by joostay
Because what else would you be doing on a Saturday morning?
Categories: Art Music & Culture, Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: abba, abban, asia, bizarre, blog, culture, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, kawasaki, music, photography, tokyo, travel, weird
by joostay
Teddy needs a vacation… to JAPAN! OK, this is quite possibly the most adorable thing I have ever heard of. Unagi Travel is a tour agency based in Tokyo – but instead of dealing with regular customers, they specialise in arranging customised trips for stuffed animals. Basically you send your teddy to Tokyo and they take it round the sights, taking pictures for you and uploading the adventure onto social media such as Instagram and Facebook. The service is popular with those who can’t travel […]
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, backpacking, bizarre, cute, design, fun, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, photography, stuffed toy, teddy, tokyo, tours, travel, vacation, weird
by joostay
Check out my video for the new BENDING WRONGS track, Computer Controlled Hamster. Using never-before-seen archive footage it tells the true story of how during World War 2, Allied forces secretly built a number of Computer Controlled Hamsters (CCH) that were dropped behind enemy lines to help win the war. [Music: BENDING WRONGS // Visuals: IKIMASHO!] soundcloud.com/monty_81
Categories: Art: stuff I've drawn, Bizarre/Unique • Tags: acid, aphex twin, bending wrongs, bizarre, colin montgomery, culture, design, electronica, hamster, history, idm, industrial, justin egli, music, surreal, video, visual art, war, weird, world war 2
by joostay
Anklepants delivers his infection selection for Ikimasho! Ikimasho! cordially invites you to meet Anklepants – the first of many faces of Dr. Reecard Farché, the devious mastermind and shapeshifting convict bred deep in the darkwood of the Australian bush that later absconded to Rise to the Summit of the übergründé. Born in 2008 but producing music in many forms for over a decade beforehand, Anklepants has steadily released over 20 singles, EPs and full-length albums on his own Qwerty Records imprint, with […]
Categories: YOUTUBE SESSIONS • Tags: animatronics, anklepants, art, bizarre, breakcore, culture, design, electronica, film, idm, ikimasho, japan, mechanical, mic, music, robot, sex, star wars, surreal, tokyo, travel, weird
by joostay
LIVING IN JAPAN – AND WHY IT ISN’T AS WEIRD AS PEOPLE THINK (OK, IT IS A BIT WEIRD). Justin Egli. Who’s this guy? I’ll tell you who this guy is. It’s some random guy I met on the subway on my birthday in Tokyo a few years back. A crowd of us had just went to a strip club and I had been given a spray can of “Instant Smelly Shit” as a present. Looking back, it was quite […]
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: arcades, biffo, bizarre, blog, digitiser, final fantasy, games, gaming, ikimasho, japan, japanese, nintendo, surreal, tokyo, weird
by joostay
Bending Wrongs is Colin Montgomery from Bangor in Northern Ireland. I’ve been mates with Monters for over 20 years and he’s always been a talented bastard when it comes to tunes. Check out his latest track, Hellride 3, above. Visuals by IKIMASHO! BENDING WRONGS / Acid / Industrial / Experimental / Noise Contact Colin if you’d like to book him, work with him or say hello. soundcloud.com/monty_81 / colin.montgomery@sky.com / twitter: @Monty_1981
Categories: Art: stuff I've drawn, Bizarre/Unique • Tags: 303, acid, bending wrongs, breakcore, colin montgomery, design, electronica, footwork, fucked up, idm, ikimasho, industrial, japan, music, noise, roland, surreal, tokyo, video, visual, weird
by joostay
Auste-what? Learning about this tiny country from its new Consul General for Northern Ireland. Stories really don’t get any more obscure and fascinating than the one I am about to share with you regarding the tiny micronation of Austenasia – a landlocked country whose border with the UK is merely a line separating a driveway from a footpath in the south London suburb of Carshalton. The country has a flag, a border and a government. It even has an Emperor […]
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: allan wilson, austenasia, bizarre, blogging, country, fitness, ikimasho, independence, japan, jonny blair, justin egli, micronation, story, tokyo, travel, uk, weird, wrythe
by joostay
Delving deep into the soul of a three-year-old
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: art, asia, culture, david lynch, hell, horror, japan, kindergarten, lynch, nin, nine inch nails, surreal, teaching, tokyo, weird
by joostay
