tokyo story ( part one )

london is the best city in the world, that's a well known fact. 

my favourite city apart from london is tokyo.

that's right. not new york, not san francisco, not cardiff, but tokyo.

over the past ten years or so, i've become quite fascinated with japan.

the country, the culture, fashion, music, people, books, films, food etc.

the only place i've been to in japan is tokyo, so while it's a quiet day here at

whitfield towers, let me show you a few of my snapshots and observations from tokyo.

the last time i had a shoot over there, i had a translator to help me.

say hello to the tallest man in tokyo... rob !

here's what i had to eat at a workers cafe near the fish market one night

pork and onions on rice. in fairness it was just the job.

here's a view of the famous tokyo fish market from across the river

and here's a view from inside

the room where they hold the tuna auction is the size of a 5-a side football pitch 

and full of massive tuna lined up for inspection.

the experts have a look at the tuna before deciding which to bid on

this bloke is shining a torch at a thin slice of tuna in his hand.

after the auction the tuna is taken away to the other side of the market

where there are hundreds of little stalls or shops

who then sell it to big restaurants

and to the small sushi bars which are next door to the market.

i must admit. sushi, like tea, is not my cup of tea.

seeing this type of window display at a restaurant however, will always draw me in.

plastic representations of the food being served inside... perfect !

and here's what i opted for once inside

chicken, rice and extra hot curry sauce. bingo !

i also like the eateries where you choose your food by picking up the laminated

ticket which shows a photo of what you want

the choice is quite staggering. you also have to put money in a machine

and pay for the value of the laminated photos you've chosen.

then you take the ticket inside to the waiter.

there's a mirror to the left of the machine so you can keep an eye out incase there is 

a suspicious character standing behind you... as was the case here.

seeing a mirror though... for me there was only one thing to be done...

boom !

if you want a drink on the go, tokyo streets are full of vending machines

my beverage of choice is boss coffee. oh, the coffee comes out already heated

in the cans by the way.

but they also sell hot tea, hot chocolate and a variety of hot soups

and these machines are absolutely everywhere, selling good hot drinks 24/7

another place which is open for business 24/7 is this massive manga shop in shibuya

it was almost as big as the fish market !

while i was there, i picked up a copy of tokyo tribes by santa inoue. 

look what else i picked up at an outdoor restaurant in omotesando hills

some japanese self-portrait crashers !

ok, i'll leave my tokyo recollections for now. part two will follow soon.