G M Thomas FRSA
@japanauthor
Fellow Royal Society of Arts. Cultural historian. Writer. I post stuff. Sometimes on Japan. Sometimes on film. Sometimes on anything that takes my fancy.
Looking towards Tokyo from Yokohama - approximately 900ft above sea level.
This is how the Tokyo government deludes itself and the populace and allows developers to get away with murder (almost literally as people die from heat stroke.) These huge blocks of glass and concrete are built creating a heat island while a few desultory trees are planted.
A severe heat warning has been issued for Tokyo and other parts of Japan. It's getting crazier every year and yet still more concrete is being plastered over the city. This chap sums up how I felt yesterday as I walked around central Tokyo (for a couple of hours.)
Last night's supper at Tsubame Grill, Shinagawa. The restaurant first opened, initially in Shimbashi, in 1930. The signature Hamburg steak, cooked while wrapped in foil, was introduced in 1974 and quickly became the restaurant's most popular dish.
Do not be put off by the muddy colour of the moat around Marugame castle in the OP. The image has been over processed rubbish. The moat is often seen as green, and sometimes even blue. A second error is that Kagawa is the northeast side of Shikoku. Ehime is northwest.
Located on the northwest side of the smallest of Japan’s four main islands, Kagawa is a prefecture bustling with hidden allures. From beautiful views of the Seto Inland Sea to historical relics like one of the twelve surviving castle keeps and the lush landscape of Ritsurin…
It's hard to imagine that not only is this in the very centre of Tokyo but that a major road runs behind me.
The first denim jeans that were 'made in Japan' appeared six decades ago in Kojima. Maruo Hifiku's brand Big John was the pioneer in 1965 but . (Photos from a visit in July 2023 when I bought a jacket.)
Yesterday in Tokyo, I watched Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle 劇場版「鬼滅の刃」無限城編. It has only been on release for a week but is already breaking box office records as this crowd in the cinema's foyer underlines.
I went to the ultra-cheap Kura Sushi in Akasuka. It's found on the 4th floor of a multi-storey retail space and yet this clever and deceptive interior has been created.
本日は #手島 にて #ブラックベリー収穫体験ツアー を初開催！ 15名の方にご参加いただき、フレッシュなベリーを収穫＆堪能いただきました✨ 帰りは #さぬき広島 で #ブラックベリーソフトクリーム や島の紙芝居も楽しんでいただきました♪ ありがとうございました✨
Walking away from the fireworks in Tokyo. It was madness earlier and now many roads blocked off.
The Maruzen Gasoline 100 Dash campaign from 1969. For some reason it was hugely popular in Japan and the "Oh! Moretsu" catchwords, extolling the enhanced performance of high-octane gasoline, became a hip phrase. youtu.be/14S7rbWSVy0?si…
It's 8pm on a Friday night and there's a guy the other side of the counter, part of a nomikai, who is absolutely wasted and slumped over the table. At one stage his colleagues dragged him out of the restaurant but then brought him back in. Still it has quietened the group down.
My JT piece on the closing of the 65-year-old Marunouchi Toei theater and what it portends for the Japanese film industry. japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025/0…
Blondie, Bowie and seventies New York through the lens of Chris Stein hungermag.com/editorial/blon…
By all means critique @jakeadelstein's style but take a read of Graham Swift's Twelve Post War Tales - just one of many examples of celebrated authors adopting a similar style. And ponder Then turn to your own tic - the use of the horrible journalist's cliche *check notes* & *em*
Man, this combination of em dashes, emoji and short/long sentence structure seems awfully familiar…
A sudden dramatic shift in the BBC's coverage. Why? Because everybody knows that the utter calamity engulfing Gaza is going to be impossible to hide. For the Guilty Men of the media: you all had ample warning for 21 months! You did this! Everything that now happens is on you.