Money spent Pt 1: records.

what would be a trip across Japan with 4 hardcore dudes without record shopping. Of course we were liable to nerd out to some degree but Carms and Myself got a little silly. Japan was pretty weird when it came to record stores, lucky for us it was around new years so almost all the shops in Tokyo had sales going on. The most surprising thing was the overabundance of rare British and American 80's and 90's indie rock records, and the fact that they were all dirt cheap. The most I paid for a record in Japan was 28 American Dollars and that was for a SOB 12".





All of the Creation stuff are original pressings, the Pavement is the Big Cat UK press, OG Merauder press, and yes that copy of Pyschocandy is autographed by Jim Reid for god knows what reason.

Funniest record find of the trip: Silent Majority on blue in the dollar bin @ Disk Shop Misery in Hiroshima.

Hiroshima was pretty interesting as far as records go, we were in sort of a rush so we didn't have too much time to go looking for shit but as we were preparing to leave we noticed a record fair going on inside the bus/subway terminal. We decided to check it out and it turned out to be somewhat of a goldmine. I picked up Isn't Anything on creation for 8 dollars, Pavement for 10 and X-Ray Spex for like 14. If only New York caught on and started having random record fairs in Penn Station.

getting there/ first night in Osaka

14 hour flights on 747 planes are not designed for dudes that are taller than 6', cramped is an understatement. I felt like a stuffed sardine, but it didn't really matter because we were on our way to Japan.



Carms snoozing and Chris approving. unfortunately I did almost no sleeping on the flight there, total bummer.

We arrived in Osaka on the evening of Dec 28th. After getting through customs and retrieving our bags we were greeted by a good old face, James Whittle.



James utterly excited for our arrivals. The feeling was completely mutual.

After we got done greeting and getting our shit together we retrieved our rail passes (greatest bargain in the world) and hoped on a subway to Namba (central Osaka). You can't really gain a good first impression based on the airport, yea its clean, yea theres a bunch of signs you can't read and yes theres a lot of Japanese but its still just another airport. The first subway ride was a different story, it was night time and there was a slight overcast. The subway line took us throughout many foreign neighborhoods all which were illuminated with bright fluorescent lights. Kind of like having times square in the suburbs, pretty wild. I was definitely thrown for a loop as at first the sights are fairly overwhelming.



we arrived at the central station in Namba, which is pretty damn big and really confusing at first. Subway stations in Japan have numbered exits which lead out onto various street corners, this station had about 14 I think. This created quite the dilemma for us as we carried our luggage up and down numerous flights of stairs attempting to find the proper exit for the Capsule Inn.



a rainy night in Osaka with many bright lights to lead the way. The rain definitely didn't help matters but after a solid 45 minutes of walking around and trying to ask for directions, which was pretty much useless, we found the Namba Capsule Inn. I was immediately greeted by these two signs;




I was a little worried at first, but it turned out OK. Definitely received some looks from some of the other Japanese businessmen guests on our floor but no one complained. After getting our shit settled and together we decided to do a little explore, having only eaten airplane food we were all pretty damn hungry.



almost directly across from the capsule inn was our first run-in with a traditional Japanese "shopping-arcade", which is really just a long street filled with shit that has a makeshift roof over the top. Oh did I mention, they're really really bright. James spotted a place for us to chow at, food called Omurice, this dish instantly became a favorite of mine and I continued to indulge throughout the trip.



this is James opening his 7 pounds of un-roasted coffee beans that his brother Pat gave to me to bring for James. Notice the look of confusion on his face.

The first night there was somewhat of a blur to me, I wasn't quite jet-lagged but I definitely felt a little thrown off. Things kept spinning when I would stand still and I felt like I couldn't really see straight, it was almost a feeling of inebriation. Just for reference, sleeping in a capsule hotel is undoubtedly the most uncomfortable shit ever and I didn't sleep at all. I was also kept awake by the fact that I had left Nicole behind and had already begun to miss her, which is a theme that develops throughout my whole travels. That was pretty much it for the first night, I wouldn't really feel the effects of being in Japan until the next day. Thats all for now.

coming home is no easy task...

I'm creating this blog with the purpose of documenting my entire journey of Japan, for my benefit as well as possibly the benefit of some others. After two and half long weeks traveling across a greater portion of Japan I have returned home. This journey was without any doubt one of the most important experiences of my entire life. I was lucky enough to share my trip with 3 of the most solid dudes/great friends around. We also met and partied with some new faces along the way, shout outs to; Taeko, Jaybil, Colin Bayer, Chie, Tyson, and Yoshi. The things I've seen cannot be done justice by words, pictures or words and pictures. The only proper way of being able to convey the things I've felt and seen would be if you could someone transmit my brains memory-bank to yours. Alas I will try to impress on you the sheer beauty and importance of such experiences I have witnessed. That was my preface, and here is todays first real post.

Coming home, coming home is a difficult thing to do when you're not sure what awaits you when you return. When you're on a 14 hour flight home and are forced to wonder whether you're losing the single most important person in your whole life when you return home you tend to unravel slightly. Two and half weeks of the best experience of my entire life came to a head when I realized that I left behind the single most important part of my life and because so I may have possibly lost it forever. So much for my heart and mind to digest at once, its a little bit of overkill. A man must rethink his position at such a cross road, and question where he is really at. Thoughts are deceitful at best and when you think something is at a certain point and it turns out differently it is nothing less than treason. Treason unto your very own heart. What is a man to do when he is 7,000 miles from the one he loves and he is completely incapable of saving whats most important to him? The only thing you can do really is run different scenarios through your head and pray to god, Buddha, or whoever for the best possibly outcome. This was an incredibly difficult thing for me to cope with, I would be lying if I didn't say that hopes of the plane crashing and all inside perishing didn't run through my head. I started with a post about the end of the trip because the end is the part that has laid the biggest weight on my shoulders. After relieving myself I will be able to clearly tell the stories of the rest of my trip. Thats all I can bare to write today, I'm tired, exhausted and still feel like its 8:25 am Jan 14th Tokyo time. Please keep a vigilant eye for updates on here LOADED with pictures and stories to match. Arigato Gozaimasu