Autumn (Tokyo Studio)
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November 29th, 2008
Like most places, Saturday is a busy shopping day and Ikebukuro was filling up with people by about 11am. You don’t have to be in Tokyo for long to notice the distinct styles of dressing. Subcultures like, cosplay, Lolita fashion, visual-kei (visual style), hime-kei (princess style), kogal, and gyaru, have attracted a lot of media attention. Of course, there are a whole assortment of others that seem so normal that nobody thinks are worth mentioning, like the smock dress muji-look, mitchiboom-look (Chanel suit wearing Empress look), and the rough, ready, and iron hearted man look (adopted by Canon to sell a range of new cameras). Everything and everyone has a look.
This shop in Ikebukuro has a look – blank. It doesn’t believe in advertising or signage (save the ones that are printed from the ink-jet, perhaps due to popluar request).
December 1st, 2008 at 11:40 am
Your lives in Tokyo, surrounded by people, shops, fashion and marketing sound so different from the lives of yours that Lucas and are borrowing here in Austinmer! We see so few people each day that we can say hello to everyone we pass. There are so few shops that the arrival of the temporary “sustainable shop” in the gallery on moore st., selling eco-goods, caused great community excitement at the weekend.
Today is the first day of summer (we think) – and it feels like it! We swam first thing, and the rock pool was like a washing machine – big waves and foam. It’s hot and muggy.
Soon you will swap your lives back, from urban winter to country summer. I predict severe reverse culture shock!
x
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Mmm… you may be right there, although the swap is probably preferrable to ‘from country winter to urban summer’ I feel.
One thing that both of our borrowed lives might not be so disimiliar is that I am sure if a new ‘sustainable shop’ opened here, it would also create a great commotion in the neighbourhood – possibly involving long queues.