thanx to those who reached out to me in this time of crisis for my country and people
fortunately my immediate family and friends were far enough from the epicenter
but a few of my friends are still unable to get in touch with their loved ones
and the situation at the nuclear plant in Fukushima is still serious
please folks, in the last few days the news media (even the ones in Japan)
seems to grow more sensationalistic,
DON’T BELIEVE JUST WHATEVER YOU READ ONLINE
fear mongering does not help anyone

I’ve been watching NHK livefeed since last THU night, and I have to say I feel helpless
(English speakers can check out the NHK World livefeed)
seems like there not much that I personally can do to help at this point other than to donate money
(this afternoon CNN reported that Earthquake aid to Japan is at $23 million
- far less than Haiti
hopefully the number has changed since, but please do what you can)
I figure that I just have to carry on with my life right now and wait
till more things become clear
but it definitely gives me focus to HELP OTHERS
and there are things I can do to help the people I love

also, let’s not waste our time paying attention to stupid people,
be it some meatheads saying that this was a payback
or some fat chick making racial remarks
you paying attention to these maggots only encourages them to do more
REAL PROBLEMS are out there

shit, this place is starting to get to me. every morning since I got here they’ve been talking about Ebizo, a Kabuki rockstar that, according to the very-trustworthy Japanese news media, got into a drunken brawl with yakuza folks. mind you, not every Kabuki star is this huge. he’s 32 and good-looking, married a hot-looking female newscaster/talent (yes, I’ll have to come back to this term later) and brought Kabuki back to the height of its popularity. so he got wasted and got a few scratches on his immaculate face, BIG DEAL. and a big deal it is, apparently for all the TV-watchers. almost every hour there’s some coverage of the incident, and they repeat the same fucking information over and over and over on ALL THE NETWORKS, even on NHK (japanese equivalent of BBC). you waste tax money to cover celebrity gossip? gimme a fucking break.

95% of japanese TV is garbage. and in Toyama, where I have been for the last few days, we essentially have 4 broadcasting stations and a few other satellite ones. there really is no escape from this steaming pile of turd. cannot stand watching so-called “dramas” cuz they simply SUCK; it is entertaining in the way how Korean Soaps can be, but I personally can take only so much of ex-teen-idols and theatre veterans overacting the shit out of a horribly-written script. some game shows were pretty entertaining but mind-numbing at the same time. and goddamn they like food shows. all the familiar faces that used to star in films and top-rated dramatic series back in the day are strolling about, sticking their heads into local delis or diners and stuffing their mouths in such a disgusting way that it does no good for the business that is getting the exposure. but it must be working – boy did I see a lot of these shows in the past few days. thought I escaped from the reach of Food Network when I left home.

and all of these programs (even the news) feature “talent” which really is an ironic term, for it mainly applies to those who have NO talent at all. they are the mediocre citizens of the TV realm, appearing on any show they can and making a few remarks here and there to earn as much camera time as possible. they can’t act, they can’t sing, they can’t dance (and they’re mostly dumb), yet once people recognize their names/faces they get to do all of the above. and people love ‘em. or love to hate ‘em. they can’t get enough of ‘em. and these people have been around for ages. they might start out as singers (this seems to be the most common gateway into the industry where the standard of vocal ability is VERY LOW), athletes, sometimes academics and professionals, and some folks end up in congress or even in national government. one of the current ministers used to be a swimsuit model. how great is that?

above all, I HAVE to step outside of this house. since I forgot to bring my international license my folks would not let me drive and there’s no bicycle available for me to ride. I could take buses but they only come to the nearest stop once every hour, and I’m not that knowledgable of the system. having to rely on others to get around makes you feel like a second-class citizen. and it’s been cold as fuck and raining. it was working out fine for the first half of the stay; I walked Madoka the dog princess twice a day getting my workout (even when it pours the dog does not give a shit if she gets wet), I chatted with Mama Kawasaki which was the main purpose of this trip, and I was working on music and writing this shit. but after a week of staying in I now have the desperate urge to experience the outside world, as boring as I remember this town was.

