Month: August 2003

Apologies for not getting back to my daily pics log yet. I’m still trying to get back to my regular Tokyo schedule, and just haven’t had the chance to go out and take some pictures. The good news is that I have Friday off, so I’ll surely get a chance to do a few outings during that long weekend. As for now, I’m still feeling the effects of jetlag, meaning getting up way too early and getting really sleepy at the end of the afternoon, but at least I’m managing to stay up late.

A few weeks ago I mentioned a Korean film festival that would take place at the end of the month, and I just learned today that I won a free ticket to attend one screening. I have to choose between WET DREAMS on Saturday, or ADDICTED on Sunday. Anybody have any suggestions? I don’t really know which one to pick as I’m not familiar with either of them. I’ll do a bit of searching on the net tonight, but any comments are appreciated.

Can you believe I’ve been back almost two days in Tokyo and I still haven’t been to a ramen shop (I’ve had a bowl of Akai Kitsune instant noodles, but that doesn’t count)! The good news I got today as Yuko came back from a short trip to the post office is that one of the most popular ramen shops in Ikebukuro is moving to a location not far from my apartment. This is the shop that has the longest lines I’ve ever seen, so it’s going to be nice to be able to walk in front of the place often to finally find out when’s a good time to go. Can’t wait.

As you can see by all the new posts, I’m back in Tokyo, and getting back into my regular groove. The trip back was OK I guess (although I’m definitely starting to hate Newark airport – sorry, but the general American force is not a kind one, and I was shocked by the way me and Yuko were treated on both stops there), made better by the fact that on the New York-Tokyo flight I was sitting next to a very interesting guy from New York, and we ended up chatting during most of the flight (a 14-15 hour flight at that). His day job is writing jingles for TV and radio ads and spots, and he also plays in a band. They’ll be playing a few gigs in Tokyo next week, and he invited me to go. I’m still feeling the effects of jet lag, but am trying hard to get back to normal. Ended up not going to the onedotzero_nippon festival yesterday as I couldn’t find out if there were still tickets available (last year the programs I wanted to see were all sold out, and I got on waiting lists) and didn’t feel like chancing it. It’s a good thing I didn’t go since I got dead tired at around the time the program would have started, and ended up taking a 2 hour nap. I imagine I’ll still get to see most of the same shorts at the Resfest festival in November.

You need to check out this stream of small robots fighting in what looks like a competition in Japan. Also check out this post at the KoKoRo blog for some links to more streams.

Go to this page at the AICN site and scroll down to see the new posters for the Sofia Coppola directed LOST IN TRANSLATION, that takes place in Tokyo. I really like the second poster, the one with Scarlett Johansson. On that same page is also the new KILL BILL poster for Japan. Glad to see that KILL BILL is being released here in October also.

Lil’s adventures continue with some new galleries. Read more at her blog. Looks like she’s having an interesting time there, if not always smooth, and I can’t say that I’m really surprised about the “difficulties” she’s encountered in Russia. I’ve never been there, but it’s definitely the image I had of the place (from reading).

So you wanna wear the same watches that all the cool Tokyo kids have? Well then this site is just for you.

You can listen to samples of all the tracks from the upcoming Stereolab EP, INSTANT 0 IN THE UNIVERSE, in the discography section of their site (via Patrick).

I’d forgotten about the onedotzero_nippon digital film festival taking place this weekend in Tokyo, and I see that I can still catch the main shorts program, WOW + FLUTTER, tonight at 5 at the Spiral Building in Aoyama. Just now I tried to get some tickets from the Pia website, but they’re not selling them anymore, so I’ll give a call later today and see if there are still tickets available.