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Asahi Beer (Factory, Ibaraki)

Asahi Beer is the juice that Japan runs on- it fuels the salarymen and the office ladies alike, keeping them lean, mean, and ready to work 18 hour shifts until karoushi (death by over-work) drives them into the ground. Asahi is the beer in a silver can- its most distinguishing feature by far. Kirin and Sapporo in their gold and white cans with cluttered labeling scream respectively- ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ and ‘nothing to see here, move along’. Asahi Super Dry is where it’s at.

Asahi Factory Front.

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Asahi Flame, Asakusa

The Asahi ‘Flame’ building on the Asakusa banks of the Sumida river is infamous in Tokyo for its eponymous ‘flame’, a huge golden piece of art juxtaposed atop the obelisk-like black building; intended to represent the freedom and grace of a good head of foam on a glass of Asahi beer. It has however been dubbed by many the ‘flying golden turd’ or ‘golden tadpole’; another sad instance of too much art-like sensibility and not enough common sense.

Asahi ‘Flame’ Building.

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Weekly Links

Gorilla Artfare- Some great apocalypse art:

This same scene is rendered in four ’seasons’ on the site.

Red Bubble- Ruins in the desert, awesome:

Tells a story in an image. Or begins a story…

Neils Valentin- Digital matte paintings for the movie ‘Strings’- gorgeous.

Now I want to see this movie ‘Strings’.

I came across all these desert ruins images while Google Image-searching for good art for my story – The Book of All. In the end I settled on something more esoteric.

Read the Kanji- Addictive kanji-learning page, with insistent failure-repetition algorithms. Useful.

Ancient Ruins- 100 cliff-tombs of the Jomon period

The Hyaku Ana Cliff Tombs in Saitama are ancient, easily some of the oldest ruins in all of Japan, dating back 1300 years to a time of almost pre-history- such that very little is known about them at all. They were first discovered in 1888 and thought to be aboriginal homes, only being proved to be tombs after a research study in the 1920’s. A second layer of history was added in the Second World War when deep munitions tunnels were carved into the rock; gloomy storage spaces to keep serious weaponry safe from Allied bombing raids. Now the tunnels are well-lit and echo with the sound of clattering children chasing each other from end to end, the deeper recesses fenced off with metal portcullis walls.

Hyaku Ana Cliff Tombs.

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The Book of All

I’m a cripple. Always have been. I was born with one of the latest cerebro-spinal disorders, unpleasant off-shoot of muddled genetic manipulation in vitro. My father was one of the leading scientists in the field at the time. He was also a drunk.

My name is Dr. Pario Souder. I’ve been tied to a chair my whole life. My voice is fake, an interpretation through a voice box reader strapped around my neck. My motion is powered by the faint movements of my right hand, the only spinal thread they could preserve as my body warped itself through my early development.

I am the inventor of the Book of All. I wrote it, and I seeded it. Nobody would have expected as much, least of all me. At the time, it was only a way to keep myself sane, to shut out the memories that weren’t mine, but it grew. Now it invades my dreams, and my dreams have become nightmares. I see my stillborn twin brother reaching up to me from his grave. I see hideous cripples lining the streets with their begging bowls empty. I see my body splayed out in a wash of grey liquid, Randell dead beside me.

I created it. I rely upon it. And now, I have to live with it.

Image from here.

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Big Sight Anime Fans

Once a year Anime fans from all over the world descend on Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba for the huge Tokyo International Anime Fair, filled out with cosplayers garbed as their favourite cartoon characters, live banjo shows and coming movie previews, gundam statues, huge parade balloons of anime favourites, stalls selling pillows printed with manga stars, scarcely dressed sword-wielding plastic models, unicorned robots, and a lot of cheerful people spending money, posing, and taking photographs.

Full Metal Alchemist

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