My heart is here today.
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
11.3.11
7.7.10
moving pictures
Hope you guys had a great long weekend (or even just a regular one!) I had Tuesday off as well so mine was extra looong. However--I put my time to good use, namely by finally finishing up editing all the Super8 footage I took during my trip with the Pains to Japan, Australia and New Zealand back in February (see photos posts here, here and here.) It was really hard cramming all the highlights into 2:40 (guess that's what I get for choosing the shortest song off their album?) but I think I got most of the best bits in there!
Anyways, I hope you like it! I encourage you to click through and watch it a bit bigger/better quality if you have the time. Also, and I can't say this enough: thank you a million times over to everyone in the band and to everyone who helped make our trip possible. Here's to the memoriessss!!
P.S. I put together a post talking a bit about Super8 last year, but if you guys have any other questions please feel free to ask away! I was fortunate this time to shoot on a borrowed Canon 518, which is a camera I'd really like to own myself and a great, basic, easy to use model.
31.3.10
more more more
Just in case there's anyone left out there who hasn't had their fill of our travel photos, Alex recently put up all his medium format Yashica pictures from both Japan and Australia/New Zealand (including this shot of me blissing out in Melbourne, wearing what appear to be epicly endless mom-jeans. They were actually epicly short mom-jeans shorts, but the frame conveniently ends just before my legs began!)
There's some real gems in there, so have a look if you've got the time <3.
(P.S. the rest of my photos are here, here and here.)
19.3.10
JaPains on Film, Round 2
So: here are the rest of my photos from our time in Japan! Please do click them to make them larger, or view them on my flickr stream (this format does nothing for horizontal shots, which is basically all I take heh.)
What a surprise, on a grey day in Hiroshima, to look out our hotel window, and in a sea of white and silver cars, see a blue one, a red one and a yellow one all parked next to one another!
I made Alex pose pensively next to the window in our hotel cuz the light was so nice. Note also on the table: Nylon Japan (like everything in Japan, infinitely superior to its Western cousin) and a Royal Milk Tea Kit Kat, drooool.
The view from our hotel room, out into the city of Hiroshima.
Me being a creep and catching Alex unawares with his internetting face on.
Later that same day we took a ferry to Miyajima Island, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. It was cold and misty and a little rainy, but really I think that was perfect, and it made everything seem a little more mystical...
Another view from the ferry to Miyajima. You can see part of the famous Itsukushima Shrine, painted a glorious vermilion, off in the corner.
Half of Miyajima is a beautiful shrine set below mist-shrowded hills; the other half is sort of a quaint, sprawling tourist mall. There were a lot of delicious foods to choose from, many of which had fake example versions out front. We thought this place was hawking "silver" flavored ice cream, off to the left there, until Naoki explained that duh, it was just chocolate and the paint had rubbed off. Let down.
Ooooh man, these cats are anamatronic and dance to "I'm Gonna Getcha Good" by Shania Twain. I still can't believe I didn't buy one, they were only about $12.00!! Idiot!! But yeah, I did get some movie footage...
The Gate at Itsukushima Shrine. It's set out in the water, and really is something to see. The shrine was first built in 563 AD, and then rebuilt again in 1168. The island itself has been worshiped as divine "since ancient times". Yep, read the brochure!
Alex signing autographs after the show the next night in Fukuoka. The fans in Japan were really amazing. The band was pretty much mobbed after each show by people wanting to shake hands, get something signed, and have their picture taken. Everyone was incredibly nice and excited, and I don't think a night went by that someone didn't bring the band a really sweet gift. One lady even brought us BAGELS in Kobe!!
Christoph signing a CD after the Fukuoka show. Christoph isn't technically in the band, he just tours and plays second guitar with them (he's really in another band called The Depreciation Guild), but man, that didn't bother the Japanese none! Maybe because he's half Japanese himself, and has some pretty sweet moves onstage.
Peggy and Nick at the venue before the show in Nagoya. This place was insane!! Sooooo small, but tall, with a balcony level and a spiral staircase. It was under the train tracks and you could hear the train literally run on top of the ceiling now and then. Sadly all the rest of my photos from that night got lost...