Yo, my brother a year and half junior to me, moved back to Toyama after 10 years in Tokyo. and one of the first things he did is to have his room equipped with PC, Internet, and PS3 complete with now-discontinued SHARP “Kameyama model” LED TV. Gran Turismo 5 on this setup was as good as a gaming experience can get. I also got to try Final Fantasy XIII, the visual is stellar but the writing and VO so lame that I got annoyed within 30min. and the music is appropriately scored and it sounds like a real movie soundtrack, but SO pedestrian. FF series had some of the best score in gaming history (my favorite is FFII) and they utilized the limitation of NES chips to the fullest. they had only 3 voices to work with, but they had strong melodies and careful arrangements so it never bothered me when the counterpoint dropped out as the sound of a critical hit came in. whatever was missing, we filled in with our imagination. and that is one crucial aspect lacking in the pop culture of today. it is rare for me to encounter something that triggers my imagination. we are so constantly fed with information overload that we’ve lost our ability to fill in the blanks. technology used to be supplemental to our brain power, now it’s the other way. some says that computers are the next level of human evolution, and our species is only here to exist so that we can yield to CPUs. when I was in middle school, a 40MB hard drive was more than any consumers needed. 20yrs later we carry a thumb drive that is 100 times bigger in data capacity yet is the size of your pinky. when I’m 93 and my body is about to give up, I would very much like to copy of my brain onto a server and continue to exist in the cloud.

so I was online looking for things to do, and found that there’s a screening of El Topo in Sogawa; a local shopping haven that’s been abandoned since the US-style shopping malls started to appear in the suburbs with much bigger parking lots. wow, a digitally remastered Alejandro Jodorowsky classic in Toyama? I can definitely go for this. I thought about taking a bus but it was POURING, so mom volunteered to drop me off. I took her up the offer but refrained from inviting her to the film; even though I haven’t seen this film, I can easily picture the awkwardness of being in most likely an empty movie theatre with my mom, who literally is in love with Charlton Heston and romanticizes the Golden Era of Hollywood.

I was dropped off at Sogawa, where I walked with my first love on my first date ever. awkwardly holding each other’s hands, we kept looking for things to do. I could not find anything then and I cannot find any now. mediocre shops line up modestly under a gloomy-looking arcade that’s been around since 50s (one of the first for this type of commercial district to have an arcade) and all it does is to provide shelter from rain, which we get a lot here in Toyama. I used to hate the fact that this was the best we’ve got, and the fact that we ain’t got shit to do. ended up spending a lot of time at a bowling alley, a karaoke box or when I was with my buddies we usually hit a game center, which is a JPN term for an arcade (the one with video games). and right next to the joint that we spent a lot of time at was Taiki; a birthplace of special ramen now dubbed Toyama Black and is available nationwide in a Top Ramen form. back in ’47 when this town was nothing but the burnt-down wasteland, and all the construction workers sweating to rebuild needed a quick grub, the owner came up with a bowl of thick ardente noodle and a thick chashu in salty soup. the ridiculous amount of sodium was something that workers needed then, definitely NOT what we need in this day and age, but it has been a Toyama staple ever since. we certainly took advantage of this moderately priced ultimate fast food more times than we should have, and nearly 20 years have passed. I have not visited this place for so long since I have a few other go-to joints when it comes to ramen in Toyama, but I just got dropped off around the corner from there and had 20min to kill. I could not resist.

the place hasn’t changed much except all the Shunga on the wall has been replaced by more generic ukiyo-e and historic artifacts. no one wants to take a bite on this salty-ass noodle while gazing at an octopus eating some girl out, I welcome this change. it was way past lunchtime and there was a group of 4 salary-men already eating, giggling over their bowls of OG Toyama Black whispering “god how can you eat this without rice?” and they have a good point – as long as I remember, they never offered a bowl of rice which would really help to neutralize the stinging taste of sodium. but no, you have to face the beast on your own. they must have come here for the buzz; Taiki is actually NOT the one that is producing/distributing the instant version of Toyama Black that is sweeping the nation right now. according to Yo the Bro, this other place called Iroha took the recipe and ran with it, right in the middle of a nationwide local ramen fad. it mirrors the food truck craze of Los Angeles, in the way that it’s a fairly safe startup for young entrepreneurs. all you need is a small joint and a good damn recipe, and if the buzz gets around people would gladly wait in line. actually, they might not come in if there is no line. it is fascinating how much JPN folks love to stand in line; they don’t wanna take a chance in a place where people won’t wait in line, I assume. I finish my bowl of ramen in about 5min and head back out in the rain. the film is about to start in 10min.

the theatre is not small once inside, but is not the easiest to find. regular moviegoers these days flock to multiplexes at shopping malls to watch Night and Day or Harry Potter, so a small theatre like this has to find a niche and I appreciate that. but they have to come up with a better way to let people know where they are than to stick a piece of paper on the billboard of Everything Locally Grown that says “Movies: go inside and take the elevator to 4F.” sure thing, once I step inside there’s about one person reading the flyer for other screenings, sipping his coffee and patiently waiting for the film to begin. the place does not look like an arthouse, rather your auntie’s pad where your relatives gather and watch Elf on DVD. but when I look around there’s plenty of interesting looking independent movie posters around and some flyers for local music shows. they supposedly host live music inside the theatre – so this might be a hang for hipsters/artsy-types in Toyama?

