From Tokyo with Love: February 2021
by joostay
Daily life in Tokyo, Japan | IKIMASHO!
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: architecture, asia, design, food, japan, lifestyle, photography, tokyo, travel, urban
Tag: urban
A walk around: Minowabashi, Tokyo
by joostay
Daily life in Tokyo, Japan | IKIMASHO!
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: architecture, blogging, design, environment, japan, japanese, life, lifestyle, photography, photos, tokyo, travel, Travel blogger, travel writer, urban, writing
Monochrome Memories / 東京でのモノクロの思い出
by joostay
Daily life in Tokyo, Japan | IKIMASHO!
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, b&w, black and white, design, ikimasho, japan, japanese, monochrome, photography, retro, street, tokyo, Travel Photography, travel writer, urban
Yakuza show of strength at Sanja Matsuri
by joostay
Daily life in Tokyo, Japan | IKIMASHO!
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo, Traditional Festivals • Tags: asia, asian, design, japan, japanese, photography, tokyo, travel, Travel blogger, travel writer, underground, urban
The mundane & the beautiful / 平凡で美しい
by joostay
Daily life in Tokyo, Japan | IKIMASHO!
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: aesthetic, asia, daily life, design, ikimasho, japan, photography, street, tokyo, travel writer, travel writing, urban
A walk around: Hakuraku, Kanagawa
by joostay
Daily life in Tokyo, Japan | IKIMASHO!
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: aesthetic, asia, design, japan, japanese, photography, planning, street, tokyo, travel writer, urban, Urban Design
Chewed and Spat Out by District 4, Ho Chi Minh City
by joostay
Exploring Saigon’s Doan Van Bo Alleyways – once notorious for their criminal gangs and mafia personnel.
Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, design, photography, Saigon, se asia, street, travel, travel writer, travel writing, urban, vietnam, Vietnamese
A walk around: Monzen Nakacho, Tokyo
by joostay
IKIMASHO! | Daily life in Tokyo, Japan
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: architecture, asia, design, japan, japanese, old, photography, street, tokyo, travel, travel writer, urban
A walk around: Sugamo, Tokyo
by joostay
IKIMASHO! | Daily life in Tokyo, Japan
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: architecture, asia, design, japan, japanese, old tokyo, photography, Shitamachi, street, street photography, tokyo, travel, travel writer, urban, Urban Development
Welcoming Spring at Sankeien Garden, Yokohama / 横浜の三溪園で春を迎える
by joostay
IKIMASHO! | Daily life in Tokyo, Japan
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: beauty, city, design, japan, japanese, lifestyle, nature, photography, temple, tokyo, travel writer, urban, yokohama, Zen
A walk around: Shoin Jinja-mae, Tokyo
by joostay
IKIMASHO! | Daily life in Tokyo, Japan
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: architecture, asia, colour, design, japan, japanese, neighbourhood, photography, rural, tokyo, travel, travel writer, urban
A walk around: Tateishi, Tokyo
by joostay
The remains of Old Tokyo – but how long can they remain?
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: architecture, asia, beauty, blogging, design, environment, japan, life, mono no aware, photography, photos, space, tokyo, travel, travel writer, urban, wabi-sabi, work, Zen
A walk around: Akabane, Tokyo
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: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: alleyways, asia, design, food, japan, japanese, photography, street, tokyo, travel, travel writer, urban
THIS IS TOKYO
by joostay
IKIMASHO! on Facebook
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, design, food, japan, photography, street, tokyo, travel, travel writer, urban
Welcome to my crappy Vietnamese gym
by joostay
Working out how to do some working out in Saigon
Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, fitness, gym, ikimasho, japan, japanese, Local Gym in Ho Chi Minh City, photography, Saigon, se asia, tokyo, travel, travel writer, urban, vietnam
IKIMASHO! x ACCLAIM: THE BLADE RUNNER YATAIS OF FUKUOKA
by joostay
Postcards: Justin Egli photographs Fukuoka City
Categories: Travel: Inside Japan • Tags: asia, design, food, fukuoka, japan, japanese, kyushu, photography, photos, street, tokyo, travel, travel writer, urban
In Pictures: Tran Hung Dao Alleyways, Saigon, Vietnam
by joostay
Right now I’m back in Tokyo after a week in Saigon. I didn’t visit one tourist attraction while I was there, instead choosing to spend my time as I usually do, wandering the backstreets and eating local food. I quickly found out that the most interesting daily life happens deep in the concentrated network of alleyways that exist away from the main tourist centre. By zooming in on Google Maps, you can clearly see areas in Ho Chi Minh where […]
Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: architecture, city, daily life, design, food, Ho Chi MInh, photography, Saigon, se asia, travel, travel writer, urban, vietnam
Beauty Coffee House, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
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: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, Cafe culture, coffee, culture, design, food, ho chi minh city, photography, Saigon, se asia, street, travel writer, urban
GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM!
