Alex has come to town, and that means one thing- Frisbee Golf!
The last time Alex was in town, about a year ago, we got rained off. It looked like rain today, but happily held off until we got our 9 holes done at Tachikawa. Of course we wanted the full 18, but since it’s Golden Week holidays, half the course was closed down.
Here’s a picture of us at the gazebo by hole 13- Alex, me, Mike.
Last weekend Jason and I took a cycle-camping trip north up the Arakawa river (wild river) into Saitama. We set out on April 27th and came back on my birthday, the 28th, covering 170km in total, free-camping overnight in the grass by a day-time BBQ area.
It was an incredibly liberating feeling to get out of the city under our own steam, without having to rely on crowded commuter trains or pass through one of the city’s manic transit hubs.
Once we were clear of the city, rolling on the excellent bicycle path that tracks the Arakawa for most of its length back up to its fount at Mount Kobushi in Saitama, we were surrounded by green, clear fresh air, and lots of empty space.
On Monday I got an email from Maiko, one of my students, saying- “Can I call you with my friend tonight?” It seemed a little mysterious- but she’s a friend as well as a student, so of I course I said yes.
That night she called, we had a little chit-chat, then she handed me off to the friend. The friend turned out to be Yaco, a fluent-in-English casting agent who was urgently looking for background extras to take part in an all-night music video shoot on Wednesday with 2 mega famous J-pop starlets.
Well, I was a bit blown away, but figured I could fit it into my schedule.
Yaco told me it was a casino-scene shoot way out in Minami-Machida (South CityField) near where I used to live, from 6pm Wednesday til 4am Thursday morning. The J-pop stars would be Namie Amuro and Double. I’d need to wear a suit and tie, and would be paid.
I confirmed on the spot, she confirmed back, and I got onto Wikipedia immediately to find out who the J-pop girls were.
So, last Sunday after buying the camera, Jason and I went to Yoyogi Park (generations of trees Park) in Harajuku (longstanding Inn) to check out Earth Day Tokyo.
I wasn’t really sure what Earth Day was all about, other than a chance for a bunch of wild-eyed scraggly-bearded hippies to get together, smoke pot, enjoy free love, and sell products made out of hemp. Imagine my surprise when that’s exactly what it turned out to be. They also banged drums a lot, talked about World Peace, dressed as gnomes, and made us clean our plastic cups and plates ourselves (with rags that we then threw away- saving the environment?).
Anyway- it was the perfect chance for me to road-test my new camera:
That’s a wild-eyed scraggly-bearded hippy. Watch your purses, ladies!
So a few months back I bought Rock Band, the new game where you get to play at Rock super-stardom by karaoke-ing along to the onscreen tracks with guitar, microphone, or drums. I blogged it on my old journal a while back, but included no photos. This time- there’s photos, and video!
Just one glance at us rocking the hell out ought to convince you we rock as HARD as any band, even the mighty FOO FIGHTERS (who I went to see incidentally last week).
And when we actually PLAY a FOO FIGHTERS song? Well, the time-space continuum shreds under the awesome rock pressure we apply. It’s like a rock tornado inside my house every Sunday evening after Frisbee. We could power the whole city, or at least Toshima-ku, on our raw rock might.
That’s me in the middle, Can Mike on the left, and Jason on the right. We’re a little blurry not due to low light or poor camera conditions- but due to the fact that our rock arms and voices are moving FASTER than the speed of light, so no earthly camera is capable of catching us UN-blurry.
