Japanese Tour 2003 Microsite

I'm writing this nearly three weeks after the event, so you'll have to excuse the hazy memories, but I'll give it my best shot... Laura and I met at Heathrow on the afternoon of the 24th August, both looking forward to the trip. Chatted in the departure lounge, smoked a few ciggies and drank a coffee or two and then boarded the flight to take us no-stop to Tokyo Narita.

Flight was long - about 11 and a half hours in all, but we spent the time chatting and having a few drinks. Laura managed to get some shut-eye en route, so was reasonably refreshed by the time we landed the next day in Japan. They're eight hours ahead over there, so it was late morning when we landed. We were greeted by Takashi, Keshu and Akira's smiling faces at gate. They'd driven the two hours out of Tokyo to meet us! It was great to see Takashi again, not having seen him for about eleven months. We posed for a few piccies and then hit the road. Tokyo is VERY big; we travelled at a steady pace until we'd crossed the Rainbow bridge into the centre of the city, and then the traffic became rather heavy to say the least.

Takashi, the organiser of the mini-tour.

It took us a further hour to get to our hotel, which was probably only about seven miles as the crow flies! Never mind - the journey was accompanised by some great music courtesy of Akira.

Our hotel was right in the centre of town, in a place called Shinjuku. Apparantly it's the equivalent of staying on Oxford Street in London. It certainly was close to all amenities, so we settled in nicely. Every room had optical broadband connection, so staying in touch with the UK wasn't a problem.. I managed to get Radio 2 streaming fine, so I didn't miss Terry Wogan's breakfast show, albeit in the afternoon over there!

Laura B, my co-conspiritor.

Takashi had organised a meal out for us that night, so at about 7pm, we made our way out into the warm night air to walk a few blocks to a huge skyscraper where we ascended to the 43rd floor to eat at a traditional Japanese restaurant. The views from the top were breathtaking. The food was 'different' - I thought it was OK, although Laura expressed some reservations - I dread to think what the MSG content was! We met Daisake, the other promoter of the SOS tour, and a few others, including Shion, Akira's girlfriend and also Ebe, a photographer and designer of the artwork that accompanied out tour. What a lovely bunch of folk... But by this time, we were both a bit knackered, so we went home and crawled into bed.

The following day was the day of our first gig, so we went to the venue at about 8pm to set up. I've got to be honest, it didn't appear too promising - a sprawling underground club with one big main room where we were going to play and a couple of rooms upstairs which were to house more live acts, including Akira's project. After a reasonably long set-up and sound check, the party got underway, and we got tucked into the beers.. by the time we went on, it was about 2am, and we supposed to play a 'dance set'. This was never going to happen to be honest, even though the previous DJ had been playing some pretty sublime tech-house. I started by playing things that I thought I should be playing for the first 50 mins or so, and then Laura just said to me "play what YOU want to". So I did, starting with Steve Millers' 'Fly Like an Eagle' - from there on I was in my element. Laura, however, didn't feel very well, so had to retire early. I carried on and by the end of the gig, I had people sitting down which I guess was the intention...

I finished with a couple of vocal alucidnation tracks and then we packed up and went home. I slept for a long time.

We then had a couple of days to do a bit of sightseeing and chill. We didn't really do that much sightseeing, unless you can call visiting electronics shops and record stores sightseeing, which I suppose you could. Laura and I bought digital cameras - the deals out there were too good to miss; and without them, you wouldn't be able to see the photo galleries that are included on these pages... It was also Daisake's birthday (his 21st) so we were invited round to Takashi's flat to help him celebrate it. Takashi has a 25sq metre living space, which is typical of the design of most single persons flats in Tokyo. There's enough room to house a bed, his studio and computers and not a lot else. But it was a great night, we all had a few drinks and once the others disappeared, Laura, Takashi and I watched some of his video work. It was a late one, but some good memories were relived...

Out next gig was at a place called Sputnik Low at Core, a pleasant district with upmarket eateries and a good vibe. We'd been over here a couple of nights previous to meet Masaki, who ran the business. Took an immediate liking to Masaki - a decent bloke, and a hard worker too. I personally had a really good feeling about this gig, and I know that Laura did too. The evening started mellow enough - we all went over the road for a bite to eat and chilled to some great sounds at Sputnik, but as the night wore on, the music began to get progressively more beat-orientated. This caught me off balance, so again our set (I think) got off to a weird start, although everyone else seemed to be enkoying themselves. Just me, probably. Ah well.

Towards the end of our set, I got more and more into it, until the end, where I was just playing chords on Laura synth over sound FX. By this time, I was tired, so we went home and chatted.

Which just leaves the final party, and the best also! This took place on a beach about two and half hours outside of Tokyo. The vibe and everything was there... both Laura and I had managed to get some rest in the car on the way there, so we were both up for a party. This beach party had been a regular occurance for the alst five or so years, and there was a really diverse mixture of people of all nationalities. Two sound systems, a geodesic which contained a skate rink, a huge communal fire and just a fantastic vibe made sure that everyone had a great time. We came on at about 9.15pm and we'd decided beforehand to just play exclusively our own material, which we did, I started with one of Laura's and then played one of my own and it just carried on like that really. The response was wicked! The highlight for me personally was Laura rusing up to the Dj booth and insisting that I come down to the beach to check the action out down there. To stand in the middle of a big crowd of people freaking out to something that you've produced in a beautiful space is unlike any other buzz I've experienced. A fantastic party, which unfortunately we had to leave early to get to the airport on time to get our flight back to the UK the following day...

All in all, a most enjoyable tripster.

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