Nagoya at Night

Last night I took some pics of the Christmas lights in Sakae, the main shopping district of Nagoya and where you will find all the good clothes stores.






Ive uplaoded a few here but to save server space ive uploaded the rest to YOMs EYEs

Feel free to check them out

Adventures in Hong Kong: Ocean Park

Meezy took the day off of work yesterday so we could check out Ocean Park, an amusement park/ aquarium/ one of the few places you can see live pandas , which we have been meaning to get to for a few months now.

As you can see we were really excited to be there....
and before we even got to the zoo area I spotted this crazy looking bug. I mean i guess the picture doesn't do it justice but up close it looked like something you'll see in the next Gears of War.
Amazing view from that roller coaster.
Mmmmm, lunch was tasty squid tentacles from the one and only Mr. Squid.
The layout of Ocean Park was so damn confusing, we ended up riding this same 5 minute escalator 3 times.
But in the end at we did get to see some cool pandas so it was all worth it.

You need like 2 whole days to see all of the park, but definitely a good visit if in Hong Kong

-john-

Eating Snake in Wan Chai

This is a tad late. But here's some pics from when we ate snake the other day in Wan Chai.

Snake Snoup. Is that blood?


John goes in.


Snake Fried Rice


John goes in again.


uhm?


Yeah so...I said it tasted like Chicken. John Said it tasted like Frog. I don't know if I'll ever order snake again; but if it's already on the table I might dabble in a little.

Gotta Love Casual Fridays

Then its back to Slacks, Shoes, and Ties on Monday

-Meez

Murakami Lecture @ Christie's HK

Sometime yesterday afternoon I found out that Japanese artist Takashi Murakami was going to be giving a lecture at Christie's Hong Kong. Well, somehow I was able to register for the event last minute and got to see a really good speech.

Great Fall day in HK, weather was perfect.
Seeing this display when you're really thirsty is like finding an oasis in the desert. As a huge water fan I was rather excited to see this line up and especially to see Fiji in Hong Kong for the 1st time.

Ok ok, back to the topic, this man.

In his speech/ presentation he showed a bunch of movies and clips from his own Kaikai Kiki co. These few caps are from Kanye West's Good Morning video.

Then I got a quick picture with the man, he's an awesome guy.

Murakami gave a really interesting lecture on the eclectic Otaku culture of Japan and how they influence and are influenced.
The Otaku culture is basically a huge group of people who just completely immerse themselves in anime, manga, certain Otaku pop stars, video games, etc. Murakami jokingly said himself after showing a video of these people, "Yes, they are pretty uncool." But he explained that every subculture is going to be seen as uncool of you don't understand it and can't relate. Using himself as an example, Murakami went on saying that when he used to live in America for a few years he loved to listen to the Smashing Pumpkins, however upon returning to Japan the music was dull because he no longer was able to breath the air that they did and feel their inspiration. He follow by saying how hard it is for people outside of Japan to relate to the culture especially because they don't know what daily life is like in Japan and why people are driven to live an Otaku life.
While Japan appears to be perfect and people live normal lives, there are many people who don't feel fulfilled or satisfied with their lives. This leads back to the constant Identity issues that the Japanese are always faced with. This all being the reason that the Otaku culture is so popular. If people find no value in their own daily lives, what better to do than become obsessed with the lives of characters in comics, shows, and games. The downside of this as Murakami said is that many of these people are socially inept and the crowd of mostly men remain single (the 46 year old artist admitting that he himself is still unmarried). He described them as junkies, but games and comics are their drug.

In closing Murakami took some questions, and in short:
-He doesn't think that the financial crisis should hurt the Japanese art scene much, and he still plans to hold Geisai at least once or twice a year to continue the artistic boom in Japan.
-Fashion in 15 years will be led by the Otaku culture, even though now it is only a small market almost exclusively to Japan.
-It doesn't matter if his fans fully understand the impact and meaning behind some of his and other pop and superflat art (since it's much deeper than cute girls singing and animals talking). He just enjoys that the genre is out there and being enjoyed. Plus, some of it doesn't make any sense at all in the first place.

It was quite a good lecture with tons of visual aid, which always helps. He's a really awesome guy and his vision is all about peace in the world, and he tries to bring that through his art.


"Art is a miracle created by the human race which could bring about a revolution without bloodshed."
- Takashi Murakami's definition of Art


-john-


ps. kindly don't quote this, it's just my understanding from my notes and memory of what he said. Thanks

Bape x Touch Magazine - 700th Issue

I'm walking through the hood of Sham Shui Po today and what do I see but a Bape Camo'd out issue of Touch Magazine. For their 700th issue, Touch celebrated Bape's 15 years with a top 100 countdown of everything Bape.









A pretty interesting countdown, especially to see a number of Bape products that I never knew existed like Bape x Fender Guitars, Campbell's soup, and even a Nakata Football (soccer ball). If you're in HK its only 15HKD so go grab one n check it out, there's also more previews of the Michael Lau Air Crazy Force 1.

Sorry for the poor quality pics, my camera is buggin' right now but I'll try to take better ones later.


-john-

Attention Spam Opening @ Schoeni Art Gallery Hong Kong

A collaboration between Schoeni Art Gallery Hong Kong and UKadapta London has brought UK street artists Cyclops, David Bray, D*Face, Vesna Parchet, and Word To Mother to Hong Kong.
We were invited there Thursday for the opening...










The opening was pretty cool, minus the cucumber cocktails. But lots of people showed up to support the new exhibit and enjoy the art. Everything was done nicely, but I think was most impressed by David Bray's stuff which was all done by just pencil and pen. Crazy considering the detail involved.

The exhibit will run Nov 14th - Dec 10th 2008
Schoeni Art Gallery
21-31 Old Bailey Street
Central, Hong Kong

check the website here

-john-

Back in 5

It's finals week for us out here in Hong Kong, which means papers, tests, presentations, instant noodles, no sleep, and the floor of my room turning into this mess...



So, sorry for the slight decline in posts and updates this week, just gimme a few day's and things will be back to full force.


and once again thanks for all of the support out there. we love you.


-john-

Hong Kong Releases - Silver & Gold Bape 88s

After dropping in Japan and then NY, the Silver and Gold Bape 88s released this Sunday in Hong Kong.
I got there around 8am...

I was lucky number 13...



Almost didn't get my size but someone was nice enough to trade numbers with me so I got the Siver Hi's as planned.




After waiting in line we all were brought into the store, which was completely empty, every sneaker off the shelves and all clothes off the racks. The only product visible was the 4 sneakers released which were displayed in the front of the store as almost a prize when you walked in. It took a little while of people trying sizes on and a scare when someone stole my 11 but all was good, a very smooth release.
The people waiting and the staff were both the nicest out of any drop I've been to, especially compared to certain NYC shops that will not be mentioned.


-john-

Toronto Streetwear - All City

On our mini streetwear tour of Toronto the first spot we hit was All City. We actually got there by accident because it was across from this great diner, Frans.

they had a nice selection of brands like Lemar & Dauley, Two in the Shirts, Akomplice, and many more

Meezy was feinding for this Akomplice shirt to go with the Puma Spys but our cards werent working

Meezy, ya boy, and the shop owner, Fame. Great dude.

If you're in the T Dot, check em out
All City
7 Shuter Street
416-368-1907

We on the come up!

-john-