And what, son, are you looking at?
The old man and the sun
Yoshiro Nakamatsu (Dr. NakaMats) on the campaign trail in Tokyo
Japan’s upper house election on July 21st means more noise pollution, and more repetition of potential candidates names. Now and again maybe even the odd nod towards policy too.
Plus it also means Yoshiro Nakamatsu (Dr. NakaMats). Serial inventor. Some would say serial liar. And something that’s not disputable, serial political candidate — this time for the Happiness Realization Party. A wish that certainly won’t be realised, but if the faces of those watching him were anything to go by, it will at least bring about a bit of happiness.
The guilty look of a salaryman smoker
In a country where rules are expected to be adhered to rather than broken, people know all too well when they are in the wrong. And this young salaryman, having a cheeky side street cigarette, was definitely no different.
Abandoned and beautiful Tokyo cable cars
Situated in the western reaches of Tokyo, the Okutama Ropeway has been abandoned for nearly half a century.
Opened in 1962, the plan was presumably to tap into the massive population located a relatively short journey away, but the visitors never materialised. Or certainly not in the required numbers. The ropeway’s short, 600 metre, 6 minute hop from one seemingly random spot on a reservoir to another, clearly not enough to draw the crowds. And so, just 4 years later, it closed, leaving the two cable cars to sit where they were left on that very last day — silent and forever passenger-less.
Beautiful.
Strangely peaceful objects.
Objects that in their secluded, now very natural settings, make for lovely sights. And despite the massive financial losses the project must have suffered. Not to mention the disintegration of at least one persons dream. They are, unlike many haikyo/abandoned places, genuinely nice spots to visit.
Pole dancing in a Tokyo park
Particularly over the weekend, the likes of musicians, jugglers, entertainers etc. are common sights in Tokyo’s parks. Pole dancers, on the other hand, aren’t.
Or at least they weren’t.
