Raiding Harajuku and Shibuya – home of the Japanese youth fashion

Yesterday one of my friends had to take the night bus to go back to Osaka, so we decided to spend the day raiding Harajuku and eventually walked to Shibuya. Harajuku and Shibuya are both home to the youth of Tokyo due to the abundance of fashion stores and clothes on offer. Upon arriving in Harajuku I already felt a strange sentimental feeling – the place is pretty much the Camden Town of Tokyo!! Various stores are lined up next to eachother offering a variety of clothes such as punk fashion, goth lolita, lingerie and cosplay fashion. Of course, there were also the crepe stalls providing the heart-attack-inducing-but-oh-so-bloody-tasty snacks! I found the Converse I want again, but even though they’re now cheap I’ll have to wait, I’m running low on money! But at least I did buy a rather fashionable (in my opinion) pair of glasses! But the glasses do make me look like an otaku or salaryman…. hmm… Anyway from Harajuku we walked down Omotesando, which is a famous street also renowned for fashion, but the stores here are not for a poor git like me (think Gucci, Armani and Dolce Gobanna…. yeah, that fecking expensive). After a quick pit stop at a cafe we continued to head on to Shibuya.

Shibuya is famous for Hachiko – the statue of a dog which used to wait in the area for it’s master each day. Film buffs will probably already know that the area was used in Lost in Translation too – the Starbucks here is one of the busiest in the world and a scene from the film was filmed through the window from there. Anyway, Shibuya has a slightly different feel to Harajuku, it’s definitely more of a modern, chic and ‘cool’ atmosphere. Soon after arriving we were given many freebies by various people and were also attacked by an army of tissue distributors (Side note: to promote their services in Japan, it is very popular for businesses to hire people to hand out free tissues, they’re all over Tokyo, mainly outside the train stations). We spent some time checking out new music in Tsutaya, which is a big rental chain offering music and DVD, and also went to a Sega arcade for some insanely fun drumming madness (I don’t know the name of the game but there’s a version of it out on the PS2 also, I was really surprised to see the arcade version has anime music, we were happily drumming along to the Evangelion and Dragon Ball Z theme music!!!) We decided to eat in an Izakaya (Japanese style bar and restaurant) however if that’s not your cup of tea, Shibuya is home to a million other places to eat, specialising in anything from Italian to Chinese cuisine. Before we knew it the fun was over, yesterday really was one of the most enjoyable days I’ve had in Japan. Shibuya is absolutely necessary on a visit to Tokyo, and if you enjoy alternative fashion then be sure to check out Harajuku too, it’s a blast!!! The picture below is of Hachiko Crossing in Shibuya, one of the busiest crossings in Tokyo.

Feeding the geek within me: A visit to Square-Enix

Today was one hell of a busy day – I ended up going to Yoyogi, Shinjuku, Hatsudai and Ebisu! Anyway, one of the biggest things I was looking forward to was visiting Square-Enix’s store in Hatsudai, but my enthusiasm had already weakened due to the fact that simply getting to Hatsudai from Yoyogi proved to be a bitch. Anyway, upon arriving even more disappointment was waiting for me! The Square-Enix store, to be frank, is shite. It’s annoying to get to, due to it’s out-of- the-way location (more convenient if you live in Shinjuku, but I don’t!!), but what really pissed me off is that just about almost everything in the store can easily be purchased in Akihabara, negating the need for the store itself – I didn’t find anything special in terms of exclusive merchandise, the only thing that might remotely be of interest to fans is a clothing line, however when a T-shirt costs almost 7000 Yen (about £30) count me out!! The only reason worth visiting is to see the impressive statue of Sephiroth sleeping in the lifestream. I was surprised when I first saw it because it is actually part of the floor in the model section of the store. Anyway, I recommend any Square-Enix fans who would like to buy merchandise to get it from Akiba, unless they really want to see the Sephiroth statue for themselves. For everyone else, here are the pictures!

