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Ichi-ban gai, step back 50 years.

Sixth year anniversary at Bar Bran.

Harusame; Awamori from Okinawa. Thinking about a label-of-the-month spot.

Sometimes it's just better not to know.

What could be more natural than a cherub sitting atop a snail blowing a trumpet?

Going home... mind your back.

Drifting

The last two of Steve PP's driftwood paintings arrived this week, so got round to hanging them up with the other one this arvo. Nice one Steve, reckon they look alright together.

The 4-CD set Peter Green Anthology also arrived this afternooon so a bluesy night (month/year) in store... but that's another post.

Thai, Indian or Irish?

The Bar Waterpot just opened in Roppongi with a pretty simple menu of small, regular or big servings of Irish curry. The (Irish) pork melts in your mouth fair play, optional pickled cabbage and fried onions and not a bad kick to it.

The glass tables, poncy bowls and champagne promotion though didn't add much to the authenticity although I'm sure there are some who like the idea of washing down a bowl of Big Irish Curry with a bottle of Moet.

Whisky Live

This guy looks nicely wee dram'd up for Whisky Live Tokyo 2011.

CP+

The not-so-snappingly titled CP+ Camera and Photo Imaging Show in Yokohama this weekend.

Campaign Girls... bless 'em.

Lens Envy. Snapping away on my mobile phone I felt a bit inferior at first, but at least I knew how to use it.

There was an area for about 150 independent photographers to show their stuff and the best of the lot was Yuko Yagasaki. Her Sakada Bitch Project is basically her being snapped Dancing-Matt-like in various spots around the world while doing a handstand. "At least you can laugh at yourself or you can make someone laughJ." Simple but very funny.

The space next door to her handstanding couldn't have been more different. A very poignant photo-journal, My Life Without You was the story of a woman being told she had uterine cancer, the subsequent hysterectomy and eventual recovery. I wondered if these two had met and had chance to chat while they were setting up for the show, the deep-thinking cancer-survivor searching for meaning behind the cruelty of life and the carefree, make-em-laugh happy-snapper artist. It took me a while to realize it was the same woman.

The best part was, the hand-standing came later.

Snaps mapped from a cycle-trip round Japan.

A funky Handycam with built-in projector on the Sony booth.

It's got a small projector bulb on the other side of the viewfinder screen which lets you watch your movies on the wall like they were on Super 8... without the film-jamming, burning, or spiralling into a heap on the floor. Out in Japan in 2 weeks. Hope they add an overdub of a real projector clicking and whirring.

Crash course in marketing. The guy on the far left spent the whole show wondering why the Nikon booth opposite was always packed, but his poor little Trek booth was always empty. No-one.

Maybe he didn't have Nikon's budget for the gorgeous model photo opportunities, waterfalls and light shows, but it might have helped not to call your new product the "Flu Card Pro" and launch it in the middle of winter.

Disappointing show on the analogue front. No Lomography stand but there was a tiny booth with Holgas, Dianas and Pinholes. Got this free Holga 110 giveaway, now just need to find some 110 film.

新聞

Great vending machine. Reminded me of an ATM here a few years ago which had the option to press "English" for English instructions.

When you hit the  "English" button it took you to a screen that said, "Sorry, this service is not provided in English".



This one though is a newspaper vending machine. It's great that they've gone to the bother of translating the 新聞 kanji for newspaper into English, but all the newspapers are written in Japanese. No English papers at all.


Shouldn't moan though, should probably look at it as a good start!

7AM

Tassj and Dale, Japan'd Right UP: Pre-snow, Post-Kabukicho, Outside Berg in Shinjuku. Think they'll be back...

i-Land

A nostalgic walk around i-Land Tower in Shinjuku on Friday night.

49 Sunsets

I've always liked the moment when that last flash of sun finally sinks out of view below the horizon. I was also looking for something to hang on the wall above the sofa opposite Jenny's clouds so a couple of weeks ago, I took a bunch of photos of the mountains opposite as the sun did just that, then cropped, printed, cut, mounted, framed and hung them. 

Think I should really replace those four bulldog clips on the sides but overall, pretty happy with it.