Masako and I made the trek to Harajuku tonight for The Shins concert. It took a bit of arm twisting but I think the concept of not having to watch the musicians on a JumboTron intrigued her. The Shins played an excellent set, nicely mixing songs from both studio albums and a few from older EP's I hadn't heard before. The bass player (Dave Hernandez) wore a cast on his right arm, exposing only the ends of his fingers just allowing him to play. Marty Crandall (keyboards) said something about bones sticking out of the flesh, but I think that was just some comic relief, which he seemed to be in-charge of. That reminds me, can you actually buy nipple tape?

And they finished with one of my favourites, One By One All Day from Oh Inverted World, sporting pig, frog, and monkey masks. Apologies for the horrible photo. A phone-cam pic is all I could get away with.

What happens when you lose track of nine-billion dollars due to fraud, kickbacks, and overall misappropriation? Why you're awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom of course. Wow, what a golden age this is for dirty American politicians and government officials. Accountability? Nawh, who needs it.

Jeremy's post today reminded me that this book's been untouched on my shelf for too long. When I first learned about Kuhaku I knew if I didn't order it then it would've been forgotten shortly after. I bought the book and it seems to have been ignored on the shelf anyhow. Having only skimmed it I would still recommend this book for anyone who appreciates quality crafted and beautifully designed books, and of course an interest in Japan helps. Serious thought went into creating this book which is evident from the Chin Music Press website. Details like the book's cover and even chapter headers are documented in great detail and one could learn a lot about the publishing process from their weblog. And can't forget the cool illustrations by Kozyndan created from panoramic photos by art director Craig Mod (who was also kind enough to mail me a copy of the book from Japan).

Without checking the sign I scrambled down the steps at Shimo-Kitazawa station yesterday and jumped on the first train. Little did I know I had caught the mythical Rapid Express. I heard the rumors, and thought they were just that --- an urban legend. It couldn't be true, a train that didn't make a single stop between Shimo-Kitazawa and Shin-Yurigaoka.

In one foul swoop all wrongs committed by Odakyu in the past; every late, crowded, stinky body odor heated train had now been forgiven. Every train that shut its door on my foot, bag and miscellaneous body part had been forgotten.

I can't remember who I got it from, but once in a while a Prodigy track comes up in shuffle mode. When this happens I always seem to be busy doing something or just too cold to pull off my gloves and check the track and play the album in full. I was never a big Prodigy fan, hearing the same songs repeated nightly working at a nightclub didn't help as did my resentment of music that replaced traditional instruments with software.

From what I recall this album seems a lot heavier than their other work, yet just as angry. Most reviews give Outnumbered poor marks for not living up to prior albums, but for someone who hasn't followed their career I'd say it's not bad. Spitfire and Girls (Feat. the Ping Pong Bitches) stick out, as for the rest I find myself tiring quickly and skipping though the tracks.

After a lot of humming and hawing I decided on the talby handset. I had my eye on the Sony Ericsson W21S but every shop we went to had no stock of the colour I wanted, so I thought I'd take a chance on the talby. I've gotten accustom to the Sony Ericsson layout and especially the jog dial, so this phone will take time. I rarely used any of the special functions on my last phone, features that just add bulk and weight, so this time I went simple. A nice clean design, though I do worry about its durability, and working through the Japanese menus should be um... fun.

I'm using the same number and mobile email address as before but I've lost all my contacts, so a call or email with your info would be super.

I forgot to mention this earlier but Masako and two other sets of sweaty palms are currently awaiting a call from Fuji TV studios where they're taping an episode of Millionaire (the Japanese variant of the famous British game show "Who want�s to be a Millionaire?"). Her friend was picked to audition for the show, passed and picked Masako as one of her three lifelines, or brains as their called in Japan. I've never seen this show so I really don't know what to expect.

