I was shopping yesterday I noticed that the store had “Mini-Giant” icecream cones on sale for 60 yen (about 66 cents US), which is quite a bit cheaper than the Giant Cone™ selling for 100 yen.
Then looking at the label, I chuckled to myself wondering out loud:
“If a Giant Cone™ is giant, then a Mini Giant Cone™ ought to be regular size…”
Here’s a “mini giant close-up” of the kind of the kimoi/creepy Mini Giant character made of text who is not as entertaining as ….
….the past spokesman for Giant Cone, the late great GIANT BABA, a 3-time NWA Champion and co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling. Giant Baba Cone
On Sunday afternoon photo shoots at Harajuku’s cosplay Bridge, I often meet my crazy photographer buddy, Masa-sensei “ninja shooting” the freakaziods (as shown below).
Another Japanese subculture that Masa-sensei likes to shoot are the bosozoku, the “violent running tribes,” who he captured last weekend. I first I thought this photo was a weaponized bosozoku sling shot car.
However, the yellow slingshot turns out to be two huge collapsable flag poles that the bosozoku use to fly their gang flags and banners during their terror runs through the neighborhoods.
The Violent Running Tribe’s main entertainment is to modify their exhaust systems to be extra loud and drive through town late at night, waving imperial Japanese flags and shouting obscenities, occasionally throwing Molotov cocktails and carrying swords spears, and generally having noisy fun.
UPDATE!
There is a new report from the lindsayfincher.com blog dated March 9th, 2010, which seems to show the hotel’s “reconstruction” may have been completed only from one viewing angle.
“This is the closest we came to the Ryugyong, when we visited the Victorious Fatherland Liberation Museum.”
–March 9th, 2010 lindsayfincher.com
A constant source of amusement to the Japanese (and the rest of the world) is North Korea’s Ryugyong Hotel–aka the ‘Ruin Ryugyong’– that has been left uncompleted for more than 20 years. In the past year it has reported several times in the press that a foreign cellphone company has resumed construction on the hotel. Here’s a CLEAR photo of the Hotel Doom, before and after. View the full-size photo, 571×869 px.
The recent contruction was done soley to enclose the Ruin Ryugyong in glass and make the hotel less of a laughing stock of Architecture. You have to say it now looks impressive (even though the inside is an unlivable concrete shell because the lack fixtures, mechanicals, crooked elevators and insufficient strength to handle any occupancy).
However, it is good to remember that North Korea’s Hotel Ryugyong is still taller than any building in Europe or JAPAN. For example, Japan’s tallest building, Yokohama Landmark Tower is only 295.8 m (970 ft) but the Hotel Ryugyong is 330.02 m (1,100 ft). So remember…
Back in 2007 I wrote about Pyongyang North Korea as a better Tokyo with a great YouTube video (below) of a fictional/humorous take on Pyongyang North Korea with a Disneyeque Hotel Ryugyong.
…Rooms like in the bottom photo are the major reason why urban Japanese avoid asking you to their homes. I have been to a few 20-something girls with rooms like the one on top and I never know where to sit…which can be an advantage since the two of you end up having to sit close together on a single bed.
Japanese consider Unko (poop) as good luck since it also means “Lucky Kid”.
According to the Rinkya blog you can, ” Squeeze these poop balls to de-stress, they even come scented… not a poo scent–but banana, peach, apple and chocolate!” As a traditionalist, I would go with chocolate color and scent shown on the right.
Buy ‘em via Rinkya.
To be Captain Obvious, “Ichiban” means ‘number one’ in Japanese and this obscenely obscure proto-surf rock band, Nick and the Jaguars, thrashed out an “Ichiban #1″ in 1959.
Alternatively, you can turn on WFMU’s Ichiban Rock ‘n Soulwebstream: “Less yakkin’, more trackin’ with 25 one-liner instrumentals about beatniks, cavemen, snake eyes, bird dogs, and hot saki.”
More info about Nick and the Jaguars below-the-fold in the Comments…
Today it starting to show the first signs of spring in Tokyo, which immediately brings to my mind that the cockroaches awakening. On the WFMU music blog brings to you the artist, Epaksa, singing techno-style ‘Ponsori’, Korean traditional music dominated by vocals and percussion.
Fancymag.com has a good write-up on Epaksa observing that as a former truck driver, “His first album, Sinbaram (The Elation/Excitement of) Epaksa Vol. 1 was an instant hit among the truck drivers and middle-aged working-class audience…Over 1,000,000 cassettes were sold and E Pak Sa became a hot new sensation for the Korean middleclass…In the beginning of his career he performed mostly in clubs, but now he prefers banquets and birthday parties.”
You can also check out Epaksa’s Wikipedia entry and his myspace.com/epaksa.
scare-the-daylife.com-out of you - TOKYO – FEBRUARY 25: Male waiters, wearing woman’s clothes, serve customers at New Type cafe…[snip]…women customers saying they enjoy communicating with friendly waiters and male customers enjoying talking with the waiters who they can relate to as both men and women.
Like the jobs you never thought existed, cross-dressing Japanese pretending to be French maids serve primarily women at this maid cafe. Weird but what the hey, is anybody getting hurt by this? Nope.
…NOT.
Giant Baba Cone
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