Yamanote Loop: A Micro Fiction Series
46 photo-sketches from Tokyo
What is a ‘photo-sketch?’
‘Photo-sketching’ is a practice (or technique) I’ve been experimenting with for several years. It is still developing. That is to say, its meaning and practice is fluid. It is far from set. Simply stated, it stems from a desire to transform a personal photograph into a piece of text. A poem, or a micro fiction. The image becomes text and directs the narrative. The photo becomes words. To clarify, the 46 fragments in this piece all originally existed as photos. You are about to read 46 photos rendered as text. A small selection of the original photographs are included.
What is a ‘Yamanote Loop?’
The Yamanote train line is a loop system in central Tokyo. The majority of the accounts in this piece take place within, or close to, this loop.
1
canned coffee for breakfast
2 cans instead of 1
because last night
I had 8 beers
instead of 1
2
looking down
from my 12th floor balcony in Shinjuku
a pedestrian crossing
a red and white taxi speeds
outside a Family Mart
late hot July evening
a woman waits
to cross the street
3
late night window view
Shinjuku 12 floors up
only 2 taxis on the street below
in front of me is a billboard advertising shampoo
4 Japanese women with long brown hair are illuminated
in an opposite building I can just make out a
man sat in an apartment watching a game show
on a wall-sized TV
4
early evening apartment view
streets lit with billboards
building-signs restaurants car-lights streetlights
tips of skyscrapers in total darkness
I try to make out where they end
I count 9 people
most carry briefcases
I count 30 cars
more than half are taxis
a single office like a lighthouse
in an otherwise darkened building
a man works tirelessly at a computer
5
Intercom:
4 buttons, a large touchscreen, a speaker and LEDs
no idea how it works
Apartment Controls:
5 buttons, a speaker, LEDs and display
no idea how it works
Bathroom Controls:
DRY-FAN 24
8 buttons, LEDs and display
I figure out some functions
Toilet Controls:
7 buttons and LEDs
I figure out some functions
6
a photo at night but as bright as day
a wall of screens and billboards
people swarm
endless light
IMPACT EXCITER NEW ALBUM
GODZILLA FIRE!
MIGHTY VISION SHIBUYA
ELECTRO FRUITS
LECCA NEW ALBUM
TAISEI NEON
HMV THE MUSIC MASTER
2 HALF NAKED BLONDES
IN FRONT OF STARS & STRIPES
A MONKEY PUPPET FIGURE
MULTI-COLOURED FIGURE
LIFE-SIZE DOLLS WITH
BALL HEADS CENTRE STAGE
PROJECTED MEGA SCREEN
TOKYO SKYLINE RISING SUN
STARBUCKS
TSUTAYA
Shibuya Station this way
hive mind
7
blue sky
morning
ELECTRONICS
DUTY FREE
FLAGSHIP STORE
PANASONIC
TOSHIBA E-CORE
DUTY FREE
ADULT AMUSEMENT PARK
5 green trees
“WELCOME TO SEGA”
“WELCOME TO
ONODEN”
says the little anime
boy in dungarees and
yellow shirt
8
plastic anime school girls
trapped in boxes
cigarettes and
16-bit beats
9
Suntory vending machine
bright backlight
17 drinks to choose from
12 of them cost 100 YEN
the other 5 cost 130 YEN
GREEN TEA
BLACK TEA
DAKARA
LIPTON APPLE TEA
VITAMIN C.C. LEMON
NATURAL MINERAL WATER
PEPSI NEX ZERO
7-UP
DEKAVITA C
DEKAVITA C
LIPTON THE ROYAL
BOSS COFFEE MOUNTAIN BLEND
BOSS
BOSS DRY
BOSS GOLD ESPRESSO
BOSS ICE LATTE
BOSS ICE COFFEE
10
I stand on a rooftop and
take a photograph of a
skyscraper in such a way
that it looks as though
the building is on fire but its
not, its only the way I’ve taken
the photo and when I look at it now
it makes me think of the Grenfell
Tower but when I looked at it in
2010 I thought of the WTC
such is memory and association
I suppose
11
a cluster of air conditioning
units on top of a roof looks like
a city of skyscrapers unto itself
12
lunchtime in Ogikubo
order your food from the
ticket machine by the entrance
it is easy because there are
pictures and the price is listed
in numbers
just insert your money
the machine takes: 10,50,100 and 500
YEN coins and 1000 YEN notes
then press the button with the
picture of the ramen you want
