A Fantastic High Definition Video of One of My Old Haunts...

Sorry, I didn't make this video. Whoever did has my admiration and gratitude because it brings back a lot of fun memories. It's Kabukicho, the "red light district" of Tokyo's fabulous Shinjuku ward. Whenever I went to Tokyo back in the day, I stayed right in the heart of it at a business hotel called Hotel Kent. My students kept telling me how dangerous it was; apparently, they eventually got through to me because I shifted my Tokyo headquarters out to Hatagaya and the more affordable Sakura Hotel-- which I highly recommend to any young travellers looking for reasonably priced lodgings. They also plan all kinds of educational and fun cultural and social events.

I used to love walking around Kabukicho at night. Prostitutes-- female and male-- used to proposition me pretty frequently. Not that I'm anything special; it's their job to pick up stragglers and earn some yen for their pimps.

Once, being something of a smart ass, I switched up the transaction on a working girl.

"You'll pay me how much for what?" I asked her and she looked as if her brain skipped a groove.

A heavy-set man in a suit came running over, telling me and my friend Mike in perfect English we had it all wrong, that it didn't work that way. I decided my lame comedy stylings worked better as a road act so the two of us high-tailed it out of there and found a hostess bar in which to drink and be groped by topless women in g-strings as we passed from sobriety into a more risk-taking frames of mind. The end result was we left about 200 bucks lighter and my face smeared with lipstick of some kind.

From time to time, I wonder what happened to that girl. She was quite pretty, had a little English, probably was scared most of the time. I can't imagine her story will have a happy ending. Whatever else was happening to her at the time, it certainly was no fairy tale, and I was no Richard Gere.

That's Kabuki-cho. A dangerous place? I don't know. I felt a little nervous there, but I also came through unscathed each time, no matter how drunk I got. And during the day it's full of young office workers having lunch, teams of stylish young women shopping or high school kids. Plus hardcore pachinko addicts who are too fixated on their little metal balls to care much about some bald white guy walking around gawking at the scenery. And, as you can see from this video, even at night it teems with diners, shoppers and your everyday variety fun-seekers. So I imagine danger is a subjective thing.

Then again, I once threw myself into the center of a riot one night back home in the States. So perhaps I'm not the best judge of whatever constitutes risky behavior.

Visit Medieval Europe in the Heart of Modern Tokyo...

Every once in a while Carl Jung likes to goose me from beyond the grave. I'm re-reading The Once and Future King by T.H. White, one of my most beloved books. I lived in Japan for six years. I even went to an Akihabara maid cafe styled after a German castle.

And I've just now discovered Castle Tintagel. During my time in Japan, I met quite a few people who traveled to Japan to learn Asian martial arts, but this is the first time I've seen people learning European martial arts there.

Heck yeah, why not? Why not do something out of the ordinary, something free from cliche while you're in Japan? Anyone can eat sushi or take an ikebana class (and I recommend you try both)-- only the daring few will take a class in the German longsword. I really had no idea there were chivalry enthusiasts over there, and the photos certainly make the experience look fun. This is something I wish I'd known about before I jetted back to the States because I would have loved doing a little Renaissance dancing in Tokyo. Not so sure about the sparring in full armor. I'm a lover, not a fighter.

Christmas in July, MxBx Style!

This seems to be the hot thing this year in the States: Christmas in July. Charities are doing it, stores are doing it. Now you can do it, too, with Melt-Banana. This is a fun video with the longest Yasuko monologue I've yet heard.

Tokyo's Big! Yeah yeah yeah!

It's not small! No no no!

This is a view towards Shibuya and Shinjuku from the main observation deck of Tokyo Tower. I climbed 500 meters up the central stairs to get to this two-story deck. The line for the elevator to the very top was so long, I decided to walk as far as they'd allow. I'm not squeamish about heights, just about human constructions that take us to those heights. I don't trust 'em. So huffing and puffing my way up some steel steps was actually more comfortable for me than taking the elevator and watching Tokyo vertiginously fall away from my feet, thoughts of structural and mechanical failure rampaging in my mind, sending panic-currents flowing through my nervous system.

The observation deck was crowded, due especially to the holiday. I went to Tokyo Tower during Golden Week, that special time of the year when three national holidays in a row shut down a lot of businesses and send families hither and yon across Japan in search of fun. I don't know what someone who suffers from both acrophobia and agoraphobia would do at Tokyo Tower; I don't recommend you try if you have both these fears unless your doctor recommends it as some kind of immersion therapy.

The Shibuya Scramble...

"Black Hole Sun" cover by Cibo Matto.

Melt-Banana Redux

Here's the Photobucket version of the Melt-Banana video. I'm just testing to see which has the higher quality. Both have that guy's head in the way, though.

Melt-Banana at Shelter Shimokitazawa, April 29, 2010

This is a short video I made the other night at the MxBx show. I'm going to post a review of the happening later. Things are kind of in flux right now so I don't have as much time as I'd like or the ability to concentrate. Sorry! But enjoy the jittery video!