Work, in Japan, is taken very, very seriously. People are diligent about doing their jobs no matter how menial and menial jobs abound. An over abundance of white-gloved guards and attendants direct traffic, hand you your ticket, tell you what you are not allowed to do, or otherwise offer a no value service. I can only explain it as make-work.

One pissed off guard in front of the Louis Vuitton shop sees me taking his photograph.

This guy motions demonstrably to me that photography is strictly prohibited.

On a positive note, I started full time on a project that should last a few weeks.

A beautiful old house in my neighborhood. I won't, however, show you the building next to it, which is a monstrosity, nor the one next to that, nor the next one, nor the one after that...

Someone told me the difference between New York City and Tokyo is that in New York beauty is found at the macro level, but just don’t look too closely at the grubby corners; in Tokyo beauty is found at the micro level, up close, but you have to ignore everything around it. (In my opinion, this fits nicely with the Japanese approach to industrial design: each tiny little part of a product seems well designed, but the composite is often weak, e.g. cars.)

One oasis of beauty in Tokyo is the Nezu Museum. The museum itself is small and only occasionally has an exhibition really worth seeing, however, the grounds are a sea of tranquility with a pond, small tea house, and meandering footpaths.

Some days for me Tokyo is so soul-wrenchingly ugly.

For example, this is what I passed on the way to Hama-rikyu Gardens.

Most days, however, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Travel photographers in Japan can be wickedly deceitful. At best they merely crop their photos so that you cannot see the ugliness around, at worst complete photo manipulation is performed*. Below left is the picture from the Hama-rikyu Gardens brochure, on the right is the photo I took from the same angle.

Notice what’s missing from theirs?

* Yes, I know American fashion photographers have been doing this for ages.

Years ago in Harajuku the rockabilly scene was all the rage, dying out partly due to a governmental crackdown on noise pollution. Offenders were occasionally hauled down to the police station and forced to sign a form that says, 'sorry.'

Last year a new licensing program was put in place (with government-run auditions). Now street performers are back, this time with a more 60's Beatles/Stones influenced aesthetic.

In Harajuku, a street rocker in the background with a white guitar (love it!) and the sweatshirt in the foreground with a fine bit of Japlish: I will take my thing ...certainly someday.

There will always be a special place in my heart for Harajuku and as I call them the "freaky girls" that strut their stuff every Sunday. Cosplay (costume play) at its finest, these girls are pros in front of the camera. So very performance art.

No outfit is too extreme, however, themes do emerge. Two are the "Goths" and the "Lolitas". There is even a magazine targeted to these girls, aptly named Goth & Lolita.

Below are representative samples of a Goth and a Lolita.

From my bedroom window I look across to the store i-stylers, a department store with the most edited selection of merchandise. In each product category there is one or two items as if to say, if you were to buy a flower pot this is the flower pot you should buy. On the website you learn their store concept is: “A shop in a real life... Thoroughly and slowly, because it is the age of the unseen... We would like to be a part of your peaceful and tender lifestyle.” If I purchased anything it there I would not be peaceful, I’d be broke.

I like to watch people climb the spiral staircase inside the "cube". I wonder if they can see me.

Below are some photos from inside the store:

Last week I went to Aoyama Cemetery to view the hanami parties. Lone scouts sent ahead to locate the “right” location (very feng shui) sat smoking and bored until the others arrive. By 4pm on Friday most of the prime spaces were reserved, some with traffic cones and signs, others with chalk outlines, and one with a small sign held down by 4 cans of beer. Vendors sold (in addition to beer, beer, and sake) grilled hotdogs and octopus on a stick.

Now the cherry blossom petals are just beginning to fall.

The newest Prada store, a rhomboidal glass atrium, is opening soon just down the block from my apartment . Some criticize Prada for putting the architecture before the fashion, but in Tokyo buildings are fashion items, constructed just to be torn down again in a few years.

All I want to know is how to get an invite to the opening party. I’ll even wear my Prada dress. Click here for my latest mirror project submission.

The stage was set perfectly. A friend was visiting from out of town. Together we walk Omotesando and come up to a seriously long line, literally hundreds of people waiting for something. I tell her, "now I am going to show you who really owns Japan." For her it wasn’t inconceivable that I should know Japan’s real owner as I had spent a large part of the day dazzling her with my brilliant insights gained while living here.

We finally get to the front of the line and see this:

At the same time, Louis Vuitton knows who they owe everything to: the Japanese market. Every third woman you see in Tokyo carries an LV bag, even the punk chicks with dyed hair.

To capitalize on their complete obsession, Vuitton’s new collection was inspired by Japanese cartoonist, Takashi Murakami. Like, totally kawaii!

The most amazing thing is that people were actually buying them, at $500 plus a pop.

Like my new LV logo inspired wallpaper?

As promised I have completed and posted my tutorial on how to create a blog using Movable Type, the software used to run this site. It is based on a DigitalEveJapan workshop I taught in March 2003.

A kind of "blogging for dummies," it is aimed at the beginner and assumes little knowledge of website design/building. However, programmers and other web gurus unfamiliar with blogging may find it useful.

Click HERE for the tutorial.

Comments and questions are welcome and encouraged, especially any blogging tips that you may have.

Surely it may seem like I have the perfect life: fancy restaurants, exotic trips, and fabulous footwear. But, I am sorry to have to tell you that not everything is all sugarplums and gumdrops over here at Tokyoshoes. For one, the heel of my favorite Sigerson Morrison shoes just broke; for another, the bank I work for in Tokyo closed last week leaving me with little means of sustenance and soon no place to live. (note: the bank was my main client; I have one other).

What will I do? Where will I go? Stay tuned. I love living in Tokyo and hope like hell that we will stay.

Dropped shoe. I found this shoe stuck in the bushes somewhere near Shibuya. Who lost it and how it got there we shall never know.

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