time wandering from record store to record store in Shibuya looking for an angle on my piece. I came across a lot of interesting stores full of old and new vinyl, clothing, and a good amount of used DJ equipment. Also, the majority of stores I visited were covered with dope graffiti on the outside. This gave me the idea to do my first project (the UPI one) on graffiti in Tokyo. I feel like it could be quite interesting and without a doubt ties into my final project. Manhattan Records was probably the best store I went to, as it had a good selection of clothes and vinyl all in one place, complete with a live DJ spinning records. One thing I have noticed about all the Dj's and stores I have heard playing hip-hop around Tokyo is that they play real shit. What I mean is, right now a lot (the majority) of hip-hop coming out of the U.S. is watered down dance music, not the real soul music on which hip-hop has been built around. It's almost like going back into a time machine 10 to 15 years to when the music was good. For example, walking around in Harijuku I heard one of the hip-hop clothing stores playing a song from the producer Marco Polo's album. I was shocked because while he is one of my favorite producers and artist, he is considered underground in the U.S. So it was kinda of a nice shock to hear this random store in Harijuku playing his music. What has happened back in the U.S. is that major labels have taken control of the music, so they make the songs, they decide whats hot, then they push it down your throat via the radio, mtv, bet, etc. They have almost taken the music aspect out of the term music industry. Here in Japan this is not the case. It is still up to the people and DJ's to decide what they like and what they want to hear. Maybe I will attempt to focus on this in my documentary. Enough ranting. On top of all this, I have been in contact with a producer/Dj living and working here in Tokyo and he has agreed to met and let me interview him and has told me he will bring along some of his friends who are also in the industry. Hopefully talking to these people will shed some light on where I want to go with this. I would say it has been a pretty good start though.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
So it begins
I spent yesterday beginning research for my final project, which will focus around some aspect of hip-hop culture here in Tokyo. I spent my
time wandering from record store to record store in Shibuya looking for an angle on my piece. I came across a lot of interesting stores full of old and new vinyl, clothing, and a good amount of used DJ equipment. Also, the majority of stores I visited were covered with dope graffiti on the outside. This gave me the idea to do my first project (the UPI one) on graffiti in Tokyo. I feel like it could be quite interesting and without a doubt ties into my final project. Manhattan Records was probably the best store I went to, as it had a good selection of clothes and vinyl all in one place, complete with a live DJ spinning records. One thing I have noticed about all the Dj's and stores I have heard playing hip-hop around Tokyo is that they play real shit. What I mean is, right now a lot (the majority) of hip-hop coming out of the U.S. is watered down dance music, not the real soul music on which hip-hop has been built around. It's almost like going back into a time machine 10 to 15 years to when the music was good. For example, walking around in Harijuku I heard one of the hip-hop clothing stores playing a song from the producer Marco Polo's album. I was shocked because while he is one of my favorite producers and artist, he is considered underground in the U.S. So it was kinda of a nice shock to hear this random store in Harijuku playing his music. What has happened back in the U.S. is that major labels have taken control of the music, so they make the songs, they decide whats hot, then they push it down your throat via the radio, mtv, bet, etc. They have almost taken the music aspect out of the term music industry. Here in Japan this is not the case. It is still up to the people and DJ's to decide what they like and what they want to hear. Maybe I will attempt to focus on this in my documentary. Enough ranting. On top of all this, I have been in contact with a producer/Dj living and working here in Tokyo and he has agreed to met and let me interview him and has told me he will bring along some of his friends who are also in the industry. Hopefully talking to these people will shed some light on where I want to go with this. I would say it has been a pretty good start though.
