Feb 28 - Bop English

For some reason, working on Saturday was not nearly as painful as working on Friday. And this is despite the fact that my friend came over last night and we put down 2.5 bottles of wine between us. You'd think I would have been in a terrible state, but it was actually ok. And apparently House of Cards Season 3 is now out, so that's even more good news for the day.

In other good news is the fact that Bop English exists. I don't know much about him, though I assume he's English. And he seems to have put out a his first single, called Dani's Blues (It Was Beyond Our Control). And I like it a lot.

Update: I just looked on facebook and found out he is not English, he is from Austin. I also found out that he is apparently a member of White Denim, a fantastic band you should listen to if you never had. I was sure I'd written about them before and actually wanted to link to my blog about them, but it would appear that I haven't. But you should. And then I should write about them, too. Ok, this is long enough. Enjoy the song.

Feb 27 - Emile Haynie

So remember how I was like "being back at work isn't so bad"? I changed my mind. Today was not fun. But mostly because I had to spend the entire day on a task that I do not enjoy. So that wasn't fun. I need a drink. Which would have been perfect, because today is Friday, but then we have to work on Saturday to "make up for" the holiday last week. Because that's how China rolls.

But I did have time to listen to new music for the first time in a week, and found a couple good new songs, one of which is Emile Haynie. He's a producer who's worked on all kinds of hip-hop albums and also on Lana Del Rey. And now he's put out his own album, We Fall, although I think he doesn't actually sing or anything. I think he just produced it and put his name on it, but it features all kinds of people who do the singing. One of whom is Andrew Wyatt, the singer from Miike Snow, who sings on the opening track (and the best track) Falling Apart. Don't expect anything hip-hopy or Miike Snowy, but do expect a good song.




That song definitely caught my attention, so I went and listened to the album, and it's just ok. Doesn't live up to that song. It's much poppier than I like, though there are a few great songs, like A Kiss Goodbye, which features Sampha, and Come Find Me, which features Lykke Li. Between Sampha, Lykke Li, Andrew Wyatt and a few of the other features (namely, Father John Misty) I did have high hopes, which the album did not live up to. But still worth a listen.

Feb 26 - Sugar Soul

I made it back to China today, and as usual when coming back to China from a trip, I was annoyed before I even got on the plane. Sometimes Chinese people have a way of doing that to me. Then my flight was delayed, and then I had to go into the office for a big meeting, so all in all it had the makings for a bad day. But actually, it was alright. Coming back to Shanghai is definitely much easier than going back to Beijing used to be, that's for usre. And now I'm going to my friend's birthday party. So actually, I'm not having as much of the vacation blues as I expected.

Since I actually managed to write (a lot) every day of the trip, I'll keep this short and give you links with summaries to my blogs from the week, all of which have many pictures:

Feb 20: Miyajima, which may have been my favorite thing this trip
Feb 21: Iwakuni, samurai costumes and Hiroshima castle. I repeat, samurai costumes.
Feb 22: Hiroshima Peace Park and our arrival at Huis Ten Bosch. If you don't know, you should read this, cause it's weird. And awesome. But more weird.
Feb 23: More Huis Ten Bosch, then on to Nagasaki, with a little side trip for a hamburger.
Feb 24: Battleship Island, then seeing the sights in Nagasaki, of which I was most impressed by Dejima.
Feb 25: Morning walk around Nagasaki, then the train back to Hiroshima. Pretty uneventful, actually.

And now it's February 26 and I'm back in China and don't want to be. But, next trip is coming up in just under a month, when I go to South Africa for a wedding.

Since I was still in Japan this morning, I'll make today the last day for Japanese music (in case you missed it, I went to karaoke in Japan and decided that while in Japan I should share Japanese music, which I used to be really into back in the day). And once again, I can't find the song I wanted to share. It's hard to find some of this Japanese stuff. But I did find a good one, anyway. At first, I wanted to share Soul Lovers, a funk/soul group that I don't think ever made it big, but that I loved. So you should listen to them if you can. But instead I decided to share Sugar Soul, because she's also wonderful and was a long time favorite of mine. So here's probably her most famous song, Garden, which features Kenji, one of the members of another great group called Dragon Ash, and one of this Japanese hip-hop godfather types.




This is a great song, but it's not my favorite by her, and not even the best version of this song. But it's the only version I could find for you. If you can find the album version, which is called the Final Version, I think it's better. But even better if you can find this album, うず (pronounced Uzu, meaning Whirlpool), even better, cause it's a great album. As is her first one, On. The song I wanted to share is 悲しみの花に (pronounced Kanashimi no Hana ni, meaning Into a Flower of Sadness), but good luck with that. Also, album version is better for that one. And then there are other wonderful songs like respectyourself, いいよ (pronounced Iiyo, meaning It's All Good), Cosmic Family, SOULMATE... The list goes on with her. Japan has got some great soul music, and Sugar Soul may just be one of their best.

Feb 25 - Utada Hikaru

Well, today was my last full day in Japan. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, it's off to the airport to fly back to Shanghai, then into work. Boo.

