kawaii!!!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
cute as buttons
Like any model who has suffered through a uniform-catalog photoshoot, I'll admit I'm prone to cursing the very existence of any uniform. But there is something so darned cute about the uniforms japanese schoolkids wear, even though I would like to denounce them as weapons of conformity
kawaii!!!
kawaii!!!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
daibatsu
Daibatsu=giant buddha. Kyla+Sasha=pilgrimage to quiet suburban town of Kamakura:
where the daibatsu is located
Not quite as big as the giant buddha in Hong Kong, but no less interesting or beautiful.
where the daibatsu is located
Not quite as big as the giant buddha in Hong Kong, but no less interesting or beautiful.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
harajuku ^^
So today Sasha and I managed to navigate this subway system:
to get here:
meet Harajuku. Nothing compares. No video or photographs or measly little blog post could even come close to communicating everything there is to see in Harajuku. From the shops to the people to the tourists to performers to a wedding party (the lucky couple got carried through the crowded street like royalty, though in a much more chaotic fervour) to the traffic-crossing guards to the cafes and restaurants and meiji park/shrine, I was fascinated by everything I saw today. No disappointments, 100% hype-worthy.
to get here:
meet Harajuku. Nothing compares. No video or photographs or measly little blog post could even come close to communicating everything there is to see in Harajuku. From the shops to the people to the tourists to performers to a wedding party (the lucky couple got carried through the crowded street like royalty, though in a much more chaotic fervour) to the traffic-crossing guards to the cafes and restaurants and meiji park/shrine, I was fascinated by everything I saw today. No disappointments, 100% hype-worthy.
Friday, October 31, 2008
October 31st
met up with sasha (an amazing friend I met in HK) tonight and ate some metal:
well, actually we went galavanting and took about a billion pictures with people in crazy costumes who were out and about wandering the clubbing mecca of Roppongi
So far since leaving home on this asian adventure, I've celebrated my birthday in HK, thanksgiving in Singapore, and now Halloween in Tokyo. F***in' eh.
well, actually we went galavanting and took about a billion pictures with people in crazy costumes who were out and about wandering the clubbing mecca of Roppongi
So far since leaving home on this asian adventure, I've celebrated my birthday in HK, thanksgiving in Singapore, and now Halloween in Tokyo. F***in' eh.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
culture quest(ions)
With much nicer weather than when I first arrived, this has, more or less, been my view for at least 5 hours a day all week. The other 5 hours in the van are spent in complete darkness after nightfall until we are freed-no earlier than 10pm. 
Though at times I wish I could sue for infringement upon my auditory space, the offenders being techno music and excessively loud portuguese conversation, I'm also grateful to be shuttled between castings. Because; a) I get to spend my days above ground rather than on a subway, and b) being absolved of all navigational responsibility, I'm free to do other things, such as discuss Japanese culture with my Jack Johnson, Tupac, and Bob Marley-listening driver, 'Tats.' Tats is the bomb (used to run a restaurant in Nairobi: major coolness factor). Anyways, today we drove by a lineup of homeless people waiting for food in a random park (homeless people are a rare sight here-most of those found sleeping on benches simply got too wasted after work the night before and passed out) and delved into a comparison of the issues surrounding homelessness in Vancouver and Tokyo. This of course led to the topic of mental illness.
According to Tats, many young people in Japan are being affected by mental illness these days, particularly depression. More people (30,000 a year if Tats' stats are right) die from suicide than in car accidents. One of Tats' friends killed himself because his girlfriend broke up with him. The popularity of blow-up sex dolls and cafes where men can go and pay girls to play boardgames with them both seem indicative to me of a culture of loneliness, though of course further investigation over the next seven weeks may lead me to other conclusions. Tats was saying it's interesting how in Kenya where everyone is so poor, suicide is pretty much a non-issue, whereas in developed/rich countries the problem just seems to be getting worse. I wonder, are certain cultural values more conducive to mental stability? Or is it simply that people who have 'less' manage to gain a better understanding of what is truly valuable? Afterall, as Seneca wrote, "It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor." Is our 'more, more, more' culture driving us insane?
I clearly get a lot of time to think these days
dewa mata (see you later)
Though at times I wish I could sue for infringement upon my auditory space, the offenders being techno music and excessively loud portuguese conversation, I'm also grateful to be shuttled between castings. Because; a) I get to spend my days above ground rather than on a subway, and b) being absolved of all navigational responsibility, I'm free to do other things, such as discuss Japanese culture with my Jack Johnson, Tupac, and Bob Marley-listening driver, 'Tats.' Tats is the bomb (used to run a restaurant in Nairobi: major coolness factor). Anyways, today we drove by a lineup of homeless people waiting for food in a random park (homeless people are a rare sight here-most of those found sleeping on benches simply got too wasted after work the night before and passed out) and delved into a comparison of the issues surrounding homelessness in Vancouver and Tokyo. This of course led to the topic of mental illness. According to Tats, many young people in Japan are being affected by mental illness these days, particularly depression. More people (30,000 a year if Tats' stats are right) die from suicide than in car accidents. One of Tats' friends killed himself because his girlfriend broke up with him. The popularity of blow-up sex dolls and cafes where men can go and pay girls to play boardgames with them both seem indicative to me of a culture of loneliness, though of course further investigation over the next seven weeks may lead me to other conclusions. Tats was saying it's interesting how in Kenya where everyone is so poor, suicide is pretty much a non-issue, whereas in developed/rich countries the problem just seems to be getting worse. I wonder, are certain cultural values more conducive to mental stability? Or is it simply that people who have 'less' manage to gain a better understanding of what is truly valuable? Afterall, as Seneca wrote, "It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor." Is our 'more, more, more' culture driving us insane?
I clearly get a lot of time to think these days
dewa mata (see you later)
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
hello!
How could I resist the opportunity to post off a harajuku wifi signal? well clearly I couldn't
Sunday, October 26, 2008
sunday
What's this? a beautiful park through which to venture?
I can't say I was surprised to find such a sight awaiting me at the bottom of an obscure flight of stone steps leading off from the sidewalk; it's so Tokyo. And so wonderful. What I was surprised to find was this old friend:
Campbell's! And I thought I was destined to search the city in vain for comfort from my pesky cold!
BONUS PHOTOS:
5p.m.
A-tittyboo, you say??
I can't say I was surprised to find such a sight awaiting me at the bottom of an obscure flight of stone steps leading off from the sidewalk; it's so Tokyo. And so wonderful. What I was surprised to find was this old friend:
Campbell's! And I thought I was destined to search the city in vain for comfort from my pesky cold!BONUS PHOTOS:
5p.m.
A-tittyboo, you say??
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