most ramen is around 800 YEN,
add extra egg for 50 YEN, bowl of rice
for 100 YEN, gyoza for 300 YEN, small beer
for 300 YEN, big beer for 500 YEN
collect your ticket from the machine
and a man will deliver your food
13
I’m in Nakano eating
sushi from a street
food stall, I tell the man from
Berlin I’ll be back in a minute
as I head off to find the toilet
find one and open the door
it’s a squat toilet, the first
I’ve ever seen and
on one side of the porcelain
somebody has stuck a
sticker of an anime cat face
It watches me as I pee
14
He lies on his back
floating just above
the tatami mats
glasses
bamboo hat
and perfectly
trimmed goatee
15
Hanabi festival with
fireworks on TV
the 5 of us sit comfortably
on tatami mats
the 5th floor
we have roast duck
we have rice
we have edamame beans
I open another beer
16
She wears a long Breton dress
with a black cardigan
her small white feet
rest flatly on the wooden floor
she hides her face behind the camera
and gestures, “everything is cool,
everything is cool”
17
he opens a can of Sapporo
it sprays
everywhere
18
we meet in an
okonomiyaki restaurant
19
Tokyo night!
Tokyo night!
Tokyo night!
lost amidst neon shrouds
of the
Tokyo nights!
Tokyo night!
Tokyo night!
Tokyo night!
electric emanations and
concrete circuitries of the
Tokyo nights!
Tokyo night!
Tokyo night!
Tokyo night!
I close my eyes
and think of
Basho
alone
in the
Tokyo night!
20
the 3 of us laughed
and ate ramen
beneath the
Harajuku
summer sun
21
fireworks frizzle
July sky
together
we throw
a shaka sign
22
old sensei
tatami mat
cross legged
YEBISU beer
23
the wall behind you
filled with
photos
your face now
a photo
of the past
24
4 litres of shochu
I lift the bottle
to my lips
25% alcohol
you take a photo
25
there is 4 of us
and I’ll never see
2 of you again
I wear my first yukata
it would be nearly 2 years
until my next Beer Lao on the Mekong
with the dolphins of Si Phan Don
I had forgotten all about this one
Ogikubo traveller cafe
send me postcards
from distant lands
26
Ramen cafe at 1AM, chef runs about, he has to serve 8 salary men by himself and they offer him no rest, constantly refilling their bowls
27
The Berlin man’s house of wooden floors, football on balcony, sleeping on tatami with empty cigar box by your side and a spilt can of YEBISU beer. Cargo shorts and black leather belt, guitar pick and PS3 controller.
28
12 bottles of sake and a tub of rice the size of my torso. Chef blue smiles and just moments later he would serve up whale sashimi
29
I’m with the Berlin man and the lady from Sendai. He pouts, she laughs and I stare blankly
30
FIRE
FLAME
at the top of the stairs
San Francisco 1 uses his pink flamingo bag as a pillow
on the humid back streets of Shinjuku
Hong Kong smiles in silver flop-flops
thank you for the bottle of water
Korea with your thigh length t-shirt
and cut off jeans you scribble
sketches and musings in your Moleskine
and on the cover you have drawn a big red dot
rising sun we sat wasted on beer, sake, shochu and tobacco
takoyaki balls the streets approaching dawn
deep in the Golden Gai
I see you Deep Roy scissor finger water everywhere
while San Francisco 2 sits toward the back
legs spread blue shorts
black t-shirt waiting
we are all just waiting
going
gone
31
San Francisco boys and me
smooching
flamingo bag
diamond hat
gorgeous bracelet
Deep Roy winks and laughs
I grab his shoulder
to include him
in the photo
blurry izikaya
taxi cabs
Tokyo girls
Tokyo guys
Shinjuku sweat
we hold each other
birth the
morning
32
we arrive back at my apartment
only to see a Tokyo
salaryman curled up on
the front steps
tidy black suit
and a dusting of stubble
he uses his briefcase as
a pillow and covers 3 steps
but doesn’t block the entrance
we try to wake him
to join our party
but we get nothing
33
Super cool threesome
attitude trilogy
pose for me
Andy Warhol gaze
flamingo greens
stripy tops
and a v-neck full
of questions
34
CLICK!
