Meet the Invisible Man

Came across this article on the Invisible Man Liu Bolin in the Telegraph. The artist uses his work to demonstrate the theme of community invisibility in modern China.

Braid My Hair...

Wow...I love this story. This is a collection of photographs documenting how an adoptive white father of an Ethiopian child takes care of her hair everyday. And he's very good at it too.

May 2nd 2009, Metropolis Tokyo Magazine
"Beautiful young Aussie girl seeks sugar daddy to take her shopping and help fund her stay in Tokyo."

May 3rd 2009, 1.02pm
Sam has sent you following message.
Hi, Please email me your details

May 3rd 2009, 1.05pm
arukaderu has sent you following message.
Dear Sally , im 29 years old single jordanian dentist doing my phd in tokyo medical and dental university ..i live now in misato ...this is my forth year in japan.....im very kind, simple and caring person...i can speak basic japanese....i wish to marry..please send me any time mustafa

May 3rd 2009, 1.06pm
Masaaki Shimoda has sent you following message.
OK. I am ready to spoil you. Send me some photos to see if it will click. Thanks.

May 3rd 2009, 1.15pm
Sam has sent you following message.
Hi Tanya,
Thanks for the email. Your position is clear.
Just to get to the point, what will be your telephone number and how can I contact you?
Looking forward to your reply
Best regards,
Sam

May 3rd 2009, 1.20pm
Masaaki Shimoda has sent you following message.
Hi Sally,
Thank you for the reply and detailed explanation. While I understand your situation and am sympathetic, I am not into dohan or dohan-like experience which I can get free of charge with friends. So, a platonic relationship is not going to work for me. If you are really interested in staying in Japan, the best way might be for you to go back to Australia and apply for a working holiday visa. Good luck and hope your rest of the Asian tour will be safe and enjoyable.
xxx
Masaaki

May 3rd 2009, 1.22pm
arukaderu has sent you following message.
thanks Sally for email...in fact im looking for marriage...if you can become muslim and marry me then all your problems will be solved....please think seriously...mustafa

May 4th 2009, 1.07pm
Bagus Hamachan has sent you following message.
Are you interested in watching movies? Who is your favorite actor and director? I prefer slim girl. Are you? Have you ever try slow sex?

May 4th 2009, 1.10pm
James has sent you following message.
I can give you 15000 - 20000 yen every two weeks if you f*** me anytime I wanted. It would be maximum 3 times a week since I have a busy work schedule and need to release some pressure. I would also like to see a picture of you if you want to agree to this.

May 4th 2009, 1.45pm
G-money has sent you following message.
Hey there, Let's be honest...you want a sugar daddy and I want a naughty, hot little slut! I can take care of my end. Can you take care of yours? I think we could make a nice arrangement, if you are ready. Buck

May 4th, 1.47pm
Takashi has sent you following message.
Hi Dear, I am interested to become Sugar daddy, I am 45, 177cm, 72kg, could you reply with your details and some of your photo please. I am manager of (japanese car brand) at Yokohama branch.

May 4th 2009, 1.59pm
G-money has sent you following message.
Sounds nice! But I am not looking for nice, more naughty. I want to take care of someone that wants more than just friendship, I guess more of a friends with benefits thing. If you are into that let me know. If not, cheers!
Take care,
Buck

May 4th, 7.30pm
john roth has sent you following message.
Hi Princess, How are you doing? I\'m a 30\'s business professional from Europe, living in USA, but in Japan regulary. Would love to have a Aussie date for the lonely hotel evenings...I always had a weakness for the Aussie accent, and attitude to life. I would love it if you could send me a picture. Thanks! John

May 5th, 00.45am
Takashi has sent you following message.
Hi Dear Sally,
My best suggestion, you are so intelligent, young and attractive, so for this situation, as you know make a money with your pussy, in Japan are many stupid man like me, want to have a sex with western female, you don't worry abut visa in this industry. look at attachment photo of mine nearly 20cm, if you are interested and surprise, reply with photo of your pussy please.
Hope we can have a love in a nice love hotel, offcourse with condom.

May 5th, 9.05am
System Administrator has sent you following message.
Your advert on Metropolis has now been deleted.

(note-all names and dates in the above post has been altered to protect the identity of the participants)

'I'll meet you at Hachiko exit.'

