Wed, 3 Sep '08 - VS 901 Sayonara

A taxi through Tokyo just after dawn. It doesn't feel intimidating anymore. It's going to be a beautiful sunny day. It couldn't be more different from the day we landed. Another year older, does this still apply eight hours in the future? No ceremony or celebration, just a downbeat departure that's come round too soon.

Wed, 3 Sep '08 - Amane's insight

The success of Japan’s economy Japan relies on the inventiveness and industry of its workers.

In discussion with Amane: As a nation Japan has almost no natural resources. Therefore the success of the economy is based on buying raw materials at one price. e.g. steel, and then transforming that steel into something of higher value e.g. a car. This places the emphasis on craft skills and hard work, in effect the magic that turns something elemental into mass produced complex consumer durables.

Wed, 3 Sep '08 - A nation of obsessives and of extremes.

The saturation of advertising in Tokyo. The creation of 1000 kanon at Sanjungsendo. The high density of technology retail outlets in Akihabara.

Ordered chaos. Efficient complexity is actually micro efficiency on a vast and interconnected scale.

Tokyo seems like a frantic, multi layered, chaotic place, but within this chaos everything is running to a system, usually perfectly on time. Just like the Mazda factory the more you look the more you realise how minutely choreographed the underling infrastructure actually is.

Tue, 2 Sep '08 - Harajuku 2

Harajuku is supposedly one of the coolest palces on earth, up there with Brooklyn, Shoreditch, Kreuzberg etc. My sense is that this area is slightly past it's edgiest but there are still some stunningly eccentric people to be seen. We walk through the crowd, determined to make eye contact with every freak, thereby distracting them from the camera on my hip. It's almost impossible not to be seduced by the gothic lolitas, Tokyo Hipsters, and assorted 80s throwbacks. 

There's something unspoken here. You're either a true freak or a tourist. We spot few pro photographers cool hunting. A girl in a coffee shop sits a few tables a way in full Amish lace. Is that a man or a woman dressed as a babydoll, what about the guy in the leopard skin leggings with the pink lame handbag and gold winkle pickers? For our part we look like we're on the inside, JMT's the hot-rodder from the last Edwin Denim campaign and I'm a sartorialist-camp Brandon Flowers impersonator. Our guide is totally bemused at the number of times we want to walk up and down the street. It's just too much fun.

Thought
Truth is Tokyo is a world city. Japan is a major developed nation and has more than it's fair share of seriously cool people. For those who get it this aspect of Japan will forever be cool. No questions.

Tue, 2 Sep '08 - Ninja

Tue, 2 Sep '08 - Roppongi at night

The night time view from the sky deck at the Roppongi hills tower is breathtakingly beautiful. There’s an art gallery, jazz bar and aquarium up here. Perrier sponsors the water, fuck knows who sponsors the air. This has to be Tokyo’s most aesthetically pleasing angle. In every direction the city lights blaze in beautiful rainbow colours. The privilege of such a high viewpoint adds real drama. It’s like a living imax cinema... Technology looks so good in the dark. The light pulses, signing the complexity of city life. Tokyo lives like a giant organism. 

I finally understand how vast this city is. 

Mon, 1 Sep '08 - Kurosawa

Kurosawa is a small restaurant in Roppongi owned by the Hisao Kurosawa, son of the famous film director Akira Kurosawa. The restaurant is small. Interior decoration includes quality film memorabilia is restrained and of high quality. We go for it with the menu, which feature's the great man's favorite foods, made by the apprentice of the director's personal chef.

Turtle tastes like fishy turkey.

True tofu is remarkably creamy.

Ginger urchins should be avoided. 

Kurosawa's taste in fresh soba noodles in impeccable.

The staff are charmingly formal and wear a uniform that is inspired by the film Red Beard. Apart from all that this is the first time I start to be able to read Japanese: I can just about work out how much each item is (such a mundane epiphany).

JMT has Seven Samurai and Kagemusha on his iphone, this prompts a discussion re the great man's films and how the history of Japanese film is interwoven with Hollywood and European cinema. We comment on the formal photography, love of action, dead space in dialogue...

Thought
Similar but different. Japan is closer now than ever. Popular culture and the arts are a great barometer of this gradual convergence. Today Japan represents an unthreatening exoticsm is this true?