Heya.
Well, it's cherry blossom season...sort of.
Meaning that while the cherry blossoms are indeed out, the funky weather has cut down on the spectacularity of the displays, and the timing is a bit wonky as well.
But hey, I've got a new camera, so I still took a ludicrous amount of pictures.
So, in the interest of preventing people's computers from exploding due to loading one enormous page, this month' update will be a two parter: this page will be the usual snark, but the link at the bottom will lead to a second page just for the cherry blossom shots.
OK then...
Well, remember last year when Junko, Haruko, Hitomi and the other dancers won the Asahi Shimbun award for their piece Red Fugue? I'm pleased to report that they're up for it again this year, with a piece whose name unfortunately escapes me at the moment.
In fact, literally as I write this, I'm missing their performance. I mean that I'm sitting in a train typing this, coming home from a business trip, while this very second they are dancing for what will hopefully be their second consecutive win.
So, uh, I'm missing it. At least I got to see when they won the preliminaries.
Pardon the blur, I think the bartender had sampled his own wares a bit.
On a personal note, I can't help but notice that older Japanese men always look serious in photos. The guy sitting next to me was a super friendly chat machine at dinner. Huh.
EDIT: I just got a message from Hitomi and Junko...the piece is called "Kashu Souzu," (which translates as something to do with Summer,) and Haruko explained it to me as having to do with this famous work. Anyway, THEY WON AGAIN. Congrats!
OK, during the few days off I had remaining before I started my new job, I went to Yokohama. It's a separate city, of course, but it's very close to Tokyo, so it's almost got a kind of Seattle/Tacoma thing going. For some reason, I had never made the trek.
Among other things (like a great museum and an amusement park,) it has the Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan. Which wasn't open when I got there. So I didn't go up in it.
But I did take its picture.
There's also a Hard Rock Cafe at the bottom, complete with weird twisty metal thing.
Twisty Thing With Tower.
That park I mentioned, which is a two minute walk from the twisty thing.
A boat that is part of the same park. I think. Maybe.
The old docks were seemingly converted into the foundation for the Landmark Tower.
Back in Tokyo...someone's keeping an eye on you.
LA LA LA LA....
LA LA LA LA...
Well, with the upcoming rock site, I've been seeing a LOT of shows. I'm saving a lot of them for the site itself, but a few are going to sneak onto here.
Case in point: seeing Guitar Wolf always brings some intriguing shots.
...it ain't Rock 'n' Roll without a little blood...
...anybody need anything while I'm up? Beer? Ceiling insulation? Anything?
Unfortunately, the Japanese words for "bikini" and "cockroach costume" are remarkably similar.
ROCK 'N' ROLL.
Another show involved a fish band. Not literally a band consisting of fish, although it IS literally a band consisting of fisherman. Who sing about fish. Seriously, they announce the next song by saying "next fish."
For an encore, they serve sashimi. No kidding. They butcher the fish right on stage and hand it out.
Speaking of which, I'd like to straighten some things out.
1- Sushi is not actually fish, although it's usually served with fish. "Su" is vinegar, and "sushi" just means rice with vinegar.
2- JUST raw fish is called sashimi. But even then, there are kinds of sashimi that aren't fish. But they ARE raw.
Like chicken sashimi.
I'm not kidding. That really is raw chicken topped with a raw egg. It's called, perversely, "mother and child."
Yes, I had some. No, I won't be ordering it again.
Roadkill is NOT served here. In fact, judging from this logo, it has its own clinic.
Whaddya think. Was that a squirrel, maybe?
Hello, Hello, Hello...HELLO.
That is, seriously, just somebody's window decoration. I passed it while wandering around.
I did a lot of wandering towards the end of last month. Testing out the new camera, of course. I'm turning into a bit of a geek with it.
And just because I can't let this go uncommented on...
Yep. Beer and a whippet.
OK, let's ease into the cherry blossoms here. This time of year, there loads of hanamis, which is Japanese for "let's get plowed under the cherry blossoms."
This year, I went with my friend Dan to Shimokitazawa, which is the hipster disctict of Tokyo. On the way there, we saw this thing.
Hmm. This was BEFORE we started drinking.
Dan not believing me when I told him I had found a Japanese band from the 60s covering Janis Joplin.
This picture was NOT taken before we started drinking.
The next day, I went to Shunjukugyoen (Shinjuku Park) to start in taking pictures of the sakura.
"Look lady, we're not here for our health. Make with the bubbles."
...on to the cherry blossoms...
