Photographs from a small group of islands
Along with the obligatory shopping, Tokyo’s upmarket Ginza district invariably offers a wealth of sights, all the way from families having a fun day out, to dogs whizzing about in remote controlled cars.
A mouse on the loose, however, is a rarity, although unlike its larger cousins it didn’t garner disgust — rather a good few fans.
Plus the now standard phone photos.
And for this little girl, complete and utter fascination.
Japan’s ongoing spat with China is undoubtedly a rallying call for the nation’s rightists, but for the vast majority of people, the country’s nuclear issues are a more pressing concern than some far flung rocks. Issues that many are still protesting about, and countless others continue to watch very closely.
Apart from in bars, smiles aren’t an especially common sight in Tokyo. In fact, receiving a big smile is an equally big event. One that can make a mundane day rather memorable.
Stares, on the other hand, are more frequent. Both the furtive, and the far more flagrant variety.
But that said, it’s still a little unusual to see a three-way stare of sorts. Although while the salary man may well be staring at the other man for doing likewise to the lady, who or what she is staring at is unknown.
It’s often hard to know where Tokyo ends and another prefecture begins, as the concrete scenery of nondescript buildings seems to go on forever. The odd river or park the only gaps in the monotony of grey.
Yet after crossing one particular stretch of the Edo River in east Tokyo — rather aptly by the capital’s only man-powered ferry boat — it feels like entering a very different world.
In fact not just a different world, but also a different time.
In a time when religion’s influence on politics seems to be ever more insidious, and extremism is undeniably on the rise, the Japanese indifference to such matters is refreshing to say the least. And yet despite such a distinctly pragmatic approach, superstition still abounds. A factor that for many people arguably plays a much bigger role in temple and shrine visits than any particular belief.
Then of course there is the fairly common sight of fortune tellers and palm readers plying their trade on the nation’s streets. Now how much people believe what they are told is impossible to say, but at 1,000 yen a go, it’s probably more than a simple bit of fun. But how much more is anybody’s guess, although it’s clearly enough to keep a sizeable number of people in work.
Speculation aside, however, this man was at least being told something interesting for his money. Good or bad it’s tough to say. True or not, much less so.