if you don’t know Jodorowsky and/or El Topo, no worries; I didn’t know much about him either except that this film was distributed with the help of Allen Klein, the manager of the Beatles and was hailed by Lynch and Fonda/Hopper etc. Wiki pages says The Lamb by Genesis* was inspired by this film and that is an automatic expectation boost. I went, goddaman it must be TRIPPY – and that’s exactly what it was; a TRIP. it is relatively narrative but very heavy on visual that’s pretty Dali, making me feel like I was on half a hit of acid or something to that effect. it switches gear halfway and the acid western turns into the Shakespearen tragedy that reeks of anti-Hollywood surrealism ambition. man I wish I was high; wasn’t even drinking at this point and there was no way I could have gotten high unless I huffed gasoline or something. or buy plastic models of Gundam and sniff on the glue? no, modern pla-mos don’t even require glue! clean-living motherfuckers, what’s the fun in building stupid-looking robots and starships when you don’t have a bottle of good ol’ clear?

I stepped out of the theatre and walked around the block. they’re trying to revive this hood and I can see the effort, including the 8-story parking structure that used to be a department store. but I have to say that the lack of attractions (despite the presence of OG Toyama Black) is pretty fatal. where else in the world does McD’s go out of business, replaced by a German bakery? if I had money, I would open a nice sized bar with live music every night, where strangers can mingle and hit it off. they don’t have enough of that. all the youngsters go to Karaoke with their own friends, not even listening to each other and flicking through the books. Dart Bars are somewhat of staples nowadays in Japan but definitely not enough interaction outside of your own group. people do not have opportunity to meet one another, then there’s a 55-yr-old single man living with his mom in our block. my mom’s favorite car salesman who’s been hooking her up for 20yrs is about the same age and never had a GF. Yo the Bro is actually doing better than the most, organizing parties for his peers at a language school ranging from age 18 – yet he is single. so is his pal from kindergarten who is gonna inherit his dad’s business. he’s not loaded but no lame either, but single. no wonder JPN males turn to AKB48 and tentacle porn. one of these days, I’ve gotta bring party back to my hometown so the peeps can get laid. cuz they do. without whoring themselves like some do.

oh,

shit – what time is it? did I fucking fall asleep? oh god it’s been like 3 hours, how the fuck did this happen?

…yeah, it’s slowly coming back to me. no biggie – I’ll probably have to pay a few extra bucks but I’m sure I needed that sleep. I do feel rejuvenated and that’s a good thing. I’ll have to do some walking around this afternoon.

I gather my shit and step out of my room, the place is still as quiet as when I came in. seems like time had not been passed at all. the only thing that was different was that the girl who checked me in was gone, and the one who checks me out is a LOT cuter and WAY less friendly. beautiful people are like that in general (and I know that this kind of generalization is about the stupidest thing a man can do) cuz they get different treatment all the time. people love you just because you look good. I read somewhere that being beautiful is being closer to god, and I kind of get what he is saying. people worship beauty everywhere. people make beautiful things so that they can worship them. beauty is power, is justice, and is absolute. but only to the eye of the beholder. what defines beauty varies, and that’s where it gets tricky.

I think I’m done with Ikebukuro – went inside PARCO to see if they had any cool shoes and they did, but I’m not ready to spend $90 on my day 3. besides if it’s not made in Japan, there’s a good chance I can find it cheaper online. (how do retails survive in this day and age?) so I get back on track and take the train to Shin Okubo to visit a place called Chuko Gakki Ya (Used Instrument Store) which I found online. luckily place was visible from the train. a lot of Korean restaurants on this little street – god I’m starting to get hungry. had a late brunch with Takeshi at a Chinese place by his pad and the fried rice was solid, and I’ve been drinking melon soda and Soken Bicha the whole day, so when the hunger hit it hit quick and hard – but I must be patient. cuz tonight I am having my first ramen of the trip.

