I commissioned this sketch of Dawn from an artist I found online. Dawn is the lead character in the book I’m working on now- Dawn Rising, set in my Jabbler’s Mons fantasy universe. The artist took a few passes at rendering Dawn and his scars, but in the end unfortunately gave up before finishing, so the image at right is what I’m left with. His scars look a little too much like war paint, but otherwise I think this is close to what Dawn (he is a boy, yes) looks like. I’m talking to a few other artists now about …
Japanese Bread Vending Machine
You can buy a lot of things out of vending machines in Japan. Vast ranges of tiny plastic toys, Calorie Mate snacks, hot drinks, cold drinks, hot soup, cooked food (chicken and chips at motorway services), oxygen canisters (at the top of Mt. Fuji), manga (in train stations), beer, cigarettes. Infamously some machines sell panties. Many are outfitted with cameras to scan ID cards (for beer and tobacco), scanners to read Pasmo and Suica cards for digital payment, and security cameras enabled with direct lines to the police in the event they witness some kind of crime. They also sell …
searchers after horror
Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places. – H. P. Lovecraft, The Picture in the House Tachikawa Air Force Base in Tokyo. Standing there breathless, wondering if at any moment a security guard will pop his head through the door. See more Japanese ruins (haikyo) in the galleries: [album id=4 template=compact] You can also see a curation of world ruins in the ruins gallery.
The Butcher’s Milk Carton Stationery
Nogata is a little town in the west of Tokyo famous for two things: 1- The train station Gundam statue is near it in Kami-Igusa. 2- The father of the butcher down the street by the police box across from the station makes wicked stationary items out of milk cartons, and gives them away if you buy more than 600yen worth of meat. I teach a group of lovely retirees in Nogata, and one of them brought this excellent, sturdy, and very pretty desk-organizer to class to show off show and tell. She had heard about it from a TV …
you know I love you still
Who knows how long I’ve loved you, you know I love you still. Will I wait a lonely lifetime? If you want me to I will. – The Beatles Akeno Gekijo Strip Club Far too many mosquitoes in here, buzzing around and biting my arms and legs. Ugh. See more Japanese ruins (haikyo) in the galleries: [album id=4 template=compact] See world ruins in the ruins gallery.
Kichijoji Japangrish Mats
While meandering through Kichijoji recently I spied these cute Japangrish welcome mats. Outside a cello shop. Outside a tanning salon. See more of my Strange Japan content here.
the last dream of my soul
. . . I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul. In my degradation I have not been so degraded but that the sight of you with your father, and of this home made such a home by you, has stirred old shadows that I thought had died out of me. Since I knew you
Pumpkin Pudding Yoghurt Drink
I had never drunk pumpkin in my life before today. I wonder if anybody else has? If you’ve spent any time in Japan there’s a good chance you’ve eaten a fair bit of it, both savory and sweet. You may have had it in ice cream, you may have had good old Pumpkin Pie (though that’s surely more American), or you may have had Pumpkin Purin. Have you drunk it though? From the front art it’s pretty hard to tell this is a Pumpkin drink, though if you look top right you’ll see the green lid of a pumpkin. The …
sound in an empty house
Leave sound in an empty house in its own room there. . . . – William Stafford Gunma Motor Lodge I stood in the room silently and wondered; are these shadows the same shadows I’ll see in five years, in ten, in fifty? Will I recognize them? Will they recognize me? See more Japanese ruins (haikyo) in the galleries: [album id=4 template=compact] You can also see a curation of world ruins in the ruins gallery.
Hulk Want Cut
In the window of a hairdressers in Kichijoji, Japan. Because even the Hulkster needs to get a cut. Though he has more hair in the cartoon. See more of my Strange Japan content here.