“Every space has its own sound, according to its shape and material, and it has already been singing long before you entered it.” A few weeks back I attended the Tokyo Experimental Festival where I saw a performance by vocalist and cross-media artist, Ami Yamasaki. The space was limited to 20 people, the walls covered with thousands of origami feathers to catch and diversify the sounds of the room. Of course, a quiet space is never truly quiet, and so […]
Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Ami Yamasaki, art, blog, culture, ikimasho, installation, japan, justin egli, Ochanomizu, performance, surreal, TEF, till a quiet room sings, tokyo, tokyo experimental festival 2015, Tokyo Wonder Site, voice, weird
by joostay
“It’s a cold January morning in east Tokyo and as soon as I leave Shin-Ochanomizu station I’m cursing myself that I didn’t bring my gloves. Even the dog on the pavement beside me is wearing a coat, though I’m not entirely sure the color suits him. On this particular morning I’m on my way to the nearby Myojin shrine to watch a load of naked men throw buckets of ice water over themselves—It’s moments like this when I wonder what […]
Categories: Tokyo Days • Tags: aqrticle, asia, blog, city, cold, culture, Daikoku Matsuri, festival, ice, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, matsuri, tokyo, tokyo weekender, traditional, weird, writing
by joostay
Going Deeper Underground: Exploring the Tokyo temple with a dark secret What was I doing last Sunday morning I hear you ask? No, I wasn’t writhing about in my bed hungover. Guess again. Church? No, I wasn’t at church either – but I guess you could say I was having a religious experience of sorts, exploring the secret underground tunnel of a temple nestled deep in the Tokyo suburbs. This is a tunnel so secret that not even some of […]
Categories: Art Music & Culture, Tokyo Days • Tags: blog, Denentoshi, Gyokushin Mitsuin, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, religion, religious, shrine, suburbia, suburbs, Tamagawa Daishi, temple, tokyo, unique, unusual, urban, utako-Tamagawa, weird
by joostay
Making friends with EZYPT – and all through the power of bananas. He was dancing. A lot. AND DID A BANANA DANCE I am now converted. EZYPT.NET
Categories: Art Music & Culture, Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: art, blog, dance, electronica, ezypt, ikimasho, japan, japanese, pop, street, techno, tokyo, urban, weird, yokohama
by joostay
Have it your way. As long as it’s a black, soggy mess. So yes, this actually exists. A black cheeseburger featuring a black bun, with black sauce and black cheese. The Kuro Burger (“kuro” means black) is now available at Burger King in Japan. The buns and cheese are made with bamboo charcoal to achieve the dark color and the sauce includes squid ink as an ingredient. But what does it taste like I hear you ask? Well, I don’t have […]
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: black burger, black cheeseburger, blog, burger king, culture, food, ikimasho, japan, japanese, kuro burger, strange, tokyo, weird
by joostay
50 STREET ARTISTS. ONE SOON-TO-BE DEMOLISHED BUILDING IN CENTRAL TOKYO. #BCTION #BCTION runs until Sepember 15. For tickets, click here. (Registration required.) TOKYO STICKER BOMBING
Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: art, bizarre, BUILDING, COOL, culture, graffiti, japan, SPRAY, STREET ART, TAGGING, TAKEOVER, tokyo, urban, weird
by joostay
Have you ever wanted to slide down a giant toilet while wearing a hat that looks like a turd? Well, in Tokyo, now you can. It’s 10am in Tokyo and my friends and I are staring at a picture of a cartoon poo called ‘Britto’. According to the text beside him, “his yellow color is not the result of suntan, but because he is in good health.” This is only the beginning of what will most likely be the strangest few hours of […]
Categories: Art Music & Culture, Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: art, asia, bizarre, blog, exhibition, ikimasho, japan, justin egli, kawaii, kids, miraikan, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, science, shit, surreal, toilet, Toilet!? - Human Waste & Earth's Future, tokyo, tokyo toilet museum, unchi, weird
by joostay
Pain. Sex. Bondage. Blood. Death. Tokyo’s Sadistic Circus cordially invites you to see what you are not supposed to see… 13/14 September 2014. Tokyo, Japan. Ikimasho! Expect to see the sick, twisted, and the macabre. No admittance to pregnant women, people under 20, and those who have heart problems. This is a secret party for fetish adults. Feel free to express yourself in a costume, bondage, or fancy dress. For ticket information click here.
