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Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Happy Xmas from Tokyo, if Xmas is your thing.

A neighborhood street in Tokyo at night. A few pedestrians are visible, one riding a bicycle. Holiday decorations--lights, bows, snowflakes, and the like--are on the light poles up and down the street.

December 25, 2025 at 8:10 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Xmas Eve shinkansen from Sendai back to Tokyo.

Interior of a Japanese bullet train. An empty center aisle with rows of seats on either side.

December 24, 2025 at 11:16 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Japanese payphones in the wild.

Two Japanese payphones, side by side, on shelves. They have coin slots and number pads, plus slots to insert telephone cards.

December 22, 2025 at 1:22 PM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Bad shit going down on the mean streets of Small World.

Miniature models of boys in a schoolyard. Two are standing and one is lying in the ground.

December 21, 2025 at 8:20 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Two-dollar hooch from the neighborhood 7-11.

About six ounces, ¥289.

December 20, 2025 at 12:28 PM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

the #1 movie when you were 10 is how your 2026 will go.

We will defeat the evil Empire! (But it will only be temporary so we'll have to keep fighting and the fight will feel endless, and we'll spend the next 50 years hearing about the same god damned family over and over.)

December 20, 2025 at 11:37 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Incus Jazz Cafe in Jinbōchō where we drank coffee, listened to jazz records, and were not allowed to talk because we were listening to jazz records.

Sign for a cafe that is mostly in Japanese but in English it reads "Incus Jazz Coffee."

December 20, 2025 at 9:31 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Tokyo drunks show surprisingly good form.

A "Stop Violence" poster in a Japanese train station featuring drawings of train staff being punched, kicked, pushed, and having cans thrown at them by drunk passengers.

December 19, 2025 at 10:58 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

No, thank you.

A bag of trail mix with almost entirely Japanese writing on it. In English are the words "Break Nuts."

December 16, 2025 at 8:23 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Turned down an alley near the train station.

A run-down building in a dirt lot. Some of the windows are boarded up. An air conditioner is still attached to an upper floor. Hard to tell if the building is being dismantled deliberately or just collapsing on its own.

Another dilapidated building in a dirt lot. The windows are not boarded up and it almost seems like someone might still live there.

A row of tightly-packed, run-down, possibly abandoned buildings. This is steps away from a busy train station, around the corner from a shopping district.

A rusted metal fence, beyond which sits another ruined building.

December 15, 2025 at 12:16 PM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Takoyaki hat!

A Japanese food advertisement featuring a woman wearing a round novelty hat that covers her whole head with just her face sticking out. Her hands are raised to either side of her mouth and there is Japanese writing that reads "Yappa kore ya naa" which translates, roughly, to "You gotta have it!"

December 15, 2025 at 2:47 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Hitting up the neighborhood shrines. This is the dragon at Amanuma Kumano Jinja in Ogikubo. Wash your hands, kids!

A stone fountain with a small dragon embedded in it. Water is trickling out of the dragon's mouth and down a bamboo chute. This is the place where you wash your hands before entering a Shinyo shrine.

A close up of the metal dragon sculpture embedded in the stone fountain. He has sharp claws and long whiskers.

December 14, 2025 at 1:59 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Some other friends I've made in Japan so far.

Luffy from One Piece A statue of a young man with spiky hair and a scar under his eye. His mouth is open wide.

It's a-him, Mario. A statue of a video game/cartoon character. He wears a hat and has oversized eyes and nose. He has a large mustache. His mouth is open.

Timmy or Tommy from Animal Crossing New Horizons. A statue of a video game raccoon character with very large eyes and a head that is two or three times larger than its body.

Isabelle from Animal Crossing New Horizons. A statue of a dog-like video game character. She has a very large hairdo, a small nose, and an open mouth with a single tooth.

December 12, 2025 at 12:23 PM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Some friends I"ve made in Japan so far.

A statue of Doctor Dolphin, who is a dolphin wearing glasses that sit across the bridge of his nose but do not reach his eyes. He is the mascot of what I think is a chiropractor's office.

A stone statue of a dragon/dog creature at a shrine in Kamakura.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters. A large reptilian creature with its mouth open, showing rows of sharp teeth.

Link. A statue of a young man with long hair and exaggerated facial features.

December 12, 2025 at 11:44 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

You will be visited by three spirits.

Three men dressed in prison uniforms standing in front of a sign that reads Equipment Rental New Orleans. L to R, Tom Waits, Roberto Begnini, John Lurie from the Jim Jarmusch film Down By Law.

December 9, 2025 at 5:59 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

If you see this, post a Comics cover you love.

A comic book cover image showing two (Super)men fighting. The Superman on the left is hitting the Superman on the right in the head with a sledgehammer. The Superman man on the right is hitting the Superman on the left in the ribs with an iron bar. Neither appears injured.

December 5, 2025 at 6:57 PM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Saw @themountaingoats.bsky.social on Wednesday at a venue close enough to my house that I walked to it and the superfan behind me sang along to almost every song. That's usually grounds for irrational hatred but his harmonies were tight as hell. Pretty good night.

December 5, 2025 at 12:10 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Haven't seen any of the Avatar movies. They just look like over-long video-game cutscenes that I can't skip. (Also, "unobtanium" is the dumbest thing ever.)

November 29, 2025 at 5:13 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Post your favorite "The Lord of the Rings" character. Wrong answers only.

Wilford Brimley as... I don't remember, in Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.

November 25, 2025 at 1:00 AM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

Post your favorite Star Trek character. Wrong answers only.

I might just turn my whole account into a Marjoe Gortner fan page.

November 16, 2025 at 7:06 PM

Philip

@thesmithboy.bsky.social

I never got to meet Tom Spurgeon, but Comics Reporter was a daily stop for me for a long time. I did email him a few times and he was unfailingly thoughtful and friendly in his replies (and he always replied). It meant a lot to me, a relative nobody. Anyway, I miss his presence in the comics world.