ramen to me is an artform. as simple as it is, there’s so much that can go into this bowl of noodle soup. and the fact that it’s a comfort food makes it even more interesting. think of pizza or burgers. it’ll be extremely rare to find a japanese native that has NOT had a bowl of ramen in his/her life and/or who does NOT like it. and it’s bad for ya. but ya can’t stop. another aspect of ramen industry is that it’s an easy startup for younger entrepreneurs-alike; it pretty much mirrors the current food truck craze of Los Angeles. matter of fact, many ramen joints that are highly regarded now initially started out food truck style they call Yatai. and people, not even nerds like me but regular folks, young and old, flock to these places once they hear the hype. and Shinjuku where we meet tonight is the mecca of new and some of the best ramen places – well, at least one of them.

going back to my hunt for Japanese Vintage. I do have a few things that I’m looking for; baritone guitars, basses (preferably medium to short scale) and Fernandes Zo-3 aka Nomads. but at the same time my budget is kinda limited for this is only day 3 of my whole stay, so realistically I won’t be making a purchase. so I’ll be mainly just lookin’ – unless I see some major stand-outs. Chuko Gakki Ya had some nice thangs like Fender VI (whopping $9,000) and a 808 that had the “ASK” tag, which means, quoting wi_ngo, you can’t afford it. but the real find was an OG Ibanez Musician bass which Sting circa Reggata De Blanc used to play. Jerry Garcia played the guitar version of this. this shit looked like it just came out of the box, MINT in capitol letters. yea you see ‘em on ebay now and then but to actually touch it for the first time in about 15 years was a treat for me. I just think it’s a beautiful looking instrument, and it’s one of the first active bass guitars ever made if I remember correctly. it was going for about $900 and I say it’s fair, only if I was a few inches taller. even back when I was rocking Moon 5-string fretless trying to be like Marco Mendoza, the thing looked way too big for my frame. yes I’m that vain and Miles said a little bit of showbiz never hurt no one, and I’m running with it.

they also had an 8-string Tune; Tune used to be based in Osaka I believe but now they moved their manufacturing line to Korea. they make ultra-light basses and my good friend and the major badass Doug Ross plays one of them. this one they had is an 8-string; you get an extra string that’s tuned up an octave right next to every string, so you can kinda fake the intro to Jeremy on this one (that is done by 12-string bass). they also had a bunch of old Boogie combos, some old Marshalls, an AC30 that they didn’t wanna sell etc. I was so tempted to try out the Ibanez but there was a college kid who’s trying out some Rectifier playing half-ass Scofield licks. I knew I wasn’t gonna buy it so I left the joint. kept searching for something worthwhile for a few other shops but MAN are they overpriced. no wonder so many japanese guys come shopping in LA, especially now with stronger yen. if I were to live here I’d probably schedule a trip just for that purpose.

now I have little more time than I need to get to Shinjuku but not enough to make a trip to another town, so I decide to talk a walk along the railroad. Tokyo in general has so little space, thus the concentration of people and businesses that cater them in that limited space is just overwhelming (at Shinjuku station alone, over 3.4 million people come and go on a daily basis – and it is on the Guinness World Records) walking around this area is like scuba-diving around the coral reefs of human nature. you get your fix whatever your choice of drug might be; food, alcohol, sex, clothing, celebrities, fast cars, sports, gadgets and real drugs. I feel like a kid in Disneyland with a Mickey Mouse hat on. so excuse me while I take a dive – into the ocean of 3 million souls.

what the fuck is wrong with this city? I’m willing to pay for wifi, but they won’t sell you the service unless you live in this shithole? gimme a fucking break. I just need to get online to find a vintage guitar shop! NOT that I can afford buying anything that they have; from my experience, anything that has USA on it is about 20-30% overpriced. what I’m looking for is domestic vintage; we talkin’ old Ibanez, Aria Pro, Tokai etc. I’m also hoping to find cooler-looking Zo-3s aka Fernandes Nomads. but encountering any of these things is not possible until I find my way through this place.

being inside a train is rarely fun in Tokyo – you don’t get to do shit. it’s either way too packed to move a finger, or too quiet to have a conversation. besides, I’m hyper-aware so that I don’t miss my stop – actually, I’m never 100% sure that I’m on the right train in the first place, so I keep looking through one of these things to see where I am and where I should be going. I don’t know about you, but shit’s too intense for a casual visitor like me, even with the language ability. after all I’m a country boy; Toyama only has one major station and I still never used public trans when I lived there. we drove and/or rode a bike everywhere (kinda like LA, hence the last 11 years of my life). so I’m looking thru this circuit board of subway lines, and I have to goddamn pee. must be that big mug of coffee I had with Sawada this morning at Doutour, and you know what else caffeine does, well, at least for me? I HAVE TO DEFECATE. I can feel it. it’s coming and it’s coming for sure.

