Photographs from a small group of islands
Being a booth babe at the recently wrapped up Tokyo Game Show can’t really be all that rewarding, as, not only do the young women have to smile sycophantically at the seething sweaty masses, but they also have to cope with clamourous, camera-carrying crowds.
Along with middle-aged men who should know much better.
And, maybe worst of all, an unmerited meeting with me.
(click images for a larger, but still laughably lit, look)
There’s no denying the fondness for fashion in Japan, with appearance a priority. In fact, it could be argued that a large percentage of people are f*ing obsessed with it.
That said, it’s not necessarily always successful, as the merits of this gamer’s mask for example are somewhat moot to say the least.
(click image for magnified masked man)
Twinkling trees and sentimental songs are all well and good, but for Christmas in Japan to be done properly, Pokemon is nothing short of a prerequisite.
Particularly if it’s Pikachu.
Tokyo’s Shibuya district is hardly lacking in interesting sights and sounds, from the area’s famous crossing which is a firm favourite of the foreign media, to the (presumably) last gasp of the much maligned but unusually long lasting ganguro fashion phenomena.
Yet despite this, nothing draws a crowd it seems like a slightly deranged but definitely dextrous game centre drummer.
This poorly shot and painfully short video — a first for Tokyo Times, hence its lousy nature — sadly offers only a teaser of his tricks, although the latter part does briefly capture the taiko master’s ability to play the game while nonchalantly not looking at the screen.