Advertising – Japanese style :P

Well, advertising in Japan has its pros and cons, there’s really only one thing that pisses me off about it… the sheer randomness! For example, you’ll be watching a program, the program will start and they’ll show information about the program sponsors and will suddenly skip to a commercial break with absolutely no warning whatsoever… ok, the show is back on… but wait! A few minutes later and another break with absolutely no warning, there might be yet another break just before the credits roll (if the program has end credits, some such as drama over here doesn’t). Anyway, it’s definitely not that annoying – anything is better than the nausiating, vomit-inducing shite otherwise known as insurance and compensation advertising that we have back in the UK! The actual ads themselves are, for the most part, pretty good. The thing that I like about Japanese TV commercials is that they’re short and concise – they get straight to the point in most cases. My favourite commercials so far have been the Suntory Boss range as promoted by Tommy Lee Jones and Softbank commericals featuring Aya Ueto – I won’t even attempt to explain those particular ads, just watch the awesomness (or perhaps utter weirdness?) here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=V61wbZA6mMU

http://youtube.com/watch?v=04jmmEPaPZk

Another quick thing I wanted to mention was advertising in the trains: in the JR trains going through Shinjuku to Mitaka and Nakano I’ve been in some carriages with screens showing various adverts featuring mostly foreigners. I guess it must be a pretty novel idea to have foreigners advertise over here, there are various agencies set up for foreigners interested in appearing in commericals and general modelling (I’m actually interested in registering just for the hell of it, it would be good to earn some extra cash) Anyway, to finish off, the worst commerical I’ve seen is for Daijob.com, a job website for bilingual workers in Japan – if you’d like to witness the utter shiteness yourself then there just might be a video floating around on youtube

FFVII Awesomeness

I was in Akihabara today and just discovered that the Final Fantasy VII Potion drink has already been released – I had seen it advertised on TV but didn’t actually know it was out already! For those who don’t know, it’s the 10th Anniversary of the original release of Final Fantasy VII and Square Enix have teamed up with Suntory and released a special limited edition drink called Potion in commemoration of the occasion. Each can has an image of a Final Fantasy VII character and costs 200 Yen. I happily bought the Cloud and Tifa cans but will also probably get the Turks can too! And how does the drink taste…. hmm well, when I arrived home I took out the Tifa can and sampled my first FFVII Potion – I’d say it’s like Red Bull with a hint of lemon. Also in Akiba I decided to finally buy the soundtrack to FFVII Advent Children, I’ve been meaning to get it for a while now and can honestly say it’s totally awesome. Anyway, those living outside of Japan aren’t missing out on much, but if you’d like to sample some potion goodness yourself then there are some websites where you can order the cans Play Asia has ‘em but they’re a bit on the expensive side: www.playasia.com

My Pick of the Best Japanese Bands

I’m just going to take some time out to list some of the bands that have impressed me the most here in Japan – a few of them I have known about in England but for the most part I found out about these bands when I arrived here. This list is quite obviously going to be biased but its what I consider ass kicking music!!

First off, we have Gackt. Apparently over here he is considered uncool and strange according to most of the people I have talked with in Tokyo but I don’t care, he’s one hell of a talented singer and musician and that’s why I like him! Gackt makes a mixture of music, mostly ‘Goth rock’ but songs like Black Stone are quite pop punkish, he’s normally categorised under Visual Kei which is a genre of music over here.

http://gackt.com/

Next we have Ken Yokoyama – he is a former member of a punk band known as Hi Standard, he now has a new band which plays pretty much the same pop punk style music. His band was the first punk band I discovered here in Japan and I was pleasantly surprised to find out about an underground Jpunk scene which I didn’t know about while I was in England. If you like MXPX, Allister or anything like those bands, then you’ll really dig Yokoyama’s music!

www.myspace.com/kenyokoyamakenband

Following on, there is the Indie band known as The Pillows. The Pillows have been around for quite a while and I definitely need to get some of their music. I first found out about them after I heard their single Lady Bird Girl which I really recommend checking out!

http://www.pillows.jp/

Next up is a band for all of you dudes out there who love to skank! Ska seems to be popular in Japan, and although their sound is quite poppish (only way I could describe it lol) I really enjoy their music. Oreskaband is a relatively new band comprising of a young all female line up. I’d like to go to one of their gigs, it would be pretty fun!

www.myspace.com/oreskabandus

Next up is the band that caught my interest from Yoyogi Park – With Bis. The band have a really good indie rock sound, I don’t think there’s any other way to describe them, in my opinion they just make damn good rock music!

kurosawadaisuke.com

Next band on the list is one that I actually found out from an anime, they did the opening and ending music for Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho Tou (which is a bloody awesome anime!!) and those 2 songs totally rocked my socks off – anyway they’re a pretty underground emo/hardcore band known as Acid. They’re touring in December so I’m seriously considering going to see them.