Categories: Bizarre/Unique • Tags: asia, bizarre, blood, bondage, festish, japan, pain, s&m, sadistic circus, sex, tokyo, weird
by joostay
As I clocked this guy walking about Shibuya the other day, I couldn’t help but hum a certain song… Sometimes I step into timeless zone And I lose my way I don’t know where I am Sometimes I feel like I’m in the Milky Way And I lose myself I don’t know who I am I discover whiskers of a cat in a timeless zone And I put them on my face In a moment I become a sweet little cat […]
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: blog, cats, ikimasho, japan, kitty, otaku, shibuya, tokyo, urban, weird
by joostay
Be a bad boy or girl and you’ll be stabbed, burned and cut into little pieces. Okay? “Excuse me. What does chinoike jigoku mean?” I ask one of my Japanese female colleagues at work. She can’t tell me in English so gets out her phone and translates. “Ahhh. It means Blood Pond Hell.” Hmm OK. What about katsu jigoku? “That”s Thirst-Hell, where red-hot iron pills are administered.” Hinokuruma? “A fiery chariot which carries the souls of sinners into hell.” What about Harinoyama? “Hell’s mountain […]
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Kindergarten Life • Tags: asia, backpacking, bizarre, blog, book, buddhism, culture, devil, drawing, evil, hell, japan, japanese, jigoku, kids, kindergarten, surreal, tokyo, weird, Zen
by joostay
Rule of thumb: if it smells like shit it probably tastes like shit. Gari-Gari Kun ice lollies (or popsicles if you don’t know how to speak English) are one of the cheapest things you can buy in a Japanese convenience store. Costing about ¥60, they are a godsend in the summer – with all the usual flavours you’d expect: cola, orange, peach etc. Every once in a while though, the company releases some utterly ridiculous flavours: the latest being a […]
Categories: Bizarre/Unique • Tags: asia, bizarre, flavours, food, gari-gari kun, ice lolly, japan, spaghetti, tokyo, weird
by joostay
OTHER STUFF I’VE DRAWN
Categories: Art: stuff I've drawn • Tags: art, CREATIVE, CREATIVITY, design, illustration, japan, surreal, tokyo, weird
by joostay
What kind of place do you think the Land of Underpants would be? Let’s all travel to the Land of Underpants! I can still hear her wee voice. “This is ghosts… underpants… and stars…” Six words you don’t usually expect to hear in combination, especially from a softly-spoken Japanese woman in her mid-forties on a Thursday afternoon. As we are handed our tickets I’m hit with the sudden urge to ask her to say it again. Say it again, damn […]
Categories: Art Music & Culture • Tags: art, contemporary, fun, ghosts, japan, MOT, museum, stars, surreal, tokyo, underpants, weird
by joostay
Extreme fetish performance troupe Gokiburi Combinato makes sure Tokyo hears its victims scream. Downtown Ginza. A place filled to the brim with designer brands, boutique shopping and well-dressed dogs wearing Prada sunglasses. Not a place usually associated with death, debauchery and sadism. I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff since I came to Tokyo. I’ve partied in an abandoned hospital. Hung out with sex-crazed zombies on a Sunday afternoon. And watched half-naked girls fight robots in the city’s red light district. […]
Categories: Bizarre/Unique • Tags: bizarre, death, fetish, fetish party, Gokiburi Combinato, hell, japan, sadistic circus, sex, surreal, tokyo, weird
by joostay
A superhero called ‘Take a Shit Man’ and little pieces of crap that want to escape… The books I find in my kindergarten keep getting weirder. Have you read… Unco the Unwanted Shit Taking a Shit in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Kindergarten Life • Tags: art, asia, bizarre, book, culture, gaijin, japan, kindergarten, shit, south east asia, surreal, teaching, tokyo, unko, weird
by joostay
Considering becoming a corpse in Japan? Here’s a convenient place to park your body. Dying is pretty low down on most people’s list of priorities. Let’s face it, it’s not much fun and everyone is running around crying and stuff. It’s not a happy occasion. Saying that, it happens to us all – and undertakers will never be out of business. There are graveyards scattered all over Tokyo. I pass one particular one on my way to work some days […]
Categories: Art Music & Culture, Bizarre/Unique, Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, bizarre, burial, corpse, culture, dead, death, festival, funeral, guidebook, inaka, japan, religion, shinto, shrine, south east asia, tokyo, travel, urban, weird
by joostay
“You can’t be more horrific than life itself.” Your last chance to catch the master of the macabre in Tokyo. Described by Margaret Thatcher as “that man who paints those dreadful pictures,” Francis Bacon was one of the most exalted, most disliked artists of the postwar era. His abstract images of psychological and physical brutality still have the power to unsettle today – achieving on canvass what David Lynch achieves on film or what Beckett did on paper. The Tate gave […]