the situation turns serious in nano seconds. it’s always a game changer when you’ve got the urge, let alone in a packed train surrounded by salary-men and schoolgirls. and if I know my body, this one’s gonna be wet. I mean, REAL WET. even a slight release of the cheek muscle would unleash the beast that is sure to KILL. senses of smell, your social standing, the humanity…ALL THINGS would all be destroyed. I have to get the funk off this train, PRONTO. next stop is Ikebukuro – shit I’ve never been there in my entire life, but I’m sure I can find a restroom in the station. let’s just hope that I don’t make no mess trying to squeeze myself out of this train though. the train stops and there’s a crowd on the platform waiting to get on. suimasen, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY. or else you’ll get shit on, literally.

5 minutes later – that was close. I’m sweating balls but I’m alive. thank Buddha. I could have gotten right back on a next train, but I was like, shit I have so many hours to kill all by myself today, why not explore? I’m sure Ikeburuko has something to offer even though I had no idea what. it’s only a buck and a half I spent on this ticket, let’s be spontaneous. so I step out of the station and start walking. this seems to be a pretty good size city, I see Bic Camera (kinda like BEST BUY on steroid, one time MJ rented this place out for the whole day all to himself) and a few Pachinko joints which are not rare, a long line in front of some pretzel joint (I don’t know why they like waiting in line so much – there used to be 2 1/2 hour wait for Krispy Kreme in Shinjuku). let’s see if I can find wifi and figure out where they have around here – and that’s where the shit got frustrating. I mean, I can just randomly walk around but from the surface it looks about the same as anywhere in Tokyo, how would I know which direction I should walk to? and above all, I have an iPhone. it’s supposed to be able to do shit like this, as long as I have wifi. let’s hit one of them McD’s where they supposedly have free wifi.

must be my amerika-nized brain, but it kinda freaks me out to see all the kids smoking like chimneys inside McDonald’s, the home of happy meals. and they always have better-looking girls at the front (but it might just be the uniform), selling that smile and the fattening fries. at least you get smiles here while you pay to get one step closer to heart attack. hey, let’s not get distracted and check to see if I see any network – but all I see is a few that are locked. do I see any password on their wall? NO. I walk up to one of the cuties behind the counter and ask for the wifi situation.

“yes sir, we offer free unlimited wifi for our customers.”

“is there a pass for your network?”

“no, it should be open and you don’t need any password.”

“hmm, seems like all the networks here are locked though.”

I show her my iPhone but she clearly does not own one.

“uh, lemme get my supervisor, could you excuse me for a moment?”

she brings another cutie wearing the exact same uniform except in blue. she seems a little more mature. but alas, she’s no help either. she also gives off the vibe that she’s too busy to deal with some kind of IT issue which she obviously has no training for. you look like you’re geeky enough to be able to figure this kind of shit out yourself, so why don’t ya whack off on your precious 3GS and lemme get back to whipping other highschoolers to flip burgers? – or so I heard in my noggin. oh well, I’m starting to get used to their version of “oh I don’t know, it ain’t my problem.” and who knows if that’s sincere or not, but at least they don’t act like an ass and make you feel shitty about your bothering to talk to them in the first place. and you know what, that first one that I talked to? she actually stopped me while I was turning around to step out and went,

“there IS an internet cafe around the corner from here…”

GREAT – like I said I’m willing to pay for it. besides I know internet cafes around here can be pretty slick. I wouldn’t mind spending an hour or so, sipping free refills of melon soda and browsing through facebook while I figure out my next move. why not. give it to me. and it literally was right around the corner from there.

step into an elevator and it’s a scene from Tron already – whoa, this one might be kinda pricey. but at this point I just wanna see what this place looks like. start taking pictures. the door opens and the lobby looks exactly like it did inside the elevator. keep taking pictures. walk on through the hallway and I see the registration, which kinda reminds me of the space station from 2001, predominantly white and simplistic. but the girl behind the counter is wearing something that a maid-cafe employee would wear. I guess that’s the type of clientele they deal with daily. she asks for my ID to create a membership card, or I won’t get in. it doesn’t cost me nothing so yea, why not. I give her my passport and she looks puzzled. she looks through the pages to find my picture but cannot. I point to the LAST page where my lame picture is on. she laughs and goes,

“I’ve never seen a passport before.”

“not much of a traveler, are you?”

“no, never been abroad.”

“too expensive?”

