Standup Comedy Tokyo - April 6 / 7 2016

Just bringing the blog back to life to promote some proper standup comedy coming to Tokyo this week at a local pub called Good Heaven's.  British Comedian Phil Wang will be putting on two shows on April 6th and 7th. More details here at Standup Tokyo.

Railway Technical Research Institute - Open Day 2012

Thanks to a posting on the Yahoo Japan Trains group I got to hear about the Railway Technical Research Institute Open Day. The research complex at Kunitachi is usually open once a year to allow the staff to show the public what they work on.

I went along this afternoon and took a few photos.

The rail welding demonstration is quite a spectacular display of pyrotechnics

Several of the large machine shops used for testing railway technology were open. This one is used to test the tensile strength of rails:

The pantograph testing device was very interesting, and the rail fastener testing device was also in operation and you could watch it rattle the rail. You could take a two minute ride on the Hi-Tram, if you were prepared to queue for, what looked like, quite a while.

Inside there are plenty of indoor attractions too. Model railways were very popular:

There were various displays and demonstrations including superconducting magnets, one involving a lot of what I guess was liquid nitrogen to demonstrate the effect of low temperatures. Another 40 photos of the event are here if you would like to see more.

Ginza Art Gallery tour

I have enjoyed the Improv comedy shows from The Pirates of Tokyo Bay on several occasions and every time I go I always buy some raffle tickets for the prize draw they hold each time. The last time I went to What the Dickens to enjoy the show, I was delighted to win a free voucher from the FindJpn.com team for an Art Gallery tour in Ginza. It made a nice change to take a half day off work and spend it visiting six different art galleries earlier this afternoon.

Our tour guide Yoko selected a range of galleries to visit that cover a variety of different styles. One of my favorites was the Shukado gallery. In contrast to the other galleries, where the paintings are hanging on the walls, here we were treated to examine some fine Ukiyoe prints carefully extracted from storage. The gallery assistant explained that collectors have to keep the wood block prints away from light to prevent them fading. There were some Views of Mt Fuji from the famous artist Utagawa Hiroshige, and other prints including one with a giant spider which was very striking.

At another gallery the walls were filled with the works of André Cottavoz. Now there's an artist that really laid it on with a trowel. I casually enquired about the price of the one of the, almost three-dimensional, works of art: it was 2.7million Yen. The gallery owner also admitted that the price had come down from the previous price tag of 3.2 million yen. For Cottavoz, who died recently, it seems death has not brought on a increase in the price of his paintings.

In the final gallery we visited, three of Lee Mingwei's installations are on display. The works were not for-sale, I leave it to your imagination why that is so.

Our guide was friendly and enthusiastic. If you were a tourist visiting Tokyo with limited time and a very keen interest in purchasing art, I think she would be helpful in locating galleries and talking with the staff. For residents: have a wander around Ginza, drop into some of the over 200 galleries and let me know what you see.

Improv Comedy in Tokyo: Pirates of Tokyo Bay

I am always on the lookout for Comedy shows to go to and, thanks to a review in the Japan Times I discovered some Improv Comedy happening a pub called 'What the Dickens' in Ebisu.
A group calling themselves the Pirates of Tokyo did a show on Oct 16th 2011

Doors opened at :7:00pm and the show started at 7:30 Entrance was 1500 Yen which included one free drink. Food was available.

Location : "What the Dickens" , 1-13-3 EBISU-NISHI SHIBUYA-KU TOKYO. 3 minutes walk from Ebisu station, JR Yamanote line and Hibiya subway line.

If you have ever seen the TV show "Who's line is it anyway" then you'll know the kind of thing.

The show was in both English and Japanese. I was interested to see how they would handle that. In fact it was very well done with some games all in English, some all in Japanese, and some in a mixture with some translations.

The show is divided in to a number of different games.




I really enjoyed the evening and I am looking forward to their next show they hope to put some time in December. I'll be posting details here when I hear about it.

