JAPANOsaka Junglists – Drum & Bass Japan
This year we could cheer to the start of the next as one of the firsts on the planet. New Year’s Eve in Japan, the country of the rising sun, Yeah! We celebrated in Osaka namely here: 大阪府大阪市住之江区北加賀屋名村造船跡地.That means Namura Zosenjo Atochi and it is an discarded and remodeled shipyard and the Osaka Creative Center, a very cool location and perfect for parties. We knew that there would be DJ-acts like Soichi Terade, Peter van Hoesen and several unfamiliar artists and groups, and we knew that there would be nice electronic music. But we didn´t know that there would be as well fantastic Drum & Bass on the second floor! Surprise! Incredible!
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DougoyART – Live Painting – BAKI BAKI & MON
We already stood several days in Matsuyama, we visited and explored all the fantastic sights and the interesting city. Actually we wanted to leave to Ōzu in the south the next day. But our friend Mathew Iannarone from the Sen Guesthouse recommended us definitely to stay another night because he has some secret special insider event. This hostel is a place we can very recommend by the way, but there will be an article about guesthouse owner Mathew and his exciting life in Japan in another article which is in preparation. But back to our special event, which really was worth it to stay. Mathew took us to a livingroom-live-painting session with the graffiti artists BAKI BAKI and MON. The name of the event is DougoyART. It´s an relaxed artistique festivity in an homelike atmosphere which was in the befriended guesthouse of Hisatsugu Shimizu. As well there is audio included and musicians are taking part, this time the band The Sun.
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Streetart Osaka – 落書き Graffiti Japan
We started the new year in Osaka, Japan. Konnichiwa! The celebration was great, the food and the sake fantastic, but the Japanese are not very familiar with streetart and graffiti. It is very regularized, officialized, well-signposted, marked and labeled. Streetpaintings which are out of the prevailing rules and raster, get cleaned away fast or cubically painted over. Which is kind of another invitation for some more already framed wish-wash or spray can art….
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Skull Art Taka – Takanori – Abstract Emotional Art – Skulls, Tribals and Darkness (and sometimes colors)
When you look on the fantastic paintings of SKULL ART TAKA you have to think of Alien, Giger and dark apocalyptic worlds. Of monsters that don’t scare you in the end, because they look so damn fascinating. The artist, also called TAKANORI is a master of this design, a visual genius for creatures and he is especially into the skulls. There are numerous other types of themes in the artworks, but the main topic was and is always the skull.
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Urban Art Tokyo – Shibuya – Magnet by Shibuya 109 – Streetart Mall, Graffiti and Tags
MAGNET BY SHIBUYA 109 is a large multi-story shopping center located at the north exit of Shibuya Station in Tokyo. In addition to the famous ReconFan record base, there are countless underground shops, alternative fashion shops and lots of stuff for anime and manga fans. The entire staircase, the walls on the roof and some of the rooms were decorated with great works of art by Japanese urban artists. This collection also includes streetart works, graffiti and tags in the area around the shopping center.
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Urban Art Tokyo – Shibuya District – Sticker, Paste Ups & Stencils
There are some urban art projects in Tokyo like the MAGNET BY SHIBUYA 109 or the BCTION graffiti skyscraper and you can also find legal commissioned works, but the administration takes strict and quick action when it comes to illegal graffiti, and the wall paintings are often removed or painted over within a short time. It looks differently when it comes about stickers, there are simply countless of them and entire sticker walls have been created in the streets. Here is a sticker collection from the Shibuya district, including paste ups and stencils.
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Kurashiki – Historical Oldtown
During our tour through Japan we made a stop in the historical-idyllic city of Kurashiki (Japanese 倉 敷 市, -shi). The Edo-era merchant town is located in Okayama prefecture and the former Bitchū province of Honshu, the main island of Japan. Kurashiki means something like “village from warehouses”. There are still dozens of buildings (Kura) preserved, which represent a symbol of the city due to their typical facades. It’s worth a visit. It is best to stay for a few days in the nearby Okayama and make a day trip by train to the cultural site.
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Hippie Buddha Monks – Miyajima
Here is a little story from our Japan-trip about the little funny hippie buddha monk figures we found. After we spend some time in the metropolitan tumult of Osaka, we headed south towards Hiroshima. It started getting greener on the countryside and shrine visits started to become the order of the day. An extensive site was located on the island Miyajima (宮島) which means translated „shrine-island“. The island is packed with temple sites and there is as well the famous Itsukushima Shintō-Shrine ( 厳島神社).
