a post-blog
A train to JFK, and like a day or so later, I'm in Japan, ready to stock up on 12"s, sneaks, and chicks. On Sunday I hit Haryjuku. I eat a Subway footlong (psyche!) and hook up with a bud I knew back in Brooklyn who cut my hair back in the days. Crazy shit. In Japan, a haircut takes about two hours - no joke - miniature tiny cuts, a long shampoo, head massage, about three or four (not cute) female assistants. They kept playing Maroon 5 but the service was ill.
Made my way past this big concrete mall - Omotesendo Hills - but I don't buy that Euro shit. Packed with people - all the way down. LV and Gucci on the other side. Sitting on the side of the street are all these scouts and photographers checking out the stroll. I was just wearing flipflops and cargos, so nobody's gonna stop me. (Right, GD?)
Duck behind Wendy's and hit the goldmine. Cheap used Ape (and Japan-only Supreme) in about twenty different shops. Porter wallets. Took me like half an hour to find the Ape shop, but I finally made my way in. Way more stuff than the Soho joint. I kind of broke down crying. Got way too much but prolley sell half the shit on Ebay. $$$. Ricar would kill for the green camo hoodie I got. Shirts run a little small, but the baggy thing is over anyway.
Make my way to Head Porter, but too expensive. People on teh street are head to toe in Bape. I can't even compete. Some great sneaks in some shops, but no one's got 12s. Damn.
I knew if I hung around long enough I would see Nigo and Pharell and those dudes, so I killed some time in Recon, trying to see if the staff guys knew Andy etc. Ice Cream store looked hot from the outside but I wasn't about to wait in line for all that.
My bags got heavy, so I headed back to the hotel. Some really nice bikes on teh streets too. People got too much cash.
Met this girl I know Mari down iN Roppongi. Took me too this crazy club called Gas-Something. All these Japaese chicks are crazy, man,. You gotta check it out for yourself. They got some thing for Americans or something. I got this one girl's number and we're going to meet in Shibuya tomorrow. Speaks okay English.
Nothing beats this place, man. I gotta move here.
Posted by willie D at April 26, 2006 11:40 PMOne of the greatest hobbies of the erudite Japanese scholar is vocalizing contempt for those with far less knowledge.
Elitism. Feed your narcissism. Shield your insecurity.
Posted by: check at April 27, 2006 5:53 AMI like this critique of tokyo better, but are you still complaining about nigo not staying cool? Do you have a secret cache of people who are constantly telling you how great bape is that you feel a need to respond to? As far as I can tell none of the commentors around here have, or had in the past an lick of interest in ape, yet you use him time and again as a model for how uncool japan is.
maybe if you wrote another entry in the fictional first person with someone who, try as he might, couldn't do things that we would all consider a good time. Cuz as check notes, this is just a bit of bile for John Q. NovaContract.
Plus, maybe you've been out of the states a bit too long, but I don't think that Japan packs the punch it did a year or two ago.... excluding the american akiba crowd which is in it's own way more pathetic than the japanese one.
Oh, I see what you've done. Disregard the e-mail!
Posted by: Momus at April 27, 2006 7:51 AMElitism. Feed your narcissism. Shield your insecurity.
Okay, okay. Good point
Question though: is it okay to loathe long-time foreigners who go to Gas Panic? Or is that still elitism?
Posted by: marxy at April 27, 2006 9:16 AMDavid, in reading your writing, it is more than evident that you're an intelligent individual, and yet, it often strikes me as peculiar that your tendency to quietly loathe isn't ever viewed as internecine.
Speaking personally, whenever I found myself maliciously ruminating about the Roppongi crowd, I always felt pretty miserable. Only when I worked to become more open-minded, and find the positive in these people, did I (1) stop jejunely stereotyping them as one-dimensional wastes, and (2) feel less hateful.
And if this doesn’t seem realistic, at least work towards disregarding them – I know you’re smart enough to understand the real casualty of despondency.
You’re got such a great thing going in Japan – mastery of the language, friends, a girlfriend, a job, youth – there ain’t no reason to spend time on “loathing”, brother.
Forget that noise.
Posted by: check at April 27, 2006 1:57 PMThank you for the vote of support.
I'm sure I am responsible for setting the tone, but I sure get a lot of lectures and heart-to-hearts from my readers.
Posted by: marxy at April 27, 2006 2:39 PMmade me snicker.
Posted by: Rory P. Wavekrest at April 27, 2006 5:50 PMThree Cheers for Loathing!
Posted by: Chris_B at April 27, 2006 10:37 PMHave you read any Jonathan Swift? His satire teeters on the brink of misanthropy, and he knows it.
But I do like reading your blog. Your observations are pertinent, and it's unfortunate that many other readers don't know irony when they see it.
Clarence
Posted by: clarence at April 28, 2006 1:49 AMAs a member of the cultural demographic known as 'whitey', I'm hyper aware of others of my group when I'm in Japan. Walking down the streets of Ueneo being shouted at, "Oi! Amerikajin"... much nicer than, "O! Gaijin"... really... you see the kanji tattoos on the calves of the other socalled gaijin... Stopping w/ your gf at a small little koohi enclave in Akiba, nice, quiet, oddly refined for the area, except for the man in the corner reading the phone-book sized manga... why?
Has BAPE -really- made it to the outter fringes of American street culture yet---? I've heard it's marginalized itself to immigrant art-students in Japan.
Regardless... Of course there will always be people who do not read 2ch, Tokion (not that Tokion really has much to do w/ Japan anymore----), Arena, CyZo, etc etc... There will always be people who self-conciouslly low-ball their potential by going to Gas Panic etcetera, chain izakya...*
I'm no barometer on the hot-spots of Japan, I'd probably avoid Roppongi just out of the fear of seeing another kanji-tattooed calve, but that's just how some people roll.
*Ps. I rather enjoy chain izakya... people are broke these days...
Posted by: Michael McCarthy at April 28, 2006 3:13 AMアレアレー居酒屋。My bad.
Posted by: Michael McCarthy at April 28, 2006 3:16 AMBape in Soho was a big disappointment
Posted by: john at April 28, 2006 5:06 PMby the way, whatever the relation of bapy to bape is, evidently they couldnt hack it up here in the frozen (dead broke) north. they closed up shop a couple weeks ago, leaving behind an empty room with a luxurious looking bathtub and a tenant 募集 sign.
Posted by: nate at April 28, 2006 7:29 PMi know that this is a mockery of an *american* doood, but do you know how closely it resembles the blog of baby-faced hong kong (by way of vancouver and elite international schools) rising star edison chen?
http://blog.honeyee.com/edison/
the "holla atcha boy" speak and bape-love is hou universal la... and he's in japan shooting "the grudge 2", and giving out mad props to sarah michelle gellar! how more perfect can you get?
hah! Fucking Hilarious.
Posted by: shane at May 1, 2006 3:12 PM