Last Train to Kanazawa

Shinjuku

A few shots from my second day in Tokyo.

little mars x wordbk

These are a few photos shot near the bus stop on the side of the Shibuya station.

little mars

www.boredsketchbooks.com

Great song

It kinda spells out how I would like, maybe attempting, to live my life.

Paris Tokyo - Lupe Fiasco download it

View from the top of the Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Overlooking Kyoto

One of the best thing i ate

okonomiake

this is a discription i got from a web site:

This is a Japanese Pizza, made with sliced cabbage and a flour/egg based pancake mix. Toppings including pork, onion, mushrooms, cheese, shrimp, scallops, spring onion, etc. can be added. The ingredients will be served raw. It’s up to you to cook it.

1. Rub oil on the flat cooker in front of you. 2. Mix the egg mix, cabbage & toppings in the bowl provided. 3. Pour all onto the flat cooker and wait to cook on one side. 4. Flip over when golden brown until the other side is done. 5. Brush the brown “okonomiakeEsauce over the pizza. Mayonnaise, nori-seaweed, and fish flakes are optional as extras. 6. As with Italian pizza, you simply slice, serve and eat!

i'm terrible at buying gifts and souviners

I'm not sure why I am so bad at getting things. I crack under pressure. I go out and buy the things i think are cool then i think about them and i wonder if anyone else would like them. For instance, i totally missed the chance to bring back Japanese candy. DUH! Why would i not pick some up. Okay, i had all intentions of picking some up but I thought it could wait for the airport.  My train ended up being canceled while i was waiting on the platform and the other came an hour later. In that hour, I was walking around totally confused and thought i missed the train. i just hopped on the next train heading to the airport and hoped that the ticket man would let me be. I had to do a mad dash through the airport to get to my gate on time. Anyhow, here are most of the things i brought back. Some stuff i have people in mind for. If someone is really expecting a good gift from me (dad, ebony, mom, snipper, loren, aileen, mari, marcia, ajana, jillian, tyler, sonya, add your name here, etc) then my bad.  come over and pick up something or just consider my steady blogging and staying up late to post photos my gift to you. it was a lot of work ;)

I'm so nervous no one will like the things i even considered not giving any of it out just to avoid letting someone down. oh man, why is this so hard?

i didn't think till i got home that i should have picked up this hat for Snipper (my step-dad) as well. ARGH!

mom, you like tea right? It came from the National Art Museum. I walked a LONG way to go to this place on tuesday only to find out they were closed. I went back the next day (be for my flight) to look for something.

Roppongi. Galleria Signage

The best wayfinding in Tokyo. Every 1oo or so meters there was a new sign. The building is brand new (opened in the last year) and connected to it is teh Ritz Carlton. (I saw 1 Rolls Royce Phantom, 1 Bently big boy, and 1 Maybach all in a 1 minute span) beautiful.

How much was that?

Earlier this evening I was stressing out looking for an atm. None of them work with US cards except citi bank and i think one other.

It started when I attempted to get home from a long day of walking around. i was stuck somewhere quite a bit away from my hotel and i didn't have any money left on my metro card. I was at one of the largest stations and it was taking all of what was left of the little energy i had. By this time i don't think i had anything to eat except some chocolate which you'll see later. (I know, i know, mom, ebony, marcia, blazey, jillian and everyone one else who gets on me about not eating when i should, you don't have to tell me.)

once i found the information counter I asked about putting the 180 yen i have left in cash on my card or using my credit card. Neither would work. It took a minimum of 1000 yen (kinda like 10 bucks). 3 flights and 150 meter walk later i'm at an atm that won't take my card. great. i'm stuck in a post rush hour downtown and no convenience stores or other banks in sight. After walking a few blocks I hail a cab that takes visa.

35 dollars later and more walking i'm at a wired cafe drinking a little expresso and using the free internet to look up where a citi bank is. boom, got it. I give them my card and she says, nope. the wired internet cafe is cash only, word? i had to offer up my ipod for them to let me go. they didn't take the ipod just asked that i promise i come back tomorrow. this was all done with me speaking english and sign-language and her speaking japanese and sign-language.

cool, i have the location of the citi bank, now i just need to walk the equivalent of 3 or 4 NYC avenue blocks to get there. oh yeah, if you didn't know, only main roads have street names. the address are like this: Dogenzaka-ku 2-25-12. 2

2 is the zone (Dogenzaka-ku) 25 is the 25th block 2 is 2nd building on the block.

needless to say i was lost and ended up walking an extra avenue too far, on the wrong street. I did get to see a blow fish restaurant though, which made the entire walk worth it!). I searched and searched and eventually found it with the help of an information desk. I was so excited I took out 50,000 yen (cause i wanted smaller bills) then i took out another 50,000 yen. The second time i noticed that the balance was a lot lower than what it should have been.

