OK,
apologies for the unplanned vacation last time. Between rain, my
vain attempts to change this page to an automated blog, and other
un-niceties, things fell a bit behind.
So, in honor of lacking photos, I've decided to make some crude drawings to commemorate the ones that got away.
Taking photos of questionable English, or cross cultural oddities, is one thing. Taking pictures of actual people...well...that's crossing a line.
Which is a pity, since there has been some truly amazing stuff.
Like the young woman walking down the street with sweatpants that had "Not Your Seduce" written on the butt.
Or the young girl that had a T Shirt with "Sesame Street Rocks" written on the back in Iron Maiden lettering.
...not forgetting this guy with the truly inspiring message.
Speaking of inspiring, there's the guy riding his bike home from work a few weeks ago. Not content to simply ride his bike without holding the handlebars, he was also smoking, drinking a beer, and checking his messages on his cell phone.
The biggest...my Moby Dick, if you will...was unquestionably the following.
Scene: I'm waiting for my train and talking to my friend Ai. We're leaning against the wall where the stairs lead up to the platform, so we can see down to the people walking up.
I'm looking at her, saying something, when I see her gaze shift slightly downward. She then looks dumbstruck, like she's just seen a bad accident.
Noting her expression, I follow her gaze and witness the following.
A man, balding in the familiar "horseshoe" pattern, is making his way up the stairs. He has taken what is clearly black shoepolish and, uh, "created" hair. Problem is, shoepolish is designed to allow shine, and his scalp is reflecting to the point that the onlooker might be compelled to grab their sunglasses.
Yow.
In a similar vein, a co-worker told me he once saw a man who had painted what appeared to be sponges black and stuck them on his head in a careful...but blatantly obvious...tile pattern.
Other things that may or may not be true, but make for great stories...
An older woman, with way too much makeup and age inappropriate clothing, smoking and wearing a shirt that said "Do You Remember Beauty?"
A Gothic Lolita who had teased her hair out so much that it got stuck in the train doors.
Grandmother age women with vivid green hair, and similarly dyed poodles (I've actually seen a few of these, although they were deep red and orange.)
OK, now on to actual photos.
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to take pictures of fireworks? If you don't catch them just so, the resulting photo looks more like a UFO, if it looks like anything at all.
The solution is to just keep hitting the shutter until you get something useful.
The fireworks were part of Obon celebrations. Obon is confusing for foreigners: the time varies, depending on which area of Japan you're in. Most people go back to their hometown for a visit, and that visit is timed to coincide with the Obon dates of the area they're going to, so you'll hear a lot of people telling you they went home for Obon when Obon hasn't happened yet (or finished a month before they took their trip.)
I have no idea if this guy was involved in the celebration or not. He was, like so many things here, just tooling around at random in the middle of Shibuya.
I would think that this would...uh...tickle.
I must admit, this doesn't exactly make me hungry.
...and what would an update be without one of these?
As always, mail me here.
So, in honor of lacking photos, I've decided to make some crude drawings to commemorate the ones that got away.
Taking photos of questionable English, or cross cultural oddities, is one thing. Taking pictures of actual people...well...that's crossing a line.
Which is a pity, since there has been some truly amazing stuff.
Like the young woman walking down the street with sweatpants that had "Not Your Seduce" written on the butt.
Or the young girl that had a T Shirt with "Sesame Street Rocks" written on the back in Iron Maiden lettering.
...not forgetting this guy with the truly inspiring message.
Speaking of inspiring, there's the guy riding his bike home from work a few weeks ago. Not content to simply ride his bike without holding the handlebars, he was also smoking, drinking a beer, and checking his messages on his cell phone.
The biggest...my Moby Dick, if you will...was unquestionably the following.
Scene: I'm waiting for my train and talking to my friend Ai. We're leaning against the wall where the stairs lead up to the platform, so we can see down to the people walking up.
I'm looking at her, saying something, when I see her gaze shift slightly downward. She then looks dumbstruck, like she's just seen a bad accident.
Noting her expression, I follow her gaze and witness the following.
A man, balding in the familiar "horseshoe" pattern, is making his way up the stairs. He has taken what is clearly black shoepolish and, uh, "created" hair. Problem is, shoepolish is designed to allow shine, and his scalp is reflecting to the point that the onlooker might be compelled to grab their sunglasses.
Yow.
In a similar vein, a co-worker told me he once saw a man who had painted what appeared to be sponges black and stuck them on his head in a careful...but blatantly obvious...tile pattern.
Other things that may or may not be true, but make for great stories...
An older woman, with way too much makeup and age inappropriate clothing, smoking and wearing a shirt that said "Do You Remember Beauty?"
A Gothic Lolita who had teased her hair out so much that it got stuck in the train doors.
Grandmother age women with vivid green hair, and similarly dyed poodles (I've actually seen a few of these, although they were deep red and orange.)
OK, now on to actual photos.
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to take pictures of fireworks? If you don't catch them just so, the resulting photo looks more like a UFO, if it looks like anything at all.
The solution is to just keep hitting the shutter until you get something useful.
The fireworks were part of Obon celebrations. Obon is confusing for foreigners: the time varies, depending on which area of Japan you're in. Most people go back to their hometown for a visit, and that visit is timed to coincide with the Obon dates of the area they're going to, so you'll hear a lot of people telling you they went home for Obon when Obon hasn't happened yet (or finished a month before they took their trip.)
I have no idea if this guy was involved in the celebration or not. He was, like so many things here, just tooling around at random in the middle of Shibuya.
I would think that this would...uh...tickle.
I must admit, this doesn't exactly make me hungry.
...and what would an update be without one of these?
As always, mail me here.