A walk around: Akabane, Tokyo

July 5, 2017 by joostay

AKABANE / 赤羽 Last Friday I found myself out drinking in Koenji, an area not too far from Shinjuku that – like my own ‘hood of Shimokitazawa – is famous for its thrift stores and retro vibes. I go there once a year for the Awa Odori, but apart from that I honestly don’t really venture out that direction – despite it only being a short train ride from where I live.  (Last year I think I visited three times in total.) […]

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: alleyways, asia, design, food, japan, japanese, justin egli, photography, street, tokyo, travel, travel writer, urban

THIS IS TOKYO

June 29, 2017 by joostay

IKIMASHO! on Facebook

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, design, food, japan, justin egli, photography, street, tokyo, travel, travel writer, urban

IKIMASHO! x ACCLAIM: THE BLADE RUNNER YATAIS OF FUKUOKA

May 21, 2017 by joostay

Postcards: Justin Egli photographs Fukuoka City

Categories: Art: stuff I've drawn, Travel: Inside Japan • Tags: asia, design, food, fukuoka, japan, japanese, justin egli, kyushu, photography, photos, street, tokyo, travel, travel writer, urban

Beauty Coffee House, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

May 2, 2017 by joostay

A cute cafe on the top floor of an abandoned apartment building in Saigon where they serve amazing drinks from skull pint glasses.

Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, Cafe culture, coffee, culture, design, food, ho chi minh city, justin egli, photography, Saigon, se asia, street, travel writer, urban

A walk around: Tsukishima, Tokyo

February 15, 2017 by joostay

TSUKISHIMA / 月島 Last Saturday I had a wander about Tsukishima – a man-made island in Tokyo Bay, just across the channel from Tsukiji fish market (which I still haven’t been to despite living here five years…) Tsukishima was created over 100 years ago using earth that was dredged from the bay during the construction of a shipping channel. It’s an area rarely featured in guidebooks, although among Japanese people it’s probably best known as  a mecca for monjayaki – a kind of runny pancake with different ingredients, […]

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: area guide, asia, asian, blog, design, food, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, nature, neighbourhood, old japan, old tokyo, photography, shrines, street, temples, tokyo, urban

IKIMASHO! x DAZED: CHICANO IN JAPAN

January 21, 2017 by joostay

Lifting the lid on Japan’s underground Chicano culture

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Tokyo Days • Tags: chicano, cholo, culture, jacob hodgkinson, mexico, photography, street, underground, urban, video

THIS IS TOKYO // PORTRAIT OF A CITY

January 12, 2017 by joostay

IKIMASHO! on Facebook

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: aesthetic, amazing, asia, blog, city, design, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, megacity, photography, shinjuku, street, tokyo, travel, travelling, urban, visit japan

Tokyo Halloween 2016: The Growth of Halloween in Japan

November 3, 2016 by joostay

The walking dead – and the cute living – take to the streets of Tokyo

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: anime, asia, cosplay, design, halloween, halloween 2016, japan, manga, photography, se asia, street, tokyo, travel, urban

PRO WRESTLING ON THE STREET: KAWASAKI, JAPAN.

October 23, 2016 by joostay

Another bizarre afternoon down in Kanagawa…

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, city, design, japan, japanese, justin egli, kanagawa, kawasaki, photography, se asia, street, tokyo, travel, urban, wrestlers, wrestling

SHIMOKITA AT NIGHT

June 24, 2016 by joostay

下北沢東京 A walk around my neighbourhood of Shimokitazawa at night. Follow IKIMASHO! on Facebook

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, asian, design, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, light, neon, night, photography, shimokitazawa, street, tokyo, travel, urban

Oiran Dochu Procession, Yoshiwara, Tokyo.

April 14, 2016 by joostay

Walking the streets: remembering the red light district of the old Edo era.

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, beautiful, beauty, blog, dancing, design, festival, geisha, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, matsuri, photography, street, tokyo, travel, village

ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE 2016, TOKYO, JAPAN.

