goJapan

noJapan

2009-10-05T18:25:00.003+09:00

I left Japan on Friday 2nd October 2009 at 18:30 from Tokyo Narita.
Thank you for everything.
Goodbye.

2009-08-23T15:08:00.000+09:00

oh my omiya

2009-08-23T14:59:00.000+09:00

asakusa summer

2009-08-23T14:44:00.001+09:00

chef in the sky

2009-07-22T14:46:00.000+09:00

geiko guidance

2009-07-22T14:38:00.000+09:00

kinkakuji

2009-07-22T14:31:00.000+09:00

gion

2009-07-22T14:23:00.000+09:00

torii tunnel to the top

2009-07-22T14:18:00.000+09:00

walk walk

2009-07-22T14:17:00.000+09:00

the way to travel

2009-07-22T14:14:00.000+09:00

up with the birdies

2009-07-22T14:03:00.000+09:00

ripple the rain

2009-07-22T13:43:00.000+09:00

kamo-gawa side

2009-07-22T13:40:00.000+09:00

coasting

2009-05-17T23:15:00.000+09:00

suited

2009-05-17T23:05:00.000+09:00

tokyo circus

2009-05-17T22:56:00.000+09:00

goodness geisha me

2009-05-12T10:34:00.000+09:00

thanks for the information

2009-05-12T10:31:00.000+09:00

t-shirt paradise

2009-05-12T10:27:00.000+09:00

airport architecture

2009-05-12T10:24:00.000+09:00

mountain top venders

2009-04-03T01:15:00.000+09:00

negative ions

2009-04-03T01:11:00.000+09:00

oh dear

2009-04-03T01:10:00.001+09:00

black boiled

2009-04-03T01:09:00.000+09:00

he mist home

2009-04-03T01:05:00.000+09:00

bloom time boom ting

2009-04-03T01:01:00.002+09:00

taped in

2009-04-03T01:00:00.000+09:00

beaming

2009-04-03T00:57:00.001+09:00

posed and poised

2009-03-06T20:58:00.000+09:00

tipsy

2009-02-09T11:31:00.000+09:00

scare mongrelling

2009-02-09T11:29:00.001+09:00

take it to the bridge

2009-02-04T00:34:00.002+09:00

fly before you buy

2009-02-04T00:31:00.003+09:00

aloada pagoda

more words six

2009-01-26T22:36:00.007+09:00

this is about trains - trains are commonly thought of as boring things to talk about.

let me let you in to a secret,
of interest to me so i wish to bequeath it,
there's an esoteric end carriage where few people go,
apart from myself and the others who know.

the seats face forwards and backwards too,
and sidewards do the ones right next to the loo,
but most of important of all and where i am this is rare,
is the space to stretch your legs and without a care.

but maybe i have made a mistake,
and some form of liberties i have begun to take,
for so few people inhabit this space,
i feel like a cheater in this here rat-race.

the reasoning at which my train of thought arrives,
is that there must be a reason why this secret survives,
there must be a reason why most people reject it,
i conclude: because it stops so far from the exit.

2009-01-07T16:58:00.002+09:00

cross with me

2009-01-07T16:55:00.000+09:00

bicycle bunch

2009-01-07T16:31:00.001+09:00

taxi taxi

2009-01-05T23:12:00.000+09:00

hey!

2009-01-05T23:11:00.001+09:00

high in the hyatt

2009-01-05T23:09:00.000+09:00

it's a building

2009-01-05T23:06:00.000+09:00

dirty love

2009-01-05T20:34:00.000+09:00

decisions

2009-01-05T20:27:00.000+09:00

party at the palace

2009-01-05T20:26:00.000+09:00

shaker

2009-01-05T20:21:00.000+09:00

scraper maker

2009-01-05T19:20:00.002+09:00

a home from home

2008-12-29T17:09:00.000+09:00

found it

2008-12-29T16:37:00.002+09:00

snodeck

2008-12-26T00:21:00.001+09:00

2008-12-26T00:17:00.004+09:00

crane's the name

2008-12-26T00:12:00.003+09:00

excuse me

Tokyo Review

2008-12-23T18:37:00.009+09:00

So goJapan's sister site launched over the weekend.

