Here he is. He dimmed all the lights so that it was pretty much just his laptop monitor providing the light. Halfway through, he brings in a track to go under his noise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIPWZPWnVk4
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Concerts Update
Here's everything that has happened this weekend
First off there was Shugo Tokumaru on Thursday. He was playing at the Liquid Room. I bought the ticket the second I heard about the show, but didn't really know the details of it. It turned out that there were only two acts, and Shugo was the first one. His show was stunning. I got his album earlier this year and just fell in love with his sound. He has the approach of a singer/song writer with his vocals and acoustic guitar as the centerpiece, but he surrounds his simple pieces with every manner of percussion, whistles, chimes, accordions, and toy pianos to create dense soundscapes that are just beautiful. He had four supporting musicians with him: a drummer and 3 multi instrumentalists. They played every small, handheld instrument you could think of, and had to follow sheet music for the entire show because there was so much going on. He also played the most amazing cover of Video Killed the Radio Star on banjo. Unfortunately, there was a security guy watching me like a hawk, so I have no pictures or videos from that night. I will just give some links instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FJ99ju9rfw
http://www.myspace.com/shugotokumaru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubq3a1LScTw
So the real surprise for me was the fact that there was another band at the show who was the headliner. I had no idea who they were, but I realized that a large part of the crowd was there to see them. They were called Kicell (キセフ) and after researching them, they claim to be a post rock duo made up of two brothers. The set they played was more of a straight soft rock set. To be honest I found it a little boring, but their singing was excellent. It was a good thing I stuck around because halfway through the set, the backing drummer and keyboardist left the stage and then they switched to an acoustic guitar and music saw set up. I really enjoyed that part of the show more than the early part, as they accentuated the vocals, which were the best thing they had going on in my opinion. I even managed to understand a couple of their songs with my limited vocabulary (One about an aging lonely man and one love song). I'm going to have to check them out some more.
http://www.nidan-bed.com/english.html
Friday came in two parts. First there was a Alternative show with some other genres thrown in there as well.
The first band was called Highered-girl (above). They had the White Stripes set up with a girl drummer and a male guitarist. They went right into it with a wall of fuzz and furious drum fills (lots of energy in their playing). Some songs had noise aspects to them and were pretty hardcore, while others got very melodic. The vocal lines were well written on top of everything else.
http://www.myspace.com/higheredgirl
Next was You Got a Radio!. They were a new wave/early west-coast punk band. They were very reminiscent of X. The male and female guitarists doubled on vocals for a lot of songs. The bassist was wearing a tie and swaying all over the place. Really danceable stuff, but more than anything I noticed how well rehearsed and tight their whole show was. They also had one song towards the end that was intentionally dissonent which I enjoyed.
http://www.myspace.com/yougotaradio
The third act was called Poetry of Bathroom. This was a weird one. First you have a guitarist/singer, a bassist playing an acoustic bass guitar, and the most unobtrusive drummer I have ever heard. You take these three and you have a lo-fi, Velvet Underground style folk rock band. Now add into the mix a bassist with his strap between his legs, gloves, a German double bass bow, and a slide. This guy steals the show and totally morphs the sound into something noisy and trippy. On the last song, the guitarist joined the crazy bassist in his fun by shredding out some heavy distorted noise of his own.
http://www.myspace.com/poetryofbathroom
The last band I saw (there was actually one more, but I needed to stop by my apartment before the second part of my night) was called Condor44. They were an Alt. rock three piece with an open handed drummer. The best part of their performance was the fluidity. The set was continuous, and every song change and part change within a song was so smooth you couldn't notice it. They got very soft and decently heavy at different points but everything just transitioned perfectly. Their sound sometimes reminded me of Sebadoh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q_oo2J433Q
http://jp.myspace.com/condor44
After all of that (I must be insane) I went to another show that started at 12:30. This wasn't a rave like last week, but rather a legitimate show with electronic dance bands and dj in between each set. I took a lot of videos here because everyone seemed cool with it.
Nu Clear Classmate (above) was playing when I walked in. They were an electoclash duo who performed on the floor with the crowd around them. Heavy distorted guitar leads overlayed the electro drums and synth lines. They had balloons drop from the ceiling when they announced they would be releasing an E.P. in the near future. Some of their songs really reminded me of Dan Deacon's stuff.
http://www.myspace.com/nuclearclassmate
The next group was called AAPS. They had an experimental house sound. They would get some jazzy piano every once in a while like in the video above, or sometimes they would rock out (while still having a dance style). The keytarist played the bass lines and jumped out into the audience a few times.
http://www.myspace.com/tuneaaps
Up next was White Scooper. They played hard edged disco house with a lot of vocals and live bass and guitar. The genre was good mix of old and new sounds. I heard 80s and modern influences in the songs.
http://www.myspace.com/whitescooper
This band was the one that was most memorable for me out of the whole night. They are called The New House. I had seen them out on the dance floor and they seemed like cool guys. I didn't realized they were a band. They were like nothing else that evening. Almost entirely rock instrument based, the band was an indie rock/experimental group. The first thing I thought was these guys sound like an American band (all of the lyrics were in English). If you take a look at their myspace influences, you will see was on the money (also I have 80% of their influences on my ipod). Unfortunately their myspace recording do great injustice to what they sounded like live (the video is decent though). Their sound went in some cool directions. The second video is almost like Animal Collective (I think the singer reminded me of Avey Tear somewhat). Cool note: the rack toms of the drummer face outward for the rest of the band to play, he only uses floor tom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF8tD3T8BVU&feature=related
http://www.myspace.com/thenewhousetokyo
Saturday was the Acid Mothers Temple show in Akihabara. The club was cool and pretty crowded. Two guys were operating a liquid light/laser show the entire time. The opener was called Kinski.
They are a Seattle based Psych Rock band doing a tour in Japan right now. A four piece classic rock set up, they had that driving heavy sound, with steady pulsing bass and drums. They used the classic, warm fuzzbox sound on their guitars. They definitely were staying true to the rock aspect of psych rock.
http://www.myspace.com/kinskispace
Acid Mothers Temple, on the other hand, were Psychedelic in the fullest sense of the word. Old synths made spaced out hums and whistles, a variety of acoustic instruments made appearances, and the singer had mastered Tuvan throat singing. Other times, the whole band would just wail out with furious droning noise.
The experience was pretty intense. I forgot where I was from time to time and disappeared in my own thoughts. I caught their last song before the encore on video. This was the softest of their tunes, that ended with them all singing in eastern harmonies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUZL6wbxKok
http://www.myspace.com/acidmotherstemple
So didn't think that I could top the musical strangeness of the Acid Mothers Temple show. However, yesterday I was treated to insanity. I attended an Experimental music show featuring a bunch of artist on this collective label called Intervall-audio. It was a night of heavily artistic expression, the kind that reminds you that art has no definition, and music, therefore, does not have a set sound.
I had some trouble finding the place, but when I did get there Scriptones was playing. He was a field recorder/circuit bender. What this means is that he had a recordings from nature and cities that he maniplulated, while also created new connections on open circuit boards to create original sounds of popping static and noise. His music had a random uncontrollable factor to it, and he often would make a face when he stumbled upon a harsh sound he didn't like. I thought that it was awesome that his main way of manipulating the circuits by using his hands to make connections.
http://www.intervall-audio.com/artists/scriptones.html
For anyone unfamiliar with circuit bending here is a short explaination
I don't actually know the name of the next artist. He was not one of the featured names, and I haven't been able to dig him up anywhere yet. He was a guitarist who used the five pedals above to morph his extremely violent and fast guitar techiques to create a sonic spectrum of noise. It was all just so fast paced. The weirdest part was his use of the bass synthesizer pedal (pictured in the middle) which I myself have looked into. Using his guitar as the trigger, it would make random sweeping filter bass notes fall down to ranges outside of the guitar. He even grabbed an ashtray and used it as a slide and pick. Everyone there was blown away.
The big name of the evening was Philippe Chatelain, a Tokyo based French musician. He is the leader of the influential experimental group The Laptop Orchestra. Compared to the other two, his music was much more regular and rhythmic, though complrised almost entirely of white noise waves. He would bring in recorded music that he manipulated extensively. I was able to make out Billie Jean , likely a homage to the recently late artist. I made a video but it is taking way too long to download, so I give up. Maybe I will put it on Youtube.
http://www.iamas.ac.jp/~phhat99/
This was a really long post. I will try to space it out more in the future. If you read this whole thing you are a champ.
First off there was Shugo Tokumaru on Thursday. He was playing at the Liquid Room. I bought the ticket the second I heard about the show, but didn't really know the details of it. It turned out that there were only two acts, and Shugo was the first one. His show was stunning. I got his album earlier this year and just fell in love with his sound. He has the approach of a singer/song writer with his vocals and acoustic guitar as the centerpiece, but he surrounds his simple pieces with every manner of percussion, whistles, chimes, accordions, and toy pianos to create dense soundscapes that are just beautiful. He had four supporting musicians with him: a drummer and 3 multi instrumentalists. They played every small, handheld instrument you could think of, and had to follow sheet music for the entire show because there was so much going on. He also played the most amazing cover of Video Killed the Radio Star on banjo. Unfortunately, there was a security guy watching me like a hawk, so I have no pictures or videos from that night. I will just give some links instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FJ99ju9rfw
http://www.myspace.com/shugotokumaru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubq3a1LScTw
So the real surprise for me was the fact that there was another band at the show who was the headliner. I had no idea who they were, but I realized that a large part of the crowd was there to see them. They were called Kicell (キセフ) and after researching them, they claim to be a post rock duo made up of two brothers. The set they played was more of a straight soft rock set. To be honest I found it a little boring, but their singing was excellent. It was a good thing I stuck around because halfway through the set, the backing drummer and keyboardist left the stage and then they switched to an acoustic guitar and music saw set up. I really enjoyed that part of the show more than the early part, as they accentuated the vocals, which were the best thing they had going on in my opinion. I even managed to understand a couple of their songs with my limited vocabulary (One about an aging lonely man and one love song). I'm going to have to check them out some more.
http://www.nidan-bed.com/english.html
Friday came in two parts. First there was a Alternative show with some other genres thrown in there as well.
