Wow.

I have just seen the best thing ever on TV. I'm not even mocking, I love this. I think I will start watching more TV at 2 in the morning.

I love living in a country where I can just randomly turn on the TV and see a man in a white suit and red top hat with massive shades popping with an old man in shabby work clothes to quality 80s electro in a studio that looks like a kids Saturday morning show.

The rest of the show was equally fresh, consisting as it was entirely of dance offs between various crews called things like HYPNOTIC BOOGIE, CHEEKY CLOWNZ and EGU-SPLOSION and dancers such as SEXY CAT MAIKO. 'Super Chample' could quite possibly become my favourite show.



(EDIT:had a crap version recorded with my digicam but someone has already uploaded a good one to Youtube. That internet eh?)

In fact, looking at Youtube, theres a few good ones there if you're bored at work (the kids are off for spring holiday) including this 'beauty girls dance battle' which was on yesterday and is a lot of fun and an older AMAZING one which just gets better and better, some of the stuff there, looks completely impossible.

TechnoTechnoTechnoTechno

Can't think of anything else to call this weekend. It was another Osaka weekend. I'm really starting to feel familiar with bits of the city, when I travel away from Kansai and come back to the station, it's not like im 'home' but its a place where I can relax and feel comfortable. It's great for shopping as well, round the South side of town everything's within walking distance. Saturday was shit and drizzly, but armed with the traditional Japanese seethrough umbrellas we checked Minami Horie, the slightly more upmarket side of town beyond Amemura (Hysteric Glamour's flagship in particular is really cool, 3 stories tucked into an interesting building with ramps and stairs half outside half in.):



We went to the Kirin Plaza Osaka for a drink. It's a good looking building with a gallery in and things but at the bottom they have a little bar cafe where they brew 4 of their own microbrews in different styles: Pils, Stout, Weiss and Ale, and you can see some of the brewing tanks from the bar. The little beer set on the left, you can't see the scale in the picture, but each glass is probably less than a quarter of a pint. Under each glass is a paragraph about the style of beer, where it's from and it's history etc, another example of Japan's fascination with providing detailed information on everything.

Checked out a club I hadn't been to before, Saza*e, which is a stylish kind of place, 3 floors, with the top one being a little private bar with a small pool (???) inside. Music was techno, I'm not so into that but the crowd was good. I like the beats (although a bit fast) but I just want someone to break out the guiro or agogo or something, kind of lacking in the rhythms. There was a wedding reception in the upstairs bar up til a bit after 11, and some guests stayed around, so along with your clubbers you've got guys all suited up and girls in delicate heels and wedding dresses jumping around to techno. (The music was like a more energetic version of Peep Show 'he's taking it up, he's taking it up! he's bringing it doooown, bringing it down.') Met a cool group of people through friends of friends and good times were had by all. Later on, on the stage, there were two guys dressed only in elaborate necklaces, chains round their waists and little thongs, dancing with massive feather boas. The thing was, neither really looked like they were enjoying it, one in particular just looked like a salaryman who wanted to go home. There were a couple of girls on a back stage doing a meek little cat dance, but everybody in the room was loving the guys. Later all four of them changed costumes to S&M gear and they got on stage, with Mr Embarressed whipping one of the girls as the other guy pretended to do something rather rude to the other girl. It was all very polite and Japanese.



A kind friend of a friend, 'I will go everywhere for fun' Yusuke, let us crash at his apartment for a few hours sleep early in the morning in nearby Bentencho. Sunday just a hangover curing ramen lunch (kimchi tabehoudai, get in) then back to a different station where I left my car. I realised if I drive another half hour, the station there has twice the amount of trains, which is nice when you frequently miss them like I do.

