If You're a Vegan, Don't Read This Post.

Merry Xmas! A bit late but I had a lot on my plate the past few days as you can see below. I pretty much worked through X-mas working until 2am on the 24th and starting at 6am on the 26th. We did have a cast and crew X-mas dinner on the 25th and I finally got to have my Kobe beef! It was delicious, however I would not suggest anyone eat an entire Kobe beef steak. It's a bit on the rich side and is probably the same as drinking a glass of oil. I wasn't feeling too good afterwards and I am probably gonna stay away from it the rest of my stay here. But you gotta admire that marbling!
Champion Beef. I worked pots and pans in the dorms when I was in college and one day I saw them unloading boxes of beef off the trucks into the kitchen. On the side of the box was printed: GRADE D GOVERNMENT MEAT FOR INSTITUTION AND PENITENTIARY USE ONLY. That was fucked up. Now I've had the full spectrum of beef.Kobe Beef Feast!

Where's the beef?

Kobe, Japan home of the sake fed beef. I reckon if I was gonna be a beef cow and be slaughtered anyway a Wagyu Kobe cow would be the best. You get eat great food, drink sake, get massages and basically ive the good life before getting whacked. Been here for two days but haven't eaten it yet. I'm building up for a good climax, well not really, just haven't had time to go out and eat yet. So for now it's shitty ass cold bento boxes.
I did however, manage to make it out to the last night of the Luminare festival in Kobe. This is in memory of the 94 earthquake and the special lighting was designed and made by a some Italians. Why Italians? I have no idea. We actually happened upon this by mistake while walking around downtown Kobe. At around 5:30 we saw the cops blocking off the streets and a huge crowd walking in one direction and so like the sheep that we are, we decided to follow. We turned a corner and the giant crowd was at a standstill. At this time we still didn't know what the hell was going on. We ended up waiting for half an hour before the street opened up and we were allowed to proceed. Once we turned the corner, we saw it in all of it's Disneyland electric street parade glory.
This light-brite arcade stretched on for two blocks and although it was a bit cheesy, it was impressive in it's scale.

The arcade led to a park where this thing was sitting...a giant lit-brite house!

Look at the crazy tension wires stabalizing the structure.

Something totally different...Japan is the only place where I have seen people adhere to the, "Stay to one side if you're not walking" rule on escalators. In the States or in HK people are strewn all over the escalator and then they give you dirty looks if you try and get by. But Japan is about order and respecting the rules.
My only question is: In Tokyo people wait on the left but in Kobe, they wait on the right? Why is that? Is there some historical significance? Was there some kind of schism between Kansai and Kanto that caused the people to choose sides? Like many questions I have about Japanese culture, I may never know and may never find out.

Thanks Tokyo, the sushi was great!!!

We are out of Tokyo and now in Kobe. What a difference! Big props to Tokyo for your hospitality. Here are some final images...
The two photos above are from Tsukiji, the wholesale fish market where fresh fish comes in the morning to be distributed to Sushi joints all over. Went at 6am right after getting off work. We'd been saying we'd go the whole time we'd been there but the opportunity never came. So our last morning in Tokyo was dedicated to this place, even though I was tired as fuck. It was worth it. I've never seen a whole tuna before and there must have been a few hundred lying all about. We walked around taking photos and finally worked up an appetite to have a sushi breakfast. Nice way to round up our stay in Tokyo.
I basically grew up on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. My friends and I used to haunt all the cafes in the area talking bullshit into the wee hours of the night. F.O.B. Cafe is what we used to call the I House cafe. It was the International students house cafe so there were plenty of FOB's there, thus the nickname. I know it's kind of mean but I was a dick. Now I'm a FOB in Asia.
Any lonely ladies out there? This place is full handsome men ready to please you and take away all the days stress. I hear many a office lady have stolen company funds in order to keep up the habit.

