1860 : 🇬🇧British in 🇯🇵Japan #2 British people by artists Yoshiiku, Hiroshige II, & Kuniaki. Those days, some artists may not have actually seen their subject matter eg. trains, tigers, british etc, and mixed them up. The flag is certainly not 🇬🇧, but I still ❤️ yokohama-e.

Night of the lobster

1860 : 🇬🇧British in 🇯🇵Japan #1 Illustrated London News: August 25, 9:00am Sir Rutherford Alcock, Queen Victoria’s envoy meets the Shogun (16 year old Tokugawa Iemochi) At the time they mistakenly believed the Shogun was still the ruler/Tycoon of Japan (not the Emperor)

Then & Now : Nakamise Shops, Tokyo🇯🇵 Then - 1884 by Yasuji. Nakamise-dōri one of the oldest and most famous shopping streets in Japan, spanning roughly 250 meters from the Kaminarimon Gate to the main grounds of Sensō-ji Temple Now - As popular as ever. Heavy tourist area

This happens when you want 🇯🇵 cuisine, but cannot decide which

Then & Now : Bonfire in the Shape of the Letter "Great" on Nyoigatake Mountain Then - 1870 by artist Sadanobu. Every year on August 16th, five giant bonfires are lit on the mountains surrounding Kyoto at the end of the O-Bon festival Now - I avoid Kyoto in August - too hot🥵

The only crime I have ever committed was as a child, when at school I was told there were some books I was too young to read, so I stole them from a library😬 They were: * Clockwork Orange * Brighton Rock * Rogue Male (favourite) Literary criminal career ended early😉

Then & Now : Yasukuni Shrine Then - 1884 by Yasuji. Shrine founded in 1869 by the Meiji emperor Now - The sacred pond garden. When I first came to Japan I came to this shrine, museum and garden. Sitting here, I chatted with an elderly 🇯🇵gentleman, over 30 years ago

Then & Now : Rebels watching government ships from the cliffs Then : March 14th, 1877 by Yoshitoshi - printed contemporaneously. “Last Samurai” Saigo Takamori watches the imperial army arrive, a few months later he would be defeated & dead Now: Statue of him in Ueno park

Now been to funerals in 🇬🇧🇯🇵and🇹🇼and they are all totally different, and I can say, all awful in different ways. IMO if there is anything ripe for a complete rethink - it’s the funeral.

Then & Now : Wakizashi maintenance Signature : Izumi Kami Kaneshige Then 1630/40 - It is said the great duelist Miyamoto Musashi treasured Kaneshige’s swords & whilst in Edo recommend him to the Tōdō family Now -On my deck, I maintain every 6 months, very sharp

I have another contender for weirdest kaiten Sushi… …Sushi cheeseburger with a Minions eye 😬… Beat that internet…💪

Good morning World, from Taipei⚽️

Love fruit❤️ From strawberries and cherries in the Peninsula Hotel Tokyo🇯🇵, to pumpkins in Covent Garden, and figs in Harrods food hall London🇬🇧, to fresh lychees in Taipei🇹🇼

Then & Now: Taiwanese Natives Resist the Japanese Troops at Dakekan(Taoyuan) Then - 1895 by artist Kiyochika, contemporaneously printed with the 🇯🇵colonial events Now - Taoyuan is being developed as residential overflow from Taipei. Did go looking for an apartment there once

As with the Euros 2 years ago, and now with the World Cup in the Americas, I will be turning nocturnal for a month.🧛‍♂️ Supporting 🇯🇵,🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿.🥳 And why does the 1st 🇯🇵game have to be so early😬?

Then & Now: 47 Ronin at Sengaku Temple,Tokyo🇯🇵 Then - 1703 47 Ronin bring their enemy, Kira‘s head, to the grave of their master Then - 1847 by artist Hiroshige Now - The Well where they washed the head still exists, along with the receipt for the head by the temple monks

And off we go - Olé!

Time to slow down…

Then & Now: The Great Gate of the Gion Shrine, Kyoto 🇯🇵 Then - 1870 by artist Sadanobu as Kanshinin(buddhist) shrine. At this time was renamed Yasaka(shinto) Now - Many are familiar with the bright vermilion West gate, this stone torii faces south. It is the historical main entrance to the shrine

A ship, taller than my 🇬🇧apartment block, passing my 🇬🇧apartment block.

Red Spot Shrimp are bright red, even when raw. Were tasty 😋

Then & Now : Kiyomizudera Temple, Kyoto 🇯🇵 Then - 1848 by Sadanobu. In the Edo period it was said if you jumped off this 13m balcony and survived, your wish would be granted.🚫 Now - This was the first simple ukiyoe I ever bought, now I have around 250.

Taipei Skyline from the Marriot Hotel

2010 was a great year for me The launch of arrowhead on the Tokyo Stock Exchange fired the starting gun on full adoption of electrification in the 🇯🇵 markets This is the first sunrise of 2010 in Japan, I took from the Park Hyatt, Jan 1st that morning. Lost in translation…

Then & Now : Kitano Tenmangû Shrine, Kyoto 🇯🇵 Then - 1870 by artist Sadanobu Now - If you are in Kyoto but a little too early for the Sakura, the precincts host roughly 1,500 plum trees of 50 varieties. They bloom from February to March, one of my favourites.

