Mundane details of living

October 24, 2016 11:45 PM

"...the underlying philosophy here is that what is mundane in one local is exotic in another, and underlying the daily events in all of our lives, there is profound truth lurking in the seemingly mundane details of living."

In the early 90s, Lyle Hiroshi Saxon filmed many hours of video documenting scenes and life in Tokyo and other areas in Japan.
1990 / 1991 / 1992 / 1993
posted by timshel (9 comments total)

It's very likely that any videos of early 90s trains being crush loaded in Tokyo you've seen shared unattributed are his, too. He's a great bloke, too.
posted by ambrosen at 12:54 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

heh I was living on the west side of Tokyo -- Shakujii, Kichijoji, Iogi -- in the early 90s so I already have these short clips available for replay in my head.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 6:44 AM on October 25, 2016

This is the opposite of Weird Japan. Nice.
posted by kozad at 7:09 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

I live in a college town in the Northeast United States, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of students from other climates getting excited about their first sight of snow. It makes the depressing aspects of winter a little more bearable.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:25 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

Holy crap! I was on the original LLLtrs mailing list. Hope he's doing OK, the blog goes up to 2015, he always seemed like a great guy.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 1:45 PM on October 25, 2016

Hey, he's on Twitter: @lylehsaxon.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:16 PM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

what is mundane in one local is exotic in another

This is what I love about working abroad... not staying in interchangeable international hotels, but renting an apartment and finding out how life works. Approached in the right way, *everything* is exciting. Well, apart from trying to cross the street in Mumbai. That's just plain suicidal.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 8:51 AM on October 26, 2016

Wow! I'll have to look at these when I'm not at work. I liked in Shinagawa with my family for about 4 months in 1990, when I was 11. I'm looking at a map and trying to figure out where we lived. I found it once but can't see it now. As I read them on the map I can hear the droning voice of the train conductor naming stops. "Gotannnda--Gotannnda-desssss."
posted by apricot at 1:21 PM on October 26, 2016

Some really great stuff in here. It's interesting to see the main street of Omotesando with so few people (Walkabout - Harajuku to Shibuya 911011, ~ 8 mins). I wonder if that was simple down to the time of day, or if the area was significantly less popular than it was when I last went (and it was packed)?
posted by HitchJpn at 11:46 PM on November 23, 2016