I saw these photos a few days ago and I knew as soon as they were published online I just had to link across to them. The photographer in question is Chris Willson from the website travel67.com, who’s cracking behind the camera and takes shots I could only dream of snapping. On his latest trip [...]
I saw these photos a few days ago and I knew as soon as they were published online I just had to link across to them. The photographer in question is Chris Willson from the website travel67.com, who’s cracking behind the camera and takes shots I could only dream of snapping.
On his latest trip he headed to the neon-covered area of Tokyo called Shinjuku. This, along with Shibuya, is probably the image of Tokyo people get when they think of Japan. Wall-to-wall neon lighting outside and something happening every second of every day. While he was there he met up with model Charissa Littlejohn, and did a pretty awesome set of photos. Four shots have been published on his site, and my favourite has to be the one you can see below. Don’t know what it is about it but the building in the background, the lighting, the subject… everything just works so well.
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Which of the 4 you can see on his page is your favourite shot?
Read this story at work and couldn’t stop laughing for a few minutes. The story revolves around Ichiro Ozawa (see right), former LDP politician who then defected to the DPJ where he was president for a year (the usual duration a leading Japanese politician stays in office) before resigning from his post due to a scandal. He still holds a lot of power though in the ruling party in Japan.
If you’ve read articles I’ve written on this page over the past couple of years, you’ll know how Japanese politicians have a wonderful way with words. Whether it’s a health minister describing women as “birth-giving machines”, a prime minister declaring that nukes were secretly kept in Japan being merely “regrettable”, or a current Tokyo mayor Shintaro Ishihara defiantly claiming that, “People say that the Japanese made a holocaust but that is not true. It is a story made up by the Chinese. It has tarnished the image of Japan, but it is a lie”, they are always good for a soundbite or two. And so it was that Ozawa called a press conference on August 25th. In it he stated that “I like Americans, but they are somewhat unicellular”. Am still trying to work out if that’s a compliment or not! He then followed up by saying that “I don’t think Americans are smart”. Just the bluntness of that makes me laugh, and that doesn’t seem to be something lost in translation. Hearing it in Japanese is as clearcut as that pretty much.
Ozawa then realised he was on a roll though, and decided to have a go at the British. “I don’t like British people” he claimed, although didn’t seem to give any reason for it. However, he did compliment British soldiers on their marching in “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. Yup, I’m as confused as you on that one!
Am pretty sure Foreign Minister could be his next role, as he certainly seems adept in international diplomacy! Although he might get a chance to be Prime Minister again soon as current Prime Minister Naoto Kan is facing a challenge from Ozawa two months into the job! This could be a spectacular record for a Prime Ministers’s tenure in Japan. Usually they give them 12 months before the party throws them under the bus but this could be shorter than usual. Stay tuned for more.
Sad news to report in this update, from the hot and humid shores of Okinawa. On Thursday a 58-year old Okinawan dive instructor was killed in the north of the island after being stung by a stonefish. This marks the first death in Okinawa from a stonefish in over 27 years and any death in the diving community affects people and their thinking. The cause of death sounds like it was just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The man was giving students a lesson in shallow water on the morning of Thursday August 7th. He was standing barefoot in the water when he felt a sudden pain in his foot. Unconsciousness quickly followed and 90 minutes later he had passed away.
Whether he has other medical issues is a case for the coroner to determine. Stonefish stings are always serious, but not so often life-threatening. Now sometimes I’d be critical of people for touching the marine life, but in this case I’ve nothing but sympathy for the guy’s family as it’s most likely a freak accident. Even if you’re looking carefully where you’re putting your hands and feet while in the water, stonefish are hard to spot. My regular dive buddy is damn good at seeing these things, and I’m sure I just swim by plenty of them without noticing them. Just take a look in the photo below.
So once again, a sad day for all involved in the diving community here in Okinawa. It’s times like these you realise that the environment under the waves isn’t all Nemo and mermaids.
Saw this link about half an hour ago posted up in a forum I frequent, and as soon as I watched the presentation I knew I had to post it up on my site so more people would have the chance to see it. The photographer is called Brad Kremer and the video/picture presentation is called “Hayaku: A Time Lapse Journey Through Japan”. If you have any interest in Japan or photography of any sort then please do take the time to watch this in full-screen mode. I have embedded the video below but you really should follow this link where you can watch the full presentation in high definition.
http://www.vimeo.com/12112529Be sure to let me and the photographer in question know what you think.
I hate being right all the time! OK, so those who know me well know that you should read “all the time” as “once every blue moon”, but in this case my scepticism was pretty well founded. Some of you might recall that in my previous post about the anti-US “Sexual Terrorists” protest at the end of April, I stated that it really didn’t look like there were 100,000 which was the figure thrown about by the media. No coincidence that this was also the figure that was said before the protest at how many they thought would attend. Not wanting to admit far fewer shown up, it was always going to be a number of news outlets, including the BBC, who ran the story with the headline “Mass rally in Japan against US base on Okinawa“. When the BBC initially put this story on their website, they asked if people were in the area and if they would send their comments. Having seen footage from the air on TV of the people at the protest, I sent them a comment saying that it was clear the number of people attending was far lower than the figure being put out on the official press releases. I questioned whether they had a reporter in Okinawa who was covering this story, or whether they were just relaying information they’d read, second or third-hand. No surprises but my comment wasn’t chosen to get published on the site!