Masako's friend Hiroko was picked for the show because of her family�s current situation as well. Her husband, and a friend of mine, is from the Maldives and while his family survived the Tsunami they also lost everything. They're planning on going back to help rebuild their town in the next few months, so the added funds would really help. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Last night reaching for a jug of mugi-cha on the kitchen table my hand slipped tipping the jug and soaking both Masako's Newsweek magazine and my cell phone. It worked fine last night but this morning its alarm failed to wake me up and no amount of battery charging will turn it on. Doh. Anyone trying to get a hold of me on the mobile before I get a chance to replace it this evening will encounter problems.

We spent a brisk Saturday afternoon at Enoshima watching hawks circle and dive bomb people eating lunch on the beach steps. We were very careful, making sure not expose any food to the sky and still one of the huge birds swooped down going for what I guess was Frankie's milk box. No crowds, no vendors, and no speakers blasting Coca-cola jingles repeated ad nauseam. The Shibuya crowd can have Enoshima for their few weeks in the summer, and we'll take it the rest of the year. Just wish they'd leave it a bit cleaner.

There's nothing quite like the pain of having bud headphones violently yanked from your ears. And even though 100% of the time it's 100% my doing, the first reaction always seems to be retaliation in the form of tracking down this joker who ripped my headphones out and slugging him/her in the back of the neck. That's about when I pick my iPod up off the train floor and scramble out before the doors close.

I caught a nasty stomach bug the other day and have been unable to even think about food until this morning. A single slice of toast filled me right up. My prescribed capsule pills cover almost every possible colour combination, and of course getting ill in Japan also means lots of room temperature Pocari Sweat and yucky tasting powder medicine. Joy.

While in Canada I picked up a pair of slippers to use at my mother's house. She keeps a notoriously cold home, and with the hardwood flooring it seemed like a wise purchase. I've bought slippers before but usually after a few weeks the novelty wears off and they end up forgotten and abandoned under the bed. I had planned on leaving the slippers there for our next visit, but one thing led to another and I ended up dragging them back to Tokyo and have been wearing them everyday since. What's next? Newspaper reading? A pipe? A dog to possibly fetch those slippers and newspaper? Only time will tell.

If you have yet to see Wes Anderson's latest The Life Aquatic run, don't walk to your local theater. Normally I wouldn't recommend this type of film for everyone, but for the sake of clarity I will recommend this film for everyone. A true original, The The Life Aquatic takes more risks than The Royal Tenenbaums as the last few scenes of the film could have easily been animated and none in the audience would have batted an eye, anything at that point was expected.

I'm a huge fan of Anderson's brand of humor, but this is not a laugh-out-loud comedy, as some in our theater may have believed (this was in Canada). For the first 45 minutes a couple behind us roared with laughter every time Bill Murray opened his mouth, expecting every syllable to be just that funny. Despite the ultra-high price of going to the theater in Japan, we both longed for a place where people kept their stupid comments and habits of mimicking lines at home, and you can also buy beer at Japanese theaters which is always a plus in my book. The soundtrack isn't half bad either. David Bowie, Devo, The Stoogies, four acoustic Bowie covers in Portuguese, and a couple cool songs by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh (do we detect a pattern here?).

And if you liked those retro Zissou branded Adidas featured in the movie you may be in luck, red cap and Speedo complete with the updated triple-Z Zissou logo optional, and rather questionable.

Emma T. Peel wanted me to know that my vi@g*r@ had been shipped along with it's tracking number. How nice, especially seeing I didn't order any in the first place. Suckers.

And as an added bonus she threw in a few famous quotes for me, possibly to memorize. Maybe for some sort of test later on, I don't know.

The inaugural issue of JPG Magazine is now available hot off the presses. I'm familiar with a few of the featured photographers in this issue, Redrick deLeon, Tracey Hoyng, Sam Javanrouh, Rion Nakaya, Brian Utley and looking forward to discovering the others.

I chose the International Economy 'Slow Boat' shipping option so I'll be holding my copy in 3-4 weeks. It's not cheap at $19, but the numbers convinced me. 52 pages, 6 inches wide, 9 inches tall, 20-pound white interior paper, 100-pound white exterior paper, and 0 ads.