Got a new camera this weekend, I realised when I saw how shockingly bad the picture of Harborland was in the last post that it was time. I've been wanting a DSLR like Dylan's so badly, but looking back through my blog I saw that there was no way that I could take an SLR to the type of places where I usually take pictures. So I got the FujiFinepix 31d, in Yodobashi camera, a huuuge 7 floor electronics store in Umeda. It's advertised by Ebihara Yuri, who my friend is obsessed with (I think he nearly bought it for himself as well). Anyway, the camera itself looks kind of boring but apparently its the best little camera for indoor pics without a flash in bars and stuff, it's really sensitive. Let's hope so! Here's a test pic I took in a little bar called 'mojo bar' before I was mocked by the others for playing with my new camera taking pictures of... pretty much nothing. I call this 'lonely beer' (at ISO 1600, fellow geeks). Love the abbey road sign. It's not a bad pic but not amazing, hopefully I'll figure out how to take good pics with it.



An aside - there are 'gaijin bars' in japan, generally not fantastic places (though there must be exceptions) which are mainly for expats. Anyway the guy who runs this bar has a sign outside to make it clear that this isn't his idea for this place, he just loves the beatles (well actually the whole of Japan seems to love the beatles but his love is special) and the UK round about the sixties/seventies. Says something like 'Everybody, this is not a "gaijin bar". There are many of those elsewhere. It is a normal bar based on Liverpool and the beatles. However everybody is welcome inside.' The honesty of his sign, his excellent long hair and barmaids in their hippy-esque dresses makes me like the place. The whole place is a time warp, reminds me of my parents' student pictures. Carling on tap too, just like home (is that a good thing?)

Anyway, with my camera I got the BEST freebie ever, a tripod adaptor that you stick on the top of a drinks bottle! Amazing.

Osakobe? Kobesaka?

Friday night, went down to Kobe to meet a friend for a drink. She was super excited at having bought a DS, she must have been one of the 5 remaining people in this country who still didnt have one. We wandered round Harborland, a nice little area with some cafes and bars and great city views over the bay, this part of Kobe looks great at night. Didn't want to do an all nighter, mainly to save some energy for Sat, so after chilling in the cool underground eclectic little bar that we like (where they played a strange Japanese vocalist covering What's New Pussycat in a sort of reggae/ska fashion), went to stay in a capsule, but arrived too late, and they were all gone, so ended up staying in the capsule hotel in a room they have with loads of futons spread out on the floor, a bit like the shelters people make in churches and places after a natural disaster. Like everything though, was fun.

On Saturday, still in Kobe, picked up some great new music:



I wanted to try listening to some more Japanese vocal music, as much as I like Makoto Ozone and Naoya Matsuoka, theres no lyrics. I don't really like j-pop, each to his own, but the majority of it seems very lightweight and disposable. Gagle, however, are cool, basically because DJ Mitsu the Beats is their DJ, meaning their beats are fantastic. This is a repackaging of their latest album, with the tracks in a different order for no apparent reason. The Antibalas album is weighty Afrobeat jazz, and reminding me why I love record shopping in this country, it had a sticker on it declaring it a 'Hot Chart Hit' whereas in the UK it's no doubt tucked away somewhere in the tiny jazz section. Yes Japan! Finally the Musiq album is great, more soulful melodies and beats (he's great at what he does, I went off him for a bit when I heard him cover Stevie's "Visions", but when he plays to his strengths he's probably my favourite neo soul or whatever you call it singer after Dwele.)

In the HMV, there was a big flatscreen and listening post stand cos Soil and Pimp Sessions have got a new album out. Now brace yourselves Soil and Pimp fans (I basically mean Stewart), it's nothing special. If there wasn't a listening post I would have bought it straight away, but theres really no new ideas on it, and their tunes seem to rely more now on simple repeated riffs than the uptempo soaring post bop melodies that they can do. Theres a cover of Freddie Hubbard's "Red Clay" on it which got me all excited, but it's mediocre at best.

