Razorcake Issue #19

David’s guitar and unplugged it. He was awhirlwind of old, drunk, party-hard motherfucker.It was fun. The show ended fairlyearly. (All the punk shows in Japan are likethat. They start around 7:00 P.M. and areover usually by 10:00 P.M., another advantageof all bands using the same equipment.)So we decided to drive overnight to Tokyoto avoid the snow and to take advantage ofthe tolls being free after midnight. We allcrammed into one tiny van and drove sixDAY SEVENWe got up really early for a long,cramped ride to Sendai. By now we’dbecome pretty close friends with theMinority Blues Band, having spent so manyhours in such a small space together. Wehung out and talked in broken English aboutmusic and movies and our jobs and ourlives. We tried to encourage them to come tothe US so we can tour with them and hangout some more. As we pulled into town, weEVERYONE PARTYINGIN TOKUSHIMABEN AND SPALDINGOF THEMINORITY BLUES BANDhours into the cold night, and finally pulledinto a friend’s house in Yokohama (just outsideof Tokyo). We arrived to the bizarrescene of six or seven Japanese punk rockershanging out, drinking and partying at six inthe morning, rocking out to The VillagePeople. For real. Confused, I fell into a deepsleep.DAY SIXWe slept in really late and took oursweet time to nearby Tokyo, where weloaded into the club, Red Cloth, and did aquick soundcheck. We met back up withKaori, who made some yummy pasta andgarlic bread for everyone. After the meal wechecked out the incredible city of Tokyo. Itwas amazing, like it was right out of BladeRunner. Giant TV screens ten stories high,street vendors, cool shops, and more peoplethan I’ve ever seen in one place in my life.New York, San Francisco, Chicago… theseplaces have nothing on Tokyo in terms ofsheer urban-ness. It was truly, truly awesome.We checked out an incredibly hugerecord store, one of a chain called DiskUnion. It had genres arranged by floors, likea floor of punk and a floor of heavy metal. Iscored some old Balzac records. They toldme that Japanese punks don’t really likeBalzac, and it’s mostly younger kids whoare into them. I guess they’re like the AFI ofJapan. I still can’t help but love their shamelessMisfits worship. We headed back to theclub just in time to catch the Happening, theUrchin, and Minority Blues Band. The clubwas really cool, and the tightly packedcrowd went totally crazy. We hung out for abit after the show. While Lance did afanzine interview, the rest of us took off forYoichi’s house, where we had some tofu andrice and drifted off to sleep.stopped at a little restaurant for some udonnoodles. I was starting to get more used tothe food, but it was still pretty weird. One ofthe coolest things about Japan is the weirdassnames they come up with for food.Chocolate candy called “asse,” a sportsdrink called “pocari sweat,” a juicy drinkcalled “fruits party.” We enjoyed our noodlesand headed over to the club, Birdland. Ithad obviously been a mainstay of punk rockin Sendai for many years, as I saw stickersand graffiti from lots of American punkbands, like Dillinger Four, Sean Na Na, theExploder, and Braid, to name a few. It was acool little club that reminded me of the nowdefunctBurnt Ramen in Richmond,California. The graffiti there was awesome,my favorite slogan being, “Make mention ofvegan.” After a quick soundcheck, we ranacross the street to the shopping arcade,where we bought some souvenirs andChristmas gifts for our friends back home.In the shopping arcade we saw a “No War inIraq” demonstration march by, escorted bythe police. It got me thinking: I hadn’t seenmore than two cops the whole time I’d beenin Japan, and neither of them had guns. Andstrangely, I felt much safer than I wouldhave felt in America. I guess that’s what it’slike when you don’t live in a police statewith a terror alert of orange. America is stupid.Back at the show we watched Starter,Deeds Not Words, and Minority BluesBand. The crowd was crazy that night, witha raging pit and some stagedivers. A kidknocked the microphone into Lance’s faceand chipped his tooth. Fucking punk rock!After the show we drove out to the crash padand watched a Who video as we fell asleep.DAY EIGHTThe drive back down to Yokohama flewby, thanks to finally having some good luckwith traffic, and once we pulled into townwe went to a restaurant to treat our gracioustour hosts, Yoichi, Spalding, Yumi, andGeorgie to a nice dinner complete with acouple of bottles of wine. With a toast of“Kampai!” (Japanese for “Cheers!”) weresolved to try to tour together again soon,wherever in the world it might be. After dinnerwe moseyed over to the club, 24 West,for soundcheck. The vibe in the air was reallygreat; it was the last night of tour andeveryone was looking forward to celebrating.After a very relaxed soundcheck, weheaded out for a little last-minute recordshopping before the show. On the way backI met the sole homeless person saw in Japan.I gave him a hundred yen and we made itback just in time to catch Raisemind, ThreeMinute Movie, Zerofast, and Minority BluesBand. The show was a triumphant end to afantastic tour, and the crowd reacted accordingly.The show, and the tour, was a totalsuccess! As soon as the last band finished, itwas time to party! The club cleared off thestage and set up some tables on the dancefloor. We sat down and they brought a littlekeg of beer to each table, with a little standto hold it on and a spout built into the side.We drank and drank. Meanwhile, theybrought us all kinds of food. It was great.We hung out and took pictures and had areally great time celebrating the end of agreat tour. We said goodbye to our newfriends in Minority Blues Band and headedhome to Yoichi’s to pass out.DAY NINEOur adventure was over and it was finallytime to head back home. After one lastquick visit to the awesomest toy store I’veever been to, we jumped on a train for theairport. The journey home was prettyuneventful, with the exception of Davidthrowing up in line for customs, after eatingwhat was apparently not a vegan airlinemeal. He had to hold the puke in his mouthuntil one of us noticed and handed him a bagto spit it into. A few hours later, we wereback in the land of fat people, SUVs, andToby Keith. It was the coolest trip I’ve everbeen on. Thanks a million to all the greatpeople I met in Japan, especially the kids inMinority Blues Band and Yoichifrom Snuffy Smile.80