Tokyo by night

OK – what day is it? What city am I in? What haven’t I told you about yet?  Hmmm – I don’t know the answer to any of those questions, but I’m going to tell you a little about one of the best places to be at night – Tokyo. You saw Bladerunner, right?  Me too. And Tokyo really isn’t like that. But it is full of bright lights and amazing signage that just draws the eye in.  It’s full of people all night long.

From Asia II – Tokyo by night

It’s full of homeless as well. But the homeless in Tokyo still show pride in themselves. They are organised and clean, keeping their belongings well maintained and compact within their chosen transportation cart.  They sleep on the streets under umbrellas, but they seem to be left alone and they seem to leave others alone. It’s a bit sad, but nowhere near as sad as how the poor and homeless live in every other country I’ve been to, including my own.

From Asia II – Tokyo by night

I was always looking for rock venues.  I rarely found them, but when I did I stayed all night.  Shibuya is home to the coolest, all-English rock karaoke venue. Great stage, awesome sound, a lot of fun.  But it always closed early, so I would head into Roppongi to find the only real rock venues around.  A tiny little bar (might have been called Ruby Red?) run by an Australian or an American – can’t remember which – holds open mic nights each week. That got me closer to the real Japanese musician, barfly or someone else less easy to label.

From Asia II – Tokyo by night

From Asia II – Tokyo by night

Once that placed shut (still before 1am) I headed back to Shinjuku for an all-night dose of “dial your own” metal.  In a bar that was two levels below the street, held about 7 people, and was almost completely black, you would use a pen torch to pick out artists you wanted to hear,

From Asia II – Tokyo by night

be given CDs to choose from, then ask the barmaid to play the tracks of your choice.

From Asia II – Tokyo by night

You would then sit on your stool drinking your choice of Japanese beer, loving your musical choice being played at a clean and punchy 2000 decibels whilst trying to communicate with Japanese metalheads. So much fun, and just what I’d love to do more of at home. Any local metalheads want to come over on a regular basis and do just that?

From Asia II – Tokyo by night

The metal bar is open 24/7 but you have to get sleep eventually, so off I trudge back through the early dawn, hoping I can find my way back to the hotel. Along the way I see that McDonalds has become more than just a fast-food outlet, doubling as accommodation for weary travelers.

From Asia II – Tokyo by night

Oh Tokyo – I’d love you more if I knew I’d get more sleep whilst within your grasp…

Asia Part II – Ginza in Tokyo

Time to post a few more thoughts about my recent travels.  For this second trip through Vietnam and Japan I packed both my Panasonic FZ18 and my Canon EOS 350D with the 50mm F1.8 lens.  This was so that I still had the overall flexibility of the Panasonic whilst adding the ability to shoot at night and in low light without flash. I am so glad I did, as shooting at night with much less camera noise was a joy.

From Asia II – Tokyo, Ginza

I’ve already posted the shots from southern Vietnam, so now it’s time to catch up with Tokyo.  Today we have Ginza. This is shopper’s paradise – assuming you’re from a rich country and have a very large credit card limit.  Whilst I didn’t go overboard on shopping I was entranced by the brands, colours, lights, people, and general intoxicating aroma of credit card plastic.  The watch zone consisted of six conicular elevators full of watches, that took you to their specific brand store.  I got into the Swatch lift, as it was too colourful to resist.

From Asia II – Tokyo, Ginza

I happened to be doing my Ginza thing on a national holiday, which coincided with the opening of a new fashion/department store named H&M.  I’ve never heard of it, and I couldn’t understand why there was a queue circling the very large city block to get in.  Police were managing entry into the store, and only allowing two people every two minutes to enter. This was clearly going to be a long day for the waiting Japanese, but it didn’t seem to bother any of them.

From Asia II – Tokyo, Ginza

To make the day into even more of an event, the streets were closed to cars, and outdoor settings were placed along the roads so people could sit and pamper their pooches under cover.  Taking small annoying dogs for “walks” (meaning carrying them in designer pooch pouches) seems to be the done thing on a Ginza sunday.  I spied this cute dad and daughter ensemble playing with Lego in the middle of the street as if this was a normal day for them.

From Asia II – Tokyo, Ginza

Heading towards the sunset to see what garish neon signs I could find I looked back to see a sight that only need Paul, John, George & Ringo in frame to complete it. Happily, this thoughtful businessman stepped into the breach.

From Asia II – Tokyo, Ginza

Next time we travel to the Tsujiki Fish Market – the largest fish and seafood market in the world.

Hello Kitty Stratocaster

With thanks to Engadget.com and Fareastgizmos.com, here’s one for the lady rockers out there.

The “Hello Kitty” Stratocaster is very limited edition guitar (there seems only to be 3, of which 2 have already been sold) and is available only in Japan. So, it’s not really something I expect to see a lot of on stage around these parts. But, it does look very cool. If you want one it will set you back about $30,000!

Jump into your Japanese White Pages and look up the Mitsubishi Nihonbashi main office to reserve the last one.

Hello Kitty Stratocaster goes high-end – Engadget

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