The first band was called Highered-girl (above). They had the White Stripes set up with a girl drummer and a male guitarist. They went right into it with a wall of fuzz and furious drum fills (lots of energy in their playing). Some songs had noise aspects to them and were pretty hardcore, while others got very melodic. The vocal lines were well written on top of everything else.
http://www.myspace.com/higheredgirl
Next was You Got a Radio!. They were a new wave/early west-coast punk band. They were very reminiscent of X. The male and female guitarists doubled on vocals for a lot of songs. The bassist was wearing a tie and swaying all over the place. Really danceable stuff, but more than anything I noticed how well rehearsed and tight their whole show was. They also had one song towards the end that was intentionally dissonent which I enjoyed.
http://www.myspace.com/yougotaradio
The third act was called Poetry of Bathroom. This was a weird one. First you have a guitarist/singer, a bassist playing an acoustic bass guitar, and the most unobtrusive drummer I have ever heard. You take these three and you have a lo-fi, Velvet Underground style folk rock band. Now add into the mix a bassist with his strap between his legs, gloves, a German double bass bow, and a slide. This guy steals the show and totally morphs the sound into something noisy and trippy. On the last song, the guitarist joined the crazy bassist in his fun by shredding out some heavy distorted noise of his own.
http://www.myspace.com/poetryofbathroom
The last band I saw (there was actually one more, but I needed to stop by my apartment before the second part of my night) was called Condor44. They were an Alt. rock three piece with an open handed drummer. The best part of their performance was the fluidity. The set was continuous, and every song change and part change within a song was so smooth you couldn't notice it. They got very soft and decently heavy at different points but everything just transitioned perfectly. Their sound sometimes reminded me of Sebadoh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q_oo2J433Q
http://jp.myspace.com/condor44
After all of that (I must be insane) I went to another show that started at 12:30. This wasn't a rave like last week, but rather a legitimate show with electronic dance bands and dj in between each set. I took a lot of videos here because everyone seemed cool with it.
Nu Clear Classmate (above) was playing when I walked in. They were an electoclash duo who performed on the floor with the crowd around them. Heavy distorted guitar leads overlayed the electro drums and synth lines. They had balloons drop from the ceiling when they announced they would be releasing an E.P. in the near future. Some of their songs really reminded me of Dan Deacon's stuff.
http://www.myspace.com/nuclearclassmate
The next group was called AAPS. They had an experimental house sound. They would get some jazzy piano every once in a while like in the video above, or sometimes they would rock out (while still having a dance style). The keytarist played the bass lines and jumped out into the audience a few times.
http://www.myspace.com/tuneaaps
Up next was White Scooper. They played hard edged disco house with a lot of vocals and live bass and guitar. The genre was good mix of old and new sounds. I heard 80s and modern influences in the songs.
http://www.myspace.com/whitescooper
This band was the one that was most memorable for me out of the whole night. They are called The New House. I had seen them out on the dance floor and they seemed like cool guys. I didn't realized they were a band. They were like nothing else that evening. Almost entirely rock instrument based, the band was an indie rock/experimental group. The first thing I thought was these guys sound like an American band (all of the lyrics were in English). If you take a look at their myspace influences, you will see was on the money (also I have 80% of their influences on my ipod). Unfortunately their myspace recording do great injustice to what they sounded like live (the video is decent though). Their sound went in some cool directions. The second video is almost like Animal Collective (I think the singer reminded me of Avey Tear somewhat). Cool note: the rack toms of the drummer face outward for the rest of the band to play, he only uses floor tom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF8tD3T8BVU&feature=related
http://www.myspace.com/thenewhousetokyo
Saturday was the Acid Mothers Temple show in Akihabara. The club was cool and pretty crowded. Two guys were operating a liquid light/laser show the entire time. The opener was called Kinski.
They are a Seattle based Psych Rock band doing a tour in Japan right now. A four piece classic rock set up, they had that driving heavy sound, with steady pulsing bass and drums. They used the classic, warm fuzzbox sound on their guitars. They definitely were staying true to the rock aspect of psych rock.
http://www.myspace.com/kinskispace
Acid Mothers Temple, on the other hand, were Psychedelic in the fullest sense of the word. Old synths made spaced out hums and whistles, a variety of acoustic instruments made appearances, and the singer had mastered Tuvan throat singing. Other times, the whole band would just wail out with furious droning noise.
The experience was pretty intense. I forgot where I was from time to time and disappeared in my own thoughts. I caught their last song before the encore on video. This was the softest of their tunes, that ended with them all singing in eastern harmonies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUZL6wbxKok
http://www.myspace.com/acidmotherstemple
So didn't think that I could top the musical strangeness of the Acid Mothers Temple show. However, yesterday I was treated to insanity. I attended an Experimental music show featuring a bunch of artist on this collective label called Intervall-audio. It was a night of heavily artistic expression, the kind that reminds you that art has no definition, and music, therefore, does not have a set sound.
I had some trouble finding the place, but when I did get there Scriptones was playing. He was a field recorder/circuit bender. What this means is that he had a recordings from nature and cities that he maniplulated, while also created new connections on open circuit boards to create original sounds of popping static and noise. His music had a random uncontrollable factor to it, and he often would make a face when he stumbled upon a harsh sound he didn't like. I thought that it was awesome that his main way of manipulating the circuits by using his hands to make connections.
http://www.intervall-audio.com/artists/scriptones.html
For anyone unfamiliar with circuit bending here is a short explaination
I don't actually know the name of the next artist. He was not one of the featured names, and I haven't been able to dig him up anywhere yet. He was a guitarist who used the five pedals above to morph his extremely violent and fast guitar techiques to create a sonic spectrum of noise. It was all just so fast paced. The weirdest part was his use of the bass synthesizer pedal (pictured in the middle) which I myself have looked into. Using his guitar as the trigger, it would make random sweeping filter bass notes fall down to ranges outside of the guitar. He even grabbed an ashtray and used it as a slide and pick. Everyone there was blown away.
The big name of the evening was Philippe Chatelain, a Tokyo based French musician. He is the leader of the influential experimental group The Laptop Orchestra. Compared to the other two, his music was much more regular and rhythmic, though complrised almost entirely of white noise waves. He would bring in recorded music that he manipulated extensively. I was able to make out Billie Jean , likely a homage to the recently late artist. I made a video but it is taking way too long to download, so I give up. Maybe I will put it on Youtube.
http://www.iamas.ac.jp/~phhat99/
This was a really long post. I will try to space it out more in the future. If you read this whole thing you are a champ.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Another Crazy Weekend
I saw Shugo Tokumaru at Liquid room yesterday. I just came back from a show in Shimokitazawa. I am going to another all night event tonight, just like last week. Around 10 am tomorrow, I am getting a lesson in Japanese calligraphy/brush painting. At 4 tomorrow I am going to see Acid Mothers Temple. I will then collapse.
This is all I can post for now. The long post will be Sunday morning, just before I go to an all day experimental music show that starts at 2. I am having so much fun that I need a vacation (10 days till my Rail Pass week, the rest of Japan here I come).
This is all I can post for now. The long post will be Sunday morning, just before I go to an all day experimental music show that starts at 2. I am having so much fun that I need a vacation (10 days till my Rail Pass week, the rest of Japan here I come).
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
I've been getting lazy with the posting
Time to catch up.
One of my main endeavors the last couple of days was to work out my travel plans. I have had the itching desire to explore more of Japan, and the Osaka/Kyoto region has been highly recommended. On top of that I want to go see all my friends who will be in Sapporo/Hakodate when they are on break for a long weekend starting on Friday the 10th. With that date only a little more than 2 weeks away I needed to figure out how I was going to get there and when I was going to fit in my Osaka/Kyoto visit. I was really bummed because Japan offers one of the greatest deals for tourists in the world: The JR Rail Pass. This only costs around 30,000yen ($300) and you can ride any rail in Japan (including the bullet trains, just not first class) for an entire week. Unfortunately, you can only get the exchange order for this while you are still abroad (you get a ticket mailed to you in America that you take with you to Japan and get the actual ticket with). I was preoccupied with Dead Week, preparing for the trip and seeing friends that I never got around to this. Fortunately, Thanh had an awesome idea, which was to get the thing online, mail it to my house, and then have my parents mail it here. The JR companies will never know...
