Funny Japanese T-shirts at T-Shitsu

June 24, 2010

After several years of wearing the same mouldering clothes (which no doubt went out of fashion in the late nineties) I’m pleased to have found a site, T-shitsu, which has lots of funny Japanese/English T-shirts. Now I can get some new clothes to sweat in this summer!

This shirt, with the Gordon’s Gin logo changed to “Gaikoku-jin” (foreigner), is a particular fave, for obvious reasons.

There’s also a topical T-shirt, featuring the slogan “Yes we Kan” (in reference to the new Japanese Prime Minister). Snap it up fast- chances are, there’ll be a new bloke in office in a few months!

Mainly aimed a foreigners in Japan (or elsewhere), the T-Shitsu T-shirts are all cheap, at 2500yen or less, and the site’s all in English.
The shirts all seem to play on amusing similarities between Japanese and English words.

There’s one with the sitcom alien, “ALF”, as an A.L.T complete with mortar board, and another featuring a gormless Chewbacca with the phrase “Cho-Baka” （complete idiot.)

Poor Chewy. He’s not as scholarly as ALF, but I’ve often thought of him as merely a “medium-sized idiot”, as his name means just that in Ｊapanese. (There are loads of Japanese words in Star Wars, come to think of it. Obi-Wan means something like “Belt Bowl”, and there is a Yoda stadion somewhere in the outskirts of Tokyo.)

Speaking of Yoda-like wisdom, apparently there’s a higher goal to T-Shitsu, beyond selling amusing clothes.

This site is not just about T-shirts.
Its about sparking conversations, merging cultures, breaking down barriers and generally enhancing our fun-loving foreign community in this awesome country.
If our merchandise spreads further then these Japanese shores, so be it.
Put plainly, for one person to say, ‘Woah… where did you get that T-shirt?!’ makes us (and you) happy. Simple.

Uniting the world through goofy puns. I’m all for that!
Also, anything that encourages ladies to talk to me is good.

Check out more T-shirts here

4 Comments | Cool, Crazy, Fun, Japan, Shopping | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Roaf

Beat Cafe

May 31, 2010

Beat Cafe is one of the best-known bars in Shibuya, thanks to it’s handy location at the end of the busy Center-Gai shopping street. It’s one of my fave hang-outs in the area, especially on week-nights, thanks its laid-back vibe, with dimmed lights, comfy chairs, friendly regulars, and tons of rock and pop music from the last 50 years. Usually manning the bar is the amiable Kato man, who is happy to chat until the early hours.
They’re always showing 80s VH1 videos on the big TV, while blasting out different music on the stereo, creating such illusions as Duran Duran perforing heavy metal. Occasionally, stray musicians from visiting bands pass through, leaving their scrawls on the walls.
Recently the Beat Cafe guys have also opened Echo, a larger room for band and DJ events, on the second floor of the same building. It’s decadently decorated like a seedy den from a 70′s film like Clockwork Orange or Jubilee. There’s more room for dancing in Echo, and it’s usually worth checking out depending on the night (although it could be something like German reggae night or a Peruvian polka party.) You can flitter between the two bars, with Beat Cafe making an excellent chill-out room.

Beat Cafe
33-13-3, Udagawa-Cho, Shibuya
Tel: 090-9334-4342
URL: Beat Cafe
Open from 7pm-5am daily.

So, to get there, simply come out of the Hachiko exit of Shibuya station, cross the famous crossing (if you can squeeze past the several thousand trendy western photographers, angling their cameras so as not to get other trendy western photographers in their shots) walk down Center Gai (the shopping narrow street) and its near the end, on the left, on the third floor. Look for the sign that looks like an early 80′s two-tone album cover.

6 Comments | Alcohol, Bar Reviews, Cool, drinking, Fun, Japan, Tokyo | Permalink
Posted by Roaf

St Patrick’s Day in Matsue

March 24, 2010

What is supposedly Japan’s second largest annual St Patrick’s Day celebration (after the one in Omotesando, Tokyo) took place last week in Matsue.
Matsue, in Shimane prefecture, is rather remote, and quite an unusual location for an Irish festival. Many of the festivities are centered around an Irish pub that has the distinction of only being open one day every year!
It sounds like a potentially weird and entertaining event, and Andrew Hill was there to see it first hand:

I’ve constantly heard it billed as the second largest St. Paddy’s festival in Japan, next to Tokyo. In reality I think it’s probably the biggest outside of the greater Tokyo Metropolitan area. Fun times though, I was on TV screaming about the holiday. Matsue is obsessed with the Irish because (only in Japan) famed writer Lafcadio Hearn lived in the city for several months back in the late 19th century.

