Kaiyzen Group

Making my way from Harjuku to Shibuya on the green line I set out to make use of the second part of my free day to explore one of the busiest areas of Tokyo.

Shibuya would be somewhat of a comparison to Time Square in New York.., kind of on steroids.., and about 3x the size. The Shibuya subway station is known to be one of the busiest daily stations in the world. Here is a camera phone video clip I snagged from the sidewalk right by the main intersection. Every street light change a sea of people pour into the intersection to exit/enter the station:

Shibuya Intersection Crossing from Kaiyzen on Vimeo.

You really need multiple days too wander around the Shibuya area to see a lot of what it has to offer. Trying to cram as much as it as possible into a couple hours was pretty tough and one of the more tiring things I have attempted. After about 2 hours you start to feel a little overwhelmed.., a little stressed.., and kind of out of it.., almost how you feel walking around a Vegas casino floor at at 4am on day 3 of a bender of a trip out there.

Besides just roaming around a mini mission I had was to track down a record shop and get a slight DJ fix on. Besides wanting to bring back at least a single record with me.., I really wanted to find some dope mods for my Vestax-07.., some knobs.., maybe a new faceplate. I was lucky enough to wander amelessly up this small street to find myself confronted with a couple record stores lumped together.., EUREKA!!

I was able to walk away with a break record that consisted of a ton of cartoon samples to skratch and a replacement knob for the crossfader.., black only though.., no crazy new colors.

During some more wandering post record shop I was walking down this one street to this large billboard for the new Narnia movie. The crazy thing about this billboard was that it was handpainted onto the wall in great detail.., I was able to capture a pic of the artist at work before the details of the face were completed.

As the day winded down I needed head back to the homestead to meet back up with the troops for some glorious shabu shabu action for a last meal in Tokyo before moving on to the next desitnation. On the way out I managed to pop into an HMV music store real quick to pick up a Japanese hardcore cd for my buddy Rob. Here is a couple pics.., one general of the street area around the store.., another of a Carol King cd:

It was pretty amazing to see an entire stand dedicated to the remastered release of Carole Kings Tapestry album. It is a great album.., never thought it would be something that would be huge in the Japanese market in 2008.

Post the shabu shabu grubbin it was off to find a late night destination to enjoy some cocktails and a view of the Tokyo cityscape on the last night. After a failed attempt to hit up the highest pt to grab views/cocktails in the city because of early closure on Sunday night we ended up at a hotel across the way from Tokyo tower.

Although not too high up it still provided a nice viewpoint. It was especially nice when Tokyo Tower lit up after starting out completely dark when we first arrived. Below are a couple pics from the view:

So this concludes the Tokyo stretch of the trip.., tomorrow morning off to the airport for the next destination.., a quick stopover in Singapore for a couple meetings and speaking engagements.

Well…, with only the Sunday day time left with no work obligations I take my notes from the night before and head out for a marathon day of shopping.., first stop Harajuku.

Harajuku is a fantastic spot to spend a day.  There are TONS of people hanging out, lots of colorful characters and people dressed up.., and of course.., a lot of really cool shopping destinations.

I had two missions for my shopping day.., one, buy a couple gifts for some friends/family who had birthdays while I was away.., and two.., nab a new pair of kicks for myself.

Little did I know that second mission would be damm near impossible to complete.  I realize that Japanese people are smaller on average than myself.., but most show stores AND brands do not come in sizes bigger that 11 1/2.  Wearing a 12-13 depending on the brand it turned out to be a very frustrating afternoon.  First at the Camper store, then two local ones, finally with a stop off at the Puma and New Balance stores.  I finally gave in and picked up a pair from the New Balance store after the Puma store let me down.., I had also forgotten my $100 in gift certificates to the Puma store that would have annoyed me even more if the pair had been in my size.

A couple pics.., first two of the indie store with this brand called Patrick (dope kicks.., highly recomend them if you wear an 11 or under).., third pick of my New Balance kicks I picked up:

So as futile as mission two was to complete mission one was extremely easy.  Finding little gifts for people here could not be easier.  Thanks in part to the UT Uniqlo Store.  This store was badass.., not only from the merchandise but also from the consumer experience.  Three stories of walls and walls of t-shirts with funny/unique designs they have pulled together.  The t-shirts come in these plastic tubes and fill the walls.  When you enter you grab a shopping basket similar to ones you would use at the grocery store and start droppin em in as you browse.  Having trouble finding a shirt.., use their handy search tool.., a large touch screen monitor that allows you to scroll through and zoom in on every shirt design they have.., pics below:

Just down from the UT store was the Audi Forum building.  A very interesting glass structure standing four stories tall…, the first two stories are an Audi dealership.., the top two have a couple places of business occupying them.  One store on the third floor intrigued me by its logo so I figures I would hop in the elevator and check it out.  At first I did not think it too weird that it was myself and 7 women in the elevator until I got off with all of them on the third floor.  There was a massive line out the door.., all women.., with a sign that read “Members Only”…, after some nice stares by some of the women I thought it best to head down to the second floor and check out some Audi action.., pics below.., one word…, dooooooooooooopeness:

A few interesting things along the way while cruzing through Harajuku.  First there was a frickin See’s Candies store there.  Second, visited the Moma store, they had a cool case of tiny ass replicas of famous chair designs.., reminded me of the chair me and my buddy designed for the design within reach competition.  Third.., I had a Taco and Corona for lunch.., pics below:

Part 2 next.., Shibuya

Ok…, so after a very loooooooong week between the expo and all of the meetings it is time for about 36 hours or so of downtime before we leave this wonderful city. First up for our Saturday day trip is Karuizawa.

Karuizawa is a little town located about 90 minutes via bullet train from Tokyo. It is a little ski down during the winter where Japanese celebrities and the wealthy visit for some fun in the mountains and the ski slopes. I use the term “mountains” losely.., if you have ever been to the SF Bay Area their mountains in Karuizawa remind me somewhat of the Saratoga Hills leading up to Skyline.., basically, VERY small in comparison to normal ski parks.

A couple pics here of the a view from the train station and the station entrance:

A great thing about Karuizawa is that the town has setup several bike routs for you to go on to experience the town. They have street signs with numbers setup that guide you around and a map provided by whichever local bike rental shop you decide will guide you along via their number system.

After riding for a while.., and impending showers that appeared to be heading our way we decided to seek refuge while grabbing a bite to eat. We came across this little alley type street that was lined with shops and places to eat. A couple picks below.., one with a view up the street, the other at the place we decided to eat at where these women had strollers for their dogs and were pampering them at the table. Not that we don’t pamper our pets here in the U.S…, but it was quite entertaining to see:

Time for some more bike riding. Part way through we parted ways with a couple members of the party as they were spending the nite in the town and had to get to their place of stay. One of the things I love about visiting new places is to see the diferent design aspects they incorporate into their lives from buildings, to automobiles, to advertisements and signage.., you always stumble across some creative and funny items. One of those was during the bike ride.., a sign for Mikado Coffee:

Post bike riding it is time to hop on the bullet train back to Tokyo.

Tokyo Bullet Train from Kaiyzen on Vimeo.

Upon return into the city I grab a quick bite at this wonderful soup stand at the train station.., freshen up real quick.., then head back out to scope out a couple areas of Tokyo I plan to visit the next day for a little shopping excursion.