I had one more snag I had to figure out. If my Rail Pass week had to encompass at least some of the dates that my friends were on break, when should I be doing the rest of my traveling? The deciding factor came in the form of a gift from the gods. The night I was raving, I was waiting around the Shibuya-O clubs for the Loft to open up (when I first went there, two guys waved me off, "Come back....15 minutes"). I started grabbing all the fliers for upcoming shows that were sitting outside. I was going through my enormous pile of these the other day (I collect these things from everywhere I go and the clubs tend to give you another twenty or so when you enter) when I discovered that one of the fliers I grabbed was for J-Wave PLATOn Live. PLATOn is some kind of radio show apparently, but the line up for the show is くるり, サカナクション, and The Pillows...THE PILLOWS! One of the biggest names in Japanese music and one of the few Japanese bands I knew and listened to before I got here. All of their other shows for these two months sold out in a day, but I thought it was worth a shot. Turns out that there were still tickets available and I got one. I am going to see The Pillows (in some sort of capacity). With the show on the 14th, my week long adventures will begin on the 6th.
Yesterday I spent time in both Shibuya and Ginza. I went back to Shibuya because another one of my trusty fliers said that there was an instrument district of shops. I specifically wanted to check out a place called Bass Collection and a place that specialized in synthesizers (I had not been able to find a synth shop in all of Tokyo until then). The Bass Collection was ridiculous. Every high end custom name I had heard of and some that I hadn't. They had Alembics, Ritters, and even a certified 1950 Fender P-bass. Some ran as high as 4,000,000yen ($40,000). I didn't take pictures; I was afraid to. The synth place was the same thing. They had every single high end synth on the market as well as vintage stuff. I messed around on some Minimoogs and threw on some Moogerfooger effects (Moog overload). They also had a Revolution there, which is a 303 knock-off. I love the 303 sound. I wish I could get one, but they go for $1500 on Ebay.
I had never been to Ginza before and I think it was pretty cool. I felt like it had a little more of a Manhatten feel to it, bustling but with a calm sophistication. It isn't like the youthful madness of Shibuya and Harajuku that I have fallen in love with. There I went to the Sony Building and tried out electronics. They had a robot there that I think it's sole purpose was to roll around on the floor in you house, that's it. I also saw this awesome sunset.
Today I checked out Tokyo Dome City for the first time, and went to Yoyogi Park and Harajuku again. The Tokyo Dome City is a shopping/entertainment/amusement park that is right next to the Tokyo Dome. It was raining this morning, so the park was not active. I left without doing too much, but I will be back there to ride the Thunder Dolphin.
The park was much calmer than the first time I went there. I wandered around a bit and then I took this really artsy photo (Um...okay, me).
There was something going on at the stadium by the park.
Dreams Come True is this big pop jazz group in Japan and this is the name of their new album, celebrating their 20th anniversary of their first single. The place was packed, but I checked out the vendors and tailgaters for a little bit.
Speaking of Engrish:
There was some weird stuff this evening. I had a desire for a fruit-tea beverage of some sort, so I went to the convenience store. On the way there was a man passed out on the side walk with a water bottle. Traffic cops who happened to be on the scene were helping him move off of the sidewalk and into a park for children. Speaking of parks for children:
What are you? How do I work you?
Wheeee!
The reason I discovered this park was because Ted Everheart, a class of '09 Sebrugian, told me that visiting a temple or shrine at night is a must while in Japan. I will probably do so again in Kyoto, as that is where the serious shrines are.
The final thing is that today I decided to immerse myself in Japanese youth culture in two ways. First, I finally broke down and went to a McDonald's and had a Teriyaki McBurger. It was delicious. Secondly, this thing caught my eye, and I just had to:
I have bought my first Japanese cellphone strap. I will call him Hitome, a fitting but bad pun. Also I don't think this cereal is sold in the US, so I might have to immerse myself by buying it, and perhaps some Gemnai Flakes.
One of my main endeavors the last couple of days was to work out my travel plans. I have had the itching desire to explore more of Japan, and the Osaka/Kyoto region has been highly recommended. On top of that I want to go see all my friends who will be in Sapporo/Hakodate when they are on break for a long weekend starting on Friday the 10th. With that date only a little more than 2 weeks away I needed to figure out how I was going to get there and when I was going to fit in my Osaka/Kyoto visit. I was really bummed because Japan offers one of the greatest deals for tourists in the world: The JR Rail Pass. This only costs around 30,000yen ($300) and you can ride any rail in Japan (including the bullet trains, just not first class) for an entire week. Unfortunately, you can only get the exchange order for this while you are still abroad (you get a ticket mailed to you in America that you take with you to Japan and get the actual ticket with). I was preoccupied with Dead Week, preparing for the trip and seeing friends that I never got around to this. Fortunately, Thanh had an awesome idea, which was to get the thing online, mail it to my house, and then have my parents mail it here. The JR companies will never know...
I had one more snag I had to figure out. If my Rail Pass week had to encompass at least some of the dates that my friends were on break, when should I be doing the rest of my traveling? The deciding factor came in the form of a gift from the gods. The night I was raving, I was waiting around the Shibuya-O clubs for the Loft to open up (when I first went there, two guys waved me off, "Come back....15 minutes"). I started grabbing all the fliers for upcoming shows that were sitting outside. I was going through my enormous pile of these the other day (I collect these things from everywhere I go and the clubs tend to give you another twenty or so when you enter) when I discovered that one of the fliers I grabbed was for J-Wave PLATOn Live. PLATOn is some kind of radio show apparently, but the line up for the show is くるり, サカナクション, and The Pillows...THE PILLOWS! One of the biggest names in Japanese music and one of the few Japanese bands I knew and listened to before I got here. All of their other shows for these two months sold out in a day, but I thought it was worth a shot. Turns out that there were still tickets available and I got one. I am going to see The Pillows (in some sort of capacity). With the show on the 14th, my week long adventures will begin on the 6th.
Yesterday I spent time in both Shibuya and Ginza. I went back to Shibuya because another one of my trusty fliers said that there was an instrument district of shops. I specifically wanted to check out a place called Bass Collection and a place that specialized in synthesizers (I had not been able to find a synth shop in all of Tokyo until then). The Bass Collection was ridiculous. Every high end custom name I had heard of and some that I hadn't. They had Alembics, Ritters, and even a certified 1950 Fender P-bass. Some ran as high as 4,000,000yen ($40,000). I didn't take pictures; I was afraid to. The synth place was the same thing. They had every single high end synth on the market as well as vintage stuff. I messed around on some Minimoogs and threw on some Moogerfooger effects (Moog overload). They also had a Revolution there, which is a 303 knock-off. I love the 303 sound. I wish I could get one, but they go for $1500 on Ebay.
I had never been to Ginza before and I think it was pretty cool. I felt like it had a little more of a Manhatten feel to it, bustling but with a calm sophistication. It isn't like the youthful madness of Shibuya and Harajuku that I have fallen in love with. There I went to the Sony Building and tried out electronics. They had a robot there that I think it's sole purpose was to roll around on the floor in you house, that's it. I also saw this awesome sunset.
Today I checked out Tokyo Dome City for the first time, and went to Yoyogi Park and Harajuku again. The Tokyo Dome City is a shopping/entertainment/amusement park that is right next to the Tokyo Dome. It was raining this morning, so the park was not active. I left without doing too much, but I will be back there to ride the Thunder Dolphin.
The park was much calmer than the first time I went there. I wandered around a bit and then I took this really artsy photo (Um...okay, me).
There was something going on at the stadium by the park.
Dreams Come True is this big pop jazz group in Japan and this is the name of their new album, celebrating their 20th anniversary of their first single. The place was packed, but I checked out the vendors and tailgaters for a little bit.
Speaking of Engrish:
There was some weird stuff this evening. I had a desire for a fruit-tea beverage of some sort, so I went to the convenience store. On the way there was a man passed out on the side walk with a water bottle. Traffic cops who happened to be on the scene were helping him move off of the sidewalk and into a park for children. Speaking of parks for children:
What are you? How do I work you?
Wheeee!The reason I discovered this park was because Ted Everheart, a class of '09 Sebrugian, told me that visiting a temple or shrine at night is a must while in Japan. I will probably do so again in Kyoto, as that is where the serious shrines are.
The final thing is that today I decided to immerse myself in Japanese youth culture in two ways. First, I finally broke down and went to a McDonald's and had a Teriyaki McBurger. It was delicious. Secondly, this thing caught my eye, and I just had to:
I have bought my first Japanese cellphone strap. I will call him Hitome, a fitting but bad pun. Also I don't think this cereal is sold in the US, so I might have to immerse myself by buying it, and perhaps some Gemnai Flakes.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Let's go have a beach party!
Right off the bat, happy Father's Day dad. It's still Sunday here and it's only close to 11 over there so you probably aren't back from church yet. I tried to find the special dinners commercial again this year, but I couldn't. Instead:
Apparently there aren't many left in the US. The nearest one to us is in Georgia.
So today I actually did go to a beach party in Otadama, by the bay. I was really worried because it was pouring this morning. The venue was called the Otadama Sea Studio, so I wasn't sure if it was an indoor thing or not. I got a little lost and wandered around, but then I found it.
It turns out that the place is a hut right on the beach. The floors inside were sand, so everyone just took off their sandals and danced in their bare feet. If you needed a break, you just went outside and sat by the water.
