Tokyo may not have seen any, but a few hours drive north there was a light dusting of snow, making it a slightly white, but still very Japanese, Christmas.
A (slightly) white Japanese Christmas
A cross-dressing, Mrs. Santa, Merry Christmas
Numerous shops in Tokyo sell Mrs. Santa outfits. Cheeky little numbers that, if the images on the boxes are anything to go by, would add substantially more sauce to Christmas than merely some brandy.
But, like many things in life, the reality can be very different. So different, in fact, that it’s hard to imagine any amount of festive goodwill being enough to forgive this fella.
Merry Christmas!
A beautiful but final autumn flourish?
It has been a wonderfully lengthy autumn in Tokyo, but this could well be a final flourish before it gets considerably colder and brown becomes the all-encompassing colour.
A disturbing Japanese student statue
Stood by the side of the road, with her arm raised in the standard, I’m-crossing-so-please-be-careful gesture, this statue of an elementary school student is presumably just a reminder to motorists. But, with her sad eyes and damaged features, she acts as a deterrent in more ways than one.
A face that no doubt haunts the dreams of countless generations of children, not to mention parents and people who take her picture.
Death of Kim Jong-il special edition newspaper in Tokyo
They don’t appear very often, but with the announcement that a disruptive neighbour, unpredictable dictator and the world’s greatest ever golfer had died, it wasn’t surprising to see special edition newspapers being handed out at Tokyo stations.