FREAK!

i took out nearly $1,000 by mistake! i thought i was taking $50 each time. i hope the conversion back to USD will be close. I only need a few bucks to make sure i can get back home.

not only was the walk long, i also had to push through a gagillion people the entire time.

yay!

What i really came to japan for

The retail experience in Tokyo. I heard it was like no other and now I can really say i've seen some of the best, most incredible stores in the world.

This is a guide book from a hip, urban streetwear website called superfuture. I downloaded it and printed it out just before i left. It breaks each neighborhood down and lets you know the best places to visit. And i visited almost every cool shop that they listed and then some. Today i thought my legs were going to fall off.

A few things I can say now are:

• Pharrell and Kanye only dress better than me 'cause they knew about Tokyo. oh, and their endless bank account ballances of course

• If you call yourself a fashionista and haven't been to Tokyo then you don't know jack about fashion.

• women and men of tokyo dress better than you nomatter how fly you think you are or how different you think your style is. the've been there and done that and looked better doing it.

• if you want to be inspired for retail store design come here

• the bathing ape store really is that fresh

Thank you superfuture for guiding me through the streets of Tokyo. I can't wait to do it again.

where i sleep pt. 5 (last place)

I wanted to make sure my last few nights in Tokyo were comfortable. I found this place via superfuter's guide book (i'll tell you about it later). It is new boutique hotel about a block or two away from the main crossing in Shibuya.

Mars in Tokyo

Where I sleep pt. 4

1) it's not as bad as it looks.

2) i did it for the people.

3) never again.

4) they literally kick you out the hotel at 10am. you can't come back till 5pm even if you are staying a few nights.

5) no private showers

How it works after the jump:

The entrance is about 5 blocks from the Akihabara Stop.  It's called Capsule Inn Akihabara

It only cost 4000 yen (37 bucks or so. I learned that wih yen you just move the decimal point over two numbers and you'll have just about what it cost in US Dollars. easy)

I arrived at around 3pm. They had storage for my bags which was just it locked up with a chain in the middle of the room. I could still get inside i just couldn't remove it from the lobby. once i checked in and put my things away i sat down in the lobby to check email. He kinda yelled at me and told me pretty much to leave and come back at 5.

Stairs to the second floor which had the showers, public bath and the lockers.

My locker

The bathroom

I HATE SMOKE INDOORS. a guy sat right next to me in this small space and lit a cigarette. Really?

And my room...err hallway.

I didn't even sleep here the first night. This photo is from the second night/day (taken around 6 am) Some kids in tokyo figure that since the trains stop running at 12 and you miss it you might as well stay out and kick it till 5 am when the trains starts back up.

anyhow, the sleep was great. I didn't feel cramped. I didn't feel the slightest bit claustrophobic. It is kinda like the tents we made with our bunk beds and covers. Most of that could have been the fact that i was dead tired and fell asleep about 1 minute after i hit the pillow. OH THE PILLOW.... it was made from something that felt and sounded like big black beans.

at 9:30 an alarm goes off in the hallway and a voice comes on which I assume it is telling me to get up and get the eff out of their capsule.

That is about it. I was glad to get a couple hours of sleep and the chance to shed some light on this strange Japanese thing we have all heard about.

a better photobooth

Since Kate and I didn't get a chance to do it I asked Miho is she would regress back to 15 and join me in a photobooth. They are called Puri-kura (Japanese short for Print club...thanks Mish!)

So imagine a huge arcade with a section of 6 - 10 of these booths. There are all sorts of themes as you can see from the curtains and graphics. Pick a booth, go inside and sit on these green steps (like a movie green screen). Then pick how many photos you want and the theme of each. Take a few photos just like a regular photobooth and you're done. or so i thought...

