Wed/22
Arrive at Narita. Anally raped by G.O.D. and immigration. Watch white people and baseball players get a free ride while me and the Asians are left to rot. Shinjuku hotel blackout, well earned.
Thurs/23
Change rooms. Suitcase back to Draft One. Lunch with Matt Alt near Inokashira. We blow off the Tokyo Anime Fair. War plans instead. Little girl gets bit by a dachshund in doggy sweater. Her friends lean in to look at the damage. All three conk their heads together. Hugs and kisses for Honda-san back at D-1. Dance around the room with Bu-Chan. Back to Shinjuku. An old man crashes his bike into a five year old on the Japanese equivalent of a Huffy. Dinner with Kazumi, AKA Batty Cheese, who will be illustrating the Japanese School Girl Inferno. Beer and the jet lag combo makes me feel like I’ve been hit in the face with a bat.
Fri/24
Lunch. Someone recognizes me. I don’t remember who they are or what to say. Shibuya. We invade a dance event hosted by the Shibuya Para Para Kingdom. Everyone is nice to me, despite being a big nosed foreigner who should be dead by Logan’s Run standards. Takadanobaba. Dinner with Slasher and Betty. A big bag of Yebisu tall boys and Marlboro Reds on the conbini counter bodes ill for…
Sat/25
A greasy hangover. Someone recognizes me. I don’t remember who they are or what to say. Lightbulb. She’s a bartender in Golden Gai. I’ve never seen her in broad daylight before. Gal Hunting in Harajuku and Shibuya. Episode eight of Hot Tears of Shame, basically.
Sun/26
More Gal Hunting in the same ding-dong places as before. Battling waves of cameramen and TV crews. Shibuya. Textbook raw funky gal on Center Street. We get in close to ask for a pic. It’s actually a dude in the rude. Following stinky O-gal in dirty bathroom slippers and stained yellow sweater. The guy she’s with buys her a crepe. Gal Swell dance event. Crazed black faced Mamba and host boyfriends. We get in, but aren’t allowed to take pics. Coke and ginger ale at the bar.
Monday/27
Shibuya. Offices of Egg magazine. Phone call from Shiho, leader of Gal Kakumei movement. Agree to a meeting on Wednesday. Sighs of relief. Nakano. Dinner with people on the Pop Travel Japan tour. Rich from Philly, Alex from somewhere complicated, and a family of three from Canada, all of them mad for anime, manga, etc. Shinjuku. Drinks with Slasher at the Living Bar. Alex from the tour calls up and comes on down. He tells us about cheese steaks, jolems, and frat life. We take him to Kabuki-cho. Admire Evangelion pachinko. Playing the Cobra game. Night cap in Golden Gai. A table full of salarymen pass around a hookah.
Tues/28
Greasy hangover. Back to Draft One to get a change of clothes. Meeting with Kateigaho staff in Shinjuku. They are the coolest. Jimbocho and offices of Million Shuppan. Meet with staff of ura shakai magazine to talk Yanki and Sukeban. Taxi to Golden Gai. Dinner on the second floor: former black market fuckpad. Interview with former member of all-girl gang Akujo. Date Rape comes on down. Her phone is possessed by some kind of darkness. I can’t feel parts of my feet and I don’t have dreams anymore.
at Golden Gai they have hookas? Is it in Kabuki Cho? Please let me know, have fun!
Posted by: hashem | May 17, 2006 at 05:08 AM