'Happy Halloweeeeeen!'

Halloween in Japan = party time for adults (or for a Cosplay kid, just another night on the town). Tokyofashion.com offers full coverage of this year's festivities here, including a terrific video shot mainly in and around Shibuya's famous Center Street and "scramble" intersection..

Tokyo love letter

When Laura from Travelocafe ("a cultural and luxury travel blog") left a comment here (see raw beauty) I clicked through her link to find this Top 10 Places to Visit in Tokyo. All great choices, and gorgeous pics, like this one of Shibuya crossing:



Me with my boys in the same spot, different time of day, not quite so crowded:

 Photo by Dee and Tracey of 37 Frames

'tis the season

Tokyo can look quite pretty in the rain. (I hope my friend Lena won't mind that I stole this photograph of hers right off Facebook. It's so much better than any of my own!)

Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

by Lena Ulgenes

street fashion

Fancy footwear, frilly socks and more, spotted around town in recent weeks:

Saved the best for last (thanks for this one, Terry!)

Scramble in the rain

On a wet Friday night in Shibuya crossing, virtually everybody's got a brolly, and almost all of them are made of clear plastic or pastel cloth. Why do New Yorkers insist on carrying black umbrellas? It's so depressing! (Or have things changed since I've been gone?)


Sorry for poor-quality pics - I shot these with my iphone inside the Shibuya station passageway connecting the JR side with Mark City. Click on an image for a (marginally) better view...

hashi for the whole kazoku

Well it's official - we are leaving Japan at the end of June. Emotions are mixed, of course, but I'm generally happy with this plan, grateful to have had the time here, etc., etc., and fully intend to enjoy the remaining months. I'm also determined not to run around town buying "last chance" stuff. Like rolls of washi paper and grapefruit Frisk mints. We've collected enough mementos to last a lifetime.

But I have my weak moments, like on Friday afternoon, when I walked past Tokyu Hands on my way to run an errand in Udagawacho, in Shibuya, and, for the record, did *not* go inside (that place is dangerous - it sells everything you never knew you needed - like paper clips shaped like clothes hangers, and sumo wrestler kitchen magnets). But there was this nice man outside the north entrance, selling chopsticks, and engraving them too.

Long story short, now everybody in the family has a pair.

The hashi artiste told me he's only there occasionally, as he moves around to other locations (other Tokyu Hands department stores in Shinjuku and Ikebukuro) but he'll be selling, and engraving, outside the Shibya store through this weekend.

Watch him in action:

After engraving, he rubbed gold paint into the grooves.

 
Finished!

shortcut to Shibuya station

Walking south along the JR train tracks, standing bars up ahead on the left

Kaaaaaaan!

The other night I finally had a chance to check out where they filmed the karaoke scenes in Sofia Coppola's 2003 film Lost in Translation. It's a Karaoke-Kan in Udagawacho, just off Center Gai and a few minutes walk from Shibuya station. Aside from the fact that a few of the rooms - like 601, where the movie was shot - offer amazing views of the street outside, the place is nothing special, really, one of a generic national chain of establishments where, like Shidax and Big Echo, you pay per hour and per person for a private room. I do like the direct telephone line to the bar, and when the waiters stoop on bended knee as not to block your view of the screen. But I need to ask: why are so many karaoke-box tunes accompanied by video footage of the Brooklyn Bridge?

Alas, our small group of four women, arriving at this Karaoke-Kan around 11:30pm on a rainy Friday night in November, could not book 601 (or 602, another room the filmmakers used), but were instead escorted to a windowless space down the hall, so we could have been anywhere. And the song selection fell short - no Adele! can you believe? - which surprised me, especially when just a couple weeks before I had spent half an hour in a karaoke room with the kids at EST, also in Shibuya, on the east side of Meiji dori across from Miyashita koen, and they had everything. EST also has ping pong, billiards, bowling and a videogame arcade - a post for another time. (And is it pronounced "est"? or "ee-ess-tee"? Anybody?)

As we were leaving to go home around 1 a.m., we saw that 601 was vacant and so stepped inside to snap a few.  I've been hearing Bill Murray singing Elvis Costello in my head ever since: "What's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding..." 

Ya think Bill stood right here, in this same spot?!??

Karaoke-Kan, 30-8 Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. (Located northwest of Shibuya station and the big scramble crossing, on the same road as the big Coach, Loft, HMV and Zara stores; if you are walking with Coach and Loft on your right, HMV and Zara on your left, the building will be ahead on the left hand side before the police office/koban, where the road bends to the north toward Tokyu Hands.)
Tel: 03-3462-0785
Open 11 am to 6 pm