Yucca, Hip Hop, Tsukiji Fish Market, and the Day Off

This last weekend was a blur...

On Saturday, we started in the afternoon by interviewing a band called Yucca at Motion in Shinjuku. The 4-person group plays really interesting music, sometimes somewhat ambient, sometimes quirky and chaotic.



Harmonies work their way throughout the whole show, and tie the songs together nicely.



The show was fun, but having a lot to do this evening, we headed out relatively quickly.

After regrouping at our respective homes, we met up across town prepared for a long evening. In general, most of the shows we have seen begin on the earlier side, around 8 or 9PM. However, for our first dabble into the hip-hop scene, the event started at midnight and lasted until around 5 AM. We met up with an American grad student there, who had told us about the event. He is studying hip-hop culture in Tokyo, and he introduced us to many of the performing artists at the event.

The scene was much different from the other shows we've seen. There was a guy making a huge robotic ninja out of construction paper on one wall...following are photos that show his progression.



There were people passed out on couches all over the club. Every now and then some guy with drool seeping out of his mouth would abruptly awake, then head to the stage to check out some of the show.



There was a constant cycle of passed out people.

Also, everyone was sporting hip-hop gear, repping NY or SF or some other American entity.



It was hard for me to assess the music in depth, as I could not understand the words, however rhythmically many of the artists were very impressive. Many had a very quick cadence to their rhymes.



So after hanging around til 4 or 5AM, we waited for the subways to open, and then headed to the Tsukiji Fish Market. This is the birthplace of sushi...it's the largest fish market in Tokyo, and maybe in the world. If you eat high quality fish in the USA, it very well could have come from here.

So after walking for a while, we arrived!

To find...that is isn't open on Sundays.

We were not thrilled about this. So after getting home and falling asleep around 8 AM, I slept until 4 PM the next day.

For the rest of the day, I worked on tunes, and read a Jerry Seinfield book called Seinlanguage.

Today, we have an interview scheduled with the American organizer of the Test Tone event we had attended a few days back. No translations will be necessary, which will make the whole process much more streamlined. Until next time...

Adios amigos.

Ian