March 22, 2016 by joostay

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: blog, culture, design, dublin, ikimasho, ireland, irish, japan, japanese, justin egli, photography, saint patricks day parade 2016, st paddys, street, tokyo, urban, video

Un-street Street Photography: Tokyo’s Neglected Ordinary

February 23, 2016 by joostay

Like many teenagers, my first introduction to Tokyo was through Katsuhiro Otomo’s AKIRA. I watched and rewatched Tetsuo and Kaneda’s motorbike chase scene through Neo Tokyo’s narrow alleyways and towering skyscrapers. When I finally visited Tokyo for real in 2003, this is the city I wanted to see: dark, mad, futuristic, alive. A place that seemed a million miles from my small hometown in Northern Ireland. Thirteen years on, however, and the Tokyo that interests me now is very different from the neon fairy […]

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, city, design, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, minimalism, photography, street, tokyo, urban

A walk around: Daitabashi, Tokyo.

February 10, 2016 by joostay

DAITABASHI / 代田橋 Stumbling across a cute Okinawan Town in Central Tokyo Did you know there’s a small Okinawan Town in Tokyo? Well, I say town, but it’s more like a collection of cute shops and alleyways in a residential neighbourhood. I found it by accident the other day while wandering aimlessly around Daitabashi, a station just a fifteen-minute walk from my house in Shimokitazawa. Despite living so close, I hadn’t been to Daitabashi in a long time so I decided to […]

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: blog, design, food, ikimasho, japan, justin egli, photography, setagaya, shinjuku, story, street, tokyo, train, travel, urban, video

A walk around: Residential Hachimanyama, Tokyo

January 30, 2016 by joostay

HACHIMANYAMA / 八幡山 I’ve been back living in Tokyo one month now. I arrived on a Monday night and was back to work on the Wednesday. Feels like I’ve never been away. Prior to me taking a break to travel for ten months I was working all the way out at Kashiwa in Chiba. It was a great school and I loved it, but the two-hour commute each way became too much, and that was what ultimately led me to needing a break. This time around I’m back working […]

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, culture, design, food, ikimasho, japan, justin egli, keio, narrative, photo essay, photography, street, tokyo, travel, urban

A walk around: Sasazuka, Tokyo

January 19, 2016 by joostay

SASAZUKA / 笹塚 I don’t know where I got the figure from – and please don’t quote me on it – but  think I read one time that including metro and overland trains there are 924 stations in Tokyo. Whatever the true figure is, it surely can’t be too far off. Even after living in Tokyo for over three years there are still whole train lines that are completely unknown to me. Each station is essentially the heart of a little village or […]

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, city, design, japan, justin egli, keio, photography, sasazuka, street, tokyo, travel, urban

In Pictures: Colombo, Sri Lanka.

November 19, 2015 by joostay

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, city, colombo, ikimasho, japan, justin egli, photography, se asia, sri lanka, street, tokyo, urban

Taman Festival: Abandoned Theme Park in Bali, Indonesia

September 21, 2015 by joostay

Exploring the Indonesian theme park with no visitors – not living ones anyway… Right now I’m back on mainland Bali after spending a week on the small island of Lembongan off the east coast. During my time on the island I spoke a few times to a local guy called Niko about ghosts and Indonesian folklore: I specifically wanted to learn about the Pontianak – vampiric ghosts which are said to be the spirits of women who died while pregnant. (The city of […]

Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: abandoned, bali, bizarre, CREATIVE, ghost hunting, ghosts, haikyo, indonesia, old, photography, sanur, spirits, street, taman festival park, travel, unusual, urban, urban exploration, video

CREATIVE COPENHAGEN

July 7, 2015 by joostay

I spent some time in Copenhagen last week. It’s a lovely city, and the Danes have a very high standard of living. Everyone looks happy and healthy. It’s also not as expensive as people make it out to be, so you shouldn’t let worries about costs put you off going. (£3 a pint where I was staying and supermarket prices on par with UK. Restaurants slightly higher but not extortionate.) I primarily came to Copenhagen to just sit about, go […]

Categories: Art: stuff I've drawn, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: art, blog, blogging, colour, copenhagen, denmark, design, designers republic, drawing, energy, ikimasho, illustration, japan, justin egli, museum, scandanavia, sculpture, street, sweden, tokyo, travel, urban

The Sound of Marrakech, Morocco.