European houses with Japanese detail on Holland Slope

It wasn't such an eventful day, actually. We got an early start cause Rei had to leave early and there were still a couple of things we wanted to see. Yesterday we went to Dejima, which was the only place in Japan that was open during the isolation era. But once isolation ended in the mid-19th century, there were still only 3 ports open to the rest of the world: Nagasaki, Hakodate and Yokohama. So the European influence here is pretty strong, and because of the history with Dejima everything is still Dutch heavy.

We started out in a part of town called Holland Slope, which was the center of the European neighborhood post-isolation. There's more buildings similar to what we saw on Dejima, mostly Japanese in style with European embellishments, but then you also start to see some more European buildings as well. Whereas on Dejima it was Japanese homes with European details, it's European homes with Japanese details here, like roofs and fences in Japanese style.

The Glover House in Glover Park

Then we kept walking on to Glover Park. This is a huge park built up a hill slope (of which there are many in Nagasaki), which was purchased by one Mr. Glover post-isolation and turned into his own compound, which he then shared with other Europeans. Here you see proper European houses that some of the richest and most influential Europeans, like Glover, built. Glover actually had a huge influence on Japan, being one of the earliest and most influential European traders. In fact, he even started the company that later became Kirin Brewing. You also get fantastic views of the city from up here.

After the park, Rei and I had to split ways. I made my way to the prefectural art museum to see an exhibit of Gaudi's life interpreted by a famous Japanese manga artist. It actually turned out to be an exhibit of Gaudi's work - sketches, blueprints, models and the like - interspersed with manga styled storylines showing what was going on in his life at various points. It was really well done and a great exhibit. The rest of the museum was just ok, but I'm not huge on museums anyway.

Nagasaki from the hilltop

And that was pretty much it. After that, I hopped on the train back to Hiroshima, did some last minute shopping, at some last minute sushi, and now here I am. All I have left is sleeping and going to the airport. And sharing a song. And today's song is moving more into pop with Utada Hikaru. She's super famous here, and even crossed over into the US with a couple of English language albums (she's actually American born Japanese. Or went to school in America. Or something, but anyway she speaks flawless English), which had songs produced by the likes of Timbaland and everything. And you may know this song, Passion, which is a great one and probably her best, if you play Kingdom Hearts, because it was the theme song.


She does a lot of the poppy R&B stuff, and it's not all great, but she does have some excellent songs like this. Even some of her English language stuff is quite good.

This isn't actually what I wanted to share today. I wanted to share 愛の愛の星 (read Ai no Ai no Hoshi, meaning Star of Love) by the brilliant green, another song that is probably one of my favorite Japanese songs ever. Unfortunately I could not find it anywhere, despite the fact that they're super famous. You can go look for it if you like, it's great, they're great, I like them.

Feb 24 - audio safari

One more wonderful day down. But sadly it's my last full day with Rei. Tomorrow she's off to Tokyo, and I'm headed back to Hiroshima to fly out on Thursday morning. But we made it a good one.

Approaching Battleship Island

I want to go climbing around in those buildings

We started out the day with what may have been the thing I was most excited for: a trip to Hashima, also known as Gunkanjima (or Battleship Island) because of it's silhouette. Dejima is a very small island about 18km from Nagaski harbor that had a huge coal mine on it. Mining began back in the early 19th century and continued on until the mid 1970s, at which point there was less demand for coal and Mitsubishi, who owned it,decided to shut down the mine. Within 3 months, everyone had moved off the island, often leaving behind belongings, and allowing nature to have it's way with what remained. Now you can visit the island by tour, which allows you to step onto the island in very specific places and view some of the buildings close up, and then loops you around the island to take it in from all sides. Back in its heyday, there were only about 5000 people living on the island, but the population density was even higher than Tokyo because the place was so small. They had to bring almost everything in from the mainland, included fresh water. It's one of the eeriest, most unique places I've been, and I only wish I could have actually gone out onto the island proper and poked around inside some of the buildings. Next time I need to see if there's any sort of private tours that let you do that. But in the meantime, you can see the island on Google street view, or in the film Skyfall.

The main (read: only) road in Dejima

A clock frozen at 11:02, the exact
time the bomb exploded

Up next, it was back to the mainland for some sushi and a visit to Dejima, which turned out to be one of the more interesting things I think we've done on the trip. Dejima is a tiny island that was reclaimed in the 17th century in what was then Nagasaki harbour, in order to isolate the Portuguese traders when Japan decided to close its borders to the outside world. Then they decided to kick out the Portuguese, too, but they let the Dutch stay, so they were moved onto Dejima. There are only about 10 buildings there, but it housed all the Portuguese traders in mostly Japanese style buildings, which they added their own European style to, with things like wallpaper, western furniture and paint. They also built a couple of European style buildings to serve as a church and school, and as an international school. I didn't realize before coming that this was the only place in Japan that was open during the isolation period, a period which lasted about 200 years, and that all the Western education, science, influence and everything else only came through Dejima. Pretty impressive stuff. I actually wanted to buy a book on it, but the only English one they had was probably all the same information I can find on Wikipedia. So I'll read that instead.

