japanorama
i was in japan for the month of may, living with my friend sarah in a tiny box in shinjuku. it was amazing and crazing and overwhelming, and i took far too many photos. so i will be displaying them in little chunks and droplets, sometimes roughly grouped around a theme. the first is "welcome to the neighborhood." here are a bunch taken in the neighborhood surrounding our miniscule 4-mat room (almost enough space for two futons to be spread out-- but not quite).
-the cemetary our balcony looked out onto (which freaked me out at first, since i have seen too many japanese horror movies and while walking up the stairs on certain nights i really convinced myself i had seen some spectral woman with long black hair over her face standing between the graves... but after a while i really grew to like waking up on sunday mornings to the simple and poignant sound of wooden blocks being clapped together for buddhist funerals)
-bicycles (which i would have considered riding were i not a complete disaster on two wheels)
-the quaint small-town vibe of benten-cho's mainstreet, which gets collegey-er the closer you walk to the waseda stop (our apato was situated between the uchigome-yanagi-cho stop on the oedo subway line and the kagurazaka stop on the tozai subway line, and about a 20 minute stroll from the takadanobaba yamanote stop; the convenient location is pretty much the only thing that made doll-house life seem livable)
-a local temple with little buddhist and shinto statues wrapped up with miniature cloaks so that their respective deities don't get cold (*i made a mistake here-- in thailand the different coats for the jade buddha are so it doesn't get cold/hot/humid, but according to the Japan Seldom Asked Questions Page, the bibs on the jizo statues are just to please the spirits, not necessarily keep them warm)
-the place where the taxis sleep at night.
-the morning herds of salarymen and schoolgirls (this subway shot was at takadanobaba yamanote stop i think)
-the vending machine in front of which some total asshole grabbed my crotch when i bent down to get my soda, and then i whirled around and projectile-shoved him with my two fists practically into the street while giving an impromptu lesson in english curse-words.
-a street-fair near the kagurazaka stop on my last day in tokyo-- the perfect little send-off party.
-the cemetary our balcony looked out onto (which freaked me out at first, since i have seen too many japanese horror movies and while walking up the stairs on certain nights i really convinced myself i had seen some spectral woman with long black hair over her face standing between the graves... but after a while i really grew to like waking up on sunday mornings to the simple and poignant sound of wooden blocks being clapped together for buddhist funerals)
-bicycles (which i would have considered riding were i not a complete disaster on two wheels)
-the quaint small-town vibe of benten-cho's mainstreet, which gets collegey-er the closer you walk to the waseda stop (our apato was situated between the uchigome-yanagi-cho stop on the oedo subway line and the kagurazaka stop on the tozai subway line, and about a 20 minute stroll from the takadanobaba yamanote stop; the convenient location is pretty much the only thing that made doll-house life seem livable)
-a local temple with little buddhist and shinto statues wrapped up with miniature cloaks so that their respective deities don't get cold (*i made a mistake here-- in thailand the different coats for the jade buddha are so it doesn't get cold/hot/humid, but according to the Japan Seldom Asked Questions Page, the bibs on the jizo statues are just to please the spirits, not necessarily keep them warm)
-the place where the taxis sleep at night.
-the morning herds of salarymen and schoolgirls (this subway shot was at takadanobaba yamanote stop i think)
-the vending machine in front of which some total asshole grabbed my crotch when i bent down to get my soda, and then i whirled around and projectile-shoved him with my two fists practically into the street while giving an impromptu lesson in english curse-words.
-a street-fair near the kagurazaka stop on my last day in tokyo-- the perfect little send-off party.
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