*Note excuse the bad phone photgraphy!
I got in pretty early wednesday morning and then had to catch the 1.5hr Narita Express train from the airport into Shin-Koenji where Jules had hooked up a pad through the Kindness of Kez YM and his lovely girlfriend (name escapes me but thank you!).
Jules and Jackson had arrived the day before so once I got in and met up with them it was back to the apartment to drop off my bags and have a shower and then go searching for some food. But first things first and before we got to the food there was my introduction to Chu Hi's!
Then we got some ramen action happening and stumbled across the first record store since I arrived and the digging begun!
Then it was off to Shibuya to meet up with Tim and already on my way to hang over!
We hit up Disc Union in Shibuya and the went and got some more food and drinks. I recommend you don't go drunken record shopping like I did, it only ends up with empty pockets!
Later that night we all headed to Seco Bar where Jules and Kez were spinning. All the guys plus other family and friend of Tim who had arrived came down and it was our first official get together.
Everyone got pretty loose and a few of us ended up at some ramen bar in the wee hours of the morning. The owner was particularly impressed with Jules' over the top commentary of things and threatened to kicked the group of drunk foreigners out of the joint but we piped down a bit once the food came!
The next day whilst the boys went out I found myself unhappily stuck inside behind a computer for 8hrs doing work whilst Jules and Jackson met up with Ocky from the Adelaide store who was in town.
Following day we went down to Harajuku for a wander and some shopping.
Then later we headed back to Shibuya where I was moving into a seperate apartment from the guys as Benny was due to arrive the next day and take his spot with Jules in Shin-Koenji. I hadn't been to Shibuya yet really at night and heading out through Hichinko square is quite the site in person. Thousands of people hurrying in every direction and bright lights everywhere!
A favourite of all of ours apart from the gyoza, ramen, sashimi etc was Freshness Burger! Here is the teriyaki chicken burger.
We also hit up Disc Union and a few other spots in Shinjuku in between all of that.
The night before the wedding (saturday) all friends and family of Tim met up for the time complete and went out for dinner. The food just kept coming as well as the beer. Little Dusty was having the time of his food life munching anything in site!
A few of my vinyl pick ups along the way..
Doing it up beer and chu hi style in the 7/11.
Sunday finally came around and it was wedding time after a 4am finish that morning we were feeling a little rough especially Benny who had to be taken home early from the Rick Wilthe gig the night before because he was falling asleep in the bar! I got him up and on his feet and then ran to the wedding in Daikanyama.
Then it all began!
Our homie Tsubasa rolled down for the after party as did Benny and we had a few good laughs and catch ups over some drinks.
There was an after after party in which Tim organised a take over of a local bar with decks. However in the 2hr gap between events I went home to get records and managed to fall asleep missing it all so i'll have to wait to get pics of the guys.
The next day we all took it pretty easy. There was more eating at Freshness Burger and digging at Recofan.
The following day I got put in touch with a friend of a friend Masa who is the PR guy at Carhartt in Japan. He was kind enough to hang out with me for the day and show me around. Jules and Benny prepared to leave later in the day. First off Masa took me to Yoyogi Shrine so I could take in a bit of culture between all the eating, drinking and shopping.
We then went back to Harajuku and I got taken to a number of spots to check out followed by Katsu for lunch!
We then hung out a bit longer and Masa had to go have a few meetings. But once done we were going over to Jazzy Sport and meeting up with Tim. We picked up a few goodies for the shop and I got to meet some of the guys. Stay tuned for lots of new Jazzysport dropping soon!
Aoi up in Jazzy Sport!
My last full day involved trying to balance all the weight in my bags with records to get them all on the plane, more shopping and then hanging out with Tim, his lovely wife Junko and his sister Amy and her husband Chris. We had the last supper of shabu-shabu which is raw beef and pork strips which you drop into hot soup for 10-20 secs and it cooks instantly. Delicious!
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