Photography is popular these days, recently I was listening to an interview by this famous artist who was rather sadened by the way modern media limited the imagination. To him the humble pencil and paper holds infinite potential. Internet driven design while creative also held similarities from project to project. Do you think thats the case? For me I have a small collection of photography projects and ideas on paper to one day be filled out. Comments section people :)

Today was an odd day. While waiting for a bus an old man approached me. After which we chatted for a while until the bus came up. Then the lady of the bus told me that the guy I was talking to looked like a comedian of some fame. I agreed he looked familiar, which made me wonder how many other brushes with fame have I had. Got a story too? Tell the tale, comments section :)

Life in Tokyo isn't as dramatically different from life in Australia like I first thought it would be. The exchange program at Keio University runs almost identically to a normal semester at Melbourne University. This means it won't be overly difficult to get used to, but has a similar downside - your semester will only be as exciting as you make it. Back at home I'm quite satisfied with boring semesters but it would be kind of a waste to let the same thing happen over here. And I might as well introduce you to two gaijins (derogatory Japanese term for foreigner/alien), Leonar from Taiwan/America & Stefan from Switzerland. They are both also on exchange at Keio, and the first few people I met when I arrived. The locals in Japan are quite shy & reserved (until you get to know them better), and with an uninvolved program at university, it makes it difficult to make local friends. Furthermore, we have been extremely free since classes don't actually start until the 24th of September. As a result, us three gaijins' have been spending a lot of time together since we're all in the same situation. So much so, that in roughly a week or so we have covered all the main areas of Tokyo, including Shinagawa, Tokyo (station), Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, Ueno & of course Tamachi, where our University is situated. Side note: having either a H&M, Topman or UNIQLO wherever you go is a convenient way to waste the little money you have left after splurging on endless amounts of food and having to purchase the world's most expensive train tickets.



These are some pictures taken nearby to my campus in Tamachi. On our first day wondering around the area we passed by a sort of community centre called 'Shiba no Ie', which appeared to be a restaurant since everyone inside was eating and talking. One of the staff came out and attempted to describe what the place was all about, and it turns out it was a place where people working or living nearby brought their bentous (packed lunch) to eat, kids came to play after school, and even where clubs met. All the staff are Keio students or graduates, so we decided to buy some lunch and join them. They were really warm and welcoming, and answered a lot of the questions we had at the time. Since then we go spend some time there on most days where we have to go to uni. I find it really amazing at how helpful Japanese people are if you approach them the right way. Those people had never met us before but they were researching for us the cheapest mobile plans and student commuter passes. I went to DoCoMo with Stefan so he could apply for a mobile phone, but since they didn't offer prepaid, the lady printed us a map with directions to the nearest SoftBank store (which by the way is their competitor!). You might or might not be familiar with Japanese customer service, but it is extremely polite, efficient and friendly. The language here as a whole hierarchy of politeness, and every sentence can be rephrased so that it is either rude, casual, polite, humble or respectful. When talking with customers you usually use a combination of humble and respectful forms of speech. My first impression was that it was simply a formality, and that the person serving you is likely to be saying it without any integrity whatsoever. I now find that this is only true to a certain extent, because so many people (even random people on the street) have given more help than I expected when asked. You really can't help yourself from sensing in them a genuine desire to be nice to others.



On Sunday morning, we went to a morning barbecue organised by Takashi (the second son in my host family) and a bunch of his friends. The food was really good, and it seems as though every Japanese female has the ability to cook in their genes, while every male knows how to pick out good food. The night before was my first ever experience at an onsen which is a Japanese bath house. I was really looking forward to it, since I've always thought of it as the ultimate method of relaxation and indulgence. When entering the facility you have to take off your shoes and put them in a shoe locker (lots of restaurants and other places are like this), then proceed to the reception to pay. This particular one had a traditional style dining and relaxing area for friends and families. After that male and females are split into there own areas. Upon entering there is a changing room with lockers to keep your clothes, and then a room with a huge pot of water and bamboo scoops to rinse your body. I'll let you know the whole nudity thing was seriously awkward for me, and it didn't help that it was a busy Saturday night, but you get used to it sooner or later. After rinsing yourself you enter the shower bays where you have to sit down on a stool and thoroughly clean your body with shampoo and soap before proceeding to the spas. There was a plethora of spas to select from: hot, cold (mizuboro), jacuzzi style and bed style. All of these were both indoors, and also outdoors in a traditional garden style environment under the night sky. There was also a sauna and a special spa which I later found out was filled with some kind of milk mixture. Being adventurous I tried them all, and my conclusion is that the Japanese really like their baths hot, like 42 degrees hot. But overall I really enjoyed myself and would go again without a doubt, probably next time to the real ones in the mountains.

