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Karl's Japan Blog continued It's the Monday after the show in Tokyo and I've just said farewell to the guys who were heading back to the UK and it was time for me to do some sight seeing,,, I headed back to the Shibuya area of Tokyo that Geoff had taken us to yesterday, to have a more relaxing walk around,,I was looking for a new digital camera and I couldn't be in a better country to find one. I have never seen so many cameras..All shapes, sizes and colours and manufacturers. This was going to be a challenge..I had no idea which model I was looking for so I decided to put it on hold and wander around Shibuya..The area reminded me of mid-town New York; lots of hustle and bustle, adverts everywhere and traffic.. After a couple of hours of this it was time for lunch.. After lunch I could feel myself starting to drift into a comatose state. It was time to head back to the hotel..I arrived back at the hotel around 3-pm and collapsed on the bed...the next thing I knew it was 8-am Tuesday morning.. Feeling somewhat revived it was time to attack the city..From my experience of big cities I found it's better if you have a plan.. Today was to be a tourist blitz.. First was to find a camera and off to Akihabara (aka Electric City) if I thought Shibuya was a headache Akihabara was going to be a migraine. After finally deciding on a model it was time to haggle with the assistant and thankfully he was in a good mood. The haggling started and we ended up at a good price and he threw in a 2 gig memory stick as well.. Nice Chap..I gave him my passport to avoid sales tax, paid him and I was on my way.. Where to next?? After consulting my pocket guide I noticed I was not far from the Ueno part of town.. I thought lunch in the park followed by a trip around the zoo and hit the Tokyo National museum..So I headed for the subway (aka the underground) The Tokyo system is one of the best in the world and is very easy to use.. It was impeccably clean and everyone was very polite. Once in the Ueno area it was time to find some food..I found a sandwich shop and with food in hand headed to the park for lunch. The weather was sunny but chilly and the park was heaving with people and cats. There was a band busking in the park, who where very good and played everything from The Beatles to the Star Wars theme.. After watching them for 20 minutes I dropped some cash in the hat and headed for the zoo.. The zoo was okay.. There were some exhibits that were not there but on the whole it was a good visit. There were lots of school kids on day trips and they were so orderly it was a trip to watch their teachers herding them from cage to cage.. I must admit though, I thought the Tigers looked way to thin... After the zoo it was time for the Museum which was a walk across to the other side of the park.. This was very impressive and is well worth a visit.. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the museum.. There was so much to see and take in.. There were also exhibits from personal collections which dated back centuries through their respective family histories. By the time I left the museum it was close to 5-30pm and it was starting to get dark..The city was starting to light itself up like a neon postcard. It was time for dinner and I headed for a restaurant. I decided on English/American. After dinner I headed back to the Akasaka part of town; where I was staying and looked around then finally back to the hotel. It was around 11-pm when I hit the hotel. A full 14 hours of touristy stuff on one side of town and I was beat.. Tomorrow I was meeting Geoff for lunch and he was to show me another side of town.. I couldn't believe it was Wednesday tomorrow; the week was flying by; mind you I had slept for 18 hours. The City was waking slowly. The local birds were awaking at first light and making a horrendous cacophony, while this may have been mellifluous sounding to the locals it sounded like a load of Blue Jays squealing I though it was easier to get up I was up and out by eight o clock and headed to Denny's for breakfast. Denny's is an a food chain and the food was very good.. There breakfasts were very different to the Denny's in the US. With a few hours to kill until I was to meet Geoff I headed to the Hie-Jinja which is a shrine. There is a wonderful walk up a tunnel of red torii (shrine gates) and there was a wedding taking place once I reached the shrine. The shrine was very well maintained and clean and above all tranquill.. After the shrine I continued to look around the Akasaka area which was paved with hidden alleyways.. It was interesting to see old wooden buildings swamped by contemporary concrete/glass sky scrappers, they looked so out of place and yet so right. I met Geoff at the hotel and we headed for the Shinjuku part of town for lunch.. We had Italian food washed down with Japanese beer and I must admit