Fortnight of Freedom/Off for Osaka

The Fantastic Plastic Machine
Monday the 16th Eri invited Oz James and I to her friend's birthday party. Her friend just happens to be a famous DJ, The Fantastic Plastic Machine, that works with RIP Slyme among others. James and I met for drinks in Shibuya where we ran into one of my old friends from Harajuku, Mike. I decided to invite him and his friend along, which James has deemed a bad decision, but things were fun that night. We rocked up to Omotesando around midnight and commenced the partying. It was sweet, the dude to chick ratio was great and I met a load cool chicks (and a few too young). Mike licked one.

Welcome Back To Tokyo

On Wednesday Kumiko threw a party in Shibuya for the arrival of her boyfriend, Dave. He is good friends with both Dirty Dave and Oz James from Sydney, but the strangest thing is that he was born in Herisau, Switzerland. Herisau is about a 20 minute drive from St. Gallen, the city in which I spent a majority of my time. He said that I am the first person that has ever heard of that town and I don't doubt him. Small world. Anyway, It was all great fun that night with way too much drinking (of course) and another night of a killer dude-chick ratio. The shitty part is that I lost my wallet that night. R.I.P. gator skin Perry Ellis....

Amelia the Kiwi & Jane of Oz

After work Saturday night I bolted to Youga for a birthday party for two of my friends, Amelia and Jane. They are two super sweet ladies of the Polynesian persuasion who have had great parties every time I am invited (coincidence? probably.). I met up with Paul and Steve at the station and we headed to the bar which was this snazzy sidewalk cafe under the Tomei expressway. Cool night. They tried to get me to come out for an all-nighter in Shibuya, but I had to refrain from letting 'Jimbo the Animal Man' out of his cage. I think it was a wise decision.

Samba Shinjo/Tama BBQ

After work on Sunday I headed to Musashi Shinjo to meet Paul for a Carnival parade that was being held there. The troop that performed was the same that does the parade in Asakusa every year. There we met with Mark, Makoto, Yuko, and two others. The festival was small, but lively and I am really glad I decided to go. I felt like a was back in Salvador, Brazil for a minute. When the parade wrapped up we headed back to my neighborhood, Futako Shinchi, for a massive party at the river. It was some dudes birthday and he said they had been drinking all day. It showed; there were about 50 wrecked people stumbling around under the bridge in the mud. That party wasn't the best but it was a good way to end a Sunday evening. And it just so happens that I ran into Harajuku Mike again that night. What a character... enough said.

On most of the other nights I went out and did the regular dinner & drinks with friends and ladies. I also busted my ass a few days trying to sort out my missing wallet which is still a mystery. My consecutive working days stretch is now at eight and I have two to go more before I am off to Osaka on the midnight bus to see Miho and surprise Junko at her farewell party. Good times and Go for the Gold!

'Go for the Gold!': Doggy-style with legos.

The Colonel

I have been pretty busy this past week and have been to a quite few bangin' parties. I will post those up soon, but I just got this link to my friend's, Colonel Sanders, website from New Zealand. Do yourself a favor and check it out. They are amazing. Thanks Karen!!!!

The Colonel's Website

Keeps getting better....

I lost my wallet. This sucks on so many different levels. Shit.

Train in Vain????

jimBo Rose Original Productions. The Clash.

Supernatural Disasters

Bad luck, good luck, or neither? This last weekend a Typhoon narrowly missed Tokyo and then a earthquake hit Niigata. Neither had any great effect on me other than lots of rain and my office building shaking for a minute. But it sucks for all those whose lives were destroyed over the 'holiday' weekend. It's my guess the two disasters missing Tokyo was an incredible stroke of good luck. Losing your wallet with everything in it including,but not limited to, your cash, credit card, ATM cards, resident card, social security card, newly purchased train pass, etc. is decidedly bad luck. I hope that doesn't happen to me tonight!

All Inked Up and Ready to Go

Today I saw the Far Right and met the Far Left. It was a marvelous day.

My new friend Kotone invited me to her tattoo appointment at NS7.DEPT tattoo studio in Shinjuku because I had mentioned that I was thinking about taking in some ink last time we spoke. She is a really cool chick I met whose father turns out to be a famous drummer endorsed by Yamaha and who played with my good friend 'Carl' Louis DeAndrade in the past. Small world. We had to make a pit-stop in Shibuya along the way to drop by one of her father's schools and upon exiting the station we realized it was a lot more crowded than usual. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was giving a speech on top of one of those all-to-common black vans, the symbol of the Conservatives. The Far Right.

Shinzo Abe blowing hot air at Hachiko Square, Shibuya in front of my office

The tattoo joint in Shinjuku was a lot more lax than I had anticipated it being. There I met the two artists, Yu-chan and Sezuki, who are covered with elaborate designs and traditional Japanese dragons. They were super cool and we all chatted while Kotone was discussing/planning her next design, which is going to be an abstract scorpion composed of Chinese characters (I have been talking about scorpions way too much recently). It turns out that Sezuki is an extremely talented artist that previously worked for the Yakuza, has been in several movies, written a book, and appears in tattoo magazines monthly. She said she would hook me up with a discount because I told her she looked 18. What a cool chick. The Far Left.

Yu-chan, Jimbo, and Sezuki

Farewell, My Dear Lea.... Au Revoir

It has really turned into the season of going-away parties and unfortunately last night I had to attend another 'Au Revoir' party in Potluck for my new French friend, Lea. But it still was a kicking ass & taking names party. It turns out there was a another birthday party for my friend, Red, that was going on at the same time. She turned 25 and there were also about 25 heads all up in Potluck (Coincidence? I think not) and I was mingling and mixing my way into both parties. It was great fun, but it sucks to see another friend go, especially a person like Lea. Oh well, I guess that's life (again).

Jimmy Bones and Lea the Great

Ameba Thanks Party

One of the perks of living in Tokyo and having friends with cool jobs is that they invite you to killer parties. The night of July 4th was supposed to be a BBQ night to celebrate the US Independence Day, but that was rained out. Eri quickly came through and invited Hana, Asuka, and I to this amazing party that was thrown by Nigo, the owner of A Bathing Ape. Although it took Eri a few minutes of convincing the bouncers to let me in, they eventually gave in and we scooted through. Everything was free from the candy to the Cristal Champagne, so we quickly settled into a groove and loosened up. I met one of the guys from RIP Slyme, Ilmari, and a K1 boxer, Takehiro Something. But the best introduction I got that night was to Shiro, the owner of Unit in Daikanyama. For some reason he really took a shining to me and invited us all back to his club for drinks. It was a sswwweeeeeeeetttt night!

Fast Times at Shibuya High

Shit. Life has been a teeter-totter of unimaginable ups and downs the last few weeks. I wouldn't even know where to start and I am not going to go into details about any of the happening for now, but I can say that I have learned a lot about myself and a whole lot about my friends, and have also grown as a Man. I met new friends and famous people who I have new clue about. My nerves and dignity were tested, but my will and inner strength prevailed. Ups and downs, baby. Ups and downs.

Stinky Pointer feat. Ema

UCF!! University of Central Florida

The Boys are back in Town: Peppe, Jimbo, & Funaki

Today was really cool though. I met Sally and Patrick, who will shortly be departing for China, in Shinjuku and spent the afternoon with them eating Chinese 'hot pot' (nabe), then chatting over life's mundane details such as scorpions and David Beckham. It will be really sad when Sally leaves, she has become a good friend since her arrival and is already missed in the office. Oh well, I guess that's life. Good Luck, Sarry Ri!

Ohhh, SSAAARRRRRYYYY

some people just never get to see Fuji....