Photographs from a small group of islands
When it comes to the popular pastime of public sleeping in Japan, Kirainet has got the art of securing some not so furtive forty winks consummately covered. Well, except that is the kind performed by the weary worker who, whilst worn out,
still deems it necessary to add a wee bit of danger to his doze.
For whatever reason, these days it definitely seems de rigueur for dogs in Japan, especially those of a diminutive nature, to not even consider leaving the house unless they are donned in duds of some description.
A fad that thankfully hasn’t been followed by their feline friends. Well, apart from the really cool cats that is.
However, while peaked caps and pullovers might be just about passable at a push, canine cakes,
sorbet,
and even scones,
arguably make a frilly little frock seem far from silly — sensible even.
Sort of.
Perhaps surprisingly, Tokyo, or at least its western suburbs, has a fair few farms, although the likes of cabbages and cucumbers are invariably crammed between buildings or have to coexist with cars. The kind of contrast that is also continued by the old folk that actually care for the crops; a hardy bunch who effortlessly combine mechanised tools with far more traditional tech.
Or at least as far as the latter is concerned, not so effortlessly, as the work looks not only burdensome, but utterly back-breaking.
Quite literally.
In a land where cute has its spiritual home, and is accordingly far from hard up for homage, it probably shouldn’t be all that surprising — especially considering a Thomas The Tank Engine sidecar has already been sighted — to see a scooter that’s not only frighteningly cute,
but also unfathomably furry.
With Japan’s population rapidly shrinking, and the country gradually turning into an enormous geriatric home where gate ball and grey are the new gods, it’s arguably nice, at least now and again, to see that relative rarity, a rug-rat.
