18 Dec JAPAN! Bape! Kiddyland! Open Mics!
Kinda sick…at work and it has the feeling of a looooong day. Really, I should be napping. Oh well. Such is the working man’s life.
–Day 4–
Another kinda slow start…heading back to the train.
Air-drying is in. All along the way to Tokyo people had their laundry out. I never see people
with close lines in California.
Micah’s lunch.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a consistent mass of people as I saw at Shibuya Station. It just didn’t stop. Each time the light would change people would line up to cross the street. Micah said it looked like the “start of a marathon.”
It was nearly overwhelming to see that many souls passing by again and again and again. And incredibly distracting.
Shibuya!
We were trying to find a toy store called Blaster. We knew it was by an Apple Store and we were only a few blocks away. None the less, it took us probably an hour to find it. The streets were windy and unnamed. The business’ didn’t have numbered addresses.
Uhhh yeah.
It makes it a little harder to find places…
Eventually we found the store…it was pretty awesome. A nice selection of Domokun stuff.
We were also trying to meet up with a friend of Teao’s…Audiopharmacy had just played a few shows in Tokyo and what better way to get to know a place than thru a friend of a friend?
Between the street noise, the language barrier and the really really bad cell service in Japan I didn’t think we were actually going to be able to find where Acco was. But eventually, even though we were pretty sure we’d gone the wrong way, we ended near her.
Shibuya.
Japanese coke taste different. I think I still like Mexican coke the best…but Japanese now takes
the 2 spot.
We met her in front of the AM/PM (go figure) and went down an alley, that connected to another alley that went up a hill. Yeah. We never would have found that place. It was a nice little bar called the “Ruby Room.” And just a few weeks before, my friends had played here.
Evidence.
It was an open mic night…you never know what to expect at an open mic night in the States, so what would one be like in Japan?
The first couple bands were a mix of European’s and Japanese…saw one singer song writer type from the States. I talked with one of the musicians about his music, he simple described it as “Rock & Rorr.” We started talking influences and he went all the way back to Robert Johnson, Son House, Muddy Waters…real Blues Men. Micah and I were intrigued.
Eventually he was up…and damn. Could that guy wail. Probably one of the best guitar players I’ve ever seen – and he didn’t hold anything back, jumping, flying around the stage, going down to his knees just ripping. It was amazing.
Check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/jeroki
We left around midnight to make our trip back…
–Day 5–
Machida. Coffee from the machine…
The Northwest is everywhere.
Kiddyland.
7 floors of toys.
An entire “Hello Kitty” floor.
Intense.
This was pretty awesome. Even awesomer was that my credit card worked on 1 floor, then didn’t work on the next floor. My bank evidentially recognized an abnormality to the charge…e.g. it was in Japan.
Of course, I had called them, and told them I would be in JAPAN.
ahh, well, at least one of my cards was still working.
When I saw this place I automatically wanted to eat there…but then I remembered Davis’ words
”Don’t eat Mexican in Japan.” And after my encounter in Minneapolis…I’d have to be crazy to
try it again.
Jasmine Tea, Tempura, Udon, and a lil’ Relish.
We headed deeper into Harajuku..and eventually found…
Bape.
It was awesome. Micah found it…it was below the Ice Cream & Billionaire Boys Club stores…it just looked like an abandoned stairwell…Micah made us walk down there. Good thing he did.
So….not only were there no address or street signs, but things were purposefully hidden.
A Bronze Dunny?
After getting home, we looked up this intersection on google earth…
There was an art exhibit in one of the Parco buildings…and we needed to go back there anyways.
We were going back to the Ruby Room…the exhibit was pretty cool.
You could make your own stamp…apparently I was the only person to hit it up.
hippo steez.
Back at the Ruby Room – Acco!
We ended up staying super late…met another band that’s actually coming to the States this
coming here. I guess there name means something pretty unflattering in Japanese…heh
http://www.myspace.com/tokyopinsalocks
They also showed my video for “Prophecies” at the club that night…it was kinda cool. What was especially cool was that Acco and most of her friends had already seen it and really really liked it. I’m not gonna lie, it felt pretty good to go somewhere new and have people already familiar with some of my work. heh, and like it too.
After the club…which closed about 3am (early for Japan) we tried to meet up with an American for a Design Week party. Either the directions were bad or I was bad at following them…whatever the case – we couldn’t find it.
Walking around in Harajuku early in the morning it was like a ghost town. And it was cold. Micah was done…and I was fading quick. I wandered into a 7-11 in search of coffee.
I couldn’t find any! wtfbatman! what’s a 7-11 without hot coffee?
We walked to the AM/PM down the street…and I couldn’t find it there either! There was a little display that said “Hot!” and had some machines nearby, but they just looked like hot water dispensers.
I asked the clerk…he walked over and pointed at the cooler I was near. It was a cooler with metal cans of coffee.
“No, hot coffee” I repeated. He opened the door and touched a can, and motioned for me to do the same.
I reached out…and I’ll be. It was a heated unit. Cans of coffee in a clear “cooler” kept hot. I got a can and some cookies and we headed back to the Harajuku station.
We had about an hour for the 1st train…
I think we got home about 7am…
Next time…the best meal yet…my friend Hiro from SFSU..and more.
-Luke
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