[ frangipani ] [ a life in tokyo ] [ photoblog ]

Hands up every one who has either been hit up for, or had a friend hit up for a ciggy at Shibuya station by Tobacco Bob. He always has a wry grin on his face but he looks so astonished when people try to talk to him. I guess he's used to being invisible.

His mate, Dreadlock Sam - you know him, the guy who dances from foot to foot in the one spot for hours at a time, with the amazingly fat, long dreads and gangrenous feet - only ever appears when I'm in a screaming hurry, but I'm dying to take his photo, too. I usually drop a few coins in his hand when he's standing near the JR ticket machines - he accepts it soooooo discreetly, it'd be hard to notice any transaction going on at all. Masamania has posted some great piccies of Dreadlock Sam. Check 'em out. You may also be interested in some amazing pics by Manabu Yamanaka

Tokyos homeless. There are many many many thousands of them, but I guess in a city of 35.3 million people, that's hardly surprising. Down in Aichi, the police are cleaning all their blue-tarp villages out of the parks and from under bridges in readiness for the Aichi World Expo 2005. Some of those people had been living in their little spot for up to 10 or more years. Life can be so damn brutal some times.

frangipani wrote this on March 13, 2005 10:53 PM

jake said:

I gave this guy cash ONCE to buy some juice and ever since then when he saw me even from across the street he lit up and came flying over to me. I am not sure if it was his buddy with dreads or someone else similar but while I was working in Shibuya one of these guys just crashed at the back door of my building where people went for smoke breaks, he wanted a smoke, just lying there, I felt bad and bought him some milk but he didnt want it. A few days he was there until he just, died. Chalk line and everything. That was probably the last meal he ever had, though he would have preferred a smoke.

On June 6, 2005 9:57 AM,

Due to the proliferation of comment spam, I've closed comments on all older entries. If you would like to leave a comment for this post, please email me directly at martine {at} frangipani {dot} info and I'll add it manually. Thank you and sorry for any inconvience caused.

Kikko Man said:

Thanks as always for connecting me to some new things. That photographer's work of the homeless people as arakan or arhats is amazing. His other work is spooky and beautiful too. Thanks again and cheers!

On March 15, 2005 4:28 AM,

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Tobacco Bob