blog.tokyololas.com » Miscellaneous

Tanaka Hisashige – Today’s Google Doodle

tokyololas — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 01:23:58 +0000

Today’s Google Doodle commemorates the 213th birthday of Tanaka Hisashige, a Japanese engineer and inventor during the late Edo and early Meiji periods. In his time, he was known as “the genius of mechanical wonders”. Some people refer to him as “the Thomas Edison of Japan”. He was famous for a number of things, but [...]

Settle down, InterTubes: “bagelheads” is NOT a trend in Japan

tokyololas — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 03:34:03 +0000

At the best of times, it’s hard to find a decent bagel in Tokyo (trust me, I’m from Toronto, I know bagels); but, suddenly, the other day, there was nothing but bagel news coming out of Japan. Unfortunately, it was not the fact that someone in Tokyo had finally built a wood-fired oven for Montreal [...]

Rainbow over Tokyo (but not a double rainbow!)

tokyololas — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 11:51:33 +0000

Well, I think in all the years I’ve lived here, this is probably only the third rainbow I’ve seen in central Tokyo.

The not so cheerful gallery

tokyololas — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 12:18:59 +0000

When commuting, I often pass through part of the underground walkway that runs under Harumi dori and stretches from Ginza station towards Higashi Ginza. There’s a kind of gallery along the way that displays art from various groups who apply to display their work there. (Technically, it’s called the “Promenade Gallery”, but I wouldn’t want [...]

Leave your bike for a minute…

tokyololas — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 04:13:48 +0000

Well, actually, it’s more like “abandon your bike because you can’t be bothered paying to have it removed via the city garbage collectors” or “you’ve left it somewhere after one too many chūhais and have no idea where” and this is what happens in Tokyo: You can hardly blame people because it’s actually possible to travel [...]