The epicenter

And last stop for the day was WWII stuff. We started at Peace Park, which had some nice statues, then on to see the largest church in Nagasaki. There's a lot of churches here, it's kind of surprising. This one is famous because it was almost completely destroyed during the bombing, and at the time it was the largest cathedral in all of Asia. Then we visited the memorial hall, which is really nicely done, and made some cranes. We also went to the atomic bomb museum, which is mostly full of items from the bombing. Pretty heavy stuff. And I learned that the bombs were dropped after Germany had already surrendered and the war was over in Europe. Nagasaki was also the secondary target, apparently the bomb was supposed to have been dropped further north in Kokura. Just outside the museum is the epicenter of where the bomb exploded, which now has a memorial pillar marking the spot. Then the last stop was to see a torii that was half destroyed, but has remained standing on one leg ever since.

After a bit of relaxation at the hotel this evening, Rei and I went out for our last meal together, which was tonkatsu. Well, that was the meal. There were other snacks afterwards. We went for a walk to see the Spectacles Bridge again, which is one of Nagasaki's famous sites. It's basically just a double arched bridge, but it reflects in the water underneath forming two circles like glasses. And it's also the oldest, stone, double-arched bridge in Japan. Although when you add that many adjectives it's not so hard to be the best at something. Anyway it's quite nice, and they have it all lit up with lanterns also because of the festival I mentioned yesterday (which I found out is actually one of the two major festivals that happens in Nagasaki, so that's fun), so we went to see it again, all lit up. Then Rei and I meandered back to the big temple to see some more lanterns and eat some more snacks. And now here we are. Just a couple more things on the list together tomorrow, and then it's time for our farewells.

Megani-bashi, or spectacles bridge

As for the music, we're sticking to Japanese but moving into some more indie stuff. While I was living here back in 2007-2008, I found out Audio Safari, who make pretty chill electronic music. The singer's got a bit of a weird voice, but I really like it. And I got to see (and meet) them in Tokyo once, which was great. I think they only had the one album, Uru no Sora, which is unfortunate because it's a great one. I think my favorite song off the album is 十数えて (pronounced Tou Kazoete, meaning Count to Ten).

about this band

I'd recommend others, but there's only one album, so if you like this then just go listen to it all. It's on youtube. And the singer, Sakurai Mami, also put out at least one solo album, so you can try to find that too if you like.

Feb 23 - Do As Infinity

Huis Ten Bosch

Man, writing long blogs every day is tiring. I'll be honest, I don't want to do it today. So I'm gonna kind of bullet point it and give more general summaries.

Seriously, where the hell are we?

Anime boat, just to prove
that we are still in Japan

We were back in Huis Ten Bosch this morning. More of the same super weird European stuff in the middle of Japan. There are more attractions than rides at this place, but some of them are good. The best part is this "Thriller Town" area, where all the attractions are built around scaring you (sort of). Favorites included the zombie scavenger hunt type thing we had to do last night, where they set you up with a tablet that you use as you go through the maze to find clues and shoot zombies. Then there was this cool virtual reality concept thing, where they hook you up to a virtual reality headset that has a camera, and they mix video in with actual footage from your camera, so it flows really well together to make you think you're dreaming, which is the theme of the attraction. And, while mentioning virtual reality, we got to try out Oculus Rift also. Twice. The first one was a pretty short and kind of lame ski jump thing, that was only cool because you could see the fully immersive atmosphere. But the second one was a horseback riding thing where you sat on a horse machine, kind of like those motorcycle video game motorcycles, and it moved while you rode it. So it actually felt and seemed like you were riding the horse, and left you feeling pretty disoriented and somewhat dizzy afterwards. But it was awesome.

Oculus Rift!

There were other awesome things there, and some disappointing things, but overall it was great. And I want to know more about it and why the hell it's there in the first place. This is the 2nd place like this I know of in rural Japan. The other is a Hawaiian themed spa resort in the town I used to live in, Iwaki, but I know the story of that because they made it into a famous movie (called Hula Girls, if you're interested). It makes me wonder what else is hiding in this country. I kind of want to figure it out and make the definitive list. This could become a new pet-project/obsession. Oh! And I ziplined for the first time!. That was fun.

The place to get a Sasebo burger without actually seeing Sasebo

We finished up in Huis Ten Bosch about an hour earlier than we expected, so instead of going straight on to Nagaski we went 30 minutes in the other direction to a place called Sasebo. This place is famous for the Sasebo burger, which is supposed to be really authentically American. It's not, but it was good. It was actually kind of ridiculous because we went 30 minutes in the exact opposite direction of our destination, only to walk down the stairs and eat a burger while still inside the train station, then get back on a train and leave. We didn't even leave the station and see the town. We just ate a burger. But we're fatties and that's what we do. I have no shame about it. And actually, the burger was pretty good.

This lady with a cowboy hat made our burger. Very America.

Sasebo burger with fries and... oolong tea.

Lanterns in Chinatown

And now we're in Nagaski. I had a bit of a wander this evening, caught some lanterns in Chinatown, and now getting to bed kind of early. We have an early start tomorrow to go to what is probably the thing I'm most excited about on this entire trip. You'll be seeing what that is tomorrow.

So all that's left for today is to give you a song. Since this Japanese music sharing thing all started with karaoke, I'll share my go-to Japanese karaoke song. It's 真実の詩 (pronounced Shinjitsu no Uta, meaning Song of Truth/True Song, off of 2002's album True Song) by Do As Inifinity. Do As Infinity is another band I used to love. I think they broke up then got back together then broke up again? I'm not really sure. But this is my favorite song by them, and I love doing it at karaoke. And I love the use of erhu. They're another super famous band in Japan, also, so any Japanese friends you might have probably know of them.




