Pushing the Boundaries of Japanese TV
Written by billywest on October 26, 2008
Kudos to the folks at Fuji TV for coming up with a groundbreaking new TV drama that dares to explore the nature of the “Innocent Love” of two young women.
Wait a minute… Oh, I see. Oh, ok… Let’s start again:
Kudos to the folks at Fuji TV for coming up with a groundbreaking new TV drama that dares to explore the nature of the “Innocent Love” of two young men.
No, no, no… WTF!? Now, hold on… Maybe it’s about the incestuous relationship between twin brothers. No, that’s not it…
Screw it; Who knows what’s going on with this show?
Posted in: Entertainment
Japan Caught on a Cheap Digital Camera, Pt. 1
Written by billywest on October 21, 2008
Fellow blogger and friend Neil recently posted some random photos of Japan at his website and that has inspired me to dig through some of my older and more recent shots to dig out a few of my faves. Without further ado, here they are:
I’ll be putting some more of my favorite snaps up in the next installment of “Japan Caught on a Cheap Digital Camera”, so I hope you’ll come back and check them out.
Update: Part 2 is up now. Have a look if you’ve got nothing better to do.
Posted in: Photos
Shimokitazawa: My New Local Scene
Written by billywest on October 14, 2008
Being fresh off the hunt for a new Tokyo apartment, I’m starting to get things moved over to my new place. Even though the apartment itself is your fairly standard Tokyo one-room pad, it’s comfortable enough… But, what makes me really excited is the location. It’s in the shadow of the Tocho building in Nishishinjuku, but just far enough outside the area to be located in a peaceful residential neighborhood. The nearest station to my place is only a 7-minute walk away and it gives me a 3-minute ride into Shinjuku Station. I have to say that the area surrounding my local station is very cool and has no shortage of great little coffee shops and reasonably-priced restaurants, including a couple of low-level faves of mine, Pepper Lunch and Sukiya.
But, as cool as the very local surroundings are, I’m right next to Shinjuku and only 10 minutes from Shibuya, so it’s not likely I’ll be spending too many weekend nights out in the immediate area around my new place. But, beyond Shinjuku and Shibuya, the very cool and inviting Shimokitazawa is only a 15-minute walk from my neighborhood, so I expect to spend a bit of time down there if I can find some really cool hangouts.
Even though I’ve lived in Tokyo for awhile now, I never really took the time to explore such trendy places as Kichijoji, Takadanobaba, and Shimokitazawa. But, now that Shimokita is really close, I’m intrigued to find out just how well it’s going to live up to its reputation as one of the hippest (if not the hippest) locations in Tokyo. I will say, however, that the first time checking things out there on a weekend night left me a little disappointed. I met up with a couple of friends who’d arrived earlier and had had a few beers before I arrived, and we searched for something inviting, but nothing really pulled us in. So, we decided not to waste the evening and headed into Shinjuku, namely Kabuki-cho, and had a very cool evening full of drink, pleasant meetings, and a quite nice capper to the outing.
But, if anyone reading this knows Shimokitazawa, and would be kind enough to drop the names (and locations if you’d be so kind) of some cool places in the area, I’d be much obliged (even to the point of buying you a cold one there 
). Looking around on the net a little, I found a place called Heaven’s Door Bar that I wouldn’t mind checking out next time in Shimokita. Anyone know the place?
Posted in: Journal
