I was in Japan 8 months ago, Osaka to be exact. Next up is Tokyo! In the far future.

The Japanese world is awesome. Everything there is cute & squarish. The houses, living spaces are square. The cars, trucks, vans (they dun have lorries) are square. Even the language looks square in printed form. And i dun mean square as in boring... Nah!

No double entendres this time. Japan is farrrr from boring. It is the most interesting Asian country in the world. At least to me.

Anyway. The shops there close real early! At 7.30pm! I bet you my last dollar that 100% money-minded Singaporean businesses will sell their wares 24/7 if they could (1) obtain the overnight operating license (2) find enough 7-elevenish sleepless workers to man the stores...

Anyway again. I was at this ultra long shopping street, almost bored to tears after the stores all pulled down their metal shutters. But lo and behold, the street comes to life! All sorts of forms of underground arts and culture appeared, almost like an unsaid conspiracy or a flash mob.

There you have it: caricaturists, accessory peddlers, live bands all fill up the slots of the now-closed storefronts. In front of me, in that photo above, was a 4-piece cutie jamming with a cello (!),

electric guitar, acoustic guitar and

a cajon + bongo + tambourine. Woah.

Check out the cajon on the left. It is so nifty!

I heart Japan.