Tokyo Review
'Here to provide you with hardline facts and upfront reviews...the ins and outs of the most vital city on earth.'

Click here to check it out.

2008-12-16T01:43:00.001+09:00

parsley, sage

2008-12-16T01:11:00.004+09:00

rosemary and thyme

2008-12-14T21:14:00.003+09:00

warmers for the workers

the spin-off

2008-12-09T23:00:00.011+09:00

so the short film hikawasando - winter sun was shot on hikawasando, but 30 seconds from my front door, on a crisp december sunday morning.

this morning however, as i slipped my earphones into my ears and dragged my feet towards work, it seemed that the said walkway had undergone something of a transformation.
a plethora of stalls in a multitude of colours now lined the route, an illuminating alteration to the advent of the autumn browns. trucks and lorries lined the adjacent road and people were seemingly in the midst of preparing for something exciting, scurrying with boxes of who knows what, skilfully attaching canopies and lanterns, rewiring electrical connections, handling ducktape like true professionals.

the 'Daitousai' festival was to begin this evening and i felt their excitement.

---

this evening i felt their disappointment, elicited from their eyes as they handed my dinner to me with their cold, damp hands.

most stall holders had not waited for the evening it seemed, leaving as soon as the rains began, leaving those that remained with thoughts of what could have been and the reality of what was: a washout in its truest sense.

those that were walking the walkway were walking home from work and as quickly as they could, the unappeasable rain cutting in the december bite.

despite the bite and the numb, sodden backs of my legs, i found myself wandering slower than slow, entranced and aimlessly guided by the lights, umbrella in hand. i marvelled at the stall-holders' tenacity verging on doggedness, well aware of the hours they had put in, a gracious nod given to each that i passed.

the stalls contained wide selections of alluring home made delights, their steaming aromas floating with an unstirred equanimity beneath their protective canopies. i was drawn to something akin to a good-old-British-fry-up (in truth this is somewhat 'far-fetched' given that it partly consisted of cabbage, shrimps and ginger), with a fried egg on top that glistened. as the stall-holder received my 500yen with the utmost gratitude, his wife relentlessly swept water from around their feet, an aeonian effort by the crew, it seemed, to save their sinking ship.

i ate my dinner at home and thought about them out there cooking in the rain.

it was delicious.

2008-12-09T00:28:00.003+09:00

hikawasando - winter sun

2008-12-05T01:23:00.000+09:00

that fuji moment

2008-12-05T01:19:00.002+09:00

colonel santas

2008-12-05T01:18:00.000+09:00

a compliment

2008-12-05T01:15:00.001+09:00

oke doke

more words five

2008-11-27T12:23:00.009+09:00

my eye-lids intially cease to part
due to a refusal to adopt the art of acceptance,
a reluctance to leave where i'm at in dream space,
on the tight-rope between light and dark i dance.

but there's a man standing, tapping
his foot and his watch simultaneously staring,
shaking his head, tutting 't's through his teeth,
beneath the sheets, in my head, at the end of the bed,
in my thoughts as i sit, making the call,
with a smirked smile so wide as though he knows it all.

"hello, i'm the stand-by teacher", i say,
"calling to see if you need me today"
"hold the line", i hear as the voice retires,
it returns, "it's ok you won't be required".

and that's it, he's gone, he's flittered away,
he nervously scurried and looked back once on his way,
in his eyes a reluctance to release fate from his hands,
but it's too late, it's my day off and i'm making plans.

2008-11-24T12:37:00.001+09:00

happy happy hachiko

2008-11-24T12:34:00.001+09:00

never-never land

2008-11-22T17:13:00.003+09:00

natural fictitiousness

2008-11-22T17:11:00.000+09:00

natural fact

2008-11-22T17:09:00.000+09:00

natural factual

2008-11-22T16:55:00.001+09:00

natural factory

2008-11-18T00:42:00.002+09:00

there's no escaping those lucid eyes, bound to Britain and its gloomy skies

2008-11-18T00:17:00.003+09:00

no way

two months in - integration readiness update

2008-11-17T01:12:00.004+09:00

how long since you arrived?
it's been 8 weeks.

'settled' yet?
well, in addition to the essential knowledge that i acquired last month, i know:

some basic Japanese phrases
how to pronounce English words in a Japanese accent

so almost ready to fully integrate into Japanese society then...
nope, but i do have a mobile phone contract if that helps?

