Japan?

michael

Bring out the vacuum
Hey,

I think I've seen a few people posting from Japan on here. My wife and I are off to do the whole English teaching malarky in November... if anyone's out there and wants to send me a message or just share some experiences here or whatever, well, that would be just swell. :)
 

tox

Factory Girl
Where abouts are you gonna be based?

Im out in Fukuoka studying Japanese at the moment. Small for a Japanese city, but a really good place.

If you think of anything you wanna know before you come out here then just ask away...
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
We're flying into Osaka, currently doing the online job hunt for work around that area, so not exactly sure where we'll be yet.

We did look at Fukuoka as well, just to go somewhere different from most efl teachers. :)

I can't think of any specific questions to ask off hand.

Actually, have you (anyone?) gone to many gigs? I've heard from friends who were in Osaka that they're very expensive (ignoring exchange rates, just relative to income). Also heard they start very early for dance culture related things. Headliners on before midnight and other scandals. ;)
 

Melchior

Taking History Too Far
michael said:
Also heard they start very early for dance culture related things. Headliners on before midnight and other scandals. ;)

Holy fuck, I'm moving over tomorrow!
 

tox

Factory Girl
michael said:
Actually, have you (anyone?) gone to many gigs? I've heard from friends who were in Osaka that they're very expensive (ignoring exchange rates, just relative to income). Also heard they start very early for dance culture related things. Headliners on before midnight and other scandals. ;)

ive only been out here for 2 weeks, but managed to get down to a Gilles Peterson show the other night. It was 25quid in (steep!), but with 2 free drinks. lasted til 4 in the morning although the atmosphere was a bit wierd (lots of moshing?!). Seems to be a fair amount going on here - In terms of Dance theres lots of Trance, Hip-Hop and Broken Beat. Have to keep in mind that it could be unique to Fukuoka as its fairly far removed from Tokyo and Osaka...
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Lived in Osaka for a bit - v expensive, but plenty of English teaching work round that way. Great selection of gigs/club nights, but,again, on the expensive side. I fyou like sensory overload, you'll love Japan.
 

treblekicker

True Faith
Flying out on October 20th, doing Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, some small Japanese town I don't even know the name of (where friends live) and Okinawa. Are there any good modern art galleries in Tokyo?
 

minikomi

pu1.pu2.wav.noi
im a kansai boi but during the time i spent in tokyo (2 days with a sleep on a park bench inbetween) i found no shortage of free, small galleries around the ginza area. just wander around and look for the words gallery or galleria the japanese for it

ギャラリー or ギャラリア

ones of note: an excellent kaleidoscope gallery i can dig up the address of

a massive new-school japanese caligraphy display - all the pieces were done with house paint brushes and really over emphisized the meanings of the characters. eg ones for rain and lightening looked like ominous storm clouds. very powerful.

lots of independantly produced jewelery and sculptures ..

a wall full of sketches by someone very obviously influenced by yoshimoto nara..

sorry.. thats the best advice i can give you ;) wander in ginza... wander in ginza...
 

dsp13

GAMEBWOY
I've been in Tokyo for about 16 months. As far as gigs go... guess it depends on what kind of gig. Alot of rock shows start early and finish round midnight... mainly cos after last train (around 11:45pm - 1:30am depending on where yr headed) it would cost you a zillion yen to get a cab home to most places.

Be warned even the crappiest "4 unknown death metal bands" type gig can be around the same price as going to a big club. In Australia you can see some local bands for 5 bucks but that doesn't happen here. Most gigs I've been to (hip-hop / experimental / grime / jungle / shitmat live etc) have been allnighters that start from about 11pm and go through till the trains start around 5:30am the next day.

The big techno clubs have some nasty door charges sometimes but I usually pay around 2000 - 2500 yen. I've been told Osaka is awesome for all kinds of music. I'm sure you'll find something cool. If you're a psuedo alcoholic bum like me I highly recommend getting drunk at the nearest convenience store before going into a club cos drinks are always hideously expensive in
the clubs and they don't give pass-outs.
 

Tweak Head

Well-known member
Nagoya is worth thinking about. Not an exciting place but a good and comfortable place to live. it's big, but its unfashionable and often overlooked so there should be lots of jobs there. Handy for travelling around: 2 hrs from Tokyo, less than 1 hr to Kyoto/Osaka, on the bullet train, also good transport links to mountains, countryside etc. Not sure about the club scene. I saw Deep Purple there in 1986 ... it was a weird experience. Things have probably moved on since then, as have I.
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
Well, I'm here and in Tokyo, not Osaka, due to rescheduling flights and stuff...