One of our many redemptions here is that Leonar has many contacts with a huge group of local Keio students who went on exchange to her university in Seattle last year. We've met up with a few of them on different occasions for meals and such. More recently, 11 of us gathered together to go to Kamakura which is an area South of Tokyo famous for temples and certain foods. It was the first day of Silver Week, the second longest series of public holidays, and as a result the place was ridiculously crowded. Imagine the whole town being as crowded as a shopping centre on Boxing Day. None the less it was pretty fun, the first picture in this post shows planks of wood where people right down their wishes and hang them up. Since the school entrance exams are coming up, the temple has had great business lately. The mosaic above includes a picture showing white paper which is folded up and tied to bamboo branches. This is where all negative things and bad fortunes are scribed and... supposedly dispelled? After temple exploring, we fled from the crowds and headed to Yokohama to eat dinner at an Izakaya. On the way we even fulfilled the ancient Japanese tradition of PuriKura, which is the abbreviation of print club AKA sticker photos. An Izakaya is a restaurant where you get your own cubicle with your friends and continuously order, through an electronic menu, small dishes and alcoholic drinks until you are satisfied or out of cash, whichever comes first. Total train expenses: 2500 yen out of a total expenditure for the day of 6500 yen.

Relationships are a funny thing, I guess in todays society there is so much to absorb. Economists see dating as 'defining the terms of the contract' and if the person is a worthwhile 'investment'. Biologists and Psychologists feel there are chemicals and brain maps to make us fall in 'love'. Hollywood tells us it's that gut feeling and tingles your giblets. Whatever they are, what do you think is it that makes us fall in love and get married?

Indeed the height of human evolution so to speak. Studies show that we're all getting prettier, or at least the ladies are. But imagine a world of only people who looked just as good as Brad Pitt or Elle Macpherson. Everyone would be smokin hot so to speak. Would you get bored? Toss us a line of what you think ;)

What I've noticed is that in the western world, there is a heavy emphasis on the individual person and what they can achieve, while in Asia there is a strong group emphasis in everything they do. Obviously this is just a generalisation, but from what I see day to day, they spend almost their entire lives in contact with their friends. Near my university is a sort of tiny community centre run by students. After school kids from 5-14 years old come and play with each other till late at night. By the age of 10 they own mobile phones and as soon as they hit 16 will be spending 95% of their time together, whether at school or going out. The 5% of the time they are apart is spent mailing and calling each other. My friend said he would spend on average $150 a month on mobile expenses. The other night I chose the worst hour to travel home. Remember those youtube videos of people getting pushed into the trains like sardines? That's actually a daily occurrence here. So I got on my rapid express train, got sandwiched, and suffered for 30 minutes till the next stop. The funny thing is, they are so cooperative during the whole squishing process, while they maintain their composure and carry blank looks on their faces. I'll admit, I was in sheer pain because I got stuck in an awkward position, but everyone else was calmly text messaging or reading a book. I am however proud to announce that I have mastered the art of standing without holding onto the railings even when the train isn't that packed. It is an essential skill, how else would I mail my friends while fixing my hair and changing songs on my iPod?



While on the topic of trains an convieniences, as requested, I'll do a quick review of my mobile and Suica card. The mobile costed me 80 dollars without contract. It's prepaid so I buy prepaid charge cards when I need them, while 300 yen (4 dollars) is deducted from my balance each month for unlimited email. The Japanese don't use sms, rather they use email from their mobiles. So there is no character limit, and images can be attached for no cost. When exchanging contact details, you need to provide your name, number and email address. Since it's troublesome, the phones are equipped with infra-red devices to beam across details. For 80 dollars, my phone has everything a premium model has back home, with the addition of 1-seg tv! 1-seg is Tokyo's mobile broadcast of all local television stations. It's really clear and includes things such as program guides and program information. It's sort of like mobile digital television. I don't know about you guys, but I reckon that's almost too cheap. The other awesome gadget to make my life here easier is called a Suica card. It's used to travel on Japan's massive rail network, as well as the bus network. The card uses wireless technology and has a stored-value, so you just tap it at the ticket gates, like myKi, ez-link and Octopus. Mine is pictured above, and the writing all over the top is my commuter pass allowing fixed cost travel along my route of choice (shiki to ikebukuro along the toubu-toujou line and then to tamachi along the yamanote line). It ended up costing 9,650 yen or about 120 dollars monthly with student discount, which is pricey but so much cheaper than what I was expecting. Whenever I venture outside my route, it calculates the cheapest fare for me, utilising the free stations on my route. My suburban line has 4 platforms and a choice of local, semi-express, express, rapid-express, express for employees and special-express services. EACH service departs roughly every 5 minutes. The yamanote circle line which is like Melbourne's city loop (except there are like 40 stations) has 4 platforms and departs from each one roughly every 40 seconds during peak-hour and every 2 minutes at other times. Each train is about 18 carriages long, so you can't actually see the other end of the station. And yes, each and every train gets thoroughly stuffed and compressed nicely. It's also notable that they line up like school children in 3 neat lines outside the door, and move to the side to let other's off first. The stations are usually built inside shopping centres, which are really big since there are around 16-30 platforms above ground and another 5 or so subway lines. As a result, it takes on average 40 minutes to find your friends when meeting at one of the 16 different station exits. And while the train network is awfully efficient, I still find myself walking about 4 km a day!