Then & Now : Kinkakuji, Kyoto 🇯🇵 Then - In 1950, a 22-year-old novice Zen monk who suffered from severe mental illness set fire to the building, burning the original 14th-century pavilion to the ground Then - 1980 by artist Tokuriki Tomikuchiro Now - Rebuilt in 1955

Here & There - Making my signature Ratatouille in 🇹🇼 vs 🇯🇵. Standard Taiwanese aubergines/nasu are insane!

Ah the memories. Need to be able to recognise 95% of these to be considered a true Tokyo-ite😉 youtube.com 【ピアノアレンジ】JR東日本 山手線 歴代発車メロディー はじめまして100番煎じの動画ですvs投稿主の間違え探しと化してるので、積極的に間違えを探してくれると嬉しいです٩( ''ω'' )...

Then & Now: Shijô Bridge, Kyoto in the snow🇯🇵 Then 1870 - by #ukiyoe artist Sadanobu Now - I’m starting another then & now series on Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara. Used to vacation there every spring for nearly 20 years, until covid broke my streak.

Then & Now: Sharaku In 1794 the mysterious Sharaku revolutionised woodblock prints with his raw, personality-filled portraits of actors, but failed to gain popularity, so stopped & disappeared after 10 months Then costing ¥500 in todays money, Now can cost ¥50,000,000 yen each

Peaceful…

Played chicken on the highway today.

View of Sanjūsangen-dō in Kyoto 🇯🇵 (京都 三十三間堂 景) Artist: Sadahide Date: 1850 I always visit this temple when in Kyoto, containing 1,000 individually styled statues (Yes counted them, pictures forbidden) Seems Then it was painted red, Now bare wood below #UgokuUkiyoe

Afternoon teas

Title: Night Snow at Kambara Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige Date: 1833 Considered one of Hiroshige’s landscape masterpieces, this evocative print captures travelers trudging uphill through impossibly deep drifts in a completely frozen village. #UgokuUkiyoe

Shibaura at dawn, Tokyo🇯🇵 Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige Date: 1856 Shibaura, my current home, was a Edo-period fishing harbour. Here, just before the Meiji era's massive land reclamation projects. Hiroshige’s signature black-headed gulls populated the area, as they still do today.

Vengeance at Ganryū Island Artist: Kuniyoshi Date: 1856 Depicts the 1612 duel between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō, on the shores of Ganryū Island. Musashi (leaping mid-air) defeats him with a wooden practice sword that he carved out of a spare boat oar on the way over.

For those with “AI angst”- I do understand👍 Been reading about the time of the invention of the camera and how there was a massive backlash then also, as painters were against Also with a camera peoples art could be copied in a flash My thinking : these insights would simply not exist without ai🤷‍♂️

🧵#1of2 - Then & Now: Great Buddha at Kamakura 🇯🇵 Then 1916 - Charles W. Bartlett. A🇬🇧artist who travelled to 🇯🇵 Now - Spent over decade visiting various locations in 🇯🇵 to take photographs that match my art collection. Seems now I need to revisit and make the video versions…well ok🤷‍♂️

Animated version of Yasui’s 1884 Ginza night scene. The “interesting” error illustrates the limitations of my current compute. Planning to upgrade the kit in July, so should improve significantly then.

Title: Illustration of the Fierce Attack on Kumamoto Castle Date: 1877 Artist: Toshinobu The equivalent of breaking news. Contemporaneously published with this Satsuma Rebellion event, it captures the siege of the castle in real-time for a public hungry for updates #UgokuUkiyoe

I’ve always monitored many of my vitals on my iPhone and watch. Now I have agreed to share my data with my local doctor and hospital in exchange for free testing, daily remote monitoring and real time updates/suggestions. I guess, in the internet of things, I am now a thing.

I will revisit these animated Ukiyoe / #UgokuUkiyoe when I upgrade my kit next month, and have more time and compute to improve.

Title : Geisha at Yanagibashi Year : 1890 Artist : Chikanobu This depicts a gathering of the district's top geisha for the Hatsu geiko, the very first formal arts and dance lesson of the New Year. #UgokuUkiyoe

Title : Chushingura, fulfilling their vow Year : 1848 Artist : Sadahide One of my older colour prints, the 47 Ronin night attack. #UgokuUkiyoe

Trying something new… Title: Brick Hall of Foreign Countries at Yokohama 🇯🇵 Year: 1898 Artist : Ikumaru

Back in early 2020, when covid was getting a grip, and I was blocked from returning to Japan. Ran the company from a laptop for a year, held up in a 5-star hotel in Taipei (WFH - Work From Hotel?) 😬 and I read a lot, (and I mean a lot) of news.

🧵#1 Then & Now: Fuji🇯🇵 Then 1940 - by Tokoriki Tomikuchiro Now - Not my best image of Fuji, taken from a shinkansen, but the one that matches the art the closest Flown over Fuji many times, so I have added more aerial videos and images of Fuji as a 🧵thread **Then & Now will pause for now**

I remember this day This is me chatting when we opened our Marunouchi office…it was a big step up from our previous serviced office We had ladies at reception in kimonos, black tie bartenders from the palace hotel, and women serving snacks in “race queen” attire