“I don’t wanna have to deal with speaking English.”

that is fine, ma’am. just give me a goddamn membership and take my money. she does just that and I proceed to the inside, which in turn is all black and grey. and is SILENT. I see a “shower room” on the way to my booth. oh I get it, people must take a nap in here. I did see an “overnight” option at the front. I open the door to my booth and it makes more sense. it is tiny (I mean, it’s still Tokyo) but they have a not-so-luxurious version of la-z-boy in front of a PC monitor and a TV. I hear other booths have beds also. I can definitely get comfortable in here, let’s go get some soda. I get back to my booth and check my email/twitter to connect with the folks I’m meeting tonight, the folks I hung out the last few days, and the folks in LA. I really feel like I could get by with just an internet connection even if it weren’t for a phone line. I wish I had an AirPort in my brain so I can get online without any device. I wanna be able to wiki anything inside my noggin. Augmented Reality on my retina. why not. computer IS the next step of human evolution, isn’t it?

all the scifi talk exhausted me. it’s no surprise after 2 days of walking and drinking and eating with average 3 hours of sleep per day, after 11 and half on a place including 6 hours of Super Mario playing time under influence, in addition to the drama No.2 on a packed train earlier today. well, they do have a shower room which I definitely could take an advantage of right now. what have you got to lose, I wanna see what it’s like inside. you can rent a towel for free, a toothbrush for $0.20, a razor $0.30, shampoo, conditioner and body soap for $0.50 altogether. and I just want a quick rinse. let’s do it. so I do just that and again, it was NOT Bellagio but it does its job. for 2 years I used to live in a dorm/apartment with shared bathroom and a coin shower room that takes 2 minutes for hot water to come out, so this is piece of cake. I feel refreshed and come back to my room (it certainly starts to feel like so) and put my ass on a la-z-boy. boy did that hit the spot. I mean if I closed my eyes right now I could easily start to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

woke up at 6, feeling slightly groggy. his couch was very comfortable but it must be the alcohol that’s still left in my system. and maybe a bit of jet lag. it’s like 2pm LA time. oh well. take a gulp of water. open the onigiris that I picked up at 7-11 last night (SALMON!!) – can’t go wrong with this shit.

go online and check to see if my friends responded to my request to meet up. so grateful for my peeps. my sorry ass has no working cellphone, my 3GS is practically an iPod Touch. look into buying a prepaid plan from Softbank – fail, they want you to buy one of their phones which is badass but, I don’t have time to transfer all the contacts. try to see if I can buy wifi access from them. they offer access from all McDonald locations, which is great cuz I can try their seasonal/regional menu, but NOT so great cuz I’m only here in Tokyo for another 40 hours, and there are only about 10 locations in the entire city of Toyama where I’ll be for 12 days. fail. go back to sleep.

woke up again in about 3 hours. Takeshi is making coffee with his authentic looking copper pot, wearing in his right hand a pot holder – NICE. the man has good taste; a big ass TV set complete with Onkyo surround speakers, a black shelving unit with its every cell filled with sake and shochu bottles, the AKIRA plastic models, a few Bruce Lee action figures, a black Fender Strat, a Takamine acoustic and a Fernandes Zo-3 with the custom stickers on. he rides his bike to his work in Shinjuku, arguably one of the most fascinating/exciting/shady/chaotic parts of Tokyo which hosts the gigantic train/subway hub, essentially a fucking maze that is too confusing even for the locals. he’s living the dream of every country boy born in this country without realizing.

so we go off to meet up with ever-lovely-but-take-no-bullshit-supergirl Chiharu in Shibuya; a city that defines “cool” and/or “kawaii” or whatever the fuck makes people buy shit. they also have cool looking cafe-like places; supposedly the Tokyo youth has decided recently that drinking and smoking is not cool, so they flock to these cafes to hang out with their lifeless friends and talk about what they should buy next. no wonder the suicide rate is up. they’d better start smoking weed or something. we sip our cappuccino and take a bite on a panini that is NOT a panini – love how they just take the cool-sounding name and change what it is to suit the Japanese taste and/or their convenience. we talk about how Chiharu is almost going broke having to attend 9 weddings in 5 months or something. she’s forced to attend her coworkers’ weddings just to balance out the number of attendance from the employers of both sides, paying for the gift ($300 cash or more – this is customary amount), hair-do, makeup, transportation etc. so glad me and Chris eloped.

