Notes from a small group of Japanese islands

Tokyo is often touted as a titan when it comes to technology, but while some citizens may well manage their manga on a mobile, or even seek out solace with silicone sirens, others have to make do without even that far from modern workhorse, the washing machine.

A situation that unfortunately for some means a trek to what is arguably Tokyo’s least lovely,

laundrette.

Although it is open til late. Which is something.

I suppose.

ShareThis

If you are new here, and you think it's not exactly the worst website in the world, then you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed.

Many of Tokyo’s plentiful apartments are, it has to be said, decidedly on the dull side, with concrete and conformity most common. A rather sorry situation that means even the most modestly imaginative structure can be passed off as the pinnacle of perfection.

Even a structural summit of sorts.

ShareThis

Considering how packed the nation’s pachinko parlours are, and in particular at the weekend,

some of the popular pastime’s premises are rather aptly named. Especially, it would seem, for those trying to escape the pressures of work, or, in this predominantly male dominated world, the wife.

Yet, for a gambling game that seems purely random rather than relying on any real skill, this could be an almost matchless moniker.

ShareThis

Japan has such an abundance of basket bearing bicycles, that all too often they are indifferently discarded.

And sometimes, the sight of one scrapped cycle can lead to several others seeing their service come to a similarly sorry end.

That said, it’s not just basic bikes that suffer such a fate, but also rather comical looking combinations.

As well as their super-sized, but unceremoniously stripped, siblings.

ShareThis

Disney, and in particular its maddening little mouse, have a preposterously powerful grip on the Japanese psyche, with Tokyo Disneyland being the most visited theme park in the world. The mindboggling number of visitors almost allowing somebody to be singled out as a weirdo if they haven’t been welcomed into the magic kingdom at least once.

And then there’s the merchandise, which covers everything from t-shirts to, erm, tomatoes. Yes, after festooning every feasible object with cute little characters, Disney has now deemed it necessary to devour the dinner table.

There again, with Hello Kitty happily hawking sausages, then why not?

ShareThis

With Tokyo boasting a positive plethora of places offering all sorts of services, this hair salon, regardless of the spelling error, may well be sending out some seriously wrong signals.

ShareThis

Japan’s legendary legions of vending machines are nothing short of a modern marvel, as they diligently dispense their wares with barely a breakdown to bleat about. An almost fastidiously unflagging fortitude that somehow makes the odd disused dispenser so mysteriously miserable.

Or maybe it’s just me.

ShareThis