Icebound Fortitude

Dropped by the Bloor-Yorkville Icefest last month and spent sometime wandering.


Attention to a meticulous amount of detail for some of the things on display.


Strength and glory can still be reduced into a sloppy puddle of unfulfillable nothingness.

Art in Kashiwa

Went by Kashiwa last week to do some shopping and to my delight there happened to be an art festival taking place displaying the works of Kashiwa Art School students.


Art and music are one in the same so of course there had to be a musical number provided for the ambience. From what I could make of it the band was jazz and they jammed out to several songs.


It's amazing to see how the mind of an artist works. I imagine they are able to construct an idea of what they are trying to create and step by step put it together as a single finished product. I'm also jealous since I couldn't draw to save my life and my artsy factor is pretty miniscule.


Canvases were set up along the entire street outside of Kashiwa station and their respected artists were either creating or putting the finishing touches on their pieces of work.


It's days like this where I'm glad I carry my camera around everywhere. I constantly remind myself what country I'm currently in and how anything can spontaneously happen at any given time. Thanks art people for giving me a few more memories!

Earth/Hemp Festival

Yesterday afternoon there was an environmental friendly expo/gala supporting a cleaner planet Earth. For whatever reason this resulted in the promotion of hemp products in an open marketplace outside of Yoyogi Park.


Organic grown fruits and vegetables were on display and were obtainable for a hefty price (as usual). Japan unfortunately doesn't have enough real estate to create an excessive amount of farm land so many fruits and vegetables are grown and harvested with the use of chemicals.


I have no idea what this means. Your guess is as good as mine. Cleaning makes us smile? Smiles make us clean? Go Engrish go!


Hemp balls were created and attached to one another to create somewhat of a noisemaker effect. I'm sure there's a proper name for them but since I'm not a hemp specialist I'll just refer to them as hemp balls. I belive the top two rows of the hemp balls are advertising Jamaican colours. Probably just a coincidence... right?


Hemp panchos, shirts, pants, shoes, and hats were all on sale but for an outrageous price. Some of the hats I looked at cost up to ¥14,000 ($140). While I'm still in the market for a cool looking hat I think puff puff passing on the hemp ones was a good idea.


This dude was masterfully melting and molding glass into ornaments, accessories, and tiny key chains. I thought his open flame was dangerously close to his hemp sheets behind him but he appeared to be indifferent. Also, he was sporting a pair of Ray Ban's instead of protective goggles. Wicked cool.