If you like that, other favorite songs by the band include Oasis, Yesterday & Today, Tooku made, and We are. And there's also solo stuff by the lead singer, Tomiko Van.

Feb 22 - Sheena Ringo

Kanpai!

Children's memorial with
origami cranes in the
casings behind

Well last night got a little crazy. Remember how I said we were gonna go do that all you can eat and drink thing? We did. And actually didn't get all that drunk. Just the right amount of drunk. And I know it was just the right amount because we ended up at karaoke afterwards. We had joked about it the other day, how we should go do nomihoudai and then karaoke. At least, I thought we were joking. Rei took me very seriously though. So I agreed to go and do 1 hour of karaoke, because I intended to get up early today and go see Hiroshima Peace Park and all the atomic bomb stuff. Well, one hour turned into two, which turned into two and a half and then we had to stop ourselves. It was great. I love karaoke. And I'm glad I did it because what's a trip to Japan without karaoke?

So that was super fun. Plus it's great with Rei because she's one of my best friends so we literally don't give a fuck and just enjoy ourselves. And then I actually did manage to wake up and go see the Peace Park this morning. It had to be kind of early cause we had a train to catch at 11:30, so the plan was to be out by 8:30, walk over and spend some time before heading to the station. It was actually really close to our hotel, though, and not very big, so I made it back with time to spare and we went out for coffee at a famous local bakery.

Cranes are made into
framed pieces reading
"Peace"

The park wasn't all that nice because Spring has not yet sprung, but there are some great monuments in there. I really liked the children's memorial, which is surrounded by all of the origami cranes that we used to make in middle school. They actually do get sent to Japan, it would seem. It's really wonderful to see all the cranes and wishes from around the world. The only complaint with the park is that the dome, which is one of the most famous Hiroshima sites, is undergoing it's tri-annual stability check, so it's covered up in scaffolding. The building is famous for being almost directly under the bomb blast, which wiped out pretty much every building in the city center, with a few exceptions. This dome was one of the exceptions. So it's been kept in it's post-bombing state as a memorial, while the rest of the city has been rebuilt around it. That was another interesting fact I learned - apparently the bomb never hit the ground. It exploded above the city, and still managed to destroy everything. Scary to think what would have happened if it actually impacted with the ground. I'll find out in the next couple days if it's the same for Nagasaki, which is our next destination.

An old Japanese man trying (and failing) to use a selfie stick in the park

Hakata ramen

But before Nagasaki, we've arrived at Huis Ten Bosch. That train we had to catch at 11:30 took us to Hakata, which is famous for ramen. We spent an hour there to have some ramen (delicious), then hopped on the next train to our current location: Huis Ten Bosch. Huis Ten Bosch is one of the weirdest places I've been, and I love it. It's a Dutch themed amusement park in the middle of the Japanese countryside. God knows why it's here, but it was apparently built in the 80s and was super popular, then lost popularity and went bankrupt, and then was bought out and refurbished and made into it's current awesome self. And it is awesome, yet so bizarre. I'm not even really sure how to describe it. I mean, on the one hand, it's just an amusement park with various rides and attractions (nothing too big or scary, unfortunately), generally themed around the Netherlands, but not always. Like, for example, Thriller Town, which is all ghost themed. Or Adventure Town, which we haven't been to yet but they were playing banjo country music when we walked by. Tomorrow will be another full day of exploring this strange and magical place, so I'll spend more time talking about actual rides and stuff then.

The entrance to Huis Ten Bosch, in the middle of nowhere Japan

And until then, music time. My karaoke session last night found me pulling out some of the old Japanese songs that I used to love. Back in the day I used to be really into Japanese music, although it's probably been about 7 years since I've followed it at all. But I've still got a few songs up my sleeve. And so I decided that for the rest of my time in Japan, I'll be sharing some of my old favorites.

It lights up all pretty at night, which must have taken a ton of time and lead to a massive electric bill.

And they project Taiko no Tatsujin, only one of the best games ever, onto a building while you play!

Today is Sheena Ringo, who is like a Japanese rock goddess. She was one of my early favorites. In addition to making great music, she's known for breaking the rules and pushing the envelope of acceptability. Plus her kanji game is on point. ギブス (pronounced Gibusu if that helps, and meaning cast, like one you wear on a broken arm) is off of her second album, Shoso Strip, which came out back in 2000, and is probably my favorite song by her. Maybe my favorite Japanese song, period. in fact. Have a listen and see what you think.




If you like it, there's plenty of great stuff by her. Tsumi to Batsu, Honnou, Koko de Kiss Shite, Memai... the list goes on. Plus there's the work she did with her Japanese supergroup, Tokyo Jihen. Plenty of stuff for you to listen to.

Feb 21 - Florence + The Machine

Day 2 in Japan was much more relaxed than Day 1. No mountains were climbed today. One was scaled, but by ropeway, so much easier.

