Masako Nishikawa

This is Masako Nishikawa, an incredible dancer and actress that was kind enough to perticipate in the Kyoto video shoot. She was absolutely amazing. This is the woman costume; she played a man for the video as well, with an equally amazing costume.

bloggin from the bus

So, it's Friday evening and since I'm just sitting on a little bus driving back to Tokyo from Kyoto right now I decided that this would be a good time to write out my blog that I'll be able to post whenever I actually get back to Kamogawa. (turns out it is now Saturday afternoon)

After a really long day of shooting yesterday we were all super tired today, but it was a lite day. We went back to the temple that we shot at yesterday to just film some scenery around there for insert shots. I had a good time just sitting next to a pond watching frogs, lily pads, flowers, dragon flies, whatever it is that dragon flies turn in to (really creepy), and GIANT bees. It was a lot of fun and so peaceful. When we finished there we decided to do the tourist Kyoto thing.

Kyoto is full of pretty amazing old buildings and towers and gates and stuff. So we went out to eat at a place near the "largest gate in Kyoto". It's kinda funny actually because it is a HUGE gate that could keep out a massive army but the wall that it used to go with is now gone. So now it's just a giant 'protect you from the universe' gate sitting there screaming "if you want to get in 'GO AROUND'." Anyway, i got a kick out of it thinking that if there was no wall and an army showed up they'd say, "Crap that's a big gate, lets go home". It was beautiful and I knew right away that we were at a true tourist spot because two different people asked me to take their photo for them. One even explained to me how to use her disposable camera, much appreciated for sure!

After the giant gate experience we went to the first of two towers. You know the ones, the traditional Japan towers. The ones that you've seen silhouetted on everything about Japan that you've ever seen or read. Yeah, those ones. There was a lot interesting going on around the first one, tons of little shops, tourists, and general interesting people. Too bad I was with the whole crew so I couldn't just sit down and wait for the right person in the right place to make the right photo.My list of places in Japan that I want to go alone or with only one other person that also enjoyed taking photos, is growing large. Oh well, the crew is super fun, so it was alright. It's kinda sad that this is the last day that we shot with them. Just when we were all getting to know eachother and figure out how things worked together, it's over. Cheers to the crew!

After tower one we went to the second tower. I know your thinking Lord of the Rings....but don't! This tower I guess is a "world treasure".....at least that's David's loose translation. Either way, it's pretty special. It was rebuilt for the 5th time over 400 years ago. It's pretty darn massive so I imagine that they used to get pretty mad when someone would show up and destroy it, requiring a rebuild. Too bad they didn't build it up near that massive gate from earlier! There were two large buildings in the same complex as the tower that housed MASSIVE budda statue kinda things. Each building had a gigantic one in the middle and then a bunch of more normal sized big statues around of it other odd 4-6 armed critters, flowers, and other strand demon lookin things. "No photograph" sign.....AGAIN! I wanted to take photos just to rebel against such nonsense! I guess they're cultural treasures or something like that....not sure why that means they can't be photographed!

So, that was pretty much my day, pretty much fun in Kyoto for sure! Alright, well, it is nearly 10 and we have another over 2 hours of driving till we get to Tokyo. I imagine that we'll stay there tonight since Kamogawa is another 2 hours by train from there and they won't be trains running when we get there. Thanks for readin the blog again!

oh yeah...

I finished my last blog and thought that I should post a photo of myself...so you don't forget what I look like....

rockabilly, sumo and rain

Wow, I wanted to write this blog so badly last night but this here blog thingy would not let me! So, I will try and renew my passion for the stories that I wanted to tell last night tonight in Kyoto. After spending Sunday-Tuesday in Tokyo I stayed in Kamogawa last night and then left at 7am for Tokyo again where we met with the producer and drove 5 or so hours to Kyoto where we are shooting tomorrow. It's pretty exciting because we are shooting at an over 400 year old temple, it's beautiful!

Okay, so Sunday! We went to Tokyo where we met up with David's sister and some of her friends and we went to a Jamaica festival in the rain. It was actually really fun desptie the rain. The are of Tokyo that it is in is nameless (at least in my mind since I forgot the name of it), but it is so amazing! On our way to the festival we crossed the famous bridge where people get all dressed up and just hang out. Sadly we were in a hurry so I really did not get any decent photos....but I'll be back there for sure! I was disappointed that we had to leave so quickly but on our way we discovered the Tokyo Rockabilly club! I was shocked! It was a whole group of guys dressed in their best rockabilly clothing dancing in a circle to extremely loud oldies music! They were actually pretty good.....going back there too! I HOPE!

Then we finally made it to the Jamaica festival where we enjoyed some amazing tunes such as "I shot the SheLiff", and "Stand up for your Lights". The band was actually rather good. The rest of the fesitval was just random stands selling way over priced shirts and food. So we left and met some of Kai's other friends for dinner which was also very fun. That evening we stayed with Jessie from Scotland. I haven't met a whole lot of Scottish people but she's the best one ever! What a lovely human she is. She has a tiny studio apartment in Tokyo where she let the 4 of us stay...along with her so 5 all together. We had such a good time joking around, laughing about pretty much everything, expecially "Jobbies". If you don't know what that means.....well I'm not gonna tell ya, ask someone from England.

The next day instead of going back with David I stayed with kai and we cruized around Tokyo until Diane (mom) arrived and we went around visiting some of their old friends. What a priviledge it is to be able to visit Japanese homes here. They are all such wonderful people an unique living situations. The last home that we visited we stayed at for the evening. My mind is blank on names tonight but the family was quite a treat. After dinner we sat around while the dad played guitar and Kai sang and we just had a general good time. It was so nice to be around another Japanese family with 4 kids, ages 10-23. I enjoy seeing how family "situations" in other countries work, ya know!

Oh yeah, and I saw a sumo wrestler on the train Tuesday! He was soooooo big! The photo is not great nor does it really portray his true size, but I'm putting here anyway cause I have to! Tribute to my first real sumo experience!

Anyway, I'm running out of steam for this here blog....so I'm in Kyoto! Talk to you all later!