Random Photo of the day

I took this photo this afternoon somewhere in Tokyo. No prizes, but can anyone guess where this is?



Yes, they have wheels on them, and no I have no idea what they are going to do with them. They appeared within the last month.

One of the joys of life in Tokyo, the random things you see around here every day.

Sumo : Hakuho wins 60th consecutive bout

We visited the Sumo today. The 12th day of the Tokyo Grand Sumo tournament at the Kokugikan at Ryogoku. It is a fascinating spectacle. We arrived fairly early around 1pm and were enthralled all afternoon until the final bout just before 6pm. Hakuho the 25 year old Yokozuna was looking to continue his undefeated run of 59 bouts. He fought Baruto and won very convincingly in less than thirty seconds :



Tickets are still on sale for the last two days Saturday and Sunday if you are quick. We had a group of three seats in a small 'box' which means you sit on a cushion on the floor. So if you prefer a seat, you are better off with the cheaper tickets, that are in the second floor and bring a pair of binoculars. We bought ours at Ticket Pia on the second floor of Shibuya 109 building in Shibuya.

Yamanote line suspended (Mar 23 2010)

no one likes to see that!

Apologies for the spelling, this was from my cell phone earlier this evening. The JR Yamanote line, JR Shonan Shinjuku line and the Saikyo lines were all suspended. My normal trip home from Ebisu to Shibuya was somewhat delayed. After some deliberation I worked out the quickest route would be the one stop south on the Hibiya line to Naka-Meguro and one stop north again on the express Minatomirai line to Shibuya. It only took an extra 15 minutes, but I foolishly did not collect a free subway line ticket from the station staff offering them for the alternative routes, so it cost me 260 Yen. When I arrived at Shibuya the trains were still suspended. I look forward to details tomorrow of what happened.

Since there was no point entering Ebisu station I failed to get a photo of the new platform edge doors that have appeared after the long weekend. I'll try and take a shot tomorrow.

Update: it made the front page on the Japan Times printed edition today with a photo of some people being helped off a stuck train. The root cause was an obstacle hanging from overhead wires. More than 2,000 commuters were trapped on trains in the incident that lasted 90 minutes.

Transport Bookshop in Tokyo

Just come back from a trip to Nishiyama bookstore in Ikebukuro.


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If you are looking for a transport bookshop in Tokyo this is the place to go. It covers trains, planes, boats, trucks, buses and cars; plus some movies and war related books. Most of the books are secondhand and in English but there is a good collection of German and French language books and magazines on trains.

If Ian Allan is one of your favourite publishers, or the initials BNSF mean something to you, I don't think you will be disappointed.

The shop is well organised with almost all the books well ordered, though I was surprised to see a street atlas of a small town in England amongst all the railways books.

The one thing that is missing though, is books on Japanese railways. I found one slim booklet on the Light Rail systems of West Japan, and a couple of books of photos of Japanese trains with Japanese text, but that was it.

Only five minutes walk from Ikebukuro station this small shop is worth a visit if transport is your thing. But If you are looking for fiction or more general second handbooks then go just a couple of stops south on the Yamanote line to Blue Parrot books in Takadanobaba , or carry on further south to Ebisu to Good Day Books.

I'm sure there are more second hand English language bookshops in Tokyo, A search yields this list from American Airlines which includes a few I've not heard of. And if you'd rather shop online I discovered Infinity Books Japan , but it's not the same as browsing a dusty bookshelf looking for something unusual.

Anyone got any more bookshops to share?

Tokyo Tech Party Dec 17 2009

It's been Christmas in Tokyo since November the first when Mitsukoshi turned on the lights on their Christmas tree. But now is the season for Christmas parties.
Coming up next week is the Tokyo’s Biggest Tech Party Ever .

It's happening on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 from 7pm until 10pm

At the Restaurant and lounge 57 Fifty Seven
B1F 4-2-35 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo.

(Google Maps here )

It's Free Entry!

