whitebait

kushi-age

On one of our first nights in Tokyo our friends took us to Hantei, a kushi-age restaurant in the rather nice old Nezu area (not so far from the University of Tokyo campus where the conference we presented at was taking place). Whitebait wasn't aware of kushi (skewer)-age (deep fry) food before so the whole event was a delightful surprise. Particulary as the restaurant itself is build around a beautiful old stone kura (storehouse), an essential technology for achieving the minimalist household aesthetic. As we left they even gave us some nice omiyage in the form of a book of postcards (including nice sketches) of the building.

male virgins(?) and the age of niche marketing

Bussing out to Narita airport on Sunday we passed a bunch of love hotels located on the side of the expressway. One of them proudly displayed its excellent name, 'Hotel First Wood', on its enormous billboard.

stupid, stupid citibank visa

FrauleinDrDr and I found ourselves caught out in Japan recently when both our credit cards bounced -- while completely clear of any debt --when we tried to use them for the second time at Muji, a very well-known Japanese store. Evidently it is a security measure. Citibank seemed to have missed the fact that some people travel outside of their home country to exotic destinations like Japan and - shock! horror! - find it convenient to use their credit card while overseas. According to the Citibank call centre, we should call ahead and let them know when we're travelling overseas so this doesn't happen. To which Whitebait says,

F**K YOU VERY MUCH Citibank!*@!!

Firstly, you never told me this before. And secondly Whitebait is not here to organise his life round you. Reaching for the scissors now ...

Hanabi I

shop names

Yesterday afternoon we went to the rather new and ritzy Tokyo shopping development, Shin-Marunouchi.

It's a rather beautifully fitted out development over 5-6 floors. The best bits include the basement floor of drool-inducing French-style bakeries and cake shops; the frequent views you get of the old Tokyo train station (a rare building in the city in terms of its age); and the exceptionally generous resting places filled with comfy sofas.

Some great shop names to be found in Shin-Marunouchi include:

• Theory
• Case Study shop
• The Duffer of St George
• Urban Research
• Les Mille Feuilles de Liberte

and my personal favourite ....

• Drastic the Baggage

weekend road trip to kyoto

Here are some photos from a trip to Kyoto last weekend. It is such a great city. Whitebait has been there before about two years ago, for a few days, and really loved it. No different this time.

soba

Headed out late afternoon yesterday on the Tozai line to Kichijoji, a favourite area in Tokyo that is rated highly by locals as an ideal area in which to live. Had an extremely late lunch at a soba place below the railway station that FrauleinDrDr and I had been too a few times before. It isn't anything fancy in terms of the setting - just the usual classic Japanese rustic decor that could probably do with a spruce up sometime soon.  One thing that is an absolute treat in Japan is going to restaurants that do the one dish in all its possible glories. As soon as we arrived we were served cold soba tea and little roasted pieces of broken soba noodles for nibbles.Whitebait ordered a setto consisting of vegetable tempura and cold soba noodles (zaru soba) that also came with a piece of wasabi root that you could grate yourself. Then he was brought a 'teapot' of the hot stock left over from the actual cooking of the noodles which you add to some sauce (not sure what) to make a delicious broth. Outstanding.

We followed that with a walk through the wonderful Inokashira Park - a rare green retreat in Tokyo, which has one of the worst percentages of parks to concrete and population in the world. One of the best features of the park was the unusual number of locals 'flying their freak flags high'. One old guy riding his cycle around the park had an inordinate amount of tinsel on his head. A runner passing by periodically emitted a loud and very strange whooping noise. And so on. Good to see.

Finished up with a nice walk back through the shopping streets at night as the commuters streamed back home.

still catching his breath

Tokyo.

Some writing coming soon.

time now

OK, here it is, an early cut of the Koshowko track, 'Time Now', that I'm helping to produce. It is a fairly radical reworking of one  of K's earliest tracks. Feedback to me or my good friends at Koshowko welcome. Check out Koshowko's other excellent tunes at their myspace site. Lots of dubby and melodic goodness for all.

-crossposted at psybait-

sometimes the end of the week is the best part of the week

It is a great Friday because despite the absolutely crapulous Melbourne weather ...

• you come into your office and discover that it has been vaccuumed for the first time in months (without you having to write a memo to make it happen)

• you go for a haircut at lunchtime and they say don't worry, it's on us this time

• one of the best is playing his 250th game tonight

• you know that this time next week you'll be strolling the streets of this place