Luis hit the nail on the head, and wrote exactly what I was thinking when he described the new Mac Mini as a bento box (Japanese lunch box). Mmmm, cold rice.

Is it just me or is Apple's slogan for the iPod shuffle "Enjoy Uncertainty" a little lacking, and a bit unappealing? In fact, I think McDonalds already owns that one. Of course, this shows one of Apple's greatest strengths, marketing. Who else could turn a products greatest flaw into the central selling point.

This reminds me of the Simpsons episode when Homer is at a car dealership and the hood of a car is riddled with bullets from the mobsters across the street trying to kill him. The dealer turns to Homer and says the marks are “speed holes. They make the car go faster."

Since returning from our holiday in Canada I've built up a fairly large backlog of photos, of which I will try to post one a day, for a while. I find this more interesting than dumping everything in an album labeled "My Holiday", and it allows me to be a bit more selective as well.

All photos were taken with my FM3A, a 28mm f/2.8 lens and Fuji Provia 100F and 400F. I've also let a few trickle in from my new Canon P rangefinder, but more on that later.

It's been a while since I last visited Ryan Flynn's site lighttight and after a few clicks I immediately had to add him to my links page. I'm not sure about Ryan's photography background, or even the equipment he's using, as his info page is pretty slim, but I expect to see his name in a magazine pretty soon if it hasn't yet already. Just check out some of his portraits and see for yourself.

Mooncruise Magazine is another favourite as of late. The mixture of photography and music coexist perfectly side by side. Webites with music usually bug me to no end, but you'll want to pause the iTunes when browsing the ten mooncruise issues. Nudes, architecture, abstract, it's all there.

A visit to Shibuya's Tower Records before the holiday helped me decide on Stephen Shore's Uncommon Places: The Complete Works as my next photobook purchase. From Amazon's product description, Tower records seems to be a great place to check out photography, design and other graphic books, though I'd have to be slightly mad to pay their prices.

And as always featured.nu provides a steady diet of fresh photography links from around the world well worth your time.

What better way to spend a beautiful sunny day than at an indoor aquarium. Well I guess we could have gone bowling...

Frankie was really able to appreciate the aquarium exhibits this time. She bounced on my knee and clapped through the entire dolphin show, though I could have done without the whole "look, it thinks it's people!" aspect of the show. It may not be the most authentic wildlife experience for her, but until she can take the Zodiac ride out whale watching in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, this will have to do.

I just had what might very well have been the best cup (actually 3) of coffee I've ever had. No joke. I bought a 3 cup Bialetti Moka Express pot and a tin of Illy espresso coffee today and am in awe of how damn good it was. When the water started perking through the bed of grinds and bubbling into the top of the pot I took a deep breath and bit my lip in anticipation. Well worth the short wait.

I've been wanting to buy an espresso machine for some time now but our kitchen badly lacks the required counter real estate for even the smallest machine, so a moka express seemed to be the next best thing for espresso-like coffee at home. Looks pretty cool on the shelf too, puts my coffee press to shame in terms of style that's for sure. If you like thick strong coffee but don't want to invest in a proper espresso machine the moka express (stovetop espresso) is defiantly the way to go.

If I told you that I recently dreamt about people dressed up in monkey suits terrorizing stereotypical Parisians, frighteningly similar to the Bloodhound Gang's video for The Bad Touch, would you think any worse of me? Oh really. Is that right? Well then, nevermind. I wonder what's on the discovery channel.

We spent this evening unpacking from our holiday in Victoria. The thing is, we arrived in Tokyo three days ago, so I guess Air Canada decided our luggage would have wanted to spend a few more days in Vancouver. That was real nice of them. My New Year's resolution: When traveling, pack everything in carry-on bags.

For those traveling back to Tokyo with small children on a ten plus hour flight, I totally recommend booking a hotel at Narita and making the last leg of your journey on a good nights sleep and buffet breakfast.