mean and very surly!
I saw this ass-kicking Surly bike on a Shinjuku street recently and it took my attention ! Just compare it to the regular style bicycle at right ! Surly and very very mean !! I have no doubt that if they could talk, that the gold-colored bike would be shaking with fear ! The size of the tyres on the Surly are even similar to some motorcycle 125’s but even so, I wouldn’t want to get a puncture. Good to see they are iporting these things into Japan !
Sensor-activated escalators are becoming more widely seen in Japan. It is obviously a waste of power to have the machinery going non-stop, so the system only kicks in when you approach the bottom step and starts operating. This image was taken at a JR station.
Was walking past a construction site recently and saw this amazing looking, large crane. My image does not really give you the full appreciation of how wide this machine actually was, but take my word for it, it was a large crane. Adding ‘Transformers’ as a ‘tag’ to this post would not be out of place.
"hey honey, I got a new high-score !'
Society nowadays involves casting your eyes downward to your mobile phone, several times a day.
Nowhere, is that more apparent than in Japan. It is not just Japan, as it occurs on buses and trains and in restaurants the world over. Ten or so years ago the habit of sitting in a train and instantly being fixated on your ketei was already in place, but nowadays it just seems like common place. It is always nice to see someone on a train reading a book ! Three cheers for you ! Recently I was at a popular restaurant here in Japan called Gusto. The attached image of a couple at an adjacent table is something I have seen many times. They walk in, sit down, and then after ordering – take out the electronic devices and are in the drone-zone. Romeo on the right has a Nintendo DS or similar. I observed this couple for ten minutes and there was no talk, no eye contact, nothing. Romeo was moving his upper body regularly as I think he was shooting down aliens or whatever in his game. This image says more about society – not just in japan – (and in particular the lost art of ‘conversation’), than anything I can possibly write. I will leave it at that.
So you wanna be just like Dad, or your hard-working Uncle Makoto ? You see him (often already half cut) after a hard day at the office, sit down and have a nice cold beer poured for him ! (Rush’s ‘Working Man’ tune springs to mind here but this is not a rock blog!). Well, the people at Sangaria ensure you now can. This oddity can also be found in ¥100 stores here in Japan and is kinda like ginger beer, though not as tasty. If you pour it quick enough, you can even give your ‘beer’ a decent head ! Kampai !
Available from some ¥100 stores like Daiso, the LP Record carry, or storage bag is a must for any old wax collectors like me ! I can recall me old mate Phil from London, who would carry a sturdy wax bag on record hunting trips some years back. This is obviously not as strong as that, but if you are on your way to the Post Office with an eBay sale, or have just scored some great finds in a recycle store, this lightweight and portable record bag is very handy. The magic price as well !
Japanavision 