We went out to the back of the booth and started adding our own graphics to the photos! Add all kind of graphics, short phrases, glittery things, stars, fairy dust, and cartoon characters. about 80 different pen color/stroke options. It was way too fresh.

you know i was all about doodling on photos! I could done this forever.

oh! you can also pick one and email it to your phone. Okay, so who wants to go in with me and pick up a few of these booths? Instead of having the photos sent to your phone you can send it to your facebook or myspace. Instant profile photo switch up. That would be money in the bank. Why has no one done that here in the states yet?

BK x Miyota

After a couple of hours talking with Miho and driving around her city i realized it is Springfield's twin. I can't wait to put up the post all about the cars! They are so tiny!

It's Grandma! She was very nice. She gave me 3 oranges and two charms she makes herself. Miho said she really wanted to speak to me but didn't know any english to say.

BIG BOY!? Snipper, you would also feel right at home here...but i guess they don't have any hamburgers....all bad.

The first then I saw in Tokyo when I came out of the subway stop was a Denny's. Don't worry, i haven't eaten there and i promise i won't.

Notice how the chairs are all different? That is how we want to set up our kitchen when ever we get around to buying a new table.

Yushi Cafe is easily the best cafe i've been to thus far. It is perfect. The interior was eclectic - kinda japanese, kinda vintage, kinda hip designy. They were playing Billie Holiday and the latte was good. 

Word button.

Merican Karuizawa Whisky

Miho and i were chatting and I mentioned I was looking for some good Japanese whisky to take back home. Soon after I said that we happen to drive past a whisky brewery! say word.

They had a nice selection that started with 1992 on down to 1976. It took me a while to decide that two bottles of the 1989 would be better than one bottle of 1979 which was just about 150 bucks. whoa. Maybe if i was a connoisseur of the stuff it would be worth it.

Blazey know's he has one with his name on it but i'm not sure who gets the other. Maybe we can celebrate the new year and each drink one? Marcia is a whisky girl so maybe her? I thought about you Ebony but I wasn't sure. Plus i haven't seen you comment in a while and i'm kinda salty - I thought you were my number one fan!? I'm pretty sure Jillian, my fantastic neighbor, will get the wine (cause i know she will share it with me).

Miyota...amazing

Thanks to Miho I just arrived back at my hotel after the most amazing day in Japan yet (it is 5 am my time). I'm downloading photos and maybe tomorrow i'll be able to post some things up before I catch the bullet train (shinkosen) up to Tokyo.

Raw Fatty Horse Meat

Okay, I did this stricly because of catching backlash for eating so much Starbucks and the few double cheese burgers i had at McDonalds. We went to a tapas like place and got a varitiety of foods. after were were just about finnished Mish saw that there was a dish called raw fatty horse meat. I thought, now this would be something interesting to eat. So we decided to order another beer and a freshly killed Mr. Ed.

How did it taste? Well, kinda like nothing. If it weren't for the ginger and wasabe it would just be a chewy, really chewy piece of rubber i guess.

muji muji muji

I love Muji. I've been using muji notebooks exclusivly for the past few years. For a while you could only get them at the MoMa store in NYC. Now I can the notebooks and a ton of other things at their new SoHo store. I checked it out just before I left so i could remember what things the Japan stores would have that didn't make it over. Little did i know i would find Muji products in the FamilyMart (think Dairy Mart or 7Eleven) store around the corner! Then I found a full on store yesterday in the mall. WORD. I would get everyone gifts from here if i could.

flickr-joint-0688.jpg

I didn't get much, just a few small things but I plan on getting much more in Tokyo. I think the flagship store is there.

market-1-6.jpg

market-1-5.jpg

flickr-joint-0678.jpg

flickr-joint-0686.jpg

rubik cube

Blazey, you know i had to get this shades of grey rubik's cube for you.

The retail experience

I just want to quickly say thank you to the brand managers at Starbucks and McDonalds. You are awesome. How you can make each and everyone of your billion Starbucks look, feel, smell and taste the exact same is nothing short of amazing and I love you for it. Yeah, i could go to the "Best Coffee Hut" next door or Cafe Coffee down the street here in Japan but why when i can get a delicious mocha latte or even a special holiday crème brûlée latte. I don't think i've ever had starbucks as much as i have in the past few days. The same goes for you Mr. McDonalds Brand Person.

one of the starbucks in kanazawa