Aonghas Crowe

Atari Kôji

A polite country where even the lights bow.

Art?

We are permitted to criticize a song or a novel if it is bad, but when it comes to the visual arts we are derided as know-nothing simpletons if we don't "get it". Granted some artists are truly ahead of the times, and it takes a generation or more to appreciate what they have produced. Still, I can't see this--I really don't know what it is--ageing very well. Ten, twenty, thirty years from now it will be the same eyesore it is today.

Even . . .

My sincerest apologies for this. I just couldn't help myself.

Many have asked if this was my own work. While I must confess that my aerial bombing is not always the most accurate when flying a Japanese toilet, this is not my handiwork. I came across it one Sunday morning during one of my many long walks.

Seeing it, I couldn't help but think of the Japanese proverb "Even monkeys fall from trees." (猿も木から落ちる: saru mo ki kara ochiru.) Disgusting as it was--and I hesitated before taking the photo. I really didi--it was heartening to discover that even the Japanese haven't quite gotten the hang of their own toilets. 

Warning!

Japan is a dangerous place!

Summer Mellons

Pyramid-shaped watermellon. At ¥105,000, the seeds better be made of gold.

The Deadly Four

Inside a Japanese hospital where the number four is a no-no.

Subway Station

Might I suggest a space or two?