Photographs from a small group of islands
Despite what the foreign media may say, delays on Tokyo’s trains are not a rarity. Thankfully leaves on the track aren’t usually a problem, but inclement weather, technical issues and sadly suicides, sometimes are. On the whole though, yes, they are staggeringly punctual — pathologically so really.
A system that while admittedly great, at the same time allows for little leeway if one is late; invariably requiring a very imaginative excuse to appease those left wondering and waiting.
Traditional techniques are all well and good, but sometimes, a bit of modern machinery is much easier on the engineers, if not the eye.
In lots of ways Tokyo is more than just a collection of bureaucratically bordered cities, and is instead a group of really quite different areas all melded into one; an amalgam of various districts that have very diverse characters, and so attract equally distinct crowds.
Yet despite covering a large and varied chunk of the metropolis, east Tokyo arguably has an overriding and very perceptible feel all of its own. A grittier, sometimes grimmer vibe, that in many ways makes it feel — for want of a better description — more real. And this man’s face, for me at least, is the embodiment of it.
There’s no doubt that the likes of iPads and Kindles are the future — the ebook and tablet now set to do to the printed page what MP3s did to the CD. Or at least that’s surely the case in regards to on the road reading anyway. The multitude of books they can store, along with the added multi-media, make them the perfect all-in-one travel companion.
But despite the convenience, and the ease of making a new purchase, there’s still nothing quite like the smell, and the sometimes surprising selection, of a second hand bookshop.
Dogs being carried is a common sight in Tokyo. Balancing on the back of scooters, however, isn’t. And even more unusual is one that looks as nonchalant as this unquestionably cool little canine.