2008-11-15T00:14:00.001+09:00

the place where

more words four

2008-11-14T01:29:00.005+09:00

a story that ends where it began,
two lost souls left searching again,
after years of stomping the streets,
and their minds,
compatible connections were lost,
the lines resigned.

so they take what they will and continue forth,
forcing the fables
appearing to be able.

willing the worst to wither away
table tops, the wooden worries of today,
and leaving legs loose,
unsteady as the storm sang
his song, the one
that ends where it began.

2008-11-13T00:28:00.003+09:00

for sunshine on the underground

2008-11-13T00:25:00.002+09:00

and here's your prize...a spaceship

2008-11-12T23:49:00.003+09:00

with killer boots

adjust the exposure

2008-11-09T13:41:00.009+09:00

a few weeks back i sent the 'free hugs' photo (goJapan- 29-09-08) to the guardian.

it has been featured here, amongst some more deserving photographs, in their October travel photography competition top 20.

take a look.

2008-11-02T00:30:00.002+09:00

my new apartment (pronounced "mansion" in Japanese)

2008-11-01T23:34:00.002+09:00

be not afraid of going slowly, be only afraid of standing still

word up

2008-10-26T23:47:00.007+09:00

Give me a spirit that on this life's rough sea
Loves to have his sails fill'd with a lusty wind
Even till his sail-yards tremble, his masts crack,
And his rapt ship runs on her side so low
That she drinks water, and her keel ploughs air.
George Chapman

2008-10-22T20:39:00.000+09:00

buddhafly

2008-10-22T20:36:00.002+09:00

amita buddha

2008-10-22T20:32:00.001+09:00

inside the belly of a buddha

2008-10-22T20:31:00.000+09:00

gastronomical

one month in - integration readiness update

2008-10-20T22:24:00.004+09:00

how long since you arrived?
it's been a month.

'settled' yet?
not sure, this is what i know:

how to catch a train
where the supermarket is
how to get to work
where my apartment is
where to find peanut butter

so almost ready to fully integrate into Japanese society then...
another month should do it. watch this space.

more words three

2008-10-17T21:32:00.008+09:00

subservient secretary pouring the drinks,
expected to mind read, to know what they think,
must never walk ahead and never disobey,
and be the last to leave at the end of the day.

no room for advance, no gap for promotion,
an increased work load rewards her dedication,
to the company at large and it will serve you well,
so keep the skirts short and wear the stockings as well.

and in your spare time we recommend you learn a second language,
to improve relations with our foreign investment managers,
you owe it to the company to give up your weekday evenings,
not to mention your boss under his comfy concrete ceiling.

2008-10-17T12:27:00.000+09:00

hot soup

2008-10-17T12:24:00.002+09:00

biking hiking

2008-10-17T12:12:00.001+09:00

i say you say danger

more words two

2008-10-15T00:05:00.009+09:00

there's a man collecting cans,
collecting cans, collecting cans.
collecting cans is the man,
collecting cans with his hands.

the man has a bag,
a bag for his cans,
a bag for his cans,
the cans collected with his hands.

there's a man collecting cans,
collecting cans, collecting cans.
collecting cans is the man,
collecting cans with his hands.

the bag is on a trolley,
on the trolley is a bag,
a bag for the man's cans,
the cans collected with his hands.

there's a man collecting cans,
collecting cans, collecting cans.
collecting cans is the man,
collecting cans with his hands.

the man wants some money,
some money for his cans,
so he can buy what we don't know,
more bags to collect more cans?

2008-10-14T00:25:00.001+09:00

it mings

2008-10-12T22:59:00.000+09:00

this one blew me away - slick, slimy, foreboding, epic

2008-10-12T22:43:00.000+09:00

singled out

2008-10-12T22:29:00.000+09:00

let's go lego...in the road

2008-10-12T22:24:00.000+09:00

wow!

2008-10-12T22:14:00.001+09:00

baywatch

leopalace - the tour

2008-10-10T22:04:00.000+09:00

2008-10-10T00:34:00.000+09:00

for mr lovepants: scrapers scraping the sky spectacle

2008-10-10T00:18:00.000+09:00

maybe you do, maybe you don't