Neil Duckett

What a predicament to be in, when you can’t work out whether to wear a bikini or jeans?. Now, thanks to Sanna’s Brazil Fashion that’s no longer a problem.

Despite wikipedias thoughts on the subject I think these jeans should remain womens only.

“Attitudes to thongs are changing in most of the Western world toward more acceptance, especially with men. Most stores now carry a selection of men’s thongs, and more men are dismissing the stereotype that thongs are for gay men. They are becoming a regular item of underwear and thong swimsuits are seen more frequently on the beaches. The wearing of thong swimwear on the beach is fairly common in the Southern European countries and on the tropical beaches of South America and Florida.

Fingers crossed they take off here this season, well, with the ladies that is.

Thanks to Danny for inspiring me to research these jeans a little more!

Popularity: 32% [?]

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Saturday night saw the repeat of last years Hanami Party at Toshimaen. Toshimaen is one of the biggest theme parks in Japan although we were there for none of that carry-on. The easiest way to get to Toshimaen is on the Oedo Subway line, it’s about 18 minutes from Shinjuku.

There must have been a good 30 of us this year, all Friends from a local Sushi bar and predominantly the same crew i go to the Onsen trips with.

It started early in the evening and what a show they put on, 5000 yen for all you can eat and all you can drink for a good few hours, set in the greatly lit surroundings of Toshimaen.

After a good feed of Yakiniku and Nabe, along with my fair quota of beers it was off to Nerima for the second party of Karaoke and Whisky … plenty of both.

Next week, now the Cherry Blossom Season and related Hanami parties are finished and i’ve hung up my Snowboarding Boots for this winter, i will resume my journey on the JR Yamanote Line.

Next stop will be Hamamatsucho, another first for me so i’m looking forward to it. So far i know very little about Hamamatsucho so i’m open to suggestions on things to see and do while i’m out that way.

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Last week i previewed the Miss Universe Japan contest, on the back of enjoying  Miss Nippon / Miss Japan 2008 earlier in the year, which was held at Tokyo Big Site last night. The winner who will go on to compete in the Miss Universe 2008 competition on the 14th of July in Vietnam is the lovely Hiroko Mima, not my pick but then again i wasn`t asked and i wouldn’t complain if i had a Japanese Girlfriend that looked like her either!

Hiroko, a 22-year-old student from Tokushima, beat out nearly 4,000 applicants this year. The 173-cm-tall beauty is a keen high jumper and excels at Awa Odori dance.

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Here’s Hiroko pictured on the left, with last years winner, Riyo Mori, who went on to win Miss Universe 2007.

All the best to Hiroko in the coming months as she prepares to bring to title back to Japan for the second year running. I’m more than happy to extend the offer of private English lessons if she feels she needs some work in that area. Come to think of it, if any of her other Friends in the top 10 would like to take me up on the offer i’m more than happy to obligue, as would Chris i’m sure!

For a few more photos head over to Japan Probe or for pictures of this years Miss Nippon / Miss Japan 2008 event here

Popularity: 39% [?]

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Last night I attended the same function I met the grandson of the founder of Miss Nippon last year. Again it was held at the Keio Plaza hotel and again it was a great night.

I spent the early part of the evening talking to TVK Yokohamas Kyoko Nakayama which was interesting as always and also caught up with the World Extreme Skiing champion Yoshimasa Wada and told him of my recent Snowboarding trips.

The highlight would have to have been meeting Lungtok who apart from being part of the Tibet Olympic Judo Team several years ago, is currently the translator for the Dalai Lama when he is in Japan. Not only was his conversation interesting I was most impressed to hear he was fluent in 5 languages.

Unfortunately the guy in charge of taking the photo was obviously impared with Sake and he managed to take an out of focus photo.

Not unlike last time, the grog and food was put on, and put on very well i might ad. Fast becoming a favourite of mine is Sushi and I only broke away from the Sushi last night to try one thing and that was the Whale Steak. There was a raw option beside the cooked variety but my taste buds weren’t tempted.

Coming from Australia the topic of Whaling came up on several occasions and it was discussed in a mature fashion, more than I can say for the behaviour from the guys from Chasers in this recent clip on youtube. I never have really liked much of their stuff.

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A Photo Blog of Japan in the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods.

I had an email a few weeks ago from Kjeld letting me know that his site is “A multilingual photoblog with daily uploads of rare photographs and postcards of Japan between 1860 and the 1930’s. ” which sounded interesting enough but due to a busy few days i was unable to get over and have a look.

Finally early this week i visited his site and with myself having taken on a, predominantly photo based, tour of the 29 stops on the JR Yamanote Line i found these old photos of Japan extremely interesting and quite a contrast to the Japan we all see today.

“In 1854, Japan opened its doors to the outside world for the first time in more than 200 years. It set in motion a truly astounding transformation. As fate would have it, photography had just been invented. As the old country vanished and a new one was born, daring photographers took photos. Discover what life was like with their rare and precious photographs of old Japan.”  Kjeld Duits

If you’re not sure where a lot of the locations are then why not checkout a Map Of Japan

Here’s an example of what i’m talking about, this is Shinbashi Bridge Ginza and it was taken between 1882 and 1899.

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