tirsdag, desember 12, 2006

The two faces of Japan


A priceless moment of contrasts in Harajuku. Two of the typical gothic lolitas sitting on the bridge on a sunny Sunday, when behind them up pulls one the the infamous black vans. Note flags and extensive loudspeaker mountings.

The black vans are used by the fringe nationalists of Japan to drive around and spread propaganda. In addition to annoyingly loud militaristic music, rants are mainly directed against the corrupting foreign elements in Japan, and pleas to restore the power of the Emperor and regain lost territorial possessions from Russia and Korea.

Now these guys are largely ignored by the public, which is exactly what happened this Sunday as well. People around took no notice at all and went about their business as the nationalists set up their system, had a long speech and went on their ways. In fact, the delicious irony of the only attention being a foreigner taking a picture seemed lost on the poor bastards!

3 kommentarer:

Joachim Hollekim sa...

Picture of the year! So full of delicious irony...

TrUlster sa...

Thanks mate, the moment I saw the scene I know it was going to be a great photo :)

Funny thing is that this is only the second time I have seen these black vans, first time just speeding off in the distance.

Anonym sa...

hei hei, höyrest super kjekt ut i japan! gode klemmar fraa den vetle familien paa island.