September | 2013 | IKIMASHO!

The Curator

September 24, 2013 by joostay

At midnight Tokyo can feel like a dream. A silent suburbia awaiting the onset of sleep. Vending machines hum and glow, pulsating, while cats peer down from above. Mass tangles of electrical cables silhouette against the moon. By 1am most of the shutters in my neighbourhood have closed. Yet one store is always open. It sells toys. Old toys. Spin tops and paddle balls, wind-up cars and forgotten plastic treasures. Inside, the Curator sits content: a pupa encased in a […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: dream, japan, shimokitazawa, sleep, tokyo

Beautiful Bali: In the Shadow of Gunung Agung

September 23, 2013 by joostay

Beneath a sacred volcano lies a simpler way of life soaked in tradition The Balinese believe that Mount Agung is a replica of Mount Meru – the sacred Hindu mountain considered to be the central axis of the universe. Mythical tales tell of it being 672,000 miles high – with the sun and the all planets of the Solar System revolving around it as one single unit. It’s the be-all and end-all of everything. The centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes. In short, a […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: backpacking, bali, beautiful, coast, indonesia, nusa lembongan, nusa penida, se asia, seaweed farming, south east asia, sunset

Kecak: Balinese Fire Dancing

September 19, 2013 by joostay

What better way to spend the night than with a trance-inducing exorcism dance. It’s 8pm in Ubud and the wind is picking up. Sitting in silence in the grounds of a ruined temple I notice that the dark trees surrounding the perimeter are almost indistinguishable from the darker clouds above. It’s hot. Thunder cracks in the distance. A lone gust threatens to extinguish a long line of lanterns that climb the set of crumbling stone stairs. The weather dies down, and in […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: backpacking, bali, dancing, fire, indonesia, kecak, ritual, south east asia, travel, tribal, ubud

Neon Memories

September 14, 2013 by joostay

“I wonder if neon has memories,” she says as she jumps off the 35th floor of the Marunouchi Building. Falling through the night we close our eyes, the only sound the low drone of an eight-lane freeway about a mile away. “I never see any stars in Tokyo,” she questions. “Does that mean they don’t exist?” “Maybe,” I reply, absorbed by the reflection of the city in her eyes. Below us salarymen dot the warm pavement, a collection of uniformed […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo

Indonesian Independence Day

September 4, 2013 by joostay

PROCLAMATION WE THE PEOPLE OF INDONESIA HEREBY DECLARE THE INDEPENDENCE OF INDONESIA. MATTERS WHICH CONCERN THE TRANSFER OF POWER AND OTHER THINGS WILL BE EXECUTED BY CAREFUL MEANS AND IN THE SHORTEST POSSIBLE TIME. DJAKARTA, 17 AUGUST 1945 IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE OF INDONESIA SOEKARNO—HATTA

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: 1945, asia, backpacking, bali, denpasar, festival, independence day, independent, indonesia

The day I saw a body being burned in Denpasar

September 1, 2013 by joostay

A chance encounter with Ngaben – the traditional Balinese Cremation Ceremony. My curiosity is going to get the better of me some day, I swear. Cycling round the potholed streets of Denpasar I was prepared for the traffic, the pollution, the general insanity. Pure city life in SE Asia is often a free-for-all: people selling animals (dead or alive) on the street, kids playing in desolate alleyways, a general feeling of structured chaos. I’m used to it. What I didn’t […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: backpacking, bali, buddhist, ceremony, cremation, denpasar, hindu, indonesia, ngaben, reincarnation, south east asia, travel

IKIMASHO!

Daily life in Tokyo, Japan

Monthly Archives: September 2013