Cheese Day

I've done Cheese Day twice before in the past.

This year was QUITE different. Last time I came on a Thursday, but this year, Thursday was invite only, of which I didn't have :(

As soon as I got there on Saturday, I noticed a line! While it didn't take THAT long to get in, it was a sign of things to come.

This year they decided to make it more orderly. In other words more "Japanese". I mentioned before how people were like animals getting the cheese when it came out in past years.

This time it was queue time, and I panicked at the length of the lines, that I used all my tickets in the first round that I went in. Initially I was disappointed that they used this system, but later it made sense.

I watched a talk I didn't understand in order to get more samples, and even snuck back out and in to get more tickets. I went back AGAIN, but this 3rd time I just asked. I played dumb gaijin so it wasn't too difficult.

In the end I bought some Dutch smoked cheese and American Pepperjack. It's been a while since I finished the Swiss cheese I bought in America, so this was a welcome return to that sweet cheese taste.

Number 5 Is Alive

If there was a Jeopardy game show question about a word that comes into your head when you think of Japan or Tokyo, I'm sure one of the top answers would be "robots".

And so it is, when the International Robot Exhibition rolls into town, you better have a good excuse not to go, right? I first saw a poster with a gorilla with it's robot equivalent, when we were in Yokohama for the Music Fair last week, and decided then and there that I had to go.

I was ably informed that it would run from today till Saturday only, so I had little choice but to go today. This year it's being held at Big Sight, a suitably futuristic venue if there ever was one.

It's open from 10-5 every day. I didn't leave my apartment till around 1ish so I had to rule out my usual Rainbow Bridge walk, instead catching my trains to link up with the nearby Rinkai line.

As soon as I walked in, I was surrounded by salarymen in suits. I was tragically underdressed, but revelled in my individualism.

I was quite disappointed at first to see the "robots" were merely mechanical arms performing menial tasks. In the most cases quite yawn inducing. There were few booth babes, but even if there were it would've felt truly perverted to ask any of the girls for a photo.

The first exhibit to catch my interest was an air driving demonstration. It used the wii concept without a controller like kinect. Myself, and all the other geek boys wanted to have a go, but I didn't bother to wait.

After all the industrial machinery I finally found what I had been looking for.. *real* robots!

They were cute, voice responsive, and in some cases freakingly life life. A few gave me the flashback from "Short Circuit". I can't watch that movie again. It'd totally destroy my childhood memory.

I took a long time to see everything. Even once they played the closing song ("Auld Lang Syne *natch*) a lot of people were still milling around the exhibits.

Before I went back I decided to look around Venus Fort. I vaugely remembered the Lego shop, and decided to get a ￥500 Buzz Lightyear keyring.

Yeah they had cool Darth Vader, Jack Sparrow, Spongebob, and Indiana Jones that I also wanted, but being a "robot day" Buzz seemed the right choice for this occasion.

Running With Scissors

It's been over two years since I got my hair cut, and recently there's been some pretty big changes in my life. So..

They say a change is as good as a holiday, but I want a f*ing holiday!

I did it myself. I tied my hair back and proceding to cut, hack away. It was much harder than I expected. My hair was so thick it was literally like slashing my way through a forest.

Maybe it was not the best time to cut it seeing as we're heading towards Winter here, but I really needed to do this. I needed to react against what is happening around me, and it's an act of regeneration.

I kinda needed a new me.

And I had way too much hair.

Yokohama Music Fair 2011

I had an almost all-nighter last night. Against my better judgement, I thought I'd do something different and go with some co-workers to small bars in Dogenzaka and Shinjuku.

Preceding a public holiday you'd expect them to be a little better patronised. Both places we went to were quite sparse in people, but made up for it in exorbitant beer prices. The loud Belgians in the Shinjuku bar convinced me NEVER to do this again. I got shortchanged on my beer too which didn't make me happy either.

We DID make a deviation beforehand at my favourite English bar in Shibuya, so not all bad. I got home around the 430am mark.

I woke up slightly later than my usual at 1030am to the sound of right wing extremists blaring their propaganda from their vans. I wanted to go to the biannual Yokohama Music Fair at Pacifico in Minato Mirai. I've been good and haven't bought any more guitars (for now). But not so good for other musical things.

By the time I could drag myself out of bed and make my way, we'd arrive there a little bit after 2pm. Because I was going to a music exhibition I thought I'd do the rockstar thing and wear my hair out which I rarely do. Always worth repeating a bit of the Halloween scares I did last week!

Like last time ESP had the most impressive guitar display with weird shapes and colours. Fender also had an interesting stand with some very nice flower-cloth covered telecasters inspired by the paisley Fenders, or Flower pattern JEMs. It's surprising I've never seen Ibanez at these events. I REALLY liked the black one, so I tried it out.

Yes, I like it!

I also tried the Moog guitar. I expected it to be a better version of my Sustainiac-equipped Steinberger, but it was overly complicated, and for the money I like what my guitar does more than this did. Good. A guitar I can cross off my "want" list.

While most of the gear I could easily have tried already in a music shop, it was nice to try them here without the added pressure to buy. I saw the new Boss RC-300 loop station. I didn't get to try it, because a Japanese guy was hogging it for a long time. Korg has a few interesting new virtual analog toys.

I haven't touched the guitars I already have for a while now, but this Fair has encouraged me to get off my ass (for a while at least). After we left Pacifico we walked in the dark into the adjacent Rinko Park.

It's funny that I've never been here before. By night it looked quite nice. My camera is with Panasonic to clean a bit of dust behind the glass in the EVF that was bothering me, before my warranty was up. They say that's going to take 3 weeks!

Sometime after I get it back I'll come back here during the day to take some photos. The Music Fair is on till Sunday. It's not just guitars, so anyone musically inclined should take the opportunity to check it out.

