name

GODESS reigns supreme in Nakano

July 5, 2014Nakano, Public spaceapartment building, godess, misspelling, Nakano, name, off-centered O, reigns, super-camp font, supreme, weedstokyo moe Leave a comment

A Nakano apartment building has a super-camp font, a misspelling, and an off-centered O.

Would you pay this woman to “learn to love”?!?

October 21, 2013fetish, Public spaceAi Aoyama, colorfully, earns a living, guardian, improbable, Japan, lack, learn to love, Moe, most, name, practice, red gloved woman, sex counseling, sexual desire, unbelievable, unwilling, youngtokyo moe Leave a comment

Sex counsellor Ai Aoyama with a client and her dog

The esteemed Guardian newspaper colorfully describes a lack of sexual desire and practice among young Japanese. Apparently, it’s “too troublesome” to deal with sex or marriage. What I found most unbelievable is the report that this red gloved woman, with the improbable name of Ai Aoyama, earns a living providing sex counseling to the unwilling.

“Romney is a dangerous homosexualist”

April 23, 2012Public spacebad, Brooklyn, dangerous, homosexualist, name, rabbi, Romney, Yehuda Levintokyo moe View all 7 comments

Brooklyn’s rabbi Yehuda Levin rants against Romney for being a “homosexualist.” This is the same NY rabbi who blamed NY gay marriage for the murder of an 8 year old boy. This guy gives religion a bad name.

His first words are super creepy: “May this be a sanctification of the name of god.” Fat chance, creepy dude!

Is naming a high-end highrise Twin Towers in poor taste?

September 27, 2011Nakano, Uncannyapartment, JR, Nakano Twin Towers, name, poor, sold out, taste, wrongtokyo moe Leave a comment

Nakano Twin Towers, what will be tallest and most expensive apartments in our inner suburb, is rising fast just south of the JR station. Rumor has it that owners can customize everything, and that the apartments sold out fast. Is it only me that thinks this name for the two symmetrical 30+ floor residential towers is somehow wrong?

Selfista: The very worst Tokyo apartment building name?

June 20, 2011Public space, Uncannybalcony, building, concrete, extreme, kindergarden, master, mature, modern, name, neighborhood, posh, practice, raw, real estate, restaurant, self-fist, selfish, Selfista, sexual, Shibuya, tower, tree, viewtokyo moe View all 3 comments

As I’ve joked before, Tokyo has more than its share of strange building names, which seem to only increase in senselessness with the poshness of the neighborhood. I’ve ridiculed Movements, Zesty Minami-Koenji, Decent, and one of my favorites Cram Place.

This is a lovely modern apartment tower, lots of exterior raw concrete, beautiful balconies and views, a kindergarden on the ground floor, near good restaurants and mature trees, a place I would love to live in.

Yet, passing that name every day would be too much, right? “Selfista” reminds me of too English words: selfish, and self-fister which sounds like the master of an extreme sexual practice.

Sakura song provides winsome melancholy

April 12, 2011men, Public spaceballad, blossom, cherry, melancholy, name, sad, sakura, song, winsometokyo moe View all 5 comments

I like this sad cherry blossom ballad, in a video that helpfully includes all the words in Japanese and English. Unfortunately I don’t know the name of the singer. Maybe some reader knows? As someone else pointed out on the interwebs, this ballad seems to suit the unsettled mood of Japan post-quake.

Another silly English language apartment names

August 6, 2010Public spaceapartment, building, English, funny, language, movement, name, sillytokyo moe View all 4 comments

Another ridiculous English langauge name for an apartment building, Movements. Previously, I profiled Zesty Minami-Koenji, Decent, and one of my favorites Cram Place. As to Movements, I hope they were thinking of musical elements. Of course, that was not the first thing I thought of.

What’s the funniest Tokyo apartment building name you’ve seen?

Zesty Minami-Koenji

May 4, 2010Public spaceapartment, cram, decent, Koenji, name, zestytokyo moe View all 2 comments

Wouldn’t you want to tell your friends you live in a building named “Zesty”? Tokyo’s residential buildings have the most hilarious English names. Other favorites are Cram Place and Decent. I love how crazy names cross decades and social classes. It would be fun to give inappropriate names to all the buildings that are not yet named!

Inappropriate store name

March 7, 2010fetish, Public spaceinappropriate, mania, Moe, name, Shinjuku, slum, storetokyo moe One comment

I don’t know which is the worst part of this Shinjuku store name: “Slum” or “Mania Shop.” I assume they sell adult video.

Ceramic explosion

December 27, 2009ceramicscarve, decorative, explode, explosion, glze, mug, name, order, shape, shavetokyo moe One comment

Yikes! I was drawing the third line on the first of three mugs, when suddenly the mug exploded in my hands! I had made the shape, shaved off the excess clay, carved my name on the bottom, and painted three layers of green glaze. Fortunately, the other two mugs cooperated with my decorative efforts.