New Years 2010 countdown in Tokyo

This was in Shibuya, Tokyo at the scramble crossing which has to be one of the busiest intersections in the world. I'm sure the same thing happened at the same time in a few neighborhoods, but this one probably had to be one of the largest. That said, Happy New Year.

Greetings from Comiket

What do these dudes do with these photos?

Chad Mullane

Chad Mullane on left. People say he looks like Michael Schumacher, but he also looks a little like Ryan McGinness at the right moments. Either way, the other dude is this French actor, I'm blanking on his name. I'll fill it in when I get it. They're both in Nodame Cantabile, a film just released all over Japan. Or catch him doing comedy if you can understand, quick speaking Japanese.

Does he look like Schumacher?

Chinatown Japan

The irony. Everywhere you go, a Chinatown awaits and the same guy who built the first one, is still alive building them. Here's his famous gate. Notice how he varied and went with blue this time. Perfect for Yokohama, Japan. Of course it's ironic since here's a Chinatown with in a Japantown. It's a tourist trap, and where there's tourists, the food quality usually goes straight down. It's like dumbing something down. But not here. The food is actually unlike what you get in a typical Chinatown tourist area. It's good. We've been duped.

People don't hesitate to show what they serve in Chinatown Japan, even though PETA would be pissed off. I can't say that shark fin is my favorite, but clearly, it's a selling point. If monkey brain was people's favorite, you'd see heads and brains displayed everywhere. It's also weird how shark fin looks like a baby bib. Maybe they should try baby bib soup instead. What else does shark fin look like?

1) a costume beard. 2) a strange sexual device for men 3) yolkless egg 4) mini Xmas tree bottom 5) Smurfs apron

The one thing he didn't do is make this eggroll. You'd think Chinatown eggrolls are the same frozen and then deep fried item, but no think again. In this place, it taste different and isn't the same beat up concoction of cabbage. I can't begin to tell you the name of this place since it's only in Japanese or is it Chinese?, but it's off the main strip.

shumai

shrimp and garlic sauce

fried rice

shark fin soup

This is the main street. It was nice and packed.
The Chinatown is clean and well kept as compared to what you see in New York or LA.

Tons of bao are everywhere.

Since I can't read it, here's the spot. It's owned by a friend of my friend, moshi moshi Sadatoshi, who's pictured above.

Those miniscule dots where my red arrow points are a wave of people. Packed solid... and that's far down Omotesando street. There's no space. To take this photo, I waited for a moment of clearing in front of me. I go to Tokyo and see this over and over, but it never ceases to amaze me. What are they seeing, buying, and thinking about? The Xmas lights on the street are a rarity because of cost. I think it's because they're now LED, thus cutting down costs.

Masakatsu Sashie

That's how large that painting is. It's taller than me. An amazing exhibition just ended at Mizuma art. All the works sold. If you're interested in any of his work, hit me up. We still have some left! I'm impressed at Sashie's progression. Yes, he's still doing the orbs, yet he's definitely taken steps to do work that's not orbital, yet it's just as great. That ship is amazing. It has a theme of pachinko and ships if you look at the details.

I like this night piece. The orb is bright and gamer like, but the background on this one is as nice as ever - that's when you know he's progressing. I'm as into the background than the orb.

This piece is giant. Same as the ship piece.

A detail from the work below. I love the tiny size.

Is this part touchable?

The show took a bit to get to, and it wasn't huge, but it was impressive as can be. My friends agreed.

Black Rock Shooter in Matsudo

Had dinner with the creator and artist of Black Rock Shooter - Huke. He doesn't make himself available to the public, hence the mosaic. He went from a fan to a budding pro. We had dinner as part of a year end chill out celebration. It seems like everyone does this. He's getting ready for Komiket which is in a few days where he sells a ton of his new book. We ate at an awesome Chinese place in Matsudo which is outside of Tokyo center.





The almond jello might be the greatest thing ever. The food is excellent, but this is a crown jewel. Even that strawberry which doesn't look good, was good.
This is what his toy looks like. It's more of a statue and it's long sold out. You know how the kaiju figures, or any new indie toy sells 1000 at the most? This does Uglydoll type numbers.

That's his booklet, it's not a comic, but it's a compilation of images.

Xmas in Shibuya

That's Goodsmile Junko and Aki. We're at an all pork place. It even has a huge Buta lantern, which means, pig! It's pork everything including a hotpot that you cook and season with umeboshi, their special. It's a simple broth and you eat a little at at time. On this day the free dish they give you was spare ribs! Notice Aki is smoking at dinner. You can still do this.

