funny business!?

I went on a business trip to Tokyo and it was as usual brilliant to be back in Tokyo. I went last year twice but there never enough time to explore the city - or should I say the modern giant …

I started my journey on Saturday to have a bit more time there, because the official BT started on Monday. The first night I stayed with Rie & Florence at Rie’s aunt & uncle’s place in an outskirt of Tokyo. The uncle is running a tiny French restaurant so he was well excited to meet my French college Florence … He cooked the most amazing 5 dishes meal, backed fresh bread (an total exclusion to get that with your meal) and opened his finest wine for us!


It was amazing how lovely they treated us.

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The next day I moved on to see the city and to find my capsular hotel I checked in advance to know where to go … cause as ya know you can’t read things here. That was also the case with my hotel I tried to find. I was totally confused from all the explanation I got from different people I asked & my little map I ‘designed’.


When I finally thought I would be there – running around the block for the fifth time – I decided to ask again. The guy looked around sad he doesn’t know where it would be. Then we turned around at the same time and we both saw the sign written in ‘Katakana’ …

Last year my mate Felix san and I stayed in a 70’ old school capsular hotel close to the 21_21 museum …

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This time I decided to do it again. Even most of the Japanese people who you tell about where you stay it laugh about it. I did it again, because it is cheep and always well located. This time I had to work in the office in Shibuya so I based choose my capsular hotel right in the middle, next to Shibuya Station. It was slightly more modern and a bit more expensive around 3.400 Yen ~ 25.- Euro.


But it’s still a tube you're sleeping in!

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So heres the deal...

The hotel has four levels and in each level around 100 capsules. The uppers floor is the reception, the changing room & a kind of Sentō, a bath area everyone uses. Ok unfortunately not everyone … this capsule hotel was only for men. Most of them are only for men so it’s well boring. Most men who using them are businessmen who missed the last train, got too drunk to get back home or they have a really early meeting the next day. I couldn’t find any other foreigner staying in my hotel, so I felt a bit like an alien … a bit strange feeling was that everyone left the bath & sauna when I entered. So I had a huge marble spa bath just for me!

WICKED.


°°°


Shibuya it a super nice area in Tokyo there you find the famous scramble crossing. It’s the one where you feel like in a shoal … so many people are crossing this intersection every time the signal turns from red to GO!


I’ve seen it so many times and still its unreal …


No wonder that all the scramble crossing YouTube videos are rate with five stars …

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On Sunday I wnet to see an exhibition by Ai Weiwei, a Chinese artist who exhibits in the Mid Town Center in Roppongi one of Tokyo chic areas. It’s a cool building cause you can do the ‘Skywalk’ on the 50th floor to see the monster city in its total stretch.

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First I went to see the cultural event and then the entertaining part.


After all the exhibitions I decided to see the crazy TOKYO bike culture! The Japanese are crazy about fixed gears and Tokyo is like a big exhibition space. You find on almost every light post a beautifully customised two-wheeler. But you also find the most dilly & strangest bicycles ever …

To see some of the crazy shops I went to see W-Base, Carnival and the DEPT shop. They have a lot of nice things sitting in there showcase. But I quickly had to discover that Tokyo is not cheep … but there was no excuse so I had to by a rough piste crank from Carnival to start up the new bike I’m building step by step & bit by bit.


When I entered the shop, a girl approached me and asked if I need any help? She introduced her self as Momo. Her English was surprisingly excellent … after she explained me about the shop and the Tokyo scene I told her about Yoshi, a fiend from Nagoya who was living in San Francisco the last couple of years. I met him in a surf, bike & snowboard shop in Nagoya close to my home. After I mentioned his name she smiled at me and say ‘Yea Yoshi, he is a very good friend of mine !?' – Just a little later her phone rang and Yoshi explained her that there is a weird German in town she should meet to show around …

That was a big laughter!


The guys from W-Base and Carnival are pretty cool geezers!

Those guys know what & how to ride!

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The next two days where dedicated to the business trip. Which turned out very very wet and stormy … it rained and rained and rained. And I didn’t have to sit in the office and work on any computer stuff, I had to get out there to explore Tokyo and prepare a research presentation. So I went to different places for my investigation. I saw the outline exhibition in the 21_21 museum and lots of other places like the Tokyo Opera City Tower where I checked out a Coop Himmelb(l)au, the ICC Open Space and a Le Corbusier exhibition.



That was the only way to avoid the crazy weather out there.

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It was funny, cause after work I got a call from Valentin, I guy who I studied with in London, if I have time to have dinner. Val came to Tokyo that day to exhibit in the 100% Design. So we went for dinner just before I headed back to Nagoya.

°°°

I should go there ... I assume he doesn’t speak Japanese!?

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CATS&DOGS.