by joostay
6am – 8am: SAIGON / SÀI GÒN
Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: architecture, asia, design, food, ho chi minh city, photography, Saigon, se asia, travel, Travel Photography, urban, vietnam
REFLECTIONS ON NAKASU / Fukuoka City
by joostay
Nakasu (中洲) is the red-light district which exists between the neon-lit sandbank of the Naka River (那珂川) and the Hakata River (博多川) in Fukuoka City
Categories: Travel: Inside Japan • Tags: aesthetic, asia, design, fukuoka, japan, neon, photography, travel, urban
Setagaya Plum Blossom Festival 2017
by joostay
Each year between mid-February and early March the Setagaya Plum Blossom Festival (Setagaya Ume Matsuri) takes place at Hanegi Park in Umegaoka. It’s a small park, with small neighbourhood vibes to match: the festival mainly attracting local people who live in the surrounding area. I live two stops from Umegaoka, and so last weekend I decided to check out a good sushi place then met some mates to hang out at the matsuri. Cute local festivals like this are what living in the […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, blog, design, Flowers, food, ikimasho, japan, japanese, nature, photography, tokyo, travel, urban, Zen
A walk around: Tsukishima, Tokyo
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: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: area guide, asia, asian, blog, design, food, ikimasho, japan, japanese, nature, neighbourhood, old japan, old tokyo, photography, shrines, street, temples, tokyo, urban
A walk around: Kagurazaka, Tokyo
by joostay
KAGURAZAKA / 神楽坂 Despite being cold, the winter months in Tokyo are often the best time of year to enjoy clear blue skies and sunshine. And so, with the sun on my back, I recently headed down to Kagurazaka for the afternoon – a neighbourhood in Tokyo not too far from Iidabashi station. (There’s a great cafe down by the canal there by the way, check it out.) Kagurazaka is perhaps most famous for its picturesque cobblestone streets, cute French restaurants […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: architecture, buddhism, design, food, graphics, ikimasho, japanese, photography, street photography, streets, travel, urban, Zen
IKIMASHO! x DAZED: CHICANO IN JAPAN
by joostay
Lifting the lid on Japan’s underground Chicano culture
Categories: Art, Music & Culture • Tags: chicano, cholo, culture, jacob hodgkinson, mexico, photography, street, underground, urban, video
THIS IS TOKYO // PORTRAIT OF A CITY
by joostay
IKIMASHO! on Facebook
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: aesthetic, amazing, asia, blog, city, design, ikimasho, japan, japanese, megacity, photography, shinjuku, street, tokyo, travel, travelling, urban, visit japan
Winter Sun at Canal Cafe, Iidabashi
by joostay
Watching the world – and the trains – go by…
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, coffee, design, food, japan, nature, photography, sun, tokyo, trains, trainspotting, urban, Zen
Urban Zen: Peace Through Nothingness
by joostay
Realising you are getting old(er) and being perfectly happy about it. A few days ago I came across a piece I did for ACCLAIM magazine in 2015 featuring a bunch of old photos I took with disposable cameras back when I was living in the south of Japan in 2003. It got me thinking how I didn’t really fully appreciate being in Kyushu at the time, and exploring my immediate surroundings. At 22, all I cared about was partying, going to punk […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: advertising, asia, buddhism, CREATIVE, design, japan, Nothingness, photography, tokyo, travel, urban, Zen
THIS IS TOKYO
by joostay
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Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, blog, design, food, japan, japanese, kichijoji, photography, se asia, shimokitazawa, tokyo, travel, urban, west tokyo
IKIMASHO! x DAZED: Visiting an ancient Japanese cross-dressing festival near Yokohama.
by joostay
Ofudamaki was established in 1688 when mothers gave their clothes to male Shinto dancers in the hope of bringing them protection from cholera. My latest piece for DAZED is now online, talking about Ofudamaki, an obscure festival held once a year in a nondescript area 50 km from Tokyo. Check it out here.
