This Is Not A Hiatus...

Wow, so it's been 4 days or so since we've seen any music...that's the longest stretch since we've been here. But we've been grinding away over here. There's a lot of filming to do in our last few weeks here of things besides live performances. We've been getting shots of the city...as the film will really be exploring Tokyo music culture as it is specific to Tokyo, in comparison to other cities of Japan.

Many of our interviews focus on the special macrocosm that is Tokyo, and how this megapolis in turn forms a very particular subculture of musicians.

An interview with Shintaro focused on this. Shintaro had performed at Test Tone a few days back, and is a friend of Cal's. He is actually from Berlin, but he emphasized that his "roots" are Japanese, which I think is to say his ancestors are Japanese.

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.

Today, we headed to Akihabara for a little while, and picked up a few needed tools/items, which included a battery for our lavaliere microphone, a really small Phillip's-head screwdriver for fixing my omni-directional microphone, and a mic clip for the lavaliere. I also found an AC-Adaptor for my still camera, but it was overpriced. I want to be able to plug the camera into the wall (instead of using battery power) because I can hook the camera up to a computer, and set it to take photos on an interval. Then, I could point the camera out the window and record the sun rising, without having to manually take all the photos. Time-lapses made easy! But the adapter cost $75, which is the equivalent of 2-3 days of food/transportation/personal spending money...so it will have to wait...

From Akihabara, we headed to Asakusa, where a market area leads you up to a shrine. This area is tourist central.

Here's the front gate...

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.

But also, and in this case more importantly, the dimmer light of the sky allows it to be photographed at the same exposure as the subject without being over-exposed and washed out...makes for some beautiful rich shots of the sky. There was a 5 story pagoda in the shrine area.

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!

When I get home, I most definitely will look into ordering a rice-cooker...it's amazingly easy, and provides a great base for a meal. Set it and forget it.

Ok, now for a drink.

Ian

P.S. - Our band, called Return To Hamburger, in Japanese is ハンバガーに帰る.