Plato's Cave

Happy New Year

shirafu — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 10:49:19 +0000

★　2011　★

Concentration …

shirafu — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 23:39:20 +0000

.. that flies away

American Inflation

shirafu — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 23:28:24 +0000

American inflation

sources: fat and greasy American food

Señora Tostada

shirafu — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 00:34:18 +0000

Tipos mexicanos en el bus

shirafu — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 02:46:52 +0000

People-watching. On a bus from Veracruz to playa &%$#

GV Japan is talking, are you listening?

shirafu — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:43:13 +0000

What happens when four members of Global Voices Japan gather in Tokyo for a catch-up dinner at A to Z cafe?

Click to view slideshow.

Here are the minutes of our meeting…

Image Change

shirafu — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:44:38 +0000

Ahead of the upper house election, NHK has started offering a few minutes to each candidate to explain their manifesto and appeal to the electors.
Maybe “appeal” is not the right word, though, since the beige NHK studio resembles one of those dentist waiting rooms, where the only thing you can do is reading old and boring lifestyle magazines.
Of course most of the politicians who make their appearance aren’t a spring of colors and joy of life themselves but one in particular caught my attention: Mr. Kenji Himeji.
I don’t even have the right to vote so mine is neither propaganda nor a criticism. He just stroke me for the “beige-tude ” of his image and this is the result.

Kenji Himeji, the real one.

The reason why his hair looks different is that they are an independent entity, I suppose.

The Portrait of a Salary Man

shirafu — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:51:25 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine called me saying he needed a favour:
“I need a cute portrait of me, so that my clients can remember me. My job is at stake!”
…
He is a salaryman working as a salesperson for a famous Japanese company.
Because he was assigned to a subsidiary in the countryside, his clients happen to be old-ish, old-style Nipponjin who prefer deeds to empty words.
“Who are you, again? I don’t remember you. Maybe it’s because of you’re selling technique is poor but I can’t remember you. Who are you, again?” he was told.
…
So this is his portrait, an updated version of the one I made for him 2 years ago when he was job-hunting and one of the companies he was applying for requested a self-portrait to include in the cover letter. But that’s another story…

The keypoint is the belly. I was explicitly told to draw him a little chubby. “It makes people feel more comfortable.”

Bimbo Women

shirafu — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:21:55 +0000

On May 16 the Bimbo (=Poor) Women Association held a protest [ja], called “Walking Mayday”, to make their voices heard.
Only some 30 people participated. And diligently following the policemen, they marched along the crowded streets of Tokyo calling for a more equal society.
In 2010, in a country that is said to be the second largest economy in the world, women still feel the need to e・mancipate. Paradoxically reaffirming, in this way, the dependence on those they want to emancipate from.

Hello …

shirafu — Sat, 29 May 2010 15:20:49 +0000

“Hello Rock and Roll city,” popular rock singer Shogo Hamada sang…