I came there specifically for two acts. The first was a singer named Hitomi Toi, which in Kanji is 一十三十一, the first Kanji palindrome name I have ever seen. She had a whole band with her and played a pretty good disco set. She definitely had a knack for working the crowd. Some of the songs featured more electronic instruments (bass player switching to a microkorg) and I was a fan of that.
http://www.myspace.com/hitomitoi
The act I was really excited about was De De Mouse, and he did not fail. He came out in some stylish duds and played a seriously dope house set. He was a great performer. He came out and started cracking jokes, and getting the crowd wild. Unlike a lot of DJs, he doesn't stand at the table grooving out by himself. Instead he is dancing, mouthing the lyrics, and being interactive with the audience the whole time. For most of his songs he played synth parts and jumped up on the table a couple of times. The only shame was that his set was a little short.
http://www.myspace.com/dedemouse
A great surprise today was when I figured out I can take videos with my camera. This is all I got before they yelled at me (politely informed me that I can not take photographs). I think this will happen to me a lot in the future.
Apparently there aren't many left in the US. The nearest one to us is in Georgia.So today I actually did go to a beach party in Otadama, by the bay. I was really worried because it was pouring this morning. The venue was called the Otadama Sea Studio, so I wasn't sure if it was an indoor thing or not. I got a little lost and wandered around, but then I found it.
It turns out that the place is a hut right on the beach. The floors inside were sand, so everyone just took off their sandals and danced in their bare feet. If you needed a break, you just went outside and sat by the water.
I came there specifically for two acts. The first was a singer named Hitomi Toi, which in Kanji is 一十三十一, the first Kanji palindrome name I have ever seen. She had a whole band with her and played a pretty good disco set. She definitely had a knack for working the crowd. Some of the songs featured more electronic instruments (bass player switching to a microkorg) and I was a fan of that.
http://www.myspace.com/hitomitoi
The act I was really excited about was De De Mouse, and he did not fail. He came out in some stylish duds and played a seriously dope house set. He was a great performer. He came out and started cracking jokes, and getting the crowd wild. Unlike a lot of DJs, he doesn't stand at the table grooving out by himself. Instead he is dancing, mouthing the lyrics, and being interactive with the audience the whole time. For most of his songs he played synth parts and jumped up on the table a couple of times. The only shame was that his set was a little short.
http://www.myspace.com/dedemouse
A great surprise today was when I figured out I can take videos with my camera. This is all I got before they yelled at me (politely informed me that I can not take photographs). I think this will happen to me a lot in the future.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Last Night
Last night I biked to Shibuya. I had some food and explored a little bit.
At 6 P.M. I went to the Shibuya O-Nest. The opening act was 世武裕子, a pianist singer with modern french composer influences. She even sang in french for a few of the songs. Her compositions were playfully elegant and she had a beautiful voice.
http://www.myspace.com/sebumusique
Next was Mouse on the Keys. I had heard this band in a record store and was very interested to see what they would be like live. They were flawless. Fast and intricate Mathy Jazz with two keyboardist that were never off rhythm (not by a microsecond) and one of the most absurd drummers I have ever seen. They featured Trumpet/Cornet on a bunch of their songs, and the trumpeter was intense as well.
http://www.myspace.com/mouseonthekeys
The headliner was actually an Irish band called Enemies. They were an instrumental post-rock band with a lot of two hand guitar tapping. One of the guitarists would play drums from time to time, and overall they were much more lively than a lot of the bands I have seen here (the bassist jumped into the crowd). The show hit an interesting spot when the other guitarist broke his string, and then frantically changed it while the rest of the band improvised on a vamp.
The show got out around 9:30 P.M.
This gave me just enough time to wander until I found the club called Womb. You see, I had also bought a ticket to see Shadow Dance and a few other DJs. This "show" was actually a rave. It was spectacular. All of the DJs had a different style. First was a DJ called SOBE! who played a lot of modern techno. Second was Poney Poney who played a lot of remixed Hip Hop (my favorite was them pulling out O.P.P. by Naughty by Nature). Then came the featured artist, Shadow Dancer. He was incredible and played a Techno/Trance set but had a lot of break beats, which I love. He also blew me away when he pulled out Blue Monday by New Order. Following Shadow Dancer was Dexpistols, who had a little more of a hardcore edge. At one point they played the intro to Aerodynamic by Daft Punk, slipped into Omen off the new Prodigy album, and then went into Sandstorm. To round out the night was Metal Mouse, who were hard techno. I didn't stick around for their entire set because I knew I had to bike home. When I walked outside, it was light out, but there were still Japanese people strolling about everywhere. The Japanese do not sleep. When I got back I left my previous post.
P.S. If you did not know, the crowds at raves are the friendliest people in the world. People just hug you and want to be your friend.
At 6 P.M. I went to the Shibuya O-Nest. The opening act was 世武裕子, a pianist singer with modern french composer influences. She even sang in french for a few of the songs. Her compositions were playfully elegant and she had a beautiful voice.
http://www.myspace.com/sebumusique
Next was Mouse on the Keys. I had heard this band in a record store and was very interested to see what they would be like live. They were flawless. Fast and intricate Mathy Jazz with two keyboardist that were never off rhythm (not by a microsecond) and one of the most absurd drummers I have ever seen. They featured Trumpet/Cornet on a bunch of their songs, and the trumpeter was intense as well.
http://www.myspace.com/mouseonthekeys
The headliner was actually an Irish band called Enemies. They were an instrumental post-rock band with a lot of two hand guitar tapping. One of the guitarists would play drums from time to time, and overall they were much more lively than a lot of the bands I have seen here (the bassist jumped into the crowd). The show hit an interesting spot when the other guitarist broke his string, and then frantically changed it while the rest of the band improvised on a vamp.
The show got out around 9:30 P.M.
This gave me just enough time to wander until I found the club called Womb. You see, I had also bought a ticket to see Shadow Dance and a few other DJs. This "show" was actually a rave. It was spectacular. All of the DJs had a different style. First was a DJ called SOBE! who played a lot of modern techno. Second was Poney Poney who played a lot of remixed Hip Hop (my favorite was them pulling out O.P.P. by Naughty by Nature). Then came the featured artist, Shadow Dancer. He was incredible and played a Techno/Trance set but had a lot of break beats, which I love. He also blew me away when he pulled out Blue Monday by New Order. Following Shadow Dancer was Dexpistols, who had a little more of a hardcore edge. At one point they played the intro to Aerodynamic by Daft Punk, slipped into Omen off the new Prodigy album, and then went into Sandstorm. To round out the night was Metal Mouse, who were hard techno. I didn't stick around for their entire set because I knew I had to bike home. When I walked outside, it was light out, but there were still Japanese people strolling about everywhere. The Japanese do not sleep. When I got back I left my previous post.
P.S. If you did not know, the crowds at raves are the friendliest people in the world. People just hug you and want to be your friend.
It is 5:52 A.M.
I just walked into my apartment. I am going to sleep now. When I wake up it will be story time.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The Last Three Days
So, a lot actually happened over the last few days.Tuesday Tasia came to visit for the day. She is doing Light Fellowship in China, but changed her travel arrangements slightly due to her love of Japan (and Japanese food). We did a grand tour of the city hitting up all of her favorite spots from when she was here last summer. We also took in some new sights. One of which being the Tokyo Tower pictured above, but the magical thing pictured below.
Yes. It's a freaking Gundam. A LIFESIZE GUNDAM! I used to make models of these things that were 1/144th the size of an "actual" Gundam. Also, yes, it was entirely necessary to do the epic Gundam title pose.Besides being in absolute disbelief that anything so awesome actually exists, we went to Akihabara, Odaiba, and Harajuku. Tasia introduced me to the Harajuku Crepes. My mind has continually thought about them from that moment on. I will become large.
Wednesday was me getting back on the ライーブ scene. I attended a show north of Shinjuku Station at a club called Motion. When I got there the crowd was small and the first band was the youngest I had seen since I came to Tokyo. They were called ひらくドア (He Luck Door) and were a sort of poppy soft rock group. The had a pretty kooky tambourine player who would do some funky dances while mouthing along to the lyrics.
http://www.myspace.com/takayukikato
Second was 東京 Freestyle CLUB. They were fairly straight forward j-pop/j-rock. The bassist would go for a run from time to time, the drummer was pretty tight, and the singer had the j-rock voice down. Unfortunately, I wasn't extremely interested in it.
http://www.myspace.com/tokyofreestyleclub
Up next was VIRIDIAN. A drummer in a sparkling pink shirt and two women in matching themed outfits with the same accessories, stood on stage. Based on the other acts of the night, I was not prepared for what happened next. The bass come booming in with heavy drive and I was wowed by a dance punk number featuring perfectly shrieking vocal harmonies that I think only two Japanese girls can pull off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl7AqLYIPeg&feature=related
Following that song I would say the rest of the set was a little more straight rock, but those crazy harmonies stuck around for the show. They even had a blues song and a song with a ska guitar riff.
http://www.myspace.com/viridianviridianviridian
The following band was called Knock Note Alien. This was one of the weirdest bands I have even seen live. For the record I have seen some crazy stuff. The set began with them playing a recording and wandering out into the audience with a lamp, mouthing the speech they had recorded to go with this introduction song. The band had crazy rainbow colored instruments and transitioned into their first song right out of the recording. I don't even know what they were. "Absurd experimental funky something" is the phrase I wrote down that evening. The singer was a ball of energy who's pep NEVER diminished. She would run around, point out at the audience, count things, jump up onto her tippy toes, lean over the railing, and hop on the set play four hand drums. All of this for pretty much every song. They were wild and really good musicians.http://www.myspace.com/knocknotealien (I wasn't able to find media to show how weird they were)
The Headliner was called Metro-Ongen. They were a very polished, professional sounding J-pop band. The singer was great, and the band was really together. They had a projector behind them displaying all kinds of crazy images of space. On their last song they added a some nice guitar effects (reverse delay with lots of swells) and it gave them a big finish. I can't really say too much more, just give it a listen:http://www.myspace.com/metroongen
As for today, I went to Asakusa and visited the Senso-ji. Alert: TOURIST TRAP! Too many westerners with souvenirs. The temple was amazing though, even though there was scaffolding on the outside of it. On my way back I discovered that right near Akihabara is the instrument district of Tokyo. It was literally a street of guitar shops. I arrived a little late so most of the shops were closing, but I will definitely be going back soon. Also, as I walked back to my apartment, I discovered that I am walking distance from Tokyo Dome City, which has a crazy amusement park.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Big Weekend Ahead of Me
So I decided it was time to get back down to business. I spent the last four days exploring the city with friends. I went to Odaiba, Shibuya, Harajuku, Roppongi, Minato, and Akihabara. My feet don't like me anymore. So this morning I researched what was going on this weekend. I discovered that the question I should be asking is what isn't going on this weekend.