...along with the rest of the photos from this night, which included Shibuya after dark (craziness), AND the view from the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt Hotel in Shinjuku. Yup, you guessed it, that's the hotel from Lost in Translation haha. I just want to point out that we didn't actually request that trip, Naoki had arranged it for us. Still, as cheesy, insanely expensive and over-priced it may have been, the view is increeeedible!
The Pains during sound check before the last show in Japan, again at Fever in Tokyo.
Two tour staples: Crunky (like a Crunch Bar but 1000x better) and CHU-HI. Oh Chu-Hi, sweet elixir of the gods! The day someone in the US starts importing this stuff...is the day I become a permanent waste-oid hahaha.
Between sound check and showtime at Fever, Alex, Peggy, Nick and I took a short taxi ride to the Shimokitazawa district, which is a really pretty little place to walk around. These flowers outside a shop looked like beautiful pink fluffy clouds.
The night before I saw another of these signs, but that time it was on top of a huge building in Shinjuku on a light-up scrolling board. I don't know what it means...but it scares me...and I like it.
A fishtank set in the outside wall of a restaurant we walked by. Probably just waiting around to be turned into someone's dinner...
Hahaha, I can't believe this picture came out! Weird life-sized bashful Kewpie dolls outside another restaurant. They know how to get your attention in Japan!
Back at Fever, Peggy signing a photo from one of those Fuji instant cameras before the show.
The last show in Japan, from backstage. A lot of the people in the front row had been at the first show they played there, and a couple had come to one or two of the other shows as well! Man, when you love the Pains...you LOVE the Pains!
Going shopping with Peggy is simultaneously amazing, because Peggy rules and is super-fun, and incredubly depressing because she always manages to find the best, coolest stuff before you do. Like this T-shirt that was $5.00 at a weird fake vintage store. Oh, yeah?????
Bye Japan!!!
Next stop: Australia and New Zealand!
What a surprise, on a grey day in Hiroshima, to look out our hotel window, and in a sea of white and silver cars, see a blue one, a red one and a yellow one all parked next to one another!
I made Alex pose pensively next to the window in our hotel cuz the light was so nice. Note also on the table: Nylon Japan (like everything in Japan, infinitely superior to its Western cousin) and a Royal Milk Tea Kit Kat, drooool.
The view from our hotel room, out into the city of Hiroshima.
Me being a creep and catching Alex unawares with his internetting face on.
Later that same day we took a ferry to Miyajima Island, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. It was cold and misty and a little rainy, but really I think that was perfect, and it made everything seem a little more mystical...
Another view from the ferry to Miyajima. You can see part of the famous Itsukushima Shrine, painted a glorious vermilion, off in the corner.
Half of Miyajima is a beautiful shrine set below mist-shrowded hills; the other half is sort of a quaint, sprawling tourist mall. There were a lot of delicious foods to choose from, many of which had fake example versions out front. We thought this place was hawking "silver" flavored ice cream, off to the left there, until Naoki explained that duh, it was just chocolate and the paint had rubbed off. Let down.
Ooooh man, these cats are anamatronic and dance to "I'm Gonna Getcha Good" by Shania Twain. I still can't believe I didn't buy one, they were only about $12.00!! Idiot!! But yeah, I did get some movie footage...
The Gate at Itsukushima Shrine. It's set out in the water, and really is something to see. The shrine was first built in 563 AD, and then rebuilt again in 1168. The island itself has been worshiped as divine "since ancient times". Yep, read the brochure!
Alex signing autographs after the show the next night in Fukuoka. The fans in Japan were really amazing. The band was pretty much mobbed after each show by people wanting to shake hands, get something signed, and have their picture taken. Everyone was incredibly nice and excited, and I don't think a night went by that someone didn't bring the band a really sweet gift. One lady even brought us BAGELS in Kobe!!
Christoph signing a CD after the Fukuoka show. Christoph isn't technically in the band, he just tours and plays second guitar with them (he's really in another band called The Depreciation Guild), but man, that didn't bother the Japanese none! Maybe because he's half Japanese himself, and has some pretty sweet moves onstage.
