So far, some hoods.
I just got back to our hotel room, in Dobutsuen-mae, Osaka. A couple of people told me Osaka wasn't so great. They must have had thier blinders on. Plenty of historic sites, preserved and open to the public, plus easy to access. Castles, gardens, aquariums, a zoo, and tonight, in the mall to end all malls, (sounds bad right? Wrong, this strip of shops would make the most disgruntled misanthropic, consumer hating quasi-anarchist spend some yen), we got to watch the spectacle that was Envy and Converge.
I wish Envy were hitting home shores, as I know so many folk who would really appreciate what they bring. So in charge of thier sound, so controlled and soft, soft, loud, LOUD, LOUDER, LOUDEST, unchallenged. Tremendous.
Converge. We've all waited so long, (well some of us, less travelled), and they did not dissapoint for a second. That drummer is the most amazing human/beast/robot I have ever seen. Did not miss a beat, did not let up, and I don't think he even broke a sweat. they opened with 'Plagues', then busted into 'No Heroes', 'Eagles Become Vultures' and 'Broken Vow' without taking so much as a second to sneeze. Ultra tight, super loud, and bursting with energy, plus busting out the mad 'hits' ranks them up there with one of the top five shows I've been fortunate enough to be a part of.
Japanese sound systems also boom.
We've been here for a couple of days now, in what seems like one of the 'Ghetto' areas of Osaka. Lot's of homeless folk, a couple of dudes pissing in the street, and a corner hawk in a silver tracksuit asking me if I want some weed. I declined. The room is really nice though, the people who run the hotel we're staying in are super nice, (as slightly expected by now, plus the subway is literally in front of teh building and is two-five minutes travel to Umeda-Osaka and Shinsaibashi, both great parts of this side of Osaka. One of teh down-sides to this joint is if one fails to shower during the times provided, one must journey out the front of the hotel, and around the corner into a side street, and through the lobby of another hotel, where an old, rarely used shower is waiting for suds. I found out this morning while only in my towel and a shirt, (which I dropped on the wet floor during my shower), and had to shuffle half nude passed on-lookers and braving the Osaka chill. Not so fun. One of the up-sides, is being in the ghetto, one can find many a 100 yen store. Kind of like our two dollar variety stores, but one million times better. More like a IGA, where everything is 105 yen. Food, alcohol, socks, underwear, clothing and cutlery. Rulers.
We're set to leave here on the 14th, so I don't think we'll get the chance to see Kyoto, which is a little disappointing. But I've fallen so deep in love with this country, I know it's somewhere I'll return to in my lifetime, so no love lost.
I've been losing my mind over some of the prices, availability and range of effect pedals and guitars around here. It's almost criminal what we're made to pay at home, more-so that I don't have the funds to purchase many a fine instrument... I miss my guitars.
So aside from the above mentioned madness, this past week has seen us do a hint of shopping, a bunch of sightseeing, way more eating than necessary, a couple of relaxed days watching dvds, sleeping writing postcards and rambles, a night-ride coach trip from Tokyo to Osaka, and my personal fave, the Ueno Zoo. I'll make some time to elaborate on the rest later, but the Zoo, no doubt, was our joint love of the trip here so far. The animals all seemed so healthy, happy and well looked after. They had great large spaces, akin to thier habitats, (to the best of my knowledge), and teh variety and range of creatures present was like nothing I've ver seen. The Red-Panda and the night-time marsupials were my number ones, but it was difficult to get good shots of them. So many 'little guys', wide-eyed and dynamite energetic, they made my heart flutter. As expected, I also wanted to jump into the Tiger enclosure and ride them, hug them and kiss them on the head.
I'm hungry.
Regal Beast.
This guy was just squating and looking around, like he'd been waiting for his date that stood him up twelve years ago, and he still thinks she'll arrive.
My love.
My love part two.
My love eats meat.
Riding Tigers.
Kicking Tigers in the ear.
This guy looked like a mini snow-cat, or a fluffy, buff house cat that might snap in second and claw your face, or cuddle up to you and purr. Conflicted.
Grass eating, big-head bear.
Many bears in japan. Many.
They will cut you.
These guys were performing some strange back-and-forth dance, I'd never witnessed anything of the like. They looked surreal up close.
Big fun for little chimp.
Making pals with one of the homeless. So many street cats in Japan and they're all wearing battle scars. Too sweet though.
We noticed a bunch of these 'camps' set-up around different places, parks and river-sides in japan. It's how a great number of the homeless survive here.
There are some gnarly cigarette packets here. yes, I wrote 'gnarly'.