Back To The Future

Before I'd ever been to Tokyo, I had the idea that it'd look like the most futuristic city, like something out of a Sci-fi movie, or Astroboy. My first impression was a huge letdown.

What I saw were drab, ugly apartment blocks that lacked any creative imagination whatsoever. And looking out from the train window it looked like it was repeated over and over as far as the eye could see.

One of the most interesting architectural ideas to come out of Japan was called Metabolism.

It has the idea of a building being a living thing that could grow and adapt like organisms. The most well-known example of this in Tokyo is the Nakagin Capsule Tower and Shizuoka Newspaper building in Shinbashi.

Today I went to see Metabolism : The City of the Future exhibition at the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi.

It was really fascinating. There were examples of works that still exist today, as well as ideas that sadly never reached fruition. It's definitely the largest exhibition that I've seen since I've been here.

They showed lots of videos, as well as many scale models. What blew my mind was that these ideas were thought of in the 70's and yet, still today they would still be ahead of our time now.

If you go there I recommend to check out the Tokyo City View observation floor. As an additional charge to your ticket, you can see a great view of Tokyo. While there we had an overpriced "slime" nikuman, but it looked so cute, it had to be done. We just made sure to eat the face last. Unfortunately because of rain, the outdoor Sky Deck on the roof was closed.

The exhibition is on till the 15th of January so if you're in Tokyo, it's one not to miss. On Roppongi-dori there is one of the Nakagin capsules on display outside, so if you're passing through keep a look out for that.

Not many chances to see what the "future" looks like.

Adachi Fireworks

After another long day's work in Kita Senju, I noticed a whole lot more people around than usual, and many places were setting up shop outside selling a lot of festival food.

My original idea was to do my usual drinking in Shibuya. My friends had other plans, so before I'd jump on the subway, I thought I'd satisfy my curiosity by following the crowd towards the river.

Along the way I saw a poster with some fireworks and then it hit me. Hanabi!

This year the only fireworks I'd seen were the Meiji Jingu fireworks viewed from far away close to where I live. I totally forgot the date of the Yokohama fireworks and missed Sumidagawa as well. Like the other fireworks, the Adachi fireworks had been delayed out of respect for the tsunami victims.

I bought some strong plum chu-hi and inarizushi and asked her to join me. The place was packed full of people. We set up camp on the slope and I got stuck into my chu-his.

Of all the fireworks I have seen in Tokyo since I've been here. These were the best. No obstruction of buildings like Sumidagawa, and much, much closer than all of the others.

There were hearts and smiley faces. I was a like a kid again, a drunk kid! lol

The chuhi was so strong that by the time I got home I was tired and fell asleep almost instantly.

Cotton Candy Angel Hair

I met her in a lesson I taught in Ginza.

There was something about her. It was an enjoyable lesson. I don't remember saying I was on Facebook, but that night I got a message, "I can't forget your name", and a request to add her to my friend list.

We talked during the week, and we both happened to have the same day off on Thursday. It was still hot so my friends and I were planning to go to Zushi. I joked that she could come along if she wore her bikini. I was surprised that she agreed. Later, the other guys had made other plans, so I said it was going to be just her and I. She was still keen to go.

We planned to meet at the Moyai statue in Shibuya at 11:30. It was my suggestion. EVERYONE meets at Hachiko. I waited and at 11:45 I got a message saying she slept in and I should go by myself. I said I'd wait the one and a half hours by looking around (at guitar shops lol).

By the time we got to Zushi it was around 3pm. The beach huts were gone, and noticeably fewer people on the beach. I lay my blue tarp down, and drank my first can of chu-hi. She hadn't brought any alcohol so I gave her one of mine. I had innarizushi but she wasn't hungry. I was a little disappointed she hadn't brought her bikini, nor any swimwear.

On the tarp she was mirroring my movements. When I laid back she did too. Her black and grey summer dress lifted to reveal her nice legs. I finished my food and drink, and decided not to waste any more time and go for a swim.

I watched her from the water looking at me.

Later she dipped her feet in the water tucking her dress up. I moved into the shallower water, sitting on the sand. She came close to me putting her feet between my legs. Then, she moved her legs outside mine. Although the waves weren't strong. it was enough to almost push me through her legs. I held her hands to hold my position.

I moved up onto my knees, resting my head near her thighs, and placed my hands on her legs. She played with my long curly hair.

The waves got a bit bigger wetting her dress. One big wave wet it enough to get her to go in with her dress on. She straddled me in the water up to her chest. The feeling of her closeness stirred me. I let out a quiet laugh. She said, "What?". I replied, "You know".

"How are we going to do this?", I said.

She took off her pants and mounted me effortlessly. I thought sand would make it uncomfortable, but it felt fantastic. In little movements she moved up and down. We were covered enough by the depth of the water and her dress, but passers-by stopped on the beach merely 20m away. They must have known what we were up to.

The waves although annoying, kept me tantric. Sometimes even pushing us both over. She said I looked like a god, like Jesus. like an angel. Strong words.

While I was facing the watchers on the beach, she was looking out to sea. The sunset was the icing on the cake. I had always fantasied about doing this, and it was now coming true. It was perfect, absolutely perfect.

Once it got dark, we packed our things and caught the train back to Shibuya. I dried her with my Winnie the Pooh towel, but she was still a bit damp riding the train. She didn't have a change of clothes. Still she was in good spirits, kissing my ear and neck in front of the other Japanese on the train.

We embraced outside the station for ages. I wanted to take her home, but unfortunately that was going to be impossible. I was thinking a love hotel, but it didn't happen.

We caught the train home, separating at my station. I looked back at the train moving off, thinking I must've been dreaming. One thing is for sure. This was my first real catalyst for change after almost five years in Japan.