Peggy and Nick at the venue before the show in Nagoya. This place was insane!! Sooooo small, but tall, with a balcony level and a spiral staircase. It was under the train tracks and you could hear the train literally run on top of the ceiling now and then. Sadly all the rest of my photos from that night got lost...
...along with the rest of the photos from this night, which included Shibuya after dark (craziness), AND the view from the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt Hotel in Shinjuku. Yup, you guessed it, that's the hotel from Lost in Translation haha. I just want to point out that we didn't actually request that trip, Naoki had arranged it for us. Still, as cheesy, insanely expensive and over-priced it may have been, the view is increeeedible!
The Pains during sound check before the last show in Japan, again at Fever in Tokyo.
Two tour staples: Crunky (like a Crunch Bar but 1000x better) and CHU-HI. Oh Chu-Hi, sweet elixir of the gods! The day someone in the US starts importing this stuff...is the day I become a permanent waste-oid hahaha.
Between sound check and showtime at Fever, Alex, Peggy, Nick and I took a short taxi ride to the Shimokitazawa district, which is a really pretty little place to walk around. These flowers outside a shop looked like beautiful pink fluffy clouds.
The night before I saw another of these signs, but that time it was on top of a huge building in Shinjuku on a light-up scrolling board. I don't know what it means...but it scares me...and I like it.
A fishtank set in the outside wall of a restaurant we walked by. Probably just waiting around to be turned into someone's dinner...
Hahaha, I can't believe this picture came out! Weird life-sized bashful Kewpie dolls outside another restaurant. They know how to get your attention in Japan!
Back at Fever, Peggy signing a photo from one of those Fuji instant cameras before the show.
The last show in Japan, from backstage. A lot of the people in the front row had been at the first show they played there, and a couple had come to one or two of the other shows as well! Man, when you love the Pains...you LOVE the Pains!
Going shopping with Peggy is simultaneously amazing, because Peggy rules and is super-fun, and incredubly depressing because she always manages to find the best, coolest stuff before you do. Like this T-shirt that was $5.00 at a weird fake vintage store. Oh, yeah?????
Bye Japan!!!
Next stop: Australia and New Zealand!
18.3.10
JaPains on Film, Round 1
Aaaaahhh, so I'm about to go completely cross-eyed from using the spot healing tool on Photoshop (you get what you pay for when you trust York Photo Labs with your biz...), but nonetheless, here's the first round of my photos from my time in Japan with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart! Many more to come!
You can click them to make 'em larger, and/or view them on my flickr as well. I'll add captions along the way :n )
Waking up in our hotel the first morning in Tokyo. The best feeling ever!
A store full of cat stuff that I still regret not going in to, near Gotanda Station in Tokyo.
The view from Gotanda Station. This was right after me and Alex's first trip to a real grocery store (i.e. not a 7-11) in Japan and we were so proud that we'd figured out how to buy breakfast! Actually, I never stopped being proud after managing to feed myself in Japan. Small victories.
The Pains' first show at Fever in Tokyo. They played there again on the last night of our stay in Japan.
Bicycles in Osaka. A few blocks away, we found a pet store that sold tiny monkeys in the back, and later we accidentally ate at a Chinese restaurant, because they were the only place with pictures on the menu!
Watching the Superbowl...live...but the next morning...in a hotel room in Osaka???
On our way to the top of the train station in Kyoto, where we ate in a restaurant that was decorated with slug-like plastic icebergs lit from within.
Part of Kiyomizu Temple, which is in the hills above Kyoto.
The view from Kiyomizu Temple. You can't really tell, but there were some pretty sweet Jesus rays goin' on.
A wall of cats in another cat-ephemera store. Now I know that when I get old, all I have to do is move to Japan and open up one of these babies. Neko seiko!!
Those Hope and Peace cigarettes again, never gets old!
We started up a tally of all the cities that had some sort of "fake Space Needle" going on downtown. This is Kyoto's bid. Also on the list: Sydney and Auckland.
