Frederick Saunders

2012-01-08T18:41:00.003+09:00

Commissions for the children

2011-10-25T22:02:00.000+09:00

Asked for by Shibazono Junior High School, Kawaguchi, Saitama-ken, Japan. Two for the nurses office and a few in the classroom.

England

2011-09-27T16:23:00.000+09:00

France

2011-09-27T16:01:00.000+09:00

Not Japan, however, it is France.

Yawn

2011-06-04T11:16:00.000+09:00

This was a piece I made for a competition in Japan a while back. It was for a book for children about dreams, I wasn't entirely 100% on that though. I didn't win so I can post it here now. You can see some of the winners here: Children's literature prize

2011-06-03T10:32:00.001+09:00

I wanted to repost this beauty as one of my all time favorites. Imperial Boy does not get enough attention, especially in the west. Also its because I deleted a previous blog and just wanted to keep this full res image alive on the internet. Keepin` it real!

2011-05-14T13:23:00.000+09:00

I made YFM just to entertain myself while stuck in hospital, its been lying around for a while because I wanted to add to it with more stories, but I thought I'd throw these into the public domain as a start. Apologies for the bad copies, I have no scanner in my back water Tokyo hovel.

2011-05-01T21:29:00.002+09:00

2011-05-01T21:10:00.000+09:00

2011-03-31T18:11:00.000+09:00

2011-03-31T14:51:00.002+09:00

2011-03-22T23:59:00.001+09:00

Kyoto

2011-03-21T20:02:00.001+09:00

Business Cards, random scribbles and Yellow fuck man

2011-03-07T14:36:00.000+09:00

Tokyo Sky Tree fading into the clouds

2011-03-07T14:17:00.000+09:00

Indian Summer

2011-03-07T12:40:00.000+09:00

Have been trying some digital painting again since I've been in hospital. This took a couple of days and a few hours of adjusting. I settled with sepia tones to bring the 70 something layers together. The main focus was on light depiction. It's nice to get my teeth into something a little more detailed occasionally.

しi十十しe Guys

2011-03-01T21:28:00.000+09:00

Azaminions in Mister Donut

2011-01-24T14:39:00.003+09:00

Mister Donut is the place to be.

www.fredericksaunders.com

2010-12-30T23:31:00.002+09:00

I finally got my website online!

After days - weeks! - spent trying to figure out how dreamweaver and fireworks works I finally have something to show for it!

Please check it out - I`m still making adjustments and if you have any suggestions they will be more than welcome. I hope you enjoy it! Feel free to let me know what you think.

www.fredericksaunders.com

-Fred

Izu

2010-12-07T13:26:00.009+09:00

Being in Izu with Joe, Anna, Jean-phillipe and Mika is great fun! It's been a perfect mix of nature, stars, reading, beer, music, mountains, onsen, food and drawing. Joe kept us busy with an onslaught of rural Japanese culture, driving us through beautiful scenery from one place to the next in order to get the full experience. On the second day we climbed to the top of ... mountain, I think this might be one of the most beautiful views in all Japan. I took a lot of photos and we had all had a lot of fun!

Studies in Tokyo

2010-11-01T13:48:00.004+09:00

Indian summer in Japan

2010-10-06T13:42:00.002+09:00

Girls!

2010-09-23T18:07:00.003+09:00

The Solaryman Project

2010-09-08T13:44:00.002+09:00

Photographer Yuki Aoyama recently caught my eye with a photographic book entitled Solaryman,
her idea is to capture the individual behind the suit. Since I myself have been recently coerced into a suit I found it particularly liberating, each photo gives us a nice glimpse of the salary man as he leaps into the air away on a short trip out of reality. Humour, creativity, playfulness and attitude are briefly emblazoned across their faces. It's really quite lovely, usually you will only see stony faces when you see those guys. Japan seems like such a serious place.

Blood Sugar Sex Magic

2010-08-14T14:22:00.005+09:00

Girl

2010-08-03T13:54:00.001+09:00

The Street of Leaves is back online!

2010-07-20T15:45:00.000+09:00

The Street of Leaves from Frederick Saunders on Vimeo.

Foreign Devil

2010-07-06T20:09:00.010+09:00

Im settling back in nicely, despite living in abject poverty. That's not really true, but times are hard, I'm sure everyone will nod their heads and grudgingly agree. Tokyo is fun, it is strange being back in this metropolis, I'm stuck in a binary notion of feeling like I know it well and also being uncomfortably aware that I have no idea what I'm doing or where I am at any given point of time or space. At the moment I'm mainly looking for work, but I have had the chance to have fun, so here it is.

