DANGER!

Since it is Halloween, I thought it only right to do a scary post, so watch out for this dangerous beastie in his cage. Warning: some viewers may find the following picture bloodcurdlingly disturbing.......



Grrr

Grrr

Lemme out!

Lemme out!

Happy Halloween wherever ye may be. Hope you don't see too many ghoulies!

TWO LITTLE BOYS



Who knows who this happy little chappy is? I spotted his smiling face about three years ago in Sydney around Surry Hills and the city. Last week, with glee, I saw another in Bondi Junction on a brick wall, but when I skipped along with my camera a few days later, the lovely council had scrubbed him away!! These were taken with slide film again, hence the hypereal colour.



I know they probably don't really look like him, but the image reminds me of a special little boy who is no longer with us, but who is still smiling down on another special little boy. A friend lost his father suddenly, and a few years later an old neighbour dug out an old newspaper clipping. There, beaming straight into the camera, was his father as a little boy. Since they were a poor family back then, it was previously thought that there were no photographs of him as a boy, and so the discovery was all the more special.

This one's for you Simon. You will always be smiled upon..........

KX MAO



I happened to notice this just after I got off the train in King's Cross, London, again back in August 2004. I am pretty much always looking up at the clouds. My mum would sit looking out at the clouds, and would get me to come and sit with her, telling me that not enough people noticed the clouds or knew how relaxing it was to watch them go by. I wonder how the artist got up there. I love the choice of position. I also wonder how many things we miss when we are walking along, caught up in our own thoughts, or getting annoyed with people that get in our way....?

WARNING!



Following on from what Mr Reed has to say, another handy few words of advice from the streets (this time from Hamilton, New Zealand 2005). Could this be taken as a sign? I am sure if we choose to open our eyes and minds a little more, there are many signals, guides etc out there that could help us along a little. This seems particularly apt to a friend of mine at the moment (yes you!). Sometimes we can get too whipped up in other peoples' dramas, when all you need do is hold on to the calm inside, and just breathe..................

PINCH



I found this little grabbing hand about three years ago. I saw it twice around Sydney, and looked for it many other times, as I liked where the artist had placed them. This was in one of the tunnels of Central Station. I used slide film, hence the vivid colour and texture. I really like the not knowing exactly what the picture will look like with cross processing. The walls aren't green in reality, but they are just as dirty.

FOR ZAK



I certainly hope you all appreciate the lengths I had to go to in my battle against the Giant Brain. The world is now a safe place! So it seems bigger is better? I didn't really see the blurry patches of sunlight on the last one until I saw it bigger, so you are getting nowt but big from me from now on. I guess I have decided to do a street art stint (which could go on forever), so here is the second picture. It was taken in Brighton, UK in September 2004, when I last visited. Oh what fun we had. I was lucky enough to be there at the right time of day to catch the well-behaved shadow. I am a bit more aware of shadows and light now.....

Zak, I know you probably won't see this, but this one is for you.

PODBRAIN



OK, now that the Tokyo series is done, I am going to have to think on what comes next. As I was racking the Podbrain today, I went and took a picture of this that I had been meaning to capture for a while. It is on the front of an old house along Oxford Street, opposite Centennial Park. I am experimenting with size too, but not really succeeding. What do you think? Your opinion counts.

Does my brain look big in this?

Please be patient whilst the Podbrain kicks back into motion......

FAREWELL TOKYO

OK folks, this is the final Tokyo post. Just a few pictures that didn't really fit into the other posts, but worthy of a nosey I think. First off is a building in Asakusa. Asakusa was one of my favourite words to say. It is pronounced 'a-sock-sa' and is said fast. I thought I sounded very authentic saying it, so I would often ask the way to Asakusa even though I didn't want to go, just to impress with my accent. Try it, it is a nice word to say. A-sock-sa, A-sock-sa, A-sock-sa.