I now plan to attend 5 shows between now and Sunday and the shows are a wide range of genres. I discovered a interesting Indie show at Motion in Shinjuku tonight and I think I will go if I get my act together in time. I decided to just skip Thursday because I found out about roughly 15 shows to choose from on Friday. I think I have decided on seeing Enemies and Mouse on the Keys at the Shibuya O-Nest. That show is sort of an experimental/ambient sort of thing. The surprise of the night is that I found a show being advertised that starts at 11:00pm. This is the first such show I have heard to start so late. I ended up putting two and two together when I realized that this is a techno show, and therefore I think I will be taking a dive into the club culture of Japan. Saturday is a New Wave concert in the Basement Bar of Shimokitazaw with Nacano and Metalchicks. Last on the list is a borderline festival. The Otodama Beach Party 2009 Vol. 1 with De De Mouse, 一十三十一 (hitomi toi), and a bunch of DJs.
This is going to cost me.
I now plan to attend 5 shows between now and Sunday and the shows are a wide range of genres. I discovered a interesting Indie show at Motion in Shinjuku tonight and I think I will go if I get my act together in time. I decided to just skip Thursday because I found out about roughly 15 shows to choose from on Friday. I think I have decided on seeing Enemies and Mouse on the Keys at the Shibuya O-Nest. That show is sort of an experimental/ambient sort of thing. The surprise of the night is that I found a show being advertised that starts at 11:00pm. This is the first such show I have heard to start so late. I ended up putting two and two together when I realized that this is a techno show, and therefore I think I will be taking a dive into the club culture of Japan. Saturday is a New Wave concert in the Basement Bar of Shimokitazaw with Nacano and Metalchicks. Last on the list is a borderline festival. The Otodama Beach Party 2009 Vol. 1 with De De Mouse, 一十三十一 (hitomi toi), and a bunch of DJs.
This is going to cost me.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Just chillin
Yeah, not doing too much right now.
I went to Akihabara on Sunday. Akihabara is nick-named the electric city. I went into a department store and there was endless everything. Main Highlights: endless video games and endless gundams. I also bought a 12 pack souvenir. It's a part of my childhood, but now it has a new twist.
Today I mostly hung around Shibuya and Harajuku. Found some awesome clothing stores and a seriously cool record store in Harajuku. Highlight: The Third Unheard: Connecticut Hip Hop 1979-1983. Sooooo many shout outs to New Haven. This happens to be the four years my parents where at Yale together.
I went to Akihabara on Sunday. Akihabara is nick-named the electric city. I went into a department store and there was endless everything. Main Highlights: endless video games and endless gundams. I also bought a 12 pack souvenir. It's a part of my childhood, but now it has a new twist.
Today I mostly hung around Shibuya and Harajuku. Found some awesome clothing stores and a seriously cool record store in Harajuku. Highlight: The Third Unheard: Connecticut Hip Hop 1979-1983. Sooooo many shout outs to New Haven. This happens to be the four years my parents where at Yale together.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The perfect way to relax, having fish eat me alive
I went to an Onsen today. It was the definition of a cultural experience: trying everything that is going on, while trying not to screw up. The whole place had a magical, but retrospectively slightly tacky feel. There where lovely decorations and atmosphere, great food/ice cream, and ninja throwing star games. First on the agenda was the foot bath, which is more like an obstacle course path of rocks meant to tenderize your feet. The highlight was at the end of the path where you could spend 1500yen (money well spent) to have live fish swarm your feet and tickle you like crazy. This service was known as ドクトルフィシュ (Doctor Fish) and actually left my feet feeling amazing.
After that it was on to the Baths. There were so many things going on in there I felt overwhelmed. There were showers, bathing stalls, a tub of hot water you would fill a bucket with and poor on your self, a sauna, a massage parlor, and 7 different pools of hot water. I did my best to try everything, but it got pretty hot in there pretty fast. After the baths I had some green tea soft serve and was treated to a dance show with breakdancing ninjas.
I also bought some fruit today. I haven't had fruit in over a week.
After that it was on to the Baths. There were so many things going on in there I felt overwhelmed. There were showers, bathing stalls, a tub of hot water you would fill a bucket with and poor on your self, a sauna, a massage parlor, and 7 different pools of hot water. I did my best to try everything, but it got pretty hot in there pretty fast. After the baths I had some green tea soft serve and was treated to a dance show with breakdancing ninjas.
I also bought some fruit today. I haven't had fruit in over a week.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
New Sonic Dimension of Awesome part 2
On to the show. The venue was the Liquid Room in Ebisu. By far it was the most professional club I have been to and the first that had a true venue feel. Everywhere else had a more bar/club feel to it, but here they had fencing in front of the stage (completely unnecessary as the crowd was extremely polite and there was no moshing to be found) and a superb light show.
The first band was called Nenem. They were a post-rock quintet with a truly smooth sound. Due to their jazzy rhythm section, spacey organs, and the bell-like tones of the guitars, I couldn't help but compare them to the American post-rock legends Tortoise. There were some pretty trippy visuals of organisms in space and Tinkerbell being projected on a screen behind the band for the whole set. There were even times when the songs seemed perfectly synced up to the images.
The second band (pictured above) was called Cro-magnon. This band really surprised me. There was a drummer, a bassist/guitarist with what seemed like several pedals on the floor and on a stand, and finally a keyboardist with two glorious looking Nords (one of them was a Nord Lead). To explain my previous comment, when it comes to electronic music instruments, I am kind of a tech nerd. I can relate several signature sounds in electronic music to the names of the instruments that produced them. It was for this reason that I flipped out a bit when the band suddenly came out of their jazzy intro. The drummer suddenly started hitting a foot pedal that emulated the Rolland TR-808 Bass Drum and the bass player reached up to his stand and triggered a TB-303. I was suddenly listening to an acid-house concert. To blow my mind further the band switched to funk, and then switched once again to acid-jazz. I got my dance on. This is for sure.
To follow Cro-magnon was a heavy group ironically called LITE. When the band started off, I was a little apprehensive. The began with a series of intricate riffs that had the sound of a metal band. I am not a big metal fan. However, the group gave me a pleasant surprise when they took on a much more math-rock tone. Still heavy as hell mind you, but the intricate part relations, time signatures, harmonies, and sonic density allowed the band to really offer a lot.
After the set a curtain went up. I made some friends in the crowd. Particularly a wildly fun, inebriated fellow who made sure that I called him Yuki-chan (the chan is a cute suffix usually used on small children and girls) and an American who turned out to be from Vassar and on the same program as one of my friends from high school here in Tokyo.
Boris was amazing. I don't really know how to describe what happened. There was smoke everywhere. The music was like a somehow serene explosion that never died down. It was utterly beautiful and very loud. Yuki-chan was hugging people and throwing up the "rock on" hand sign. A salary-man was headbanging along to the foreboding pace of the music. The set was mostly their bread and butter of absolute epic noise-rock and drone. They kept it quite slow for the whole set, which is only surprising because they have been known to play some hard and fast stuff, like what can be found on their album Pink. On the whole, this was definitely the best Tokyo concert so far. My ears were ringing in ways they have never rung before.
The first band was called Nenem. They were a post-rock quintet with a truly smooth sound. Due to their jazzy rhythm section, spacey organs, and the bell-like tones of the guitars, I couldn't help but compare them to the American post-rock legends Tortoise. There were some pretty trippy visuals of organisms in space and Tinkerbell being projected on a screen behind the band for the whole set. There were even times when the songs seemed perfectly synced up to the images.
The second band (pictured above) was called Cro-magnon. This band really surprised me. There was a drummer, a bassist/guitarist with what seemed like several pedals on the floor and on a stand, and finally a keyboardist with two glorious looking Nords (one of them was a Nord Lead). To explain my previous comment, when it comes to electronic music instruments, I am kind of a tech nerd. I can relate several signature sounds in electronic music to the names of the instruments that produced them. It was for this reason that I flipped out a bit when the band suddenly came out of their jazzy intro. The drummer suddenly started hitting a foot pedal that emulated the Rolland TR-808 Bass Drum and the bass player reached up to his stand and triggered a TB-303. I was suddenly listening to an acid-house concert. To blow my mind further the band switched to funk, and then switched once again to acid-jazz. I got my dance on. This is for sure.