Went for a haircut which is quite different from the UK. In the UK, often, the more you pay, the more attitude the place has (until you find a great place) but here, the people are just cooler. I've tried a couple of other places that were so-so, but Le Chic in Kobe (TERRIBLE name I know) is awesome. I normally have the more senior guy do it, who is cool enough to bend time as he goes past - no joke, the other employees sort of cower from him, running up with a bow to offer scissors and clips as he cuts. This time I had somebody else though, and the normal guy glared at me from the other side of the salon. (check him out, employee number 003 on the website under 'staff' - he always looks like that, never a smile.) From my extensive survey of 4 people I've talked to while having my hair cut, I can tell you that 100% of cool looking people who work in a salon in Japan have visited London when they were a student, mainly for shopping, and they loved it. Of course they did! I have a bunch of 'England lies' that I tell in order not to stifle conversation (when you're as shit at Japanese as me you have to make the most of every chance), namely that I support Arsenal and used to go to the matches a lot when I was a kid, and I stop for tea every day. Having a haircut in this salon is a little bit like those dreams where you're the king, begins with a head massage, jazzy house is played [this is possibly just in my dream] as cute girl assistants are running up and bowing to you all the time (i couldnt work out why, i think it was before and after their breaks). Haircuts in Japan are excellent.

Don't normally blog about this sort of thing, but I'll just briefly cover Saturday night as it was surreal. Mix together one great beginning to a night out with an Osaka girl who works in a hostess club, great meal (Barbara in Umeda is the best non Japanese restaurant I've been to without a doubt) and film (Perfume), go for a late night drink round higashi umeda, it's like pretty much the ideal date... until we run into her ex yakuza recent ex boyfriend with his little crew at a bar and he's clearly still into her (he is admittedly pretty cool but not the right time) and comes over to chat for ages and completely shows me up by mr bigshot yakuza paying our large bill before he leaves without me realising (ZING)... gah. There you have the first half of my latest hilarious-if-it-wasnt-me story (with some great one liners and later situations that just aren't fit for a public blog), available in all harrow pubs from August 2007.

At least life here is always interesting. Off to Hong Kong soon!

White Day

Japan is big on the gift giving culture. I don't know how important it is to get things 'just right' when it comes to the type of gift, but certainly as a foreigner you're given a lot more leeway. Which is nice when you're an idiot, like me.

Valentine's Day in Japan is a marketeer's dream. Although only women give chocolate, not only do they give chocolate to their boyfriend or someone they're interested in (honmei-choco), they also give 'obligation chocolate' to their coworkers (giri-choco) and these days lots of people (my girl students did this loads) give chocolate to their friends (tomo-choco.)

Then, a month later, on 'White Day' (March 14th), guys who recieved chocolate have to reciprocate, and in a genius feat of marketing, the tradition is that they give more expensive chocolates than those they recieved.

On Valentine's day at work, I got some giri-choco, 2 fantastic little boxes of chocolate from the student teacher and the office lady, a little collection of chocs from the nurse and two individual chocolates from one of the English teachers who went round giving them to everyone. This threw up some interesting questions: am I supposed to get the same thing in return for the English teacher who gave me two little Quality Street equivalents as the student teacher who gave me an amazing box of multi coloured macha, azuki and kurogoma chocolates from Kyoto? The English teacher is the student teacher's superior so should I take that into account? They sit next to each other so I wondered what to do.

In the end, this was all solved as I forgot about White Day until 8.40pm on March 13th, and the supermarkets close at 9. Rushing to one, all they had left was some cheap looking Disney chocolate (I really DO NOT understand why the hell Japan likes Disney so much...) so I rushed to the other one. Sorry guys, I loved your chocolate, but you get a box of strange sesame seed cookies that are for people who are lactose intolerant or something. At least they cost a bit and came in great packing. Hopefully that'll count for something.

End of term time

This weekend was fun, Saturday let's drinking and exploring more round Amemura ['america town', street fashion and people watching district] in Osaka with friends and met some cool people, then evening time a good night clubbing. Actually ended up going for an hour and a half of karaoke just with a friend, I don't actually like karaoke that much but I guess the right person can make you do anything. We went from there for some late night ramen in the pouring rain with a stall that had set up massive umbrellas over raised tatami mats, taking off your shoes and sitting off the ground cross legged eating as rain pours down around you in the dark was pretty fun :o) Sunday VISSEL KOBE ARE BACK first J-1 home game, great turnout, great atmosphere and I remembered my soccer ball glasses (that also double up as perv glasses, look at Alex wearing them below - blatantly designed for that) and a good time was had by all. (1-1 score... bit disappointed, by then end we deserved to win.)

