mickey holmes

PX don't care. They're just the middle man.

Buy Sell Ueno has soom good bits from time to time.

Summer's a good time to meet.

Right now, it's hot as fuck, but the birds are wearing next to nothing.

Um, this is exactly why Roppongi is fucking awesome.......

If you aren't an idiot and let some Nigerians rip you the fuck off, some of the strip clubs there are damn good. We had a friend who was staying at my hostel who worked at Seventh Heaven in Roppongi and he let us know the scoop. We got in for a damn good deal (all you have to do is know how low they will go) and got several decently priced dances which were damn near sex by several of the occupant Brazilian strippers..........Roppongi has tons of places; you just have to know where to go and not be a damn pussy.

Why do you call me a pussy?

Don't get into flaming from behind the safety of your keyboard. Take it to PM.

Roppongi is just Americatown. No one from the states (or even Europe for that matter)needs to go there. Honestly. All that's there is shitty pubs, TGI Friday's, Hard Rock Cafe, and terrible shopping centers (Roppongi Hills ftl).

Yep.

Roppongi is the biggest shithole I've been to.

Arriving in Roopongi, you will naturally meet a lot of people who tell you how great it is.

These people, not all, but most will be the likes that live abroad but actually can't let go of the feeling of their home country.

English teachers, military dicks(no offence), but 19 year old marines that can't handle their beer and think every one is against the USandA on a typicla weekend.

Shit pubs,average clubs(unless you like the best of 2005-2006 hip-hop RnB) sluts, illegal immigrants and rip-off strip bars means they'll continuously come back for more.

It's not a cool place.

Anyone that thinks Roppongi is anywhere near a good hangout for weekends in a big city like Tokyo, please list these reasons below.....

Anyway, to the threadstarter, it would be good practice to get some Japanese learnt asap and continue in Japan. You will be in an Englsih speaking enviroment, so it's easy to get in your comfort zone and get lazy on studying.

Not saying you're lazy mate;), just that's the way it is sometimes.

.

Breaking news from Jean Snow: Relax Magazine will soon cease publication. This is the Bible going out of print, if Japanese teenage hipsters were Christians, and there were still Japanese teenage hipsters left. For anyone refusing to admit that Japan is no longer Pizzicato Five, bossa-nova cafes, A Bathing Ape, Puffy, skateboarding, graffiti, collaboration goods, Ryan McGinness art, toy collecting, old records forgotten in the West, taste-discrimination over capital-discrimination, ultra-advanced consumer culture, limited-edition sneakers, Mike Mills, Parco exhibitions, Hiromix the amateur photographer, Godard films, and Cornelius (but instead, Louis Vuitton leather, Roppongi Hills, tight white pants, brown haired Onee-kei, fancy suits with no ties, $200 dinners, Uniqlo, Orange Range, Densha Otoko, Hiromix the celebrity, fake beer, and CanCam), your dream is officially over.

Relax's monthly pages singlehandedly codified a certain international aesthetic style emerging out of the post-grunge 90s. Although launched a bit after the Shibuya-kei and Ura-Harajuku trends, Relax was the sharpest media of this unofficial movement, and further proved that Japan had more to offer in this curation/sampling based consumer-art than other countries. American kids used to buy the magazine even though they could not read the text, because no one else was going to list 300 obscure reggae records next to pictures of adorable girls and Mark Gonzales art. (And even though it was targeted to boys, the publication apparently had mostly girl readers, which gave the book a post-sexual harmony hovering between male informationitis and female peaceful tenderness.)

Of course, the world moved away from this aesthetic and onto less product-friendly art, and Japanese youngsters moved away from $300 monthly allowances and interest in the outside world. Relax in response reinvented itself as an anti-consumer "lifestyle journal" focusing on health, travel, and eco-sustainability. These are all neat and commendable topics, but they don't move records, or t-shirts, or double-name camo jackets, nor do they tell you what to wear to your date on Saturday night or how to get girls in bed and what to do with them once you have gotten them there (the way that Popeye could). Japan's most popular fashion magazine at the moment is CanCam, selling something like 500,000 copies a month. If one million young females are moving in that direction, there is no way one million young males would have the time to glance through something like Relax without totally and completely falling off the track towards sexual conquest.

As much as I take guff for it, I shed few tears for Relax or Shibuya-kei, but I do wish that something as sophisticated and world-class would appear on the mainstream Japanese popular culture scene. Art in Japan has gone back underground to certain extent, but it feels like Alternative in 1995, where bands got kicked off Sire and then were not really "Indie" but just "washed-up." So much under-the-radar art at the moment still operates in the Relax mold: the obsession with products and sales, the attempts to please the same masters, the similar self-framing. Indie bands pass out consumer surveys about their tunes. Art galleries have DJs.

There should be no surprise that Relax is folding in the current Japanese climate, but let us take this moment to remember how important its cultural codification was for boosting the image of Japan in the West. That wave still rolls across the globe. Does anyone think the CanCam wave will be half as fun?

http://www.pliink.com/mt/marxy/archives/2006_06.html

There are plenty of so-called rough areas of Tokyo, eg: Kabuki-cho, Roppongi, Shibuya, Ueno, but it's nothing compared to other cities like London or NY.

Of course, if you go looking for trouble you'll find it, but only in the shithole that is Roppongi have I seen any real trouble, and that's mostly from other foreigners, usually US marines/navy boys or illegal immigrants. Shibuya is heading the same way as Roppongi.

Kabuki-cho and I think walking on a little farther to Shin-Okubo has a certain atmosphere to it, but there aren't usually hordes of foreigners there, usually Yakuza and Koreans. They won't go out of their way to mug you unless you enter 1 of their places of business....