Fun no.1

This is the Tana-bata festival in Hiratsuka, it revolves around some story involving princes and princesses who miss each other in some way. Basically the town of Hiratsuka is filled with banners and lanterns hanging from bamboo sticks. People come from all over Tokyo to see these and to buy local and traditional food in huge amounts from the 'throng' of stalls. Me and Anna ate some tori kara age (chicken), takoyaki (octopus) and sugared sweet potato chips.

Fun no.2

The great barbecue of American Independence.

To celebrate the 4th of July a large number of people gathered at Futako river under the overpass to eat huge amounts of barely cooked meat and drink lots of beer. I'm sure I wasn't alone in drinking lots of beer... It was really great, we had some DJ's from Camalot playing tunes right next to us, which worked out perfectly in combination with the beer. Until I threw two of them into the river. But they seemed happy to be thrown in, so I obliged, I was even polite enough to wait for them to remove their iphones from their pockets.

Finally, a little on the art side.

Here are a couple of drawings, one from last week of the Shibuya sky line directly above Yoshinoya, a popular gyudon chain restaurant and one from earlier today in the park.

When things shape up a little and I get the job I'm aiming for, this blog should kick off a little more, hope you are all well.

Tadaima desu!

2010-06-22T15:15:00.005+09:00

Back in Tokyo!

Its very hot here, difficult to adjust to the heat, time, culture, language etc...

The journey was very long, I flew via Abu Dhabi on hellish 25 hour journey across the world.

But landing was fantastic, anna was waiting there looking lovely and holding a pack of seven stars cigarettes for me. Here is a picture I took as we flew over the desert of the United Arab Emirates.

Last night I visited Shibuya, where we ate some fucking amazing Ramen, walked around alot and see that it's just as big, busy, bright, noisy and confusing as it was when I went there the first time. Also I was offered more modelling work! Quite good for my first day in Japan.

Hassocks Leaving party - The swamp

The night before I left, we had a wonderful little gathering in the swamp, which is actually alot nicer then it's name. Thanks to John, Maddie, Jack and becci for all your hard work!

John spent the week cutting and sawing up tree's for the fire

Maddie and Becci provided beautiful decor, including amazing floating lanterns on the water and some more in the tree.

Jack prepared some beautiful trout and sea bass cooked wonderfully on the fire.

Also thanks to all who came along! It was really fun, and I will miss you all!

Bristol Leaving party + degree show after party + Brian's Birthday

Excellent to see some people before I left, I hope everyone had fun and Bristol has now recovered from one giant collective hangover. Also enjoy the degree show, it's still going!

I will spending the next few days adjusting back to life here and relaxing. If your in Tokyo currently come to my welcome back party at Eda, or I will see you soon probably.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me in some way to come back to Japan, it's greatly appreciated!

Remember, dont Japanic!

The Street of Leaves stuff

2010-06-11T00:04:00.003+09:00

The new DON'T JAPANIC!

2010-06-02T00:51:00.004+09:00

Since my return to Japan is scheduled for later this month, I will be saying farewell again to the UK for an indefinate amount of time. Therefore this blog will once again serve as the essense of me, in a flatter, shinier, lovelier form.

To give you a taste of what I mean here are some of my modelling images. Published in 'HUgE' magazine October 2009 under the theme: 'Absolute man'...

yeah they are quite wierd.

I expect to see as many people as I can before I leave, and also, when I get there!

The Street of Leaves

2010-05-29T03:32:00.002+09:00

The Street of Leaves from Frederick Saunders on Vimeo.

Finally this movie has been made, lots of hard work paid off yesterday when I screened the final version. Fortunately now I can return to life, and the things that I really enjoy!

I will be returning to Tokyo on the 21st of June, and subsequently will reinstate this blog with all the things that I will be doing in Japan.

So watch this space!

I love my bamboo!

2010-04-07T19:40:00.002+09:00

Anna

2010-04-07T19:39:00.001+09:00

The street of leaves.

2009-11-27T04:18:00.003+09:00

I'm currently making a 3rd year animation called the street of leaves.
If you are interested in this film please have a look here
www.frederick1800.blogspot.com
cheers!

p.s. please follow there and comment!!!

