Photographs from a small group of islands
The stupefying boredom of wandering aimlessly round uninteresting shops is a sensation known to most men. A burden made all the worse by an occasional and always badly timed question about non-gadget goods; or even worse, garments — the answer to which is almost always fraught with danger. One wrong, or heaven forbid, uninterested answer, inevitably making the jaunt even more jarring.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, evidence would also seem to suggest that it never, ever, ends.
It’s impossible to say whether this song was for nobody, somebody or everybody.
But I for one certainly enjoyed listening to it.
And he definitely enjoyed performing it.
Well, assuming it actually is a Zen garden of course, but regardless of whether it is or isn’t, there’s no doubting its wonderfully minimalist serenity.
When the iPhone was first released in Japan, it really wasn’t that popular — apart from with fanboys and the foreign community that is. Then, a price drop coupled with an ‘iPhone for everybody‘ campaign changed everything, and ‘app’ was suddenly the new watchword. A noticeable shift that meant by the time the iPhone 4 came out, interest and orders were intense.
The iPad, on the other hand, seems to have been popular from the get-go, yet until the recent release of the iPad 2, they weren’t all that noticeable out in the wild as it were. Now, however, they seem to everywhere: in cafes, on the train and also on the street — blurring the line between function, and fashion.
Suddenly it’s incredibly hot with humidity up to the max, suggesting that summer, in all its sizzling and sweaty glory, is now in situ. And with setsuden (or saving electricity) the region’s new mantra, to say it’s going to be uncomfortable is akin to saying that Tokyo is a tad busy.
But it’s not bad news for everyone. Far from it in fact. Because for some, setsuden is an irrelevance, as summer means only one thing: sunbathing.
This post was featured in Hot fun in the summertime 2.