He's awfully small and dark up there in the top right corner
(clickensie fer der groß)
Or possibly drunk, there's that in Tokyo too.
I kept thinking, gosh, a remarkable absence of human activity in these photographs of the most compacted city I've ever seen, surely they are down there doing things, and surely enough, they are.
26 comments:
Heh, Chip. Thank you for the "Blow-Up" (I was looking for murders & dead bodies too).
Seriously, great find, Chip.
I was absorbed, zooming in. Lonely figures, looking out of windows, or having lunch at their desks. The teacher wiping the classroom whiteboard. The guy eating his sandwich all alone on the stairwell. The woman, lost in thought, putting up her clothes to dry. The kid, pointing straight at the camera. Etc.
I'm reminded of a project by photographer Michael Wolf, A Series of Unfortunate Events.
There are more images from this series (and other related series), at his website (under "Street View") here.
Could be he (maybe she) is just drunk and passed out.
I think that is Jackie Chan.
He's dead again.
I looked for a little bit and gave up.
yashu said...
Heh, Chip. Thank you for the "Blow-Up" (I was looking for murders & dead bodies too).
Same, but I've already found 2 naked people.
I was in that tower twice. The second time the day before we left. What I saw from the observation area was a city teaming with life, the sidewalks packed with people criss-crossing, every parking spot taken, no vacant spots at all, zero vacant spots, the streets completely compacted with automobiles even some special somebody's diplomatic convoy nearly directly beneath. Life all around. But these photographs show a city nearly asleep.
I looked directly beneath the tower as you would do when you're up there, and followed around. The liveliest looking thing from above turns out to be a Shinto graveyard, and I noted how the tennis court abuts a family shrine precisely to the centimeter.
There is a woman sheltering under an umbrella. But it doesn't appear to be raining. She is walking along side a guy and she is wearing some type of gloves.
You were looking for dead bodies?
Oi.
I was looking for what people were up to. Expecting a lot of foreigners in that area and it seems there are. That get up early apparently. What people are wearing. This must be very early morning. I'm having a hard time imagining any day or any time of day when things are this slow. Even watching activity out our hotel window near that tower. That's a whole 'nuther story. The highlight of it is I saw a foreigner, big tall guy, taller than ten of me, in the Hilton hotel giftshop where everything is on glass shelves, and I saw directly into his mouth and confirmed what my sisters were nattering about, the guy had two rows of teeth !!!11!11!!111! Like a giant with two complete sets of teeth, one fitted inside the other and it freaked our shit right out !!1!1!!!!!111! Our last night there we were put up in the Hilton's Imperial suite because our family is large and because it was late at night and because royally f'd up reason our flight was delayed, and because there wasn't a good alternative and because my dad is a very good negotiator. And that turned out to be sort of a once-in-a-lifetime thing for all of us kids. The Imperial f'n suite. It's huge. And
lug jury us.
And at the top.
Has anybody spotted the anchovies?
"Dead man spotted from Tokyo Tower"
Pretty good toss from the tower.
Almost made it onto the bench!
Go for best 2 outta 3 tries.
I'll bet you can tie one on in old Taiwan, or in Tokyo for that matter, pass out and be reasonably safe from yutes setting you on fire or doing other fun things to you. And to think, when I was born people not only in Oshkosh b'gosh but in New Yawk City! not only slept outside on hot nights but left their doors unlocked with nary a qualm. What could it be? What could it be?.......
Almost dead or mostly dead, but not dead dead.
He looks like he's drunk and passed out-- Rolled off the bench like he was rolling outa bed.
I looks like the benches are designed to deposit drunks onto the sidewalk. One attempt at shifting in your sleep and off you go, kerplunk, and you're too drunk to get back up.
I myself have slept on the floor many times and still do. But not outside. And I think that habit, or even the idea of that being okay, might have come from living there.
ricpic@5:59pm/
Yes, what could it be indeed..Gee, I wonder..
Back circa late 70s/early 80s I happened to have a conversation with the owner of my favorite package liquor store on Oak St in Old Louisville not far from that city's Central Park. It was during a heat wave in the summer and the news was filled with stories about several senior citizens who had died of heat prostration in their un-airconditioned apts because they refused to open their windows for fear of crime. He allowed that during the Depression everyone living facing onto the park would take their mattresses and sleep in the park at night to beat the heat.
Today, of course (and in the 70s also) that is to sadly think the unthinkable.
Gee, I wonder why...
There are 13 million stories in the naked panoramic city and drunken/dead guy is one of them.
Also, somebody blacked out his face. That level of attention to detail is impressive.
I can see learning to sleep on the floor in Tokyo.
Sometimes it's nice to nap on the floor. I agree - not at the bottom of a public park bench.
I could never live anywhere where it doesn't cool down at night. If the global warming alarmists are correct, then time to find another planet. or another park bench.
Chip Ahoy said...
a Shinto graveyard, and I noted how the tennis court abuts a family shrine precisely to the centimeter.
It's actuall 2 shinto graveyards and a soccer field from the looks of it.
Also, somebody blacked out his face. That level of attention to detail is impressive.
Yes, I noticed some edits made in view (I assume) of privacy.
Two more black boxes I noticed: next to (behind) the big circle in the park, there's a tall blue & white hotel building. About a third of the way up, 2 floating black boxes obscure our view into 2 windows.
It's still transparent enough to see (through the one on the right) a women sleeping in bed-- her head on the pillow, facing out. Maybe there's something especially vulnerable about a face photographed asleep (or something especially creepy/ predatory about viewing them in that state). Something that calls for privacy (even if the sleeping figure is out in the open, by a park bench).
Or maybe, in the stillness of sleep, you're more recognizable.
In that same hotel, top floor, there's a restaurant; 3 small boys are looking out the window. One is headless. Who knows why.
Blowup, a great movie.
Blowup, a great movie.
That was top recommended.
Hell. I thought I was doing good spotting two guys on a loading dock. One stretching before, or after, a run. The other looking displeased at an empty truck he has to load.
Just think, one day this will be live, 24/7, everywhere, for everyone.
For NSA it may already be.
Japanese are traditionally buried on the grounds of Buddhist temples. To the best of my recollection and with a view towards the architecture of the sites referred to and the manner of the graves, those are temples not shrines. On a sunny day a good many of the women, and even a few men, use umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun. That is all.
Japanese are traditionally buried on the grounds of Buddhist temples. To the best of my recollection and with a view towards the architecture of the sites referred to and the manner of the graves, those are temples not shrines. On a sunny day a good many of the women, and even a few men, use umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun. That is all.
What could it be? What could it be?
You are not allowed to notice things in America today. Consider this your final warning.
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