I can never get enough of this event. Here’s another festival that I’ve been top multiple times and always come away leaving with mixed emotions. What did I actually see? Spirits entering a person’s body, an exorcism, a spiritual cleansing? Was it the mind over coming pain? Or was this a farce, a spectacular event put on just for local and foreigners. I imagine it’s a little bit of all the above. Thousands come to Phuket, Thailand’s premier island, to witness the unthinkable.
The Thai-Chinese in Phuket have long passed on the vegetarian festival to purify mind and soul by refraining from meat consumption and meditating. Symbolising the presence of the deities throughout the festival are 9 lanterns lit up and placed aloft on Ko Teng poles. On the 6th day of the festival, there are religious processions and incredible displays of face-and-body piercing. On the last day, a “Koi Han” ceremony to exorcize ill fortune and a farewell ceremony for the deities at night.
The Vegetarian Festival sets the bar high for all other wild, wacky and bizarre festivals in the world.
I’ve uploaded these images and more into my Phuket Vegetarian Photoshelter Gallery:
During the Yurakucho is a business center brimming with suited salarymen and quite a few foreign businesses. At night the traditional old restaurants and street vendors come out and offer yakitori, grilled chicken, ramen (noodles) and anything else that goes well with beer and sake. A city where history and future all comes together in one street is how I describe Yurakucho.
Omotesando is to Tokyo as 57th street is to New York. Those that have been to NYC know what I mean. Wide streets, designer stores, models and plenty of fashion conscious Tokyoites shop Japan’s best street for high end fashion. The Omotesando area is good to walk around. The expensive brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Prada all have stores there. So do many international brands like The Body Shop and Zara. There are many so-trendy-that-it-hurts coffee shops and cafes dotted along the street. As a result, it’s sometimes known as “Tokyo’s Champs-Élysées”. There is affordable shopping on Omotesando, but you’d be better off darting down the side streets and lanes looking for little boutiques and shops where the locals go. The main Omotesando drag (particularly Omotesando Hills) is for those with plenty of cash to throw around.
Every week there are new photos categorised by the fashion hotspots and stores around Tokyo of Shibuya, Harajuku, Ginza, Omotesando and Daikanyama.
Tokyo Tower continues to dominate the Tokyo skyline as the world’s tallest self-supporting steel tower, easily seen from the Imperial Palace and Roppongi. It boasts an antenna that broadcasts all that vital anime that Japanese watch on TV stations in Tokyo like NHK, TBS and Fuji TV. I like this image especially because of the way the foliage frames the tower.
The last time I was in Shinjiku I stumbled upon a row of bars each with a unique colorful character. ”Golden Gai” (Golden district) is an area in Shinjuku adjacent to Hanazono Shrine and renowned with its more than 200 small bars as the place where writers, poets, manga artists and directors, actors and staff of film and theater get together, drink and talk all night. Each establishment in Golden Gai tends to have a different theme and caters to a different crowed of the artistic type. The small bars tend to be rather friendly places with a real international feeling attracting people from all over the world and Tokyo to discuss their latest projects.
The origin of Golden Gai was a black market in front of the east entrance of Shinjuku railway station, which opened soon after the end of the WWII on August 15, 1945. The black market gradually turned into a district of outdoor bar stalls, but they were ordered to close by the Occupying Forces in 1949. The stalls then moved to the present Golden Gai area, which was then an empty lot overgrown with weeds and crossed by a street-car line. “Shiki-no-michi” (Four seasons alley), the walkway adjacent to Golden Gai, is the trace of railway.
The bars don’t open their doors till 10pm but stay open till the early am hours. During the day Golden Gai is very photogenic. In fact the area is down right colorful. Looking at these images it’s hard to imagine how raunchy and ramshackle the place is. Golden Gai is a dive bar paradise and is very unique.