Takeshi has to bail at this point, to work on the script at a Burger King. so Chi and I walk out to the streets filled with future-models and boy-toys. my mission is to score that ridiculous deal on glasses that I got the last time I was here. Chi takes me to a place a few doors down and it already looks so much better than any ol’ Lenscrafters. they have LA Eyeworks quality and variety in Costco price. I WANT EVERYTHING IN HERE. I put an order for one and will have to pick ‘em up when I leave the country 2 weeks later. I could have picked these up in 2 hours if I didn’t want color lenses. there is no reason why I have to pick up a pair in LA when I can come here. success. then we shop for shoes and fail, we hit another cafe and hang for a few hours. Chi has to go to a meeting for yet another wedding so we hug goodbye. I promise to come back for your wedding, Chi!

then I’m off to meet with the oldest friend of mine. I don’t even remember how and when I met him, but Sawada does. in fact, he remembers so much of our shared childhood that it brings my dusty old memories as he describes every scene of our adventure, mischief and struggle. it’s a weird feeling to have your own tales told by someone else – and also a bit nerve-wracking when you have no idea how the story ends. luckily Sawada only has great ones and he tells them well – so well that it saddens me to know that the most of the sites that these stories took place does not exist any more. or maybe it’s better for them to stay in our memories, for we all know that often times the memories are more fun, vivid and beautiful than what they were. but then you have to think; those moments are gone. gone in what we define as time, thin vibrating strings that supposedly make up the ever-stretching universe. they disappeared almost as soon as they were born. all we have left is their remains, or the bio-record of our attempts to capture what it looked and sounded and smelt and felt like. if that’s all we’ve got and why can’ t we say that’s what it was? of course the perceptions may differ, but for now we are in agreement. and our hearts are filled with almost the same amount of joy and excitement. beer always helps.

then he receives a phone call from his lovely lady who later joins us. she seems to me very intelligent, caring and smiley. she had no chance to tell her story although I was eager to hear them; the time was spent on our 20-to-25-years-old stories which she has no emotional attachment to. yet she listened, laughed and asked questions like she cared. she probably did. they seem like a nice match. and it was kind of weird to see an old friend who I never associated with having any sex drive. our conversation was never that of what takes place between horny males. I knew of no relationship that Sawada had in the past. so this was the first for me. and it made me happy.

Japanese bank wouldn’t let me take my cash out. they said they didn’t have access to my “online banking account” which has been locked since my ATM card went missing a few months ago. YES I did authorize the locking of the account, but you didn’t have the courtesy to re-activate it after you sent me a new card? isn’t that kinda given that once the new card is issued it should be USEABLE? I am so changing my bank – better yet, I’ll take all the YEN out and SPEND IT ALL on this trip.

FUCK this country. why would you charge $6.50 per 30min for me to use your DELL circa 1999 with Netscape on it? it wouldn’t even load my Twitter. for fuck’s sake. Quincetessence “I hope you won’t have to live in NRT forever, living out there Japanese ‘Terminal’” – LOL. you just don’t know; if you don’t got cash YOU AIN’T NOTHIN in this place. no one takes credit card. you pay for shit with your cellphones. and all I’ve got is this stupid iPhone 3GS that gets No Service. how am I gonna get on a train to Shinjuku? how am I gonna purchase one of those tasty beverages from a shiny vending machine to heal my thirst?

walking around NRT with my luggage, looking for a clue – YES! Starbucks!! you corporate whores offer wifi, don’t you? alas, all I got was a shy/nervous chuckle from a cute employee with oh-so-kawaii eyeglasses. I must look pretty insane; it was an 11hour flight on Singapore 11 with no sleep. was I too psyched to visit the land of rice-ing sun that I abandoned a decade ago? was I too distracted with the flight attendants’ beautiful-y tight-fit uniform? was 3 gin&tonics + 2 cups of shitty red wine not enough to knock me out? – the answer is d.) all of the above but none of the above was as crucial…as the fact that they had SUPER MARIO. on a tiny ass Gameboy COLOR emulator built into a seat in front of you.

I spent probably about 6 hours on it, pretty much NONSTOP. gameplay was sluggish and far from enjoyable, but I managed to hit that old “unlimited multiply” trick so I had about 160 Marios and LOTS of free time to conquer 8 x 4 = 32 worlds and save Princess Peach. A Bombshell. I didn’t even realize how voluptuous she was drawn out to be back in the days. but anyway, it was a pretty fun ride until I hit 8-1. my fingers started to give out. and they brought out cannons and the hammer-throwing jerks PLUS a geek on the cloud that drops those thorny crabs. you gotta be kidding me. my 33-yr-old ass and weakened fingers are surely unable to handle this lethal combo. especially not when I’m this drunk.

but this was the test, or so I decided. my attention span is pretty short for the kids of 90s AND this certainly is not something I should care too much about. they had some interesting movie choices on board, or I could be learning a new language thanx to Berlitz-produced RosettaStone-like game. but I was on a mission. I never finish what I started. and 2010 was the year of finishing shit i.e. my solo AND Los Desnudos album. so I knew I could do this. come on my muscle and reflex from 1986, we used to do make magic together – we have to re-live that dream in the 21st Century goddammit!

