Matt, Jon, and Spencer above the cloud line at Hakuba
1/13/2007
Micah's Live set at Clapper
Matt and I making a "Club 803" sign in Starbucks
Jon and Matt in Osaka
Clapper
Club 803, finished product
The MegaMac in Japan, consumed promptly at 10:30 AM on opening day
Matt in Hakuba Station
Nagoya by night
Skiing in Hakuba
Funny Snowmen
Inari gate atFushimi-Inari in Kyoto
Micah, Yuuki, and I giving our gansta peace signs
At Fushimi Inari
On the mountain
Matt in Hiroshima's Peace Park
Peace memorial in Hiroshima
Jon an Bill, sleeping
Atomic bomb dome in Hiroshima
Matt on the train with Japanese study book in hand
In a 100 yen shop
Ami, Micah, Spencer, and myself in an Oden restaurant
Scenery in Hakuba
Nagoya station
Matt and Minoru drinking Sake
First annual air guitar championship in Hakuba
Decimal Places, Friendly Faces
The weather remains pleasant as sunlights breaks through frosty windows in my little part of Osaka. It's been quite an interesting couple of days, spanning the rivers of Hiroshima to the mountains of Nagano, with stops in Okayama, Matsumoto, and Kyoto in between. I missed decimal place in Hakuba had me thinking we were to play $100 for ski rental, when in fact the price was closer to $10.
I'll let the photos do most of the talking, as I need to catch the next bullet train out of Osaka station to visit my host families in Tamano. On the 16th it's off to Okinawa, with a pleasant temperature of 18 degrees Celsius.
I'll let the photos do most of the talking, as I need to catch the next bullet train out of Osaka station to visit my host families in Tamano. On the 16th it's off to Okinawa, with a pleasant temperature of 18 degrees Celsius.
1/06/2007
Club Metro in Kyoto
Sometime around 3 a.m.
Minou, doing his DJ set
Minoru teaches Matt some DJ moves
Micah and Bill
A Return to the Land of the Rising Sun
It all began at 4 a.m. on a Wednesday. Exiting the La Quinta suites under the cover of darkness, I made my way by shuttle to the Pittsburgh International Airport. My destination: Osaka, Japan. Before I could set foot on the plane that would take me half way around the world, I had to get to San Francisco via Detroit.
Despite all the delays and difficulties I’ve been hearing about airlines in the last couple of months, the trip to California was surprisingly smooth. All airplanes left on time, and my travelling partners in the nearby seats were talkative, but not too much so. On the trip from Detroit to San Francisco, to my left was an Indian woman who was obviously quite terrified at the act of flying, but calmed down once we began talking. To my right was an older woman, a massage therapist, who was coming back from New York where she had been helping a famous herbalist in upstate New York finish her latest manuscript on the topic.
A couple hours later I had found my seat on the plane to Japan. The seat was a gem - right on the aisle with no one in the seat to my left. The airplane, an enormous 777, was only three quarters full when we pulled away from the gate.
Unlike my previous plane flight to Japan three years ago, almost all the seats in my area were occupied by US servicemen and women in their late teens or early twenties. As soon as the plane took off, I was asked multiple times what branch of the service I was in.
“Just look at his hair, he’s not in the service,” said Armando, a talkative guy in the row in front of me. Armando offered me some Spiderman comics and we chatted about what would be his next two years in Japan. Almost all of the enlisted people I met on that flight were headed to Okinawa for at least the first part of their time in Japan.
Luckily, the hours passed in a relatively quick fashion. A half day later, when the plane touched down in Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, I had watched Little Miss Sunshine (5/5 stars), The Departed (4.5/5 stars) twice, and a good part of The Da Vinci Code (2/5 stars).
At the airport I passed through customs, answering the usual questions. I was eager to give my Japanese a try, as I suspected it might be a little rusty. Grabbing my suitcase at the baggage claim, I checked a map to find the quickest route to the city proper. I passed a Japanese man in uniform who bowed as I stepped on to the escalator to the subway line.
I was to meet Micah, a friend from my earlier time in Japan, along with Matt and Jon, two friends from MIT who had arrived in Tokyo two days earlier. The meeting spot was the Apple store near Shinsaibashi station, a quick subway ride from the airport. At 7:30 p.m. the streets were full of people, but I found Matt and Jon, both over 6 feet tall, standing out over the crowd. Micah arived with his room mate, Minoru, and we made our way back to a nearby apartment.
Micah has been studying underground Japanese music for the past year. Aside from meeting some of the more popular DJ’s in the country, he managed to get an apartment right in the heart of Osaka’s music scene. His apartment with Minoru, which they call Club 803 (after the room number of the apartment), is often frequented by DJ’s and the music savvy. The place is small but livable, with half the main room taken up with turntables, speakers, records, and computers.
Micah and I took Matt and Jon to a nearby hotel where they would be staying the night. I came back to Micah’s place where Minoru was already playing great records at top volme in the tiny apartment. Micah explained that because the building is full of DJ’s and music aficionados, you can play music at any time of the night.
That evening Micah took Matt and I to a club in Osaka where I met some of Micah's friends. Partying until the early hours of the morning was one hell of a way to kick the jet lag.
