worldstallestpygmy: March 2012

Roppongi arts night 2012

Roppongi arts night is a series of art installations from Roppongi Hills through to Roppongi Midtown. One night of art in a very busy section of Tokyo.

The major attraction of the 2012 show was 10 foot high balloon characters of a girl and her dog by Ms Yayoi Kasama.

Installations included blue balls.

A series of coloured crocodiles out the front of Banana republic.

Ladybird skittles behind Roppongi Midtown.

A giant Kokeshi doll inside Roppongi Midtown.

In the basement corridor of Roppongi Midtown – Satin drops – demanded attention.

And diamonds for the kids to play in.

6:18 PM | Category: Entertainment, festivals, Living in Japan, Out and about | 0 comments

The hard black

There are vending machines everywhere in Japan. Early in the morning I needed a coffee. I had to choose a differnt coffee I couldn't bring myself to get this one.

8:17 PM | Category: Living in Japan, Lost in translation | 0 comments

March trip to Australia

A quick trip back to Australia with a great sunrise on the plane and getting home as the floods continued to float debris down the lake.

8:15 PM | Category: visiting Australia | 0 comments

Tokyo reflections

A reflective day near Ginza.

4:43 PM | Category: Buildings, Living in Japan, Out and about | 0 comments

Boat racing (or Kyotei) is one of 4 sports that Japanese are legally allowed to gamble on. There are 24 boat racing courses around Japan and 4 in the greater Tokyo area. One cold March afternoon I headed outto the boat race course at Edogawa to see what it’s all about. Boat racing stadiums consist of the 600 metre course with stadium style seating on one half of the course allowing punters to watch the entire race.

Youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJXzTa_XcLI&list=UUqWAFQwtHhG8n8wvFprYTPw&index=1&feature=plcp

The first thing you notice on the way into the boat racing stadium if the imposing statute overlooking the entrance (entrance price 100 yen into automatic gates) and the crowd. The crowd is dominated by oldermen, there’s not much in the way of a festive race meeting vibe and very few kids.

Races have 6 control boats and require the boats to go around the 600 metre course 3 times. Races are generally over in less than two minutes. Races start with a “flying start” where the boats run flat out at the start line with the aim of crossing the line within one second of the start time. Boats crossing the line either one second before, or one second after, the start time are scratched and bets on those boats are refunded.