The Irish pub they open twice a year is neat, but nothing great. There’s a museum in Matsue inside what was once a large bank. Downstairs in the vaults, they hold special exhibits, and during the St. Paddy’s weekend, they convert the largest vault into a bar, and bring in kegs of guiness and round up an Irish music band, consisting of a few local expats and several Japanese. They sounded pretty good.

All in all, fun, but nothing special really. Next year the lead foreign musicians are leaving Japan, so the fate of the band is up in the air. Probably better staying in Tokyo to celebrate the holiday.

It looks like a cute little local festival families- not ideal for a mammoth all-night drinking bender, but good fun nonetheless! here are some of Andrew’s snaps:

Leave a Comment » | Alcohol, Cool, Crazy, drinking, Festivals, Fun, Japan, Weird | Permalink
Posted by Roaf

Jackson Five Bar

March 15, 2010

The other day I stumbled upon a Jackson Five-themed bar in Nakano, Tokyo. Groovy!

Perhaps the bar was named to commemorate the famous quintet’s epic 1979 concert in nearby Nakano Sun Plaza.
Unfortunately, the proprietors don’t stick too rigidly to the concept, as you can see from the sign: “we play trance, reggae, and hip-hop”. I don’t remember hearing any trance anthems by the Jackson Five!
However, the drinks are all four hundred yen during happy hour (from 6-9pm) which is fantastically cheap, and they’ve got a dartboard, so who’s complaining.

Jackson Five Bar:
東京都中野区中野5-67-12 ＳＫビル　Ｂ１Ｆ
Tel:03-3387-0230
More info (in Japanese) with a map: Jackson Five Bar

By coincidence, this week I also discovered Japan’s very own domestic answer to the Jackson Five, called “Finger 5″, who were great. Fronted by a pint-sized, bespectacled boy (who looks like a girl), and accompanied by his younger sister (who looks like a boy), and backed up by their three gangling teenage brothers, Okinawa’s Finger 5 made catchy bubblegum pop in the early seventies and had several smash hit singles (and even made four movies!) until an unsuccessful bid to crack America, combined with the inevitable onset of puberty and broken voices, put an end to their short-lived stardom.
Disappointingly, they all went on to lead normal lives, and didn’t become eccentric recluses, with pet monkeys and merry-go-rounds in their back gardens.
Check ‘em out in action:

2 Comments | Alcohol, Bar Reviews, Cheap, Cool, Crazy, drinking, Fun, Japan, Music, Tokyo, Weird | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Roaf

The Bourbon House

March 15, 2010

Here’s a recommendation from Andrew Hill. It’s a bar called “The Bourbon House” in Nishi-Kawaguchi. Sounds ace!
Cheers, Andrew.

This bar isn’t particularly crazy, but it is particularly awesome, especially if you like whiskey. On the outskirts of Tokyo, there’s a small suburb called Nishi-Kawaguchi. Not far from the station, there’s a bar called the Bourbon House. I visited during my first ever trip to Tokyo back in 07. The owner was friendly and the inside had the feel of an American western saloon, complete with six-shooters and confederate flag. The best part though was the selection, kentucky bourbons so rare you can’t even find them in Kentucky anymore. Scratch that, the best part was, after telling the regulars and friendly bartender, Kaz, that bourbon was my favorite drink, I drank for free, for two nights, of delicious 101 proof or higher bourbon that I can’t even find when I go home to the American south and walk the Bourbon trail. It’s not far from Tokyo, and if you need to stay the night, you can probably stay in the bar till the trains open, or stay at JGH, the cheapest hostel in Japan.

Tel: ０４８－２５１－８４４５
URL: Bourbon House

3 Comments | Alcohol, Bar Reviews, Cool, drinking, Fun, Japan | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Roaf

Valentine’s Nonsense

February 13, 2010

Valentine’s Day, like everything else, has been warped by Japan’s cultural filters like a reflection in a funhouse mirror. Here’s what I had to say about it a couple of years ago.