That being said, I've spent 4 years in Tokyo, and I have noticed it becoming a little rougher, so never take things for granted.

Head to Nakano on the Chuo/Subu line.

Take the North exit, turn right at the ticket gates and head over the crossing.

Go into the large shopping centre, and keep walking til you see the esculators. Head up to the 2nd and 3rd floors.

There are a few more shops on the 1st, at the back of the esculator.

Quote:

im stil trying to figure out a way to make money when in tokyo next year..

as teaching english isnt looking like a way to go (as i dont have a degree yet), what other ways can i make money over there? un-visa'd bar work? sell vintage clothing from back home? store work? private 1-to-1 english teaching?!

anyone had any experience of workin out in JP without a work visa?

cheers!

--- Original message by thomas_highstreet on Oct 2, 2005 07:40 AM

I doubt you will get store work if you don't speak Japanese.

English teaching seems to be the way if you aren't transfered from a company in your own country.

You need no Japanese in 95% of English teaching jobs. Some pay decent money, too.

^yeah kabuki-cho is ok.

As for GasPanic...what a shithole.....if you like crap like Chingy, go for it.

In Shinjuku check out Hotel Sunroute.

http://www.asiatravel.com/japan/sunroutetokyo/

I've stayed there before and it's great. You can't go wrong!

It's actually in Shinjuku, but is just a stone's throw from Yoyogi station, then you can walk to Harajuku/Shibuya, etc.

After a long flight, catch the Limousine Bus from Narita and it'll take you straight to the front doors.

www.limousinebus.co.jp

<IB.

Check out http://ianbrown.co.uk

A festival of fun to be had by one and all.

Any of you boys check out the post on crookedtongues?

Brown is looking for a pair of his own superstars in a UK9.

He'll swap 'em for a UK8.5 and sign 'em.......apparently it's straight up.

You wanna look out for Japanese mag. "Samurai."

They just did a special issue with all Inoue's shit in.

^ Know what you mean.

It might be expensive, but at the time it's worth every penny(or cent in your case).

No-one's actually being forced to buy/wear bape.

If you like it rock it, if not, don't....quite simple really.

Think it's got a way to go before it becomes real mainstream.

Quote:

I'm heading to Japan next week. Does anyone know the address for the PX store?

Thanks

--- Original message by OhAye on Apr 16, 2005 02:27 PM

Think you'll find EMS is the best.

I use it often to the UK. Fast delivery 3-5 days and includes insurance and has a tracking number.

You may find cheaper, but you won't find better.

But he still wore it...

Hotel sunroute in Shinjuku. You can search google for it.

It's great and the staff are real friendly.

Think everything else has been said.

If you can fit it in:

gadgets - Akihabara

shopping - Harajuku and above.

Any of you guys know British footballer,turned football manager turned football commentator, Ron Atkinson.

(Ron was also a pioneer at the time in the 70's of introducing black kids into football in the UK).

Well, he's now ex-commentator after using the "N" word to describe a black, French footballer.

His actual words were: "fuckin' lazy nigger".

Anyway, in a bid to regain his status in the UK(he had been a bit of a legend), he went to America on some sort of racial awareness program....

He left a bit bemused after meeting a group of American college kids who told him it was ok to use nigga, with an "A", but in actual fact HE shouldn't use it in any circumstance.

Basically, he understood people may be offended by his comments, and he was sorry, but couldn't come to terms with why it was acceptable for the word to be used, but unacceptable for who used it.

NBHD's take it for me.

Notable mentions to IB's, FP, and Adi Dasslers....actually all the consortiums.

I suggest checking here:

http://sakura-house.com/index.htm

^Haha...beautifully put.

Look kid. Just cus Michael Jackson's on trial, don't take it out on us.I'm sure he'll be found innocent and you'll be allowed to stay over at Neverland very soon....it'll all be ok!

When I was in London, I remember Forbidden Planet had 'em too.

Fuckin' hell....4000 grand, you say??

Harajuku and Shibuya. Yeah, Ueno has trainers at good prices.

Buy me a beer and I'll personally show you round 'PX' in Tokyo.

www.buysellueno.com

http://px-megastore.com

Quote:

Quote: listen bitter ass, first off i'm not white trash. i'm half-japanese and i have family that lives in tokyo, including a sister, and i wanted to come to here to learn more about my roots and my family, and to check out the art scene. before you start making snap racist judgements, why don't you ask a few questions first. it's people like you who think they know everything about everyone and try to get other people down - why don't you take a fucking look in the mirror before you start criticizing other people.

half-japanese is white trash ain't it, especially if your coming out of north america. yanks have no idea about customs and bullshit in japan. can't wait to hear you try spelling japanese shit out while trying to mix it into your posts making it appear like you have grasp of the language. if you're there to learn about your roots, why teach english ? that doesn't make any fucking sense now does it? i've seen your type out here a million times over, eating at cheap shitty joints and then complaining to your friends back home that everything is shitty and expensive and that they don't understand you. you're white trash, you'll never understand all the customs and mannersisms that japanese people have in their daily life, they will be nice to you and tolerate all your bullshit when in fact they can't stand half white trash. why don' you just shut the fuck up, see how the job and life go for a month or so and then make a post rather than giving some neurotic first day judgement no "bad vibes". who cares, trash.

--- Original message by dontcaretoomuch4dontcare on Mar 5, 2005 07:50 PM

You can't be that much of a dick in real-life, right?

What you're writing seems like you're in Japan now.

How about we hook up with 'Sugarboots' and 'Marine Corpse' and have a beer or 2??

You never know, you might make a few friends......