Kintaikyo, with Iwakuni Castle up on the hill in the background

We started our day out in Iwakuni, a town about an hour from Hiroshima. It's famous for the Kintaikyo Bridge, a really unique bridge built back in the early 1600s. It's made up of five arcs crossing the river, and was supposedly built that way to try and avoid being swept away when the river flooded. Apparently it didn't work, because it kept getting swept away and the one you can see now was rebuilt in like 2001. But it's super cool and is made without any nails.

View of Iwakuni (Kintaikyo included) and the ocean from up in the castle

Kintaikyo marks the separation between the actual town of Iwakuni and the old part, where all the tourists go. It really isn't much as far as touristy stuff goes, but the bridge is apparently among the top 3 bridges in Japan. And then you get into the town proper and there's all these gardens, which I'm sure are beautiful in spring/summer/fall, but sadly not in winter. There is, however, ice cream. Lots of it. Iwakuni has made a name for itself as a modern purveyor of all the ice cream flavors you could want (and some you probably don't want). We of course stopped at the most famous shop with 100 flavors and ate green tea + tiramisu ice cream. It was great.

Rei trying to choose from the 100 flavors

Hiroshima Castle

Then it was up the cable car to visit the castle. We could have walked, but we did that yesterday so felt perfectly fine with not doing it again today. The castle is quite small, but it's got great views of the city and out to the ocean and surrounding islands. And they have a bunch of old swords and stuff on display (more armour, too!). All in all, not a very impressive, or old, castle, but still a nice trip and some great views. Then it was back down to town to get on our train back to Hiroshima.

Amazing armour in Hiroshima Castle

Once back here, we headed up to castle number 2 for the day, Hiroshima castle. Iwakuni castle was built in the early 1600s by a feudal lord that was banished out to western Japan after choosing the wrong side in a war, so it actually was only around for 7 years before being torn down by imperial edict (and rebuilt in the 1950s for tourism purposes. In a new location that looked better). Hiroshima castle, on the other hand, has a much longer history. It was also rebuilt in the 1950s, cause you know, Hiroshima, but it's historical importance is much higher. This one looks quite impressive from the outside, but inside it was a bit Disneyfied. Not the best castle, and actually no great views from the top, but they had super awesome armour inside with these crazy headpieces, and they also let you try on armour! So that made it all worthwhile.

Fearsome Samurai Minsky-san

Now it's time to relax before heading to dinner. We had a big lunch today, and we'll have an even bigger dinner. Iwakuni is famous for this sushi that's looks kind of like a pizza. I don't know how else to describe it. It's basically a thick base of rice, with veggies and stuff on top. There's actually no fish involved. They make it in huge slabs, then cut it into squares and you get served one or two squares. It's delicious, despite not having any actual fish, and not like any sushi you'll see anywhere else. The town is also famous for taro, which is delicious, so there was a lot of that, included taro cooked into croquettes. So good. But tonight there will be sushi. And much, much more. Because tonight we're doing tabenomihoudai. Here's Japanese lesson 101 for you: "Tabe" = to eat, "Nomi" = to drink, "houdai" = as much as possible. So that will be fun.

Today's lunch. That square on the bottom left is the Iwakuni Sushi

But before that, I gotta get my song for the day in. I don't know why I didn't share today's song as soon as it was released, but I should have. It's actually not the best song, but it's Florence + The Machine and she has a new single, What Kind of Man. I love Florence. Like, a lot. A lot, a lot. I think she is exactly what pop music needs more of, and she is incredible. This song is the first single off her upcoming 3rd album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. The song is very good, but by Florence standards it's just average. I can't wait for everything else though, and hate the fact that she's making us wait until June to release her album. But this is definitely up at the top of my list of most anticipated albums for 2015, and I would not be surprised if it makes it into my top 10, like her last 2 did. For now, enjoy, and try to be patient until there is more.

Feb 20 - Ibeyi

Itsukushima Shrine at high tide

Day 1 in Japan was awesome. I feel like it's gonna be hard to top. We went to Miyajima, and island town about half an hour from Hiroshima. It's famous for having a shrine called Itsukushima, which is built over the water. Well, it's built over the water at high tide, but at low tide the water empties out of the bay and it's over land. And Itsukushima shrine has a famous floating torii, which is also "submerged" at high tide, but you can walk to it at low tide. It's probably one of the most famous sites in Japan, and it's also been called one of Japan's 3 most beautiful views since the 17th century (along with Matsushima, which I visited while on JET, and Amanohashidate, near Kyoto). I've been wanting to come forever, and it definitely lived up to the hype.

The torii at low tide

The torii at high tide

We started the day out with Itsukushima Shrine, which was awesome to visit during high tide. You just walk all over these sort of pier type walkways that make up the shrine, and the water below is so clear and blue. It's a big difference from China, to say the least. All around the shrine there are deer as well, who love nothing more than to steal paper from tourists. Unlike the deers of Nara, which are famous and friendly(ish) and you can buy stuff to feed to, these ones are not as famous and not as cute. The Nara ones are all dappled and well fed. You can't buy stuff to feed these ones, and they all have patchy hair, which leads me to believe that they are starving so they fight each other (hence the patchy hair) and have to resort to theft of tourist maps and tickets to keep themselves fed. They're friendly enough, though, just not at all scared of coming and taking things from you.

