I’m not waitin’ on a lady
I’m just waitin’ on a friend
-Rolling Stones

Last week, I agreed to meet a friend in Shinjuku, in front of Krispy Kreme. Why there? Wasn’t my choice, so don’t ask.

Anyway, for reasons I can’t quite remembeｒ, I had my camera with me. It was a beautiful late spring/early summer evening and the urge to snap away came over me. Since I was pleased with several of the shots, I decided to include them in a post. So here it is, and here they are.

Man looks into the abyss…

You see him everywhere around Tokyo on the weekends. You know the guy. I mean, what else can you call him but “The Puker.” He’s usually sharing the love in train stations or on the street outside of the izakaya where he just had way too much to drink. Like two or three beers and some fruity cocktail. If you’ve spent a significant amount of time enjoying Tokyo nightlife and have made the usual stops, you know two things about Japanese men: One, Japanese guys, more than most guys you’ll meet from various places around the world, cannot hold their liquor, making sloppy spectacles of themselves most Friday and Saturday nights. And two, a lot of these offenders are college students, the lowest forms of life within Japanese society, and dare I say among the worst in developed nations. Ok, I’m exaggerating a little here. But, just a little.

A little story:
I’m coming home after a hard day at work. It’s a Friday night, around 10 o’clock. I get off a Yamanote Line train at Shinjuku Station and exit the platform, down into the bustling crowds, everyone either rushing to make a connecting train home or exit the station and hit up one of Shinjuku’s major nightlife areas, like Kabuki-cho. At least fifty percent of the people there, including myself, are wearing dark business suits and looking pretty tired.

I exit through the JR West Exit gates and head toward the Keio Line gates for a short, one-stop ride home. Five minutes and I’m there, I think to myself. A slight grin creases my lips knowing I’m just about home and can soon relax in peace. However, what catches my eye next has me staring ahead in complete horror.

About 100 paces ahead, I see what appears to be a lake of vomit taking up most of the space in front of a hallway entrance. I mean, it’s an orange-yellow chunky soup/stew-like mess that looks to have been freshly deposited, the spew-monkey responsible nowhere in sight. In front of me, I see a petit woman dressed in very sharp business attire walking full speed ahead, head down busy texting someone on her mobile phone. She’s heading right for it and closing in quickly. Without thinking, I shout “Hey!” but it’s drowned out in the din. And, before I can shout a second time, she steps into it and her feet go right out from under her, landing her tiny little frame completely within the putrid mess.

Oh god, the horror… Again, I don’t think and start rushing toward her to help out. But, without a moment’s hesitation, she fishes her phone out of the stomach sludge, stands herself up, and rushes off to wherever she was going in the first place. The last glimpse I catch of her reveals a long black coat looking like someone heaved a can of orange paint onto it. I have to hand it to her, though… If it had been me, I would have cried. After that, I would have stood there screaming for vengeance until the police came and took me away.

Most people who puke in Tokyo seem to be able to find a pole, pillar, or corner to hurl their rancid bile into (or onto as the case may sometimes be), so I’m pretty sure the culprit was someone fairly new to the drinking game. Yeah, probably a college student. Did I mention that male Japanese college students are the worst Japanese society has to offer?

This morning I woke to a sore throat and a stabbing headache. After flipping on the TV and making some coffee, I sat down and relaxed while watching the news. Well, it seems that in a period of twenty four hours the number of reported swine flu cases in Osaka and Kobe has increased nearly tenfold. I took all this in while considering my own physical condition. Bullshit, I thought; No Swine Flu for me, baby. And, you know what? After an hour of chilling with my morning coffee, I felt much better. In fact, I didn’t for a minute think that I had the dreaded H1N1 bug. I didn’t. I swear.

But, if you watch the news here, you’ll see Japan panicking in its usual over-reactionary fashion. I mean, no jet balloons at the Hanshin Tigers ballgame during the 7th-inning stretch, school closures, the JFA female soccer team canceling its North American matches… Well, whatever. Its Japan and that’s the way it usually goes.

However, you can bet that the flu mask manufacturers are loving this. There’s no other developed nation in the world that sells more of these things to the general public and Japanese people just cannot get their heads around how Americans, Brits, and even South Koreans don’t make a practice of wearing them. It’s pretty funny when you think about it.

Watching the news (not just Japanese news, but American news as well) about this gets me thinking about the classic Stephen King novel, “The Stand”. You know, the one where a so-called superflu created in a US military bio-weapons lab gets out and infects the entire world, only to leave a handful of immune survivors to fight a Revelations-style Biblical battle of good and evil? OK, the god and devil hocus-pocus nonsense is a bit much, but it really is a great story and one worth reading if you have the time.

