A Social Thursday

I had a really great day today sharing Tokyo with new and old friends from back home. I had recently met R through my recent Melbourne visitor L and I offered to show her around Shimokitazawa today. As we archi kids from Melbourne town are into thrift stores and nostalgic repertoires, Shimokitazawa can be a dangerous place for the precious Japanese yen. I met up with R around midday at Shibuya crossing and we then head onto the Inokashira line bound for 'Shimokit' (as we and C like to refer). For the next two hours or so R and I wandered around a few shops admiring the plethora of interesting things. We had a pleasant drink at The Darwin Room, possibly one of the quaintest shops in the area and it is as it suggests full of botanic books, bugs and bits and bobs in the theme of Charles Darwin. The inbuilt benches against the large front windows made an ideal people watching setting. As I was due to meet B down the road at three, I showed R only the location of other great shops and left her to engange in come solid retail therapy. Reports are a few garments, shoes and collectable records are on their way back to Melbourne.

I then made my way down to Komaba-Todaimae station to meet up with my passionate Portugese maninho, B. The purpose of our exchange was that he is doing me huge favor and lending me his snowboard gear for my upcoming Hokkaido and Niseko adventure. As I waited on the platform  rekindling my love affair with Battles (see video) - some serious head bobbing occured - I was then amused to see B running down the street in a rage of energy with the gear on his back. We greeted like lost brothers and then B, a friend of his and myself boarded the train back to Shibuya. B and I discussed his upcoming Australia adventure with great excitement and then parted ways at Shibuya station.

Later that evening, a friend of mine Richard Stampton from Melbourne whom I used to both study under and work for organised to catch up for dinner.  http://richardstampton.com/

We decided to meet at a particular 'Starbucks above the concourse' in Shinjuku around 6:30. I arrived at a Starbucks above a concourse however after 20 minutes or so I began to think we had different Starbucks in mind (there are a total of 22 in Shinjuku). It was a wrong doing on my part as my past experience with L at a Shinjuku meet up point didn't go so well either. I ran around checking other Starbucks until I gladly found Richard still waiting for me at...a Starbucks above a concourse. We happily greeted and set off to find a place to eat. I had read up on a few places to eat before-hand however I wasn't keen on engaging in a needle in a haystack activity after my subsequent Starbucks "cluster fuck" (J.K Simmons, Burn After Reading). However amongst our healthy chatter and aimless wandering we incredibly stumbled across Touch of Spice a Thai place that I read up on so we headed to the third floor and were seated immediately. We chatted about his wonderfully hectic trip around Japan and the many oddities of Japanese culture. After our delicious meals, we decided to head to a gig at the Pit Inn live house which was not far. I had checked to see what was on beforehand and was intrigued by the combination of instruments on the bill. 

Michiyo Yagi Double Trio
Michiyo Yagi(20 strings&17 strings Koto,Vocals)

Todd Nicholson(Contrabass)

Takashi Sugawa(Contrabass,Cello,Electric Bass)

Tamaya Honda(Drums)

Yasunori Tanaka(Drums)

Michiyo Yagi, an innovative Koto player who has been overturning the conventional sense of Koto instrument, combined two leading rhythm sections in Japanese jazz scene into this unique group. Performing mainly Yagi’s original pieces that incorporated Japanese music, free jazz and progressive rock, the double trio played a range of pieces including the theme music from Seijun Suzuki’s monstrous film ’Branded to Kill’ (Koroshi no rakuin) and Nick Drake’s ’River Man’ with Yagi’s radical arrangements. As Richard pointed out, there were also epic moments that chanelled the Dirty Three. It was by far my most favorite gig in Japan. Here is some footage of Yagi's skills from the evening that I recorded.

Blue Skies . M&D day 2

After a quick brekkie at Pronto coffee, we headed back on the Yamanonte and Toden Arakawa lines to reach Otsuka. We arrived at my dorm to show them around properly and unload some of the bits and bobs brought from Australia. I opened my collection of Christmas present and was a happy little vegemite. My little cousins G and J drew adorable pictures for me, pleading “please come back”. Next we headed to Sakuramiya as my old man was very keen to check out the coffee brew. T-san and K-san greated us all with great delight and we exchanged formalities before each ordering a coffee and cake set. Mum oohed and ahhed over the ambiance whilst playing with the array kaleidoscopes and Dad sat humbly fascinated with K-san's skills behind the coffee machine. Surprisingly, T-san presented mum with a kaliescope she made just for her, Mum was obviously as overwhelmed by the present as dad was with the taste of the coffee. T-san called the owner K-san and twenty minutes later K-san and M (bearing his Australia beanie) greeted us and sat down. For the next hour or so Dad and I drank another coffee while mum chatted with k-san and T-san. We eventually left  after a touching goodbye and Mum and Dad were positively overwhelmed by the generosity and friendliness of everyone they just met. It was a wonderful and fitting way for Mum and Dad to interact with local Japanese for the first time. After travelling on the Toden Arakawa, Yamanote and Toei Oedo lines we reached our destination of a completely different scale to Sakuramiya; the top of Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills. It was a chilly, however crystal clear day and you could see the seemingly endless concrete landscape disappear as far as the eye could reach. Tokyo bay and the distant mountains where in full view. We then whizzed through the Metoblism exhibition as I explained the key ideas and pointed out the key exhibits. Mum and Dad where surprisingly engaged and impressed by the concepts and the exhibition overall. It is a wonderful exhibition however you need two proper visits to get through the information and battle the "museum fatigue". It was approaching half past four and we began our journey towards the Invoice theatre to see the early evening show of Blue Man Group. Pumped! These guys are supremely entertaining and hard to place. Using their trademark PVC pipe apparatus' they pumped out a handful of musical numbers. The show was half a comedic mime always involving stunned but willing audience members and half musical performance. It was a profoundly entertaining, engaging, humorous and skillful show that clearly portrayed these blue men as true showmen. I would definitely not baulk at the chance to see them again. 

Oki

Oki is a Ainu Japanese musician, fusing traditional Tonkori sounds with reggae, dub and world influences. This is a great cut, which I tracked down after hearing it at the Tokyo Art Beat 7th birthday Party. Feel free to move about like a rhythmic baboon.

Kane Ren Ren Dub by Oki

Sugamo Jizodori - Harajuku for old ladies

On my ride home this afternoon, I was met wish an exceptionally busy Sugamo Jizodori. A street I ride down every day, it is an extension along the old "Nakasendo" highway, which was one of the five major highways in the Edo period.


Today was definitely a celebration of some sort as stalls selling things from trash and treasure, fish, sweets, antiques and mainly clothing for the elderly. So the presence of young bearded Gaijin wheeling his obtrusive bicycle down the street perplexed many. I also came across these two great buskers at the end of street; one on a traditional Shamisen and the other on tambourine. A fine combination.

The shamisen is a 3 stringed resonating instrument with no frets that is played with a large plectrum. It is officially on the growing wish list.

Sugamo Jizodori shamisen busker