Osaka, 2013.

Mar. 8 2013

#osaka #japan #kansai #jr #yamatoji line #shin imemiya

7 notes

Discovered on Monday:

colombo is a small used bookstore & espresso bar along the lines of Solder and Sons back in Vancouver (Hi Robert!). Highly recommended if you’re wandering around in Minami-Semba in Osaka and in need of a shot.

I’m spoiled after living in East Vancouver for a decade and doing the barista thing on The Drive for half of that, so it’s a pleasant surprise to find a good shot with the appropriate amount of hang-time on the crema and ll that jazz here. For all of the insistence on having the right gear, technique, and the fetishistic attention to detail, it’s genuinely amazing how very few places there are that do espresso right around here. At least in my experience so far. I’m looking forward to finding more.

Anyways. Just around the corner from Marimekko and Nanba Shrine.

Mar. 6 2013

Via colombo.jp

#osaka #japan #kansai #espresso #coffee #cafe #bookstore #books

4 notes

Well. I know what we’re doing on Sunday.

Thanks to imh-hau / @Jimhaku for the heads up.

OOIOO IN THE SHOCK CITY

LIVE＝OOIOO with Gamelan
　　　SAICOBABA [YOSHIDADAIKITI, U-zhaan & YOSHIMIO]
　　　The Floating Guitar Borchestra Of BOREDOMS
DJ＝EYE, Shhhhh, YA△MA
FOOD＝VEGEしょくどう by yoyo. and friends, 南風食堂, PARADISE ALLEY BREAD & CO.
SHOP＝emeraldthirteen
VisuaLight＝Colo GraPhonic feat. G-LIGHT（COSMIC LAB / BetaLand）
Spece design＝Tanimoto Dai

solarflares: b0000000)R))REEEEEEE

Dec. 19 2012

Via ooioo.jp

#boredoms #OOIOO #Eye #Osaka

12 notes

Busy days.

FRIDAY: Showed Colin Marshall around town. We did the full circuit: Day-long walk around Nara: JR Nara, Sanjo-dori, Sarusawa Pond, Nanendo, Kofukuji pagoda, Nara Park, National museum was off limits due to crazy long line-ups for the last day of the annual Shoso-in treasure exhibition, then off to Todaiji/the Big Buddha, up to Nigatsu-do overlooking Nara city, back down and through Nara-machi including Gangoji, then shotengai maze-guiding and finishing off with okonomiyaki and beer.

Two realizations:

a) I still marvel at the beauty of my new hometown,

and

b) I could start charging, doing the tour guide thing. A little extra yen on the side….

Oh yeah, I got interviewed for his podcast. Stay tuned.

SATURDAY: Up early for work, and then friends’ going-away party in Osaka. Glad we had to catch the last train back, as everyone was smoking in this cozy little basement bar and 6 months in on my quit, that kind of party atmosphere is still too tempting. One drink and then split, feeling old. Review copies for the Liminal showed up in my inbox. Start listening/scribbling. Up late.

SUNDAY: Up early, off to Kyoto for Chagall exhibition and to order New Years osechi. YMO vinyl and got a new watch at my favourite shop, United Arrows: Happy birthday to me! Back to Nara for dinner with the in-laws. Mmmmmm, yakiniku.

MONDAY: My birthday, Japan time. Long walk to Kasuga Shrine to set official wedding date, long lunch, then off to hire a photographer, set date for kimono fittings, then dinner again with the in-laws.

TUESDAY (today): Good morning! I have two birthdays, as it is now November 12, N. America time. My phone lighting up every few minutes with fb push notifications of b-day well-wishes; I love my pals back home. Just spent my Amazon gift card (thanks mom!), much needed books coming my way in the mail. First issue of my WIRE magazine gift subscription showed up today!

And now, finish this coffee and back to teaching all week. Phew!

Nov. 12 2012

#oversharing #japan #nara #kyoto #osaka

5 notes

Yamatoji Line: Onigiri and Tea, rainy Sunday train to Osaka. En route to seminar and then date night with M while a huge typhoon was rolling in. Luckily, we had a movie we wanted to see- otherwise we would have wound up trapped in Osaka for a few hours.

Shunji Iwai’s Vampire was disappointingly meh, but I’m sure if you’re a 14 year-old, it would have been dreamy. Go see it and get back to me on it.

It had all of Iwai’s trademarks- diffuse light, floaty camera, pretty piano music, the scene where ballet happens, Aoi Yu was in it -things one associates with his work, but this time with a lack of risk. It seemed as if the pressure of making his first English feature crossover attempt made Iwai play it safe, and rely on tricks that made benchmark films like All About Lily Chou-chou and Hana & Alice work so well. This time, it all felt overlong and stilted. No point in writing him off yet, as his strength as a documentarian has been growing over the years.

Also: it featured many lovely shots of picturesque New Westminster, BC just to stoke the quiet fire of Canadian homesickness for me. We also discovered a lovely art-house/rep cinema in Umeda in a high-rise building that has a giant hanging garden on top, so it wasn’t a complete loss.

The storm itself was insane. More on that later.

Oct. 2 2012

Via kansaisukiyanen

#Japan #Umeda #Osaka #Shunji Iwai

7 notes