Tamachi is a station on the Yamanote loop line in Tokyo. There are a lot of offices in the area – including the head office of NEC so there are a correspondingly large number of restaurants and bars in the area.

At the top the sign says “Motsu Dining and Global Restaurant” – with motsu being Japanese for offal. Being a global restaurant I wonder if they sell haggis?

And the real question – if they relocated, could you call that a “bowel movement”?

Katsuren Castle

Katusuren Castle is located on the Katsuren Peninsula on the eastern coast of Okinawa. Today, the ruins of the castle are an educational attraction, hosting tourists, schoolchildren, amateur historians, and curious passersby.

Obon in Okinawa

Obon is a three-day holiday set aside each summer to honor deceased ancestors. During this period, family members celebrate the return of ancestral spirits by gathering together, feasting, and praying.

Hamahiga Island

Hamahiga Island is a small landmass located off the Katsuren Peninsula on the eastern coast of Okinawa Honto. Roughly 2.5 square kilometers in area, Hamahiga’s small size belies its importance in Ryukyu mythology. The island’s name comes from the two communities on opposite sides of the small mass: Hama and Higa.

I haven’t travelled to Okinawa (yet), but looking at these photos makes me really want to visit those idyllic islands. Of course the photos are HDR photos which always makes photos seem completely mindblowing but wow! it does look fascinating. I particularly like the third image posted above as I think it quite captures the ambient mood of early evenings out on the islands.

You can see more of the photos here: http://www.hdrjapan.com/.

Wouldn’t you just love to visit there?

I took this photo last weekend. I quite like the contrast of the colours between the limo and the crane, not to mention their utilitarian relationship.

The photo was taken by Noface2 and the original can be found here.

That sense of humour is something I do miss about New Zealand. Here in Japan I have never seen a job post anything like that. Hope they find a good burger flipping existentialist.

And who said flipping burgers was a bad job?

Found this delightful picture over at engrish.com. In case of fire please use this hand grenade… although the Chinese is normal enough. I wonder how they ended up with a translation into English that funny. Maybe a disgruntled employee?

Still I suppose if you were really hungry you could try fishing with it!

Purple Sky over Azabu-juban

I took this photo just before at dusk. Never have I seen the sky that colour before. It has been very hot and muggy here for days on end. Light drizzle this afternoon. Summer in Tokyo keeps rolling on strong.

I love this sign! It says “Don’t give the pigeons food!” and then the pigeon says “Stop it! I don’t need food!”

Is this just a case of anthropomorphism or do Japanese pigeons have much more refined tastes than their human counterparts?

This sign says “Here is not a toilet! Bad!”

If you relieve yourself here a giant hand will appear out of the sky and poke you in the back. This is a new variation of the time-honoured Japanese art of kancho (here is a Korean flash game you can play if you want to practice (NSFW)). Amazing really the technology advances available to the powers that be in Japan.

I remember when we were driving in Akita, one snowy wintry day, when an old man in a little truck stopped in the middle of the road, got out and began to draw in the snow. The traffic backed up quite a way (Japanese roads are narrower than a narrow thing so no-one had the, uh, balls to pass), but he was oblivious to it all. Nonchalantly he wandered back to his truck and drove off. It was less shocking than seeing a taxi driver in Kyoto masturbating at the taxi stand while waiting for customers, but still it was a little surprising.

]]> http://www.blizzardboy.net/japan/this-is-not-a-toilet-bad.html/feed 4