The world is so Kalandrakas…

Summer in Japan always starts with rainy days. Because it is also the season when the Japanese apricot (ume) ripens, the Japanese call it “tsuyu” (or “baiyu”) which literally means “plum rain”.

The rainy season usually begins in early June and ends in mid July.

This year, it has started a week early. It’s been raining since yesterday.

This is the season when it gets humid.

… and the days are gray and gloomy.

Umbrellas are everywhere.

Welcome to Japan’s rainy season.

Yesterday I saw a gorgeous young woman wearing a shirt which says “Call me Bitch.” No kidding! Surprising? In Japan, not really.

Update: This morning on the train, I saw another woman with a shirt saying “We LOVE Juicy Kittens”. That was the most ridiculous shirt worn by a woman I’ve seen in my entire stay here in Japan.

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I took the picture below while on the Yurikamome monorail train a weeks ago. The shirt of this lady caught my attention. As you can see, it says “SEX POT ReVeNGe, BY THE ROADSIDE”.

Last night I did a little research and found out that SEX POT ReVeNGE is a brand of clothing.

SEX POT ReVeNGE is Japanese new punk brand based out of Harajuku, Tokyo and is a fashion brand known for its frequent apparances in KERA magazine. The brand designs around the concept of smashing the useless norm and produce items with a shocking, strange, powerful, and fresh feel. — from cdjapan.co.jp

But seriously, why would you name a brand like that?

*** WARNING: The graphics below are Not-Safe-For-Work. ***

I took the pictures below during the 29th Design Festa at Tokyo Big Sight on May 16-17, 2009. Design Festa is an international event where artists from all over the world can showcase their creative talent in the field of arts. It is held twice a year, and so far the biggest art event in Asia.

So, what is ART? How would we define it? Is it for everybody? for all ages? or is there certain level of it for a certain group of people?

Do you consider this “art” appropriate for all ages?

Or is this just art ONLY-IN-JAPAN???

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It was May 20 when the first two cases of H1N1 in Tokyo were confirmed. After the news broke, the sanitary masks in every store were totally sold out. Last Friday night, I decided to go to Shibuya to shoot people wearing the protective masks. But when I got there, I spotted only a few wearing them.

Does this mean that the Japanese government was effective in reminding people not to panic?

Or is it just there’s no enough supply of sanitary masks in Japan?

Is the swine flu (H1N1) really life-threatening? Or is there more life-threatening than this?

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