June 2, 2015 by joostay

I’ve always been interested in field recording – that is, the recording of everyday sounds in their natural surroundings. My best friend dabbles in it, and there is a fantastic Japanese sound blog called World Listener which I have just started following. I don’t own a high quality mic myself, but while shooting some simple video the other day in Marrakech I realised just how much sound was all around me. Marrakech is an intense place: especially in terms of sound and smell. There’s no […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: africa, ambient, blog, electroacoustic, field recording, ikimasho, japan, justin egli, marrakech, marrkesh, mics, morocco, noise, recording, sound, street, urban

Testing a GoPro in Tokyo

February 28, 2015 by joostay

Testing a GoPro Camera in Tokyo: Shimokitazawa to Shibuya by BMX. On Friday night I strapped a GoPro Camera to my head and cycled from Shimokitazawa to Shibuya in Tokyo. It took about 15 minutes, slightly longer than if I had cycled down the busier main road (Inokashira-dori) near my house. I wanted to cycle through my neighbourhood at night, and then be able to come down into Shibuya from the top of Dogenzaka and finish at the scramble crossing. […]

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, blog, bmx, camera, COOL, culture, gopro, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, shibuya, street, tokyo, video

IKIMASHO! x ACROPLANE RECORDINGS

December 1, 2014 by joostay

From Northern Ireland to Nippon with one of the world’s leading netlabels From its humble beginnings in a room in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Acroplane Recordings – headed up by Paul Moore – has matured to become of the world’s leading netlabels. Boxcutter (Planet Mu) and Space Dimension Controller (R&S) put out their first releases on Acroplane, and over the years Paul has played alongside artists as diverse as Autechre, Scorn, Luke Vibert, Remarc and Surgeon to name but a few. Acroplane […]

Categories: Art Music & Culture • Tags: acid, acroplane recordings, ambient, art, beats, blog, culture, design, electronic music, electronica, Himuro Yoshiteru, idm, japan, japanese, music, netlabel, street, techno, tokyo, urban

EZYPT! EZYPT! EZYPT!

November 23, 2014 by joostay

Making friends with EZYPT – and all through the power of bananas. He was dancing. A lot. AND DID A BANANA DANCE I am now converted. EZYPT.NET

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: art, blog, dance, electronica, ezypt, ikimasho, japan, japanese, pop, street, techno, tokyo, urban, weird, yokohama

Sunday / 日曜日

September 30, 2014 by joostay

Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: blog, ikimasho, inaka, japan, japanese, photography, quiet, street, tokyo, urban, Zen

TOKYO STICKER BOMBING v4.0

July 21, 2013 by joostay

TOKYO STICKER BOMBING ARCHIVE

Categories: Art Music & Culture • Tags: art, asia, bombing, culture, graffiti, harajuku, illustration, japan, sticker, street, tags, tokyo, travel

Kanda Matsuri 2013

May 12, 2013 by joostay

Dogs wearing clothes & revellers carrying portable shrines… One of the three great Shinto festivals of Tokyo returns after a four-year absence. Traditionally held on odd-numbered years, the 2011 Kanda Matsuri was cancelled due to the Tohoku quake and tsunami – meaning this year’s event was the first since 2009. Quintessentially Japanese, Matsuris like this are what makes living in this country so special.