When I went to Kyoto the other day I took the chance of another business trip to see the beautiful temples and their amazing scenery in Kyoto …

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Before I joint the others designers at the Kawashima Selkon Textiles I went to the Chion-in Temple to gain some inspiration.

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It was raining cats & dogs …

I started my investigation on the way from the Higashiyama Station to the temple.

So I stumbled into a little tool shop and found this lovely set of chisels.

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I didn’t know the meaning on the handle when I took the picture, but then Yamamoto-San explained to me. So I should have taken it more easy and calm at the temple in Kyoto …

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I was amazed by the beauty of the contrast of the accurately defined face surface & the rough casting surfaces.

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… but the rain was just too much.

The Chion-in Temple

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Praying for sunshine?

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So I discovered this little detail.

It looks like someone threw the key to his heart into the water to make his wish come true ...

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I think umbrellas are a strong cultural item in Japan … not only when it rains.

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I was a little bit annoyed; me hidden under the umbrella, trying to protect my camera from all that water surrounding me ...

But after accepting my wet feet, I realised that there is always something beautiful to see and to explore if I would just take a little closer look …

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And another advantage was that there where just a few other pilgrim who strolled around the spiritual spot.

One last classical picture (aside from the water signpost) … the amazing colours of the Japanese scenery autumn.

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Concrete jungle Nagoya.

I forgot to give you a little background information about the location.

Here it comes:

Just to give you a quick slightly boring over view of where I’m located, here a re some details.

The city Nagoya is the third-largest incorporated city and the fourth most populous urban area in Japan - in other words it’s big. It’s the capital of Aichi Prefecture. The area has 8.74 million people, of which 2.17 million live in the city of Nagoya. One of the important features is that it’s located on the Pacific coast. But unfortunately there are no waves because its location is in a protected bay. That could be good feature in case of a Tsunami …

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But the main thing is that it’s NOT as cool as Tokyo or even Osaka …

So what seems that there is some potential to change that!?!

To be honest I’m not even living in Nagoya, because the company provided me with a flat for the first two month in Kariya … it feels like living in the back yard of the company. When I open my window the red company logo shines brightly … I can’t wait to get my ass out of here. Gonna move to Nagoya in December.

°°°

In Kariya exists one diamond; it’s the little surf - snow - skate - cycle shop SIDECAR. Ikuho, a very nice Japanese guy, runs it. It’s a perfect mixture for me … apart from the nail studio which is also in the same space???! Know it sounds strange, but sometimes girls are sitting in the area having a beauty treatment …

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I’ll build up my bike down there. Ikuho can lend me some tools, because I would say I’m naked here when it comes to D.I.Y. equipment.

Mother Nature ...

There was no time to loose and no chance to rest … we went straight from the airport to the immigration office, the bank – to open a Japanese account and to the town hall to apply for several documents I even don’t remember very clearly.

My thoughts where slow and woozy starring at the TV-screen in the immigration office it showed a map of Japan and the southern coast line including Nagoya was hatched in red. Then they blended over to a camera facing the shoreline and the open sea. In the right corner the blended in the actual time 11.33 and another time 12.38 … I asked my boss what’s it all about. He explained: that’s the live cam of the expected Tsunami hitting Japan at 12.38 … I realised quickly that I’ve landed on an island. I couldn’t think straight, but I remembered that the airport was close by the sore and the airstrip is actually built in to the sea!?!

Lucky me I was already waiting in line to apply for the ‘certificate of alien registration’ - welcome to Japan.

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Just a couple days later I had my next rendezvous with Mother Nature when the Typhoon Melor slammed on the Aichi Prefecture. That evening we had to leave the office earlier and had to stay home at least until 10am the next day. First of all it started to RAIN cats and dogs & then the storm kicked in.

That night my shoebox I’m living in raised the most amazing sounds I’ve ever heard.

The next moring I stepped outside of my door and realized that my timber plank witch usually lying in front of my door, pretending to be a doormat, was gone with the wind …

Luckily not too many people got injured or killed it caused mainly property damage.

日本

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I crashed here in Nippon (日本) about forty-two days ago. Since then I’m living & working in Nagoya.

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Lots of things have happened since I stepped out of the air plane and put my feet on this virgin soil. I had a terrible jetlag. I couldn’t sleep at all on the flight. After the fingerprint check up and a quick picture on the passport inspection one step away from the Japanese border I tried to realize that all this is actually happening … The company arranged a pick up for me and my luggage. They couldn’t believe what I brought with me … a fully packed 7’1ft surfboard bag including 3 boards, wetsuits, fins all the stuff you need; a huge traveller bag that almost exploded when I lifted it on the trolley and my ‘hand luggage’ a 65 liter bag pack. I always ask my self how I manage to convince the check in ladies that this little monster is my hand luggage. The main question was how to transport all this stuff??! Inomae my boss laughed at me, saying no problem at all. He didn’t pick me up in one of those mini k-cars … he came with a big van to solve the problem ...