Everyone I Know Goes Away in the End...

posing somewhere in Kyoto with another group of local kids who just had to call out to me--no matter were I a paedophile, axe murderer, rock star, cretin, pro skateboarder, whatever--and had to all take our pictures. and then they evaporate. and I continue on my walk to the station.

it's a weird dynamic being a clearly Western-is-the-Bestern foreigner in Japan. It is celebrity without portfolio, and it's fun & makes it easy to dig into this country, but it can be a hollow feeling. 

I understand more how at some point, real celebrities--like people who make movies & write songs & tell jokes on stage--end up alone in a hotel room surrounded by a small hill of cocaine, or checking back into rehab, or just somehow outside the fit & ken of regular Life, each in his own peculiar way.

But, fck it! Happy Summer All! 

Me, too: going away on the road, summer travel. Check out the flickr link & idea below to stay connected. Thanks.

japandemic superfly

on

so we have created a japandemic flickr site symbiotic with this site. some new people are coming here via flickr, and you are all welcome to drop by the flickr site.

flickr = forum? maybe.

we'll see. we seem to have an interesting group of readers here, who could benefit by connecting with each other. we may in the near future produce a forum on japandemic, but for now, feel free to leave comments on any of the flickr photos that strike you. it is easy to respond to responses of others the way they have the site set up.

the flickr site will be moderately moderated, so please be respectful & cool. if it gets ugly or out of control or unhelpful, we will have to pull the plug. but I'm not expecting that.

take a look. I don't know if this is a good idea. it's the closest I can come to answering everyone's letters right now.

I don't know the tattoo culture; a japanese woman who may or may not know said that this would be a yakuza lady wearing her "day face". I thought it was beautiful, and her face soft & lovely. interesting. even the gangsters are sexy, like in Kill Bill 1.

good times, good friends... along the kamogawa.

these couple of workers expended a lot of time & energy after a hard day on the line/on the jackhammer trying to get these high school girls (the Grail, really) to go to an izakaya &/or karaoke &/or H hotel with them.

 the girls must go to a good school, 'cuz they were smart enough to finally say "no" and walk.

but those dawgz get an Afkcing+ for Effort. the whole of the 17 minutes I waited for my train was a variation on the above theme.

A reader from the flickr site made this astute observation (I'm not going to lie, I had to look up some of the words) on the above tattoo woman:　

Not sure I agree with the yakuza 'day look' assessment-comment on your main site. Possible, but not the only possibility. This looks like Kannon (aka Kuan Yin, Avalokitesvara, Chenrezig, etc). Very powerful gender bending, life-death-rebirth, calm in the face of adversity imagery and memeplex cloud. Assuming the person on whom the art floats grokked all that stuff, she's clearly not a person to be trifled with, yakuza linked or not. 

Thanks...I must add that I got 0 yakuza vibe off this woman when I saw her. A nervous Japanese woman came across these photos in my camera, was shocked, and made the comment...I mainly liked the phrase "day face", which she said in English. 

n.b.: As I am expert in nothing, I value informed comments from readers.  When they are helpful and enlightening to others I will post them someplace sensible.

about out of stimulants...

what to do what to do...

Hello Kitty

waiting on the train... purrrrr.

The Gatekeeper.

His purpose is to bring Japanese men in & keep foreign men out.

No, this is not a night hospital, even though there are apparently nurses on call.

same bag, different girl, same train. I'm sensing a new boom.

boom is Japanese English for big trend. they happen seasonally...and can target a fashion item, actor/celeb, food, TV drama, personality type and so on.

welcome back. shall we continue...

keep it real, babies!

In pursuit of the MA degree, general ballpark of Educational Psychology, one needs to have faith in the worth of sentences like:

"Do not these enacted images, characteristic of delayed imitation...act as significants in the internalised co-ordination of schemata?"*

I mean, I don't fcking know, do they? (best get cracking.)

*Piaget, J. (1999). The Psychology of Intelligence (2nd ed.) Routledge, p.107

to God!

(^ . ^)

Live To Smoke - Smoke To Live

I took a walk through one Smoking Car on the Shinkansen and by the end of it felt like I'd been fcking maced.

Daft, the chain-smoking, like it was mandatory; each & every patron huffing on a butt each & every moment of the trip, including between mouthfuls of lunch.

I commented on this to a heavy smoker, and he explained that, like non-smokers, smokers also can't stand 2nd-hand smoke off someone else's cig. We non-smokers just walk off to another room, car, table, wife, etc.; smokers combat this by keeping a personal cigarette constantly lit, in their mouth & under their nose, for an entire voyage, party, evening, life.

Never-ending close-range 1st-hand smoke apparently much desired to random 2nd-hand smoke.  cocks.

not much on technique, this was her first assay at smoking, which explains why her friend is making the documentary.

I hate qualms.

slightly askew...

A foreign English teacher stands in front of his class:  

"Today we are going to talk about the past.  Who can tell me what you did last weekend?"

Being Japan, most students stare hard into the tops of their desks, until finally one girl raises her hand.

"Yes, Hitomi." says the teacher.

"Last weekend I go to Tokyo." she offers.

"Thank you, Hitomi, that's good. But can you put that in the past?"

She looks down a moment, then says, "Last weekend I go to Edo."

I spent a pleasant few cocktails trying to picture all the possible ways one could bring that about.

A tip of the hat...for sheer bravado.

beautiful free photo cards for all occasions:

Japanese BBQ charcoal. I love this stuff; better by far than briquets.  Just chunks of real charred wood, recognizable as former tree parts. Tricky to get started sometimes, but makes for a great fire.

if you're going to fuck, come.
  ---Julia Phillips (somewhere in You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again)

authentic samurai armor. this suit has been in the family of a private student for about 400 years. we have had our lessons in this room for almost that long and it still creeps the shit out of me.

(soon after this shot was taken a skirmish broke out over the fish eyeballs.)  this fish is tai, translated as sea bream... delicious, a bit expensive. highly recommend you try it as sushi.

"...the past perfect tense we use to talk about completed actions further back in ti--" fck! I think I just saw his eyes move.

this is the 200 yen hidden treasure map to all manner of vice...which you can't get into.  but, like amazon.com, I'll let you Search Inside.

(MANZOKU translates in English to something like total satisfaction.   I bet.)

for a Japanese magazine which promotes places that do not accept English speakers...their dramatic use of English is therefore the more curious.

however, being the gentleman he appears, he immediately gave up his seat when 2 women boarded with their kids.

and didn't miss a beat o' conversation... stylin'

Birds (Br E) of a Feather Flock Together...

specializing in the dyed red-brown look as found on young shopping tarts & single moms.

(FYI: 10,000 yen = about $110)

(60 minutes Japan time = about 60 minutes wherever you're from.)

(cute wink, btw)

a view of the intricate wooden structure at one corner of a building on the grounds of Nanzenji Temple. beautiful hand craftsmanship employing no nails or metal fasteners.

an up

a sumo yo!

(think that's the J Beavis & Butthead breaking it down lower left)

a subway window sticker advertising 0 calorie diet Fanta "cider" soda (like Sprite).

Fanta, Minute Maid and many other Coca-Cola Company® products, including various green & black tea drinks, are very popular in Japan.

(screenshot from a listing site which drives dozens of people a decade right here)

pray

no one talks to each other any more.