There will be a cash bar, and "light food menu", (make of that what you will)

It will also be the first ever “Beers for Bytes” charity event. The money will be donated to Room to Read’s wireless computer lab projects in Nepal and Vietnam, as well as other developing nations.

Who's coming ?

Well, it could be anyone from these many Tokyo technology related groups :

Asiajin

Asiajin is a weblog focused on Asian startup companies, websites, and technology communities. Their mission is to provide timely articles about Asian Internet in English. It was started by Akky AKIMOTO and Shunichi ARAI in 2007.

Digital Eve Japan

Digital Eve Japan is an international organisation of women interested in computing, the internet and digital lifestyles and is based in Tokyo with members throughout Japan.

They host meetings, workshops and speakers to learn more about a variety of computing and net-related topics, as well as social events.

International Computer Association (Japan)

Established in 1970, the ICA (International Computer Association) has grown into one of Japan's largest, most influential organizations covering Information Technology and Business in Japan. The ICA provides a forum for information exchange, networking, and identification of business expansion opportunities with many of the key movers and shakers in Japan.

Tokyo 2.0

Tokyo 2.0 is a not-for-profit community event run by a steering committee of volunteers. It has hosted a number of very popular monthly events during the past two years.

Mobile Monday Tokyo

MoMo Tokyo is the leading networking organization supporting Tokyo’s mobile industry and has become a key gathering point for corporate managers, entrepreneurs, developers, analysts and the media in Japan.

Launched in Japan in September 2004, MobileMonday Tokyo hosts regular networking events that routinely attract 100-200 participants working within the wireless industry.

Tokyo HackerSpace

The Tokyo HackerSpace initiative was created from discussions at TokyoBarCamp 2009. It's a collective made up of programmers, engineers, IT administrators, artists, chefs, musicians, and people interested in geek culture. The goal of the group is to converge technology, arts, crafts, and music. If you are interested then please join the mailing list.

Tokyo PC Users Group

The Tokyo PC Users Group may sound like a club for users of Windows-based computers -- but, in fact, many of our members use Macs or various flavors of Linux as well as Windows. Nor is our focus limited only to personal computing. TPC is a club for technology enthusiasts of all sorts, from beginners to seasoned pros.

Tokyo OpenSolaris User Group

The Tokyo OpenSolaris Community is one of the largest communities in the world of OpenSolaris. And since Tokyo is a massively big city with connections around the world, we intend to grow globally. If you are interested in Japan or Japanese technology or if you ever come to Tokyo for business or pleasure, then please feel free to subscribe to our lists and talk with us and come to our events. English or Japanese is fine. We have many people who speak both languages quite well, and the more diversity the better. And you don't have to live in Tokyo to participate. We are an international community, and we expect to have members from all over the world.

Ninjava

Nin-Java , (NIhoN-Java) is an English speaking Java User Group based in Tokyo with over 200 members.

Tokyo Linux Users Group

On June 16, 1994 TLUG was born as the "LINUX" conference on TWICS, which was the only public access Internet Service Provider in Japan at that time. The atmosphere was exciting and friendly, and everyone began helping each other fix problems and learn about Linux. One of the early members commented, "It felt like we were all on the edge of this frontier and that together we were taming this networked, high-tech jungle. It was great!"

TLUG is a non-profit users group, whose members exchange information on the development and use of the Linux kernel and Free Software Foundation tools. Physical and online meetings are held in English and Japanese. All are welcome.

AppleCert

AppleCert group is a non-profit association for engineers focusing on Mac OS X and Apple technology integration. Our primary focus is to sustain a peer group of like-minded engineers to build their technical skills at an accelerated pace.

GreenITers

GreenITers are for people who want to “Green it !” the world we are living in via clean technology.

Mobile in Japan

The Mobile in Japan community is active both on the various groups and on the blogs.

So there could be hundreds of people showing up next week to meet, mingle and party.
I am sure a big majority of the people coming will be bringing their poken, so if you are going to be in Tokyo and want to meet some friendly techies, come on down.

