Sunday, 2010.08.29 23:39 JST
Chilling in Tamagawa
Today was Anthony of AB Promote's big End of Summer Barbq event (map) down at Tamagawa (Tama river) with tons of people and DJs, so Terje and I headed down there to grab some burgers and drink beers and "jungle juice" (whatever that really is). The barbq area next to Tamagawa river was crowded and totally crazy with everyone squeezing in under the bridge. Maybe there are some regulations saying one can't barbq out on the grass? After the barbq urge was taken care of we headed to the other side of the river, to the Futako-Tamagawa side where Yukari and some friends where kicking back at the "Willy" outdoor music event (map). Bumped into Tani there as well. It was really nice there, sitting on the grass chilling while various DJs turned out lots of techno and rock. Apparently they have this event regularly during the summer, so got to go there again next year (typical that I get there when the summer ends). :)
     
 tmk
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Wednesday, 2010.08.18 17:45 JST
Enoshima Beach Event
The Obon break is upon us here in Japan. Not sure if that is the reason for the many beach events going on, or if there are always beach events going on, but anyhow, went down to Enoshima with some friends to check out a beach event with electro music and so forth. In the end most of us never actually entered the dance floor area, but rather spent the time chilling on the beach and the beach house veranda. It was insanely hot, but even if I'm a city person it was really nice to get out of the city for a change and see the ocean, trees, etc. Got to do this again before the summer ends.
     
     
tmk
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Monday, 2010.08.16 20:00 JST
Urababa Yukata Matsuri Uchiage
The before mentioned Yukata pub crawl festival in my neighborhood lasts two days, Saturday and Sunday. While the first night keeps going till the morning, Sunday night ends around midnight and the regulars and the bar owners and their staff head out to an izakaya for a big uchiage (job well done) party with drink-as-much-as-you-want all the way till the morning. Generally unhealthy on a Sunday. I've never gone to one of these before, but got talked into it this year and it was a blast. Fun to drink with the people usually serving you as well.
     
tmk
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Sunday, 2010.08.15 19:59 JST
Urababa Yukata Matsuri 2010
It's summer so it's the time of year people wear yukatas (summer kimono like thing) and head off to various festivals. In my neighborhood we have a somewhat different yukata tradition; the yukata pub crawl festival in Urababa (Ura means back, Baba is the nickname for Takadanobaba among the people living there. Urababa, as known by those who drink there, is an area with lots of bars between the station and the river). This year seven bars joined in, so you'll buy a seriously discounted ticket worthy of one drink per bar and then go bar hopping (obviously adding more drinks at each place too). Drunk people in yukatas stumbling from bar to bar all night is an interesting sight. Unlike last year though I didn't add any additional bars to the route, maybe it means I'm getting old.
     
     
     
tmk
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Sunday, 2010.08.08 14:38 JST
Summer Sonic 2010
Chilling today after an exhausting day at Summer Sonic. Summer Sonic is an annual music festival and it's a massive affair in every aspect, spanning two days in both Tokyo and Osaka. The bands playing on Saturday in Tokyo typically play on Sunday in Osaka and visa versa. The Tokyo part is actually held outside Tokyo (as so many Tokyo-labeled things are), in Makuhari in Chiba, and covers the monstrous Makuhari Messe convention complex (felt like you could fit the entire Oslo Spectrum inside any of the halls there), the nearby stadium, the beach, a seaside villlage, and lots of outdoor and indoor festival areas with shops and tons of food stalls serving any kind of food you can imagine. The outside stages had heatstroke inducing conditions so I mostly stayed at the indoor stages where I saw Passion Pit, A-Ha (being from my area of Norway after all and it's their last live in Japan as they're splitting up again), Pendulum, Smashing Pumpkins, and Orbital (was awesome!). Great fun, but next year I got to spend a bit more time chilling at the non-music areas as I didn't get to see much of that this time. Also, next year I'll avoid clubbing all night the night before Summer Sonic. :P
     
     
Videos:
Links:
- CNNGo.com: Summersonic: Japan's biggest music festival delivers on Tokyo's doorstep
- YouTube: The different Stages at Summer Sonic
- YouTube: Some Summer Sonic festival promotion thingy showing festival areas
tmk
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Saturday, 2010.07.24 15:16 JST
Born Bone Meat event
Last night was Aya/Yukika’s "Born Bone Meat" event over at Under Deer Lounge (map) (they got a deer head over the bar, wonder if that’s the cause of the odd name), a live house in Shibuya. In addition to Aya's own great live performance there were some other artists and several DJs to fill in in between. A bunch of the usual Rock no Cocoro crowd and related friends had found the way down there so it was sort of a familiar party in a different setting. Great fun. :)
     
tmk
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Sunday, 2010.07.18 14:52 JST
Barbq and Bikini Show redux
In what almost felt like a deja vu from last weekend, this Saturday I once again headed to 148 Hiroo (map) for dinner with some friends and then we went on clubbing. Also, Sylwia visiting from Norway so we had to show her some Tokyo night life. This time it wasn't a Chino Cubano dinner at 148 Hiroo though, but an Australian barbq. We even had a big grill out on the pavement of Meiji Dori - something I bet no Japanese run restaurant would consider doing! :) Barbq and an unhealthy amount of mojitos and other booze is always a great way to start the evening, and by the time the restaurant closed we had a good buzz and were ready to head down (or up, if North is up) to Velours (map) in Aoyama for another "Velvet" event with a bikini fashion show and what not as I again had a couple of friends on the cat walk as well as some dancing. Fairly similar to last time actually, but I've been told that the bikinis were different (I don't know that much about fashion, but for bikinis I know less is more). Cool party. :)
     
tmk
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Sunday, 2010.07.11 10:12 JST
Desert Rose 3rd Anniversary
砂漠の荊棘 (Sabaku no Bara / Desert Rose) (map) in Ginza had their 3rd year Anniversary Party this weekend, and while I didn't get around to go on Friday (in an attempt to heal a cold at home... damn those air conditioners and their dry air always screw up my troat) we managed to head down to Ginza after the Chino Cubano Night to join their celebration. Given the soccer world cup bronze final going on, there wasn't quite as many people as there could have been, but those who had shown up seemed even more motivated so the atmosphere was good. Usually the club closes up at 5am, but by then all the staff, including the manager, was so wasted that they kept going with no sign of slowing down... though I caved and went home 7:30'ish having lost my voice again (this cold is never going to get well). :/ Also, trying to snap photos while clubbing with nothing but the iPhone4 isn't that great...
     
tmk
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