Tokyo Times

Jan 07 2010 7 Comments

Dog tired

Despite being a bit daft, the feline-based fad of cat carrying it seems has now been commandeered by canine lovers, making the duty of taking the dog for a walk,

a very different deal indeed.

Jan 06 2010 11 Comments

Tranquil time out #63

The sight of musicians presumably not wanting to annoy their neighbours with noise by practicing outside are a fairly common sight in Tokyo, especially so when it comes to wind instruments.

Little old ladies cranking out chords on keyboards on the other hand are, somewhat sadly, considerably less common.

The soothing sounds of which can be sampled here:

And, after taking these few photos, I left her to it, blissfully unaware of other people,

or indeed even the park’s, presence.

Jan 05 2010 6 Comments

Masked Miffy

The possibilities of swine flu mutating are extremely well documented, but at the same time I don’t recall reading about it being a risk to rabbits.

Jan 04 2010 16 Comments

Apart from the homes of their parents, and possibly even pachinko, the place most Japanese people will set out to visit over the New Year is the shrine. An event that, apart from a quick pray, invariably involves coughing up for a new collection of lucky charms.

And, more often than not, an omikuji (random fortune), which, after the fun of finding out if it’s a good or bad one,

can be securely fixed to something suitable and swiftly forgotten.

Thus allowing for arguably the most favoured part of most Japanese festivities, the food, which invariably comes from a fascinatingly varied selection of vendors, serving up equally varied victuals.

All the way from the savoury,

to the sweet.

Plus, for a bit of continuity, below are a couple of the same characters from last year, although one of them seemed decidedly dejected about the new decade.