Well, it's cherry blossom season...sort of.
Meaning that while the cherry blossoms are indeed out, the funky weather has cut down on the spectacularity of the displays, and the timing is a bit wonky as well.
But hey, I've got a new camera, so I still took a ludicrous amount of pictures.
So, in the interest of preventing people's computers from exploding due to loading one enormous page, this month' update will be a two parter: this page will be the usual snark, but the link at the bottom will lead to a second page just for the cherry blossom shots.
OK then...
Well, remember last year when Junko, Haruko, Hitomi and the other dancers won the Asahi Shimbun award for their piece Red Fugue? I'm pleased to report that they're up for it again this year, with a piece whose name unfortunately escapes me at the moment.
In fact, literally as I write this, I'm missing their performance. I mean that I'm sitting in a train typing this, coming home from a business trip, while this very second they are dancing for what will hopefully be their second consecutive win.
So, uh, I'm missing it. At least I got to see when they won the preliminaries.
Pardon the blur, I think the bartender had sampled his own wares a bit.
On a personal note, I can't help but notice that older Japanese men always look serious in photos. The guy sitting next to me was a super friendly chat machine at dinner. Huh.
EDIT: I just got a message from Hitomi and Junko...the piece is called "Kashu Souzu," (which translates as something to do with Summer,) and Haruko explained it to me as having to do with this famous work. Anyway, THEY WON AGAIN. Congrats!
OK, during the few days off I had remaining before I started my new job, I went to Yokohama. It's a separate city, of course, but it's very close to Tokyo, so it's almost got a kind of Seattle/Tacoma thing going. For some reason, I had never made the trek.
Among other things (like a great museum and an amusement park,) it has the Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan. Which wasn't open when I got there. So I didn't go up in it.
But I did take its picture.
There's also a Hard Rock Cafe at the bottom, complete with weird twisty metal thing.
Twisty Thing With Tower.
That park I mentioned, which is a two minute walk from the twisty thing.
A boat that is part of the same park. I think. Maybe.
The old docks were seemingly converted into the foundation for the Landmark Tower.
Back in Tokyo...someone's keeping an eye on you.
LA LA LA LA....
LA LA LA LA...
Well, with the upcoming rock site, I've been seeing a LOT of shows. I'm saving a lot of them for the site itself, but a few are going to sneak onto here.
Case in point: seeing Guitar Wolf always brings some intriguing shots.
...it ain't Rock 'n' Roll without a little blood...
...anybody need anything while I'm up? Beer? Ceiling insulation? Anything?
Unfortunately, the Japanese words for "bikini" and "cockroach costume" are remarkably similar.
ROCK 'N' ROLL.
Another show involved a fish band. Not literally a band consisting of fish, although it IS literally a band consisting of fisherman. Who sing about fish. Seriously, they announce the next song by saying "next fish."
For an encore, they serve sashimi. No kidding. They butcher the fish right on stage and hand it out.
Speaking of which, I'd like to straighten some things out.
1- Sushi is not actually fish, although it's usually served with fish. "Su" is vinegar, and "sushi" just means rice with vinegar.
2- JUST raw fish is called sashimi. But even then, there are kinds of sashimi that aren't fish. But they ARE raw.
Like chicken sashimi.
I'm not kidding. That really is raw chicken topped with a raw egg. It's called, perversely, "mother and child."
Yes, I had some. No, I won't be ordering it again.
Roadkill is NOT served here. In fact, judging from this logo, it has its own clinic.
Whaddya think. Was that a squirrel, maybe?
Hello, Hello, Hello...HELLO.
That is, seriously, just somebody's window decoration. I passed it while wandering around.
I did a lot of wandering towards the end of last month. Testing out the new camera, of course. I'm turning into a bit of a geek with it.
And just because I can't let this go uncommented on...
Yep. Beer and a whippet.
OK, let's ease into the cherry blossoms here. This time of year, there loads of hanamis, which is Japanese for "let's get plowed under the cherry blossoms."
This year, I went with my friend Dan to Shimokitazawa, which is the hipster disctict of Tokyo. On the way there, we saw this thing.
Hmm. This was BEFORE we started drinking.
Dan not believing me when I told him I had found a Japanese band from the 60s covering Janis Joplin.
This picture was NOT taken before we started drinking.
The next day, I went to Shunjukugyoen (Shinjuku Park) to start in taking pictures of the sakura.
"Look lady, we're not here for our health. Make with the bubbles."
...on to the cherry blossoms...