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, beer, culture, festival, guidebook, japan, kanda, matsuri, mikoshi, shrines, south east asia, street, sun, takoyaki, tokyo, travel

Unforced Creativity #5

May 2, 2013 by joostay

UNFORCED CREATIVITY #4 UNFORCED CREATIVITY #3 UNFORCED CREATIVITY #2 UNFORCED CREATIVITY #1

Categories: Art: stuff I've drawn • Tags: art, asia, bizarre, culture, drawing, fashion, fetish, graffiti, harajuku, japan, punk rock, shimokitazawa, south east asia, sticker, street, surreal, tokyo, travel, weird

Re:animation: Japanese nerds have more fun

April 15, 2013 by joostay

What do you get when you cross ‘Otaku’ (basically meaning geek) and Rave (basically meaning rave)? Answer: Geek Rave. And it’s a hell of a lot of fun. Otaku (おたく/オタク) is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests. I guess it basically means nerd: the equivalent of being branded a ‘Trekkie’ or fanboy in the West. Do otakus know that they are geeks? Probably. Do they give a shit? Hell no. They are there to have […]

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: anime, asia, bizarre, cosplay, culture, dance, fashion, geek, goth, graffiti, harajuku, japan, lolita, manga, nakano, nerd, ottaku, punk, rave, south east asia, street, surreal, tokyo, weird

Never a dull moment…

April 9, 2013 by joostay

April is a time of change in Japan. It’s the month that marks the start of the new school year, with many people changing jobs and others leaving the country for good. It’s been a very busy period for me: new schools, new responsibilities and new friends. But in between teaching, writing and drawing I’ve also managed to pack in so much stuff over the last few weeks in Tokyo.

Categories: Kindergarten Life, Tokyo Days • Tags: art, asia, backpacking, bar, Chim↑Pom, culture, exhibition, fashion, food, gaijin, harajuku, hello kitty, inaka, japan, kindergarten, louis vuitton, omotesando, saitama, shimokitazawa, south east asia, street, surreal, Taro Okamoto, teaching, tokyo, travel, urban, weird

The secret’s out: ¥30 beers in Tokyo

April 7, 2013 by joostay

¥30 beers in Tokyo? Yup, they exist. 114 beers later and we’re alive to tell the tale… Whether you’re new to Japan, or are simply blind drunk in the convenience store at 3am and can’t see what you’re buying, you’ve probably had happoshu (発泡酒). Basically classed as a “low-malt beer-like beverage”, the quality of happoshu can vary from ‘just about drinkable’ to ‘piss in a can’. Japanese tax laws state that beers that contain over 67% malt are taxed in […]

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, bar, beer, booze, culture, drunk, food, gaijin, hangover, happoshu, japan, restaurant, south east asia, street, tokyo, travel, urban

NOFX in Tokyo: So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes…

April 1, 2013 by joostay

Im 31. Wow. That sounds weird when I write it down. I first got into NOFX when i heard White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean way back in 1997. Since then I’ve seen them X number of times in five different countries, always jumping about, always having a laugh. Tonight i saw them again in Tokyo, and well, something had changed. It was average. The same old songs. The same old jokes. This is a band that doesn’t have […]

Categories: Art Music & Culture • Tags: art, culture, harajuku, japan, nofx, pop punk, punk, punk rock, queers, screeching weasel, street, tokyo, urban

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

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

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

TOKYO STICKER BOMBING v3.0

February 25, 2013 by joostay

TOKYO STICKER BOMBING v1.0 TOKYO STICKER BOMBING v2.0

Categories: Art Music & Culture • Tags: art, bombing, gra, graffiti, japan, sticker, street, tattoo, tokyo, urban

Unforced Creativity #3

February 7, 2013 by joostay

???You have Artline. I am Artline!??? How a random encounter with a hyperactive salaryman made me fall in love with Japan all over again. Last Sunday was sunny so I decided to take my sketchbook to Sensoji Temple in Asakusa to draw. At one point a sma…

Categories: Art Music & Culture, Art: stuff I've drawn • Tags: art, drawing, japan, street, surreal, tokyo, urban, weird

TOKYO STICKER BOMBING v2.0

September 16, 2012 by joostay

Check out the original TOKYO STICKER BOMBING post here

Categories: Art Music & Culture • Tags: alleyways, art, bombing, graffiti, harajuku, japan, punk, sticker, street, tattoo, tokyo, urban

TOKYO STICKER BOMBING

April 23, 2012 by joostay

Categories: Art Music & Culture • Tags: art, bombing, graffiti, harajuku, japan, sticker, street, tattoo, tokyo, urban