Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Blue Snow
A rare evening - a snow storm is covering the streets of Copenhagen.
A magical sight close to where I live, a small basket ball court covered in snow and lit by a blue lamp. No photoshop filters have been used here - this was what it looked like.
A magical sight close to where I live, a small basket ball court covered in snow and lit by a blue lamp. No photoshop filters have been used here - this was what it looked like.
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Tokyo impressions (Cyberworlds 2004 conference)
You can't really describe Tokyo to someone who hasn't been there. It is such an amazing and frightening and overwhelming and aesthetic and vulgar experience at the same time. It is loud noises and bright colours and gaming halls and fancy gift wrappings and beautifully simulated plasticfood and modern women in kimonos and schoolgirls in skirts which are too short and animé porn and the taste of miso soup, it's the neonlights of the city twinkling like a thousand stars at night and the feeling of wandering in a city which is like an extremely busy anthill, crawling with people, people, people.
Tokyo skyline as seen from the 39th floor of Shinagawa Prince Hotel.
Marching robot toys in the "Tokyo Hands" "we have it all" store.
Metrogirl. Absorbed in music.
A typical Tokyo mobile phone with the obligatory "thingies" dangling from it (including a miniature glass wiping pad).
Saturday in Tokyo - and suddenly you see women dressed in traditional japanese kimonos in the metro stations, on their way to formal parties. Note that the woman looking at me holds a mobile phone.
Coming up from the Shibuya station - people, people, people.
Shibuya at dusk. Shibuya is where you find Starbucks, department stores, clothing outlets and - in the small sidestreets - "lovehotels" where young couples check in to "rest" for a couple of hours, away from the family home.
The Japanese culture is a culture of simulation. Here simulated sushifood in a window in the posh Ginza district.
The western style toilets almost all include an interface like this. Pay attention to the artificial (simulated) flushing sound. When you can flush for real (even if there is no need for it) on any toilet, why the need for a fake flushing sound? I've asked several non-Japanese people and nobody seem to be able to come up with a convincing explanation...
Game culture Tokyo: Girls in a small "entertainment and game hall" (in the hotel). They are playing some form of game where you have to draw (or write??) on a small screen behind closed curtains.
One of the SEGA gamehalls. "Try-to-pick-up-a-toy-with-a-small-crane-you-control" games were everywhere. Note also the drumgame setup to the right.
A gamehall for grown-ups. They are playing Pachinko as Tore informed me. It's got something to do with pouring a lot of the small metallic balls you see in the front into the machines. Read more about this in the Wikipedia. Fyi, the noise is absolutely infernal!
Akihabara is the place to go when you want to shop games and gadgets and animé-related items. In all honesty, I think I wore the perfect coat for the occasion ;).
Conference site: Tokyo Institute of Technology. I'd love to go to one of the announced "English Speech Contests".
A traditional cheap dish at the university canteen. Udon noodles with fried tofu in miso soup. Price: 2,5 Euro.
Conference content. Sigh.
Entry to the toilets at the conference banquet site (Meguen).
The conference "farewell party" dinner.
Ginza, the expensive shopping area. Blade Runner relived at night from inside the oldest western style department store in Tokyo.
Last night in Tokyo: the Rainbow Bridge at the Odaiba port area.
PS! I also did a few installments of Implementation in Tokyo. The pictures are now online on the Implementation site.
Tokyo skyline as seen from the 39th floor of Shinagawa Prince Hotel.
Marching robot toys in the "Tokyo Hands" "we have it all" store.
Metrogirl. Absorbed in music.
A typical Tokyo mobile phone with the obligatory "thingies" dangling from it (including a miniature glass wiping pad).
Saturday in Tokyo - and suddenly you see women dressed in traditional japanese kimonos in the metro stations, on their way to formal parties. Note that the woman looking at me holds a mobile phone.
Coming up from the Shibuya station - people, people, people.
Shibuya at dusk. Shibuya is where you find Starbucks, department stores, clothing outlets and - in the small sidestreets - "lovehotels" where young couples check in to "rest" for a couple of hours, away from the family home.
The Japanese culture is a culture of simulation. Here simulated sushifood in a window in the posh Ginza district.
The western style toilets almost all include an interface like this. Pay attention to the artificial (simulated) flushing sound. When you can flush for real (even if there is no need for it) on any toilet, why the need for a fake flushing sound? I've asked several non-Japanese people and nobody seem to be able to come up with a convincing explanation...
Game culture Tokyo: Girls in a small "entertainment and game hall" (in the hotel). They are playing some form of game where you have to draw (or write??) on a small screen behind closed curtains.
One of the SEGA gamehalls. "Try-to-pick-up-a-toy-with-a-small-crane-you-control" games were everywhere. Note also the drumgame setup to the right.
A gamehall for grown-ups. They are playing Pachinko as Tore informed me. It's got something to do with pouring a lot of the small metallic balls you see in the front into the machines. Read more about this in the Wikipedia. Fyi, the noise is absolutely infernal!
Akihabara is the place to go when you want to shop games and gadgets and animé-related items. In all honesty, I think I wore the perfect coat for the occasion ;).
Conference site: Tokyo Institute of Technology. I'd love to go to one of the announced "English Speech Contests".
A traditional cheap dish at the university canteen. Udon noodles with fried tofu in miso soup. Price: 2,5 Euro.
Conference content. Sigh.
Entry to the toilets at the conference banquet site (Meguen).
The conference "farewell party" dinner.
Ginza, the expensive shopping area. Blade Runner relived at night from inside the oldest western style department store in Tokyo.
Last night in Tokyo: the Rainbow Bridge at the Odaiba port area.
PS! I also did a few installments of Implementation in Tokyo. The pictures are now online on the Implementation site.