A-hem, onwards......The building is designed by Philippe Starck, his Flamme D'Or building. It is his version of the foamy head atop a decent beer apparently. The locals charmingly refer to it as 'unchi-biru' which literally means 'turd building'. I am never sure of his work. Striking yes, but hmmm, I don't know. It kinda looks like a huge bird that eats gold has flown by and left a useful little gift.....



I much preferred the building next to it, especially the design of the windows at the top. The reflection of light on this building looks great in the picture above (click to enlarge)..........



I thought that these plainly designed apartments in Harajuku were more effective against the grey skies of Tokyo. There was something about all the different shades of grey, and the lettering that appealed to me. For the same reason, I really liked this photo taken with the keen eye of Mr Reed. His photos are very cool in the eyes of Pod, I strongly recommend a peek or two.



More greyness, with a dash of reindeer, one of my favourite animals. They are strong and beautiful, and always catch my eye. I think this was a jewellers. I liked the lines, the greys, the logo, and the reflections..........



I love wandering around buildings, and I also love wondering around buildings. Construction can excite and disgust at the same time. I find cranes scary, but I am unsure why.......



I had to add this, if only for my lovely lovely sister, Lilleth Fair. The man in the box looks like a waxwork dummy of her crazy neighbour Nick, who once bought what he believed to be hens, but were infact fighting cocks that pecked the hell out of his poor wife's ankles everytime she tried to hang out the washing. His goat also used to terrorise my mum when she came home late at night. Those that don't know me probably have a picture right now that I grew up in a farming area, but no, a regular street. These are but two examples of Nick's idiosyncrasies......



This caught my eye too, not sure why.......



As did these three pots and all the white......



And finally, I chanced upon the Steven Klein and Madonna X-static Process exhibition in the Loius Vuitton store (don't worry I wasn't shopping there). It was the opening night, and all these ultra cool Japanese people were going in. I walked by a couple of times, and then thought 'oh what the heck!' and waltzed in as if I had been invited, and got handed a glass of champagne. So I got to see the exhibition midst the coolest of the cool of Tokyo. There were some great shots. I took some pictures, and something happened to my camera at one stage, resulting in this.....................



Right, well that is it. Thanks to everyone for having a look, and for all your great comments. I loved Tokyo, and I will return. Jules, if you are reading, thank you so much for making my visit extra special. I am looking forward to your return to Oz!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

MORE THAN SHOPPING

OK, just to prove I didn't just go shopping, here are a few photos that I took visiting a couple of Shinto shrines, the Meiji Shrine and the Senso-ji Temple. The Meiji shrine is situated behind the shopping area you all went to yesterday in Harajuku. It was a total oasis of calm and quietness after the hecticness (?) of shopping. So very peaceful and still inside. You enter though a torii (gate). This is at the Meiji shrine, and is the biggest in Japan (11m high) and made from 1600 year old cypress.



Once inside a shrine, it is ritual to wash your hands and then to rinse out your mouth before entering the inner grounds. There are little wooden ladels that you use. It took me several hours of scrubbing before I felt I had washed away all my sins.......



The inside of a shrine is more plain simple and less colourful than a temple.



I thought the pictures would look better in black and white as there were many lines and lots of contrast.......



There was a little wishing tree inside the compound. You buy a little wooden plaque and write a wish on it, then hang it on the sacred tree which gets blessed by the monks. I can't tell you my wish, but if it comes true (which it will), you will all feel its warmth.....



The Senso-ji Temple was quite different. It was much more popular as you can see.



The people huddled around the smoking pot are also participating in a cleansing ritual. You waft the smoke over your head to clear the spirit. Here is Yasu washing his spirit.



Unfortunately I didn't have much luck. I choked a little on the smoke. It was being wafted about willy-nilly, but it did look effective against the buildings........



