Jenni Tarma

ok, so clearly i have been totally blowing it with regards to completing my proposed write-up of our trip to Japan. the last week has been busy, not to mention that some other bullshit has been happening that i don't really care to get into right now. i forgot to mention that all photos of our magnificent time in Tokyo can be found here. that's right, my Flickr page! where you can also find a literally bottomless pit of unnecessarily high-def nature photography, as well as many pictures of my shoes, standing on various locations around the world.

anywhoo, show #2 at the UFO club was also rad, if almost unbearably smoky for our cigarette-sensitive, LA-pansified selves. when i say that everyone in Tokyo smokes, i mean that EVERONE in Tokyo smokes. from what i can tell, people aren't even doing it because they enjoy it, but almost purely out of boredom, or to pass the time. feel free to correct me on that. the backstage room was very little, as well as being occupied by about nine bands that particular night; the venue was tiny but sounded great, and all the other bands were killing it too. our friend Masa joined us for some dinner at a nearby restaurant, where, thanks to him, we ended up eating things that we never would have ordered by ourselves. it's not that we're unadventurous or anything, but rather the fact that the menu was exclusively in Japanese, so we were basically pointing at random things and seeing what turned up. anyway, Masa arrived, and made everyone happy by ordering more sake, as well as different types of curdled beans and tofu that i didn't even know existed.

i should mention that it was round about this time in our trip that we started noticing the overwhelming dominance of Jazzmasters and Jaguars with local bands. i think that Eskimohunter John played the ONLY Gibson on every bill that we were on. and it's not like dudes just had crappy, standard-issue axes; most people were rocking really sweet vintage instruments. sigh... if only bands in the US could aspire to anywhere near the same standards of musical excellence and great taste.

the next day saw John and i undertake some light shopping duties in Shibuya before heading to our show at Bullet's. Jason and i had played there with Ulrich Schnauss about six months previously, so we knew what to expect. namely, no shoes allowed in the venue, not to mention the fact that shows there run very late, so you'd best be prepared to play at 4am if that's your posted set time. oh, and another thing- NO DRUMS. many folk in the other bands were concerned about the "no shoes" rule, and how it would affect their ability to switch pedals on and off. well, it seems that everyone managed just fine. this show will forever stick in my mind as the night when both John and Jason fell asleep on various couches throughout the venue; to be honest, it's a goddam miracle we were even able to play, considering the frequency with which various members of the band were falling asleep in public. at some point in the evening we took a stroll out in the neighborhood, which was only down the street from Roppongi. Roppongi is known as an incredibly wealthy area of Tokyo, populated by huge numbers of rich ex-pats and diplomats. it's also known as the seediest part of town, and the place to go should you be looking to pay for sexual favours. all i can say is, our ten-minute walk through the place grossed me out sufficiently that i will not feel the need to return, hopefully ever. woo! way to go, Western folk of Roppongi, for you clearly have the ability to make all of us look bad with no help from me.

my hoodie is from Uniqlo, which is a JAPANESE CLOTHING LABEL. do you see where i'm going with this?

Sunday was our day off, which we used for general adventuring around the city. actually, calling it a "day off" is a bit rich, since we had all basically taken time off from our real lives to be there to begin with, so it was all an extended vacation anyway. we checked out the Prada building, which was amazing in its gloriously innovative design, as well as its ability to tolerate our scruffy, sneakered, picture-taking presence for a whole five minutes. thank you, Prada staff of Tokyo. we also took a big walk in Yoyogi park, strolled around Harajuku, and met up with Jason, who had mysteriously vanished in the early am of the previous night. at some point we also made it to Tokyo Tower, which, in spite of being an obvious tourist trap, does offer some truly spectacular views of the city. we watched the sunset from there, got vertigo looking into the "Lookdown Window" (does exactly what you think it would), and then bailed to go eat sushi.

our last show at Fever was easily the best one of our mini-tour. the venue was great, the sound was fantastic, and the backstage room was DOUBLE RAD. by this point, all the US-based bands had become buddies, so there was a lot of goodwill being expressed after each one came off stage after their set. on top of this, our promoter Manabu was celebrating his birthday that day, so there were some truly touching tributes being delivered from the stage, not to mention some delicious birthday drinks being paid for on our behalf at the bar.

to summarize, i cannot wait to go back to Japan, which hopefully we'll be able to do soon, God (and Manabu) willing. thank you to the bands that we had the privilege to play with. thank you to all our local buddies who took the time out of their busy schedule to hang out with us and show us around. and speaking of local buddies and bands, here is a song by a Japanese shoegaze band that Masa was kind enough to introduce us to.

Pounding - Primrose

see you next time, Tokyo!