After that, we saw another awesome shrine that was built to chant sutras and has all these super old looking carvings and paintings built into the roof. And at the back there's a famous 5 tiered pagoda, that is also really beautiful and will definitely be even more so once the cherry blossoms start blooming. I guess that's just a reason to come back.

Gojuutou, the five tier pagoda

Next on the schedule was climbing a mountain. It was pretty. But it was big. We were tired. The idea was that we'd get to the top and take the cable car down (which happened), but before coming down we'd make Momiji Manju (which didn't happen). Momiji Manju are one of the famous things in Matsushima. They're basically little cakes filled with red bean paste (manju), in the shape of autumn leaves (momiji), and people go crazy for them. Sadly we didn't make it in time to make them, but it was a nice hike with beautiful views of the entire surrounding countryside.

The deer who stole and ate my map.

And, of course, we ate everything. Like, everything. Rei, my friend who came down from Tokyo to travel with me, picked up a Japanese guidebook for us, and a lot of time is given to food recommendations. Japanese are like the original foodies, so it's not surprising. But basically we were told to eat oysters of all kinds, eel rice bowls, and momiji manju. And we did. A lot of all of them. We probably had about 7 meals/snacks today.

Lunch round 1: oysters, complete with torii

Lunch round 2: set with more oysters and eel. Checks all the required boxes.

The entrance to Okonomachi

And to make it even better, we came back to Hiroshima and went to Okonomachi, which is short for okonomiyaki machi, which means okonomiyaki town. If you've never had okonomiyaki, it's one of my favorite Japanese foods. It's kind of like a Japanese pancake, with veggies and meat and all kinds of toppings, and in Hiroshima (which is famous for okonomiyaki) they always do it with a thinner crepe style pancake, bacon and noodles inside. And to know that there is one place that I can go that has three floors of nothing but okonomiyaki restaurants makes me very happy. And going there made me even happier. So now it's been 24 hours in Japan, and already I've had okonomiyaki twice.

Eating my okonomiyaki with the
little scoop thing they give you

So far so good. And a good day calls for a good song. Today it's Oya, my favorite track off of Ibeyi's debut, eponymous album,which came out this week. They're twin sisters of French/Cuban descent, and they make really interesting music and harmonize wonderfully together. I'm not gonna lie, a few of the songs on the album are a bit boring, but overall they're really good and very unique. At times they do kind of remind me of Les Nubians at times, which I guess makes sense since they're also French sisters making African influenced soul/R&B. And they percussion is great, which makes sense since their father was a percussionist for Buena Vista Social Club. Anyway, check them out, they're getting a lot of buzz, and I think it's well deserved.

Feb 19 - Ry X

I'm finally on my way to Japan! It's been a little over a year since I was there last, and this time I'm headed to the south, to Hiroshima & Nagasaki, which I've never been to, so I'm excited. Only problem is I got to the airport very early thinking it would be super crowded, but it's not. And I'm not flying Star Alliance this time, so I don't even have a lounge to sit in. Lame. At least there's wifi and plugs.

Graeme and fireworks

I would have liked to go yesterday since I didn't have to be at the office, but I actually had a great time last night. For New Year's Eve I met up with friends for some Din Tai Fung. I used to have it once a week, but since my friend Candice moved away I actually haven't been. The place is great, so I have been craving it. Plus you're supposed to eat dumplings on  New Year's eve, so very fitting. Only problem was we went to a new location and both the food and service were somewhat lacking. I'll have to stick to my neighborhood.

Afterwards the fun really began, when we continued with our drinking and brought out the fireworks. I'd say fireworks in Shanghai are much tamer than in Beijing, but there was still quite a bit going on. And we did our part to help out. I normally hate the fireworks, because they get lit at random times (like 6am on a Sunday...) and just annoy you, but when you're taking part in the fun, it's pretty great. So last night was pretty great. And the fact that you can actually drink and light fireworks at the same time here is even better.

Our firworking started on the walk back from dinner, and then one of my friends, Graeme, whose apartment we were at, had the wonderful idea to throw some of the smaller ones out of the window of his 9th floor apartment. We thought it was all well and good to watch the little swirlers drop down shooting off colorful sparks, until I lit the roof on fire. the roof of the building next to his has (well, had) grass on it for some reason, and my firework managed to continue shooting off sparks after landing. Then the grass lit on fire. Then the fire got bigger and bigger. Then we ran downstairs to get the guards to put out the fire, obviously not disclosing who had done it and pretending to not speak Chinese.

My handiwork

Fireworks!

It was all fine, it looks much worse than it was (although I have yet to see the damage in daylight afterwards), but at least the building didn't burn down. And the guards were very quick to respond. Generally these guards just sleep or sit around and wave at you, but apparently when there's a problem they actually do something. Good to know.

After that, we decided to have a break in our firework fun, but of course had to go down to the street for the big ones at midnight. You can actually buy proper fireworks, like Disneyland style fireworks, at booths on the side of the road in China on New Year's. It's nuts that they sell those things to anyone, Sadly we didn't manage to get any of the Disneyland style ones, but I've now learned my lesson for next year and will make sure to. We still had fun with ours, though, and enjoyed everyone who did have the real fireworks. And enjoyed a nice walk on the Bund. All in all, an excellent evening. And now, Japan!