One of the alley-ways in Shin-Juku. this is one of the tighter, stinkier ones, with little bars and eateries lining the maze of streets like these.
Our number one morning eatery: Mister Donut
Five storied pagonda.
Japanese kids are almost the cutest things in the world.
I wish Envy were hitting home shores, as I know so many folk who would really appreciate what they bring. So in charge of thier sound, so controlled and soft, soft, loud, LOUD, LOUDER, LOUDEST, unchallenged. Tremendous.
Converge. We've all waited so long, (well some of us, less travelled), and they did not dissapoint for a second. That drummer is the most amazing human/beast/robot I have ever seen. Did not miss a beat, did not let up, and I don't think he even broke a sweat. they opened with 'Plagues', then busted into 'No Heroes', 'Eagles Become Vultures' and 'Broken Vow' without taking so much as a second to sneeze. Ultra tight, super loud, and bursting with energy, plus busting out the mad 'hits' ranks them up there with one of the top five shows I've been fortunate enough to be a part of.
Japanese sound systems also boom.
We've been here for a couple of days now, in what seems like one of the 'Ghetto' areas of Osaka. Lot's of homeless folk, a couple of dudes pissing in the street, and a corner hawk in a silver tracksuit asking me if I want some weed. I declined. The room is really nice though, the people who run the hotel we're staying in are super nice, (as slightly expected by now, plus the subway is literally in front of teh building and is two-five minutes travel to Umeda-Osaka and Shinsaibashi, both great parts of this side of Osaka. One of teh down-sides to this joint is if one fails to shower during the times provided, one must journey out the front of the hotel, and around the corner into a side street, and through the lobby of another hotel, where an old, rarely used shower is waiting for suds. I found out this morning while only in my towel and a shirt, (which I dropped on the wet floor during my shower), and had to shuffle half nude passed on-lookers and braving the Osaka chill. Not so fun. One of the up-sides, is being in the ghetto, one can find many a 100 yen store. Kind of like our two dollar variety stores, but one million times better. More like a IGA, where everything is 105 yen. Food, alcohol, socks, underwear, clothing and cutlery. Rulers.
We're set to leave here on the 14th, so I don't think we'll get the chance to see Kyoto, which is a little disappointing. But I've fallen so deep in love with this country, I know it's somewhere I'll return to in my lifetime, so no love lost.
I've been losing my mind over some of the prices, availability and range of effect pedals and guitars around here. It's almost criminal what we're made to pay at home, more-so that I don't have the funds to purchase many a fine instrument... I miss my guitars.
So aside from the above mentioned madness, this past week has seen us do a hint of shopping, a bunch of sightseeing, way more eating than necessary, a couple of relaxed days watching dvds, sleeping writing postcards and rambles, a night-ride coach trip from Tokyo to Osaka, and my personal fave, the Ueno Zoo. I'll make some time to elaborate on the rest later, but the Zoo, no doubt, was our joint love of the trip here so far. The animals all seemed so healthy, happy and well looked after. They had great large spaces, akin to thier habitats, (to the best of my knowledge), and teh variety and range of creatures present was like nothing I've ver seen. The Red-Panda and the night-time marsupials were my number ones, but it was difficult to get good shots of them. So many 'little guys', wide-eyed and dynamite energetic, they made my heart flutter. As expected, I also wanted to jump into the Tiger enclosure and ride them, hug them and kiss them on the head.
I'm hungry.
Regal Beast.
This guy was just squating and looking around, like he'd been waiting for his date that stood him up twelve years ago, and he still thinks she'll arrive.
My love.
My love part two.
My love eats meat.
Riding Tigers.
Kicking Tigers in the ear.
This guy looked like a mini snow-cat, or a fluffy, buff house cat that might snap in second and claw your face, or cuddle up to you and purr. Conflicted.
Grass eating, big-head bear.
Many bears in japan. Many.
They will cut you.
These guys were performing some strange back-and-forth dance, I'd never witnessed anything of the like. They looked surreal up close.
Big fun for little chimp.
Making pals with one of the homeless. So many street cats in Japan and they're all wearing battle scars. Too sweet though.
We noticed a bunch of these 'camps' set-up around different places, parks and river-sides in japan. It's how a great number of the homeless survive here.
There are some gnarly cigarette packets here. yes, I wrote 'gnarly'.
One of the alley-ways in Shin-Juku. this is one of the tighter, stinkier ones, with little bars and eateries lining the maze of streets like these.
Our number one morning eatery: Mister Donut
Five storied pagonda.
Japanese kids are almost the cutest things in the world.