Ok, alexrose.net is up and ready for business again. I updated to the latest version of wordpress, tweaked a simple theme to get a clean look, and imported my old content. I’m not 100% happy with how things look but I’m going to make a concerted effort to keep working at it, especially since I have a lot of plans for this summer all lined up.

Speaking of summer - its time for SIFF again already. Do you have your tickets yet? I do - going to see some Johnny To, a little Takashi Miike , and a really old (young?) Jackie Chan amongst others.

Trevor and I have had a busy couple of days in Tokyo - Saturday we did Asakusa, Ueno Park, Akihabara, and Shibuya and finished up at the brown beer fest in Meguro. Sunday we wandered around Shinjuku, Harajuku, Omote-sando, and Yoyogi park and finished up having kieten-sushi at a nice place in Roppongi.

Picture on flickr…

Saturday.

Sunday.

I am back, and this time I brought little brother Trevor with me. No problems so far, customs was a snap, and I even was able to navigate my way to Teman’s place from the airport without his intervention.

At Teman’s suggestion we got in on their N’EX/Suica sale where you get a discounted train ticket from the airport and a Suica card loaded with 1500 yen of credit for traveling the subways - what a great deal and very easy to use.

Had dinner at Teman’s then went to his favorite local bar where they had a DJ playing a great mix of jazz/electronica/dub/funk stuff - impressive given that the bar is literally a single bar that seats maybe 10 people tops.

No pictures yet, just unpacked my camera. I’ll post stuff to flickr as we go just like last time.

My high school chemistry teacher actually showed this wacky movie to us back in 1989 - can’t believe I stumbled over a link to it. Its both educational and hippie-licious!

I awoke this morning to find a picture my friend Teman had sent me, one of him and along with a poor individual stuffed inside a life sized Tarako Kewpie mascot outfit, and knew today was the day….

After squishing out the cod roe goop I have to say I was pretty turned off - this coming from someone who has tried natto (and found they like it). It wasn’t as strong as I thought it was going to be though, reminded me somewhat of tuna noodle casserole or something. Except with seaweed. And bits of cod roe. Too bad I don’t actually care for tuna casserole.