Ginza/Aoyama

In Ginza today to pickup my iBook, I get the very pleasant surprise of only being charged less than half what they had quoted me on the phone. I don’t know if it’s a mistake or what, but I certainly don’t ask them about it. Next on my list of things to do is to check out the Kono exhibit at the GGG, but it ends up being closed. I then make my way to Aoyama where I’m to meet a friend. I have a bit of time when I get there, so I do a bit of window shopping, starting with the Bape Nowhere store. It’s my first time visiting the new-ish Bape Gallery they now have on the second floor. You can see lots of old clothing lines and merchandising, going back to 1995 (which I suppose is the year Nigo started the whole thing). I then meet up with Charlie, who is to give me a pile of comics, and sell me a Frederic Boilet BD, TOKYO EST MON JARDIN. I have another of his books, L’EPINARD DE YUKIKO, which I quite like. Boilet is a French BD creator who lives in Tokyo, and therefore bases a lot of his stories on his life and experiences in Japan. After a beer and glass of wine, I leave Charlie to head back home. Before getting on the subway, I pass by Sputnik (and lust at the Freitag bags), and then go to Spiral. At Spiral there is some sort of digital exhibit organized by Canon. Some winners’ works are projected on walls, and in another corner they have print based works.

While at Spiral I spend some time at Spiral Records. They tend to have a nice selection of CDs, similar in taste to Shibuya’s Apres-midi Selecao. After listening to a few CDs at the booths, I decide to pick up a compilation called TWILIGHT WORLD 2.0, which was compiled for the shop by Sohei Tsurutani and Mao Yamazaki. Very mellow and pleasant sounds from the likes of Yo La Tengo, Lambchop, and others I’ve never heard of. I’m also tempted to pick up another compilation (the title slips my mind), but decide to stick to just the one this time.