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Japan Through Mark's Elph Back to Elph Japan |
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Japan is a wonderful place to visit, but in my humble opinion the Japanese tend to repress themselves a bit more than the Americans. Apparently, however, there is an un-crushable human spirit that perseveres in spite of the strongest repressive forces, and that is what this section is all about.
Alcohol is perhaps the single greatest repression release tactic in Japan. To assure the availability of this magical elixir to the masses, it is made available through vending machines on the street. The largest size you can see above is probably a hefty 1.5. liters. It's enough to send the American beer industry crying home to mommy.
The second picture shows an odd game played between a walking commuter and the city cleaners. Every day, a particular commuter would drink a little can of coffee and dispose of it by placing the can on one little cubby-hole in the side of the staircase. Every few days the cleaner would come by and take all the cans away. It seemed that the commuter was trying to find out how many consecutive cans could fit on the staircase before being cleaned away. I never met the commuter, but was tickled by this subtle resistance against the "establishment."
Clothing. At least that's what most people call it. In Japan, however, I found that I could rarely know what to expect. Above you see three striking examples of peculiar body coverings. The first is essentially "birthday-suit pants." The second shows a furry pink teen. The third shows a pair of "Super Used" vintage pants. You decide if these are releases for apparent repression.
Here we have a few more healthy repression releases. The first shows a tranquil park in Japan. I had to get at least one of these photos into my Elph Japan page. Japanese parks are so perfect that the lawns are manicured blade-by-blade. I have seen it. I have photographed it. If you want to see a photo of it feel free to ask. It didn't make the final cut...
Second, you see the outcome of the repression of the Japanese military. Since Japanese soldiers aren't allowed to do much of anything relating to war, they spend their time making elaborate ice sculptures all winter. If their battle tactics rival their ice-sculpturing prowess, I pity the fool who attacks Japan. I have lots of photos of other ice sculptures at my Yahoo Photos site, under the Sapporo folder.
Finally, my personal favorite repression release while in Japan was at various fancy wine tasting events. It seemed that these events were great places to meet other English speakers and to enjoy wonderful food and drink at the same time. This fellow made a funny face, but I think he actually enjoyed the wine overall...
And with that, I believe we have come to the end of my Elph Japan summary! Thank you for reading this far, and if you are interested in seeing more photos of Japan, feel free to check out my Yahoo Photos site. If, after that, you would like to see still more photos, the send an e-mail to me and I'll entertain your request.