Japan time over for now...

2009-09-10T06:16:00.002+09:00

I will be moving back to an older but revamped blog space now that my time in Tokyo has come to an end.
It's not the end though, as I shall reinstate don't Japanic! when I go 'back to the future'.
ha.
Visit the 'new' FRED' simagi nation and memberise yourself for up-to-date work from my feeble mind.
All the best!

First published modelling work

2009-08-23T22:17:00.003+09:00

B E A M S
mens casual catalogue
made front cover with my back & back cover with my face!

breaking into the old house project

2009-08-15T23:10:00.003+09:00

"BREAKING INTO THE OLD HOUSE"

2009-08-06T16:42:00.005+09:00

Is the imaginative new name for a 'soon to be made' collection of photographs/drawings and short film of a very old house that I recently broke into for this purpose.
So watch out!
Here's a sample!

click on photo to view large

The house caught my eye because it looks so out of place. Next to the house is a building site, and several estate-like buildings which all identical to the buildings of Tokyos many many suburbs.
When I entered the house I found that you could be completely isolated from the rest of Tokyo, amongst old cars and motorbikes, huge towering tree's, the deafening sound of bugs and the humidity and heat took you to another world that existed probably only in Japan's past.

(almost) finished work!

2009-08-03T15:06:00.003+09:00

Hi!
I have (almost) finished my work, in that the module for study in tokyo has finished, but i still have to trim some corners and create a presentation for UWE back in bristol.
So here is my animation as it was when screened at Tokyo Zokei University on Saturday the 18th of July.

The module brief stated that I should write about a powerful memory, which was a bit disapointing as i wanted to write about my time in Japan rather then the past. It also required a narrative over the top which i found to be excessively cheesy. But i guess it wouldnt make sense without it as my animations never seem to do. This one almost does!
Those of you who have spent your time in Favell may understand the sentiments i'm trying to get at with this one.
Thanks to all computers, equipment, students and professors at Zokei without whom nothing would have happened and whom I could not understand at all!

I will be returning to the Uk on the 14th of August and soon after to Bristol as i must submit to UWE by the 17th. Soon i hope to see you all!

Please let me know what you think!

what happens when you put peoples from bristol in japan

2009-07-11T19:00:00.004+09:00

The bristolians come to tokyo!
oh those crazy kids!
what will they do next...

Team gayjin, doing my work for me.
Adam is my inbetweener and everyone else does colouring in!
Thanks guys, i lube you!

On another note i am now a 'part time model'..

Check out my leopard shoes...
I will put up more photos when they go to print, today i was paid to have mugshots taken of me in a hat.

More intensity!

I will be back on the blogging properly when i have finished my course! I havn't had much time in a while with my busy schedule.

Also I have added a thingy so you can comment from your facebook account, if you choose connect with facebook from the menu in the comment box ting.
Also complaint means comment, dont be afraid/afred.

For good times, choose Suntory times.

2009-06-24T14:34:00.006+09:00

Hi folks,
Japan has been very hot recently and I struggle to cope in the humidity.
There is too much work to do at school and not enough time before my screening!
so today I took a little time out and painting things.
1. Takuro's skateboard. (i hope he pays me..)
2. A cupboard. Someone fobbed off their cupboard on me and i need to be able to get rid of it (or fob it off onto someone else) by the time i leave so I decided to make it better.

That is a little toy car glued on for fun:)
Here is my personal animating space at the university:
Its ok. quiet.
I will show everyone when i have more painted things or work.

The treehouse creation group!!

2009-06-19T10:08:00.006+09:00

The treehouse group are a group of people making nature friendly art, involving creating houses in precarious places. They have a cafe (in a tree) in a backstreet of Harajuku that me and Anna went to see yesterday. The house is beautiful, and we ate a bagel and drank beer in a huge pine tree.
It was beautifully made, check them out and if you're in Harajuku go have a look. their website is also worth seeing for the treehouses they have made.

Right next to the treehouse happened to be the headquarters of the Design Festa that I went to, I spoke to an Australian guy who told it was opened in '98 and now the festa has grown to be the biggest design festival in the world. quite an accomplishment. The whole building was covered in scultpure and structures and there was not a surface that wasn't painted.

Right after this I was asked to be a model... by a random in the street. maybe theres a job here?
Watch this space...

Futomakagawatamawhatever...

2009-06-15T10:47:00.003+09:00

Shinjuku!