From Sat: Osaka has SERIOUS flagship stores for two of the coolest Japanese brands, Commes des Garcons and Frapbois. It was so hard not to steal the Commes des Garcons bollard, the brand appealed to my adult brain and the bollard-ness of it to my student heart.


From the footie on Sunday: Wing stadium, soccer ball/perv glasses, the fans and our crew.



Here's some stuff from school.

Exams finished last week, and so I've had loads of lessons where I've had complete free reign, no syllabus, just 'do something fun for the end of term' type things. Highlights have included having the advanced reading class acting out scenes from famous movies (although most were pretty stilted, in the Godfather, Casablanca and Pulp Fiction ones, the kids were fantastic and really got into it), a too ambitious lesson where I draw a massive map of Japan on the board with various cities marked in and the kids move around like a board game based on how many english questions they can answer to get prizes, and having kids design new easter eggs, coming up with names, slogans and details:



Name: Strange Egg
Slogan: 100% Beef
Point: There is beef inside

Name: Energy in Power Chocolate
Slogan: A Nuclear explosion on explosive powerful egg
Point: There is plutonium inside

Name: Noriko Egg
Slogan: Eat Noriko
Point: She is guilty of bad taste!
(Noriko didn't seem at all annoyed by this.)

Name: Danger Egg
Slogan: You are in danger of losing your life!

Name: Pleasant Dreams!!
Slogan: Infinity faith

Name: Dinosaur Egg
Slogan: Dinosaur Egg of Danger. Though it is adventure, want to do people sure?

My favourite by FAR, it's so simple but so brilliant:



Awesome. I'll leave you with some pics of school uniforms designed by my kids. I often use a little design or something to draw them in, then BAM they have to talk about it and cos it's their own thing they want to show off they're a lot more expressive. I LOVE the one on the left with the extra skulls for decoration.

KANAZAWA: Yoshitomo Nara and things

This weekend, I travelled a long way to visit Siobhan who lives in Toyama-ken, known as the 'armpit of Japan' cos of the shape and location of the massive bay it's in (it's also about 6 hours away from here on the North coast about halfway between here and Tokyo horizontally). Fri night she just met me and we went for dinner and drinks at her local bar 135, and on Saturday we headed down to Kanazawa, the big city in the next prefecture along, Ishikawa. The East square of Kanazawa station is wonderfully designed with a large wooden gate and huge glass roof: (the 'clock' in this picture is actually made up of tiny fountains, and it rotates through different displays.)



We headed over to the 21st Century Modern Art Museum. When you get there, there's a great permanent exhibit called 'Leandro's Pool' which looks like a little swimming pool from above, but there seem to be people in it, then later when wandering round the galleries you come up beneath it and can look up out of it.



The museum is a fantastic building, its a massive one story circle shaped glass building in the middle of Kanazawa. Really interesting design and good to just walk around in.



Anyway, one of the main reasons for going there was to see the exhibitions put on by Yoshitomo Nara, whose work I love. He's sort of artist in residence there at the moment, working with Osaka based design unit Graf on 3 projects going under the name of Moonlight Serenade.

The first one was called 'Voyage Of The Moon', but I couldn't take any pictures inside. The place was a massive dark blue room with a few yellow lights embedded like stars, and in the centre of the room a large hut with a face on top (looking exactly like the one from the picture on the right) where you could queue up to go in, containing a workspace designed by graf with Nara's paintings, drawings, sketches, little models and toys in his signature style (as well as crushed beer cans and written notes) were displayed. It was fantastic. My favourite was a innocent looking kid with the caption. The world owes me. Fucking world. Wish I could have taken a picture.

The second one, 'Dog-o-rama' was two parts: a MASSIVE stuffed dog in the middle of the room called 'Pup-up-the-dog' which people can bring their own things to stuff it with, and 'Pup Patrol' which is full size multicoloured dog costumes hung up around the outside. The idea is that kids can go and wear the dog suits while they go round the museum. The kids look SO CUTE in the outfits, but this photo is off the actual website as I felt it would be a bit weird to ask strangers to let me take pictures of their children.