This isn't pork, it's egg and yuba on top. This is really good with a tiny spot of soy sauce.

So my diet is not happening. I mentioned ramen at the dinner above, and Aki starts of obsess. The dinner above gets truncated quickly because he wants ramen, something he doesn't get to eat often. So we go get ramen in Shibuya after looking up a place that has high ratings on a ramen website. The broth is thick as ever, and he loves this. It's a tonkotsu and vegetable brother. Tenkaippin is busy at midnight! We ordered the green onion ramen.

24-7 Wallmart

I can't say this place is cool, but they do have some deals. A pineapple is 2.98. You can get socks cheap. A Hotwheel might be .97 cents. I bought a DeLorean so I can add a flux capacitor to it and hopefully time travel back a few minutes. I wouldn't suggest coming here on a XMas eve, and in the end, this place offers almost everything, but not anything. It's huge, but lacks a creative edge. After all, it's Wallmart. What's amazing on X Mas eve is that at 1:30AM, below, the line is massive. You're waiting near 1 hr to check out. That's not the end of the line on the right, and on the left, that's where the checkout begins.

Avatar

Avatar. See it in 3D from the front row. It's weird how the 3d is so prominent in the previews, then in the movie it sort of goes away. That's Mr Jean looking like he's about to go skiing. Check out the movie, it's worth it, even though I went in with terrible expectations. Those characters are strange looking, and seem too cartoony to be respected in a high budget movie, but in the end, it still works.

From art to music

This is what a WIP painting can look like if you're Mr Jean. It's a 3 panel piece, and it's pushing his style far along. It was allegedly finished a few days ago, but it's growing and growing as time passes. Mr Jean is playing the piano at right. Coldplay and the Transformers soundtrack song.

This is low budget music making, but I guess it works. David Choe dons the buckethead look.

That's a bad pic of this band of dudes called Camp Freddy who played the Roxy. Although they are this mega rockstar club band featuring Travis Barker, Dave Navarro, and a ton of other stars who get together and jam and play covers, I can't say it's my thing, and being backstage in a tiny room with a ton of these dudes was an uncomfortable as it can get. But for a little while, I saw them play Spoonman by Soundgarden fronted by a woman who goes by Queen V. I would link a youtube video, but in the end, my memory of it was better than the video. Chester from Linkin Park sang a couple of songs, Smashing P and Janes Addiction. He's sort of a Zelig and seems able to adapt his voice well. There's plenty of video online of the many guest singers and players. Watch it at your own risk.

Myung Dong Kyoja

Imagine hand cut noodles (you can tell that they're uneven - although if I were a noodle company, I'd just have my machines make noodles uneven), dumplings, and a nice broth make? It's Myung Dong Kyoja. Open 24 hours, their Kal Gook Soo is the one to get. It's hearty, tasty, and I'd suggest holding back on the onions, those stayed with me after I left. The place is large, the waiter has nice bleached hair, and I'm sure you can find this wherever there's fine Korean establishments near you. Myung Dong Kyoja 3630 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90010

A man named Rob

I cut up this video really quick it's a short one on GR cover artist Rob Sato. Amazing art, great talent, and a definite up and comer, he'll be showing with us at Giant Robot SF soon. I believe it's in February. Meanwhile as issue 63 is going to be released soon, we'll put up more video here and there. It'll be in Transmissions!

Tiger Focus!

Focus! On what? Ass? Can you believe this is now vintage? Should I put it on ebay? I think these eyes now have a new meaning. They look like he's lining up his putter to hit in the hole. Or insert bad joke here... Wawawawa... Yes, another bad Tiger joke. Seriously, he'll be back and like Kobe Bryant, straight back to the number one slot and sooner than you think.

Daniel Wu for L'Oreal

Daniel Wu is pushing the HYDRA ENERGETIC TURBO BOOSTER. Thanks James Leung for the link. His skin might be perfect, the commercial hilarious. The martial arts film scene is so quick!

Justin Chon and the Sticker in Crossing Over

Dumb sticker! I was watching the movie on DVD and at a dramatic point, I finally see it. I totally forgot about it, and it was a surprise. Then of course I checked up on it, and it's old news.

I realize I forgot I blogged this a while ago... link.

Graffiti in downtown

Driving through a neighborhood, I saw this graffiti. It's real gang style I think, but then the hands are so good. PF 23. I don't know what that stands for, but this looks cool. Wide, it doesn't look as cool.