jinboucho antique book heaven.

one of the basics of tokyo is that towns have "topics", the most obvious to many are akihabara where you find electronics everywhere and more recently otaku culture, or shibuya where you will find the young women's shopping paradise. but there are much more distinct smaller towns with likewise more surprising "topics", like ochanomizu for example, which specializes in the sale of musical instrument. and there is jinboucho which has uncountable little used and antique book stores.

UDON

Do you remember the day when you found out that all italian noodles in reality are just variations in shape.
Welcome to japan, the land of noodles, where noodles do not only come in a diversity of shapes but tastes as well and each of them unique.
i found this udon shop by accident in ikebukuro, which ought to have the fattest noodles i have seen to date. with the temperature rising there is nothing better than a cold noodle dish.

first snow

a very rare occurance in tokyo is snow.
this has to do with the fact that cold air coming from the asian continent is forced to rain down the snow north of the mountains that strech the main land of japan. but if the cold air comes from the east, snow sometimes reaches tokyo, once or twice a year. only to melt in a matter of hours.

special delivery: the first picture features the police box of ikebukuro in the background.

under the bridge

In density of tokyo's townscape, even the homeless have to seek for a place to build their shelters. someone found his temporary home under a bridge right on the central reservation between the four lanes of another midtown highway near ikebukuro.