The final thing he did was to take the outside 'project room' and turn it into a cafe/workshop. Similar to the Voyage Of The Moon hut but on a much larger scale. First he stuck a fake house over the entrance, then made one half a cool cafe and the other half more pinned up drawings, soft toys, graffiti, and this time some photography as well. Was cool to sit in the cafe (which itself had some unusual and cool things, we had "Chocolate Cake(from puddle)" and hot milk cocktails like Malibu and hot milk served as if it they were cups of coffee) and look around. Apparently from time to time he shows up and does work in the workshop, but not when we were there.



Couple of other things from the other main exhibition, called Real Utopia: Tales of the Unlimited. While some things were a little strange (a video of a man repeatedly washing his face with curry), the majority were fantastic. The sort of 'irony' in modern art is something I really don't like, and I loved this exhibition as the exhibits were simple and honest, even when slightly crazy. See the one in the middle below, it was a pitch dark room with regular things in, dining table and chairs, couch and tv, mirror, bench, shelf etc, but all with coloured spots on and a black light. It was really effective! It's called I'm Here, but Nothing, and apparently "generates an endless infinate space, in which all things in the world like the self and other are obliterated, yet exist as each dot in the space."


The exhibitions had great names like 21c. Erotical Flying Machines - A trip to the Galaxy, which was massive spacey drawings and Ladder to Heaven which made use of a dark room, with a blacklight lighting up a white ladder, and positioning of mirrors to make it look like there was a ladder running through the centre of the room that went both up and down as far as you could look, looked fantastic.

They have a room called 'People's Gallery' where apparently different groups can hold exhibitions, and at present it's the graduating students from the Kanazawa college of art. Check some pictures, and and amazing sculpture:



There was a very small exhibition room which was all about monsters, gundams, Godzilla, and stuff like that. I have no idea why it was, although they seemed to have commissioned an anime style drawing of a white dragon attacking the museum itself. The museum was fantastic, and I was so lucky that Yoshitomo Nara's exhibitions coincided with my visit up to that area. Yay for wonderful coincidences.

Next we wandered round the famous gardens kenrokuen, and the castle gate, Ishikawa-mon. They were beautiful, slightly similar to the gardens in Okayama a couple of weeks ago (both are in Japan's top 3 gardens) but with more of a 'foresty' feeling.



Then we did a bit of shopping. Kanazawa has some really good shops clustered together on a couple of pedestrian streets (I prefer them to shopping centres/malls, much more personality) and we happily whiled away some more of the afternoon.



Most of the shops were crazy expensive but had good stuff, then we found this great second hand store with loads of eclectic bits at really cheap prices, like jackets for Y4000 (20 quid) and stuff. See the red Wrangler jacket Siobhan is trying on below? So we're browsing that cheap store, and she sees it up on the top of the shelf on a display and asks the guy if she can try it. He laughs, "it's too expensive" but goes and gets the stick to get it down anyway. IT COST Y480,000. Thats £2,400, or 4,800 Mickey Mouse War Dollars. WHAT THE HELL? They guy said it was 'very famous'. After that Bathing Ape seemed positively cheap. (And it is anyway compared to the UK which made me look at it again in a much more favourable light.)



Headed back to Siobhan's town, Uozu, to have dinner and meet up with her friend Josh, before heading out to Toyama, next town along, for a night called LoveBuzz. Was fun, cute barmaid Yuka from 135 the night before was transformed into cool indie pop DJ Yuka:



And we hung out with some of Siobhan's friends and I met her boyfriend Yutaka for the first time (and his mental mate Yusuke):



Traditional 5AM beef bowl, then back on the first train and crash out. Sunday just hung out with some of Siobhan's friends, dinner in a cool cafe she likes, then some arcade and purikura in Uozu. Uozu is really cool, you can see the mountains on one side (high, white mountains as opposed to my little green ones) and the sea on the other. Really nice feeling to it. Looooooooong train journey home, and time to start next week.

Best anti-smoking poster ever: