Many of you have supported me over the years by watching my videos on youtube, reading these blog posts and helping me to keep active as I blogged about Japan. I’m pleased to announce i’ll be releasing a new novel set in Tokyo, entitled “Naked As The Day”, on December 10th, 2013. Please watch the book trailer below and grab your free chapter at the launch website, www.NakedAsTheDay.com book description after the trailer
When a typical twenty-something year old English teacher in Japan develops severe physical and psychological aversions to his daily routine in a small town, he decides to move to Tokyo with a few months worth of savings in search of more stimulating horizons. As his physical symptoms remain, and now hit with the demands that come with living in one of the world’s most expensive cities, he must take a fast track course in both survival and self-actualization from a host of characters including libidinous transients, self-proclaimed celebrities and kleptomaniac models. Armed with a few skills in the face of an uncertain future, Naked As The Day takes us on an occasionally humorous and poignant journey of human choices and ultimately their consequences.
This is a speech I gave during Tokyo Design Week about what i call “Untitled Design” at Pecha Kucha, an event where creatives express their opinions, ideas and work to a captive audience. It was a great experience, and i’m happy to have done it.
I have a predilection for Craigslist trolling, and I noticed something interesting about Tokyo. Despite it being the world’s most expensive city, people often seem to sell stuff for ridiculously cheap. Why? I’m not sure. Last year I noticed a bunch of Playsation 3’s were being sold online for Ni Man En (about 250 US). But these were usually sold with two to three games. I didn’t own a PS3, but I wanted one, but not just any PS3, I wanted the BEST PS3 DEAL IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. I think I got it. For a mere 20,000 yen (back then about 230 US) I got the following:
As luck would have it, I wanted to get a ps3 mainly to have the joy of playing Street Fighter 4. The next day a person (again, someone who was leaving) gave me and additional four games. So let’s do the math. I got a ps3 (box included), with about six top games (valued at over 30,000 yen), a headset for online play and two controllers. Throw in the additional four games I got for free and you are looking at almost a 1000 US worth of playstation product I received in one day, for a little over 200 bucks.
I also received another whopper of a deal maybe a month later. I think I only bought this on principle. Someone was advertising a Nintendo DSi with TEN GAMES for ichi-man en (100 bucks!) so I met up with the guy and sure enough, got me a Nintendo DSi with 10 games. Each of these games is valued at say, 4000 yen, so we are looking at about 40,000 yen just for the games, and average used cost of 15,000 yen for a Nintendo DSi (which is the more expensive version because of its two cameras, etc). When I asked the guy playfully if he had a drug habit, the guy laughed and said no, he just needed money.
But I received a few of the top games for DS in the mix, including Mario Kart DS, Super Mario DS, Zelda Windwaker, Grand theft Auto, and more. I remember also that when the Ipad 2 was announced there was a flood of Ipad Ones selling on CL for 200 bucks. However, I generally try to avoid any new Apple Product until the third or fourth generation when it has features that actually are worth my time. So anyways, just an interesting note.
In 2009, I took a plunge into the depths of the earths outside a place I formerly called home, Hamamatsu. Ryugashido mountain is the place where these 250 million year old caves lie, and I was happy to go under the earth, dodge bats and see kewl looking stalactites.
Here I go to one of the world’s largest and most mysterious wonders, the Giza Pyramids of Egypt! This was definitely one of the most moving parts of my trip and I am happy to share it with the world.
I had the awesome opportunity to go to Korea a few months back. Here are a few pics from the trip. I shot a short film “Smudge” there, which I c-odirected and produced with the man himself, James William the III.
Me and an awesome mascot! Below are a few more pics of shots I when walking to the Seoul tower in the capital of South Korea 🙂
I hug out with some cool Japanese kids, Ivan & the Blackanese crew today. They are finalists in the Jamaican World Reggae competition! Will be posting pics of the final, let’s see what happens!
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