2009-06-15T10:29:00.003+09:00

Last week I took a brief excursion to the land of shinjuku (my first time, but also, oddly, the first time for a girl I have met, so me and anna went together :)

My first visit to the hustle and business of Tokyo's tallest district.
Shinjuku stands at the center of Japans success in the worlds economy, and is the most expensive land in the City. The west houses the government Metropolitan building which is dubbed 'tax tower' due to its US$1billion cost.

East Shinjuku is a place for highend fashion and entertainment for men. the 250,000 (predominantly men) that work in the west part everyday come through here the kicks etc..
Me and Anna found a Hello kitty shop, some expensive bags, a healthy transexual population, but the best part is the cluster of neon lights with the skyline as a backdrop. Has an extremely energetic and unreal feel to it.
I didnt really a get a chance to appreciate this place properly so I plan to make a trip back soon to stroll around some more.

Favell

2009-06-11T21:04:00.002+09:00

'Favell'
is a piece of workinprogress (animatic) to be screened at Tokyo Zokei university on the 18th of July.
If you are in Tokyo please come!!

Shots from new storyboard

2009-06-08T11:33:00.002+09:00

Fish out of Water

2009-06-02T01:13:00.004+09:00

I have finally found my animation again! so here it is for the general dont japanic public.

Cheers!

Also, i hope you guys have got your eyes on those bnp, i hear its getting bad over there.
one love!

things that i love

2009-05-29T21:06:00.003+09:00

The burden of senses;

why not play everything at once and play the sound from only one?

Mr. Manop! the ledgendary thai mango farmer

2009-05-23T18:19:00.012+09:00

Yata!

2009-05-14T18:31:00.009+09:00

Bonjour mon petit poi!

Just got back from unibersity.
Got some shit to show yer.

Firstly this happened last night.

haha, it was realllly funny. the chances.

On Monday I went to see some pretty underground Japanese bands.

They were very good, one of the bands (possibly called 'music+beat+organic'..) had an
amazing drummer who played bongo's and all these percussion instrument i dont know the name of. He is the one in the green on the left here:
Also he is the best tamborine player i ever did see.

Another band playing acoustic music had a japanese girl singing, who gave me a homemade cookie because i filled out a question sheet in a language she could not read.

That is her.
<-----------------

This is the Horse sushi that I was just
dying to try.

--------------->

It was a bit chewy because its raw but was nevertheless quite nice.
Next up is Whale.

This is Yuta and his friend whose boyfriend went travelling for 6 months in Glasgow.

This is me and Takuro.

This is a poster for a musical called URINETOWN., it has pictures off loo roll on it and everything is gold and they are standing in a big puddle. I dont understand so maybe i should get a ticket.

this is a button on my new phone whose purpose evades me. this is a drawing for a storyboard.This is just a drawing.Ted in progress.
The house at the bottom of the road.
what i just ate off.

Next weeks issue of Don't Japanic:

Arts and Crafts fair in Odaiba
Photography club party
Yuta's gig.

So tune in!!

Kareoke pics . New Camera Finally . SLR irreversibly broken . Stolen Stuff .

2009-05-05T19:27:00.007+09:00

The Japanese Subway. Typically full of Japanese people.

KAREOKE!!

Me and american girl (sarah)

American girl and French Guy (Alex)

Australian guy (Chau), American Girl 2 and Pan-European Girl

Me.French guy, American girl 2 and Pan-European Girl.

Becci and Frauke

Chau (Australian guy eating a burrito by 7/11)

Kareoke was great, Gaijin only though so its a different experience because we generally know the words to all the songs other people sing. Otherwise you sit there listening to J-pop for hours and its very boring. But we sang from 12 till 5 with all you can drink and i have developed a taste for bloody marys somehow.

What i stole: This Evangelion poster. I was surprised that people were shocked when you get drunk and steal stuff on your way home. They were really trying to stop me. Haha apparently I was yelling 'I'm Drunk, I'm 21, I'm A student and I'm English!' Haha, its just not the same if you can't steal random things like signs, traffic cones and posters. Anyway apparently I can sell this poster on eBay for about 3000 yen. Any offers?

So that is a good weekend, I will take lots of photos now i have a new camera. It is duty-free!
I went to Akihabara yesterday which is a electrical goods paradise. After the war americans sold their radio equipment on the black market here and you can still buy old radios and stuff. It hasn't changed since then. This is also the place where you can find maid bars, towers of anime related goods and random stuff like this.

