music and talk and whaddaya no

February 27, 2005

come on back from way out west


Married Friends

Let me begin by congratulating by very good friends Nathan and Misato. They were married this past weekend in Japan. Congratulations, guys! You're very lucky to have each other.

I was in Japan to visit them these past winter holidays, and although I spent 3 weeks there, it was nowhere near enough. I could definitely do with spending more time there. The people: as courteous as you can imagine. Generally quiet, keep to themselves, but stay at their place and you are treated better than family. And, from what I have seen in Tokyo, as numerous as you can imagine. My obsession with the crowds in Tokyo is ongoing. "Dense" doesn't even begin to describe. Walking in the crowd is never difficult or intimidating, though. The food: well, tasty. All of it. Even the fast food places there are gourmet compared to those here in Canada. The places: it goes without saying that all the old castles and temples and shrines are gorgeous, better than imagined. On top of that, it's great that in Kyoto you have shrines in the middle of the mall. A very tranquil stop in the middle of the busy busy malls and streets. In Tokyo, every little side street is full with shops and restaurants. The clutter is beautiful in its own way. I do feel as if I've brought some of the country back with me, even from such a short trip. I'm sure I'll be back someday.

Shugo Tokumaru - Typewriter As part of my travels in Tokyo, I made the obligatory stop at the record stores: Disk Union, Recofan, and Tower Records in Shibuya, supposedly the biggest record store in the world. I usually like to pick up an album whenever I travel somewhere as a memory of the places I visit. So I bought up a couple of records by Japanese artists. One was Super Ae (which is spelled differently depending where you read -- I'm still not sure how to spell it) by the Boredoms. It's phenomenal to say the least, much more substantial than I expected. The other was Night Piece by Shugo Tokumaru. This is truly one of the most singularly stunning albums of last year. It is incredibly unassuming, but given (not too much) time, reveals itself to be a lush, lovely, truly unique point of view. Although it is said that Tokumaru's primary influence is Brian Wilson, there is definitely much more going on here. But, as with Wilson's best work, everything is exactly in its right place within these songs, and every song has its own distinct character. I have no idea what the lyrics mean, but I would really like to find out (hint hint). This track, "Typewriter", is near the middle of the all-too-short-but-exactly-what-you-need 23-minute album, and is probably my favourite, but not by much. (You can purchase it at Tonevendor)
Posted by: Rob / 10:49
Comments:
Hem. Don't I feel somewhat famous now? Plus, I feel somewhat obliged to understand that (hint hint). I am enjoying the album you made for me on my iPod Shuffle! Yeah, I am shuffling ;).
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 4/3/05 06:24
 
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