Sayonara TOKYO

Here are the people I'll miss most in this living theater of a place some call TOKYO.

SHINICHI, MARU, TSUKI, BLUNT

BLUNT, TSUKI, YAMA

BLUNT

I met him and REI (both of HATOS) a night they had a show in Fukuoka. From that original contact came a friendship that's likely to last a long time. He's a philosopher when he talks, about life and what it all means, and music, and history, and Tokyo, and New York, and drugs, and tobacco. His idols are DJ Krush and Portishead. He samples all kinds when he DJs, from traditional Indian folk dance, to John Paul Jones' bass, to James Brown's drums. Look out for his debut album on HATOS' label soon.

YAMA

He turned 23 the other night. We took a bunch of tequila shots together––fitting, considering he's going to Mexico soon. He speaks Turkish from studying it and living in Turkey for a year, performs experimental noise on his own and with his band, and knows all music. The Tokyo kid that makes you wish you could've grown up in that city, surrounded by all that stimulation.

MARU

I met him outside of a convenience store on a dirty Shibuya alleyway back in February. Since then, he's accompanied me on my perusals of Tokyo in the spring and now the summer. He's down for anything at any time. His name means circle. He shows up in spaces when it's absolutely necessary and might carry a weapon. He has an auspicious air about him–he seems to have friends in bars and clubs across the vast city–and always wears the same clothes. I have a feeling I will run into him again someday, probably on an unmarked side street in a busy city.

SHIORI––

She's barely 20 and has already had 2 photo exhibitions in Tokyo. She knows all indie rock and studies Portuguese.

NANAE

If you're a regular on the party scene in Tokyo then there's a good chance you've run into her. The few times I was with her, not only did she get free entrance into discerning clubs, but she knew tons of people there. She's 24 and feels her party days are over, and wants to write a book and get married.

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