6 hours later, finally the Princess appeared and thanked me. all I was left with was the No.1 spot in the ranking board, a swollen thumb and not enough time on the plane to watch any of the films they offer in its entirety. so I decided, to stay awake and write this story for ya.

a collaboration between Keiko Agena aka Christine Madeleine and myself “Take It Back” is in Sweetwater Presents: The GearFest 2010 Song Contest, and if you download this mp3 enough, we might win about 2G worth of equipment, and believe me, I NEED THEM. it’s a cool track written by her back in the day and I took it to the next level like I always (try to) do, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. DOWNLOAD, IT’S FREE.

there’s also a short clip of this song performed live back in April. when the album comes out later in June we’ll probably be out playing more, check back.

a good friend of mine and talented singer-songwriter/beatboxer from San Diego, Terry Matsuoka invited me to perform at their Asian Cultural Festival on May 8th. It would be a great excuse to drive down there on hopefully a fine Saturday morning (crossing fingers for traffic) and it looks like I’ll be in a company of very talented and versatile artists of San Diego…I won’t have my album ready then but I MIGHT try and print some of them out myself as a test run and have them available at the event? MAYBE. I’ll most likely be working that beloved DL6 to work some possible live-looping magic, but then again it IS an asian cultural fest which tempts me to do some Japanese songs…or maybe both. we’ll see.

Regardless, it’ll be a day to remember; just for the amount of drive I’ll be doing that day (after my SD visit I’ll haul my ass to Palm Springs for a gig) lol oh what we do for our love of art. NOT complainin, just amused. very psyched actually. haven’t messed with a solo set up in a while. it’ll be fun. come out. I’m pretty sure it’s a free event, and I’m scheduled at 12:30pm.

Good man Jon Hershfield at IsGoodMusic.com hooked me up with a cool event called Pretty Vicious on Feb 5th (FRI) at Junglerush. I’m premiering a few new tracks from the upcoming album with the help of Geoff Haba of Los Desnudos and MidTone Madeleines.

“PRETTY VICIOUS is a collaboration between Edgar Varela (EVFA), Melissa Krook (GlamScene Entertainment) and Erin Gunnette (Shotgun Mary Photography, GSE). We’re providing you with the BEST tunes to dance to, live bands to entertain you, and photography to document it all EVERY first Friday!”
JUNGLERUSH>>

542 S Alameda St. (& Palmetto)
Downtown LA, CA 90013

10 pm – 3 am
$10 before 11pm/$15 after

OPEN BAR!

are all over the world right now; needless to mention the situation in Haiti – by the way I heard that some of that “Text to xxxxx to donate to Haiti” things is a SCAM…so watch out and only donate to the foundation you know.

I had a privilege to perform, along with Tom Morello as The Nightwatchman, Boots Riley and the Legendary Wayne Kramer of MC5, for Cort Guitar Workers ACTION event on Jan 13 in Koreatown. Following is an excerpt from their website;

“For more than a 1000 days, Korean guitar workers and their supporters have protested against their illegal mass firing by Cort/ Cor-tek Guitars, a guitar manufacturer based in South Korea and founded in 1973.

After dedicating decades of their labor in unventilated rooms full of fumes and solvent, enduring forced overtime and below-minimum wage pay, incurring injuries and lung diseases, and undergoing the abuse of their managers, these workers unionized to finally get minimum wage.

Only a short time later, they found themselves padlocked out of their factories  and were forced to sign resignation papers, . It turned out that Cort had moved its operations overseas, for much cheaper and non-unionized labor in Chinese and Indonesian factories.”

Some of these workers came to LA in time for NAMM show to protest; and I plan to attend their gathering TOMORROW afternoon right outside of Anaheim Convention Center. I’m not sure if their voice would reach the money-mongering CEO, but they (and I) want those who play guitars to know that what they have in their hands come from the people who are proud of what they do and yet do NOT receive the treatment they deserve. and with so many here in the US losing their jobs, I believe this hits close to home for a lot of folks out there who don’t really care about guitars at all.

Please spread the word around.

SK