Anyway, it seems like I may not have been far off the truth. Last weekend an interesting story was published by the Daily Yomiuri newspaper, a Japanese national newspaper based in mainland Japan. I’ll let the article do most of the talking:
Doubt cast on number at antibase protest rally
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Doubts have been raised about the number of participants at a recent antibase protest in Okinawa Prefecture, with suspicions the figure of 90,000 announced by the organizer might have been considerably inflated.
The April 25 rally was held to protest a reported plan by the national government to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station within the prefecture.
The rally venue in Yomitanson can accommodate up to 50,000 people. The organizing committee estimated 90,000 participants because it also counted people who gathered outside the venue or could not arrive because of traffic jams.
However, immediately after the protest, some government officials suggested the actual number of participants might have been much smaller than 90,000.
A Tokyo security firm counted 11,569 participants based on aerial pictures. While the firm did not include people under trees or tents, it said the number would be “far fewer than 90,000″ even if they were counted.
The Okinawa prefectural police did not count the rally participants.
(May. 15, 2010)
While Yukio Hatoyama isn’t really doing much in the way of changing Japanese politics (despite his declarations of change in the run up to last year’s Japanese election), he is certainly making waves in other ways. Shockingly, he’s being criticised for some of his fashion choices in recent times. Looking at one of the latest examples, I’m sure you’ll be wondering as I do why he is getting slated for it.
Now I don’t profess to be anything like a style expert, being that my usual casual wear consists of a Wigan RLFC shirt and a pair of ageing and most likely oil-stained jeans. But with that being said, wow. Who knew that plaid was making a comeback, and with such ferocity? Nope, me neither! But apparently the Prime Minister did and is at the ripple on what is surely going to be a huge wave in Japanese fashion. When it does he will be able to say “I was there first”.
Maybe it was his wife that got him into this uber-fashion. This would be the same wife that said the following:
“While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus. It was a very beautiful place and it was really green.”
And the same woman who said this about the sun in an interview:
“I also eat the sun,” Hatoyama said on the program, looking up with her eyes closed, raising her arms high as if she was tearing pieces off an imaginary sun. “Like this, hum, hum, hum. It gives me enormous energy.”
Whatever, it certainly adds some colour (pun intended) to the Japanese political scene!
Japan is a land of wonder. Living here you see the good, you see the bad and sometimes you see the downright crazy. Like this guy seen driving somewhere in mainland Japan. Can you say “negative camber”?! Originally posted up by my buddy here in Okinawa, D, I thought you might get a bit of a kick out of this. Excuse the bit of bad language in the 2nd video clip.
I hate to think of what the inside lip of his rims looks like after that drive, if it even exists any more!
Living in Okinawa (or indeed anywhere in Japan) means you are subject to seeing more than a few crazy things. But Okinawa seems to have a higher than average share. Want to see a man walking down the side of a dual-carriageway with a huge bull on a leash? Then Okinawa’s your place!
Was driving yesterday to meet a friend for coffee and I ended up behind a small car. No big deal there but as I got closer to the car I just started laughing as this is what I saw.
In case you are curious, next to the dog is a weedcutter attached to the boot hinges of the car but 2 pieces of string. The dog made 2 attempts to escape the car when stopped at traffic lights but decided that staying in the car was preferable to being dragged along behind it when the driver inevitably fails to notice that his canine passenger has made a break for freedom.
Seen any other crazy things here in Japan, or worldwide?
Some of you might have seen on the news or read that there was a mass protest here in Okinawa last weekend about the continued US military presence, and the lack of any action being taken by the present government despite election pledges stating they would. Although you would think that after 50 years of not living up to election pledges by political parties here in Japan they would have got used to it by now. The protest was on the national Japanese news, and even made international headlines, being reported on the BBC website. The attendance figures seemingly created by the same people who make up the St Helens RLFC crowd attendances (i.e. vastly overstated!), with much fewer than the 100,000 people being quoted by the media.
But for once I’m not going to provide commentary on the protest itself, but an image I saw of one of the protesters. I’ve become accustomed to rather strange English over the years, but this one certainly had me laughing.
To start with, it looks like the “r” in “military” was at one point another l, until someone pointed out the mistake in her spelling! But it was obviously too much effort to make a new sign so she decided to go with it and just try to change it. After all, it’s not as if she’s going to be photographed and her image and banner shown worldwide now, is it? Next, I just can’t work out what is meant by “sexual terrorist”. Is it a criticism or a compliment?! To be honest if I was told I was a sexual terrorist I think I’d be somewhat flattered! I am eagerly awaiting the Japanese media to report that the US Marines on Futenma base in Okinawa have declared a sexual Jihad against the locals!
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