On the morning of the 27th the beginning of the end of this wonderful adventure was about to start… first Sakura Executive Lounge, second Mount Fuji and volcanoes, third amazing Japanese restaurant aboard and fourth this unbelievable eternal sunset as I was flying along the rim of day and night.
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Monday was my last day in Tokyo, so I went to buy some presents in the area of Shijuku, these are some pictures of that day…
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In the evening of Sunday 25th, I went to Shinjuku where I had an appointment with Hiroko, from there we would go to Daito‘s and Kanta‘s workplace where we would meet Alvaro. There is a funny story about how close we all where connected already before the real meeting. I met Alvaro last year at Medialab by the time of Interactivos08?, before coming to Japan my friend Marcos from Medialab introduced me Kanta by email as he had already done with Rie (who further introduced me Hiroko). Before coming to Japan I had already made an appointment with Kanta and Hiroko, and I would try to get invitations for them for The Opening. The same invitation went to Alvaro. At this initial point, these people were, from my point of view, completely unrelated. Hiroko couldn’t come, but Alvaro came as Kanta did but with a friend. What happened next was fantastic. Alvaro knew Kanta! and Kanta’s friend happened to be Daito, who I missed to meet in Linz (before the opening of the new AEC), my interest was because of this. They already knew each other! Next day I met Hiroko who did already knew them as well, amazing! What we did in their fantastic workplace was trying out the myoelectric sensor system on my skin. Later we had a wonderful meal!
The night view from within a Taxi in Tokyo…
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In the afternoon of Sunday 25th, I went to Nakano. Nakano is a metro/train station, there is a big central boulevard street with many shops and a tight network of little streets again with many shops. It is amazing the amount of commerce that takes place in this city. It is impressive the fine grained variety of offered products. I think that both aspects directly contribute to 1) in Japan the crisis will not be felt as deep, 2) in Japan nobody really succeeds in avoiding the need of induced consumption. Yes, I know these pictures are not so interesting, but I just wanted to show a bit.
Then I took the train to meet my friends in Shinjuku.
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In the morning of Sunday 25th, I went to Harajuku. Harajuku is a metro/train station, the weekend is the time when the cosplayers, gothic lolitas and the like gather together on the bridge. Somehow I had high expectations about this place, it was nice but maybe too touristic…
This is the entry to the Takeshita Dori, a street full of little fashion shops where these fashion victims might end up buying something. The rest are pictures taken while walking there.
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During the exhibition I met many, many people… but not many contacts developed into something more interesting. Tewo and Kiborio where really nice and sweet from the very beginning, later we crossed emails and finally we enjoyed this great meal. They introduced me to Kaz, Endo, Makishima, Masui Kun and Shoko. I’m very grateful for having shared this wonderful meal and fantastic conversation with them. Even we are coming from different cultures and different backgrounds it was a beautiful surprise to see how close we were in our reflections…
Kiborio made this portrait of me… it was the first time! arigato gozaimas!
This is a casual picture I took by Shibuya station. It is a traditional Japanese instrument recovered!
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After an intense morning of walking and picturing I decided to have something to eat but while finding the place I would just take pictures of appealing stuff.
There is a nice story about the following picture. Well, this kanji symbol was part of a longer text on a pole by a train-road crossing. I didn’t have a clue of what it meant, I liked it and so I pictured it… A couple of days later a Japanese friend told me that the symbol meant success! funny surprise although I’m not superstitious. Other japanese friend told me that it meant adult! I do not know what to think…
Another nice observation! Japan is not socialist at all but still they have many concrete poles that can feed my obsession…
Are the Japanese trees just different or they cultivate them like this?
And of course the most well known monument in Kamakura… 15m high!
A little god with big balls… what was that for again?
A funny linguistic contrast. There was a bio/nature products shop named KANAYA, but the meaning of kanaya in Spanish is as rotter in English.
As a Japanese friend said, how much of an American colony is Japan?
This was the restaurant, it’s just a pity that by then I had to eat alone. Fantastic cold soba and amazing fuzzy restroom…
In the way back to Tokyo I took a picture of what was a rather common sight in the metro: people sleeping quite deeply.
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Here is a selection of pictures of beautiful temples & shrines I saw while walking by the streets of Kamakura. I have some really special memories from Kamakura…
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In Kamakura I had a new opportunity to be a good tourist and take pictures of temples and shrines. I’m not so fond of taking monument pictures just because they are monuments… however I was determined to do it. These pictures are the kind of pictures I tend to take, they could be in any other Japanese town though.
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The story is simple as can be. She was sitting behind me, but I hadn’t seen her. I was very concentrated expecting to spot the Mount Fuji in any other moment. Suddenly I just realized this kogal was sitting behind me. I kindly asked her whether I could take some pictures, she didn’t speak a word of english but seemed very pleased. Then I proceed among some written text messages as this was the only way she could understand me.
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By Pablo Ripollés and nonsenseengineering.org, 2009-2015. Excerpts, images and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pablo Ripollés and nonsenseengineering.org as stated below with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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