Categories: Traditional Festivals • Tags: asia, blog, cross dressing, culture, design, female, festival, gender roles, japan, japanese, male, matsuri, ofudamaki, photography, religion, shinto, tokyo, travel, urban
Sunday Mornings & Mango Ice Cream
by joostay
Last Sunday morning I cycled to Enjoin (en-jo-in), a small Buddhist temple near my house. Despite it only being 10am, the temperature was already pushing 30 degrees and the air was still. The cicadas haven’t started yet, but I feel they aren’t far away. I bought mango ice cream from an elderly couple’s house across the street, and then wandered around the temple grounds, sitting alongside the turtles and koi carp. This post isn’t really about anything in particular, just the small and simple things in life that […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: blog, buddhism, design, japan, japanese, meditation, nature, photography, setagaya, temple, tokyo, urban, wildlife, Zen
ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE 2016, TOKYO, JAPAN.
by joostay
セントパトリックスデイ・パレード Sunday was the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Tokyo featuring the usual oddball mish-mash of Japanese-Irish flute bands; cute dogs in clothes; terrifying leprechauns; bizarre Brazilian dancers; and green tea promoted simply because it is green. Throw in some samurai, gymnasts and a guy dressed as a Guinness can, and you have one of the world’s more curious St. Patrick’s Day Parades. Slideshow and video below.
Categories: Art, Music & Culture • Tags: blog, culture, design, dublin, ikimasho, ireland, irish, japan, japanese, photography, saint patricks day parade 2016, st paddys, street, tokyo, urban, video
Un-street Street Photography: Tokyo’s Neglected Ordinary
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: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, city, design, ikimasho, japan, japanese, minimalism, photography, street, tokyo, urban
A walk around: Daitabashi, Tokyo.
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: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: blog, design, food, ikimasho, japan, photography, setagaya, shinjuku, story, street, tokyo, train, travel, urban, video
A walk around: Residential Hachimanyama, Tokyo
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: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, culture, design, food, ikimasho, japan, keio, narrative, photo essay, photography, street, tokyo, travel, urban
A walk around: Sasazuka, Tokyo
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: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, city, design, japan, keio, photography, sasazuka, street, tokyo, travel, urban
Winter sun in Shinjuku Gyoen
by joostay
Many would think that parks are best to go to during the summer. But summer in Japan often means high humidity, cloudy skies and rain. Winter is actually an amazing time to visit parks – especially Shinjuku Gyoen in Tokyo. The grass is essentially dead, but because it is so well maintained, it looks like a giant sheet of silk. Like IKIMASHO! on Facebook
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: japan, japanese, nature, park, photography, quiet, shinjuku, tokyo, urban, Zen
Laundry & Lunch: Suburban local life in Tokyo, Japan.
by joostay
The little old lady barely visible in the photo above owns a coin laundry just down the road from my house. She lives quietly on the left, while ageing washing machines and driers rattle noisily to the right. Every morning at 7.30 I pass her on my…
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, blog, japan, living in japan, setagaya, shimokitazawa, simple, tokyo, travel, urban
DISPOSABLE JAPAN #2
by joostay
Random images from Japan taken with a disposable camera 2003/04 [click to scroll] DISPOSABLE JAPAN #1
Categories: Art, Music & Culture • Tags: art, asia, blog, culture, design, ikimasho, japan, japanese, photography, se asia, south east asia, tokyo, travel, urban
IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Ascott Waterplace, Surabaya, Indonesia.
by joostay
A room with a view… Taking time to unwind after climbing Kawah Ijen volcano.
Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: ascott waterplace, asia, blog, boutique, five star, hotel, indonesia, japan, java, luxury, photography, review, surabaya, tokyo, travel, urban
Taman Festival: Abandoned Theme Park in Bali, Indonesia
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: 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
SRI LANKAN DEATH NOTES
by joostay
One thing that surprised me on my recent trip to Sri Lanka was the vast amount of Death Notices I saw while walking around small villages. These notes are a Sri Lankan tradition, originally introduced as a way for local people to learn about recent deaths in the area, much like obituary notices in today’s western newspapers. In some rural areas, telephone and digital communications have only recently been introduced, so these physical notices proved to be a useful asset. It was the first time I […]
Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, culture, death, funeral, ghosts, japan, photography, sri lanka, story, tokyo, travel, urban
CREATIVE COPENHAGEN
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: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: art, blog, blogging, colour, copenhagen, denmark, design, designers republic, drawing, energy, ikimasho, illustration, japan, museum, scandanavia, sculpture, street, sweden, tokyo, travel, urban
The sleepy little town of Phetchaburi, Thailand.
by joostay
Monks, monkeys and mentalists… why these underdog towns will always reign supreme. As many people would attest, so often when you travel it’s the seemingly crappy little towns that leave the biggest impression: the nondescript two-bit places with no visitors, quietly going about their business, content not to make a fuss. Back in April I spent some time in Phetchaburi in Thailand – an unassuming agricultural town of just 25,000 about 160km south of Bangkok. Any visitors that do come […]
Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, blogging, hot, ikimasho, monkeys, Phetchaburi, rural, se asia, south east asia, sunny, thailand, town, travel, urban, weather
The Sound of Marrakech, Morocco.
