“Last Call” is a series of short videos produced by students in Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism’s “Digital TV and the World” project, and a new round of five videos focuses on the Monzen-Nakacho (or Monnaka) neighborhood.
Shibukasa is a new umbrella rental program in Tokyo’s Shibuya district.
Tokyo has cleverly disguised its Sento as lavish temples and the only evidence of their true identity, and the naked bathing inside, comes from the steam rising above the tiled rooftops and the chrome smokestack. However, careful eyes can pick them out by the “hafu,” a curved wooden shape hanging over the entrance. “It symbolizes an entrance to paradise,” says Sento writer Shinobu Machida. There are only three other places where you can see such a shape: at the entrance to a temple, on a funeral car and outside a soapland (brothel).”
Tokyo Vice author Jake Adelstein is reporting on his blog that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is seriously considering having the Toei subway lines — which it runs — expand to 24-hour service.