On a welcome afternoon off work, what could be better than a bit of booze, a brief nap and some ambient Eno* oozing through one’s earphones?
*Eno element unconfirmed.
Tranquil time out #70
Tokyo Times trouble
For an awfully long time now, Tokyo Times has suffered several comment-related issues that have meant ridiculously long refresh rates and sometimes even internal server errors, but the trouble is, whilst having little trouble with ludicrous alliteration, when it comes to website woes, my knowledge is not much more than negligible.
And yet that said, after a lot of terribly time consuming trial and error, along with a large amount of luck, those troubles have now been tackled, meaning comments now work wonderfully.
So well in fact that, when asked for a reference, this shy and retiring gentleman was pleasant enough to proclaim, “The comments really do work rather well. Way better than one has been used to.â€
Although any claims of favouritism were quickly countered when he cruelly quipped, “Now if only you had any content worth commenting on old boy.â€
Huge haikyo hotel #1: The first floor
Situated in the popular tourist area of Izu, and surrounded by expensive holiday homes, this bleak and now abandoned building is an eyesore that must regularly irritate those on a rest break, let alone local residents.
A hotel that must once have hummed with the sound of holidaymakers on short trips away from Tokyo, but now it’s pretty much silent apart from the steady drips from damaged drain pipes and the wind from broken windows.
Meaning that there’s definitely no point in calling reception.
Regardless of whether it be for a kiddie chair.
Some condiments.
A cartridge for a bit of karaoke.
Or even a complaint about the cleanliness.
Although in the office, where the staff experienced both the highs of the hotel’s opening day, and the lows of its last one, there are still plenty of signs of past activity — some of which, despite the hotel closing in the early 1990s, still feels as though it was fairly recent.
Such as still full filing cabinets.
Unused business cards.
And bills to prove that, back in the day at least, they did manage to do some business.
But that was then and this is now, and regardless of whether it was hurt by changing times, or hampered by bad management, the enterprise was a gamble that well and truly didn’t pay off.
In part 2, which can be seen here, I’ll take a look at the distinctly 70s style rooms, and their decidedly dismal deterioration.
Walkie-talkie well-being
There’s no denying that smart phones and their electronic wallet equipped cousins are all well and good, but for some, none of them can beat the warm fuzzy feeling,
of a well used walkie-talkie.
Tokyo tilt-shift #2
Lacking the necessary funds, and to be fair, the need, Tokyo Times tilt-shift images have to be photographed, faked and fiddled about with on the iPhone. But considering the cheapness of the app, along with the crappiness of the camera, the results can be surprisingly convincing, and as such, they seem the perfect way to wind up the cherry blossom-based pics that have predominated of late.
So, without further ado, here’s a sakura-lined street.
A couple of resplendently adorned rivers.
And a rather closer capture of some revellers.
Some of these images were originally posted, via my Twitter account, to TokyoTimes’s Posterous, where, should you feel the urge for a forage, all my iPhone photos can be found.