Nooka had a great eyewear launch party at Blinc in Aoyama icchome. Got to hang out with some great people, sip champagne and meet one of my design idols, Simone Legno of Tokidoki!

I checked out some very cool presentations at the Spanish Embassy during design week 2010. Video coming soon! The presentations were in Spanish and Japanese. I guess I remember a lot more Spanish that I realized!

 

A pic from my presentation last night. More pics and a video of my entire presentation to come soon!

There are some days you feel like going out and you don’t know why. I haven’t even been thinking about Halloween so much lately, but I ran into a friend from high school in Jamaica (in Shibuya of all places) a few Fridays ago and he invited me to an early Halloween party. If you had a costume you got in free. What you see below was my costume; a scarf. Needless to say, they weren’t trying to let me in, but a DJ took a liking to me and put me on a guest list. Birdimusprime in Japan! I hung out with an interesting crew and took some pics of the Party, which was held at the Trump Room. Decent music, crazy costumes and an early preview of the madness to come for Tokyo Halloween 2010. What’s going to happen this year? We’ll see. Check My Jamaican in Japan TV videos for the video I shot last year and read my 2009 Tokyo Halloween article. I think this year is going to be BANANAS.

A pirate scarf isn’t necessarily the ultimate costume to use to try and get into a party for free, but somehow, I winged it. Ladies, meet Captain Black Sparrow, but then again, i’d be number two, there was already a Captain Black Sparrow in attendance : p

Captain Black Sparrow got the most attention, with the Ringling brother’s fellow coming in at a close number two. With nothing but a scarf, I think I just scared people for most of the night.

Once you’ve lived in Japan for a while, the words “going out anywhere” and “convenience store” become synonymous. There isn’t a night you will party without making pit stops and these places, called “conbinis” for drinks. As tipsy as most of these guys already appeared, we made the stop anyway, running into a few clowns… literally.

Inside the party there was a sort of retro circus theme, I guess this explained why a lot of people were dressed like clowns or circus acts. Cool vibe, the place was chock full of people.

Four floors with a roatation of DJs. The top floor was the best, white a white decor and a bloody red theme.

She wasn’t in costume, but like a lot of people during Halloween, this girl was letting it loose on a pole. On a regular table. Not sure what that has to do with Barnum and Bailey’s circus. The Amazing pole dancing lady? : p

 

I look forward to seeing what can happen this Halloween 2010!

Hakone is about two hours by bus from Tokyo. Beautiful scenery, green mountains and fresh air. It felt like being back home. Hakone park is quite famous, with many sculptures and statues from artists around the world and an entire building filled with works by Picasso. These are some pics all shot with my Iphone 3g.

Ticket in hand ready to check the vibes.

 

I scratch off a major life goal by climbing one of the world’s most famous mountains, Fuji.
Note: This video wasn’t so easy to make. I almost passed out on the way up, struggled with dehydration and a bum knee, but fought through it and got enough shots to make an episode. Enjoy what I was able to put together!!

Please checkout my latest article written for Untemplater Online, entitled, triumph over tragedy!

Click the picture to read the article. Please comment! Thanks

Pause Talk is a monthly meeting where Tokyo Creatives meetup and chat about whatever comes to mind. Moderated by founder Jean Snow, the conversation this time went from Tokyo Design week to the complicity of Japanese government in human trafficking. Photos courtesy of Michael Holmes.

A few very interesting people were there including a Radio personality,an  illustrator, a few graphic designers, a tech blogger, the CEO of a game company and a young lady who does voice over work. Truly an eclectic crowd.

Michael Holmes. normally does a series of excellent portraits of those who attend. Check out a few below.

This is me chatting with the head of an NGO about ways to get Japan to change its policies against foreigners. Meaning, its really me chatting to the head of an NGO about something that will never happen. But fun!

I like the space. The first time I went it was more crowded. But they have decent 500yen beers and cool people to collect cards from.

These two people are quite interesting. On the left is a tech-savvy young man who hails from my home country of Jamaica trying to do really big things here in Japan, and the lady on the right is a charming writer for the Japan times. Who says creative people aren’t buckets of fun?  : p 

Pause Talk was pretty sweet. I’m looking forward to attending and hopefully presenting at Pecha Kucha 20×20, another event I found out about through Jean Snow.

A friend of mine was visiting town and she told me to check out this NGO festival. Took some cool pics, drank Palestinian beer and ate Indian curry. Also saw a lot of the passionate people behind these organizations, a weird change from the generally stoic populace i’ve become accustomed to.

Got me a cute little yellow birdie from a Phillipines outreach group that my friend works for.

Plaid bears are excellent marketing campaign tools.

My friend shopping for some sort of shoe strap ankle accessory.

My birdie up close and a very cute attendee.

Not sure if Dung-based paper will be a trend that catches on.

On a lazy sunday afternoon, I checked out a rooftop party in the trendy upscale district of Aoyama. Didn’t stay very long, but here are some pics…

Goodbye Tokyo summer.

Some nice views of the city from up here.