The world is so Kalandrakas…

Japan, as a non-Christian country, does not celebrate Christmas. December 25th is not a national holiday. But Japanese people, as great lovers of festivals and celebrations, try to celebrate it in a commercial way. Local government and big companies decorate parks and buildings with colorful illumination.

Last Saturday, I went to Tokyo Midtown, Shiodome, and Tokyo Tower to see the illuminations in these places. (Click here to check where you can see more illuminations).

Grass Square “Starlight Garden” in Tokyo Midtown

Illuminated balls in Sakura-dori in Tokyo Midtown

Capturing the sea of illumination in Caretta, Shiodome.

Also, Christmas in Japan is a perfect day to spend with your lover.

Caretta OCEAN Xmas 2009 in Shiodome

Tokyo Tower’s Light Down Story

0-0-0
Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

–Jesslee

Harajuku – one of the most visited places in Tokyo. The place where you can see the most extreme (weirdest and cutest) teenage fashion styles. The styles include punk, goth, lolita, ganguro, and others. Also, cosplays happen here every weekend, mostly on Sundays.

Below are some of the photos I took two years ago.
Note: I used to over-process photos when I was starting photography. ^_^

Princess Manzon, the Sassy Vamp, is one of the housemates of Pinoy Big Brother Double Up.

I had a chance to do a photo shoot with her before she left Tokyo for the show’s final casting. The shoot was spontaneous. It was past 2:00am, right after our karaoke session in Roppongi.

I’ve only known Princess for three months but, coming from the same province, Cebu, in the Philippines, we’ve developed a quite solid friendship.

I know she’s gonna do great in the show. I personally wish her goodluck!!!

******************************************
Here’s how you can show your support to Princess:
* Become a Fan on Facebook.
* Follow her on Twitter.
******************************************

Two weekends ago, I, with 3 photo buddies, had an early morning photowalk again. This time in Kabukicho at around 5:30 in the morning.

Kabukichō is an entertainment and red-light district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Kabukichō is the location of many hostess bars, host bars, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs, and is often called the “Sleepless Town”. The district’s name comes from late-1940s plans to build a kabuki theater: although the theater was never built, the name stuck. — Wikipedia

There are still nanpa activities in this early morning. A nanpa is a way to pick up girls in Japan. To know how it works, check Nampa – Japanese for Picking Up by Neil Duckett.

We walked through Shinjuku Golden Gai and we could still hear people laughing while having some chat inside the shanty-style bars and clubs.  Learn more about the Golden Gai here: Old-world left in a Big City, Shinjuku’s Golden-gai

Kabukicho is a notorious place known for a lot of illegal activities like prostitution, illegal drug trafficking, and other crimes. A number of business establishments here are owned by yakuzas and Chinese triads. The photo below is the most famous police box throughout Japan for having been featured a couple of times in TV documentary shows.

Thanks to my friends: Mika, Kyoko, and Naoto for joining me in this walk.

This is what most people don’t know about Japan.

Homelessness was largely unknown in Japan until the economic bubble burst in the early 1990s and unemployment began to rise. – BBC

At the beginning of the 1990s, the homeless in Japan were viewed as nuisance. The government tried to get rid of the street people “because the environment there needed beautification”. – Wikipedia

According to street-papers.org, there are 25,296 homeless people in Japan.

Some of these homeless people live in the side of the street with their card-board houses.

Some in tunnels and underground stations.

The homeless prefer to freeze outside rather than be frozen by officialdom’s coldness.  – share-international.org

Note: The photos were taken in Fujisawa, Ueno, Yoyogi and Shibuya.