dog

Another marital view

April 30, 2011fetish, Public space, Uncannyanother, dog, hotel, image, love, marital, Moe, owl, rest, royal, Shibuya, short, term, weddingtokyo moe One comment

After the excitement of yesterday’s Royal Wedding– the dress, ahhhh!!– nothing is more appropriate than this lovely vacancy sign at a love hotel in Shibuya. Is the marital dog image the right one for lovers looking for “short term rests”? The random owls are a nice touch, plus the intriguing “in/full” that seems to stand in for vacancy/no vacancy.

Softbank is bringing fun back to family

August 28, 2010fetish, male fashion, men, Public spacead, African American, dog, family, grandma, husband, Kathryn, kimono, Kitaoji Kinya, Moe, Shota Matsuda, Softbanktokyo moe View all 6 comments

Softbank, one of Japan’s large mobile telephone companies, has a long-running ad series with an unusual family: an elegant mother, her husband who is a white dog (with the voice of Kitaoji Kinya), and two children, one of whom is African American.

The best thing about this series is that no explanation is given for the inter-species and inter-racial nature of the family.

Thanks to Kathryn of Project Me I learned about the latest ad in which kimono-clad grandma, the mother of the white dog, introduces her new husband, a very handsome and very young man, also wearing kimono. He’s played by Shota Matsuda.

Senior fashion in the park

June 28, 2010male fashion, men, Public spacebathroom, burst, dark, dog, glove, grand daddy, ostentation, senior, shorts, socks, sweater, whitetokyo moe View all 4 comments

In Tokyo, the seniors rock the fashion world in unexpected bursts of ostentation. I love how this grand daddy is mixing shorts and dark socks, white gloves and a dog in a sweater. I spotted him outside a public bathroom in one of my favorite urban parks. He seemed very popular with the ladies, and I am certain he is well known in these parts.

Senior fashion in countryside

April 19, 2010male fashion, men, Public spacebackpack, contemporary, countryside, dog, mature, mini, seniors, traditionaltokyo moe View all 2 comments

My blog is often youth-obsessed, but a trip to the countryside reminded me how well dressed Japan’s seniors can be. Above are a group of four mature men wearing festive coats.

Below you can see another guy dressed to perfection. I like his combination of traditional and contemporary fashion.

And, lastly, I was amazed by this lovely mature lady with her miniature dog peeking out of her backpack. Despite four tiny legs, this dog probably doesn’t walk much!

Overdressed mini-pooches

April 1, 2010Public spacedog, dress, glitter, hoodie, improve, skirt, spoiledtokyo moe View all 3 comments

Tokyo has some of the world’s most well dressed, primped and spoiled pooches. Hoodies, purple jean skirts, glitter all make these doggies look good. Tokyo is also full of hair accessories and special baby carts just for dogs. Bottom line is you’re not looking good if your doggie isn’t!

Novel street festival food

October 22, 2009foodbagel, churro, delicious, Disney, dog, festival, Mexican, novel, spicy, street, tacotokyo moe View all 7 comments

After a few street festivals, you think you’ve experienced the full range of street festival foods: hot dogs, okonomiyake, yaki soba, chocolate bananas, cotton candy, plum sweets, takoyaki, and increasingly kabab (what we would call shwarma). The recent festival we attended had some novelties including Mexican tacos and churros, and even bagel dogs.

The churros had an unauthorized Disney tie-in. The bagel dogs were surprisingly spicy and delicious.

Summer obon festival

July 15, 2009food, men, Public spacealtar, belt, clap, dance, dead, dog, dragonfly, drum, festival, kimono, obon, okonomiyaki, senior citizen, shaved ice, singing, soba, summer, Tsukudajima, twirl, yankii, yukatatokyo moe Leave a comment

The rainy season is officially over, and two nights ago we went to an Obon Festival in Tsukudajima. Summer is a time for wearing yukatas, which are light cotton, simpler kimonos. This dog’s yukata has a dragonfly pattern, and a big red belt.

The festival also features lanterns strung across the street, a senior citizen beating a huge drum, another singing on the loud speaker, and a third leading school children in a dance of twirling and clapping.

And an altar for prayers to the dead.

Afterwards we went with our friend Claudia for okonomiyaki, a Japanese pancake, and soba noodles, admired the many yankii boys with their small children, and left the restaurant too late to buy a flavored shaved ice on the street.