I used to devour magazines. Essence. Jet. Self. Dopey romance ones once upon a time. These days, I don’t pay much attention to them unless they’re online, and my books are by and large digital anyway. The local conbini (convenience store) has packed racks of magazines of varying levels of salaciousness. I sometimes glance at the general news ones to get a sense of what the Japanese media thinks will capture the attention of the general populace. But those glances are very much on the move.

Til this cover captured my attention:

How cool! I noticed it was a translation of an Ashley C Ford interview and she’s a writer I follow, so it was doubly awesome! I immediately thought of sharing it with the #Khive, so here it is.

I went for my regular doctor’s appointment and then wandered around Atre, a kind of upscalish mall built on top of the local train station. The colors in vogue are, as usual, pastel, and pretty bland. In clothes and whatnot, I am not the target demographic, since my everyday wear is my favorite jeans and a teeshirt. If I wear colors, they’re usually black or vibrant. But I do like wandering around occasionally, kind of like checking magazines. Here I’m wandering around one of the jewelry, knickknack shops. Certainly a wide range of ages, mostly ladies, a few couples, and plenty of singles.

All masked – which is the norm here, especially now.

Here’s the Star Wars section – many of these seem to have chocolate inside, which, you know, of course.

Here’s a look at a furniture shop. Everything feels tiny and cute. Of course, my one-room apartment is small, so the sizes are appropriate. Still feels suited to a hobbit hole, though, not that there’s anything wrong with that! 🙂

Next is a look at that same fashion general shop. See what I mean about blandness? This is just the mainstream set of colors – they’re too washed out for me.

Last is a hallway – I was trying to get a more general view without getting people in the shop, which even at 11:00am is not that easy.

Well, thanks for checking out a slice of my environment. After 25 years, when I pay attention, it can still surprise me. Of course, that’s true of my home NYC, or probably any place there’s people. We are always the most surprising element of all.