Inside the main temple there is an altar. I didn't understand what to do, but people were bowing and clapping. I would have felt a little silly so I just watched and bowed my head. Others took photos but I felt it was disrespectful. My respectfulness wasn't however rewarded by the Shinto Gods. Next to the altar there's a row of little drawers and a mini tombola-like vessel. You put a coin in a box, then shake the tombola-thing a bit and then a chopstick pops out, with a symbol on it. You match it to one on the drawers, and open it. Inside there is a sheet of paper with a fortune on it. So I gaily picked out mine, feeling all lucky and special, but it was 'bad fortune'. One can cancel this out by rolling the paper up and tying it to an adjacent grill (symbolically leaving it behind). I rolled mine up too tightly it ripped in half, and consequently I couldn't tie it on. So I left, and the first statue I saw was this.....



Eek! But then I found this, which didn't seem quite so fierce (look at the little babies at its feet with knitted red hats on).....



The hat had fallen off the little baby in its hand. I wanted to put it back on, but after all my bad luck, I didn't want to push it.....



To top it off I chanced upon these....



And finally this.



I thought it was a shrine for chefs to come and worship the great God of cooking, but I was informed that the clothes are put on to keep them warm, and that in winter they wear scarves and wooly hats. After a stifled giggle, I forgot all about my bad fortune and wandered off with a smile.

Have a lucky day!

SHO-PPING

That is Japanese for shopping, and here are some shots of a day out shopping in Harajuku. I could not believe the amount of shopping to be done, and the size of some of the shops. Overload. Again I bought nothing (not always for want of trying; some shops don't let you try clothes on!), and spent most of the day staring at people. I could have taken so many photos of people, but I felt a little funny doing so, so I mainly took them from afar. Harajuku is a well known meeting place for teenagers in 'cosu-purei' (costume play) outfits. Basically they get dressed up as their favourite anime characters, or as cute little things. Most odd, but they look cool, and only the Japanese can get away with it. Here comes one now....



I actually saw a middle-aged man walking the streets dressed as Little Bow Peep, complete with crook and a very oversized bonnet, all in white, just walking around most nonchalantly. Not sure why I didn't take a photo, I think I was busy looking, but trying not to. Nobody seemed to bat an eyelid except me. However, it wasn't all weirdness, there certainly were beautiful people about too. Like this young lady......



Ain't she a picture? So much so, here's another.....



Omotesando is the main street, but there are loads of little side streets with smaller shops. I got lost, which was great, I love the feeling of being lost and not knowing what you will find. The street names are either unpronounceable, or rather unfortunate sounding, like this one for instance......



Harajuku is where I found the Snoopy farm, where they clone and fatten up Snoopies to make Snoopy curry. I just couldn't bring myself to go in..........



When the sun goes down, the lights come on, and things get interesting in a different way. This is where Scarlett Johansson sat drinking coffee and looking bored in Lost In Translation (note further proof of the cutesy obsession, with the kitten on the big TV screen).....



There are colourful lights everywhere.......



And it's not until you get a bird's eye view that you realise just how expansive Tokyo is. I didn't have my tripod with me, so this is the best I could do....



All the lovers come to sit and look out over the city. How romantic hey? Ooh, what's that I see? The Japanese version of a builder's crack (buildu craku perhaps?). Sorry......



Don't worry folks. The Tokyo series is almost done! I took so many photos, so winkling them down has been difficult, especially as I have never been good at winkling, have you?

A STROLL AROUND A TOKYO MARKET

Outside the market we went to, there were lots of rickshaw runners hanging around waiting for punters. They were super fit after pulling all those plump tourists around. Over breakfast, before we went to the markets, for some reason I was trying to explain the concept of the 'camel toe' to Yasu, my friend Julia's Japanese boyfriend. First try explaining what a camel is, then how that links to the phenomenon of the 'camel toe'. It went from bad to worse, and ended up with lots of pointing and blushing. I didn't really get the whole point across. Yasu smiled politely and bowed his head. It kinda fizzled out and I gave up. Imagine my joy, when we chanced upon the rickshaw boys. Look at their footwear. By the end of the day, Yasu could use the term 'camel toe' correctly and with ease. A happy ending, no?