http://www.acid1.jp/

And the band that has impressed me the most?… well, this spot goes to Ellegarden who are an emo/pop punk band and they seem to (quite understandably) be one of the biggest bands in the punk scene here in Japan. These guys have even been lucky enough to tour the States, they are doing a Japanese tour now and I wanted to go but the tickets are sold out… what a pain in the ass!

www.myspace.com/ellegarden

www.ellegarden.jp

To finish off, I’d just like to mention 2 special people who really deserve a lot of credit – Yoko Kanno and Nobuo Uematsu are (in my opinion anyway) musical geniuses – 2 of the finest composers to grace this world, they take talent to new levels. I recommend Kanno’s work from Cowboy Bebop and Macross Plus and Uematsu’s finest pieces IMO can be found in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII. Well that’s it, I’m pretty sure most people reading this will completely disagree with my pick of the best of Japan (that I have found out about so far anyway) but hey, it’s my blog

Coffee update

Quick update – I just found out today that the same range of Suntory coffee products are actually available in some vending machines as hot drinks; it looks like they sell heated coffee as the weather gets colder… I’m going to have to try some!!

Rocking out in Yoyogi Park

I thought there’s normally never anything to do on a Sunday… until I found out about Yoyogi Park. I’ve actually known about Yoyogi Park for a while now but finally had the chance to experience it myself today. Basically, every Sunday various bands set up their equipment on one side of the park and play a free set to promote their music as well as personally handing out flyers advertising their upcoming gigs and selling demo CDs. My favourite band of the day was surprisingly the first I actually saw when I arrived – With Bis impressed me with their tight set, not exactly the most energetic band around but I loved the music! I had a chat with the band after their set and they turned out to be great dudes, I ended up buying their demo CD and I’m probably going to go to their gig in Yokohama. Other notable bands were Chocolate Chip Cookies, which is a fast punk rock trio fronted by a cute and talented female guitarist, and the somewhat oddly named funk band known as Loovee. Alongside some of the bands cheap clothes, CDs and old electronic goods were on sale and also on the other side of the park a huge fleamarket was in action. Yoyogi is also popular for the Gothic Lolita girls who enjoy posing for the camera in their latest gothic dresses. I didn’t actually see many today because I probably didn’t find the main area where they hang out, but I was only there for the music in the first place anyway!! If you ever find yourself to be free in Tokyo on a Sunday then I’d definitely recommend a visit to Yoyogi Park, some of the bands are genuinely talented and deserve your support!

Yokohama

A couple of days ago I was free so I decided to head to Yokohama, which is one of Japan’s largest cities and is conveniently located right next to the capital. In fact, from my apartment Yokohama is only half an hour away on the train and relatively cheap coming in at about 600 Yen for a one way trip (about £2.50 – side note: in Tokyo and surrounding areas we use what is similar to an Oyster card back in London, only we don’t get any discount with a Suica or Passmo card). Upon arriving in Yokohama my immediate reaction was that of surprise – I had arrived in Minatomirai which is a very new area of Yokohama and is currently undergoing more development and construction; the reason why I was surprised is that the area itself looked a lot similar to Dubai. I have spent one day in Dubai a few years ago, and the roads and buildings in the area around Minatomirai station look a lot similar to that of Dubai.

Anyway, I started by checking out the shopping mall next to the station – quite a good selection of stores including a Snoopy store selling… you guessed it, just about as much Snoopy merchandise as any hardcore Snoopy fan could want! After exploring the mall, I decided to leave and take a walk outside – I ended up in another shopping mall about 15 minutes later checking out what was on offer over there… well, not much, although I found out that Converse (my favourite shoes!!) can actually be quite cheap in Japan; about 4000 Yen for the average pair which is about £17. I ended up buying the new Jimmy Eat World album (which is pretty awesome!) from HMV and decided to walk some more! Eventually I ended up in Yamashita Park after taking a rather scenic route along a path next to the sea. Yamashita Park was a bog-standard park really, there were actually quite a few parks in Yokohama but I didn’t check out the others. From Yamashita Park I decided to check out some of the Yokohama China Town which is the biggest China Town in Japan. Most of China Town was devoted obviously to Chinese restaurants but there were also some pretty sweet stores selling various goods such as panda plush toys and traditional Chinese clothing. The rest of the day was spent just randomly walking around Yokohama and discovering a pretty awesome shopping area (I totally raided the Book-Off over there lol!). In the evening I was able to get some awesome night photography of the scenery. Overall, if you visit Tokyo you really ought to have a day trip to Yokohama – its an awesome city with plenty on offer, I didn’t really see most of it so Im going to go again with some friends.