RSVP by email by Sunday, December 13, 2009. There is also a
Facebook event to sign up on to where you can see who has already confirmed.

( This is also my entry to the December Japansoc, Blog Matsuri hosted by Dumb Otaku, on the subject of "Technology". )

Geek Up Your Ass Gently

I just caught the last few songs at this guerrilla gig under Shibuya station on my way home tonight. Awesome good sound. will buy their new album released today. www.geeks.co.jp

Update: considering they were playing by the side of the road in the middle of Shibuya the sound was pretty good and very very loud, which was what attracted my attention while walking through the station upstairs.

Their "First Debut" album is called Magical Vox Paranoia. "The best rock album of the year" they claim! It looked like they have a loyal fan base that were out in force to support the four lads. They had fliers which I have scanned for your delight :





There were a lot of people taking video and photos so I hope I can find some to share.

Ojarus, Strange performers. Ueno

These street performers at Ueno were quite amusing.



They've travelled widely in Europe too with their performance ojarus.com.

Delays on Inokashira Line

My journey into Shibuya this morning was delayed by 10 minutes. A trip that normally takes 6 minutes took 16 minutes! Because this is such a rare event, and people don't believe you when you say there were delays on the trains, you can get proof to show your boss to explain your tardiness.

Ebisu Advert

I hate this poster. I have to see this every evening on the way home. It looks he has a toilet roll in front of his face. I hope they change it soon.
Update: 04 Sep , they finally replaced it with something much less annoying.

Yamashirogumi in Shinjuku

Entertainment on Sunday was a brief trip to the Epson Epsite gallery in Shinjuku. Sadly Gallery 1, where the reptile and amphibian exhibition was on, was closed on a Sunday. Gallery with 2 with Yukikazu Ito's exhibition titled "The Rain, Asphalt", had, well, pictures of rain bouncing on to.. you guessed it, asphalt.

The first couple of photos were OK, but half way round the small gallery I was thinking, yes, OK, I've seen rain on the road.. The final shot was the kind the kind of out-take I would just delete, but he seemed to think it was worth while printing anyway.

The gallery acts as a showcase for Epson's range of printers and output devices. One gentleman was getting a photograph printed, which was a lot more presentable than some in the gallery. It's not clear if you have to pay for it, or they offer it as some kind of demonstration. I'm hoping to go back to see the Ryu Uchiyama's reptiles in Gallery 2 before it finishes on Aug 22nd.

Location : First floor Shinjuku Mitsui Building. Nearest station Nishi Shinjuku, or 10 minutes walk along the underpass from Shinjuku station. Entrance: free.

Outside in the plaza a large set had been contructed for the CAK festival. The Yamashirogumi group of percussion enthusiasts were formed in 1974 and play over eighty different types of folk music from around the world. We watched them playing some excellent xylophones.






There's a three minute recording I took from the afternoon on YouTube here along with some other videos other users have uploaded too.

Visual Deception - Bunkamura Exhibition Tokyo

The exhibition currently running at the Bunkamura museum is titled Visual Deception. The theme is "Trompe-l’oeil", paintings that trick the eye. The first section holds 16th and 17th century examples: a flat canvas that looks like a marble relief; a young lad climbing out of the picture frame (An image used in some of the posters); a paper note nailed to some wood; a picture of a picture.

Moving on, Archimboldo's portrait of Vertumnus/Rudolf II depicted in vegetables is displayed in Japan for the first time.

One section is dedicated to Japanese works demonstrating similar effects, for example scrolls where the ties are painted on, rather than actual pieces of material.

Artists from the 20th century include Salvador Dali and MC Escher. Three of his works are displayed including the well known 'impossible building' Belvedere and Waterfall where the water wheel looks like it can run forever.

