I love Tokyo.
OK, I'm closing my eyes... What do I see?
In a totally random order:
Lights, more lights and even more lights, cars (plenty of them as well), superfriendly people, weird people, totally over-styled people, great food, crazy food, beautiful girls, mad architecture (copycats: NY's Empire State, Florida's Disneyworld, Paris' Eiffel Tower), baseball, TVs everywhere with mad TV shows, hurricanes, people with hi-tech gadgets, manga everywhere, and again lights, cars, people...
Hmmm...
Tokyo is also extreme solitude for those without the keys, and you see them wandering here and there, isolated, doubting that their heads were full of idiotic dreams; you see them hypnotized by their isolation, their hands firmly grasping their backpacks.
I prefer the forbidden, the small recesses in the shadows, the dead-ends along the train tracks, the tiny areas full of arrogance, where I couldn’t have gone alone because I couldn’t have made it back. Back there is a small footpath that makes its way around houses, and at four in the morning, it’s probably my favorite place in the world.
PAUSE
Ikebukuro, Tokyo
As with any café’ that’s worth hanging out in, it’s the atmosphere that makes you want to stay. The music usually hovers in the realm of electronica, and it’s where I discovered the sounds of Taichi (they were playing his I Am album), who—I was told—also happens to be a regular at the café. With custom-made furniture and revolving art showcases (some of it extending to the furniture), it’s a breath of fresh air in a somewhat sordid (‘cause of an old reputation that lives on) part of the city.
RANDOM TUNES
The Go! Team debut album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, at first seems like it’s all over the place. A dash of hip-hop raps, some seventies era funk/pop, and some catchy melodies that remind you of classic eighties TV shows that never existed. But it all works, and it forms something that’s still unmarked.
Okay gotta run, off to catch a Cinemalaya film with Gino.
Check out his blog—it's a rather compelling random read!
O ha!
