入り口から、お寺に続く石畳です。梅雨で、緑が濃いです。高円寺で。
Peering through the entryway, a stone path leads to the temple. Everything is lush in rainy season.
Lush temple entrance in Koenji
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Local groups assemble in Shinjuku ni chome for Hanazono festival
新宿の花園神社の祭りで、路地にそれぞれ違う町内会の服装が見えます。このリーダは僕にピースサインをしています。
Two different groups are occupying a Shinjuku ni-chome side street. At first I wondered why the leader was pointing at me. Then I realized he was giving me the peace sign. The in-between ritual time is just as fascinating as the heavy lifting of the portable shrines. I wish the streets were this lively every day.
Making friends is easy at festival
祭りで、新しい友だちを作りやすいです。
Making friends at a festival is very easy. Thanks, Albert, for taking this photograph!
Festival outfit mixes easily with mama-chari bike and cellphone
はっぴを着ている人は、携帯を使いながら、ママチャリを乗っています。祭りでは、昔のものと現代のものが混ざります。
I missed all the shrine carrying, but what I really enjoy is the mix of the old and new, all taking place on streets full of people and closed to traffic. I like how this guy is casually wearing his happi jacket and no pants while talking on the phone and balancing on the prototypical Tokyo bike with kids seat and basket.
Some “downtown” characters form part of the organizing committee
三社祭のまとめ係の人は、下町っぽいです。
These gentlemen look like they’ve participated in the Asakusa sanja matsuri many times before. They seem very much at home in Tokyo’s shitamachi, known for its traditional, Edo-influenced culture.
Wood and string toy provides old-fashioned challenge
剣玉は、伝統的な遊びです。
It’s nice to see the young people at the matsuri giving their smartphones a rest and enjoying some old-fashioned games, like kendama which involves catching a ball tied to two wood cups with a string.
Making Friends heads to London with tanuki
Making Friends has been accepted for a tech-focused London conference on ethnography and business. This poster is a mash-up of real-time research, storytelling, and prank. Making Friends tests the boundaries of inter-species friendship while risking rejection and misunderstanding.
We’d love to participate in the conference. However, Chris and I are currently not affiliated with a corporation or university that can sponsor the international travel costs.
Please share this poster with anyone who might be interested. We are seeking a design school, brand, or multi-national that would be interested in hosting a Making Friends talk, workshop, or consulting project.
Below we explain what Making Friends is about and the benefits for creativity, visual story-telling, and risk-taking. It also includes the confused but appreciative, anonymous conference reviews. Thanks, as always, to my co-creator A Small Lab‘s Chris Berthelsen.
Click to enlarge, or download the 2 page PDF.