Another of my favorite artists is Rene Magritte. I visited an exhibition of his work in Seoul a few years ago. Here in Tokyo, three of his works are on show including Attempting the Impossible:



[He was a far more successful Belgian artist than a certain Antoine Wiertz described in the Economist as "perhaps the worst painter to have a government-funded museum all to himself" in an article relating the perils of governments supporting ventures that may, at the time, seem like a great idea, but turn out to be less enduringly popular.]

The exhibition concludes with some contemporary works including two tilt shift photos from a Japanese photographer, whose name I failed to make a note of and, since I was too stingy to buy the exhibition catalog, I now have no record of.

Location:
Bunkamura Museum,24-1, Dogenzaka 2-chome Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 03-3477-9111

Until : Sunday 16th Aug 2009

Opening Hours:
10:00 to 19:00. (Friday and Saturday until 21:00). (Admission up until 30 minutes before closing)

Access:
5 minutes walk from Shibuya Station

Admission:
Adults 1400 yen
Students 1000 yen
Children 700 yen.

Due to the huge demand for the exhibition we had to queue for 25 minutes on Sunday for a ticket. But if you plan ahead, tickets can be purchased online (in Japanese only) at Ticket Pia Lawson Ticket and e + (IPURASU). Or at Seven Eleven, Family Mart, Circle K, Sunkus, JTB and Tokyu Plaza Travel Center.

It was a crowded exhibition so be prepared to wait in line to admire the art works close up, but it's well worth the effort.

Neoteny - Contemporary Art Exhibition , Tokyo

I don't always like modern art, but the exhibition currently on at the Royal Museum in Ueno Tokyo showed some of the most interesting and intriguing pieces I've seen in a long time.

Image shamelessly copied from neoteny.jp.

From the mirrored sculpture of a six legged wolf by Konoike Tomoko at the start, to the small group of creatures made of bamboo (perhaps?) on the way out, I was enthralled.

The exhibition includes almost one hundred works from thirty three Japanese artists. The range of material and subjects was outstanding. Some of my favourites included :

"History of Rise and Fall" by Ikeda Manabu. This 2m by 2m canvas includes such an enormous amount of detail in the imaginary landscape I could have looked at it for hours and still discovered something new.

The huge canvas from Aida Makoto entitled Giant Salamander. If it hadn't been for the title, I might have missed the very large aquatic creature in the middle of the picture.

"Human Lesson, Dress 01", which is where the wolf's head in the poster comes from, (and yes, it is a dress.. kind of) and the Victorian looking instrument of torture entitled Fingerspanner both from Odani Motohiko.

A modern take on a classic Japanese style of painting from Yamaguchi Akira entitled Modern Times.

And many many more. I highly recommend it, but hurry, the exhibition ends on July 15th.

Location:

The Ueno Royal Museum ,Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0007
TEL: 03-3833-4191 http://www.ueno-mori.org

Until : Wednesday, July 15 2009

Opening Hours:
10:00 to 18:00. Fridays until 20:00. (Admission up until 30 minutes before closing)

Access:
3 minutes walk from JR Ueno Station

Admission:
Adults 1200 yen
Students 1000 yen

More photos on the blog neoteny.jp blog

New Starbucks in Ebisu

This morning at 7:30 the 246th Starbucks in Tokyo opened without any fanfare, in Yebisu Garden Place Tower.



It's only five minutes walk from the Starbucks at Ebisu station.


The new outlet provides the usual selection of coffee, tea, chocolate and some bottled soft drinks. A display cabinet holds pastries and sandwiches. A short cafe latte costs 320 Yen. Unlike the convenience store next door and the Starbucks branch at the station, they do not accept Suica electronic pre paid cards which is not very helpful. Around the side is a small area with some armchairs and small tables.

The three cafes already providing coffee to take away are going to have a serious competitor right in the middle of the Yebisu Garden complex.

Least to fear is MacDonald's. A small cafe latte costs 210 Yen. The queues when this branch of the Golden Arches opened last year went round the block, but they weren't there for the coffee.



