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August 30, 2007
Iriomote cat
I just had my first story on the National Geographic News website. A fascinating one to research too.
The animal in the photo is one of less than a hundred Iriomote cats left in the wild.
"Cars, hotel development, and the threat of a deadly frog fungus are pushing one of the world's rarest wildcats closer to extinction, conservationists warn . . ." read more
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August 28, 2007
On Technorati
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Donald Richie on love hotels
"one research project has calculated that half of all sex in Japan takes place in a love hotel, and that consequently a large part of the country's offspring is conceived in one"
wow!
Posted by tony at 11:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wild animals on the loose in Tsukiji
I am supposed to be taking portraits of Tsukiji workers, but got distracted by this crazy stall last Friday. There were two stalls like this in the market. Only guessing, but I think dry goods merchants also used to deal in stuffed animals.
Apart from the animals in the photo there was an armadillo, crocodile, leopard . . .
I asked the stallholder if they were for sale.
"Depends how much you pay."
Posted by tony at 09:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 25, 2007
Jikaktabi
Cute article on Pingmag about jikatabi
Reminds me of something that happened to a friend from Kyoto. He wanted to buy some plain blue jikatabi for hiking (good for scrambling). The guy in backstreet shoe shop he visited flatly told him, "I can't sell these to you because you are not a shokunin (craftsman)".
He should have gone for a pair of these.
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August 21, 2007
Fish and photos
This is the second article I wrote on Japanese food and drink for the Japan Journal. All about the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo.
It's an amazing place. Barely a stone's throw from Ginza but like stepping back in time. There are plans to move the market, but at the moment the earliest that is going to happen, if ever, is around 2012.
The new site is surrounded by ex landfills, AKA "reclaimed land", and used to belong to Tokyo gas. Of course, it turns out to be soaked in of all sorts of noxious chemicals. The site isn't far from the delightfully named "dream island", another ex rubbish dump that sent a plague of flies over Tokyo one hot Summer a few decades ago! Here's hoping the market stays in its present perfect location.
I built this article around portraits of people working at the market. There are more photos here. It was so interesting that I have started a photo project on the market and am visiting every week. I will upload more portraits at some point when I go through my photos. Too many to choose from at the moment.
Posted by tony at 02:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 16, 2007
under the watchful eye of Japan's leader
Lovely quote from Prime Minister Abe in a BBC article on world economic woes.
"I think the Japanese economy has remained strong but I will be watching it carefully," he said.
. . . nothing to worry about then!
Posted by tony at 05:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 15, 2007
Showa 1945-1989 exhibition (Part 2)
I visited the second part of the Showa photo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Photography last weekend.
This one was all about the "Hero's and Heroines" of the Showa era - sport stars, musicians, actors, politicians (!), businessmen etc.
Interesting, but not sure I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't been in Japan for a while. I only managed to recognize a fraction of the faces, though pleased to see a photo of Rikidozan right by the entrance (the Korean-Japanese who established professional wrestling in Japan). I just saw an excellent biopic on him.
ButI didn't spot Tezuka Osamu amongst all the Showa cultural heavyweights. Professional wrestling must be more respectable than manga!
Posted by tony at 04:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 14, 2007
"China News"
Something interesting I spotted on the train the other day. An ad for a magazine exclusively about China, business stories presumably.
Makes a change from all the stories about Chinese pollution doing the rounds at the moment.
Posted by tony at 05:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack