Gogy Esparza

On Monday, through the introduction from my good friend Eugene (Hypebeast) and Ephraim, I had the honour of meeting the multitalented Gogy Esparza. Gogy is a Massachusetts native and is currently living in NYC. He is a gifted photographer, as well as a barber when he is not shooting. Gogy mainly shoots with a film camera, and his works show his creative and raw talent.

I had dinner with him, along with Ephraim and Simon, who is also a correspondent for Hypebeast. We ate at a bbq lamb restaurant and the meat was damn good. Thanks to Ephraim on this! If you want to know where the good eats are in Tokyo, Ephraim's your man. Afterwards, we went out for drinks at Kinfolk, where we met some more people; Gérald, Kevin, Pavan and Stefan. It was a good night of good discussions, laughter and smiles.

Gogy is in Tokyo for his second solo exhibition at Le Baron de Paris for his photo book titled "Lighttime". Please check out his work and website at http://www.gogy.me.

Thanks for stopping by and i'll catch up with you all soon.

Peace.

For more photos, click HERE.

Imperial Troops invade (sightseeing) Yokohama

So, as I was heading to a wedding ring shop with the wife in Sakuragicho, she caught my attention and pointed me in the direction of interest; Star Wars characters. As I saw the Storm Troopers and an Imperial TIE fighter pilot, I was brought back to my childhood. I got giddy, yeah! So what. LOL. Anyways, i'm glad that I had my 7D with me, so I took several snaps of the Imperial Troops. It was kinda funny though, cuz it was blazing hot that day, but they seemed to be calm and cool, and they even took pics with passerbys. I gotta say, it was a good day.

Dez Einswell @ Kicks Lab Tokyo

Friday, April 30, I headed into Tokyo with the STOKYO Japan crew to the Dez Einswell event at Kicks Lab in Harajuku. Dez is a really down-to-earth, talented and humble individual. You can check out the photos on Flickr HERE.

Japanese Commercial - Cratz

Hey y'all!

How's it going?

Watching in t.v. in Japan can be quite amusing. This commercial, which features Matsumoto Hitoshi from the TV talk show "Downtown", promotes a snack from Glico called Cratz. It's a mixture of pretzel chunks and whole almonds. It's marketed as an accompaniment with beer. The character he portrays is from a movie he starred in recently called "Shinboru" (the Symbol). I especially like the second half of the commercial.

鎮座 (Chinza) Dopeness Album Release Party @ Moon Romantic, Aoyama - Sept.15, 2009

Chinza Dopeness, one of W+K Tokyo Lab's latest artist, held an album release party at Moon Romantic in Aoyama. It was a good night consisting of good music and collaborations with other artists, such as Hifana. Chinza's a real humble and great artist. Please check out his music and his MySpace page at: http://www.myspace.com/chinzadopeness

For photos click HERE.

Izawa Ayame performing at Cafe Muriwui, Sept. 11, 2009

I'd like to present to you a good friend of mine, Izawa Ayame. She is a talented musical artist that plays the piano and the pianica. A couple of friends and I went to go check out her show. I surprised her by just showing up. I haven't seen her since I moved to Japan, and it's been a while since we've seen each other. She was a yoga student in Vancouver, and stayed with my family and I for a month. She's a friend of a friend, and we've kept in touch since. She's currently a yoga instructor in Tokyo. She creates and composes her music, and performs her music at selected venues. Please check her music out at: http://www.myspace.com/ayamelody

For photos, please click HERE

Hanabi!

Hello all! Hope you've been enjoying your summer holidays.

It's been another long minute since i've posted anything, but the past few weeks i've been kinda busy working. Aside from my teaching job at Gaba, I worked with W+K on a Nike project and recently on another Playstation project. Busy, busy, busy....

Anyways at the beginning of the month my lady and I, along with her brother and family travelled up to Niigata Prefecture to visit some relatives. Niigata is popular for it's fireworks festivals and I have to agree on that. I've never seen a fireworks display over a landscape. Nothing comparable like the ones I usually see in Vancouver at the Celebration of Lights. You be the judge of it. Below is a video I took of the finalé and I had to pan a lot because my lens was not wide enough to catch the whole landscape.

Enjoy!!

Vancouver Slop invades Japan

On July 3rd, I hooked up with my good friends Matt and Rolf, who hail from Vancouver. Shortly, another friend who's been living in Japan, Ephraim, joined us. We went for eats at a gyoza restaurant in Harajuku. Afterwards we stalked the streets of Harajuku and Daikanyama.

Matt, who is an Environmental Biologist by day, runs a couple of business' on the side. He is 1/2 of Finale Design and 1/3 of Vancouver Slop. As the founder of Vancouver Slop, he blogs about restaurants and places that he eats. As he is always on the go, Matt hardly has the time to cook. Please check out his blog at www.vancouverslop.com. Also please check out Finale Design.

Great to see you guys! Thanks!

Gun-dAAAm! in the park

Mission: Beach & Coca Cola Green Tea Flavour

Typical Saturday morning

Nice day for a bike ride

Hanami (花見 - "flower viewing")

Kinda late on this post, as the cherry blossoms have been winded away by now. But I had the opportunity to experience Hanami in Japan for the first time. I saw some sakura (cherry blossoms) in Fujisawa, Shonandai, Roppongi and Odawara. How beautiful they are..... I spent hanami first with the crew from W+K Tokyo Lab and it was a fun experience. Later on in that week, I went to Odawara Castle with wifey and her mom. Good times looking at the sakura with a cold can of beer. Ahhhhh...

Please click HERE for the photos.

Funny how time flies...

So today marks my one month anniversary since i've moved to Japan. Life's been pretty chill for now until I get the proper docs to allow me to work. I've been seeing old friends and trying to meet some too. I've been spending most of my time at home and practicing my hiragana and katakana, as well as learning some Photoshop, After Effects and Illustrator skills from online tutorials. The one thing I need to do is polish up my cover letter, so that when my visa arrives, i'm able to work a.s.a.p. I've been trying to occupy my time up with online tutorials, surfing the web, reading a book and occasionally stepping out of the house to go for short walks around the neighbourhood.

About 2 weeks ago, I went to a live show in Kichijoji, Tokyo, with Ephraim and Masako, to check out Hifana and some other live acts. This was my first time seeing Hifana live and to my surprise Semba-san and a group of percussionists and musicians, Kargamos, with Hifana collectively played great music. I had the privilege of meeting more of the W+K Tokyo staff through one of the Creative Directors, Shane Lester, that I had met while on my trip to L.A. last November. They are all personable and great! It was a good night of great music and company.

While the hunt is still on, i'll do my best to update you all on a regular basis.

For a review of the live show, please go HERE.

For photos of the evening, please go HERE.

Video of the Hifana and Semba show soon to follow.

HIFANA @ Star Pines Cafe (Tokyo)

HIFANA (W+K Tokyo Lab) will be performing live @ the Star Pines Cafe in Kichijoji this Saturday, Feb.28. Also part of the musical lineup are IZUPON, Cinza Dopeness, Kyo Sakurai, Senba and karugamos. If you are in the Tokyo area, please come check them out. It's gonna get LIVE!

For more information, please click HERE.

Return to Japan

First post in Japan.

I arrived Feb.12, 2009. It's great to be back. Looking forward to my new life here. I previously lived here back in '03-'04 and taught English. I am familiar with the transportation system here and I can get by with the limited Japanese that I do know. I will be studying Japanese so that I can be more fluent and understand some of the conversations. Jet lag is done and the hunt for work has begun.

Ganbarimasu.