In Tokyo they have these “cat bars” all over the place. Basically you pay a few bucks and you get to hang out with a bunch of cats until the wee hours of the morning. People are often confused by the idea of the cat bar, but once you realize how incredibly small apartments can be in Tokyo and how expensive pets can be ($2,000-$3,500) these cat bars begin to make more sense. Cat bars also offer a much more relaxed place to hangout until the trains start running again at 5am (as opposed to your typical night club or bar). We found this particular cat bar in Shinjuku around 3am after a night of heavy partying. Part two after the jump.
Here are some pictures from my recent 15 day trip to Tokyo. I think I am drinking in damn near every photo… :X Pictured above is me with a piece by Os Gemeos, and me with a 1,000ml beer. I still have a lot of videos and some more pictures to post, so look out for those.
Just wanted to let you all know that I am leaving for Tokyo, Japan in a few hours. I’ll be there til August 16, so the site will probably slow down a little. However I will be updating from there about my trip as much as possible with photos and such. We have a ton of exciting things planned for the site while we’re there, so stay tuned!
Kisho Kurokawa’s famed Nakagin Capsule Tower is set to be demolised according to the NY Times.
A rare built example of Japanese Metabolism, a movement whose fantastic urban visions became emblems of the country’s postwar cultural resurgence, the 1972 Capsule Tower is in a decrepit state. Its residents, tired of living in squalid, cramped conditions, voted two years ago to demolish it and are now searching for a developer to replace it with a bigger, more modern tower. That the building is still standing has more to do with the current financial malaise than with an understanding of its historical worth.
TOUCHPUPPET will be in Tokyo next week to pay our respects to the building during our Japanese invasion, so stay tuned. More images and video after the jump.
Holy shit, two of my favorite things in one place! Tokyo and Michel Gondry!!! If the trailer above doesn’t work, view it here.
In TOKYO!, three of the world’s greatest filmmakers come together for an omnibus triptych examining the nature of one unforgettable city as it’s shaped by the disparate people who live, work (and even run amok!) inside one enormous, constantly evolving, densely populated Japanese megalopolis – the ravishing and inimitable Tokyo.
Triptych, rhapsody, psychogeography, omnibus, urban valentine, freak show, mindwalk and many other things, TOKYO! is a fantasy in three movements that will make you see one of the world’s greatest cities – if not any city – in unpredictable new ways.
In the tradition of such films as NEW YORK STORIES, NIGHT ON EARTH, PARIS JE T’AIME and its forthcoming sequel NEW YORK JE T’AIME, TOKYO! addresses the timeless question of whether we shape cities, or if cities shape us – in the process revealing the rich humanity at the heart of modern urban life.
