Monday, November 30, 2009

UmezzoniaN #1: Standing Bar Shou

The Umezu hangover seems to have worn off just enough to allow me to write a post. Our day with Umezu-sensei was the most mind-blowing experience of my life. Content on here is going to dramatically slow down for a while to give us a chance to finish scraping our brains off the walls of the Makoto-chan house. In the meantime, here's something for you all to chew on: TSB's first ever "manga", UmezzoniaN! Drawn by me, written as a team (but mostly by Dr. Senbei) just like Yudetamago!

We pick up right where Demerin left off in Umezology (see a page here). Being 100% unoriginal and inferior to it's predecessor in every way shouldn't keep you from at least getting a chuckle or two from our version. If you can understand Japanese, that is. Several other projects are taking priority over translating this into English, but feel free to do it yourselves.


There are a dozen references to Umezu manga and a few to Demerin's as well. Some are painfully obvious, others painfully nerdy. Can you spot them all?

For what it's worth, UmezzoniaN comes stamped with Demerin's seal of approval. Don't take my word for it though, see for yourself!


During lunch at Sensei's house...


And in the strangest turn of yesterday's events, SHE asked ME for an autograph! Of course we had a copy of Umezology handy for her to sign as well!!



PS: Special thanks to Mikipon for proofreading...

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Tickle Me Pink Lady

Combing used bookstores always results in cool junk that would be nice to have but not absolutely necessary. How many guides to Kaiju anatomy does one man need? When all gems shine with the same luster they became a commodity the same as coal. It's the little eccentric glimmers that keep me coming back.

This made my day. A Pink Lady coloring and activity book? Hardly improbable but wonderfully unexpected. Let's see what kind of situations Mie and Kei have gotten themselves into this time!

Lookin' good cruising through space on a UFO.

Secret agent Mei sneaking around on her galactic mission. The book really rides the UFO wave.

Help the duo skateboard their way to their favorite foods!

Whatever happened to Pink Lady? Like all stars they eventually imploded, but not before trying to stage a comeback overseas. Their American variety show, Pink Lady and Jeff, was pulled after a mere six episodes.



It seems downright criminal that anything featuring Jim Varney (aka Ernest) and a hot tub filled with a full host of Playmates would get the axe. Apparently even the cheesecake factor wasn't enough to compensate for the fact that Pink Lady had no idea what the English lines they were being fed meant!

If we get enough requests for it, I'll go ahead and scan the entire book.

You can learn more about "the most bizarre show on television" over web 1.0-riffic fansite, Pink Lady America.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Ugly Legend

(DISCLAIMER: The following is the English approximation of an article which was originally published in the November 10th issue of Spa! Direct your disgust towards them. The only thing we're guilty of is not bringing it to you sooner!)

Weekly men’s entertainment magazine Spa! enlists the help of science to put an end to the age-old question: Why do so many white guys date fugly Japanese girls? Beginning with Yoko Ono, Westerners have continued to show a preference for women outside of the spectrum of beauty accepted by Japanese society as a whole. You know the type—Long, straight black hair, squinty eyes, flat face. Or maybe, as recent research suggests, you don’t know, hence the problem.
Ever wake up next to this?

Obviously there must be something wrong with the Gaijin brain that keeps them from being able to tell the difference between girls that look like living woodblock prints and CanCan models, so scientists ran two white dudes infamous for their questionable taste in women through an MRI-scan to check for loose wiring. The results? Our friendly foreigners showed lower brain activity than 70 year-old women!

"Journey inside the brains of the white men who love gross girls!"

Let's meet tonight's guinea pigs. Zidi from France is new to Japan and infamous in his circle of friends for picking up slags in Roppongi. We also have Phillip from England, who during his seven years in the country has grown out of the "so long as it's breathing" phase that seems to affect many foreigners. The MRIs will be conducted by PhD Hideo Nakajima.

The lack of activity in the occipital lobe, which controls visual processing and thus face recognition, would suggest that the two men’s brains lack the processing power to differentiate between butter faces and beautiful babies.

"His big honkey nose almost gets caught on the machine!"

Stepping off the plane for the first time, all Japanese look the same. The traditional image of Orientals with black hair and narrow eyes has been planted deep into the Western psyche by movies and other media. Men come to Japan with a permanent set of beer goggles, and the problem is intensified by this inexplicable sense of familiarity.

“Hey, I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before…”

The part of the lobe that handles facial recognition is extremely active while we are young children but slows down as we age. Therefore we can conclude that Zidi, who dates ugly girls, has low brain activity because this region has yet to kick in, while Philip, who has since refined his taste in women, has low brain activity because it has been trained over the years and can now differentiate faces even from a state of rest.

Dr. Nakajima explains. “Monkeys all look the same at first, but after careful observation you can begin to see the small differences between them.” The aesthetic eye can be trained. There’s still hope! Your days of being ridiculed as “Beast Master” may soon be at an end.

He concludes, “It takes courage to walk outside with a skank on your arm. I’d like to do further research to see if the men’s brains are releasing serotonin—they’d have to be doped up to stay with these butter faces. But then again, if the find these girls pleasant enough company to release serotonin, then their brains must truly be broken.”

Monday, November 16, 2009

Torture Porn



Tired of the same old boring history museums filled with stone arrowheads and clay statues? The basement of Meiji University features a permanent exhibit which sheds light on the dark side of anthropology: Legalized and regulated methods of torture.

Decapitation by Saw(鋸挽き)


Legend has it that the most despicable of criminals were buried in the ground up to their neck, then decapitated with saws made of bamboo. It would take many blows to work through the bone, and the bound criminal faced excruciating pain as their flesh was slowly chipped away.





