March | 2013 | IKIMASHO!

Robo Sluts vs Dinosaurs: Tokyo’s Robot Restaurant

March 31, 2013 by joostay

Every night, two storeys underground, giant mechazoid robots are fighting dinosaurs to the bitter death while bikini-clad girls hang from the ceiling. Welcome to Tokyo’s Robot Restaurant. “You do realise this is every little boy’s dream don’t you?!” my mate screams to me in between mouthfuls of beer. As I take a look around the room at the spectacle before me, I have to agree: two T-Rex dinosaurs have just crashed through a barrier and are currently fighting a couple […]

Categories: Bizarre/Unique • Tags: bizarre, culture, fetish, goth, japan, lolita, sex, surreal, tokyo, urban, weird

KAMEN RIDER

March 28, 2013 by joostay

“The pair became known as the Double Riders who managed to put an end to Shocker with what remained of the group forming into Gel-Shocker.” If you want to know what the hell I’m talking about, read on… Being a kid in Japan must be tough. You basically start full-time education while still covered in placenta, and there is no such thing as the tooth fairy. That means you can’t go and buy sweets with the money you have just […]

Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: anime, bizarre, graffiti, japan, kamen rider, kindergarten, manga, surreal, teaching, tokyo, weird

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Shimokitazawa: End of the Line

March 25, 2013 by joostay

On 23 March 2013, the level crossings at Shimokitazawa in Tokyo lifted for the very last time. It was a sad day for anyone who has ever lived in the area. The Odakyu train line has now gone deep underground, and with it has brought a huge, brand new station that is both sterile and soulless in equal measures. It is not what Shimokitazawa is about, but I guess this is what you call ‘progress’ in the modern age. I […]

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: alleyways, art, culture, graffiti, japan, keio, odakyu, otaku, shimokitazawa, street, tokyo, train, urban

This is why I live in Japan

March 19, 2013 by joostay

Today is Tuesday. It was also Graduation Day at my Tokyo kindergarten. All day I was surrounded by beautiful girls in kimonos. The sakuras were in bloom. I saw Mount Fuji from my train in the morning, ate expensive sushi for lunch and delivered a speech to my colleagues, and friends, in Japanese to say goodbye. Is it possible to be happy and sad at the same time? Of course it is. Today proved that. If there had been a […]

Categories: Kindergarten Life, Tokyo Days • Tags: culture, electronica, english, graduation, helios, japan, kindergarten, sakura, sushi, teaching, tokyo

Unforced Creativity #4

March 17, 2013 by joostay

Unforced Creativity #3 Unforced Creativity #2 Unforced Creativity #1

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Art: stuff I've drawn • Tags: art, bizarre, culture, drawing, graffiti, harajuku, japan, sticker, street, tokyo, urban, weird

Yoshino Baigo: Plum Village

March 14, 2013 by joostay

Takoyaki, trees and silence: a plum pilgrimage to the hills of western Tokyo. Nobuo Umeatsu is a genius. Composer of the Final Fantasy soundtracks, he somehow manages to create atmospheric pieces of music that lie dormant in your brain only to burst to life once again at the most random moments. The reason I mention him is because the other day I visited a place called Plum Village. Nestled somewhere between the Tama River and the Yoshino mountains in the […]

Categories: Tokyo Days, Travel: Inside Japan • Tags: culture, guidebook, hinatawada, inaka, japan, mountains, ome, plum, tokyo, ume, yoshino baigo

Bones: A Beginner’s Guide

March 12, 2013 by joostay

Learn more: Taking a shit in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide Tits: A Beginner’s Guide

Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: bizarre, bones, culture, health, japan, kindergarten, surreal, teaching, tokyo

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1 year in, 2 years on…

March 11, 2013 by joostay

Today marks two years since the devastating Tohoku quake and tsunami in Japan. This week also happens to mark my one-year-anniversary of moving back here to live. Unlike my mates here, I wasn’t in Japan when it happened, but I remember the events of 11 March 2011 very clearly. To put it mildly, things were pretty shitty for me on a personal level. Feeling sorry for myself, I remember switching on the news and seeing the horror unfold. Immediately my […]

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: earthquake, family, japan, quake, radiation, tokyo, tsunami, urban

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Hello spring

March 10, 2013 by joostay

Spring is pretty much here. On a cycle round Yoyogi Park yesterday I saw a 70-year-old man practicing hip-hop dance moves while wearing an oversized 2Pac tshirt; a Japanese guy in a kilt playing the bagpipes; countless dogs in uniform and the usual array of drummers, guitarists, skaters and hacky sack pros. It’s as if the sun has everyone reaching for their Doraemon outfits, running to the konbini to buy beer then hitting the park. Surreal moment of the weekend though has to go to […]

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: bizarre, culture, japan, park, tokyo, yoyogi

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THE ECONOMY IS A MESS, AND SO ARE THE STREETS

March 4, 2013 by joostay

Lipstick on men. Forced smiles. False promises. Japan isn’t so different from the rest of the world after all. It seems you can’t walk down the steet in Tokyo these days without being accosted by funny little men wearing ill-fitting suits and gormless smiles. And no, I’m not talking about the pissed salary men you were taking pictures of on the Yamanote line last Friday night: rather the politicians gracing the posters currently splattered all over the city. It’s 2013 […]

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Tokyo Days • Tags: alleyways, culture, elections, japan, political, street, tokyo, urban, weird

IKIMASHO!

Randomness from Tokyo & beyond…

Monthly Archives: March 2013

Robo Sluts vs Dinosaurs: Tokyo’s Robot Restaurant

KAMEN RIDER

Shimokitazawa: End of the Line

This is why I live in Japan

Unforced Creativity #4

Yoshino Baigo: Plum Village

Bones: A Beginner’s Guide

1 year in, 2 years on…

Hello spring

THE ECONOMY IS A MESS, AND SO ARE THE STREETS