Local Festival

This is the second time I’ve taken part in the shinto festival near my house. It happens every two years and involves hefting a 1 ton portable shrine around the neighbourhood with regular stops for sake and snacks. We start off at the local shrine 9am and finish around dusk at 5pm.

I took these with a Ricoh GR1 film camera. It was inconspicuous enough that I could get in among everyone. Having said that, everyone was so hyped, and so sake-soaked, I probably could have used anything.

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Stuffed panda for sale. Any takers?

(apologies if you have come to this post looking for cute panda toys)

What can I say? A stuffed panda at the Tsukiji fish market . . .

There was a price tag and certificate of authenticity attached to the panda: I can’t remember exactly how much it cost, but plenty of zeros. I guess that exporting the panda would be illegal but buying or selling it in Japan would be OK?

The stallholder looked pretty nervous all the same. He must have thought I was from the WWF.

(More deceased fauna after the break).

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Tokyo Game Show 2008 photo slideshow

Tokyo Game Show 2008 from Tony McNicol on Vimeo.

Tokyo Game Show 2008

I survived Tokyo Game Show 2008! Imagine 8 hours imprisoned in a dark cavernous space packed with hundreds of excited Japanese otaku. Two winges:

1) Why was there a queue of about a hundred journalists at the press desk come 10am opening. Surely the world’s largest game expo could organise online registration?

2) Why is it called Tokyo Game Show when it’s not actually in Tokyo? It’s in Chiba, near Tokyo Disneyland, which is also not in Tokyo. And couldn’t they hold it on the same side of Tokyo as my house?

You can tell I am tired.

From a job for Rex Features in London. This girl was advertising a fantasy role playing game . . .

(More game show photos after the break)

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Plastic food factory

Now, the weird thing about plastic food you see in restaurant windows in Japan is not just that it looks completely real. It’s actually made in a way that mimics real cooking. Chefs chop and dice plastic vegetables and spoon plastic curry and rice onto real plates. They even put plastic pasta through a spaghetti machine and fry plastic tempura in oil.

I only wrote the the text for this particular story but I might have to go back to take photos some day!

The story below was for the ANA inflight magazine. Thanks to Tadashi Ikeda for the photo of your correspondent holding a plastic fish.

“The worktops are crowded with plates and bowls, chopping boards and knives. Jam jars full of colorful ingredients jostle for space with spoons, ladles and large tureens of liquid. Ovens stand here and there, and women in aprons bustle past carrying plates and trays. It could be any restaurant kitchen except, oddly, there is no smell of cooking.

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Knife workshop near Tokyo

Wow, that last post got a lot of hits

These photos were taken for the same job. The workshop here supplies knifes to the shop in Tsukiji, only cooking knives though, not long tuna knives. I think those techniques are a little too sensitive to photograph.

Many Japanese craftsmen sit on the floor and hold the work with their feet. This guy was in a little hole in the ground . . .

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Tsukiji knife photos

[UPDATE 10 Oct 2008: The full story is now on the wesbite of Rex Features: here]

I’ve been taking photos of a 240 year old knife shop in Tsukiji fish market. This is the owner of the shop sharpening a cooking knife. If you buy a knife at the shop you can bring it back to be sharpened for free.

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Tokyo Design Festa

This is a slideshow from Design Festa at Big Site last year. Lots of weird photos of weird art and weird people.

Just testing out You Tube on this blog. More recent slideshows soon.

a link to my You Tube channel