day nineteen

day nineteen:
sorry for taking so long, we`ve been busy and this takes some time.

after Sapporo, we went back to Kyoto.  Takahiro-san scored us some bikes and we rode around Kyoto, almost got nailed a few times and witnessed an unbelievably pleasing Autumn ceremony.  There were 500 candles flickering in the garden of a Zen temple. 

We then got some beers and went to Yokai street (Ghost street) and surprisingly came up on another, and much louder festival.  There were awesome Yokai statues and kids eating fried stuff on sticks and playing games.  I recognized some Yokai`s from a kind of encyclopedia by Toriyama Sekien I have at home.  I was a little disappointed that they didn`t have a statue of the Splinter style Rat-man, or the Frog-kid that creeps up on your home and licks your stuff when you`re at work or whatever.

The next day we met up with some rad American friends whom we spent the next week touring with.  Word up to Liz Harris, Zach Wallace, Ben Vida and Greg Davis.  Taka took us to the Eiunin Temple where we were lucky enough to perform.  Playing and listening to music in a temple overlooking a gorgeous garden was a completely surreal and enjoyable experience.  Thanks, guys.  (The above photo of Grouper was taken by Takahiro Yorifuji).

The next day we rolled to Tokushima on the Shikoku island.  We crossed a big bridge and passed some sweet islands and Orange-Town.  We met Yamano Hiroyuki, Shimba, and their crew in Tokushima and played a show in a basement bar.  After the gig, we went to his homeboy`s grandparent`s house, which was a mega special treat.  They made us tons of food and the dear grandma totally looked out for us until 3 am.  Thanks, Grandma, you warmed all of our hearts in a major way.  The next morning we grabbed some bangin Tokushima-renowned udon noodles and rode trains to Osaka.

The Osaka show was at a bar/live-house called Nu-Things and is located in Shinsaibashi, which is a bustling, highly fashionable and frankly hideous part of the city.  Lots of weird American clothing worship but I had some pretty good pizza and enjoyed the show.  Garden of Ghosts performed one of my favorite sets of the tour using a fan and two acoustic guitars.

Oh shit, this happened also: 

Charlie, Nobuto and Taka bailed to catch the last train to Kyoto where we again stayed at Nobuto`s rad house.  In the morning, we had some killer eggplant curry and took some trains to Nagoya, where we met up with Zach, Liz, Greg and Ben.  The show was at K.D. Japon, a really nice, well-worn venue with a high ceiling, balcony, and lots of wood.  It was beneath the subway tracks and everyone`s performance had some extra-sensory bassy subway flavor.  Thanks to Yasuhiro Usui!  After the show we stayed at this mega cute hostel with a three story bunk bed and drank beers and talked about death by sharks, airplane flash-freezing and bear attacks by the river. The hostel folks were gutting a huge salmon when we came back at 2 am.

In the morning we went to Ikebukuro, Tokyo for our show at Ringoya.  Ringoya is a really nice, no-shoes-allowed, aesthetically-psychedelic venue complete with random tablas hanging out and stuff with Indian elephant prints.  Apparently the show was sold out and it was really tricky walking around in there once it filled up.  Ryo Nakata came down from Sapporo and performed a nice set and brought us white-chocolate-in-cat`s-tongues, which is apparently a special French-by-way-of-Hokkaido treat.  I think everyone`s best performance was that night and I really enjoyed the night.  Thanks for the great times, guys.  Parting ways the next morning was a bit sad for me.

Charlie and I wandered around Tokyo with our heavy fucking bags and tried really hard to find the Loving Hut (vegan) restaurant and Ned`s record shop but failed at both.  We ended up posting up like gutter punks and eating more convenience store garbage and crappy whiskey outside of Shibuya station, while seemingly MILLIONS of people commuted all around us during rush hour..  I can`t even begin to fathom where all these people live, how there is enough food, electricity, air.  We then met up with Benjamin, an old friend of Charlie`s who used to live in Portland and now lives a suburb of Tokyo.  He took us to a nice vegan restaurant (`6889` I think it was called, what`s up Ripon???), Soft On Demand, and the Thrift Mall.  He broke down some crucial Japanisms, including the origin of the word `arigato,` which comes from something that roughly translates to `life is difficult.`  So basically, when you say `thank you` after buying a rice ball or whatever in Japan, you`re literally saying `thank you for sharing this fleeting moment of painful human existence with me, we have commiserated and will now continue on our paths of difficulty.`  So fucking heavy.

The next day we took some trains and met up with Kenny for our epic harsh noise show at SOUP in Tokyo.  SOUP is a former speakeasy-turned venue/bar located in the basement of a laundromat (most cult/obscure venue ever).  My friend Kelly actually took me there when I was in Japan in 2007, when it was a super mellow, illegal bar, and I was trying to find out if it was still around since returning.  So it turns out our second-to-last show was at the same place, which is now a legit venue.  What.  The.  Fuck.  We met up with my old friends Kotomi-chan and Takashi-san, who organized my last tour of Japan and are really great folks.  We had some delicious soba noodles and inari and then a really amazing noise show happened.  Cracksteel and Mo*te collaborated (total 90`s Japanoise legends!), and Kazumo Kubota, Facialmess, Unexamine and ASTRO all gave exceptionally excellent performances.  I cut my hands on a beer-can-microphone and left some gaijin blood on the SOUP wall during my performance.  Kind of gross, sorry SOUP.  I asked Kazuma if I should wash it off and he said `no.`  Sure thing.  Shortly after I saw a tanuki running down the street.  I swear to god, no one believes me but I saw a fucking tanuki running down the street and I will never, ever forget it. 
p.s. Alina Pichowski, if you`re reading this, I`m thinking of you.

alright, so it`s Sunday, tonight Charlie and I have a Backpatch performance in Shinjuku with Teenage Desires and a band called TASTE (??) and then tomorrow morning we`re flying to Oslo, Norway.  Charlie`s getting sick and I think now I`m getting sick also.  Great timing.  Thanks for everything, Nippon.

peace and noise,
-gordon