Let's condoming! Only in Japan

To make condoms something a Japanese girl would be comfortable buying, a teen magazine has loaned their brand to condoms.
The magazine name: Popteen. And now a brand of condom. Ha!
Why not verbatize* "condom" while they're at it? Let's condoming!

* I can make up words, too.

Via photographer Jim O'Connell's blog.

New book on Japanese street culture

(Up)Rising Sonz! is a 300+ page pictoral book spotlighting skater and street art culture in urban Japan. It represents the generations which have influenced skate style, fashion, and street attitude, one of the main sources for the creative essence of Japanese city youth. These skaters-turned-artists now boast legions of fans and their influence reaches into fashion, literature, film, and art. I'm curious to know if the authors included anyone associated with The Ghetto, a rad space in Tokyo focused on skating and the street art scene. The Ghetto is located in a former "love hotel" and includes an indoor skate ramp and private-club-like bar on the street level. Upstairs the former guest rooms have been converted to little shops with skate gear, clothing, and art spaces. Here's a few snaps from when I was there in February.
(See more Japanese street art in my Flickr photostream.)







(Up)Rising Sonz!
Scott Kinsey (aka GOODFEAR), Mark Felt
304 pages
7"x10" Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-86154-330-1
US $49.50 (er...a little rich for my purse at the moment.)
first edition published in January 2008 by Booth-Clibborn Edditions

(ht to Heavy Backpack)

Host girls in Japan: my most-viewed pic from trip

host girls: 21st century geishas
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

This quick snap is of two "host girls" in the Shibuya neighborhood of Tokyo.
Host girls and host boys are frequently seen in the "entertainment" neighborhoods of Tokyo (and other major urban centers) in the late afternoon and early evenings. Girls are hurrying to their clubs jobs and boys are hanging out on street corners drumming up customers. Host boys and host girls earn their money by socializing, flattering, and developing emotional relationships with their regular customers. Modern day geisha.

A documentary on the sub-culture host industry, titled The Great Happiness Space: Tales of an Osaka Love Thief, was produced in 2007 and is available on Netflix. (Which I don't have, so someone get this movie and invite me over, please.)

Automated beer dispenser

I spotted this contraption in a teeny, tiny little restaurant in Tokyo. It pours the perfect glass of beer at the touch of a button.
The dispenser was situated right next to the only table in the place. You serve yourself and just shout over to the kitchen when you refill your glass, so they can keep track of what to charge you.
Another only-in-Japan thing. (One of many.)



p.s. this is my first video clip.

The Tokyo maid cafe experience

Maid cafe experience
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

Maid cafes are located in the Akihabara neighborhood of Tokyo -- the mecca for electronic, computer, and gamer junkies. Tiny little maid cafes are sprinkled through the district. Clued in by Time Out Tokyo guidebook, we had to try this only-in-Tokyo experience.

We picked one at random located on the 4th floor. At the entry, we traded our shoes for house slippers and shuffled to the right where the parlor was located.

To the right were curtained off areas. For "massages." Yep, it was that kind of place. The three maids ("masseuses?") hardly knew what to do with a group of 5 gaijin of mixed gender sitting in their little parlor.

There was a creepy guy sitting in the corner when we first arrived. He left about 10 minutes later. Must have been transitioning back to the real world after his massage.

After we ordered beverages, a second maid prepared a snack: artfully arranged nacho cheese Doritos and chocolate-flavored hard candy on a saucer. Surreal.

I don't think the "maids" had ever mixed a drink or brewed a cup of coffee before. It took 15 minutes and much discussion between them to serve coffee, beer, and a bacardi with soda. I suspect the girls were hired due to other skills. (We didn't try any of their other potential skills.)

Lee was able to get a photo of a maid before we were told, in sign language, "no photos."

It was very odd, sleazy, and funny.

Here's to embracing all sorts of experiences and opportunities in life!

Valentine's day card

valentine
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

It's heart day here (I'm still in your future) and chocolate is flowing through the streets.

Happy Valentine's Day!

warm hugs, loves, and kisses.

Appropriating Photographer Yasumasa Morimura

Japanese artist/photographer Yasumasa Morimura challenges passivity in viewing art. His work is based on timeless classics from the likes Warhol, Rembrandt, and Duchamp and reinvents the images by placing photos of himself in place of the human figures. Two of his works are part of the UBS Art Collection, currently showing at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo.

Here's Morimura's take on Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase:


(Angels Descending a Staircase, The UBS Art Collection)

Each face, foot, figure is his own, and with individual expression. While the figures are mirror images left and right, it becomes off-kilter in the lower half of the work. This piece challenged me to think about similarities and contrasts: same/different, male/female, surface/substance, western/eastern.

The Angels work is definitely SFW (safe for work): the UBS collection works hang in the corp's meeting rooms, offices, and such. Not all of Morimura's pieces are SFW however. Many are downright provocative and can be off-putting for the uptight set.

Check his web gallery for the more challenging images: particularly this not SFW pinup and marilyn. And some amusing SFW images: still life with fruit, pop music. (I don't know the real titles. The site is in Japanese.)

The Mori Art Museum's current show is Art is for the Spirit with pieces from sixty contemporary artists, including Qin Ga, Gebhard Richter, Cindy Sherman, Jean-Michael Basquiat (!), Masumo Vitali Riccione, and Roy Lichtenstein. The show runs through April 8th, 2008. The museum is located on the 52nd floor of the Mori tower in the Roppongi Hills development. Admission includes access to the Tokyo City View.

when in Asia, ride a bike

I borrowed my host's bicycle yesterday and tooled around the Kichijoji neighborhood for a couple of hours. Everyone rides bikes here, of course, but they don't wear special clothes for it. Guys in their business clothes. Gals wearing dresses or skirts, with leggings and high heels (usually boots).
I didn't fit in.

When it's raining, riders hold an umbrella in one hand and steer with the other. One senior lady had an umbrella holder attached to her handlebars so both hands were free to steer. I bet that's the equivalent of a walker - - younger people wouldn't be caught dead with one on their bike.

The streets are very narrow and property walls go right up to the street. Most intersections have mirrors so you can see if someone is coming from the cross- direction. I don't know if there are rules about yielding to the left or to the right - I can't even keep that rule straight when I'm driving in the U.S. for pete's sake. So I yielded whenever there was a potential collision. Good thing it was mid-morning on a weekday and light traffic, otherwise I'd just have to go for it and hope for the best.

At one point, I was on a busy road and had to enter the roadway to go around a truck parked in the bikeway. I navigated around fine, but when I entered back onto the bikeway I caught the curb a little and over I went. I feel like an eight-year-old with my scraped knee and elbow! Good times.

Tokyo Photo: Connected

Seen at The Ghetto. More on that to come.