Wrap Up

Somehow after what feels like an eternity on various airplanes and dirigibles I've made it safely home to Massachusetts. All in all, while I had a fantastic time in Tokyo, I'm happy to be home with punky monkey who seems happy to see me (won't stop licking my hand! but, too skinny!!). I'm happy the Patriots didn't up and lose while I was somewhere between Minneapolis and Boston. I guess I'm even glad I didn't mouth off to the border security guard who was castigating and mocking the non-English speaking Japanese waiting in the customs line. Good job with your career choice there, jackass.

Cultural highlights of the week were Kabuki and sumo. More enterntainment-wise, the last night's pre-flight box karaoke extravaganza and the Tokyo Pinsalocks at the Basement Bar were both great. I had some really fantastic food (all of it ordered by people more fluent in Japanese than myself) and got what I hope will be some interesting source video for a few projects I've got in mind. My overall media plan worked well enough though it looks like one of the Pinsalocks files did come up corrupted. I think next time I'll bring my own laptop to minimize chances of language OS confusion.

Thanks again to KPH for putting up with me. Thanks for the people who read here (and commented). We may post a few retrospective links here to other stuff but by and large, this is the retirement of q813 and resumption of more typical things. Thanks again for reading!

Correction

Deconstructing
Originally uploaded by -nanio-

I've been told it's not okonomiyaki, but monjyayaki. Suffice to say it's going to be the best deconstructing ever.

Off to the airport in seven hours. It's been brilliant.


UPDATE: It's here! Deconstructing Dinner: Monjyayaki.

Sweet sweet sweet strawberries

Strawberry buffet in Akasaka
Originally uploaded by -nanio-

There was an all you can eat strawberry desserts buffet in our hotel today. Ninety minutes of this means I cannot currently move and blood sugar is now peaking before the crash. This is really unusual here given the typical tiny tapas-style portions we've seen everywhere else. Came back up to the room and am watching Asashoryu make some bigger dude look bad over at day seven of sumo, debating how many more strawberry tarts it would take to qualify for the next tournament.

Last full day in Tokyo

Saturday morning and it's a gorgeous day here. Off to a flea market to do some last minute crap acquisition and then to the Imperial Palace for site seeing. There's some kind of all you can eat strawberry pastry thing after that at our hotel (don't know if that's a particularly good idea but hey). And tonight, finally, we shoot Deconstructing Dinner: Okonomiyaki. Totally psyched.


UPDATE: here!

Rock Club Dokken

Rock Club Dokken
Originally uploaded by -nanio-

The best we could do at our new home was a ultramini bar (exactly 10 seats) in Akasaka called Rock Club Dokken who's thing was blasting 80's death metal. The people there were way more into this than really could have been expected. A partial list of the bands we remember: Helloween, RATT, WASP, Dio, Armored Saint, Accept, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest. There were many many more I had never heard of - D knew every last one (except the ones with girls in them).

After that we took an series of cabs in search of this elusive place in Shibuya we found in 2005. It's still an open question whether it was located or not because once we finally got there they wanted us to order three servings of food to stay. At 2am, and following several dinners and second dinners, this seemed too much to ask.

Basecamp Akasaka

From Akasaka Grand Prince
Originally uploaded by -nanio-

I've left Hitotsubashi-gakuen behind and have relocated operations HQ to the more metropolitan Akasaka at the Grand Prince. This hotel has upteen bars, cafes, massage places and supposedly an oxygen bar that will have to be sought out for breathing purposes. But instead of staying here I think we're going to roll out to either Roppongi and Ebisu, should be a fun night.

Sumo at Ryogoku

Originally uploaded by -nanio-

Today was pretty friggin awesome. I spent most of the day watching sumo at Kokugikan Stadium. I bought a fairly cheap ($35) ticket so got stuck in the 2nd highest nosebleed seat in the house but security wasn't particularly tight so I spent a lot of time moving around lower. The lowest level isn't actual seats, but rather a series of tatami mats. Sitting on one of those for six hours would have been a nightmare, and much more expensive.

