All About Love Hotels!

Where I come from, the kind of hotels that charge by the hour instead of the night are ultra-shady and tend to get raided by the cops a lot. Not in Japan! In the country where most people live in quarters that are far from spacious and even further from private, love hotels aren’t justContinue reading “All About Love Hotels!”

Alt Kimono

Give granny a heart attack with a Coming-Of-Age kimono that shows as much leg as your old schoolgirl uniform, bares a shoulder and some black-lace-edged cleavage, or cinches everything together with a corset instead of an obi! Last Sunday was the day all 20-year-olds officially become adults, but not everybody donned traditional maidenly garb toContinue reading “Alt Kimono”

The Scene Of The Crime

I get to Shibuya Station a little early to meet a friend, and suddenly I’m so hungry I think I’m going to die. Whipping inside the handy Tokyu store, I buy a miniature bag of chocolate cookies to wolf down before my friend arrives. Nom, nom, whew, ravenous feeling assuaged. Oh no, unanticipated pitfall! NowContinue reading “The Scene Of The Crime”

Half Nakedness Prohibited

Floating above Shibuya, with the Yamanote Line trains rocketing by, is Miyashita Park, its carvalicious bowls, ledges, rails, ramps and quarter pipes a skater’s dream. Except for…The Rules. Drinking for enjoyment rather than rehydration: prohibited! Light up a smoke? Tanuki raccoon-dogs will carry you off to be executed by the death of a thousand cuts! Wax a ledge? NotContinue reading “Half Nakedness Prohibited”