SHUTTER!
CLICK!
(What do you see?)
35
Hong Kong Camera
and June
Tokyo summer
and green camo
distant gaze
and water too
pouty smiles
and intricate
tiles
36
jet black hair
your teeth
are perfect
your smile
disappears into
my lens
37
San Francisco 2
greasy hair
and bloodshot
eyes
razor cuts
— — CUT — -
I catch you
off guard
38
cloaked in neon
and electrical dreams
fluorescent flows
with iridescent
impossibilities
39
7:36PM
base of building entrance
I am only torso arms
and head
white light red light
yellow light purple light
green light blue light
BRIGHT LIGHT
a screen above me a woman
wearing headphones №2
STUDIO ALTA
ALTAvision MITSUBISHI
AKITA YUKATA FESTIVAL
Shinto Gate on tiny screen
a nail salon around the corner
Shinjuku City Office
there’s a train station
280m that way and a map
Shinjuku
electric light
mega night
bright as day
countless people
sweat in the July
heat
5 lights
red and white
TAITO STATION
8-BIT
Space Invader
dreams
40
7:36AM
electrical cables seem untidy
yet organised
a buddha with a red napkin
and hat
sits in the baking sun
entrance?
a temple in the middle
of skyscrapers
flanked by
green summer trees
a graveyard
wooden buckets
I capture a dove
in mid flight
a graveyard
strips of wood placed
behind stones
small white buddha
who is it that loves you?
goodbye temple
I saw you but
I never understood you
2 vending machines
balanced on stones
ice cold drinks
TEA
TRIPLE FREE
100 YEN
each
41
Tokyo
Tower
bright
orange
a nest
of metal
glowing
loudly
white
elevator
shaft in
the middle
leads to
a viewing
platform
and I notice
it is
smaller
than the
Eifel
Tower
42
skyline
motherboard
like a circuit
board on a computer
mainframe, skyscrapers
burst out from the substrate
like warts of glass and
concrete, like resisters
and capacitors, resisting
nothing and the roads lined
with neon lights and street
lights cut through the city
like arterial veins
cars burst like
blood cells racing
43
ramen chef
samurai of the
Kabukicho night
44
Hanabi evening
young children play
look up
fireworks
rain down
45
we hold each other
in the corner of the room
the blank walls bare
witness to our intimacy
we laugh and
we laugh and
in the background
sits an old television
with nothing to say
Deep Roy
asleep on my bed
Korean wonder boy
of mystery
India dreams
tweedle-dee t-shirt
cool leather belt
underwear poking out
little hairs
head in hands
“I dig your waistcoat
man!”
A face
now rendered
indescribable
rendered now
describable
you stand on my
Tokyo balcony
and laugh
as the sun rises
in all of us
!!!
Shinjuku death poem
Kabukicho dream
Shinjuku death poem
Golden Gai melody
!!!
46
late evening
early morning
we wonder the
streets of Nakano
“Ramen?”
“Yes!”
we find a mobile ramen stall
the chef parks up
we sit on wooden seats
encased in noren
I slurp my bowl
strips of nori
chef smiles
half boiled egg
pork broth
spring onions
pickles
big char sui
shredded veggies
egg noodles
I spill broth down my shirt
as we stand up to leave
