Miscellany

Oh yeh. so much for that virtual tour I promised.
Sorry. I've been having serious camera troubles and expect photos to be fewer and further between from now on. Instead just click on the photo below for some pictures of my residence and the area around it that I took a few weeks ago.

Click Picture for Sakura House Gallery.

Among a few of the activities I've been up to since my last post (which doesn't feel that long ago, my bad) include Ueno Zoo where I saw some large animals in tiny enclosures. It was a little uncomfortable to see, but I still found myself pointing and saying "kawaiiiiiii" with the rest of the crowd. And we missed the two main attractions, the Giant Panda and the Elephants, so we'll probably go back at some point for more.

Click Picture for Ueno Zoo Gallery

On a clear night at the end of June I decided to go for a lone wander in the early hours of he morning and take Onder's tripod with me. I strolled up the Sumida river, taking photo's of all the things I'd taken photo's of before in daylight. Then I went to the Temple and took some photos there. I'm really pleased with the way some of them turned out. The place is completely transformed at night. Not just because its darker, before you go stating the obvious, but because the crowds aren't there. Just a few dog walkers and couples holding hands.

Make the most of these pictures, because unless I sort my camera crisis out there'll never be any more like this. Buying a new charger didn't seem to do the trick. I mean it did for one night, that was when I took these photos, but since then nothings working.

Click pictures for Asakusa and Sumida-gawa

Last Sunday my housemate Irina had a rare day off, so me and her went to the Science and history museum and savoured a magnificent Aztec, Inca, and Mayan exhibition. Over 200 items ranging from decorated pots through jade mosaic masks to a fully preserved mummy hunched up in a sitting position looking pretty gaunt. I chilled Irina to the bone by whispering "heeeelllpp meeee" in her ear. That was fun.

Unfortunately there are no pictures of that because they don't allow cameras in the museum, and besides, as I say, my cameras had it.

On Thursday night I went to Akasaka to find a live house called Graffiti. I'd heard a band called "SexRex" were playing there and I'd heard some of their stuff before so I went to seek them out. Found the place easily enough and went in. The 2,300en door charge had somehow been turned into 2,900en but a drink was included.

Four acts played starting with a sole chick on guitar called 二村佳代子 (Futamura Kayoko). She was great, had a lovely voice and after the first song I began to feel less guilty about having spent so much on the entrance fee. After six or seven songs she said her goodbyes and it was not long before SexRex took to the stage. This six-piece Jazz outfit looked the part. With their suits and shades and ties and trilbys and the frontlady in her scorching hot red dress, these guys looked as though they were going to kick arse. And they did. Their eclectic sound centres around Jazz but goes on all sorts of adventures, taking everyone in the room with them.

The third act was a woman on a keyboard called Karuta. She glided down the side of the room towards the stage, followed by a man with a hood over his head, holding a red, oriental-style umbrella over hers. When they got to the stage, he put down the umbrella and and went and hid in the corner where I think his job was to press play on a tape recorder for the backing noises while she played crazy tunes on the keyboard. I was reminded of the episode of Friends where Ross thinks he's good at playing the keyboard, but all he plays is a series of sound effect. She was more advanced than this and some of the songs were really mellow and quite hypnotic, but their power wasn't strong enough to make me buy the CD.

Last up was 新谷さや香 (Sayaka Shintani). This was balladic J-pop. Not really my scene, but it was nice. The girl had a really strong voice and the songs were fun. She even attempeted to make the audience JUMP out if their seats on one song near the end, but only a handful of people up either flank were corageous enough to bother. I was sitting in the middle so didn't seem to be expected to take part, thankfully.

Overall, an enjoyable evening. I definitely want to see SexRex again before I come back home. Which, incidentally, will probably be September. Lack of a degree has proven to be a major flaw for someone on a Working Holiday Visa, especially if he doesn't speak Japanese either. I'm not too fussed. I'll still be able to come home and say I lived in japan for five months. Haha, I win.

This time Next week I'll be in Niigata. This is where they had a 6.8 Earthquake last week. It is also the prefecture that hosts the Fuji Rock Festival (basically the reason I'm here, so it better be good). I've got under a week to sort my camera out, or buy a new on, unless I can get someone to lend me theirs for the weekend.

Bands I'm looking forward to the most are Muse (of course),
The Cure,
Kings of Leon,
Kula Shaker,
Ash,
The Boredoms,
OMAR RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ GROUP,
Kaiser chiefs,
and a veritable cornucopia of Japanese bands whom I've never even heard of before. But what would be the point of coming here if I just saw bands I've seen before?

I'll try to come back next week with some kind of Fujirock Review, but as you might've gathered, I'm a bit lazy. Let's see what happens. If your lucky (and if I'm lucky) there might even be some pictures.

Matta Raishu.