Sumo is a really odd sport. The matches themselves are extremely, short, usually 10 to 30 seconds long. Before they get rolling though, the wrestlers go through the same set of rituals over and over in a way that would put Nomar Garciaparra to shame. Here one of them is throwing salt, something the advanced sumos do maybe 4 or 15 times repeatedly before each match for purification purposes. They also do some stomping motions and scrub their faces with a towel and act exasperated. The funny thing is these consistently repeated behaviors actually build anticipation much more than constant action would.

Media-wise, in all I shot an inordinate amount of sumo video, far more than anyone could healthily use in any sort of sumo retrospective. We'll see I guess.

Snow in Tokyo

When we left Domo-domo last night, it was snowing in Tokorozawa. We're talking minor, minor flakes, most melting before they hit the ground. Not much by some standards, but Keiko said it was the first time she had seen snow in Tokyo.

2008/01/23 update: Hara-san says it is snowing for real in Tokyo now.

Umibudo

Umibudo
Originally uploaded by -nanio-

Odd day today. Tried to find the punks of Yoyogi but failed for the most part. Apparently 4pm on a Wednesday is not the optimal punking hour, so I wandered around a massive temple (Meiji Jingu) in Yoyogi Koen instead. I finally found my punks down in Harajuku (on the endlessly amusingly named Takeshita-dori).

Afterwards went to meet KPH et al for dinner in Torkowozawa for the umibudo (sea grapes) pictured, in addition to some sweet potato sake and cheesy potatoe leeks pancakes. I got thoroughly bested in the drum game but vow vengence in the (near) future.

Tomorrow, sumo!

Ueno Koen

acrobats
Originally uploaded by -nanio-

All the museums in Japan are typically closed on Mondays. What I learned today is they are also closed on Tuesdays following a holiday Monday. So I watched acrobats in the park instead of going to the giant robot exhibit at the National Science Museum.

Kabuki-za, in Ginza

kabuki-za
Originally uploaded by -nanio-

This is the front facade of Kabuki-za, the main Kabuki theater in Tokyo. We went to see one act of a performance today, about two hours. There was small opening segment that was some sort of mythical story about two creatures being given sake. The main story was about three samurai and their assorted wives and followers. One of them (presumably the bad one) ended up with his head chopped off. The motions in Kabuki are highly stylized - a foot raised and a body rotated just so, to a minimal percussive and single string guitar accompaniment. Punctuating the points of transition are people screaming out to the stage the names of various actors - the guy next to me alternated between sleeping against me and shouting out to the stage. Unfortunately no photography or video was allowed but given that the cheap seats were in the last row of the forth balcony they probably wouldn't have been so great anyway.

Kabuki

Plan for today.

Tosho-gu

Toshu-gu
Originally uploaded by -nanio-

While in Nikko we went to see Tosho-gu, a 17th century shrine. One half of the courtyard was covered in snow - this is high in the mountains so there's not much direct sunshine. Carvings here are (as far as I can ascertain) started the story of the three monkeys who hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. There's a giant dragon on the ceiling of one of the interior rooms and various ornate temples and whatnot. Pretty boss.

Chuzen-ji

lake
Originally uploaded by -nanio-

Back from our road trip. This is a mountaintop lake near Nikko. You can't see here but the shore is covered in snow - the first we've seen in Japan. Massive quantities of hairpin turns on an icy road to get here, but it's one way so once you start you pretty much have to keep going despite any common sense to the contrary.

Crispy Nuts

Saw these guys open for the Tokyo Pinsalocks. This was dirty loud and pretty punk.



UPDATE: Pinsalocks video (such as it is) is up here.

Rainy Saturday

At Dennys there was coffee and fruit pancake.
At Takanodai there was a rooster.
At Diamond City there was Angelina Jolie.
At Basement Bar there was Pinsalocks.
At Za-Watami there was fried natto ball.
At Hitosubashi-Gakuen there was bed.
Tomorrow there is Nikko.

Kichijoji

I am hom.　Mas tarde.

And, off

The plan to preempt jet lag by staying up the entire night prior and sleeping on the plane seems stupidly foolish in the light of day. Given a 14 hour time difference from Boston to Tokyo and an estimated 7:35 arrival in Kichijoji, I've got another 24 hours real person time to go before arrival. Next post, Japan.

Pre Pinsalock Plan

New plan for Saturday. Tokyo Pinsalocks at the Basement Bar. Oh hey and they're coming to Boston in March...

