Waitpinga beach

One of the best places on earth IMHO…

There used to be life on Mars….

The Friday Comic (17)

Special post for the reckoning people :-))

My dental hygienist

I just HAD to post this. My friends' baby, Meelo, cleaning my teeth. Who would have thought that plastic knives served that purpose so well :-)) He's such a sweetie.

Gymnopédie For The Proverbial Morning Toast #4

Kojimachi Interstices and Tokyo Memory Walks - Arthur Huang's solo exhibition

Art is my colleague in the lab so I am familiar with his work, but I had no seen his latest achievement yet, Kojimachi Interstices. For this solo show he printed huge B1 size panels of layered photographies. All the pictures were taken in the neighbourhood of Kojimachi (Tokyo). Each panel represents the layered interstices between the buildings in the alleys of one given block of houses (follow me?). And since he's a compulsive archivist, you can be sure that no alley of Kojimachi is missing.

Layering interstices gives rather interesting results. 

Along with Kojimachi Interstices Art also exhibited his Tokyo Memory Walks, which I had already seen last autumn. 

During one month (September I think?) he documented his daily walks by drawing them on eggs every evening. One egg is one walk. One string is one day, containing all the walks of the day (time scale and distances are kept proportional to give an accurate projection of what the day really consisted of).

Symbols used to draw memory walks. Door, elevator, escalator etc….

During the last two days of the show Art organised an interactive performance, in which you could describe a walk you remember doing, and he would draw it for you.

You won't believe how difficult it is to remember the details of a short walk you have done just a week ago! A very interesting exercise, and a true piece of art. Thank you for the fun!

A few vintage Japanese matchbox labels

Some beauties I found on Pinterest this morning...

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Shameless Self-Promotion Thursday (3) - The Tokyo Art Book Fair 2014

Good news! The Bookworm's Lunch and a few members of the Art Byte Critique group will participate in the 2014 Tokyo Art Book Fair organised by Zine's Mate, September 19-21. Yaay!
I would like to say come and see us, but I know that crossing oceans isn't exactly like hopping on a downtown bus. Or the streetcar named Desire :-)) In any case, I'm looking forward to the event and it will be thoroughly documented for the Suitcase.

Gymnopédie For The Proverbial Morning Toast #3

Quelque chose de Tennessee

Marie's homage to Tennessee Williams

There must be good reasons for classics to be classics. Reading A Streetcar Named Desire I caught myself wishing it would never stop. The inherent beauty of every line, the essence of something mesmerising, which makes it hard to close the book. And I was wondering if all good things came out of tormented souls like the one of Tennessee Williams.

Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brandon in A Streetcar Named Desire

“I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don't tell the truth, I tell what ought to be the truth. And it that's sinful, then let me be damned for it!”  A Streetcar Named Desire

“How beautiful it is and how easily it can be broken.” The Glass Menagerie

“There's a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go.” 

“They told me to take a streetcar named Desire and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at - Elysian Fields!”  A Streetcar Named Desire

“And funerals are pretty compared to deaths.”  A Streetcar Named Desire

“My only point, the only point that I'm making, is life has got to be allowed to continue even after the dream of life is--all--over....”  Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

“As for me, no one will ever love me. But you could get used to me, couldn't you, Jimmy?” 

And then I remembered that song, homage to Tennessee Williams, by Johnny Halliday (written by Michel Berger). I'm not a fan of Johnny in general but there are a few of his songs I really like, and this is one of them. Maybe I also like it because of the fake american setting of the video which is actually quite charming. Enjoy!

Gymnopédie For The Proverbial Morning Toast #2

Bad Boys

J-League Division I  -  Urawa Red Diamonds vs. Sanfrecce Hiroshima

The Friday Comic (15)

Oh nooo scratchy stubble! Big love problem! :-))

Gymnopédie For The Proverbial Morning Toast #1

My Big Fat Iranian Lunch

I was planning to pay a visit to Yanaka yesterday but the weather was iffy. In fact it started to rain as soon as I reached the place. Looking for a shelter for the time being I dropped into an unexpected Aladin's cave where I had a wonderful lunch that considerably cheered me up.

Yes, all this for me alone! And that was after I had already gobbled up the soup, and before they came with dried apricots and dates (the best dried dates I ever ate). I don't exactly know what everything was but I can say that it involved liver and kidney and pickled garlic. All this for 1080¥ (11$ - 8E)!

My neighbours ordered a round of shisha (waterpipe) and kindly let me have a go at it take a picture :-)
It was nice talking to them as the waterpipe experience made them kind of happy-giggly without being silly (yet).
I'll go back for sure!

All Shirt And No Trousers [Instant Emotional Teflon Coating ™] - Sneak Peek II

Koenji (Tokyo)

I have been strolling around in Koenji the other day in search of second-hand shops. The shops were alright but I liked the neighbourhood more for his charming scruffy side. Koenji was the birthplace of the punk movement in Japan, though exploring the streets now I barely see any leftovers of punk material. There is a red neck / blue collar taste to it, which to me is much more interesting and authentic than the polished shopping malls of the posh Tokyo Midtown.

Am I getting this right? Charmy ladies for free?

A saké bar with menu.

The fish market.

Sapporo beer outdoor bar (and shopping trolley out of don't know where).

A used book store.