In Tokyo, land is expensive and so is the annual tax on land, so houses tend to be narrow and high, so typical houses are around 90-100m2 spread over 3 floors! Here’s the narrowest in my neighborhood!
In Japan, everything comes in a cute version, everything! Even batteries! Bullet Train “Shinkansen” batteries, anyone?
Our local supermarket went through a big renovation and has since become very fancy, with a deli where sushi can be bought per item. They are individually wrapped and one just chooses their favourites, place them in a tray and pay. There is a colour coding system for pricing. It’s all very well organised!
Japanese people also like to celebrate the Beaujolais Nouveau. It’s apparently the second biggest consumer of this French tradition! But they market it quite… differently… with a hunk Korean singer as their endorsement!
I was on the train, on my way back home when I saw this sumo trainee sitting across from me. He was himself sitting beside schoolgirls in their uniform, playing on their phone; I felt that the scene depicted Japan so well that it deserved a photograph! So I took a sneaky photo…
Summer means festivals and the wear of yukata (light summer kimono). The shops have started to display their new collection of yukata and accessories such as bags and geta sandals. Would I buy this one?
Tokyo has a mild climate in the winter and for that reason, there are quite a lot of flowers during that period too, which makes the winter season more colorful!
I love this type of contrast: traditional and modern life brought together. It makes me smile whenever I see an elegant lady in kimono in a place that feels “wrong” like the train or the supermarket!
At the train station, I met this group of happy young people holding dolls heads on which they had proudly practiced hair styles.
Walking around the neighborhood of Gakugeidaigaku in Tokyo, I discovered a small restaurant with old hand-made looking delivery bikes parked outside! A man explained to me that the spring system at the back of the bike is to keep the food box stable when the delivery man is riding the motorbike.