To follow Cro-magnon was a heavy group ironically called LITE. When the band started off, I was a little apprehensive. The began with a series of intricate riffs that had the sound of a metal band. I am not a big metal fan. However, the group gave me a pleasant surprise when they took on a much more math-rock tone. Still heavy as hell mind you, but the intricate part relations, time signatures, harmonies, and sonic density allowed the band to really offer a lot.
After the set a curtain went up. I made some friends in the crowd. Particularly a wildly fun, inebriated fellow who made sure that I called him Yuki-chan (the chan is a cute suffix usually used on small children and girls) and an American who turned out to be from Vassar and on the same program as one of my friends from high school here in Tokyo.
Boris was amazing. I don't really know how to describe what happened. There was smoke everywhere. The music was like a somehow serene explosion that never died down. It was utterly beautiful and very loud. Yuki-chan was hugging people and throwing up the "rock on" hand sign. A salary-man was headbanging along to the foreboding pace of the music. The set was mostly their bread and butter of absolute epic noise-rock and drone. They kept it quite slow for the whole set, which is only surprising because they have been known to play some hard and fast stuff, like what can be found on their album Pink. On the whole, this was definitely the best Tokyo concert so far. My ears were ringing in ways they have never rung before.
New Sonic Dimension of Awesome
After my morning ritual, I decided to ride my bike to Shibuya. I knew I would be seeing Boris in Ebisu that night, so I thought I would stay topside for once. There are about 14,667,000 people in Tokyo during work hours. Out of all those people, I managed to run into Ming and the rest of the SUN Academy crew in the middle of the sidewalk. How does that happen? We all exchanged cell phone email addresses and went our separate ways.
I had a blast in Shibuya. I think that it is my kind of area. I saw cool graffiti on buildings, went to an awesome guitar shop, and checked out club Sega. There is nothing quite like the feeling of watching people play the game Gundam vs. Gundam and then wanting to try it so badly, but simultaneously being absolutely horrified of how badly you are going to get your ass kicked by that school girl if you try. She is a killing machine.
I am too tired to write about the concert. I will do it in the morning. But know this: my ears are experiencing a symphony of ringing. So many vibrant frequencies.
I had a blast in Shibuya. I think that it is my kind of area. I saw cool graffiti on buildings, went to an awesome guitar shop, and checked out club Sega. There is nothing quite like the feeling of watching people play the game Gundam vs. Gundam and then wanting to try it so badly, but simultaneously being absolutely horrified of how badly you are going to get your ass kicked by that school girl if you try. She is a killing machine.
I am too tired to write about the concert. I will do it in the morning. But know this: my ears are experiencing a symphony of ringing. So many vibrant frequencies.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Aw dang....wait, massively glorious win
So my day started out with me discovering that, just as I had suspected, The Pillows were sold out for their concert on Saturday. I wandered to Shibuya kind of depressed. I then proceeded to have soft serve and go to Tower records to cheer myself up. I got a huge list of new Japanese Indies and some of it I really liked. There was a pretty big selection of J-punk and J-hip hop and I also finally started to take a look at the J-Club scene. I don't really know too much about it, but there was a DVD of this one band called Soft playing in a loop in the store. It seems like a kind of jazzy/fusion jam kind of music with big ensembles. I will have to look into it further.
http://www.myspace.com/softribe
However, the night took a surprisingly amazing turn when I went to one of the coolest concerts I have ever been to in my life. The club was called eM7 and right when I walked in I knew I was in the right place. I was surrounded by people who I could only describe as "not meant for life during daylight." There were Dreadlocks a plenty, people in leather, and every other sign of a good crowd in my opinion.
Drums Drums Drums. That was the name of the game this evening. I walk in and I see a man alone on stage with just a drum kit and some monitor speakers. He explodes into a furious drum solo synced up with insane free jazz horn parts. Everything he played went along perfectly with the articulation of the instruments in the accompanying track...for 20 minutes straight. The artist goes by Ruins-Alone. What really did it for me in his set was his energy and his falsetto.
Now my mind was in a very interesting place after what I had just seen, so I was no where near ready for what was next. I looked up and found myself surrounded by drums. Three kits all with entirely different cymbals, toms, everything. The only thing they all had in common was a glowing bass drum that pulsed when hit. The group was called Drumno and they blew me away. Drumno writes spatial compositions. You stand in the center of the room and you hear as drum hits circle around you in opposite directions. The complexities of the beats were only matched by what your mind was doing to try to sort what was coming from where. When the bass drums came in it was over. The whole crowd fell into a tribal frenzy, wailing after every break in the song. I won't post a link, because recorded media does not give justice to the effect this group had live.
So what could possibly follow that? How about ELEKTRO HUMANGEL. A four piece noise explosion is the phrase that comes to mind. Three percussionist: A kit player with hair like Confucius, a woman who was obviously a trained Taiko drummer by her form, and a dreadlocked mad man who destroyed his kit and had a solo section that consisted of him dropping his cymbal onto his floor tom and seeing what would happen. The leader of the group though was a synth player who literally played noise in the most surreal ways imaginable. He was a master of throwing the back of his hand onto 5 or so adjacent keys, layering on all kinds of effects, and using the pitch bend like I have never seen it used before. Then he put a microphone into his mouth and did the same things to his voice. I was shocked by what I was hearing, and by how much I loved it.
Here is the myspace link. I recommend the videos, but overall you need to be "in it deep" (do I mean a little insane?) to enjoy it. http://www.myspace.com/elektrohumangel
http://www.myspace.com/softribe
However, the night took a surprisingly amazing turn when I went to one of the coolest concerts I have ever been to in my life. The club was called eM7 and right when I walked in I knew I was in the right place. I was surrounded by people who I could only describe as "not meant for life during daylight." There were Dreadlocks a plenty, people in leather, and every other sign of a good crowd in my opinion.
Drums Drums Drums. That was the name of the game this evening. I walk in and I see a man alone on stage with just a drum kit and some monitor speakers. He explodes into a furious drum solo synced up with insane free jazz horn parts. Everything he played went along perfectly with the articulation of the instruments in the accompanying track...for 20 minutes straight. The artist goes by Ruins-Alone. What really did it for me in his set was his energy and his falsetto.
Now my mind was in a very interesting place after what I had just seen, so I was no where near ready for what was next. I looked up and found myself surrounded by drums. Three kits all with entirely different cymbals, toms, everything. The only thing they all had in common was a glowing bass drum that pulsed when hit. The group was called Drumno and they blew me away. Drumno writes spatial compositions. You stand in the center of the room and you hear as drum hits circle around you in opposite directions. The complexities of the beats were only matched by what your mind was doing to try to sort what was coming from where. When the bass drums came in it was over. The whole crowd fell into a tribal frenzy, wailing after every break in the song. I won't post a link, because recorded media does not give justice to the effect this group had live.
So what could possibly follow that? How about ELEKTRO HUMANGEL. A four piece noise explosion is the phrase that comes to mind. Three percussionist: A kit player with hair like Confucius, a woman who was obviously a trained Taiko drummer by her form, and a dreadlocked mad man who destroyed his kit and had a solo section that consisted of him dropping his cymbal onto his floor tom and seeing what would happen. The leader of the group though was a synth player who literally played noise in the most surreal ways imaginable. He was a master of throwing the back of his hand onto 5 or so adjacent keys, layering on all kinds of effects, and using the pitch bend like I have never seen it used before. Then he put a microphone into his mouth and did the same things to his voice. I was shocked by what I was hearing, and by how much I loved it.
Here is the myspace link. I recommend the videos, but overall you need to be "in it deep" (do I mean a little insane?) to enjoy it. http://www.myspace.com/elektrohumangel
Such a good day
So things started a little slow today. I was doing laundry, lounging about my room. But then I get a facebook chat from Thanh saying that everyone from Yale on HIF was in Tokyo for the night. Unfortunately, I missed the big crowd on their way out to ラメーン。At least I got to see Thanh, Brown-san, and, the one who really made my evening, Jamar. I wasn't even sure he was going to be with the group or if he was visiting his Grandparents or something. I was looking on the list at the front desk to see which room Brown-san was in, and then I spied Jamar's name on the list. Nothing beats having one of your best friends from college show up when you are in another country. He and I wandered around Shinjuku for a while and then parted ways. The visit was much too short and I didn't even see half the people I know who will be at HIF, so I plan to visit them all at their mid summer break sometime next month.
Right after parting ways with Jamar, I quickly took the JR and met with my friend Lauryn from high school. She is here on a summer program through Vassar, and invited me to Karaoke. It was an absolute blast. I got to meet some of her friends, and our song choices quickly devolved into pop and anime themes, as those were the only songs we knew the lyrics to. I will definitely be going again sometime.
To top the night off, I decided to check on all of the anime theme writing J-pop bands that we had just sung to, and I discovered, in absolute disbelief, that The Pillows are playing this Saturday. I was sure that would be the one band I triple checked to see if they were playing while I was here. I haven't found any indication that the show is sold out, so despite my logic, I am remaining hopeful and will go to the club to investigate tomorrow. I also found a really weird looking show that I think I will go to tomorrow. The genre of the show, according to this one guide site, is "WTF?"
