Costume Play Bloody Nurses. A wide variety of "costume play" getups are shown here: goths, cartoon characters from Japanese manga, anime, the sweet-and-innocent frilly look or combinations in between (goth lolly) Every Sunday, these cosplay characters converge on Harajuku, Tokyo's fashion quarter. Most casual observers say that cosplay is a reaction to the rigid rules of Japanese society. But since so many cosplay girls congregate in Harajuku and Aoyama - Tokyo headquarters of Fendi, Hanae Mori and Issey Miyake, others consider it is a reaction to high fashion. Whatever the cause, cosplay aficionados put a tremendous amount of effort into their costumes every Sunday. One wonders what they wear on Monday morning...
Gundam was series of Japanese anime created by Sunrise Studios that featured giant robots called "Gundam." An eighteen metre tall statue of the title robot was installed at Odaiba, Tokyo's landfill island, in August 2009
Mori Tower "Maman" Spider Sculpture - Constructed by building tycoon Minoru Mori, Roppongi Hills incorporates office space, apartments, shops, restaurants, cafés, movie theaters, a museum, a hotel, a TV studio, an outdoor amphitheater, and a park. The centerpiece is the 54-story Mori Tower with its famous spider sculpture "Maman" by Louise Bourgeois.
Shusaku Arakawa designed Reverse Destiny Loft Apartments in the Tokyo suburb of Mitaka in conjunction with his poet partner, Madeline Gins. Painted in bright colors, the building resembles a childrens playground. Inside, apartments feature rooms with a grainy, surfaced floor that slopes erratically, electric switches are located in unexpected places on the walls so you have to feel around for the right one. One may wonder the purpose for all this, though the architect believes the apartments make you alert and awakens your instincts. Maybe that's why their web site says the apartment building is "Dedicated to Helen Keller"
Rikugien Garden is a Tokyo metropolitan park The name Rikugi comes from the concept of the six elements in waka poetry while 'en' means garden or park. The garden consists of a small pond, trees and a hill. Unlike the renowned Zen gardens found in Kyoto, the Japanese gardens found in Tokyo tend to be of the "strolling garden" variety, typically surrounding a pond.
Sumo is a competitive contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally. The Japanese consider sumo a martial art, though the sport has a history spanning many centuries. The sumo tradition is very ancient, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt for purification, from the days sumo was used in the Shinto religion. Life as a rikishi is highly regimented, with rules laid down by the Sumo Association.
Tatami Room and Shoji - In traditional Japanese architecture, a shoji is a door, window or room divider consisting of translucent paper over a frame of wood or bamboo. While washi is the traditional paper, shoji may be made of modern paper. Shoji doors are designed to slide open, and thus conserve space that would be required by a swinging door. They are used in traditional houses especially in tatami rooms. Tatami mats are a traditional type of Japanese flooring. Traditionally made of rice straw to form the core though nowadays sometimes the core is composed of compressed wood or styrofoam, with a covering of woven soft rush straw. Tatami are made in uniform sizes. Standard tatami are rectangular and are exactly twice as long as they are wide. Usually they have edging of brocade. Tatami were originally a luxury item for the nobility while the lower classes had mat covered dirt floors.
Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower located in Shiba Park, Tokyo, with a remarkable likeness to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. At 332 metres (1000 ft), it is the tallest self supporting steel structure in the world and the tallest artificial structure in Japan. Built in 1958, the tower's main sources of revenue are tourism and antenna leasing
A yatai is a small, mobile food stall typically selling ramen or oden. The name literally means "shop stand." The stall is set up in the early evening on sidewalks and removed late at night or in the early morning hours. Beer, sake and shochu are usually available. A salaryman might relax with colleagues over dinner and drinks at a yatai on his way home from work. Fukuoka is well known in Japan for keeping the yatai tradition alive.
