hanabi

this morning heavy summer rains passed through the city, and temperature dropped to 28.5°C. a row of 40 consecutive manatsubi ("real summer days", with maximum temperatures higher than 30°C) has been brought to an end. still a record in the history of the empire.


seaside skyscraper
tokyo gets hotter every year, according to long term inhabitant kobayashi. and the statistics seem to prove him right (1995 held the previous record, with 37 manatsubi). there's very few green holes in tokyo's huge concrete and asphalt slab. air conditioners heat up the outside air. and chunky skyscrapers at the seaside (one by 'green architect' rogers by the way) prevent ocean winds to come in. add this up and you get 'tokyo heat island'. but today no complaints...

update! kijk eens daar, de standaard leest mee, of "my name is kobayashi. I work for de standaard" hotspot tokyo!



wakisan, next to tomo, in yukata
on saturday, we went firework spotting from wakisans balcony. some of you might recognize my mojito mixing shirt - unfortunately no fresh mint in town so no mojitos, and no tokyo budina launching event. made pineapple cocktails instead... hanabi ("flower fire") festivals are big here, almost every weekend you can hear mute explosions in the distance, and tons of excitement closer by. and the one of saturday was apparently tokyo's biggest. yachts lining up in the canal below, trains packed, with girls in yukata, boyfriends in... shorts.


this one goes out my buddy rod and his spanking new wife gladys, fireworks couple to the max, married in new york a couple of hours before this spectacle was unleashed over tokyo bay.