Hachiko Exit? That was the first time I'd heard of the meeting point. In a place such as Tokyo, with it's myriad of exits at train stations, it can be so easy to get confused amongst all the numbers and letters which are the only labels of some exits instead of a particular road name. That's IF you even knew the name of the main road close by.

But everybody knows Hachiko.

That was the one thing that puzzled me my first time there, that everybody knew it, and every single person who was meeting a friend in Shibuya almost always meet at the dog mural before continuing their meeting elsewhere.

Legend has it that back in the twenties, a university professor had owned a dog of pure akita breed, whom he called Hachiko. Everyday the dog would see off his master at the station and return at the exact time that his train arrived in the evening in order to greet him, until one day his master passed away from a stroke during class and never showed at the station again. Yet the dog showed up, unwaiveringly, for the next ten years at the same spot and at the same time, hoping to reunite with his master, despite having been given away to another owner living on the other side of town. Eventually, the local people realised the dog's intentions and gave it food and water until it passed away a decade after its owner's death. The bronzed statue of Hachiko stands outside the exit at Shibuya is a testament to the eternal devotion that touched many people, and even if you are not an animal person, you cannot help but to admire the sheer perserverance of love of an animal that had only spent a tenth of its lifetime in total with his owner. Every year, on Hachiko day, people (mostly dog owners) show up at the site to pay their tributes to the loyal canine, and having witnessed how much they love their pets to the point where they wipe their dog's bottoms after excreting waste in public, it's no wonder that Hachiko has such special place in Japanese people's hearts.

During my usual research trawl on the internet, I found this trailer of the original 1987 film they made about Hachiko's life, titled 'Hachiko Monogatari' ('Story of Hachiko'). Hold on to your tissues...

Now Hollywood has decided to (as per usual) remake an American version of Hachiko's story, which, doesn't even convey the same spirit. I can agree that perhaps the makers had to avoid the political context by having the dog uniting the residents of a small town on Rhode Island as opposed to a whole country. Hachiko's passing and life story made the front pages of major newspapers, and to some extent used by the then Japanese government as propaganda to instill the sense of obligation and loyalty in support to Japan's cause during the second World War. Hopefully after seeing the American version, people will be much more interested in the real story of Hachiko and be inspired just like the millions and generations of Japanese people by his loving devotion for his master.

One for the Kitsch Lovers...

Now....who...wouldn't...want...a...pair...of...these??? People don't realise how much of a geek in me being in Japan really brings out. These speakers are made by Princeton, and yes, they do function as speakers you plug into your computer. And apparently they work very well at that too.

Before I came to Japan, I used to think, who on earth??? WHY on EARTH??? Yet you do realise the contradictory nature of Japanese society. In this case, I'm not surprised that there are so many fun gadgets such as these speakers that are for mass consumption. If you sit long enough on the Tokyo Metro, or hang long enough in Shimbashi, aka 'Salaryman Hell', you would start to recognise the monotony of Japanese corporate culture: everyone strives to have the same black briefcase, same black suit, same black shoes. Therefore, it is not a shock to the system to have cool things like this to brighten up your workspace.

http://www.cscoutjapan.com/en/

ooooh.....for bubble wrap lovers out there....the Eternal Bubble Wrap!



Only in Japan.

Alex Tse (Watchmen Scriptwriter) interview

"None of you get it...I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me!"

So last night I got to see 'Watchmen' again, this time on a gimungous widescreen HD TV in bluray format. First time I saw the film was back in London on the silver screen, and even without having read the graphic novel the concept of the plot blew me away. Being in Tokyo and not having a lot of money can be very boring, so to have a dear friend who has an HD tv the size of which is almost measureable in tatami floorspace, not to mention access to films and the whole Invader Zim series is a GODSEND. So I felt very blessed to be in company for his first viewing of the film adaptation, plus I had the bonus of a running commentary from someone that actually read the novel and make comparisons.

Anyway, I digress. Whilst doing post-film research on the makers of Watchmen, I stumbled across this interview with Alex Tse, the screen writer for the film, in which he talks about his experiences being an Asian-American in the Hollywood film industry.

http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/content/view/146/1

Reason I found this interesting initially was because it was a pleasant surprise finding out that an Asian-American actually wrote screenplay for this version of the film. Not that I'm as hardcore Asian as some, but it's always intriguing and inspiring finding out those who are and the road they had to travel to achieve their success.