It is traditional for Japanese women to give chocolates to the men they love on Valentine’s Day. Ladies, if you want to make more of an impression this year, why not present your loved one with some of the seasonal chocolate beer I wrote about a couple of weeks ago? Or, even better, with this heart-shaped Domino’s pizza?

Pizza and beer are surefire shortcuts to a man’s heart.

Anyway, I’m about to lapse into a diabetic coma from all the chocolate I’ve been eating, so here, for your listening pleasure, is a tacky 80s song called “Valentine’s Kiss”, sung by women in swimsuits.

And here are some amusingly dated chocolate commercials starring Japanese pop stars.





3 Comments | Cool, Crazy, Festivals, Fun, Japan, Tokyo, Weird | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Roaf

White on Rice

February 2, 2010

I’ve had a chance to see a preview of the new film, “White on Rice”, which will be shown at the Osaka Asian Film Festival in March.
The latest offering by Dave Boyle, the U.S-based Japanophile who directed “Big Dreams Little Tokyo” in 2006, “White on Rice” is another warm and quirky comedy.
The story is about the romantic misadventures of Jimmy, a hapless ex-pat from Japan, reduced to living with his sister in America after a divorce, and trying to date the local ladies. Jimmy has to put up with a disapproving brother-in-law, and having to share a bunkbed with his 10-year old nephew (who is cleverer than he is.) When his brother in law’s beautiful niece moves in to stay, Jimmy is besotted, but has to compete for her affections with his handsome workmate, Tim (played by James Kyson Lee from “Heroes”.)

Hiroshi Watanabe (“Letters from Iwo Jima”) gives a endearingly goofy turn as the dopey Jimmy, and Mio Takada and Nae give solid support as Jimmy’s ill-suffering hosts. Lynn Chen as the object of Jimmy’s desires is way too young and sexy to ever be a possible match for him, (he’s definitely out of his league) but I suppose this makes his misguided pursuit all the more more awkward and funny.

Sitting in Japan, watching an American movie with mostly Japanese dialogue was initially discombobulating, but at least it’s a novel direction to take. Dave Boyle is the only Western film-maker I can think of who seems to have been influenced by Japanese romantic comedies (as opposed to Japanese anime/horror). It’s refreshing to see well-rounded Asian characters in a US film who aren’t the usual stereotypes; and hopefully Boyle’s movie will inspire American Asians to pick up the cameras themselves more often (picking up cameras offscreen rather than onscreen, as it were.)
Overall a fun, charming, and slightly odd film, with a winning performance from Watanabe.

Here’s the movies’s website: http://www.whiteonricethemovie.com

1 Comment | Cool, Fun, Japan, Movies | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Roaf

Japan January Booze Updates

January 14, 2010

While most folks on the planet spend January staggering around, broke and bleary eyed, nursing month-long hangovers and waiting until that distant payday, the party continues in Japan.
Here are some alcohol-related updates from the Land of the Rising Sun this month:

Monday was the annual “Coming of Age Day”, on which all the 20-year-olds dress up nicely and convene in town halls to celebrate their adulthood. 20 is the age when the Japanese can legally start getting pissed-up, and in recent years, alcohol-imbibing has invaded the traditionally more formally proceedings. This year was no exception, and Japan Probe reports of youngsters heckling the tedious speeches by small-town politicians. If they wanted to keep the crowd of excitable, hormonally-charged youths happy, organisers shoud have hired a DJ and a foam machine, rather than a 70-year-old dullard.
A Yokosuka politician revealed himself to be a reactionary old twot by having a hissy-fit of epic proportions while his disinterested audience chatted amongst themselves. Meanwhile, the mac-daddy mayor of Nagoya acted smooth and super-cool, signing autographs for stage invaders.

While we’re on the subject of drunken misbehaviour, Japan Probe also has a hidden camera video of the Japan’s most patient taxi-driver dealing with a sh*tfaced customer trying to kick him in the head. And the bounder didn’t even give him a tip!