Draught Funk

Went to the Draft Punk concert in Mese on Sunday. I'm not a huge fan of their music but a friend had extra tickets last minute so Antonio and I decided to go. I'm glad we went. The show was insane! Probably one of the most high-energy things I've seen in a long time. When we walked towards the arena, Daft Punk had just started their set and you could hear the roar from the crowd. You could tell there were a lot of people inside but when I got inside my jaw dropped. There must have been 20,000 people there all jumping and dancing to the set. It was crazy.
I tried to take a bunch of photos to capture the experience but these crappy, put of focus photos don't even come close.
The duo was sitting in the cockpit of what looked like a kind of pyramid shaped nose of a giant space ship with helmets that lit up and matched the light show that was going on. Then suddenly the actual space ship became a giant 3D video screen with crazy visuals racing across it's face. It was amazing to see a DJ set this dynamic. Those Frenchies really know how to put on a show.

More Tokyo Randomness

Self portrait. I always finding myself playing with the old slow shutter speed trick. I'm always surprised by what I get and it makes me feel like an artist for a split second. I guess I'm easily amused.

Time Warp!!!!

Don't ask. I'm not sure what this place is and what goes on here but I was walking around Nishiazabu the other night and saw this sign. I should've went and checked it out but I was scared.

Happy Birthday Antonio! He's been my PA for 7 years. That's a long time to tolerate my ass. He's spent the past four birthdays on the road with me. I hope I've been a good boss. Don"t get too comfortable though, wait till I kick you down the stairs like Naomi Cambell.

MUSIC!!!

I haven't phyiscally purchased music in a long long time. Ever since I got my itunes account, I sort of thought buying cd's was pointless. Specially since once they are on my computer and ipod(s) I never touch them again. Plus finding a place to store them is a pain in the ass too. I already have enough trouble with my crazy dvd collection. But today I had the day off and decided to hit the HMV across from where I'm staying in Tokyo. The joys of browsing the aisles of racks looking for something to pique my interest suddenly came back to me and I went crazy. This first CD was in the Japanese indie section and after listening to the first track on the listening station I threw it in my basket. Can't understand anything in the jacket but I think it's a live session with these two rockabilly bands. The Shell Rockets wear old skool biker jackets and The Specters wear mod suits. There are a couple of Elvis covers but mostly original stuff, all in Japanese.

Bloodest Saxophone. I love the name of this band. They are another old skoll 50's rock revival band with two Saxophones and matching suits with slicked up hair. Miso Soup Booghttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifie is the best song on the album. They do a great version of Tequila too.
The BlueHerbare heavies in the underground Japanese hip-hop scene. My friend Kenya highly reccomended me to give them a listen. Although I can't understand the lyrics, they spit them deep and dark. This album's got a certain cinematic element to it. A nice alternative to all the Hip-Pop crap out there today.

The ZooBombs. This album rocks hard and is probably the best find of the day. This recording is from a furious live gig in Toronto. They play rock like it was meant to be. The liner claims they are one of the best live bands in the world today. A hefty statement to make but after a listen I think I might have to agree. They're playing in Yokohama soon!
I got this album just for a laugh. An orthodox Jew singing reggae/dub? Turns out homeboy's got serious skillz, a silky voice and a tight band to back him up. Watching him live must be a trip. This recording is from a live session from an Austin, Texas gig. Check out his website he's got some interesting ideas about his approach to music.
Ever buy an album just because of the cover? I used to do that all the time, sometimes you get a golden egg and sometimes you get shit. In this case I got the egg. The cover reminded me of Portland, Oregon. I lived there for a year back in college and have always liked the place. Turns out this is probably Helsinki, Finland where the three Stance Brothers are from. This album is full of funky new skool jazz. Stuff that makes your head bob. Isiah Stance gets super groovy on the vibes.
And last but not least. Miles Davis is probably my all time favorite musician and this set of recordings with John Coltrane as part of the Miles Davis Quintet is seminal in the history of Jazz. They're alternating solos feed so beautifully together. Coltrane, a relative no name at the time, blew up and went his own way after this time spent developing his style with Miles. Freddie Freeloader, So What, Blue in Green, all hands down classics are included here of course. The book that came with this box includes written testaments about how this group came to be and how Davis hustled Colombia records to take him on. This six disc set has got some of the best jazz ever recorded.
It'll probably be a long time before I go out and buy CD's again but I'm pretty proud of the booty I scored today.