Is there a Jaywalking law in New York? If there is, it must be unenforced and antiquated like some forgotten 19th century proclamation prohibiting women from riding a Penny Farthing on Sundays. The law, so far as I have ever been concerned, is that you cross the street whenever there is the slightest chance that …
It is no news that Ramen is a way of life in Japan. It inspires controversy, obsession, devotion and a cult-like secrecy. The closest example to what Ramen means to people in Tokyo (or Japan for that matter) would be pizza in New York City. But on a much grander scale with hundreds of more …
Tateishi is the heart of downtown Tokyo. Located in the Katsushika Ward, it was born, like Ueno, out of the post WW2 black market — PX goods, dented cans of Spam, lizard faced gangsters and corrupt GIs side by side with small factories and light manufacturing. Like a wagon wheel, 5 covered shotengai (shopping streets) …
According to my wife there are three categories of body odor in Japan: The Pencil, The Chicken Soup and, most frightening and mysterious, The Old Man Smell or Kareishu. The Pencil incorporates a range of aromas both earthy and spicy. Sniff a freshly sharpened pencil and you will see: hints of cumin powder, the astringent …
I have always been bad with the concept of heroes and heroism. It did not strike me as particularly heroic that Hercules would battle a Hydra. He was the son of Zeus after all. He sure as hell wasn’t going to be a crossing guard. Plus he knocked off his sons in a rage and …
Shotengai are the traditional shopping streets that dot the neighborhoods of Tokyo. Some are covered, arcade style and some meander, open to the skies. I’m sure that a few of these streets date back to some ancient time, but the majority of them seem to hail from the 1950s as the city was rebuilt out …
Reggae music is everything that the creators of Esperanto had hoped that Utopian language would be. I have met people from all corners of the Earth and despite linguistic differences, we have managed to communicate and become friends based on a shared love of the music and its language of riddims, roots, dusty 45s and …
Everyone rides a bike in Tokyo. Ancient ladies speed by on their electronic cruisers; young girls sullenly pedal down the sidewalk – one hand steering, the other texting. Salary men, grandfathers, robed monks, moms laden with two, even three small children. They bike in the rain clutching umbrellas. They read newspapers and magazines as they …
No one told me about the crows here. They are everywhere. They are ominous. They are huge. They are Omen crows, Edgar Allen Poe crows. These are fuck you, where’s-my-money, gangster crows. These are not the crows you find in America. These are actually a different species known as the Asian Jungle Crow — they …
When you move to Tokyo from New York you go a bit ramen mad. It is to be expected. There are glorious bowls of ramen EVERYWHERE and it is so much better and so much cheaper than the best ramen in New York that you can easily spend your first two weeks here eating a …