Oh well, at least BBC News is still sanely reporting world events.

Throughout my time in Japan, like many Westerners, I’ve been amused and sometimes horrified by seemingly flawless Japanese beauties suddenly smiling and revealing a snaggletoothed grin. Now, this post isn’t meant to be a feature on what yaeba are - you can see for yourself at Yaeba Superstar.com - but to find out how people feel about the Japanese tendency to find many girls with protruding canines cute. Or, more to the point, can Westerners find Japanese girls with yaeba attractive?

As for me, a single crooked or protruding canine tooth has never been a deal-breaker as long as I find the girl attractive. I tend to take things as they are on the whole and try not to let one or two details concern me much, but there are definitely times when an amazingly cute girl here in Tokyo reveals such a train-wreck of a set of choppers that I just have to say WTF!

Two things happened recently to make me write this post. The first is a situation at my current workplace, and the second being a request from a Japanese reader of this blog to post about how Westerners feel about yaeba.

As for the first situation, at the office where I’m currently working there’s a young Japanese professional woman who I work in close proximity to, but rarely have much contact with. Last week, however, we were discussing something work-related when I noticed that if her mouth wasn’t closed, the right and left corners of her upper lip seemed to be caught on something. Then she smiled and I saw not one, but two tiny yaeba perfectly protruding from above most of her gumline. Instantly, images from various vampire movies I’ve seen throughout the years flashed through my mind. Holy shit, I thought at first. That’s amazing. Perfect imperfection? Or maybe, just plain perfection from a different cultural perspective.

Either way, I suddenly found myself attracted to this woman in a way I previously hadn’t thought possible. I know it’s strange, but I can’t stop thinking about how sexy this girl’s yaeba are. God help me!

Anyway, check out Yaeba Superstar.com and take the following poll.

Last month, I worked a couple of days in Ikebukuro. Pretty routine stuff; Today Ikebukuro, tomorrow Shinjuku… or Yokohama. Well, during the first day, I decided to chill with some other employees in the smoking area since there was no one left worth chatting with in the office.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the smoking area was on the building’s roof. Of course, knowing I had one more day to work at that office, I brought my camera with me the next day and took the pictures you see in this post.

I’ll tell you, shooting from the rooftop of that building had me feeling like a spy in the sky.

The first round I took during a late afternoon break. The sky had been clouding up all day, but no rain fell before I could get the daytime shots out of the way. Wanting to go back up and shoot some nighttime shots as well, I was worried the rain wouldn’t hold off for me. But luckily, I was able to get in the nighttime round of shooting just before the sky opened up.

Anyway, hope you enjoy.

This one gives me vertigo

As does this one

Master of all I survey. Ok, well, master of the rooftop smoking area, anyway

Wake up and scare away some f’ing crows, will ya?!

I call this one, “Reflections of Ikebukuro.” Ok, too cheezy. I’ll think of something different

Reflections are preeeteee

This one inspires thoughts of the Japanese Midnight Cowboy. Tell me the guy on the left doesn’t capture Hoffman’s style

Indulge me this one picture, will ya?

Is there something about Ikebukuro that has most people in this shot smiling?

Sunshine Building by day

And by night

Looks different by night

Reflections are preeetteee

The rooftops look better by night

Don’t know why I like this shot… I just do

Look closely and you might see some Karaoke heroes

Update: A couple of tilt-shifted photos by request.

[Show as slideshow]

It’s the first warm evening of Spring this year. My buddy and I are having drinks in Kabuki-cho at a bar that has an outdoor table. It’s about time for last train and hordes of individuals start coming out of the heart of the Cho to make their way back to Shinjuku Station and then home. Since we live in the area, my friend and I don’t concern ourselves with missing any trains and just continue to enjoy our drinks while bantering with various passers-by.

After the last-train rush dies down, a couple of young Japanese men decide to stop by our little outdoor table (large, wooden barrel to be exact) and imbibe with us. We soon find out that they were in the same graduating class at high school and have just met up after a few years of being out of touch.

One fellow is a portly young gentlemen in a fashionable pinstripe suit. An architect living and working in Tokyo.

The other one is the more handsome of the two and he has just moved to Tokyo from Fukuoka. He’s a pharmacist.

Anyway, they’re both pretty cool and we’re glad to have them hanging out with us. We talk about various things. Lots of genuine laughs and interesting stories. However, before too long, this British dude rolls up with a couple of Japanese ladies in tow, one looks to be in her early to mid-thirties while the other has to be at least forty. Ara fo (Around Forty) is a popular Japanese term for such a lady these days.

