Cyclist Passing MM Land

On the hipness of Shimokitazawa, which isn’t cool any more, which is cool.

Shimokitazawa is hip. In order to be hip you have to be cool, but can’t be seen to be trying to be cool. Or maybe you can be deliberately uncool, but fail at it, so that you look like you’re so cool you can’t be uncool even if you try. One thing’s for sure: once you engage in any analysis of this kind, you’re certainly not cool (which leaves open the possibility of being cool by the second route described).

So let’s continue.

MM Land is a hip arcade. Game centres aren’t cool at all, so that’s a good start. The ground floor has lots of stuff suitable for kids – and, on reflection, I don’t remember it smelling of smoke. Lame. Cool. The kid-friendly games include games that are fun but not cool, like Luigi’s Mansion Arcade and Project Diva. You wouldn’t play those because they’re lame, but if they’re in a kid-friendly game centre then you can play them ironically, which is lame, which is ironic, which is cool.

See? Typical Shimokitazawa hipness.