Final note – Yokohama seems to be the perfect place to take your girlfriend/boyfriend so you might want to consider it!

Caffeine Nation

Whilst the Japanese still value their traditional tea quite highly, there is one beverage that has seemed to have taken the world by storm… I am quite obviously talking about coffee. Starbucks are taking over the world and they have penetrated Tokyo – it’s just as bad as London, everywhere you go you will see a Starbucks. I actually don’t care if there are a million Starbucks branches over here, just what annoys me is how they totally rip people off (ok so I have bought some frappucinos from ‘em but in the future I’m going elsewhere!!) Anyway, what I wanted to focus on is one market in particular. Japan has gained quite a reputation for its vending machines, and one of the biggest sellers in the various vending machines scattered around Tokyo is coffee – iced coffee has seemed to become immensely popular with a variety of flavours/blends being available. I sampled the various blends on offer from Suntory – they’re the cheapest available coming in at only 100 Yen for each can. Overall I’d say that they tasted marginally better than anything I have tried in the west, although it still doesn’t beat a frappucino (damn Starbucks and their prices though!!). Another reason that actually attracted me to the Suntory range in the first place was the advertising! In true Japanese tradition, we get a washed up has-been American actor (Tommy Lee Jones in this case) and put him in a rather bizarre/entertaining set of TV commercials. Coffee drinkers rejoice, you’ll feel right at home in Tokyo!

I Love Book-Off

So you’re in Japan and want to find a good bargain, where should you go?… I first found out about Book-Off when I saw their advert in the Tokyo underground, I didn’t think much of it at the time, but when I visited their store in Ueno I fell in love!! Book-Off is basically a chain of stores that allows people to trade in their old books, DVDs, CDs and games – everything the store sells is second hand, but most of it is in excellent condition. First of all, I’ll just talk about books – I have found that manga in Japan is cheap… really cheap compared to England. Whilst the average volume of manga will cost you about £5-£6, here in Japan one volume is on average about 500 Yen – about £2!! Book-Off sells manga even cheaper than that, and so it is a fantastic place to get a bargain if you’re a manga fan and can read Japanese! (Side note, another good place to check out for second hand manga is the Mandrake, its fantastic )

Ok, so you’ve got your manga fix, what about DVDs? Well, new DVDs in Japan are expensive, and I still don’t understand why but that’s the way it is – one movie can set you back as much as 5000 Yen (about £22, would be more only the £ is strong against the Yen atm) DVDs in Book-Off are still a bit expensive but obviously not as much as you would pay for a brand new copy. I bought a Street Fighter DVD/Manga pack for about 2,200 Yen, it retails for 3000 Yen brand new. CDs… well I didn’t check out the CD section! If you like American bands then you will be happy to know that American CDs are available here in HMV, and they’re cheap compared to the Japanese counterparts – I just bought Jimmy Eat World’s new album brand new for about £8, the new Starting Line album is only about £5.50 over here!!

Anyway, back to the case in hand, the biggest area where you will make savings is if you’re a gamer and interested in quite old games like me. The only reason why I actually fell in love with Book Off is the insanely awesome games section that I have experienced in each branch that I have visited. Here is the biggest example of a bargain and I mean big… the original uncensored version of Biohazard (Resident Evil in the west) is pretty rare to find in the west considering it was never officially released in America or in Europe – on Ebay you’ll find the average copy goes for about £20-£30. I bought the original version of Biohazard today… for 105 Yen… to put that into perspective 105 Yen is about 45p. I bought the original uncensored Biohazard for 45p…. Amazing. It’s obviously not going to mean much if you’re not a gamer, but I was literally astonished at how incredible that purchase was. It doesn’t stop there either, I bought Parasite Eve 1 and 2 for about 500 Yen together, and the original Ghost in the Shell PlayStation game for about 200 Yen. Unsurprisingly though the newer games such as the PS2 games are more expensive, averaging in the region of about 2000 to 3000 Yen, but for original PlayStation games, it’s a total bargain. Yep, I love Book-Off… if you are an avid gamer and can play Japanese games on your system then you HAVE to visit Book-Off, you’d be a complete fool not to!…