three couples

Baby, baby, baby

On my way back from Tsukiji fish market this morning . . .

three more . . .

More Shinjuku portraits

Three more Sunday afternoon photos from the streets of Shinjuku. I’ve been messing about with flash. The puzzled look on everyone’s face is because I’m holding the strobe at arms length over their head!

Shinjuku portraits

I was in Shinjuku taking portraits of random passersby Sunday afternoon . . .

Travel article - “yo! le tengu”

Trip to Takao-san today, a 599 meter high mountain that’s actually within Tokyo’s city limits. Supposedly it’s guarded by “tengu” demons like this one at Takao station.

taking a break . . .

jizo statue in the grass:

Alex Kerr Interview

I’ve interviewed Alex Kerr a few times now, and he’s always a fascinating person to talk to.

This interview was mostly about the exquisite Kyoto machiya townhouses his organization is restoring. Interview conducted by telephone to Bali (!) and for the ACCJ Journal.

“A ryokan is lovely, but ryokan are not homes; they are designed to be inns,” says Iori Chairman Alex Kerr. To see how Kyoto people really lived, Kerr recommends you stay in one of Iori’s self-catering traditional townhouses. “In a Kyoto machiya you are staying in a real home. It’s about living as people used to live there, . . .” see the rest

An older interview for the Japan Times HERE

The Theatre Royal

I spent a few weeks in Bath last year on “holiday”. Here’s one of the resulting stories.

All about the Theatre Royal - truly one of my favourite places in the world. After 8 years in Japan I still haven’t been to the theatre here. It wouldn’t be the same.

“I can’t remember exactly when I first visited the Theatre Royal in Bath. It could have been a Christmas pantomime or an English literature class trip or a proud grown-up night out with my mother. Yet, the different parts the theater played in my childhood are fresh in memory. I went on a teenage date and saw The Blues Brothers rock a Victorian auditorium (we had standing seats, but that didn’t matter, as we danced the whole time). . . “see the rest