Tomorrow we'll be leaving for a week of travel before coming home to America...we'll be stopping in Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kyoto, and possibly Osaka. I'm not sure we'll have computer access, so I probably won't post again until the night before coming home, or once I'm back in CT. That being said, I though I'd catch ya'll up to speed on the last week.
Of course, a lot has happened, so this is the briefest of summaries. Also, events may be out of order in this post, because it's all blended together by this point...
End of disclaimer.
Ok, so in trying to find another side of Tokyo, we spent one day in the Imperial East Gardens, which is a large park filled with beautiful landscaping, plants, fish, and whatnot.
Later on (another day maybe) we interviewed Stan, who owns a small recording label for noise artists. He had some insightful things to say about the Japan bubble economy in the 80's/90's. It was great to hear financial underpinnings of the industry.
Later on, we met up with Jonny, and hung out in his neighborhood. We drank a beer at a nearby shrine, where a local struck up conversation with us.
He brought us to another shrine where we took these photos. The gate to the shrine was covered in signs and writing that was telling ghosts to stay out...supposedly spirits visit there once in a while.
The next day we filmed raw footage for an animation sequence with the Tokyo Pinsalocks. We made instruments out of colored paper and bottles and yarn. Later we filmed their show.
After they played, we filmed the following band, Nissenen Mondai...they played psychedelic 13-min epic trance like songs...and they played them well.
The following day, we went to Koenji and filmed at Enbon, a very important record shop/venue for our project, and the underground music scene in Tokyo. It is a place where many underground bands sell their music, and many have performed. The owner did an interview for us explaining the diversity of music in Tokyo, and in their selection at the shop.
After leaving there, we met up with Samm Bennett and his wife, who collaborate as the band Skist. Samm was a prominent musician in New York City in the 70's and 80's, playing in various forms. He has played extensively with John Zorn, and is now well established in Tokyo. Their interview was great, and provided a very positive look at the music scene here. We did the interview in great traditional room in their home, sitting on mats, sipping tea...
The following morning we woke early and filmed all of the salary men going to work at 8AM.
At around 8 or 8:15 suddenly wave upon wave of thousands of business men flocked to their various business places. It was amazing. We documented it for a few hours before heading home to catch up on sleep.
Later on that day, I picked up Vanessa from Shinjuku. From there we dropped off luggage, then headed to Koenji where our Return To Hamburger show took place. It was a weird and wacky time, which was exactly what we expected. Mission accomplished. We threw burgers out to the crowd and ate burgers onstage while doing a dance. Later in the set, we did a fast-food vocal jam. I think it was safe to say we were the crowd favorite that night.
The next day, we interviewed David W. Marx, a culture/fashion/music critic who eloquently described to us the progression of international culture, the state of unrest in the music community, and many other interesting points of interest. Good stuff.
Later we went back to the curry restaurant owned by the couple that is Suishou No Fune (see early post). We had some amazing curry, and had a good time with them before saying our goodbyes. Here we are post-meal, very content.
After dinner, we met up with Jonny to say our goodbyes and whatnot. Yet another person who made this trip possible. We had a few drinks and then headed on home.
Today we did some packing/cleaning. Lewis leaves tomorrow, so we had to pack up some gear for him to bring home. After that we headed to Shibuya where we saw D.V.D and the Tenniscoats play two great shows.
Our last shows were at O-Nest, where we had seen many shows throughout the trip. There were also members from many of the bands we had seen/interviewed, so we had another chance to say hello/goodbye, and thank everyone for their help.
So tomorrow, it's off on our adventure! We're done filming! That's a wrap! End of principal photography! Hot diggity! In a few weeks, we'll start animating and editing...a few months later, we'll be done...after that who knows. As I said above, I'll post a few photos from our travels once we're back. Until then, thanks for reading/looking!
Ian
They are a hip-duo in which the female plays the drums, and the male does live loops using a bass/guitar and a trumpet, then raps on top of it. 
He was really skilled at using the loop pedal and would build songs from the bottom up in a matter of seconds. Although I couldn't understand his lyrics (a frustrating problem) he recommended they be translated for the film because they have a lot to say...time will tell I guess.
We shot it from many different angles, and in daylight and at night. 
We shot the surrounding areas, the neon signs everywhere, close-ups of people, the works. 
We saw some weird stuff on the way too.
He talked about music on the physical scale, such as sound waves and reverberations, and also discussed the differences between playing in Berlin and Tokyo. He talked about the way that Japanese people will adopt foreign concepts (including musically) and then make them their own through a process of trying to perfect them. They borrow, then improve. We've heard this response a lot, as well as another take on it which says that they borrow concepts, and then destroy them. Thus there are "maniacs" who play extreme versions of genres, perverted and twisted into something new...
After interviewing Shintaro, Return To Hamburger had a practice session. We played for 3 hours, and we think we have a full 30-minute set put together. We'll probably play once or twice more before the show next Friday.
And here's what's inside.
There are all sorts of snacks and souvenirs you can get here.
There were candy shops, clothing stores...entire stores devoted to selling chop-sticks, or to selling fans.
We got a bunch of footage, and a few souvenirs, and continued to the end where this other gate is. Here I am getting the wide shot.
At this time, the sun was setting, and the light was great.
It's what they call "Magic Hour" in film/photography...because of a few reasons. The softer side light can make for very interesting portraits, with great directional shadows, and is warm and rich in color. 
Here's my "film-maker" portrait/pose.
So after filming, we came home for a big bowl of instant ramen...except we cooked rice separately to put in it and sauteed moyashi in yaki-niku and soy sauce to put on top...not half bad!
