KAREN – Future rockstars of the underground music scene??

Today I’m featuring a band that I literally only just found out about yesterday, but their CD really impressed me when I was listening to it! The band is called Karen and according to information I just found it was formed as a side project by members from a band called Art-school and another band, On Button Down. The group have just released their first album and they have a gig coming up in Shimokitazawa which I will most certainly attend! For now check out their awesome song “Lorraine”. I wish these guys the best for success in the future, I think they’ve got a lot of potential!

Tough luck for Pete

If you have a dog named Pete I wouldn’t recommend taking him to this mall!

Cool parody – can you guess the original anime?

The picture above is a pretty cool advertisement for a Lucky Star video game (Lucky Star is a lighthearted comedy which has been a huge hit here in Japan) Anime fans should be able to notice that the poster is a parody of an anime film which was a huge hit in Japan also… can you guess what film it is?…. well too late, I’m gonna tell ya! The original movie is called Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is the English title I believe) The movie is based on a novel by a very famous Japanese writer but I can never remember his name (he was the same person who wrote Paprika). Anyway I don’t think Toki wo kakeru shoujo has been released outside of Japan which is a genuine shame because it’s one hell of a good film, I really recommend it!

EDIT: Ok, I just checked, looks like it now has been released outside of Japan…. watch this film now!! You won’t be disappointed!!

Random statue

Statue of a random guy (well yeah, I know he’s just not some random bloke off the street but I have no idea who he is! I’m guessing a politician? If anyone does know, please let me know!)

Night photography special!

Well, I have a real treat for ya guys this time… well that’s if ya like photography! I decided to take a special trip for photography to an area which I think is called Kachidoki, the bridge which you can see is Kachidoki bridge I believe. Anyway, I had originally discovered the area a while back when I was just taking a random walk around the Ginza area and I thought it would be a good place for night photography. A lot of the photos I took didn’t really come out that well but below are some of the good ones I took. I am planning on doing some photography at Odaiba soon (which is home to the most famous bridge in Tokyo, Rainbow Bridge). Anyway for now, enjoy the pics!

Hiromi Uehara – perhaps THE face of Japanese Jazz?…

Recently this beautiful young woman was interviewed on NHK’s great English learning program, Eigo de shaberanaito. She is none other than Hiromi Uehara, perhaps one of the most famous Japanese Jazz musicians in the music world today – the rising talent is renowned for her passionate and energetic live performances and because her music is mainly based around improvisation, I’ve heard that each show is unique in itself. I had actually discovered one of her CDs earlier – years back when I was in France for a holiday I found her Brain album, newly released at that time. I liked what I checked out in the store but alas when I returned to England I forgot about her… only to rediscover her great music when I arrived here in Japan!! Anyway, I have to say that this woman is quite simply remarkable. Not only is she absolutely awesome at piano but she also singlehandedly manages her tour schedule, booking all of her flights herself. Be sure to check out her music below, I’m gonna have to get her CDs soon!

Rest assured, you’ll get your meal at Coco’s!

Heard of Coco’s? I hadn’t before I found one restaurant in one of the towns I had to go to for work. It looks like a chain of family restaurants. Anyway, as I was walking past the building I noticed this:

Woah guys, talk about reassurance!! If they were cooking my order for someone else I think I’d be pretty damn worried!!

Need to tweak up your motorcycle?….

He’s faster than a speeding bullet train, stronger than an army of 200 yakuza and he’ll even fix up your bike good as new, he’s…. erm, Top-Man…..

Checking out Sanja Matsuri 2008

Well, here it is… the lowdown on Sanja Matsuri 2008! Even though I had heard that this is one of the largest festivals in Tokyo and that so many people visit it luckily wasn’t as chaotic as I was expecting it to be! I thoroughly enjoyed the festival and although it was crowded in some areas it wasn’t too bad. I believe the main reason for holding the Sanja Matsuri is to pay respect to the men who founded Sensoji Temple. If you would like to read up on my previous escapade in Asakusa you can find the article here:
Spending a day in Asakusa

The main attraction of the Sanja Matsuri is the parade of mikoshi (small shrines) which the locals of Asakusa help to carry around the streets. I’ve heard these mikoshi cost an arm and a leg and quite obviously weigh a lot also, you can tell just from looking at the pictures and the videos that it’s a very exhausting job carrying them around for so long!! Whilst the parade is taking place there is also live music and the sound of the flute and drums can be heard constantly in the backstreets of and down the main road in the town. I was also a little bit surprised to see some people in the parade dressed in traditional Japanese attire of feudal Japan, I’m not sure if the women at the front were geisha because they weren’t wearing normal kimono that standard geisha and maiko wear. I’m going to have to find out what type of people they were dressed as…. well they looked pretty damn cool anyway if ya ask me!!
Just like yesterday there was some impressive taiko drumming on show also. I’m pretty surprised that taiko seems to be popular amongst girls these days! In the afternoon I also saw some children (with some help from adults) carrying around miniature mikoshi!
There was probably more to see but I was quite exhausted so I decided to head home early. At the festival you can also see traditional performances by geisha but you have to buy tickets in advance and I guess they sell out quite quickly. Enjoy the pictures and video!

Apologies again for the bad video quality, I need to figure out what’s going wrong when I upload the videos! Anyway, try to enjoy

Festival season kicks off in Tokyo…

As the days begin to grow longer, warmer and brighter, it’s the perfect time to start holding some festivals in Japan. This weekend festival fever has started to kick in here in Tokyo as the Sanja Matsuri, one of Tokyo’s largest festivals, started on Friday. Today is the last day and I’m going to Asakusa to check out the festival for myself. But I will leave you with some pictures and video that I took from another festival that I went to yesterday. Yesterday I went to Harajuku station because by the Tori (large gate) leading to the Meiji Jingu a group from Kagoshima were holding a festival there. The performance started off slow, with a group of old women singing and dancing rather leisurely along to live shimasen music. Nevertheless, it was quite interesting to see, a lot of old women seem to keep themselves in good shape over here! There was also a horse walking around with a group of men, I’m really not sure of the significance of the horse myself. Anyway, soon after we were in for a genuine treat. The main attraction was a brilliant performance of taiko drumming by a group of men and women hiding behind demon masks! To finish off the show they took off their masks and started to quite literally put a lot more energy into their performance. If you visit Tokyo, try to come during the summer and then you can go to a festival similar to this one! Anyway, now check out the pictures and video below!

Apologies for the low video quality, I’m not sure as to what happened when I uploaded the videos because the original quality is much better. But anyway enjoy!

That’s all for now! Check back later and I should have some good pictures and video from the Sanja Matsuri up then!