Making the most of the late September sun, with a ride, read and some relaxation.
Archives for September 2009
Sumo saunter
Sumo’s autumn tournament has just recently finished in Tokyo, with Mongolian Yokozuna Asashoryu winning with a hugely impressive and almost effortless record of 14 wins and 1 defeat; silencing his many critics with a dominant, and thankfully almost controversy free, display.
Yet as regular as the wrestlers look in the ring, whether it be live or from the living room, out in the real world and mingling with the masses, they still sort of fit in,
but yet at the same time rather fascinatingly don’t.
Especially so considering the strict controls over their clobber.
Along with not only their heft, but more often than not, height.
And, for the higher ranked rikishi at least, their hairstyles.
All of which, despite the sport’s worryingly waining popularity among the nation’s youth, still makes them mesmerising to many.
Mask or no mask.
Japanese workers working #19
(Not quite so) sinister Japanese scarecrows
Despite the previously posted mannequin-based scarecrows being suitably sinister, not all of them it seems are quite so unsettling.
But whilst they still aren’t exactly what one would want to stumble across in the semi-darkness, this lady at least is more sombre than scary.
Plus some are simply shy.
And, rather strangely, with his bouffant and brown blouse, this relatively new kid on the block wouldn’t look all that out of place in an 80s/90s boy band.
Although, as a new edition, he can’t really take that to heart, as he’s not yet in synch with the rest of the rabble.
Post-festival peer
After a fun time at the festival, it’s a dawdle home with Dad, along with what appears to be one last bit of wonderment.
Whatever it may be.
Tokyo’s under-supported underclass?
It’s arguably not so many moons ago that the vast majority of Japanese considered themselves middle-class. If indeed they were even concerned with such classifications.
But now, with the job for life system long gone, and a third of all workers on temporary contracts, Japanese society is in real danger of fracturing; irreconcilably separating into the have and the have-nots. Or, in the case of the nation’s working poor and homeless, the have-nothings. An ever-growing group that is often referred to as the underclass, which very sadly is sometimes quite literally true.
With seemingly little in the way of support to help them pull themselves out of their predicament.