merry merry christmas: illumination3

I figured i would not have time to post before christmas, so here it goes out:

to all my friends and family:
merry christmas to you.

merry merry christmas: illumination2

This is one gorgeous illumination. it is very near to my house and illuminates the whole parking lot next to it. it is arranged so that the top points at the colored glass window which is a regular feature of this private house.

merry merry christmas: illumination

What a disgusting week, stress all throughout. but it is done! ill take tomorrow a day of and will head to hokkaido this weekend. that will make sure christmas is white.
speaking of christmas in japan. it is unlike new year no big deal. the yaer end holidays are detached from holy night and usually one has to work. the real thing with all the cultural backdrop is new year (shogatsu) and that is also when japanese travel to visit their families.
point is, just like with halloween or easter or valentines day, if there is a chance to consume japan will import the celebration along with some fine designer handbags.

in my experience, christmas in japan is synonym with illumination. all people go crazy over the thematic light installation attached to the shopping centers in tokyo. but walking with the crowds observing the lights one cant avoid to notice that illuminations have somehow detached themselves from christmas (or lets be fair, speaking in technical terms, advanced from it). nowadays what is illuminated in least cases has a connection to christmas. like near takashimaya the circus illumination or near roppongi the blue artelligence (sic!) illumination or the shibuya illumination which is barely recognizable against the everyday illumination of adboards.

good morning

When is it time to get up? when the crowd of grandparents start invading the park right next to my house and begin ye olde game of gateball.
japanese love their games with little balls. seriously, golf is soo big here!
but if they start finding it hard to swing the golf club or finding the small white thing you have to hit, it is gateball next. its amazing.

caught in the act

I just thought, one thing good about the bicycle take-away is that you will never see those rusty abandoned bicycles near OUR station. though you will see them around the 200m radius from the station. because it is quite common for whoever to forget where they have put their bicycle or assuming it was stolen, when in fact it still is near the station because one couldn't care about riding back home on it with a blood alcohol ratio of 3+ promile.
however recently, i was lucky to witness the actual act of taking away. very orderly, very calm. they were actually taking them away all at once, 4 or five little trucks. i guess the crew of a single truck alone would be too vulnerable faced by a mob of angry bicycle owners...

short trip into the province

Yesterday i went on a short business trip to oota in gunma prefecture. amazing, how 2 hours car drive away japan looks so different from what i am used to here in tokyo. most notably, there is space, a lot of space, mostly parking space. in these places you cannot be without a car i presume. it really looks a lot like the united states (outside of new york, of course).
the town just merged with neighboring towns resulting in a bigger income. and they are going to spend it on architecture, too. what i was most impressed by however were the countless nude sculpture all over the place. it gives you a clue about ootas golden days far far back. ahh, there is few things better than mayors spending money on sculpture and architecture, a true patron of art.

teawater

I passed by this spot today. actually, i do so nearly every day, because it's near the place i work. but today it occurred to me that this is one of the best scenic spots of tokyo at night. the town is called ochanomizu. the train station can be seen to the right. it looks almost like an enclosed illuminated building against the darkness above the river. in the back you can make out the advertisement boards of electric city akihabara.

weather report

I am kind of in an uncreative phase right now, so i will bore those who bother with a seasonal picture from tokyo for a change. all those red leaves should be gone by the time i post this, i think.