya (I crossed the main crossing in front of Shibuya 109 on my mamachari!), and Meguro. Nice ride!

This is horrible, but just check out Nigo’s pink Bugatti Veyron (Nigo is the head-honcho at Japanese clothing label, Bape). Worst custom paint job ever! (Actually, or should we say thankfully, the car has not been repainted, but just covered in a vinyl wrap - phew.)