Pretty flowers for sale on the walk to the train station in Kakogawa. It was so warm and sunny that morning, and we ate hotdogs baked into tiny baguettes for breakfast.
"Portrait of the Artist as an Old Naked Saxophone Player"
Dusk in Kobe, on our way to eat Kobe burgers!
Alex and Kip onstage at the show that night at Kobe Blueport.
Sweet, Japan-exclusive Pains shirts! I made Alex nab me a blue and white one, now I wish I'd gotten lavender...
Naoki!!! Oh Naoki. The owner of Fastcut Records, who put out the Pains record in Japan. Also: our babysitter for ten days, he went everywhere we went, even the world's saddest zoo. Bless. This. Man.
The walls of the greenroom at Kobe Blueport were covered in some serious wtf band name graffitti. Some of my favorites included Mislead Balds, Fuck You Heroes and Sweef. I thought we should join the party, I mean honestly, does "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart" not kinda sound like the best wtf Japanese band name ever??
More soooooooon!
You can click them to make 'em larger, and/or view them on my flickr as well. I'll add captions along the way :n )
Waking up in our hotel the first morning in Tokyo. The best feeling ever!
A store full of cat stuff that I still regret not going in to, near Gotanda Station in Tokyo.
The view from Gotanda Station. This was right after me and Alex's first trip to a real grocery store (i.e. not a 7-11) in Japan and we were so proud that we'd figured out how to buy breakfast! Actually, I never stopped being proud after managing to feed myself in Japan. Small victories.
The Pains' first show at Fever in Tokyo. They played there again on the last night of our stay in Japan.
Bicycles in Osaka. A few blocks away, we found a pet store that sold tiny monkeys in the back, and later we accidentally ate at a Chinese restaurant, because they were the only place with pictures on the menu!
Watching the Superbowl...live...but the next morning...in a hotel room in Osaka???
On our way to the top of the train station in Kyoto, where we ate in a restaurant that was decorated with slug-like plastic icebergs lit from within.
Part of Kiyomizu Temple, which is in the hills above Kyoto.
The view from Kiyomizu Temple. You can't really tell, but there were some pretty sweet Jesus rays goin' on.
A wall of cats in another cat-ephemera store. Now I know that when I get old, all I have to do is move to Japan and open up one of these babies. Neko seiko!!
Those Hope and Peace cigarettes again, never gets old!
We started up a tally of all the cities that had some sort of "fake Space Needle" going on downtown. This is Kyoto's bid. Also on the list: Sydney and Auckland.
Pretty flowers for sale on the walk to the train station in Kakogawa. It was so warm and sunny that morning, and we ate hotdogs baked into tiny baguettes for breakfast.
"Portrait of the Artist as an Old Naked Saxophone Player"
Dusk in Kobe, on our way to eat Kobe burgers!
Alex and Kip onstage at the show that night at Kobe Blueport.
Sweet, Japan-exclusive Pains shirts! I made Alex nab me a blue and white one, now I wish I'd gotten lavender...
Naoki!!! Oh Naoki. The owner of Fastcut Records, who put out the Pains record in Japan. Also: our babysitter for ten days, he went everywhere we went, even the world's saddest zoo. Bless. This. Man.
The walls of the greenroom at Kobe Blueport were covered in some serious wtf band name graffitti. Some of my favorites included Mislead Balds, Fuck You Heroes and Sweef. I thought we should join the party, I mean honestly, does "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart" not kinda sound like the best wtf Japanese band name ever??
More soooooooon!
18.2.10
Japains
Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!
So I guess I kind of failed on the whole "keeping you posted" thing, sorry! We've been in Melbourne for the last couple of days which has been pretty awesome (shout out to Elizabeth who came to the Polyester Records instore today and said hey!), but before I get any further we have to talk about Japan. JAPAN!! I only left three days ago and already I want to go back so badly it kills me. Most of my favorite memories involve food and/or beverages (Chu Hi!) so here is a smattering of mostly food-related photos from Alex's digicam. I'm just about through my fifth roll of print film, but for that we'll have to wait!
