Shinjuku Koen

I met a fun girl called Joy at the Oak hotel and we decided to go off and look at gardens together. We began at Ueno and it quickly became clear she had a strong pull towards vending machines and a fascination for what they might vend. Alas, not one pair of soiled female undergarments did we find, but the hot chocolate milk in a can faired well for the cold morning.

Ueno failed to excite, so off we shot via long metal undergroundness to Shinjuku (this time in daylight) and it's hotly tipped park/garden.







Just out of shot to the left, an army of Nihon-jin armed with all manner of elaborate photographic paraphernalia set themselves up to taken the ULTIMATE picture of the early Sakura. Tripods splayed out and sat solidly, some tall and thin, some squat and wide; telescopic lenses whirred and lengthened, excited into action by the buds; filters fit; focus set; apertures winked. a small forest of metal legs formed everywhere the cherry blossom blushed. Every three metal legs attended to by two legs wrapped in trouser, creased and flexed by anxiousness, hurried on by some unfathomable compulsion, aged bones stirred and creaked into unexpected motion by the will to capture this moment: The Cherry Blossom - The symbol of the transient nature of life.

Without any HINT of manipulation, Joy INSISTED we do some Karaoke later, but first we had to warm our bones. We found what appeared to be Elven Lembas bread and wrested some drink from the ubiquitous vending machines. Then we travelled back to Ueno to wander the drunken lightshow of the markets, replete with ear bleeding Pachinko halls, unpleasant but intriguing sex-shops and the light din of open-air eateries where all manner of Japanese sat tightly packed, eating, drinking and noisily laughing with uncharacteristic relish.

With NO prompting WHATSOEVER, Joy dragged me in to do some Karaoke. After a fair amount of confusion, we finally sussed out how it works and sang far too loudly, undoubtedly upsetting neighbours near and far. Surprisingly, we weren't accosted by talent scouts on our way out.