Right after parting ways with Jamar, I quickly took the JR and met with my friend Lauryn from high school. She is here on a summer program through Vassar, and invited me to Karaoke. It was an absolute blast. I got to meet some of her friends, and our song choices quickly devolved into pop and anime themes, as those were the only songs we knew the lyrics to. I will definitely be going again sometime.
To top the night off, I decided to check on all of the anime theme writing J-pop bands that we had just sung to, and I discovered, in absolute disbelief, that The Pillows are playing this Saturday. I was sure that would be the one band I triple checked to see if they were playing while I was here. I haven't found any indication that the show is sold out, so despite my logic, I am remaining hopeful and will go to the club to investigate tomorrow. I also found a really weird looking show that I think I will go to tomorrow. The genre of the show, according to this one guide site, is "WTF?"
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Ueno Park
Yesterday I decided to take a stroll to Ueno Park, a large historical park with several shrines, memorials, and a zoo. Unfortunately, the giant panda was not there today. I still had a blast despite my panda-lessness, and finished the evening with a concert.
The venue was one of Tokyo's most historic, The Loft. Many important bands have come through the venue on their way to stardom. For me, the night ended up being a bit of a let down. I got there so late that I only saw the headliner. They were a four piece funk rock group with decent ability, but I wasn't very awed by their music. The bassist had some chops, and that was cool to watch, but the rest of the band didn't quite bring the same intensity. At least the crowd really got into the last couple of songs they played, and that made a noticeable improvement in the bands energy.
Even though the show could have gone better, it's all good. The reason I was late to the show was because I was getting tickets for...BORIS! I didn't even know they were playing Tokyo until yesterday, and now I am going to see them on Friday. I am very excited.
Pictures of the park are on facebook
The venue was one of Tokyo's most historic, The Loft. Many important bands have come through the venue on their way to stardom. For me, the night ended up being a bit of a let down. I got there so late that I only saw the headliner. They were a four piece funk rock group with decent ability, but I wasn't very awed by their music. The bassist had some chops, and that was cool to watch, but the rest of the band didn't quite bring the same intensity. At least the crowd really got into the last couple of songs they played, and that made a noticeable improvement in the bands energy.
Even though the show could have gone better, it's all good. The reason I was late to the show was because I was getting tickets for...BORIS! I didn't even know they were playing Tokyo until yesterday, and now I am going to see them on Friday. I am very excited.
Pictures of the park are on facebook
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Today was Sunday...
I think everyone knows what that means...HARAJUKU. I love crazy people, who dress up and get photographed by tourists every week. Pictures are up on facebook (maybe I should get a flicker or something). Yoyogi park is actually quite nice. I really enjoyed walking around it.
The other major happening is I got a cell phone. Score! I want to thank Michael Thorton for his amazing, and much needed help in this endeavor. I am not sure what I will do this evening, perhaps I will go exploring somewhere.
The other major happening is I got a cell phone. Score! I want to thank Michael Thorton for his amazing, and much needed help in this endeavor. I am not sure what I will do this evening, perhaps I will go exploring somewhere.
I decided that this should be its own post
THE BIG STORY OF THE DAY is that I finally got to a Japanese Live (as in show). It was in this underground bar in Yoyogi called Zher the Zoo. It was a cosy little place with stone walls and hazy smoke filled air. I only caught the last two acts because my convenience store struggle set me back on time. The first (or rather second to last) was a singer songwriter on an electric from Osaka. Her name was Mai Mishio and she is originally from this band http://www.myspace.com/uzumibi. She had such control over the texture of her voice, sometimes being harsh and raspy while sometimes being soft and fleeting. The best part was that she had the same control over her guitar technique. My favorite parts of her set was whenever she would seamlessly transition any power in her voice into the guitar part, having the energies of the two dance between dominance and submission.
The headliner was a mainly instrumental three piece call Euphoria. They were a mix of alternative that became much more post rock towards the end of the show (generally a progressive song structure). They had an odd formula for the first couple of tunes. The guitarist would finger pick some intricate, moving arpeggio, and the rhythm section would just have at it, constantly shifting and morphing into new parts and rhythms. The drummer and bassist were pretty fantastic (drum fills everywhere and the bassist was all over the neck), so the guitarist could have kept those arpeggios going practically forever. They even got pretty dancey a lot of the time. The fourth song in was the only song to feature vocals, and it shifted the set to something more ethereal. By the closing song the guitarist had suddenly stolen the show, pulling something out of the Explosions in the Sky playbook with his wailing, delayed, distorted shredding. http://www.myspace.com/euphoriamyspace (White pattern was the closing song, and Come and Go gives an example of the formula I was talking about)
The headliner was a mainly instrumental three piece call Euphoria. They were a mix of alternative that became much more post rock towards the end of the show (generally a progressive song structure). They had an odd formula for the first couple of tunes. The guitarist would finger pick some intricate, moving arpeggio, and the rhythm section would just have at it, constantly shifting and morphing into new parts and rhythms. The drummer and bassist were pretty fantastic (drum fills everywhere and the bassist was all over the neck), so the guitarist could have kept those arpeggios going practically forever. They even got pretty dancey a lot of the time. The fourth song in was the only song to feature vocals, and it shifted the set to something more ethereal. By the closing song the guitarist had suddenly stolen the show, pulling something out of the Explosions in the Sky playbook with his wailing, delayed, distorted shredding. http://www.myspace.com/euphoriamyspace (White pattern was the closing song, and Come and Go gives an example of the formula I was talking about)
Saturday, June 6, 2009
I ♥ the Oedo line
Wow. So now I have the Tokyo Metro system down. I pulled the transit at the end of the Oedo line without a hitch today. It's a funny route because it is basically a straight line that suddenly becomes a big circle around the middle of Tokyo, doubling back on itself like someone losing a game of Snake. I have to switch from one Oedo subway to another one every time I want to take it all the way to Shinjuku station (which is Grand Central for Tokyo if you haven't figured out by now) or beyond.
This morning I had three goals: to fix my ticket situation for Fuji Rock, to get a ticket for Shugo Tokumaru, and possibly to get a prepaid phone to use on occasion/use as a clock (when was the last time I had a watch?). I have discovered that my alarm clock from the US is running slow. To be precise, 70 seconds are required for a supposed minute to pass. I don't know what the deal is, but I have decided to set my clock every night 1 hour and 40 minutes ahead so that the time will be accurate about 10 hours later when I wake up.
My first goal took me to Shibuya, the hip and happening part of Tokyo. I didn't quite wander with the same aimlessness I have in Shinjuku, so I don't think I got the full experience of the place. Despite my poor track record, today I ended up everywhere I intended to, directly and without confusion. Well the only confusing part was the fact that Ganban, the place where I had to buy the ticket for Fuji Rock, was tucked away in a corner surrounded by male apparel stores. I seriously thought I was in the wrong place. Now that I have a ticket in my possession, I need to get the wire transfer, which didn't work out for the first ticket, canceled.
Next I traveled down a main street to the Liquidroom, a club I have heard a great deal about. Shugo Tokumaru will be performing there on the 25th so I wanted a ticket. However, when I arrived there was no box office to be found. Rather there were a bunch of teens hanging around, a dude selling African-style jewelry, and a bar. My instinct was talk to the bar tender. Turns out this was the right move as she had the tickets. She rummaged through the metal box then handed me a flier while giving me an explanation that I completely did not understand. She pointed to the numbers at the bottom which said L code and P code. Disappointed, I left.
Fortunately, the Internet had the answers I needed. These codes are used to look up the intended shows on machines at convenience stores. However, these machines are completely in Japanese and very confusing. After a long attempt and making up a supposed Japanese phone number that I had (Tokyo numbers go 03-xxxx-xxxx), I paid for the ticket at the cashier.
My only hardcore failure of the day was the cell phone front. A prepaid phone is something that is known to exist in Japan. You pay with a card that you buy at a convenience store for the minutes you want. The badass part is that I would have a Japanese cell number, perhaps indefinitely. However, both stores I went into kind of said they don't do prepaid phones (the site for one of these companies said otherwise). I will try again tomorrow. If I fail again I may seek the help of the YPMB's own Tokyo native: Michael Thorton.
This morning I had three goals: to fix my ticket situation for Fuji Rock, to get a ticket for Shugo Tokumaru, and possibly to get a prepaid phone to use on occasion/use as a clock (when was the last time I had a watch?). I have discovered that my alarm clock from the US is running slow. To be precise, 70 seconds are required for a supposed minute to pass. I don't know what the deal is, but I have decided to set my clock every night 1 hour and 40 minutes ahead so that the time will be accurate about 10 hours later when I wake up.
My first goal took me to Shibuya, the hip and happening part of Tokyo. I didn't quite wander with the same aimlessness I have in Shinjuku, so I don't think I got the full experience of the place. Despite my poor track record, today I ended up everywhere I intended to, directly and without confusion. Well the only confusing part was the fact that Ganban, the place where I had to buy the ticket for Fuji Rock, was tucked away in a corner surrounded by male apparel stores. I seriously thought I was in the wrong place. Now that I have a ticket in my possession, I need to get the wire transfer, which didn't work out for the first ticket, canceled.
