More Photogeic:

It has been quite a while since I posted anything. Mainly because the school that I am learning Japanese at is very very intensive and these article do take time to write. So aside from that fact this is a bit of a documentation of my second day in the fine county of japan.

The second day in Japan was one i will never forget much like the first and third and likely the fourth. but this second day is special because i got to do something many people have longed to do. I wnt to and toured and walked and looked at and saw Shibuya square in broad daylight. this is something ive thought would be cool to do ever since i saw Fast and furious tokyo drift for the first time back in 2008.

There is one scene in that movie when Han, DK san, and sean drift around this corner (screen right to screen left) in a chase after DK san finds out Han has been stealing from DK's uncle who is yakuza. anyway that was pretty cool to experience the novelty of being as that same corner, although in the movie im sure they used an alternate set and not the actual shibuya square because that would have been insane to coordinate with how much traffic it gets in any given hour of the day. Here is the clip

So naturally considering this is kind of famous for cars, of course I was on the lookout for cars here and there and found some pretty cool ones. Here is a Toyota Altessa I saw when i was on the third flood of a micdonlads just west of where i was standing with the dog statue. this was like the first somewhat credible tuner car I saw in japan so i snapped a shot of it.

After using some Wifi at the mcdonalds and trying to spot any other cars from the second story me and my host brother kelby headed out to try and experience some more of shibuya. the picture above is  not of kelby but simply the first japanese guy I have ever seen tieing his shoe in japan, so what was kinda cool.

This picture gives a better view of the mere number of people that were at shibuya on the day i was there, i mean there is quite literally a sea of people. everytime the crosswalk turns to green a sea of people cross all four streets from both directions at least 8 people wide, its like a tsunami.

after crossing the tsunami kelby and i saw this pet store and thought we would check it out. we did and there was no dissapointments. there were probably fifteen different puppies or kittens you could buy on the spot between $300 and $2000. The thing i found most interesting is that there were zero large bread dogs. no labs. no golden retreavers, or anything bigger than a full grown fox.

of couse the cats were small but all the dogs were small breed dogs. after discussing this a bit with kelby we concluded that there simply isnt room to own a big dog in japan, they are hard to transport, they ear alot of food and they are physically big where in japan just about evertythinh is just a little bit smaller than in the states, which totally makes sence because the population dencity is so high there is little room for each individual and less room for they're pets

after stopping at the pet store and going to the forever 21 for men and a few other spots. one of wich had taylor swift as a model for. we were preparing to cross back over to the dog stature side of shibuya when this firebird rumbled past. this really took me by surprise, one because of the color and how it looks so much different that all the other cars that i had been seeing up to that point but also after recognising what it was, realising that this was a non-factory imported american car in japan. that means that the owner, i assume, looked at classified adds or dealers in the us and somehow shipped this car to japan with private shipping fees and all just to be able to drive this car in japan. now if that isnt commitment to american car culture i dont know what is. anyways i was happy to see a little slice of home in a plae so different and far away from it.

Back to shibuya tho. the reason kelby and i crossed back over on the street in the first place is because we heard roomers of a rooftop footsal feaild and thought this would be a good cantidate to check the roof and find out if indeed there was a futsaul court on its top. after a long time of elevators, escelators, finding and following a sign that said addidas rooftop futsaul. we made it to the roof an a very cool rooftom footsaul court.

this is the fusaul feild on top of the ninth floor in shibuya square, it is sureal to sit here typing this article and realise that this opportunity is presented to so few people ans i was one of the blessed ones to have experienced it. by no means did i take seeing this litly and took as many photos as i could of it, in an inconspicuious was because there indeed were signs that read no photography, but this had to be documented so I snapped some shots.

This shot is the only view i really got off of the top of this building, i could have walked myself around to the far side of the court and looked to see if that presented a better shot, but i would have mostlikly been yelled at in a language i dont understand and potentially put in an uncomfortable situation. So after taking in what we could of the top floor Kelby and i headed back down to take in more of shibuya. we decided to head back across the street to the side that had the mcdonalds when we saw this...

FRom what i picked up it was a scooter gang or sorts. I honestly couldnt get enough of it.

You can see in the first picture of all of them a few guys dressed in pink. I belive these were the rider of these bikes. This is something, just one of those things it wouldn't be a strech to say only happens in japan...

These scooters were like these guys alterego identities. i could see them working a normal day job at a seven eleven, or a small time cafe or bakery and when they get time off they team up with their scooter buddies to go take a ride in shibuya and the other surrounging tokyo areas.

it really was pretty nuts to see this and this is one of the reasons I am starting to like japan. these people want to be origional and be themselves in any way they can. if that means riding around in pink coveralls on loud unmuffled scooters, then thats the way they will stand out.

it really is a game of who can be the most original over here and in moderation its very cool to see how people do that.

this particular exsamle was a gem. i loved everything about it. the color, the covered wheel, the yellow contrast and the white decals there is so much to look at on something that, in the states would be considered just a form of getting from point a to b in the cheapest and most practical way posssible. I really enjoyed seeing these and it is easily my first week in japan's highlight.

after seeing the scooter and taking those in for a while keplby and I were about out of our 2hr free time we were given by our host mom and started to head back to the dog statue when i saw two pretty great exsamples of how the term street car has a totally different meaning in japan, this porshe and the aston martin below are no uncommon site in japan and goes to show that this place is just plain and simply different than most areas in the states.

i think this is like the fourth aston martin i have seen in person and the first convertable i have seen. thank you japan.

after meeting back up with out host mom we headed back to the rail station and i saw this ad for Sauvage, which was modeled by non other than captian jack sparrpw himself johhny depp. after the shibuya stint. emimamma took us to a street fair not to unlike a farmers market in the states just without the farmers.

