I was mesmerized by the closing sequence of Hou Hsiao Hsien’s “Cafe Lumiere” the first time I saw it. I have never forgotten this hypnotic urban landscape in motion. Yesterday, as we were walking over a bridge near Ochanomizu Station, I suddenly realized that I was seeing this same scene again. These are the kinds of discoveries that make travel exciting and they are the reason I try to walk everywhere. When you travel underground it is faster at the cost of missing all the “in between” things. Some of my best travel experiences have happened somewhere in the space between my departure point and destination. Today’s discovery is a perfect example of one of those serendipitous moments and it is one of my favourite things I have seen in Tokyo so far.

Here is the closing sequence from the movie. It is shot in slow motion from a slightly different perspective than my pictures.

I waited for over an hour to get two or even three trains in the frame at the same time. These are the best shots I got. Sometimes there are even boats travelling up the Kanda River underneath it all. But…trying to get everything in the picture at the same time is like standing around waiting for a solar eclipse to happen by chance. Hou Hsiao Hsien probably sent an assistant up to the bridge and made him stand there all day filming.

Seeing this made me so happy.

A few days later, I went back to the bridge to try my luck again. After a couple of hours, I got this shot which I plan to print and display on my wall at home:

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A Sunday trip to visit a rescue cat cafe in Ochanomizu. Neco Republic is warm clean space where the cats seem to be very well cared for. Cute cats are everywhere, some shy and some friendly. Most of them are found or abandoned pets and some are in pretty rough shape. We spent just over an hour there to recharge our cat batteries.

Both of us have cats at home and we both admitted to missing them right away. Luckily, Tokyo has a large number of cat cafes to warm travellers hearts. I am not sure about the ethics of keeping animals in shops for customers entertainment, especially fragile pets like reptiles. Even cats, though domesticated, need their peace and quiet. You have to respect that part of their nature, so I wasn’t sure about cat cafes either. But, we did our research and this place seemed to really put the cats needs first.

Look here if you would like to book a visit. And if you like cat cafes, check out this post about another one in Tokyo.

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Jimbocho book town in Chiyoda is the centre for used book sellers and publishing houses in Toyko. Vintage books, prints, magazines, antiques, pornography and movie memorabilia shops spread over a few city blocks.

Jimbocho is also home to a few shops that specialize film production promo prints, original posters and photographs. In a tiny crowded shop called Vintage Jinbocho, I found this beautiful post card of Wong Kar Wai’s “Days of Being Wild”. It has the signature green tint of the original film. You can find Japanese language promotional items for films from all over the world including Hollywood releases. Of course, there are also plenty of promo materials for Japanese films, something that is difficult to find elsewhere. Here is the link to Vintage Jinbocho.

You will see both JiNbocho and JiMbocho used in English spellings. Both are correct.

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