Monthly Archives: April 2013
Sakura Tei: A Crash Course in Okonomiyaki
by joostay
Messy eaters rejoice! Traditional Japanese pancakes served up with a modern twist… OK, hands up who likes okonomiyaki. If you live in Japan you should have your hand up right now. (But maybe not if you are alone in your room reading this article on the internet and to raise your hand would seem rather embarrassing. If that’s the case, I’ll forgive you this one time.) For those of you who don’t know, okonomiyaki is a Japanese savoury pancake containing […]
Categories: Art Music & Culture, Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, backpacking, cuisine, culture, food, guidebook, harajuku, hiroshima, japan, japanese, okonomiyaki, osaka, pancakes, south east asia, tokyo, travel
Re:animation: Japanese nerds have more fun
by joostay
What do you get when you cross ‘Otaku’ (basically meaning geek) and Rave (basically meaning rave)? Answer: Geek Rave. And it’s a hell of a lot of fun. Otaku (おたく/オタク) is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests. I guess it basically means nerd: the equivalent of being branded a ‘Trekkie’ or fanboy in the West. Do otakus know that they are geeks? Probably. Do they give a shit? Hell no. They are there to have […]
Categories: Art Music & Culture, Bizarre/Unique, Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: anime, asia, bizarre, cosplay, culture, dance, fashion, geek, goth, graffiti, harajuku, japan, lolita, manga, nakano, nerd, ottaku, punk, rave, south east asia, street, surreal, tokyo, weird
Never a dull moment…
by joostay
April is a time of change in Japan. It’s the month that marks the start of the new school year, with many people changing jobs and others leaving the country for good. It’s been a very busy period for me: new schools, new responsibilities and new friends. But in between teaching, writing and drawing I’ve also managed to pack in so much stuff over the last few weeks in Tokyo.
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: art, asia, backpacking, bar, Chim↑Pom, culture, exhibition, fashion, food, gaijin, harajuku, hello kitty, inaka, japan, kindergarten, louis vuitton, omotesando, saitama, shimokitazawa, south east asia, street, surreal, Taro Okamoto, teaching, tokyo, travel, urban, weird
The secret’s out: ¥30 beers in Tokyo
by joostay
¥30 beers in Tokyo? Yup, they exist. 114 beers later and we’re alive to tell the tale… Whether you’re new to Japan, or are simply blind drunk in the convenience store at 3am and can’t see what you’re buying, you’ve probably had happoshu (発泡酒). Basically classed as a “low-malt beer-like beverage”, the quality of happoshu can vary from ‘just about drinkable’ to ‘piss in a can’. Japanese tax laws state that beers that contain over 67% malt are taxed in […]
Categories: Art Music & Culture, Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, bar, beer, booze, culture, drunk, food, gaijin, hangover, happoshu, japan, restaurant, south east asia, street, tokyo, travel, urban
CAMBODIA
by joostay
Some photos from my time in Cambodia, including a short article on Happy Pizzas for Lonely Planet magazine. The happier side of Phnom Penh In the 1990s, Cambodia was a bad boy’s playground. Cheap drugs and even cheaper sex meant that the whole country was an ideal place for deviants to escape the humdrumness of the West; you could even blow up a cow with a grenade launcher if you were that way inclined… Nowadays, the deviant element is in decline – you’re more […]
Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: angkor wat, asia, backpacking, cambodia, culture, food, guidebook, phnom penh, siem reap, south east asia, travel
VIETNAM
by joostay
Over the last ten years I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited a good few countries around the world. As such, I thought it’d maybe be nice to collect together a few of the shots I have taken along the way. I’m not going to provide any narrative on these posts. These photos hold memories for me. But I hope they give a flavour of some of the places I’ve visited. First up: Vietnam.
Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, food, hanoi, ho chi minh city, pho, south east asia, travel, vietnam
Unco: The Unwanted Shit
by joostay
Hello children. Once upon a time there was a little crap called Unco that came out of a dog’s ass. He was happy until his owner ran away. All alone, he tried to make some new friends. He tried to make friends with a mouse but the mouse ran away shouting “You stink!” He tried to make friends with a snake but the snake slithered away shouting “You stink!” He tried to make friends with a bunch of rabbits but […]
Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: art, asia, bizarre, culture, drawing, english, japan, kindergarten, shit, surreal, teaching, tokyo, unco, weird
NOFX in Tokyo: So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes…
by joostay
Im 31. Wow. That sounds weird when I write it down. I first got into NOFX when i heard White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean way back in 1997. Since then I’ve seen them X number of times in five different countries, always jumping about, always having a laugh. Tonight i saw them again in Tokyo, and well, something had changed. It was average. The same old songs. The same old jokes. This is a band that doesn’t have […]
Categories: Art Music & Culture • Tags: art, culture, harajuku, japan, nofx, pop punk, punk, punk rock, queers, screeching weasel, street, tokyo, urban
IKIMASHO! 