I'll keep it under my hat...

I may have to start rethinking my policy on the following:



P.S. I was told by a colleague the other day that my new haircut makes me look like President Obama! Go figure...

Tokyo's Bronzed Naked Ladies

Bet that got your attention! This city is full of statues of naked women. I've taken note of this phenomenon before, but yesterday was the first day I started gathering evidence. Really, way more so than in any other city I've been in, you'll see these oddly similar works of art dotted throughout the city.

'Bare' in mind that these photos are just the small sample I came up within a 24-hour period and a 2-km radius of my house. Seriously, the naked female form is clearly the go-to inspiration for corporate artists in this country. I should give 'Our Laz' a call and have her try get a commission. If there are any artists out there reading this that do end up getting paid a big lump of money by some Tokyo patron, don't forget to cut me a slice of that action. I'm going to start adding art consultant as a line on my CV.

I will keep my camera with me over the coming days and snap some more, if I remember.

Found another two on my rather soggy walk today - seriously did the city government just buy a job lot or something? The second woman from today's batch looks like she was caught unawares by the artist in the dressing room, poor thing. And then they had the audacity to just plonk her outside a Mini-Stop convenience store!

I found another one right by my office after work. Dear City Planners - please try harder!

One station - a total of four naked ladies between two statues. Ueno, you're outdoing the rest of Tokyo!

And it's not just Tokyo - the disease is spreading. Here we a double-whammy in Tokaimura in Ibraki Prefecture (where we have a research centre). Two naked ladies in one shot - fore and background. Not bad for a small, regggional village.

And in the interests of fairness, I present the first Tokyo Bronzed Naked Man that I have come across.

New boots and foaming soap

Mam, these are the new boots I was telling you about. With rainy season fast approaching, I needed a work shoe that would be water proof and practical. This being Japan, where you take your shoes off all the time, having a zipper on the side as well as laces was a major motivator in buying this pair. Because they're hand-made, they come with this special service where they can be resoled at a discount within a certain period of time. I'm still a little hazy on the details. Needless to say, thinking about how much they cost actually makes me feel sick. I hope they'll be worth it.


I can be pretty stingy about personal finances, as many of you know. I think I will be reminded to my dying day of my money saving tip to 'let gravity do the work' when pouring out the washing up liquid. None of this frivolous 'squeezing the bottle' carry on. But I have a new one for you. 'Foaming' hand soap dispensers are all the rage over here. Of course the 'foam' refill is like twice as expensive as the regular hand soap refill. And you can't use the regular soap in the 'foaming' dispensers because it clogs them up. But do you know what I figured out - and this is why I think I may one day end up being some evil corporate master mind - the special 'foaming' refill is just the regular old refill watered down. That's right, get the customer to pay twice the price for a watered down version of your original product. Man, where would we be without the old capitalist profit motive.

Obaachan behaving badly

The right-wing nutjobs were out in full force today: it's 憲法記念日(Kenpo Kinenbi - Constitution Day) so they were all rolling around in their black vans hollering about how the disputed islands north of Hokkaido need to be gotten back from Russia by hook or by crook.

I was making my way through town wondering why all these cops were stationed at every intersection decked out in serious riot gear - they looked like full-on modern samurai. Once I approached Kasumigaseki (near the parliament) and heard the ruckus and the blaring 'patriotic' music, it all became clear.

I gotta tell you, if those guys stationed themselves outside my shop or office or apartment - as they sometimes do in areas where there are large populations of foreigners - I'd find it intimidating as hell. I'd also probably fall for the bait and be provoked into some sort of aggressive retaliation... like blaring Celine Dion on a loop right back at them (which, in all honesty, I'd probably enjoy just a little too much).

Anyway, I tried not to think too much about these wingnuts and went about enjoying my day. I went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Ebisu. There were two major exhibitions on. One was a collection of photos of sacred religious sites around the world...

And one was a kind of grotesque display of grannies gone wild, doing their thing with crazy abandon.

Can you guess which one I ended up seeing?

The new lighting scheme for Tokyo Tower

Over the last few weeks, they've been rocking a few different lighting schemes for Tokyo Tower. I'm not sure if it's more eco-friendly to have it this way, but I'm also not sure whether I like it. This landmark holds a special place in my heart and I'm sensitive to them messing with it. What do you think?

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6669543&l=52350372a9&id=858385093

Here's the old version:

I've managed to turn yoga into a contact sport

When you do some yoga poses, you can increase the resistance (and therefore the effectiveness) by using a Theraband - it's basically a thick rubber rope.

I guess I wasn't paying very much attention this morning, as I let the band slip from under my feet and the recoil hit me full force in the chest.

I don't know if you can actually see from the photo, but I actually now have a large welt under my right man boob. It hurt like hell and definitely killed my yogic calm.

If it doesn't go down, I'm going to just embrace scarification, tattoo it orange and yellow, and turn it a big old racing stripe.

In case you can't see the image (I don't know how well the uploads are working on this new blog), you can click on the following link. But beware - it's semi-NSFW - I show nip!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6669541&l=861c71a579&id=858385093

This is for my sister...

And for anyone who has ever gotten a frosty reception from me on the telephone after a certain hour.

You see, it's just common sense.