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, marrakech, marrkesh, mics, morocco, noise, recording, sound, street, urban
Medan: Entry point to North Sumatra
by joostay
Nice for a visit, kind of. Would I want to live here? Hell no. Quite often when I travel to new cities I judge them by whether or not I could live there. Kuala Lumpur has a great food scene with unrivalled access to the rest of SE Asia. Bangkok is crazy busy, but in a nice way. Even Denpasar in Bali, which is certainly more grubby than the other two cities, has a certain charm hiding behind its chaotic […]
Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, city, ikimasho, indonesia, japan, japanese, medan, se asia, sumatra, tokyo, travelling, urban
Textures in a Thai Market
by joostay
Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: art, asia, backpacking, bangkok, graffiti, grime, hua hin, photography, real life, se asia, thailand, travel, urban
In the Belly of Buddha
by joostay
Going Deeper Underground: Exploring the Tokyo temple with a dark secret What was I doing last Sunday morning I hear you ask? No, I wasn’t writhing about in my bed hungover. Guess again. Church? No, I wasn’t at church either – but I guess you could say I was having a religious experience of sorts, exploring the secret underground tunnel of a temple nestled deep in the Tokyo suburbs. This is a tunnel so secret that not even some of […]
Categories: Art, Music & Culture, Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: blog, Denentoshi, Gyokushin Mitsuin, ikimasho, japan, japanese, religion, religious, shrine, suburbia, suburbs, Tamagawa Daishi, temple, tokyo, unique, unusual, urban, utako-Tamagawa, weird
IKIMASHO! x ACROPLANE RECORDINGS
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
Portrait of a Matsuri
by joostay
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: 2014, asia, awa odori, dancing, festival, ikimasho, japan, matsuri, nakameguro, photography, streets, tokyo, travel, urban
texture / テクスチャー
by joostay
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: art, blog, ikimasho, japan, photography, space, tokyo, urban
Institute for Nature Study, Tokyo
by joostay
An oasis of calm in the heart of metropolitan Tokyo Established in 1949, The Institute for Nature Study (Shizen Kyōikuen) is a nature reserve set right in the heart of downtown Tokyo. Within a 20-hectare park, the Institute is home to 1,436 species of plant, 2,130 species of insect and 130 bird species. Its aim: to preserve the natural environment of Tokyo’s forests and marshlands. The grounds are used for research and education, although anyone may enjoy the park’s trails and natural beauty. […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, backpacking, bizarre, blog, caterpillars, culture, guidebook, ikimasho, insects, japan, japanese, meguro, nature, south east asia, tokyo, travel, turtles, urban
Cats & Dogs: A lucky walk around Gotokuji, Tokyo
by joostay
Visiting Tokyo? The smaller suburbs are where it’s at… Despite being only four minutes by train from my neighbourhood of Shimokitazawa, I had never been to Gotokuji before. I hadn’t even heard of it – as many stations going away from Shinjuku simply aren’t on my radar. I am, however, so glad I found it. I ventured out there with my camera and was rewarded with quaint shopfronts, as well as peace, quiet – and hundreds of cats wishing me luck. […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, blog, cats, charms, gotokuji, gotokuji temple, ikimasho, inaka, japan, lucky, odakyu, old, photography, quaint, suburbia, suburbs, tokyo, trains, urban, Zen
Kraftwerk 3D: Man Machine in Tokyo
by joostay
4 men. 1 album. 3 dimensions. After a sell-out (and computer crashing) run at the Tate Modern, Kraftwerk brings its catalogue retrospective to Tokyo: 8 consecutive gigs at the intimate Akasaka Blitz. It’s raining heavily in Tokyo. Outside a venue in one of the city’s central business districts, lines of people are waiting patiently, colourful umbrellas hoisted in the air. An almost fittingly minimalistic hand-drawn sign is taped to the door: KRAFTWERK. STARTS 5PM. Inside, you are immediately struck by the intimacy of […]
Categories: Art, Music & Culture • Tags: art, asia, bass, berlin, bizarre, clubbing, culture, electronica, germany, japan, kraftwerk, moog, music, ralf, south east asia, synths, tokyo, travel, urban
The Missing Wallet
by joostay
Be a nice guy and you’ll be rewarded with cash and ice cream… So the other day I found a wallet on the train with ¥50,000 in it. That’s £320 or $500. Along with the cash, there were about ten different bank cards, a million loyalty cards and the guy’s full medical history. There was also one of his own business cards – so being the nice guy that I am, I called him up to arrange to give the […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, chiyoda, gaijin, japan, nice guy, reward, sun, tokyo, urban
Shimokitazawa: End of the Line
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: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: alleyways, art, culture, graffiti, japan, keio, odakyu, otaku, shimokitazawa, street, tokyo, train, urban
IKIMASHO! 