Photographs from a small group of islands
After a hard fought fight with photos from finalists flooding in from all corners of the capital, the winner of Tokyo’s inaugural ‘Dirtiest Air Conditioner in the District’ contest has at last been decided, with this beat-up box outside a bar in Shinjuku sensationally bagging the big prize.
(click image for full-sized festering finalist)
After a long day at the office, a nice lager or two is just lovely — great even.
That said, whether such sentiments are suitable for this soapy looking substance,
or, heaven forbid, its scallop-based sister,
are debatable to say the least.
The blue stuff it turns out is made using melted ice floes, with the pigment from seaweed producing its far from tantalising tint, while the other mixture is made using molluscs which is more than enough information.
Both of which can be bought online along with other novelty beverages, including the guaranteed to make one baulk, Bilk — a bizarre milk and beer combo.
All produced in a suitably putrid 12 pack.
Land in Tokyo is a much prized possession, and as such, people have to pay a pretty penny to purchase some. A situation that means even the most meagre amount of land is likely to be built upon, making monolith-like lodgings a must.
Which, while small, do get some amount of sun,
have a certain sense of style,
and conveniently boast just enough space for a suitably sized car.
(click images for bigger smaller building)
Due to being born and bred in the Japanese capital, on her first visit to my native northern England, Mrs Tokyo Times was captivated by the amount of cows that can be seen when simply out and about in the car. Yet after some admittedly far from fair Tokyo-based teasing, she defiantly proclaimed that she had seen a cow before, it just happened to have been in a zoo that’s all.
But cow-related quaintness aside, she quite plainly walks around with her eyes closed, as there’s no shortage of cows in the capital. They just happen to live at the side of the road,
in colour co-ordinated accommodation,
which quite plainly isn’t as much fun as a field.
With the ongoing poisoned gyoza scandal, and the recent football-related fracas, Japan’s abundant China bashers must think it’s their birthday.
And now, to top things off, there could even be a haze-like hat-trick, as yesterday Tokyo was hit with what may well have been an unwelcome return of the seriously unsightly Chinese yellow sand.
Unless of course it was just dust of domestic descent.