Well, after a few introductions, they’re now drinking with us and sharing the laughs. Unfortunately for me, Ara Fo sets her sights on me and starts her advance. She actually gets her friend from England to buy some tequila shots and she sets one in front of me. Is this lady hoping to get me drunk? Would I do something I’d regret in the morning if she did get me drunk? I do the shot, but decide to take it easy. Considering that most of the girls I’ve gotten mixed up with lately are younger than me, I’m not quite ready for a sugar mama yet.

So, the conversation continues and she starts inviting me to get together with her in the very near future, possibly even the same night. I play it cool, even acting a little shy, hoping that she’ll let off. But no, she doesn’t. She pulls out her mobile phone and says, “Ok, let’s exchange!” I hesitate and she says “No?”

Alright, now I feel bad and give in. “Ok,” and I pull out my phone. We do the infrared-connection thing, and while we are, I notice Mr. Pharmacist watching us intently. In his eyes, I see a faint hint of…

Jealousy?

WTF? I mean, this guy hasn’t said one word to this mama all night and now he’s jealous? Before I know it, he jumps in between us and says, “No, no! You’re doing it all wrong! It’s (the infrared-connection exchange) not gonna work. You’ve gotta do it like this.” And with that, he whips out his own phone and at the speed of light, he’s received her contact information. And what’s more, he’s standing between me and Ara Fo with his back to me, chatting her up.

Ok, so I’ve just been cockblocked by a scrawny, little pharmacist from Fukuoka. Normally, I wouldn’t take kindly to it, but hey, the guy did me a favor.

What I’m expecting at this point is that the guy will see that his cockblock worked and he’ll let up on the Mr. Charming routine.

However, what happens is that this 24-year-old new-to-Tokyo Casanova gets into a taxi with Ara Fo and heads off. His architect friend, however, stays behind and the three of us head over to another bar for a couple more drinks before calling it a night and going our separate ways. Before we part, though, I tell the abandoned friend to thank his buddy for me for saving me from doing something regrettable. We all laugh and say “Good night.”

I just watched the first episode of a new TBS drama called “Smile” (スマイル) tonight. The show stars two well-known actor/singers Jun Matsumoto and Yui Aragaki, a very cute girl who first caught everyone’s eye in the Mitsuya Cider TV commercials.

Now, let it be known that I’m not a J-Pop lover, nor do I really like most of what I see on J-TV. But, I have seen some dramas on TV here that have really hooked me in and kept me watching, even anticipating the final episodes. Tokyo Tower and Last Friends come to mind.

Anyway, it looks like TBS has itself a winner here with “Smile”, a drama about a young half-Filipino, half-Japanese man who is falsely accused of a crime in the first episode and taken in by a racist police detective. Matsumoto’s performance as a young man terrified of the consequences awaiting him in Japan’s legal system at the end of the first episode was gut-wrenching and has given me a little more respect for his acting talent.

The series looks quite promising and since I work Saturdays most of the time anyway, I’ll be staying home on Friday nights at 10 p.m. to see how things unfold with this new drama.

Everybody enjoys a nice relaxing day in the park. Looks like Yoyogi Park is where even the most unsavory characters can take it slow and enjoy the afternoon.

Monday turned out to be a great day to get out and enjoy the spring weather. Living within walking distance of Yoyogi Park, I decided to grab my camera and stroll down for a little hitori hanami; a first for me, but since my main motive was just to get some good shots and I had no plans to do any drinking, I was fine with it. However, my good buddy Matt was keen to meet up at the park and see what was shaking, so I wasn’t alone after all.

What surprised me most about my afternoon in the park was just how mellow everything was. No big crowds, no usual Yoyogi park craziness… Just a bunch of regular people enjoying a beautiful day as the peak of this year’s cherry blossom season passed.

One thing I have to admit here is that this was the first day where I spent any real time in Yoyogi Park. But, I have to say after this experience, I’ll definitely be spending a lot more time there. I count myself lucky to have some really cool places within walking distance of my apartment, Shinjuku, Shimokitazawa… and now I’m glad to know Yoyogi Park is there too.

A truly great day for chillin’ under the gorgeous sakura canopy

Lots of people were just strolling through the park while on break from work

Ok, Pal… You came down here to read the fu@$ing newspaper?!!

Nice to know there are scenes like this, even in the mad city.

Me: “Guess we can all get along on a beautiful day like this, right?”

Crow: “You better get the f@%k outta here… And take that goddamn camera with you before I…”

Ah, the greatest hanami funtime activity ever… limbo!

Even the man in the moon (or the rabbit, as the Japanese see it) had to take a look down on this awesome day in the park

What a nice day it was.

[Show as slideshow]