I'd be lying if I said I didn't have Crunky for breakfast on more than one occasion. It's like a Crunch bar but about 1000x better, just like pretty much everything in Japan: like something familiar, only far superior.
Basically, everything in Japan is cute and/or delicious. Just like those adorable, mouth-watering Pandas.
Not only do these cigarettes cost about $3.50 a pack from a vending machine, but they will fill your lungs with Hope and Peace. Not both though, you have to choose just one I guess.
This is a pet store in Kyoto. The one we went to in Osaka sold tiny monkeys in the back, which is probably terrible but yeah, you guessed it, also really really cute and a little scary.
This small Jamaican person is really into Japanese maple leaves.
We just popped down to the 105 Yen store in Kakogawa to pick up a fresh pack of finger sacks, nbd. Actually no, we didn't, but we did get a hamburger sponge and several cell phone charms shaped like toilets with light-up poop inside.
I find this pack of baby squid strangely enticing, probably because I'm imagining them being made out of sour gummy candy. Which isn't exactly out of the question by Japan standards.
Banana bread filled with banana flavored bean paste shaped like a banana and stamped with the word "banana". This is what I'm taking about.
And I did, and how.
I still can't believe I didn't buy one of these dancing cat dolls on Miyajima Island. They got down to "I'm Gonna Getcha Good" by Shania Twain, which isn't weird AT ALL. This would have easily been the best $12.00 I'd ever spent in my life.
We left a little calling card in the green room at Kobe Blueport, scrawled among the likes of Fuck You Heroes, Sweef, and Mislead Balds. Japanese band names are almost as ridiculous as New York band names. Ha!
Ok, I've got another day in Melbourne tomorrow and then it's off to Brisbane to wade through some 74% humidity. Hopefully I can get anohter batch of photos up in a few days. Be back soon I promise!
So I guess I kind of failed on the whole "keeping you posted" thing, sorry! We've been in Melbourne for the last couple of days which has been pretty awesome (shout out to Elizabeth who came to the Polyester Records instore today and said hey!), but before I get any further we have to talk about Japan. JAPAN!! I only left three days ago and already I want to go back so badly it kills me. Most of my favorite memories involve food and/or beverages (Chu Hi!) so here is a smattering of mostly food-related photos from Alex's digicam. I'm just about through my fifth roll of print film, but for that we'll have to wait!
I'd be lying if I said I didn't have Crunky for breakfast on more than one occasion. It's like a Crunch bar but about 1000x better, just like pretty much everything in Japan: like something familiar, only far superior.
Basically, everything in Japan is cute and/or delicious. Just like those adorable, mouth-watering Pandas.
Not only do these cigarettes cost about $3.50 a pack from a vending machine, but they will fill your lungs with Hope and Peace. Not both though, you have to choose just one I guess.
This is a pet store in Kyoto. The one we went to in Osaka sold tiny monkeys in the back, which is probably terrible but yeah, you guessed it, also really really cute and a little scary.
This small Jamaican person is really into Japanese maple leaves.
We just popped down to the 105 Yen store in Kakogawa to pick up a fresh pack of finger sacks, nbd. Actually no, we didn't, but we did get a hamburger sponge and several cell phone charms shaped like toilets with light-up poop inside.
I find this pack of baby squid strangely enticing, probably because I'm imagining them being made out of sour gummy candy. Which isn't exactly out of the question by Japan standards.
Banana bread filled with banana flavored bean paste shaped like a banana and stamped with the word "banana". This is what I'm taking about.
And I did, and how.
I still can't believe I didn't buy one of these dancing cat dolls on Miyajima Island. They got down to "I'm Gonna Getcha Good" by Shania Twain, which isn't weird AT ALL. This would have easily been the best $12.00 I'd ever spent in my life.
We left a little calling card in the green room at Kobe Blueport, scrawled among the likes of Fuck You Heroes, Sweef, and Mislead Balds. Japanese band names are almost as ridiculous as New York band names. Ha!
Ok, I've got another day in Melbourne tomorrow and then it's off to Brisbane to wade through some 74% humidity. Hopefully I can get anohter batch of photos up in a few days. Be back soon I promise!
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