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bring on the sweat

Sunday, July 26, 2009
It's here......

....summer.

The humidity is just starting to kick in.....

....which means air conditioners starting up.....


A building weighed down with air conditioners.


....towels being plonked on heads....




....or simply slung over the whole body....


Little Red Riding Hood floored by the Japanese summer.


....and ginger drying on the bonnets of cars.....




While some people may be wanting a bit more of this.....




...it's best to just accept that you'll be getting a lot more of this....


Sun - not water.


....though you'll probably also see a bit of this...


I'm talking about the kimonos, not the train guy doing a John Travolta.


But when all's said and done, even the casual summer sandal will no doubt be outnumbered by the sweaty shoe of the sleeping salaryman.

tripping the light fantastic

Sunday, July 19, 2009
For the people of Amami Oshima, a small island off Kyushu, it's a phenomenal phenomenon that only comes around once in a blue moon.

That's right - a music festival is coming to town!

This week the island's population will swell to beyond what its infrastructure can comfortably handle as visitors pour in from all over the world for a one-off jive taking place on Wednesday.

Island residents (average age 87) will join the hoards of tranced-up techno ravers as they hip-hop, line dance and conga the night away, popping a variety of pills as they go - though they'll probably be more for bad backs and chest complaints than for reaching a plateau of euphoria.

By chance, on the same day, the moon will saunter over in front of the sun for a few minutes, making it all go a bit dark.

Special glasses should be worn when this happens, in order to bring a sense of fun to the occasion....


Specs which create a sense of fun.


The eclipse, like the festival, doesn't happen every day, and so everyone is hoping for clear skies.

An eclipse under cloudy skies is often somewhat disappointing, and can end up looking a lot like this....


According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, cloudy skies happen more often than eclipses.


....when actually everyone is hoping to see the pretty diamond ring effect....



If the light falls at the right angle and the clouds don't get in the way, the eclipse can look like a diamond ring.

the park mall

Sunday, July 12, 2009
When the rising sun gets up and running each morning and the neon lights are switched off, Osaka can lose quite a bit of its colour. About 98% of it, to be exact.

Sure, the city is famed for its various shades of grey, but if you lift up the enormous great paving slab and take a peek under it, you'll find all manner of little things scurrying about. And some parks, too.

The most interesting of these green areas is Namba Parks.

And it's not only a park. It's a shopping mall as well (of course). I mean, why have a park that's just a park when you can incorporate a shopping mall?

It's a park/mall with pink signs....




....as well as pink park keepers




You can eat among leaves....




And shop among shops....




You can even sit and while away the hours watching Namba Parks exist....




Namba Parks - it's mostly park....

slightly surprising

Wednesday, July 08, 2009


So happy.

Cola Shock has less to do with volts and more to do with an idea of pure genius.

I was getting kind of tired of vodka and coke all the time. So imagine my glee when I heard the news that today saw the introduction of a new twist on an old idea - Cola Shock - it's coke and vodka!

It tastes a lot better this way around.


Cola Shock - it's 5% booze

extreme masks

Sunday, July 05, 2009
Just as people like to cover their books so no one knows what they're reading, they also like to cover their faces so they can't be read (their face, that is).

Contrary to popular belief, the ubiquitous white mask is more about preserving anonymity than preventing hay fever or the spread of a contagious disease.

The problem with a mask is that it shows too much of the face. As a result, late last year, the extreme mask started to make an appearance on the train carriages of Osaka.

The extreme mask took the mask concept one step further, but a step, it has to be said, which was possibly a step too far, or even a step in the wrong direction.



The extreme mask - good for preserving anonymity but not so good for seeing where you're going.


With people walking into walls and off platforms, the extreme mask soon lost its appeal. Other methods for preserving anonymity were needed.

After months of trying out various ideas, commuters seem to have finally found an original solution - large musical instruments. They cover the whole body but still allow the user to see where they're going. Below is a woman protecting her anonymity with a cello....



An anonymous woman.




An anonymous woman sitting next to someone who is not quite as anonymous as her.


Various instruments have been experimented with. Drum kits have been seen on the Takarazuka line, though they're not so popular as they take time to set up and dismantle, and on the Kyoto line last week a baby grand piano was seen hiding the faces of a family of four on their way to a baseball game.