it was very good. After lunch we headed to a local record store for me to do some signing and following that a DVD store. Geoff had taken the guys to this store on Saturday.. I met the owner signed a couple of posters and was given the freedom of the store to pick some DVD's. I walked out of the store with a stash of music DVDs. Following this Geoff had to pick up some stuff and we headed to a department store. Geoff left me in the new 3-D TV section while he picked up his shopping. Watching 3-D TV is very weird, no glasses required either. After this we headed up a tall building which the name escapes me for a birds eye view of the city.. Geoff had made arrangements with Glenn Williams for me to jam with Kyoji Yamamoto on Friday. Geoff had to head home around 6-pm and as we we parted ways and I thanked him again on behalf of the band and myself for making the show in Japan happen and for a great afternoon. I headed back to the hotel for a rest as my feet were on fire from all the walking I had been doing over the last two days and there was still two more days to go. I took a sandwich back to the hotel and watched TV and drifted into a deep sleep. Thursday was to be spent with my friend Mako..We met at the hotel and planned the day. We headed for the Imperial gardens and chatted about old times. It was a relief to be with someone who spoke the lingo, and not my broken sue-do Japanese /English clap trap; it made ordering stuff so much easier. After the Imperial gardens we headed for lunch, followed by the Tokyo tower. This tower is taller than the Eiffel tower and is very impressive. The view was spectacular and I could just see the snow peaked top of Mt Fuji in the distance. After this we headed to the aquarium. We had a great day and hit places that Mako hadn't been to which was good as we were both impressed with all that we saw.. We said farewells and I headed back to the hotel to change for dinner. Tonight was going to be Chinese food..This was the most expensive meal of the trip.; go figure..After dinner I hit the Asakusa side of town which was east of where I was staying..There was a wonderful market here and the Senso-ji-Temple which was spectacular when it was all lit up. After roaming around Asakusa for a few hours it was time to head back to the hotel. Friday morning arrived very quickly and I had still had central Tokyo to do. This was primarily a shopping zone..However all Tokyo is a shopping meca.
There was a house band which was extremely good. The band was comprised of Drums, Bass, Two guitars and a vocalist who would interchange with other members of staff. I had never seen this before..The guy who had just delivered the JD & Coke was now playing drums and the female singer was now serving tables; a brilliant concept. The JD and Coke was flowing when one of the guys introduced Kyoji and myself to the audience and we made our way to the stage.. It's always odd playing someone else's drum kit. I thought to myself no point re-arranging anything as the house drummers have to hit the thing after me.. And with sticks in hand Kyoji started the riff to Purple Haze and off we went into blues heaven.. Not sure if any of you are familiar with Kyoji's playing.. All I can say is that he is a very gifted guitarist and a great musician and phenomenal chops..And you guitarists should check him out; he's one bad Mutha*&^%$# After the jam we left the stage to a roaring cheer by the audience. it was back to the JD and the bottle was fast becoming empty.. The band played an absolutely brilliant version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. It was also visually great..If your in Tokyo you gotta check this place out.. Kyoji was called back to the stage to jam again and stunned the audience with his guitar playing..After this I was called back to the stage and we jammed on Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll with the female vocalist handling the vocals.. It's always a pleasure to play with Kats who have their chops together; you can go anywhere within the song and feel comfortable knowing they will either follow or take you to a place which challenges you. After this, it was back to the table for more liquid refreshments and Mama brought another bottle of JD and some nibbles and chatted about everything and nothing. I said my farewells to Kyoji, Hiro and Glenn. Mama gave me a Bauhaus sweatshirt and told me to come back soon.. Will do Mama!!! I'm not sure what time it was when Glenn put me in a taxi as I was three sheets to the wind.. What a night and what a week.
It was Saturday morning and it was time to check-out and meet Nobu who is our label manager for lunch. He gave me a DVD of the show and two discs full of photos from the show..Again I thanked him and Ikeda San for everything..After lunch a coach ride to Narita airport and a 12 hour flight back to New Jersey and six inches of snow. Ugh!! Peace from DHQ. Karl |
