I was doing photography for a friend of mine named Coppe at a club called Unit in Ebisu, Tokyo, and it turned out she was opening for one of my favorite bands-Spectrum! So I got lucky enough to be able to do photography for Spectrum’s live show as well. Even got access to the backstage beer stock.

Yoyogi Daze Faced was a photo exhibition I had in September 2009. These photos were taken over a few summers in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo. There used to be free outdoor DJ trance parties under the trees every warm Sunday evening in the park. I used to go there every Sunday and take photos in a hazy state of dissobriety. I dont remember how it came about that I started taking these photos with long shutters and a flash, but it seemed fitting that the photos come out all blurry and fucked up, kind of captured the mood of the whole scene. They were great parties, but unfortunately the governor of Tokyo shut down all outdoor entertainment around the park in a bid to get the Olympics to Tokyo. His plan was to pave over Tokyo’s largest park and build a stadium. Thankfully he lost the bid and Yoyogi survived. Unfortunately these parties didnt.

This is one of those festivals that I cant believe it took me so long to make it to. Hundreds of floats are paraded through the streets of Aomori, these floats are made of some kind of wire frame, covered with paper that appears to be hand painted, and lit from inside with 100’s of light bulbs. I’ve seen loads of photos of this festival, but photos dont do it justice as photos of the floats always look flat, but the floats are made as 3D wire sculptures, very elaborate and beautiful. They are very heavy and pushed by hand, and sometimes they end up going into the crowd, despite the team who controls them trying to stop them.

I didnt really expect much when I went to this festival, thought it would be just another Saturday (or Sunday, cant remember) afternoon of beer and Omikoshi (portable shrine) viewing, but it turned out to be quite a good festival. There were loads of Omikoshi being paraded through the streets, but there were also these big, elaborately carved wooden floats with performers on mini stages wearing masks, fox heads and devil heads, flutes and drums galore, and at night the wooden floats, lit by paper lanterns, all merged into the same area where some kind of “battle” ensued. Im not sure what the rules of this battle were, but confetti was exploding out of the floats, devils danced, foxes fought, and a team was announced the winner. Definitely a summer festival highlight.

Awa Odori, one of my favorite festival in Japan, takes place every year the last weekend of August. Over 12,000 dancers and drummers parade through the streets of Koenji, and more than 1 million people show up to watch. Every year I end up taking hundreds of photos of this festival, and last year I followed some of the dancers into some local bars and izakayas (Japanese style restuarant/bar) after the festival ended, where they kept drumming and dancing in the already overcrowded shops. Good times every year.

It just wouldnt be Christmas without thighs and breasts, now would it? Especially if they’re from a bucket of KFC, the most traditional of all Christmas meals, and far and away the most popular place to eat on Christmas in Japan. Some ad exec has been laughing all the way to the bank on this one for years. And yes, you need a reservation, well in advance.

Took these photos on New Years Day at a temple in Yokohama, and at Meiji Jingu in Tokyo. People were waiting for hours in dead silence at the temple in Yokohama.

Went out on New Years Day, and forgot how Tokyo goes desolate on January 1st, as everyone either gets out of town or heads to the temples, and everything shuts down. These streets near my house in Ogikubo, Tokyo, are always full of people in the daytime.