time wandering from record store to record store in Shibuya looking for an angle on my piece. I came across a lot of interesting stores full of old and new vinyl, clothing, and a good amount of used DJ equipment. Also, the majority of stores I visited were covered with dope graffiti on the outside. This gave me the idea to do my first project (the UPI one) on graffiti in Tokyo. I feel like it could be quite interesting and without a doubt ties into my final project. Manhattan Records was probably the best store I went to, as it had a good selection of clothes and vinyl all in one place, complete with a live DJ spinning records. One thing I have noticed about all the Dj's and stores I have heard playing hip-hop around Tokyo is that they play real shit. What I mean is, right now a lot (the majority) of hip-hop coming out of the U.S. is watered down dance music, not the real soul music on which hip-hop has been built around. It's almost like going back into a time machine 10 to 15 years to when the music was good. For example, walking around in Harijuku I heard one of the hip-hop clothing stores playing a song from the producer Marco Polo's album. I was shocked because while he is one of my favorite producers and artist, he is considered underground in the U.S. So it was kinda of a nice shock to hear this random store in Harijuku playing his music. What has happened back in the U.S. is that major labels have taken control of the music, so they make the songs, they decide whats hot, then they push it down your throat via the radio, mtv, bet, etc. They have almost taken the music aspect out of the term music industry. Here in Japan this is not the case. It is still up to the people and DJ's to decide what they like and what they want to hear. Maybe I will attempt to focus on this in my documentary. Enough ranting. On top of all this, I have been in contact with a producer/Dj living and working here in Tokyo and he has agreed to met and let me interview him and has told me he will bring along some of his friends who are also in the industry. Hopefully talking to these people will shed some light on where I want to go with this. I would say it has been a pretty good start though.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Three Day Project Day 3
After two days of standing in the background and trying to blend in (as best as I can), it was time for me to attempt to interact with someone. I did not spend anytime outside the Big Box, but rather went straight to the arcade with the goal of challenging someone in a game or two. First up was Mario Kart 2, arcade style. There were already two people playing and two more spots open so I took a seat and waited for the next game to begin so I could join in. In my best Japanese-English dialect I asked them if they would race against me. I assume they understood because next thing I knew I was in a heated battle with turtle shells and banana peels whizzing past my character. I considered myself a fairly accomplished Mario Cart player back in the days of nintendo 64, and I was able to hold my own to finish in 2nd place. I again attempted to tell my competitors "good race" but I'm still not sure they understood. The next game up was Street Fighter. I waited a couple minutes to get a spot and decided to try to my luck against the computer first, seeing as how it has been years since I have played. I destroyed to computer and was feeling pretty good about myself at this point, but that was all about to change. Again in my Japanese-English (mostly english) hybrid, I waited for the kid next for me to be done and challenged. I did not know what I was getting into. To say I was slaughtered would be an understatement, seeing as how I got about one hit in the whole three rounds while taking a great deal of punishment. After it was over the kid did not gloat or act cocky or anything of that nature. He just continued to play as if killing me was business as usual, and I have a feeling that it was. After my embarrassing defeat I decided it was time to conclude my three day project and exited the arcade with my head held low.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Three day project part 2
My experience on day two of this project was somewhat similar to day one, although I did manage to scribble down some notes as I did my observations. I found myself outside of the Big Box in Takadanobaba at about 6 O'clock. There were a group of about 6 or 7 teenagers standing around waiting for a bus, and about three policemen standing around looking quite bored. I saw parents dragging kids along by the hand trying to get them to hurry along to the station. Pretty uneventful, no wonder the policemen looked so bored. I made my way to the 6th floor of the Big Box, where the arcade is located. It was even more crowded than the day before, with a line of people waiting to play one of the 6 Street Fighter games. There were about 4 or 5 groups of girls in their which I found interesting. In america you would never see an arcade as a hang out spot for girls. Also besides these groups, I also witnessed a good amount of couples playing together. The staff in the building was extremely nice as almost every one working there went out of their way to say hello to me. After about a half hour of hanging around the arcade, I left thinking about how I would do my "interaction" on the third day of this project.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
3 Day Project part 1
Yesterday afternoon I began my three day project in Takadanobaba, not to far from where I am staying. I posted up around the station, outside of the Big Box with the goal of observing people as they went about their daily business. Everyone coming in and out of the station is in a hurry, which is something I have noticed in my time here in Tokyo. They breeze past the people on the street soliciting various restaurants as if they did not exist. After about 10 minutes of nothing too eventful happening I journeyed into the Big Box arcade to continue to my observation. It was relatively crowded, which is no surprise seeing as how every arcade I have gone into since I have arrived has been at least half full. I watched people from every generation playing and competing in a wide array of games. A teenager was playing some type crazy fighting game with robots, while some 4o year old man in a business suite played tekken. At this point I decided to head in and return to the same spots tomorrow ( later today at this point) with a notepad to continue my three day project.
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