Categories: Art Music & Culture • Tags: art, asia, bizarre, culture, drawing, francis bacon, japan, modern, popes, retrospective, south east asia, surreal, tokyo, weird
by joostay
UNFORCED CREATIVITY #4 UNFORCED CREATIVITY #3 UNFORCED CREATIVITY #2 UNFORCED CREATIVITY #1
Categories: Art: stuff I've drawn • Tags: art, asia, bizarre, culture, drawing, fashion, fetish, graffiti, harajuku, japan, punk rock, shimokitazawa, south east asia, sticker, street, surreal, tokyo, travel, weird
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, Tokyo Days • 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
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: Kindergarten Life, Tokyo Days • 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
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: Kindergarten Life • Tags: art, asia, bizarre, culture, drawing, english, japan, kindergarten, shit, surreal, teaching, tokyo, unco, weird
by joostay
Every night, two storeys underground, giant mechazoid robots are fighting dinosaurs to the bitter death while bikini-clad girls hang from the ceiling. Welcome to Tokyo’s Robot Restaurant. “You do realise this is every little boy’s dream don’t you?!” my mate screams to me in between mouthfuls of beer. As I take a look around the room at the spectacle before me, I have to agree: two T-Rex dinosaurs have just crashed through a barrier and are currently fighting a couple […]
Categories: Bizarre/Unique • Tags: bizarre, culture, fetish, goth, japan, lolita, sex, surreal, tokyo, urban, weird
by joostay
“The pair became known as the Double Riders who managed to put an end to Shocker with what remained of the group forming into Gel-Shocker.” If you want to know what the hell I’m talking about, read on… Being a kid in Japan must be tough. You basically start full-time education while still covered in placenta, and there is no such thing as the tooth fairy. That means you can’t go and buy sweets with the money you have just […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: anime, bizarre, graffiti, japan, kamen rider, kindergarten, manga, surreal, teaching, tokyo, weird
by joostay
Lipstick on men. Forced smiles. False promises. Japan isn’t so different from the rest of the world after all. It seems you can’t walk down the steet in Tokyo these days without being accosted by funny little men wearing ill-fitting suits and gormless smiles. And no, I’m not talking about the pissed salary men you were taking pictures of on the Yamanote line last Friday night: rather the politicians gracing the posters currently splattered all over the city. It’s 2013 […]
Categories: Art Music & Culture, Tokyo Days • Tags: alleyways, culture, elections, japan, political, street, tokyo, urban, weird
by joostay
Once you’ve mastered this guide, you are qualified to take the next step. Taking a shit in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide.
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Kindergarten Life • Tags: fetish, japan, kindergarten, sex, tits, tokyo, weird
by joostay
So, um, yeah… I guess the title says it all. Just when I thought nothing could top my book about women licking door handles, I stumbled across this little doozy: a manual devoted entirely to the male act of self love. And that’s putting it nicel…
Categories: Bizarre/Unique • Tags: bizarre, fetish, japan, masturbation, sex, tokyo, weird
by joostay
???You have Artline. I am Artline!??? How a random encounter with a hyperactive salaryman made me fall in love with Japan all over again. Last Sunday was sunny so I decided to take my sketchbook to Sensoji Temple in Asakusa to draw. At one point a sma…
Categories: Art Music & Culture, Art: stuff I've drawn • Tags: art, drawing, japan, street, surreal, tokyo, urban, weird
by joostay
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Kindergarten Life • Tags: bizarre, japan, kindergarten, tokyo, weird
by joostay
Partying with zombies in central Tokyo on a Sunday afternoon? Be careful, you might go to hell… On 07 March 321, Constantine 1, Rome’s first Christian Emperor, decreed that Sunday should be observed as the Roman day of rest. He would therefore h…
Categories: Art Music & Culture, Bizarre/Unique • Tags: bar, club, drinking, fetish, japan, sex, surreal, tokyo, weird, zombie
by joostay
I do sometimes think that god, or Buddha, or whoever is up there was smoking a shitload of crack when he designed Japan. The same thing could be said for Japanese illustrator, Toshitaka Nabata, who is responsible for giving birth to Kobito Dukan -…
Categories: Bizarre/Unique • Tags: bizarre, japan, kids, kimokawaii, kobito dukan, strange, surreal, tokyo, toy, urban, weird