And now the Weather.
Last week we caught the edge of a typhoon from Malaysia and it rained for 3 days. But the week before that I think we reached 25.
Now it is hot and sunny again and you can tell the rainy season is coming because you wake up covered in sweat and i just showered and im already quite sticky. I should have brought more tee-shirts with me.

The more you know who you are, and what you want,
the less you let things upset you.

Bill Murray, Lost in Translation.

tokyoughurt art

2009-04-28T21:03:00.005+09:00

Sushi, thats what my ex-wife called me...
Cold fish...
(Deckard: original blade runnner narration)

adding words to 'things...'

beautiful animations are from a tokyo based company called wowlab. You can see others on youtube that are also just as good.
website: http://www.wowlab.net/index.php?ref=top-news-en

also for a jpeg a day and great graphic inspiration take a look at this; http://jpgaday.com/index.php?x=browse

i have finished my visual culture essay finally! 24 pages of pure tokyo. and too much research! I have gotten to used to adding qoutes and things. Im sure you can see.. good luck to the rest of you still going.

i look forward to concentrating on this blog a bit more now, am going to buy a battery for my camera and go and take photos. Tomorrow is a national holiday so i will be joining my housemates in the park for a picnic. Saturday is drawing at tokyo zoo followed by student party at an italian restaurant 6 till 11 followed by another party at an indian restaurant 12 till 8am. this should be worth blogging if i get my camera done.
.......

Fiery the angels fell.
Deep thunder rolled around their shores ...
burning with the fires of orc..

Roy Batty.

Skatin'

2009-04-24T01:15:00.004+09:00

Taking my first skate in Tokyo with the guys, it is 'practise for surf' style. No worries.

This is another revised version of the skate video, he keeps changing it.
Except this in this one at 8:15 there is some video of me blindfolded and trying to hit a watermelon with a stick. hilarious... also apparently my name is now f.~Erick
cool.

a little bit of tokyo

2009-04-10T18:43:00.007+09:00

Click on images to enlarge...

Kampai!

2009-04-05T18:09:00.002+09:00

Konnichiwa,
Today I have been in bed nursing a shocking hangover, the first thing I thought when i woke up is that i have nothing i can fry and then that i dont even have bread, just onions, apples and a yellow pepper. In the 7/11 you can get bread but in Japan they only sell it in half loaves for some reason and the eggs are pure white.
The cherry blossum party last night was very good, managed to meet many many people and do lots of talking. But I did drink alot, japanese people love to offer you drink after drink and I must have had alot of Asahi, whisky, mold wine and sake! but it was all free, and I am pretty sure I did not make a fool out of myself like would be expected on that much alcohol. But I have met loads of very nice people and I have been invited to another party at a fashion designer called ash't(?)'s house next week which sounds like lots of fun. I also met a group of japanese guys my age who play in a band in Shibuya, i will go to see them soon, I was talking to one of them who likes the libertines, but cannot say libertines or doherty.
It was with severe shock that the notion of not being able to get a kebab on the way back presented itself to me, instead yamacham bought pickled plums and calamari...

So today I have not done much except finish a book.
tomorrow I am going to uni for the first time, so i imagine this is not going to be easy.
Will get some pictures of it.
Hope everyone is well, sayonara!

To Much Walking & no Talking

2009-04-03T23:49:00.004+09:00

Sorry this blog is in reverse chronological order so start at the bottom.

I am to tired to write much so i will onlt put up pictures, I walked from Shibuya to Meiji Shrine, built by the emporer in 1920 ish for the emporess, it is very beautiful and surrounded by a park of thick almost jungle like trees. Then I took a walk to Harajuku where it is all high end fashion shops and lots of well dressed, and strangly dressed people. Then I walked back down to Shibuya and visited a Pachinko Tower, they have some crazy video games, including a virtual reality pod.
I think i am falling deeply and inseperably in love with Shibuya. also found a fairly cheap pub, and where the beer is cheap you find all the white people. Saw one guy in a brighton and hove albion shirt.
Cherry Blossum party tomorrow, I am very excited.
Some bastard German stole my beer.
Ja mate ne!

100 yen shop!

2009-04-02T22:58:00.005+09:00

Hi Guys!

Today was pretty fun, woke up late after having a late one, and it was really sunny outside, completely blue skies!