But first, Ry X. I've written about this Australian before, but he's always doing different stuff. He put out a wonderful solo EP last year or the year before, but in addition to that he put out an album last year with a group called The Acid, which he's the singer for. Then he put out another solo single last year. Just a single, but the main song, Sweat, is wonderful.





And, since I'm sharing this one, it gets two songs. And it's fitting to pick Ry X, because he now has another new project, titled HOWLING, and they've put out their first single, also titled HOWLING. At least I think they call themselves HOWLING. It's all very confusing right now, but hopefully there will be more soon, because it's also a good sound.





I somehow almost forgot about my cab driver last night! On the way to dinner, my cab driver would get out of the car at every red light and do aerobics. It was magical. And also probably quite healthy for him considering he spends his entire day sitting and not being active. I took pictures.

My cabbie, exercising at red lights

Feb 18 - Mayer Hawthorne feat. Kendrick Lamar

Chinese New Year today! We have plenty of fireworks, and we're getting ready to go drinking and shoot them off in a very... responsible... manner. Forget that drinking part. Let's pretend I never said that.

But the day started out pretty relaxed. Skyping with the family in the morning. Then I was supposed to have grilled cheese, which was closed (as most things are now, sadly), so it turned into burritos. Very Chinese. But Chinese will be had for dinner. Xiaolongbao at Dintaifung, the best.

Burritos were followed by coming back to the apartment to watch the SNL 40th anniversary special with friends, but not before doing a little work. And while working, there was a great moment where Crime by Mayer Hawthorne feat. Kendrick Lamar came on. I hadn't heard it in a while and it's a great song But anyway, I looked up to see my two friends sitting on the couch quietly, both staring at their phones, not talking or paying any attention to each other, and both bobbing their heads in time with the music. It's a song that'll get you bobbing your head. Which is great before going to drink a lot.

Feb 17 - JMR

We're almost there. Two and a half more hours and I'm free for the next 8 days. 2 and a half more days and I'll be in Japan. Eating sushi. And ramen. And okonomiyaki. In fact, I think okonomiyaki has to be my first meal since I'll be in Hiroshima.

I actually was more busy today, on the last day of the Chinese calendar, than I was yesterday. I think it's because I had some emails from Germany waiting for me when I got in today (Tuesday), but not when I got in Monday since their weekend had not yet come to an end. Anyway, I'm not complaining about it, I was not mind-numbingly bored today (only slightly bored) so that's good. I managed to fill some time skyping my family too, so that's always nice.

And I found a few new artists I like. The one I'm sharing today is JMR. This Floridian only seems to have a few songs, but there's a lot to like about them. Especially this one, Pioneer Of Your Heart. It's somewhere between James Vincent McMorrow and Lo-Fang. Supposedly it's off of his album American Hell, that should be out this year, which I am now looking forward to.

Feb 16 - Hanni El Khatib

I am so bored today. I managed to get out of work yesterday, but I have to come in today and tomorrow. And then, freedom for the holiday. But until then, I have so little to do and my day is going so slow and I just want to go home already.

But I've been listening to many good songs, and one that I heard earlier this year and really liked came back into rotation and I really liked it once again. It's Two Brothers, the closing track off of Hanni El Khatib's newest album. I'm not the biggest Hanni El Khatib fan, he makes decent music along the lines of the Black Keys, but not as good. But this song I can't stop listening to. Good stuff.

Feb 15 - Alabama Shakes

So remember that time I said I had a 1 day weekend and wasn't happy about it? Yeah, I didn't go into the office today. I made up my mind not to yesterday during Palentine's Day, because I got super wasted. I had people over for breakfast burritos (super delicious, not cooked by me, but eaten by me) and drinks, before some Palentine's KTV (or Karaoke anywhere outside of China). It was a pretty great day, but KTV obviously always comes with a lot of booze. It has to, otherwise it's the worst. But with booze it's the best. I love it.

So there was tons of booze, which is why I decided I wouldn't go in. Actually, all the drinking occurred mid-day, and I was so drunk that I came home and went to bed at like 7pm and woke up this morning at 6:15. And I woke up not at all hung over. It was glorious. So I totally could have made it to work, but I just chose not to. I "worked" from home today. Which means so far I've made one presentation, and that's about all I plan to do.

That and share this song with you. Don't Wanna Fight, the new single from the Alabama Shakes. It's the first single off of their new album, Sound & Color, which is due out in April. And which I'm super excited about because I love them and their last album was in my top 10 for 2012. So this should be good.

Feb 14 - Hot Chip

I'm once again sitting at the airport. This is when I used to always blog, while waiting at airports. Now that I'm doing it every day that is not always the case, but it still happens pretty often. Anyway I'm in Tianjin, making my way back to Shanghai for my 1 day weekend. 1 day because next week is Chinese New Year, which is a 1 week public holiday. China does that twice a year, these one week public holidays. They're pretty great, except for the fact that they also do this thing where you have to "make up for vacation days" by working weekends around them. So we work tomorrow, Sunday, and the first Sunday after the holiday. Which is one of the things I hate most about China.

So today I only have a 1 day weekend. I had to come up to Tianjin for part 2 of our year end parties. Last night the food was much better, but the atmosphere was much better in Shanghai. And now I've chosen to wake up at 6am to get on an 8am flight, because otherwise I'd be flying back at 5pm and I'd spend my 1 day weekend in a hotel in Tianjin. No thank you.

