Snapped by Mr. Pink recently with his camera phone.

Tokyo’s Asakusa Samba Carnival dances on despite showers

A Rain-soaked Samba Dancer defies downpour

Tokyo’s traditional Asakusa district once more swayed and bopped to the exotic strains of Brazilian samba music. Asakusa’s annual Samba Carnival festival took place this past Saturday, August 30th. Asakusa has been holding this event on the last Saturday of August for over twenty years and it never fails to draw a huge crowd.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is putting the palatial governor’s official residence on the block, but before you run over an submit a bid you should be forewarned that the minimum price is 4.8 billion yen.

And they ain’t selling to just anyone. The city stipulating that the property may be used only as the embassy of a foreign government.

Despite all of the restrictions, the Tokyo government says it already has received several inquiries, and interested parties have come to inspect the property.

The current official residence of the governor was completed in July 1997. It has two floors above ground, and one basement floor, with a total floor space of 1,885 square meters. The total area of the property is 2,220 square meters. In addition to a four-bedroom residence, it has a conference room and disaster-prevention liaison office.

Neat video that captures pretty well that which is Tokyo.

or yet another entry in my long series of crap that no one reads

in response to the horrible stabbing spree in akihabara, tokyo, japan a few weeks ago the japanese national police agency has once again shown why policy changes proposed during the height of public panic and tragedy have such a reputation for being well thought out, logically consistent, and effective in practice.

it has been decided that the most effective way to prevent such incidents from happening in the future is to help strengthen the familial and social bonds within japanese communities to reduce feelings of alienation and bitter isolation in the nation’s citizenry. to educate citizens on what to watch for in individuals that might indicate possible instability and what to do. to take steps to decrease the stigma associated with mental illness and the shame which prevents families and friends from reporting strange behavior to get counseling and medication for their loved ones. to increase the penalties for those who commit violent crime, and to revamp laws to favor self defense and empower people to stop criminals like this before hostile situations get further out of hand. all while recognizing that no matter what legislation is enacted, not all murders can be prevented or tragedies averted.

no, i’m just kidding, they want to ban double bladed knives and increase the restrictions on guns. to quote the article:

A panel of legal and other experts has submitted a report to the National Police Agency, saying daggers and other double-edged knives should be banned “to prevent their use in serious crimes. Such knives are “originally intended for stabbing and are highly dangerous…The panel…also recommends tightening laws on firearms

obviously all such incidents and stabbings could be prevented if only the authorities only took away every dagger, hunting, bowie, butterfly, switchblade, exacto and pocket knife, church key, and letter opener in the country. maybe they could melt them down into a healing image of hello kitty to commemorate the loss of lives in akihabara. i mean its not like people could find an alternative murder weapon. or that single edged knives could possibly hurt anybody. or that any of these blades have legitimate uses besides stabbing people. or that knives in japan are already regulated to help prevent crimes like this. or that those laws failed to prevent this massacre. or…

while they’re at it why not just outlaw the wedge? it is after all the most evil of the simple machines.

and i think we can all make the logical conclusion that a madman running down innocent people in a car, then getting out of the car and stabbing others with a knife until stopped by a heroic group of officers carrying firearms, is really an issue resulting from lax gun regulation and slap on the wrist gun crime laws. we all know that had hunting rifles been illegal the aum attack would never had happened. and if paintball guns didn’t exist, neither would takuma. seriously though, wtf?

i guess they’ll be coming after video games next. it would complete the trifecta of stupidity after all. if only children weren’t allowed to see violence they wouldn’t be violent, etc., etc.

but if japan wants to insist on banning items that can be used as weapons and strengthening laws on items already restricted then i’ll help them with my own non-comprehensive list of things to be banned.

i think this would be a good start, murder would probably vanish, and the ignored mentally ill would most likely join hands and sing songs under a rainbow.

A ceremony was held today to mark the beginning of construction work of the 610-meter Tokyo Sky Tree, which is scheduled for completion in 2012.

Tokyo Sky Tree will commence operation in the spring of 2012. NHK and the five major commercial broadcasters are currently using the 333-meter-tall Tokyo Tower to transmit both analogue and digital TV signals. But analogue broadcasting will be terminated by July 2011. In view of the change, the six broadcasters have drawn up plans for the new tower to be tall enough to transmit digital signals unobstructed by high-rise buildings.

Check out this report on gardening in limited spaces in Tokyo.

Thanks to Robert Leonard.

Here are some clips from Tokyo Decadance a monthly dance event held in different clubs in Tokyo and around the world now.

I only got the chance to record one of the shows but I was able to get some glimpses of participants in all their get-up.

The website I posted on the vid is to the Amsterdam site. The Tokyo one is under construction but you get a look at it here:

It’s also up for votes for airing on Current TV.

Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics has gotten something of a boost as the city was named by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to the short list of cities being considered, along with Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. Tokyo scored the highest in the overall technical evaluation, followed by Madrid, Chicago, and Rio.

The candidate cities must now compile an in-depth file of their Olympic project and submit themselves to a visit by the IOC’s Evaluation Commission. The election of the host city will take place on Oct. 2 2009 at the IOC Session in Copenhagen.

Music by:The Exotic Ones