Sat around for a while and found that the line up for this years Fuji Rock festival is probably the most tempting line up I have ever seen. Dont know why everything is underlined but anyway, the best acts are as follows:
Animal Collective
Basement Jaxx
Ben Harper
The Bloody Beetroots
Crookers
Easy Star All Stars
Fake Blood
Melvins (dah)
Oasis
Peaches
Public Enemy
Royksopp
Simian Mobile disco
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra
Weezer.
----------------------------------------!!
At 40.000 yen im very tempted, although in real money this is £275!!
So maybe not.
But it would be good..

Anyway i went out to find the 100 yen shop that chao told me about, which was easier then i thought. I quickly realised that when he said it's in the marshall building, it wasn't as i thought a government building but was in fact in Marusho which is a supa (supermarket).
Tried to buy some food but i still have no idea what anything is, and even if i bought it i wouldnt know what to do with it. So I managed to find some minced beef and i made spaghetti bolognaise which i shared with katsuro who is training to become an itlian chef.
I saw yesterday the Japanese 'interpretation' of Italian food and i have to say it's pretty hilarious, they use spaghetti like noodles and just put japanese food with it, like miso soup or somthing, and really fishy pizza's with shrimp and things on them.
-----------------------------------
As it was so sunny I stayed out & made a drawing (top) from a bridge while being watched by lots of people. I bought some french 'wine' for about 500 yen which is pretty cheap, but it was in all fairness revolting. It was as if someone had put loads of sugar in it. I think I will just use it for cooking with.
-----------------------------------
I have realised that there are mainly two groups of people living at Eldorado, and they are the asians and the germans. The occasional canadian/american and apparently even the English are rare. There are now two of us now that i have arrived. I have spoken to one german who was very nice, but I seem to bond better with the japanese guys, one guy, cannot remember his name, said he will take me to roppongi soon because the best girls are there. They really like talking about girls. I bought some cigarettes today called Sakura, I'm not sure yet but i think they have cigarettes who are aimed solely at girls because of the packaging, like pink cigarettes with flowers on them. But the mainstream cigarettes are marketed to be in some way quite futuristic, only word I can think of to explain it. Its like having iFags.
Yamachan got home late today from his job fixing elevators and he only had 3 hours sleep last night because we went out and drank, so he went to bed early. On saturday we are all going out to celebrate the cherry blossums. Don't know if i have already mentioned this?
Anyway tomorrow I think i will go to yoyogo park to visit the meiji shrine. Will tell you all how it went.

If you want to you can click on the RSS symbol in the URL thing to get quicker and more updated access to Dont Japanic.
Also I have added a Japanese music thing to my blog which is on the right which is this way ->
I will add to it soon, but have alisten, its all crazy.

Kampai!

Bill Murray day

2009-04-01T21:02:00.008+09:00

Oh my days! I have never related more to a bill murray film, apart from space jam, and now I am ready to collapse!
If you have any vangelis, turn it on now.
Thought I had managed to conquer jet lag this morning by getting drunk last night so I could sleep for ages after just waking up. sort of worked... ..
what did i do...
Immediatley went to Tama-Plaza station when i woke up at about 8 ish, and after alot of umming I bought a ticket and by chance ended up where i wanted to be! Shibuya is one of the biggest centres for japanese youth culture and has that bit in it where there are loads of signs and giant televisions above a giant zebra crossing.
As I emerged from the subway this was the first thing i saw and i think i was probably about to break down and cry. I walked about for a bit but I couldnt stop dribbling so i sat in starbucks and decided to do a drawing to calm myself down, and ended up sitting there for 2 hours doing this:
<----- Dont really know why i did it but i came out of starbucks with a stupid headache that i still have about 10 hours later. Like having someone throw screwballs at your temple.. --------------------------------------------------------- The next few hours were spent solidly walking around shibuya, and staring at everything and everyone. Bill murray style.
saw some guys playing pachinko, well i saw thousands of people playing pachinko.
--------------------------->>
Went and ate in another noodle bar and this time i ate Oyakodon, which means mother and child (chicken and egg) I won't draw it because it was mainly mushy egg with bits of chicken and rice. very nice though. Went and spent 1000 yen on two half pints of kirin in a very nice bar, where i smoked in a bar for the first time in yonks.
Funny thing is, you can't smoke on the street, you have designated smoking shelters to help integrate smokers with non-smokers, but, you can smoke inside wherever the hell you want to smoke. Brilliant! The logic is exactly the opposite to uk and for some reason it works better.
------------------------------------------
Started to get very tired at about 4ish because i think thats about 7am uk time, so got a coffee and waited till it went dark so that I could experience the lights better. Bought some indoor slippers and coffee. Went dark, and i walked around listening to Blade Runner with a huge grin on my face.