On the way there I spotted one of the most rare Japanese cars found in America which happen to be plentiful in Japan. These cars. The R34 GTR. Aren't allowed in the states because. They don't meet the safety regulations and crash test ratings and they are not yet 25 years old which wold classify then as a classic and thus exempt them from these strict rules. 

Anyways, after pausing to experience the GTR we headed into the market which look up like three quarters of a mile to a mile of road and had many many shops selling just about anything you can imagine. 

It was also semi close to the Tokyo sky tree, which I plan to go to at some point in my stay here. Kelby and I took in as much of the market as we could and I tried to find a little bit of a better view of the sky tree. 

This street presented a pretty great view. As we got a little bit closer to it. I couldn't help but notice just how tall it really it. It's quite spectacular. 

At the very far side of the street there was this drum ceremony going on. It was pretty intense to witness not only hearing the drums but seeing them an actually being able to feel them. It was basically about 3-4 of these bigger drums and a number of smaller drumbs being beat and then yells and chants in conjunction with the beatings. This was an experience in and of itself aside from the market. 

Walking back to the other side of the market to meet up with our host mom I was this guy dressed up in some interesting looking garb. I should do some more reaserch but I think he/she is dressed up as a Japanese lord or spirit king of some kind. 

After taking in the spirit god this shop caught my eye and I walked in. I was half tempted to buy one of these but with the sweep omission of Japan and the fact that I am a foreigner, I might get myself into some sticky situations. Not to mention flying it back home, or paying for shipping and such. So I held off the purchase. 

Walking out of the samurai sword and knife shop. Kelby and I were greeted with this parade for both the fire fighters ofcthecparticukaf city and the boys out/cubscout troops of it aswell. There was a matching band and baton swingers. Unfortunately there wasn't any free candy being given out like is so common in the states. 

This is the last impression I got of the market. And I have to say I liked it. This guy was outside of what I picked up was a toiletries shop having a blast dancing around in his little box and even made a nice little pose for me when he saw the camera. I can't get over the spirit and sence of comeraary a lot of these Japanese people have with what they are invoked in. It's either all or nothing. Something to appreciate for sure. 

After the market time was up for us we headed closer to the sky tree and to a final destination of a temple before we headed home for dinner. On our way there I saw this very traditional looking guy and buggy. I think you could find a guy without anyone in his buggy and pay him to walk you around. Pretty cool way to see a pretty cool little area of Tokyo. 

On our way to the temple I saw this quaint little stree ant snapped a shot. One of the things I want to do on my trip here is take the best Tokyo street veiw that I can. So expect more of the type of shots showing up and hopefully they only get better. 

After about ten min of a leasurely walking we got to the temple. And it was pretty packed as you can see.

In all reality I looked at going to this temple as a way of admiring some very traditional japanese architecture. This kind of freed the trip from any spiritual ties and still have me a mission or vision in comming to the temple. The building above was very surprisingly large as I got closer to it the mere size of this building was a sight to behold, let alone the fact that it was sunset an the little decorations became more and more defined as the sun got lower and lower. 

I was pretty fortunate to have gotten there at the time I did. The sun was shingling this great golden color that made the red of the contrast so well with the shimmering gold. I really couldn't get enough and kind of got lost for a bit on the temple grounds following the light. 

In this adventure I noticed how much closer we had gotten to the sky tree and how it kept growing as we got closer to it. I'll get some numbers on it here soon. And if I do end up going to it. I'll get numbers for sure. 

Another ex sample of that gorgeous contrast I got to witness. After this we all started on our way home after enjoying some chocolate emimama had brought along with her and saved for the end. 

After I got on the rail train I was convinced my photography for the day was over, but I was pleasrnly surprised to see a few gems on the walk home after the train ride. This bug was a pretty sweet find an I've been surprised to see just how may I've seen after this. 

Unfortunately it was in some pretty heavy traffic and my host family was well on there way home and I didn't want to keep them waiting to long. 

But then this happened. 

And the night really finished off with a bang. Kelby and emimama headed home and I stopped to enjoy this fine peice if German engineering. 

I wasn't sure if this was an origional porsche 911 Carrera rs or a replica. But either way it was great to see this just being normally used as a street car. One more reason japan is so cool. 

Thanks for sticking around and hanging with me while I didn't post there for a bit. Not sure what will be next but I'm sure it will be good. 

Josh.