This is the imperial gardens in Shinjuku, which has now become a homeless community. Japan's economy which was already in recession was hit really hard during the recent economic meltdown. The people here have a lot of pride, and you don't see them going round begging for money, or even collecting it, and unlike Singapore they can't go round selling tissue paper either since it's always given away for free on the streets. The community is also strangely clean, with a designated washing area and shared recreational space. During the day a lot of the smaller 'tents' get packed nicely away while they go about some sort of daily life. They are also very passive, and not scary, which makes sense since they were probably average salary men who suddenly lost everything. What concerns me is that such a wealthy government isn't doing anything about it. I guess it's only Australia which provides things like Centrelink.

This one picture was taken at a protest around the city. For me these people have a legitimate reason to complain. I can walk down the street for fishin n' chups if I so desire, others around the world don't have such a luxury. So the question is what things are you glad you can do freely? For me I guess it's having a family I can on occasion talk to. Toss into the comments section something you're happy for ;)

Singapore's Changi Airport never fails to amaze me every time I pass through it. Makes sense since it's claimed to be the world's best or second best airport or whatnot. To me the airport is kind of important, since it's usually the first and last impressions you'll have of a particular city. Tokyo's Narita airport is nothing much, but like everywhere in Japan, the staff are really polite, which by the way is different to friendly. I was so tired from the overnight plane journey that I slept the entire 3 hour bus journey from the airport to Niiza city, where my homestay family resides. This is my first time ever living in another persons house alone, so although JTB (the homestay program coordinator) claims that culture shock occurs 2 months after arrival, I got mine about 1 day after. The house itself is a half western half Japanese style semi-detached unit. I have to say it's pretty awesome since I have my own TV, fridge, microwave and toaster (all fully functional mini equivalents of their western counterparts) in my room.



I am staying with only the host mother and her 30 year old son. I hear she has another son living somewhere in Tokyo. The mum is really nice, relaxed and there are not too many rules for me to follow. As part of the package I get 2 meals on weekdays and 3 on weekends. Dinner is really amazing, usually consisting of 3 main dishes and around 5 side dishes, per person. Yes, that's a lot of plates to wash but fortunately she won't allow me to lift a finger to help. So basically everything is awesome, except that it takes about 90 minutes to commute to Tokyo! So you can imagine how far that is, considering I'm on a rapid express train operating on the world's most efficient public transport network. Worst is, it costs 1100 yen for a return trip to uni, which is about 18 painful dollars. And I have to mention that the Japanese walk ridiculously fast! They said it would take 10 minutes walk to the station, it took me 15 minutes to power-walk it. Niiza city is like a community on it's own, there are so many shops here, it's like walking down Swanston street, except everyone's a different kind of Asian.

Orientation for uni has already begun, and continues for the next 3 weeks, can you believe that? And attendance is mandatory, with most days being only about 2 hours. Which sucks when it costs $18 each time. The good news is as soon as they decide to give me my student ID, I can purchase a concession pass for my SUICA card (like myki/ez-link) which allows me unlimited travel between 2 stations of my choice, and also all stations in between (which is roughly the whole of Japan, well not really...). Which means all travel is at a fixed cost, and it sounds really great except it costs 19,600 yen a month, or $260. Remember for that price you could get a full-fare monthly zone 1+2 in Melbourne. So that's basically the story so far, I'm now looking to get my Alien Identity Card (which is what they call foreigners), without it I can't do anything. After that I'll get a mobile (KEITAI) and a bank account, so more updates then.

Check out projectlifeflow.blogspot.com for the full post and pictures. Updated twice weekly.


When I walk around the city I like to observe people. The daily trials of my life simply cannot be an isolated event. People with seemingly perfect lives may have deep roots of trouble we would be horrified to face. So the question is, is keeping to busy to be concerned a legitimate strategy? Shout out your thoughts :) I'm just curious what people think ;)

Sometimes I'm thankful for the scarcity of affordable restaurants in Melbourne. If money makes the world go round in the west, then I guess it's food that fulfils that role in the east. It's delicious and all, but if high blood pressure, diabetes or heart attacks fail to take me, I'd have no money left to live anyway. You think Bread Top in Melbourne is kinda cool? Every shopping centre here is coveted in bread heaven; Bread Talk, myBread, Bread Society, St. Leaven, Four Leaves, Sun Moulin, Cedelle, and the list goes on. My life long obsession with the doughy goodness is completely satisfied in every manner here.



I really cannot recall the extravagant names of the dishes depicted above, but from left to right they were; assorted bread (you think, jon?), crispy duck, mixed tempura, gyu sashi 牛さし, pan-fried sea bass, strawberry macaroons with lavender ice cream, kuro-buta ramen 黒豚ら面, agedashi toufu 揚げだし豆腐, warm chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice-cream (baked to order! oozes warm chocolate when you cut it), pan-fried scallops. It's just a little something for your visual taste buds. 4 days to Tokyo!

Sometimes life has many choices. But sometimes there are few choices to be made. The choice for the straight and narrow has always be a controversial one. After all there are a lot of people who seem successful because of their less then smiled upon tactics. But perhaps something a little less complex then. When does a white lie turn into a full lie? Throw your thoughts in :) Love to hear them :)