------------------------------------------
Ok then, went back home, slept for 3 hours and woke up feeling shit. I decided that its about time I made some friends and went down stairs and immediately met two amazing japanese guys called yamachan and katsuro. they are 27 and 28 respectively and speak marginally good english but have a great sense of humour and love japanese reggae! So at 1 we went to an indonesian bar and ate ribs and satay and drank till 4 am, we talked alot about england and they asked me stuff like where is good to surf, have i seen david beckham, how big are the british girls breasts etc... They said as a foreigner it is easier for me to pull japanese girls.
Still have a head ache though, I think i need some sleep. If i have missed anything important I will put it in the next post. Hope all is well back in the ussr! Oyasumi Nasai!
x

First day in tokyo!

2009-03-31T14:44:00.007+09:00

Apart from being jetlagged to the xtreme I am in awe of everything and also in utter confusion with everything.
Had a hell of a longo flight, 12 hours and all i could see out the window was clouds, apart from the huge expanse of siberia which was just snow and rock.
But I landed and had a cigarette which was my favourite all time cigarette. Got onto a bus which took two hours to go all the way across tokyo, but I saw loads of tokyo on the way, obv, and its nuts mate. Things that I saw:
1. They have bamboo growing like weeds and its huge! just like out of that flying daggers movie, forests of the stuff!
2. The buildings are all really big and you can tell the've run out of space because theres about 2 inches between each high rise block. The river goes underneath three levels of high rise roads so it took me about half an hour to see the floor, and even longer before i realised that we had been driving on top of a river the whole way.
3. Japanese bum golf (gorufo)
4. Crap loads of people everywhere.
Got to my suburb after that, its called tama-plaza, i think, and there are cherry blossums lining the roads, you can get fags in vending machines, and everyone stares at you.
Met Joe Hashimoto, my land lord, he is ace, looks like this:
----------------------------------------------------->
Whay Miyazaki!

Then I left my shoes by the door and found my room, its pretty ace, i have futon to sleep on and sliding doors,
have a look:

This is the view out my window:
pretty cool...
So I went into the street and walked around, the people are overwhelming, there are tonnes of them and all the girls have incredible taste and are very hot anyway.
Brought some cigarettes by accident, sort of japanicked and saw some camels on the shelf in a 7/11 and asked a jolly japanese lady to sell them to me in no uncertain terms... She was laughing. Found out why afterwards because of this:
nutty menthol camels... no thanks..
Also went and found an authentic japanesey noodle bar, my first 'real' noodle town experience!
artists impression:yeah man! you had to put some coins into a vending machine which gave you a ticket and you gave that to the chef who would give you food! this sounds like easier then ordering in japanese but all the food was written in japanese so it wasnt. This is what came out:
Have never had anything japanese this good! even better then wagamama's for much less! whayyyy.
Only thing i'd have to say is that after this i went to a bar and ordered a well needed beer and firstly it was like £2.50 (500 yen) i think, and it was only a half! god help me.
But the barmaid was hot.

Well im pretty exhausted because after that i came back here and wrote this!
now i havnt slept in exactly 24 hours becausde my alarm just went off telling me to get up to go to japan. i think im going to sleep a bit then walk around some more later.
Hope your all having fun!

BEFORE I GO...

2009-03-26T01:29:00.004+09:00

Good day good Sirs and Madames,

May this find you all in good health, I have for many a night now felt perturbed by this land. The disconcerting smell of putrid cider and the spiralling depths of a mysterious numbing sensation that I cannot shake has driven me to conceed and make sail for the distant lands of Japan.
As I will be fleeing the country under cover of night (of course..) on the thirtieth day of this month I am compelled to stay in contact through the medium of 'blog'.
The other point of this blog is to detail all the daft and senseless things that I hope I will find or see for all your amusement! Make sure you bookmark it or send me a message and I will add you to the mailing list.

Before departure I am holding a gathering of great and also not so great, possibly even inane and downright bizarre people on Friday the 27th.

Hope this reaches you all in time.

God bless.

Frederick.