Japanese beer drinkers don’t all lack class, though. The Asahi Newspaper reports that refined beer-sippers have doubled the sales of unusual local microbrews between 2003 and 2009. Some of the bizarre concoctions they mention include weird ingredients such as red miso, matcha green powdered tea, and yeast found in honey. Yum yum!

The Sydney Morning Herald have printed list of Tokyo boozers they recommend you check out. There are some fine tips for bars in Shinjuku’s “Piss Alley” and “Golden Gai”, but Shibuya’s Echo and Trump Room are both event spaces rather than bars, so if you go you may very well arrive and either get turned away from a private party, or find yourself attending an obscure event like “Scatman John Night”.

Speaking of events, you can see me spinning some top tunes in a highly inexpert way alongside my friends’ excellent bands Abi-Kyokan and Walkie Talkie in the Cornfield at “The Farm Party” at Gamuso in Asagaya on Sunday the 31st. It’s organized by Tokyo Gig Guide, and you can find all the details there.

Finally, another event (taking place on the 16th at Shibuya’s Rocknococoro bar) has made a nice flyer mocking the anti-naughtiness “Please Do It at Home” signs that can be found on trains in Japan. These repressive signs always make me think “Please pull the stick out of your arse and chillax,” so it’s nice to see them being sent up.

4 Comments | Alcohol, Cool, Crazy, drinking, Fun, Japan, Tokyo, Weird | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Roaf

How to Advertise a Bargain Sale

December 27, 2009

It’s time for all the shops to re-open for their post-Christmas sales. Ouside a clothes shop in Shibuya, I spotted the sign below, with a rather novel sales pitch.

2 Comments | Cheap, Cool, Crazy, Fun, Japan, Tokyo, Weird | Permalink
Posted by Roaf

More Booze News

November 11, 2009

Here are some recent alcohol-related news stories from the land of the rising sun.

First off, Hokkaido’s wacky Abashiri brewery has made blue beer using water from melted icebergs drifting over from Russia, so you can drink away the blues with blue beer.
Okhotsk Blue is the latest addition to a line-up which already includes red beer (made with fruit extracts) and green beer (made with seaweed. Eww!)
Knock back a few pints of Abashiri’s brews, and you’ll be spewing all the colours of the rainbow into the sink the next morning.

But don’t run into trouble with the law while glugging too much Abashiri beer, or you might end up in Abashiri Prison. Yikes!

Meanwhile, Kirin have launched Cola Shock Zero, a sugar-free version of their hit alcoholic cola, Cola Shock. Zero is pretty good (therein lies the “shock”), and it’s certainly a vast improvement for anyone who doesn’t feel like drifting into a diabetic coma as they drink.

News for wine fans- a Japanese version “Sideways”, the 2004 comedy set in the Californian wine country, has been released in Japan.
A rare case of Japan remaking a Hollywood film, rather than the other way round, it’s set in the Napa valley, and stars Rinko Kikuchi of “Babel”.

Metropolis Magazine think it’s “actually a pretty good film”, but Paul Giametti, the star of the original, is none-too-impressed. He turned down a cameo in the film, saying “my career hasn’t hit that low yet. I thought, ‘What am I gonna play – the sushi chef or something?’” He also said of Fumiyo Kohinata, the actor playing his role, “They got a strange, little troll to play me.” Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
I hate 99% of remakes, though (including the Hollywood ones), so I’m inclined to agree that it is likely to be rubbish.

Finally, Suntory Whisky have teamed up with Tower Records for a campaign called No Music, No Whisky.

Presumably this means that “whisky is worthless without the accompaniment of music”. Which is a much better advertisment for Tower Records than it is for Suntory whiskey, if you think about it. Unless they mean “you cannot enjoy music unless you’re drinking whisky,” which sounds less like an advertising campaign and more like something a homeless Scottish alcoholic might bark at passers by.

The TV commericals star well-known Japanese musicians, such as Ryuichi Sakamoto. Here’s one of the more recent ads, featuring a pair of ska musicians.

The phrase “No music, no whisky” is, of course, a spin on Tower’s “No music, no life” slogan (which is a tad insensitive to deaf people, don’t you think?!)

8 Comments | Alcohol, Cool, Crazy, drinking, Fun, Japan, Tokyo, Videos | Permalink
Posted by Roaf

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