Sensory overload, indeed. Yeesh.

Minikomi, if you read this, I'd love to hear about that kaleidoscope gallery. It'd be "my missus"'s thing, for sure.

Tried to see a Melbourne friend playing support for PanAmerican in Shibuya on Thursday, but cocked it up due to the fact his gig started at 6pm and was over by 10. Hah.

Went to the record shopping area of Shibuya today, which was obscene. Can't believe I was restrained enough to get away with a single sale CD. From a shop called "Sam's - Real Black Music!!", no less.

Tying into a thread (Modern Dub?) where dsp13 mentioned about dancehall here, attached is a sign from one of the many, many shops I've seen selling dancehall. Something made me smile about seeing "riddim" written amongst all the Japanese characters.

I tried to get a pic of a place in Shinjuku that was wall to wall dancehall 7"s, but it was too blurry.
 

Eric

Mr Moraigero
michael said:
Tying into a thread (Modern Dub?) where dsp13 mentioned about dancehall here, attached is a sign from one of the many, many shops I've seen selling dancehall. Something made me smile about seeing "riddim" written amongst all the Japanese characters.

Choo Big Riddim!! heh.

You still planning on coming over here, or are you going to do the Tokyo thing? If you come this way be in touch ...
 
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michael

Bring out the vacuum
Think I will be doing the Tokyo thing.. but will definitely PM if heading your way. Please (anyone) feel free to do the same!
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
Cool, thanks for that. I could be sorely tempted to have a go at their NY party... I just never know if I can hack a whooooole night of techno. But yay for Fehlmann still going strong.

Thomas Fehlmann (Kompakt)
Tobias Thomas (Kompakt/Spex)
Jennifer Cardini (Kill The Dj)
Triple R (Traum/Trapez/My Best Friend)
Steve Barnes aka Process/Cosmic Sandwich (Traum/Trapez/My Best Friend)
dublee (mule electronic)
Kosuke Anamizu (mule electronic)
Kentaro Iwaki aka Dub Archanoid Trim
Keita Magara
Toshiya Kawasaki (mule musiq)
and more....

"Oh my God .. it's techno music!"
 

polystyle

Well-known member
Thump thump thump thump

I hear you Michael
I have the Unit monthy little magazine with ad for the New Year's party and was going to mention it.
Happened to catch Fehlmann DJ'ing here a few months back and while it was good fun , not at all sure one's ears & brain could take a whole evening of it.
Maybe if you just pop in for the say, last 4 DJ's ...

Have a good one whatever you decide to do that night !
 

tetsu

New member
tokyo thing..

hello micheal and everyone else.. i feel kind of ashamed that this is my first post here though i have been lurking around this website for a while. however, i have decided to quit being a leech downloading all the good mixes and interesting knowledge out of the conversation that go on here.
anyway here is a couple of suggestions for places to;

grassroots in koenji puts on some interesting events as far as strange electronic music goes.. http://www.grassrootstribe.com/top.htm
shibuya module has some events on depending on the night you go to.
never been here myself but roppongi's super deluxe seems to have some intersting stuff going on too.
http://www.super-deluxe.com/

for art, have a look at this website;
www.tokyoartbeat.com
very useful bilingual website that has a wide range of art exhibit listed.

i have only been in this city for about 8 months but i have spent two thirds of my life here in japan (i used to live in osaka before this city) so if you need help with language etc give me a shout..
 
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Eric

Mr Moraigero
grassroots is definitely a good suggestion. i used to go there 7-8 years ago when it was just a neighborhood reggae/hiphop club filled with *yankees* (more or less the equivalent of British *chavs* if I understand this concept right). that was fun but it was surprising to see that the club had moved on so far and in the interesting direction it has. many friends play out there a lot. you might check l?k?o who used to be (and I think still is) one of the more interesting djs around in tokyo ...

unit sounds good to though I ve never been there. i do go to the sister club in osaka pretty frequently. saw dj assault there a couple weeks ago, which was extremely boring unfortuantely and not at all worth the 1 hour cold ass bike ride.
 
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