Flight tracking

For those interested in vicarious travel, or the just curious (or I suppose for the morbid stalkers).

Leg 1: Boston to Detroit.
Leg 2: Detroit to Narita.

These two links aren't live now but should work closer to the 20th.
Leg 3: Narita to Minneapolis/St. Paul
Leg 4: Minneapolis/St. Paul to Boston

Japanese electricity, lighting and frame rates

The typical electric socket in eastern Japan looks like an ungrounded (non-polarized) socket in the US, and provides 100 volts & 50Hz (rather than the 110 volts & 60Hz in the US). Less voltage is certainly preferable to the 220V in Europe or New Zealand that make things explode. There are a few quirks though, like analog clocks running slower (and other stuff with electric motors, like mixers & blenders etc). I don't travel with a blender so this isn't a big deal for me. The only plug I'm bringing is the non-grounded, non-polarized charger for the TX1 which is rated for 100 volts and 50Hz.

More pertinent to me is the possibility of fluorescent interior lights causing flickering when shooting at 30fps. Apparently one should shoot at 25 or 33 1/3 fps rather than 30 to eliminate this effect. Since I can't do that I'll try to use as much natural or incandescent light as possible. This could be the excuse to finally pick up a Canon HV20 which can shoot at 25fps.

Roommate Upgrade

Originally uploaded by -nanio-

This is momo, my roommate while in Japan. Arguably cuter than my current roommate. Momo (桃) is Japanese for peach.

Camera gear

The one area in which I've actually given the trip some thought is the camera stuff I'll be taking. The last time I went I lugged my giant XL2 to shoot some bands. This time I'm leaving that behind and bringing the tiny Canon TX1. This camera can shoot in HD, holding roughly 13 minutes in 4GB. I've got two 8GB SDHC cards but even so, that's not particularly practical. The SD mode (640x480, 30fps) is more reasonable, about 35 minutes per 4GB. This is what I shoot most of my video with and is pretty decent outdoors or in well lit interiors (outdoors at night gives less useful results).

The one additional trick that I haven't tried before is bringing an external hard drive. I got this portable USB powered drive for Christmas, a 160GB WD Passport (cherry!). This thing is tiny, maybe 1cm thick, fitting easily inside an interior coat pocket. My plan for this trip is to dump the flash cards on here nightly.

The only regret I have about the camera logistics is that CNSMHB won't be back from Africa to let me have my (hopefully elephant poop free) travel battery charger & extra batteries. But given new DOT restrictions on spare lithium batteries that might be for the best.

Nikko

Nikko National Park I ( Extra chapter )
Originally uploaded by straightfinder

An itinerary is finally starting to form. I think we'll go to Nikko north of the city the first weekend there (11th or 12th). Here's a amusing but kinda scary story about a monkey encounter in Nikko.

Osaka

Originally uploaded by -nanio-

Just watched the Amazing Race teams go from Mumbai to Osaka. If those folks can jump into a cab and drive on the wrong side of the road to some random location written in Kanji then I really shouldn't have any problems at all. Apparently the secret (which I guess I would have picked up if I was a regular watcher) is to repeatedly harass everyone on the street until you find someone who speaks English. My itinerary this time won't take me to Osaka but from what I saw on the show it reminded me a lot of Kyoto.

Ground Transport

Originally uploaded by taiyofj

Heard from KPH this morning. She's not going to be able to meet me at the airport so I'll have to figure out a) getting cash, b) getting a phone card and c) getting a bus to Kichijoji. That should be doable.

Mobile

A question. Is it worth renting a cellular phone for 10 days in Japan? 250 yen/day plus 80 yen/minute. Assuming 5 minutes of talk time a day that comes to 6500 yen or about sixty bucks. I'm not sure that's worth the effort. I guess instead I'll just view this as an opportunity to be temporarily free of the subtle tyranny of the omnipresent phone connection.

T-minus six days

I'm leaving for Japan in six days, flying Boston to Detroit to Narita. I am completely and utterly unprepared. This little blog will be a day to day kind of thing during the next month or so. I'll put some of the better pictures from the trip up on hevelonian and video projects after the fact on quasify.