Shibuya, Central Tokyo. The Hachiko Crossing. A Saturday afternoon.
Little Pink Hat instantly caught my eye, outshining all the fake tan and bleached mops. She was riding high. Way above the southbound crowd that was taken up with negotiating a path through the onslaught of fresh arrivals.
What would it be like to be that child I wondered. Given the chance, would I go back?
I don’t think so. I’m happy with all that has gone before, all that is now, and all that is to come.
But who’s this? So calm and peaceful, sitting there with one ear flopped, the other cocked, listening out for his master’s call?
Take a step back and you see the whole picture – it’s Hachiko, one of the most photographed landmarks in all of Japan.
As kindly demonstrated here for us.
Amongst the hoards of plastic-nailed girls with their skirts that only came down as far as their shoulders I spotted a few characters. Here’s one of them. Mr. Stoop, the Stooped Old Man.
Meet the camera crew; permanent residents
And the crowds waiting to cross (as with all images, click for a close-up).
It was both scary and fun walking round Shibuya with my camera. I tend to feel like I’m trespassing when I go there, especially on a Saturday. I feel out of place amongst the dark-skinned beauties, lacking the lashings of bright blue mascara and dyed hair, and troubled by the idea that maybe the meaning of life really is SHOPPING.
I’ve now realised that the issue with the quality of my uploaded jpegs is actually connected with Preview, which I use (via Automator) to resize images for upload. Looks like I’ll have to use Photoshop instead from now on. I’ve also noticed that my pictures lose a significant dose of colour when viewed in Firefox. The little Pink Hat was actually far pinker, as seen in my original viewed in Preview. If I view that same local copy in Firefox however, it comes out as seen above. Has anyone else come across this issue, and if they have, do they have any suggestions?
It’s been a fun day, and I got a lot of study done before my trip out as well.
Hoorah!
Oyasumi xxx