Excelsior Cafe has a branch in the building. It's a well known chain around Tokyo. It was created in 1999 by the Doutor coffee company to compete with Starbucks after the American chain first arrived in Japan in 1996. Excelsior serve a range of other beverages including beer. The large cafe with some outdoor seating is going to continue to attract people who like to sit down in a venue with more space and a bit more choice on the menu.



Benugo's has to most to fear from the new arrival.



A small cafe latte here will set you back 330 Yen. However a 10% discount is available to people who work in the tower. They have a small indoor seating area and some tables outside. Their speciality is hot sandwiches something they started in 2003. Their eggs benugo is a firm favourite of mine. [The interesting article from the Japan Times describes Pret A Manager as their biggest competitor when they started but Pret a Manger pulled out of Japan in 2004 after their 50/50 partner Macdonalds withdrew from the project.]

Some other interesting research I found comparing Starbucks and Excelsoir in 2002, and a good personal summary of some of the the other chains in Japan from Japan-Zone. For me, I'll probably buy the coffee from Starbucks, but go to Benugo's to eat, I just hope they stay in business. What's your favorite coffee shop?

Tokyo Design Festa 2009

Just one of 2,000 stands, originally uploaded by jonallen01966.

I went to the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre for the Design Festa at the weekend. Over 2,000 local and international exhibitors took part in this extravaganza of art, fashion and design.

The stands showed the artist's enormous imagination in a wide variety of media from oils and watercolours to wire, glass and plastics. Most of the items were for sale: everything including post cards, T-shirts, shoes, bags, clothes, wigs, hats and general nick knacks.

Some of my favourites include A Banana and Cream Facial and a cheeky design on wood. More of my photos on flickr , an excellent selection from lhuga and a 12 second video of some hungry money boxes that eat coins.

The festival happens twice a year and is happening next on the weekend of Oct 24th and 25th 2009.

Photo Quiz Answers

Thank you to everyone who entered the Prize Draw. The winner has been notified and will receive the last Poken I have from the batch of 12 I bought.

I am planning on buying another batch, so expect to hear more about Poken in the future.

Now the answers :



Answer 1: The building is the Museum of Maritime Science (Funenokagakukan).
Situated on the island of Odaiba in Tokyo Bay, this excellent museum holds a large collection of all things nautical. The NY Times reckons you could do the museum in two hours. I've been twice and still not seen half of it.



Answer 2: This is the Rainbow Bridge.
Linking the island of Odaiba with the mainland, the Rainbow Bridge was named after its multi coloured illumination . More from the Time Out Guide to Odaiba (The link only seems to work in IE)



Answer 3: The building is the National Diet Building.
Located at 1-chome, Nagatachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
Sessions of the House of Representatives take place in the left wing and sessions of the House of Councillors in the right wing. It was build in the 1930s entirely from indigenous materials. Tours around some areas of the building are available from Monday to Friday. Well worth a visit.



Answer 4: Sakura Daimon leading to the Imperial Palace.



Answer 5: The dog is named Hachiko and his statue stands outside Shibuya station. Hachiko and his master Prof. Uyeno, were inseparable friends. Each day "Hachi" would accompany his master to the train station when he left for work. Upon returning, the professor would find the dog patiently waiting. One fateful day in 1925 the professor was taken ill at the university and sadly died before he could return home. Hachiko waited patiently at the station for his return that day and the next. He continued his daily vigil for over ten years, becoming well known to the commuters passing through the station, until he passed away on the same spot he last saw his friend alive. [Abridged version of the full story from here.]

I hope you enjoyed the quiz. I may run another one. Any input is welcomed.

Tokyo Photo Quiz, Two Days Left

Just two days left to enter the Tokyo Photo Quiz. I have extended the deadline for entries by one day. You now have until 9pm Monday 11 May to send the answers to me.

There have been ten correct entries so far. Last chance to get your thinking hat on, answer the five questions about the photos of Tokyo and email your answers to enter the prize draw to win a Poken.