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Kyōto – Old Capital and Fushimi Inari-Taisha
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Gully & Manhole Design in Japan
Japan is just an awesome country, we really had an astonishing trip. The food is fantastic and the culture has a lot to offer. We have been so excited about all this „Japanese-Difference“… we went some kind of crazy… I don´t know how to describe it, it was like a „Japan-Obsession“. All these exotic signs, the loony pictures and the heaps of wacky things, which we saw and experienced there. For them normal, for us completely new, strange and fascinating. After a while we just have been overexcited about actually EVERYTHING. We were enthusiastic about the famous Samurai sites, about the great architecture and the wonderful gardens. But then we went as well mad in photographing soda machines, street signs and even manhole covers. It just all looks so stylish. Probably it would be different, if we could read the letters, but without that knowledge even „Please don´t park here“ looked like an amazing artwork.
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Grind Records – Osaka Vinyl Store
Today we have some more insight into the Japanese music scene and here is an article about a cool record store in Osaka. I wrote already about the Drum & Bass events in the land of the rising sun. In that previous article is an interview with the UNSALTED founder and organisator Munetoshi Maruyama or just Maru. For recording that interview we needed a place to meet with Maru and DJ Fetus, they suggested the place G.R. Café Terrace. First I thought I would be just a small café or a bar. Actually it is, but as well much more. The place is the homebase of the labels Grind Records and Undergrind. There is a record store included, a lounge where you can get several cocktails and craft beers and as well delicious food. They have cloths and streetwear, magazines and dj equipment and a room where you can get a bit louder and use this dj equipment, make sounds and dance. And of course there are heaps of vinyls and records.
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Anago No Nedoko – Onomichi
The few but increasingly growing tourists who travel to Japan first of course visit the major cultural centers or high-tech cities such as Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. But if you have a little more time for your trip to Nippon, you have the opportunity to get to know many other sites in the country. Often the smaller villages are hidden and undervalued delicacies. For example, the fishing town of Onomichi (Japanese: 尾 道 市, -shi) on the southwest coast of Honshū Island.
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Okayama Castle & Iconic Movie Shop
Antiquity meets fiction. Samurai on Captain Future. All the manga heroes, the anime worlds, and movie universes play an equally important role in this article as the Okayama Castle (Japanese 岡山 城), the Shogun Guesthouses, or the Kōraku-en Garden (Japanese 後 楽 園). We visited historic castle sites, were in one of the most famous gardens in the world, and thanks to Space Battleship Yamato were lured into Shinichi Yoshomiti’s iconic movie and comic fan shop.
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Benesse Art Site Naoshima
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Himeji Castle & Shironoshita
Hundreds of castles, fortifications and castles are scattered all over Japan, some in very good condition or restored and made accessible to the public. During a trip to Nippon you can not avoid a visit, better you should not miss such a visit. One of the most famous sites is the castle tower complex in Himeji (Japanese 姫 路 城, Himeji-jō) from the 17th century. The Himeji-jō in Hyōgo prefecture is one of Japan’s national treasures and was also recognized by UNESCO in 1993 as a World Heritage Site. On our trip from Osaka to Hiroshima we made a stop in this castle town Himeji (Japanese 姫 路 市, -shi), looked at the Himeji Castle and walked through the Koko-en Garden, which is considered one of the three most beautiful in Japan, especially during the cherry blossom festival Hanami. We wandered through the Engyō-ji Temple, climbed Mount Seppiko and shot a video with Tomohisa Shiroshita about the new Shironoshita Guesthouse.
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Cuisine Japonese and Nippon Snacks
The cuisine of Japan is just unique and has to offer a whole new dimension of new delicious and some strange but still also delicious foods. And as well some absolutely total akward but even still delicious stuff. Yes, delicious is the word. Sometimes it looks very strange, but it tastes really awesome. The food is just super great, but in general it would be good if you like fish, seafood and rice. The process of preparation of some of the dishes are exciting to watch like a show of itself and it seems that the cooking of mostly everything is realy a kind of profession and fantastic art. On the other hand you have the colored automatas and the funky food machines where you can buy coffe, drinks, even some maki or nigiri snacks and just actually every kind of food at every street corner.
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Hiroshima – Castle, Shukkei-en and Peace Memorial
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Kōbe – Famous Bovine in Keihanshin Metropolis
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Nara – UNESCO Historic Monuments of the Ancient
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Mount Misen – Sacred Mountain on Itsukushima
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Uchiko 内子町– Kabuki Theatre and Kamihaga Residence
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Naoshima 直島町 – Kagawa Island in the Seto Sea
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Ōzu 大洲市 – Edo Castle, Nostalgic Nagahama and Kawabe
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Daishōin 大聖院 – Shingon Buddhist Temple on Miyajima
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Tamano 玉野市 – Uno Port entrance to Shikoku
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Nippon Signs
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Osaka – Economic Center on the island of Honshū
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Nippon Statuary and Funny Figures
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Nippon Automata and Shop Adverts
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