The next day, my traveling companions and I met Bill and his friend Spencer at the Apple store. Bill and company had been delayed in Amsterdam for 8 hours (not a bad layover), and had just arrived in Japan that morning. The five of us went back to Club 803, and on to the hotel to stash the rest of the luggage. We grabbed dinner, did a little sightseeing, and all took a train to Kyoto for another night of music.
Back at Club 803 after a 7 a.m. train ride from Kyoto to Osaka, Minoru and his friend Yuuki were DJ-ing records when we stepped through the doorway. It seems like these guys can't get enough of that stuff, but they are both quite skilled so the music is always exciting. The next day was spent sleeping, with some breaks for food in the afternoon. The rest of the crew came over to make a plan for our next few days in Japan. Bill found a resort near Nagano that looked promising, so we made some tentative reservations.
Last night Micah, Yuuki, Ami (a graphic designer), and I spent the evening chatting, listening to records, and watching a DVD compilation of visualizations from club performances earlier in the year. Everyone Micah has introduced me to has been more than eager to chat, which reminds me that it's nice to know someone in the country you are exploring.
The crew should be arriving shortly, so I'm off to grab some breakfast. Great to be back in Japan.
Despite all the delays and difficulties I’ve been hearing about airlines in the last couple of months, the trip to California was surprisingly smooth. All airplanes left on time, and my travelling partners in the nearby seats were talkative, but not too much so. On the trip from Detroit to San Francisco, to my left was an Indian woman who was obviously quite terrified at the act of flying, but calmed down once we began talking. To my right was an older woman, a massage therapist, who was coming back from New York where she had been helping a famous herbalist in upstate New York finish her latest manuscript on the topic.
A couple hours later I had found my seat on the plane to Japan. The seat was a gem - right on the aisle with no one in the seat to my left. The airplane, an enormous 777, was only three quarters full when we pulled away from the gate.
Unlike my previous plane flight to Japan three years ago, almost all the seats in my area were occupied by US servicemen and women in their late teens or early twenties. As soon as the plane took off, I was asked multiple times what branch of the service I was in.
“Just look at his hair, he’s not in the service,” said Armando, a talkative guy in the row in front of me. Armando offered me some Spiderman comics and we chatted about what would be his next two years in Japan. Almost all of the enlisted people I met on that flight were headed to Okinawa for at least the first part of their time in Japan.
Luckily, the hours passed in a relatively quick fashion. A half day later, when the plane touched down in Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, I had watched Little Miss Sunshine (5/5 stars), The Departed (4.5/5 stars) twice, and a good part of The Da Vinci Code (2/5 stars).
At the airport I passed through customs, answering the usual questions. I was eager to give my Japanese a try, as I suspected it might be a little rusty. Grabbing my suitcase at the baggage claim, I checked a map to find the quickest route to the city proper. I passed a Japanese man in uniform who bowed as I stepped on to the escalator to the subway line.
I was to meet Micah, a friend from my earlier time in Japan, along with Matt and Jon, two friends from MIT who had arrived in Tokyo two days earlier. The meeting spot was the Apple store near Shinsaibashi station, a quick subway ride from the airport. At 7:30 p.m. the streets were full of people, but I found Matt and Jon, both over 6 feet tall, standing out over the crowd. Micah arived with his room mate, Minoru, and we made our way back to a nearby apartment.
Micah has been studying underground Japanese music for the past year. Aside from meeting some of the more popular DJ’s in the country, he managed to get an apartment right in the heart of Osaka’s music scene. His apartment with Minoru, which they call Club 803 (after the room number of the apartment), is often frequented by DJ’s and the music savvy. The place is small but livable, with half the main room taken up with turntables, speakers, records, and computers.
Micah and I took Matt and Jon to a nearby hotel where they would be staying the night. I came back to Micah’s place where Minoru was already playing great records at top volme in the tiny apartment. Micah explained that because the building is full of DJ’s and music aficionados, you can play music at any time of the night.
That evening Micah took Matt and I to a club in Osaka where I met some of Micah's friends. Partying until the early hours of the morning was one hell of a way to kick the jet lag.
The next day, my traveling companions and I met Bill and his friend Spencer at the Apple store. Bill and company had been delayed in Amsterdam for 8 hours (not a bad layover), and had just arrived in Japan that morning. The five of us went back to Club 803, and on to the hotel to stash the rest of the luggage. We grabbed dinner, did a little sightseeing, and all took a train to Kyoto for another night of music.
Back at Club 803 after a 7 a.m. train ride from Kyoto to Osaka, Minoru and his friend Yuuki were DJ-ing records when we stepped through the doorway. It seems like these guys can't get enough of that stuff, but they are both quite skilled so the music is always exciting. The next day was spent sleeping, with some breaks for food in the afternoon. The rest of the crew came over to make a plan for our next few days in Japan. Bill found a resort near Nagano that looked promising, so we made some tentative reservations.
Last night Micah, Yuuki, Ami (a graphic designer), and I spent the evening chatting, listening to records, and watching a DVD compilation of visualizations from club performances earlier in the year. Everyone Micah has introduced me to has been more than eager to chat, which reminds me that it's nice to know someone in the country you are exploring.
The crew should be arriving shortly, so I'm off to grab some breakfast. Great to be back in Japan.