Yesterday was also pretty exciting because I found out about a bunch of new albums coming out by great artists this year. Those would include Alabama Shakes (!!!), Hot Chip (!!), The Tallest Man On Earth (!!) and Florence + The Machine (!!!!!!!!!!). I love Florence. So much. She's the best thing ever. This is in addition to other exciting announcements like Sufjan Stevens, Yael Naim, and rumors of Radiohead that had already been swirling around the interwebs.

Out of all of those, I have actually decided that I will share Hot Chip's new single today. They're probably my least favorite out of all those bands, but their new single is awesome. Plus it's called Huarache Lights. Not only is it a great song, but it's about Huaraches (or so the name would have you believe) and I do love wearing my huaraches. As much as possible. Every day if I could, but now that I live somewhere with winter I can't. Le sigh. But I'll listen to this and it will make me happy.

Feb 13 - Years & Years

I had my company's Chinese New Year party last night. Well, the first of two, anyway. Last night was Shanghai, and this morning I'll be flying to Tianjin for round two. Then back at 8am tomorrow because we only have a 1 day weekend. But I'll explain more about that on Sunday. From the office. Where I'll be in a bad mood and doing everything I can not to work.

Our Shanghai year end dinner party

But anyway, we had the party last night, which is basically a dinner with performances by staff, a raffle, and lots of alcohol. It's not a Chinese party without lots of alcohol. Our prizes were pretty lame compared to others I've heard of. First prize was an iPad Mini 3. A friend of mine works
for Danone and apparently their first prize was a trip for 2 to Paris. Poor show, Bauer. Anyway I didn't win so what do I care? Maybe I can win something tonight.

My marketing assistant performing

That is the reason that I already missed a day in February. But luckily I posted two songs in my D'Angelo post the other day, so we're still on track for 365 songs in 365 days. Today you get a great song, though, by a group I'm very much looking forward to this year, Years & Years. This song, Real, is by far their best, and I often listen to it on repeat. Like right now. Maybe you will, too.

Feb 11 - Disclosure feat. Sam Smith

I can't say I'm upset about Sam Smith winning a bunch of Grammys. He may not be the best artist ever, but I think he's alright. So well done to him. And I did love him on Latch with Disclosure. Great song off of a very good album. This one and Help Me Lose My Mind with London Grammar were by far the best on the album, and both of which are amazing tracks with a decent artists.

I don't know if this was as massive of a hit in the US as the rest of the world, but my guess is you've heard it and don't need me to tell you about it. But at least you can enjoy it again, cause it doesn't get old. Not yet, anyway.

Feb 10 - D'Angelo

I did manage to watch the Grammys last night, but not because it was on my fake IP TV. Unfortunately it hadn't made it there yet, but I managed to download it rather quickly and watch it anyway. And what was supposed to be a night on my own on the couch with a burger and the Grammys turned into a night with my friend Mathias on the couch with a burger and the Grammys. Even better.

I actually love having people over at my place, it's one of my favorite things. So of course I was happy to have Mathias join me. And he's just moved here and is only around for a few months, so it's always nice to get time with him. Mathias was my neighbor in Singapore, then he went back to Sweden to finish his MBA, and is now on an internship in Shanghai for 3 months.

But the point of all this is to mention how I normally only have people over for parties these days, except for my friend Candice who stayed with me for a few days. And when Candice was here, we were mostly out and about doing or eating things since it was her last few days before leaving China. Then when we were home, she spent a good amount of time on Skype with her boyfriend. So this is the first time in a long time that I've just had a friend come and chill on the couch and not really do much of anything. And it was great. It made me realize that living with a roommate might not be the worst thing ever. I'm totally used to living on my own now and always say that I'd be very picky about who I can live with if I get roommates again, and that is still true, but I can see the benefits of it. Of course there are also cons like not being able to walk around naked whenever I want or play my music however I want (or, God forbid, having to listen to their shitty music if they have shitty taste in music, but I guess I would never live with someone who had shitty taste in music or didn't allow me to control all music in any public spaces). So yes, there are still cons, but I now realize there are also pros.

Something else it's nice to have back after a long time is D'Angelo. Because he is a genius. I don't really know what else to say about him. 2000's Voodoo is maybe one of my favorite albums ever. And not just mine, I'm sure, many people's. Here, just listen to Spanish Joint, one of the best songs ever off of one of the best albums ever.



How could you not love it? And the whole album is that good! But after releasing that piece of gold, he disappeared for 14 years. And for 14 years there were rumors of him coming back with an album titled James River. And then, out of nowhere, he did come back last year. On a Friday in December he release his first single, Sugah Daddy, now under the name D'Angelo & The Vanguard, and also announced the March 2015 release of his album Black Messiah. And then on the following Monday he decided not to wait and released his album. And it was worth the wait. It may not be a Voodoo, but it's an amazing album. Take, for example, Betray My Heart, one of my favorites off the album (along with Really Love).


I'm quite confident this album will be quite high on my top 10 this year. Even though it came out last year I will still count it because it came out too late, but definitely would have made last year's. Now let's just hope we don't have to wait another 14 years for the next album.