An emailing girl, in Harajuku, Tokyo

A young girl is emailing or watching website by cell phone during walking and it is rather ordinary scenery in Japan.

Yoyogi Gymnasium in Tokyo

This is Yoyogi Gymnasium and was built for Tokyo Olympic in 1964. This was designed by Kenzo Tange and is one of his outstanding works. I like this work best among his great works and the organic and beautiful curve of this architecture slightly reminds me of the works of Santiago Calatrava. By the way, Tange had been a major architect for a long time in Japan and called 'the Emperor' in Japanese architecture industry because he is one of pioneers in Japanese architecture and his influence had been so big. He taught Arata Isozaki, Kisho Kurokawa, Fumihiko Maki and Yoshio Taniguchi in his laboratory of Tokyo Uni when they were student.

The currency of the city

Many billboards fill the wall of the buildings and flood the street. The walls seem to make a lot of money and be one of the currencies of the city.

Hey, Taxi!

An array of taxis is very usual scenery in Tokyo after evening. We usually use it after the last train or drink a little. The fee starts from about 5 or 6 USD.

A modern public toilette at Harajuku, Tokyo

This is a public toilette for free, just close to Omote-sando Hills, Harajuku. There are many public toilettes in Tokyo but I have not seen such a clean one in Tokyo.

A news

I just would like to let you know that I was interviewd by a web site, the travel cooler

Here is my interview.

I think that thanks to Eric and other members, kindly allowing me to join in your wonderful community, I was interviewed.

Thank you again!

Hello Kitty!

This shop, located at Harajuku, is "Hello Kitty" and sells many Kitty goods. "Kitty chan" has been popular especially among young woman for a long time.

She is watching you, at Omotesando, Tokyo

She seems to be watching you as if she would like to make you watch her. This is what the ad is for, isn't it?

Have a nice weekend!

A building with trunk-shaped facade designed by Toyo Ito

This building is designed by Ito Toyo and along a fashionable street of Omote sando, in Tokyo. The facade looks like the shade of trees and the design matches the surrounding trees along the street.

Plastic model

This photo was took in a toy store and many boxes, printed Japanese cartoon characters on them, are piled up on the shelf.

These are called 'pura model' in Japanese and it means 'plastic model'. The models usually range from Japanese cartoon characters to cars, air planes, choppers, castles.

Many small plastic non-colored parts are inside these box. We enjoy coloring the parts and put together the parts. Coloring and assembling are so delicate and elaborate that the work might be suited to Japanese, some European friend said.

By the way, these characters on the photo is from the cartoon, Gundam, one of most popular cartoon among boys in Japan.

A small truck for collecting old papers to recycle

On the loading space of a small truck are piled up many bundles of old newspaper. These are collected to recycle them.

By the way, most of us don't buy newspaper at shops, like Kiosk or news stand, but shops of newspaper company deliver them to each house every morning. So old and waste newspapers are piling up everyday in our houses. The delivers collect the old paper about once a month in the house and change them into a roll of toilet paper. The collected paper will recycle and be used at some newspaper again in the near future.

Soft cream

It is rather hot for the middle of June in Tokyo and such days go well with soft ice creams. I don't know whether or not this kind of ice cream is sold only in Japan. Do you happen to eat this ice cream in your country??

Modern masks

These plastic masks are sold at shops along the streets to the temple or shrine when some festivals are hold. They are only for kids and most of them are from Japanese cartoon. The masks remind me of old good memory of childhood in summer.

Here is the article about old mask

So many buildings, so many textures

Sunny day

It was very hot and sunny yesterday though it is in the middle of the rainy season. Since it was sunny, many women used their parasol and opened them to keep the sun ray off their face. They used the parasols because Japanese women prefer white skin.

Have a nice weekend:-))

Cola War in Tokyo

I don't know which cola was launched out first and, by coincidence,the zero-calorie colas are both in black....

A cigarette vending machine in front of a pharmacy

The rainy season

The weather forecast says that the rainy season, Tsuyu(梅雨) in Japanese, starts to cover over Tokyo today. The season usually last about for a mouth and it doesn't rain all during the season. But it rains very frequently. I don't dislike the rain so much, but don't like the rainy season in June so much. The humidity, together with the hotness, makes the air sticky.

On the other hand, the discomfort weather make chilled beer very delicious! (Japanese prefer chilled beer partly because of the humidity weather.)

Many kinds of medias for digital cameras

This is a part of automatic vending machine that can develop images in the media of digital photo into photographs. Inserting some media and money into the machine are needed to get the film developed.

Anyway, I pause to realize that digital cameras are many kinds of media: memory stick for Sony, xD-PictureCard for Fuji, SD Memory Card for Cannon, Panasonic...

An izakaya, Japanese pub, under a railway, in Shinbashi, Tokyo

Escalator 3

City lights 4

Mikimono building, designed by Ito Toyo, in Ginza

The old meet the new, Shiodome, Tokyo

Cup Noodle

Many kinds of instant noodles are sold at supermarkets and convenience stores in Japan. Now more than 5,000,000,000 are sold in Japan in a year and, in other words, each person eat them more than 50 in a year.

Pot noodles are said to be one of great inventions in 20th century and have dramatically changed the young's meals in Japan. Just pouring boiled water into them and waiting for three minutes will make them eatable. The containers are both utensils for eating and for cooking.
The waiting time, 3 minutes, seems best, neither short nor long. The minutes are quite good "seasoning" for hungry young people.

Facades of buildings, in Ginza, Tokyo

City lights 3

Regent's Park in London

I came back from London just now and it had been perfectly sunny in London during my staying.

Excuse me because this photo is not taken in Kyoto but in London. I would like to share the beauty of rose in the Regent's Park and so I uploaded this photo in this blog.

Must-items for busy business persons

We usually take these drinks to make us cheer up to work hard. The label says that they contains a lot of energy ingredients. It costs 150 yen to 1000 yen.

Wooden chairs and floor, at Mid-town in Roppongi

Theme Day for the month of 1, June: A view from my bedroom

Many other city daily photo blogs participate in this theme day today, why don't you pay them a visit? Remember, due to time difference they might not all be ready when you visit them.

PS. I cannot reply to your comments because I am now in the beautiful country of roses. I'll be back in Tokyo and read them on 5th June.

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