Japan Week: Day Three

Here we are at Day Three of Japan Week - once again, lovely to have you all along!

5 - A land of contradictions

Photo - Steve Vidler

Japan is a country of opposites; a land of juxtapositions and contradictions. In just one city, you can experience ultra-modern futuristic technology alongside ancient sacred sites. In Japan, citizens live a life filled with respect for tradition and custom, yet their cities are neon metropolises. Round one corner you might glimpse a geisha or maiko in traditional dress, round another a group of teenagers plugged into their smartphones.

This stunning video by Blue Eden shows it beautifully...

Tokyo HD "Echoes" - Canon 5D II, Sony A65, Glidecam, Timelapse from Blue Eden on Vimeo.

6 - It's 'super kawaii'!

Photo - My Life as a Magazine

Japan seems to have an unexplainable talent for making everything as cute (or kawaii!) as possible. In the West, we most often see examples of this on snack packaging - who hasn't bought something on impulse in an Asian supermarket just because the box it came had a cute character on it? 

You'd be forgiven for assuming that these products were aimed at children, but 'kawaii' items are favoured by adults and children, men and women. In fact, cuteness has crept into some very unlikely places in Japan...

Photo - Wikipedia

How about these pink bunny construction road blocks?

Photo - Web Urbanist

Or these manhole covers - hard to imagine a more unlikely place for kawaii art!

I'd most likely spend my whole trip to Japan on a kawaii treasure hunt, seeing what unusual and unexpected sources of cute I could find.