Next I traveled down a main street to the Liquidroom, a club I have heard a great deal about. Shugo Tokumaru will be performing there on the 25th so I wanted a ticket. However, when I arrived there was no box office to be found. Rather there were a bunch of teens hanging around, a dude selling African-style jewelry, and a bar. My instinct was talk to the bar tender. Turns out this was the right move as she had the tickets. She rummaged through the metal box then handed me a flier while giving me an explanation that I completely did not understand. She pointed to the numbers at the bottom which said L code and P code. Disappointed, I left.
Fortunately, the Internet had the answers I needed. These codes are used to look up the intended shows on machines at convenience stores. However, these machines are completely in Japanese and very confusing. After a long attempt and making up a supposed Japanese phone number that I had (Tokyo numbers go 03-xxxx-xxxx), I paid for the ticket at the cashier.
My only hardcore failure of the day was the cell phone front. A prepaid phone is something that is known to exist in Japan. You pay with a card that you buy at a convenience store for the minutes you want. The badass part is that I would have a Japanese cell number, perhaps indefinitely. However, both stores I went into kind of said they don't do prepaid phones (the site for one of these companies said otherwise). I will try again tomorrow. If I fail again I may seek the help of the YPMB's own Tokyo native: Michael Thorton.
Even the rain is beautiful
All of yesterday and into this morning it has been raining. I had a poncho, but everyone here has umbrellas, so I think I will get one so I don't stick out.
I met with my landlady about possibly having her lend me an old bike she had, but we couldn't find the key. It's a bit of a shame because I've realized how large Tokyo is.
(Make sure the zoom is the same for all three and on satellite mode for the full effect)
This is New York: http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?q=new+york&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=jp&ei=rKgpSsbrD46MkAWp5LnxCg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1
This is L.A.: http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?q=L.A&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
This is Tokyo: http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?q=tokyo&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=jp&ei=KKgpSseAMoyHkAWR-YjsCg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1
If I am not getting that bike I am going to have to master the public transit system. Fortunately I had a very easy experience with the Japanese metro yesterday. I observed how others were going about the process I was able to duplicate without a problem. What you do is buy a ticket (prices vary for distance traveled) and swipe through. However, unlike the New York Metro, they give you back the ticket, which you then have to swipe at the exit terminal. If I didn't notice the ticket had been given back to me, that could have meant trouble. Unfortunately I took the train too far and ended up near the royal palace.
Before my transit adventure, I did manage to get some research done (My intent here in Tokyo is to learn about modern music culture). I was in an electronics building (9 floors of electronics everywhere) and Between the third floor, which had TVs, and the 4th floor, which had recordplayer and insane headphones, there was a small half floor on the far side of the shop for DVDs and CDs. I got on one of the electronic menus in there and selected new music, then hit the sub menu for "indies artists." Indeed, these were Japanese Indie artists, though the meaning of independent seems to be lost in translation. Some artists that interested me were Kirihito, The Brixton Academy, Momokomotion, and Doping Panada. I have discovered that Doping Panda in actually on a major label at this point, but the rest of the artist are unsigned or on indie labels. The fact that they are unsigned is good for me, because they are playing exclusively around Tokyo, and somewhat frequently. The major label artists seem to go all over.
I managed to get myself lost again. I started at Shinjuku station and accidentally headed west instead of east. I ended up in Shibuya somehow. I think it was worth it, because now I think I really have a sense of Shinjuku. Also ending up in Shibuya (another main part of Tokyo and the supposed center of youth culture) has inspired me to spend my day there today. I will try to finally see a show tonight, and hopefully pick up tickets for the Fuji Rock Festival and the Shugo Tokumaru show later this month at Liquidroom (super psyched).
I met with my landlady about possibly having her lend me an old bike she had, but we couldn't find the key. It's a bit of a shame because I've realized how large Tokyo is.
(Make sure the zoom is the same for all three and on satellite mode for the full effect)
This is New York: http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?q=new+york&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=jp&ei=rKgpSsbrD46MkAWp5LnxCg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1
This is L.A.: http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?q=L.A&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
This is Tokyo: http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?q=tokyo&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=jp&ei=KKgpSseAMoyHkAWR-YjsCg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1
If I am not getting that bike I am going to have to master the public transit system. Fortunately I had a very easy experience with the Japanese metro yesterday. I observed how others were going about the process I was able to duplicate without a problem. What you do is buy a ticket (prices vary for distance traveled) and swipe through. However, unlike the New York Metro, they give you back the ticket, which you then have to swipe at the exit terminal. If I didn't notice the ticket had been given back to me, that could have meant trouble. Unfortunately I took the train too far and ended up near the royal palace.
Before my transit adventure, I did manage to get some research done (My intent here in Tokyo is to learn about modern music culture). I was in an electronics building (9 floors of electronics everywhere) and Between the third floor, which had TVs, and the 4th floor, which had recordplayer and insane headphones, there was a small half floor on the far side of the shop for DVDs and CDs. I got on one of the electronic menus in there and selected new music, then hit the sub menu for "indies artists." Indeed, these were Japanese Indie artists, though the meaning of independent seems to be lost in translation. Some artists that interested me were Kirihito, The Brixton Academy, Momokomotion, and Doping Panada. I have discovered that Doping Panda in actually on a major label at this point, but the rest of the artist are unsigned or on indie labels. The fact that they are unsigned is good for me, because they are playing exclusively around Tokyo, and somewhat frequently. The major label artists seem to go all over.
I managed to get myself lost again. I started at Shinjuku station and accidentally headed west instead of east. I ended up in Shibuya somehow. I think it was worth it, because now I think I really have a sense of Shinjuku. Also ending up in Shibuya (another main part of Tokyo and the supposed center of youth culture) has inspired me to spend my day there today. I will try to finally see a show tonight, and hopefully pick up tickets for the Fuji Rock Festival and the Shugo Tokumaru show later this month at Liquidroom (super psyched).
Thursday, June 4, 2009
My absurd second day in Japan
After my land lady took me by taxi to my apartment last night, she informed me that this location was the only part of Shinjuku (A Ward of Tokyo, similar to the Boroughs in New York) that still was built by the city planing of the Shogun period. Meaning that it was designed as a maze so that ninjas couldn't escape (or so she told me). The only part of the story she left out was the actual name of this place.
I wake up the next morning. I don't know where I am. My computer, my only possible why of trying to map things out, is dying and cannot be recharged (apparently they only use two prong outlets in Japan). I don't know where I would go to fix any of these problems (literally, as in direction). Lastly, I realized that I in fact cannot hold a conversation in Japanese, just sound like an idiot and blank up.
So I let fate do its thing. I walk out onto the street, knowing full well that I am not going to remember how to get back to my apartment, and start following roads that I have a good feeling about. I was lucky to realize that a certain street sign I had paid no mind to prior to this morning, was actually my address. So I wrote down the Kanji without having any idea what it said.
Spectacularly enough, I managed to fairly quickly arrive in the main shopping district. I was able to find an electronic Japanese-English dictionary and a three to two prong adapter to save my life.
However, as expected, I had no idea how to get back. I pretty much walked around the entire Ward, going in circles half the time. People I asked were unfamiliar with the that area. I walked through parks, watched kids have intense Gundam battles in arcades, checked out a kitten store and a guitar store. Eventually, a policeman was able to give me directions. It was only then that I realized that I am conveniently located clear on the other side of Shinjuku, opposite all the skyscrapers and business it is known for.
I wake up the next morning. I don't know where I am. My computer, my only possible why of trying to map things out, is dying and cannot be recharged (apparently they only use two prong outlets in Japan). I don't know where I would go to fix any of these problems (literally, as in direction). Lastly, I realized that I in fact cannot hold a conversation in Japanese, just sound like an idiot and blank up.
So I let fate do its thing. I walk out onto the street, knowing full well that I am not going to remember how to get back to my apartment, and start following roads that I have a good feeling about. I was lucky to realize that a certain street sign I had paid no mind to prior to this morning, was actually my address. So I wrote down the Kanji without having any idea what it said.
Spectacularly enough, I managed to fairly quickly arrive in the main shopping district. I was able to find an electronic Japanese-English dictionary and a three to two prong adapter to save my life.
However, as expected, I had no idea how to get back. I pretty much walked around the entire Ward, going in circles half the time. People I asked were unfamiliar with the that area. I walked through parks, watched kids have intense Gundam battles in arcades, checked out a kitten store and a guitar store. Eventually, a policeman was able to give me directions. It was only then that I realized that I am conveniently located clear on the other side of Shinjuku, opposite all the skyscrapers and business it is known for.
My first day in Japan
I spent my first day coming to the realization that I was in Tokyo, the most vibrant and overwhelming place I have ever been. I also realized that I was halfway around the world, alone, in a place where I can rarely understand people. I managed to make it work none the less. With my luggage dangling off me I called up my landlady, and met at her apartment. She treated me to a great dinner and then sent me off to my place, which was actually quite a distance away. She assured me that I would be able to find my way around...I ended up just falling asleep without packing.
Odd note: Everyone in Shinjuku has absurdly good fashion. Either everyone is in business attire, or wearing top of the line, hip outfits with crazy hairdos and accessories. I felt severally under dressed wearing just my usual jeans and tee-shirt.
Odd note: Everyone in Shinjuku has absurdly good fashion. Either everyone is in business attire, or wearing top of the line, hip outfits with crazy hairdos and accessories. I felt severally under dressed wearing just my usual jeans and tee-shirt.
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