Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

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The terribly sad sight of a man bereft of his best friend

Tokyo’s parks offer a myriad of sights and sounds, many of them happy ones, but the man below — who I think used to own this dog, which unfortunately must have died — is instead a decidedly sad one.

A sad old Japanese man

A scene that always used to upset me, and yet at the same time it was one that for reasons unknown I would always seek out. One that for an awfully long time I made a point of not photographing too. Until a while ago that is. Although why it’s hard to say. But whatever the motive, I’m now glad I did, as despite countless visits, he hasn’t been there since. And as sad as he always looked, the park is somehow a lot sadder without him.

A sad old Japanese man

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Japanese sweets served by a Japanese sweetie

Considering the Japanese love affair with sweets, whether it be cakes or more traditional confectionery, the nation’s continued svelteness is even more incredible. In fact, it’s arguably fair to say that the amount of goodies that many Japanese seem to regularly put away would have many in my native Britain indecorously bursting out of their elasticated waistbands at the mere thought of such delicacies. A plight that would perhaps also leave them with barely enough breath to get through that overly long and largely comma-free last sentence.

Plus, if simply eating them in large numbers wasn’t enough, merely producing sweets would appear to be almost as pleasurable.

Japanese sweets

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Times are hard due to Tokyo’s lack of foreign tourists

The major repercussions of Tohoku’s massive earthquake and tsunami are extremely well documented, but while the visible devastation is restricted to the north, its far-reaching effects can still be felt over 200 kilometres south in Tokyo — and indeed throughout the rest of the country. Power consumption has to be kept in check, manufacturing output is still down, and now it has just been announced that tourism has plummeted to its lowest levels since the SARS outbreak in 2003. A whopping 62.5% decline from April last year.

This latest bit of bad news, like the other problems, undoubtedly affects the country as a whole, but at the same time, it’s very easy to see the damage it does to individual traders; people who rely almost solely on foreign visitors for sales.

Yes, it may well be tat that some of them sell, but it’s tat that the tourists like to take back, and without them, times are clearly very tough.

tourism decline in Tokyo

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A few iPhone photos #7

Very soon, if indeed it hasn’t done so already, the iPhone 4 will become the most popular camera on photo sharing site, Flickr. An achievement that is surprising in some ways, and yet not when one considers that it’s the only camera many people will always have on them. Perhaps just as importantly, it is also fun, versatile and capable of taking some fairly decent photographs.

And it’s those latter aspects in particular that personally attract me, meaning that I’ll often take photos with my phone even when I have my ‘proper’ camera with me. But different kinds of photos. Primarily places rather than people. Like this unusually retro-looking street for example.

Tokyo tram

Or a briefly resplendent river.

Tokyo cherry blossom

But mostly it’s buildings. From old ones.

Tokyo old house

To grim ones.

grim Tokyo building

And even those with gorillas on them.

Tokyo gorilla building

But at other times, when the iPhone is the only camera I have on me, it does a passable job of photographing people. Such as this baby left all alone at a barbecue.

Tokyo barbecue

A very relaxed old lady on a train.

old lady on a Tokyo train

And finally, Captain Jack Sparrow on his way home from what was presumably a busy day doing whatever it is pirates do.

Captain Jack Sparrow in Tokyo

These, and other pictures can be seen over at the aptly titled, Tokyo Times iPhone Photos. All of which are also posted on my Twitter account.

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Green tea harvest

Green tea plants aren’t an uncommon sight in some parts of Tokyo, and in nearby Saitama Prefecture, there is an absolute abundance of them. Disappointingly though, they don’t appear to have any scent. Or at least none that I’ve ever noticed.

However, passing a tea field during what was presumably the year’s first harvest (or ichiban cha), made for a completely different experience altogether. For starters, the machine in use was a fairly interesting looking contraption, but it was still nowhere near as surprising as the fragrance from the just-cut leaves. A smell that was really quite startling — one of incredible, mentally still reproducible, freshness.

Japanese green tea harvest