You may think of crowded streets and tall buildings when you hear the name “Tokyo”. But besides all those high-tech areas, there are also many traditional areas in Tokyo. Shitamachi, which can be translated as “Downtown” refers to the traditional shopping, entertainment and residential districts of Tokyo. In these areas you’ll find old Edo culture still alive in the capital city. Edogawa and Katsushika Wards are located along the Edogawa River, the Eastern most point of Tokyo which borders Chiba Prefecture. The best part about Shitamachi is that it’s far away from tall buildings. In Shitamachi, you can understand the personalities of the people living there. The people of Shitamachi are to be seen as representatives of the old order and defenders of traditional cultural forms of Japan.
One of the coolest neighborhoods in Tokyo is Marunouchi, It’s home of the Marunouchi Building, full of expensive shops and plentiful restaurants, and the Tokyo Rail Station.It’s also home of theTokyo International Forum, Japan’s largest congress center, is situated on the boundary between Marunouchi, Tokyo’s central business area and the Ginza shopping and entertainment district. The Tokyo International Forum is one of the city’s many architectural highlights. The tracks of Japan Railways, the city’s principal system of transportation, bounds the eastern elevation with two of the most heavily used train stations, Tokyo and Yarakucho stations, located to the north and south. The International Forum includes two theaters, one among the largest in the world, over 6,000 square meters of exhibition space, several conference rooms, restaurants, shops and other amenities. The soaring Glass Hall serves as the main reception area for the Forum. By using laminated glass the architects were able to allow sunlight into the below ground Lobby area. Laminated glass was also used for several walkways and bridges giving them the appearance of flying across space.
The plaza at the center of the complex is one of the more interesting aspects of the TIF. It serves not only as the entry point for the complex, but as a public space where one can gain refuge from the impersonal hustle and bustle of the surrounding Marunouchi area.
A list of up coming events can be found here. For example there is the Art Fair Tokyo which is scheduled in April and every first and third sunday of the month is the Oedo Antique Fair.
There are few areas in Tokyo retain their old world charm, but the Yanesenneighborhood is one of them. They have actually succeeded in establishing Yanesenas a “brand” where visitors can experience the atmosphere of an unspoilt, traditional urban quarter. Yanaka has not changed in its essence. Many things are changing rapidly in Tokyo; however, Yanaka is one of the constant factors in the changing environment.
The name Yanesen refers to the 3 connected areas of Sendagi, Â Nezu and Yanaka, which can best be reached by JR yamanote-line, nippori-station. The area is rather huge and you can get lost easily. The streets are small and consistent of many back alley shops and cafes. This is the real Tokyo! While you are walking around Yanesen, you will see old temples (over a 100), traditional wooden houses, cozy, small old-styled pubs (Izakaya) with the locals enjoying a meal and a drink, kids playing in the narrow road and many people paying their respects at the temples. Yanesen is also a great place to shop for traditional souvenirs. I picked a tea pot on my last visit.
Tokyo is an urban jungle that reflects it’s past and present.  It’s not uncommon to find a Geishagirl shopping in Ginzaor Japanese business men tucked away in a small yakitori joint. I saw some things that reminded me how modern Tokyo is.  The first was Roppongi Hillsthru a glass enclosure looking towards a bank of escalators.  I liked the reflections the camera caught in the back ground. The second photo was taken in the lobby of the Tokyo International forum. The mirrors created a very futuristic look.
The modern Tokyo is a gallery of mirrors, buildings and windows reflect each other creating a virtual city, what is real, what is a reflection what is digital. People appear and disappear between buildings, life become a game in a maze of images. Within the complexity and craze of Tokyo, a subtle harmony exist, a combination of tradition and futuristic simplicity.
YakitoriAlley, also known as Omoide Yokocho, or as the locals delightfully call it “Shonben Yokocho†is one of those hidden treasures that you accidently stumble upon. It’s what you expect when you go to Japan, small eateries in tiny alleys. Yakitori Alley, is just that, a winding alley filled with small yakitori stalls, where most can only accomodate about 5 to 6 people at most. There are other Yakitori streets in Tokyo and most are clustered near major train stations, but this one is tucked away in Tokyo’s busy Shinjuku district, a district of bars, electronic shops, massive department stores and the luxury Park Hyatt (the hotel featured in the movie “Lost in Translationâ€).  What a great find!