Street lamps seem to be different wherever you go. I have a mild fascination with them (which I guess may become apparent in future blogs). Some of the Japanese ones where really pretty. Like this one......



I am guessing that the leaves are maple? They lined the markets. I think they were symbolic of something. Autumn I suppose. They were really cheerful against the blue sky in the eyes of Pod.



You can see them all along the tops of the market stalls here. You can also see the volume of stalls, and hence may get an idea of how hard it was to look properly and not buy everything!



There were all sorts of things to buy. I did buy a lucky waving cat that you see everywhere in Japan, and at the door of businesses to bring good fortune. However, I only bought a small one that didn't have the moving arm. And now of course, I want one. Kitty?



More masks, and even wigs (which also seem to catch my eye, whether in a shop or on someone's head. Sometimes I cannot help but stare, and often have to make a huge effort to curb the immense urge I get to accidentally on purpose pull them off!)



Sweets of all kinds.....



And I mean all kinds! As with the dolls in the junkshop, I am sure that these were arranged so that the looks on their faces told some sort of story (you know you can click on the photos to make them bigger don't you). Highlighting again, the incredible eye for detail, and importance of appearance.



These funny people were wandering around signing autographs too. They remind me of someone, but I can thinketh not who (Cher?). They are famous singers in Japanese musicals.



OK, hope you all enjoyed your stroll around a Tokyo market!

A STRANGE PERFORMANCE

One night we were lucky enough to hear about a little festival somewhere in Tokyo. After a lovely day with Julia out shopping (watch out for the shopping post) and talking, we went along to the little 'thing' for want of a better word. There were many stalls, which of course were full of quirk.

Mainly masks....



and inflatable anime characters,



and balloons.



Of course I wanted to buy EVERYTHING, and consequently bought NOTHING. This is typical of Pod. I do this so many times, and when I finally decide to go buy whatever I had my eye on, it has gone. I do not seem to learn! There were lots of little game stalls, mostly to win goldfish (why did I not take a photo of these?). The contestants get given a tiny hoop with a paper net, so they have to catch a fish quickety-quick before the paper dissolves away. If successful (which wasn't hard as there seemed to be more goldfish than water) they get to keep the fish, if not they are left with a soggy hoop.

I always felt sorry for the goldfish at the circus or funfair. If I ever won one, mum would put it in the crystal salad bowl and then put cress leaves on the top. I never knew why, and still don't understand, but I used to love watching the gold and red and orange flashing through the glassy green of the cress and water, thinking 'ooh, this is mine!'........

I digress!

Then we came across a little show on a platform (that was too high to really get a decent angle to take a photo from). The musicians were playing instruments that I had never seen before, but the sounded like zithers, if anyone knows what they sound like. Your guess is as good as mine as to what the performance was about. Apparently it is the same every year. First this piggy Tina Turner lookielikie came out and gently shook those things in its hands at us and trod carefully about the stage.



Then this happy-faced guy popped out. Him and Tina seemed to like each other.



The pig left, and the happy man appeared to be miming that he was making little stools in the shape of mushrooms. He would stroke them and clasp his hands to his chest, obviously overjoyed with his creations.



Suddenly this angry looking fellow with a large hooter (a Japanese Noseybonk hey English readers?) pounced out and smashed the imaginary ?mushrooms with his stick and frightened the lovely man off! I wanted to shout 'boo!' and 'hiss!' and 'he's behind you!!' but everyone in the audience looked very serious, and as I didn't really understand what was happening, I kept well buttoned.



The angry guy pranced about for a bit too long, and we got bored and went and ate far too many noodles and watched far too many fish being won. Everyone, except me, had bought masks I realised on the way home..........