The tradition lived on in a fashion through the Edo period, though the actual execution was humanitarian by comparison. Criminals would be contained from the neck-down in a wheeled box and left in the middle of the town for two days for public mocking. On the third day they would be carted throughout the town for a final parade of jeers, followed by their subsequent crucifixion and death.

Head Spikes (獄門首台木) and Crucifixion Pillar (磔柱)

During the Edo Period there was no act more despicable than inflicting harm or death upon your parents, master, or teacher. Such heinous criminals were tied to crucifixes and stabbed to death with spears. As a warning to others, their corpse was decapitated and their head was set on display for three days at the dungeon’s front gate.










Burned at the Stake


One stray ember could raze a village, and arsonists were dealt with by ironic severity that would make Dante proud. Firebugs were tied to a wooden stake with bamboo rings and literally buried in firewood before being roasted alive.





Fumi-E (踏み絵)

The Tokugawa Shogunate were always on the lookout for hidden Christians to murder and torture, and the fumi-e became their bog standard psychological litmus test. Can you trample upon an image of Christ? If yes, you go home. If not, well, you get to join him on the cross. Interesting that practicing Christianity was once considered as vile as murder.



Stone Press Torture (石抱き責め)

Victims were forced to kneel with 50 kilogram stone blocks laid across their thighs. They would be tied up straight to a wooden beam to restrict their movement while they endured the crushing agony coupled with the sting of the jailer's club. This seems like the best method to totally wreck someone for life without actually killing them.





Iron Maiden

Something cool I never knew about iron maidens: They’re rigged for their bottom to drop out upon re-opening, dumping the gore and mutilated corpse into a pit located beneath the device. Highly practical.



Hanging Pillar (絞首柱)

The condemned were strangled using a system of two counter weights. Death was slow and painful. The system had other problems as well and was repealed just three years after its introduction in 1870.



In 1873, Japan joined the rest of civilized world with their upgrade to traditional gallows. Revised hanging laws ensured that the process became more efficient and humane. Note the face towelette, just like in Japanese beauty salons!



Chastity Belt

Purportedly fashioned to keep women faithful to their husbands, in practice it was simply another way to keep women oppressed. While theories on the belt's purpose deviate, most historians agree that the cute heart and flower designs were precursors to modern lingerie sensibilities.



If you need further motivation to visit, remember that Meiji University is a quick jaunt away from Jinbocho, the used book capital of Tokyo. Happy hunting.

Criminal torture devices

Drifting Classroom 8-bit BGM























Beep City has the BGM to The Drifting Classroom, the greatest game that never existed, free for download on their site! The composer, Moldilox, did an outstanding job conveying the atmosphere of the comic with the use of layered drones, drums that sound like the pitter-patter of little kids' feet as they run for their lives and what has to be an 8-bit theremin. Download it here!

Everything else on their site is worth checking out as well, my favorites being Inseguitore Della Via(Street Stalker) and Mastars of the Universe.

Thanks to Scott Green for the heads up on this.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Hammer Head


Skeletons from the closet of every corrupt politician and smack-addicted celeb litter the back streets of Nakano, waiting to be found by those who know how to ask the right questions. Interested parties should take their inquiries past the steel door and up the stairs to Hammerhead, a depository of Japan’s living urban legends.

Mogi, the proprietor, knows everything worth knowing. If he can't answer your questions about true crime and depravity he can point you towards someone who can. Working in the the import figure business helped him make truly bizarre connections. He's been waist-deep in horror since before most of us even threw down for our first vinyl figure. He was there when Nakano Broadway was built and saw firsthand Mandarake grow from a single shoebox of a store to the ubiquitous Masters of Time that they are today. He's run with Bosozoku legends like Black Emperor and his old acquaintances have brought him more juicy stories on VIPs than all the gossip rags combined.



The décor is everything you’d expect from a guy who made his livelihood from running horror memorabilia in the 80’s. Mogi knows his stuff and each item reflects his personal taste, which in my book counts a hundred times more than cluttering your joint with all kinds of unrelated trinkets for the sake of mass appeal.

If you’re reading this blog then you obviously want to know what kind of filth is growing underneath Japan’s toenails, so you have no excuse not to make a pit stop on the way home from Nakano Broadway and grill the master for information. Just remember—Some things are kept secret for a reason.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Gwash!! Umezu Kazuo Desu Advanced Tickets

With our (delayed) upcoming interview with Umezu-sensei, Dr. Senbei's sweet new job at a 3D animation studio, nasty colds and my countless unfinished art projects to deal with right now, posts have really slowed down the last couple of weeks. Just remember, the best things come to those who wait.

Here is what the Gwash!! Umezu Kazuo Desu advanced tickets look, along with the limited photo that Tsutaya in Shibuya is giving out with each ticket sold. According to Kazz's twitter advanced tickets purchased at the theater, Tollywood, come with a different picture. If I find one, I'll post it later.
































For what it's worth, the picture is an actual print, not a paper flyer.

Monday, November 9, 2009

"Minna Tomodachi" Yokai Mural

Once again proving that Asakusa has more to offer than Kaminari-mon and Sensouji, I found this mural on the ruins of an old back alley apartment building on my way to a tattoo exhibit.

Friday, November 6, 2009

His name is MASAGON

Fortune here, back from my TSB Tokyo expedition and reporting from the heart of Kansai- Osaka!

Never thought you would see a Tokyo Scum report from a luxury hotel, did you? After seeing the flyer, I couldn't resist checking out local artist Masagon at Hyatt Regency's gallery in Nankou. I found him in the studio-like gallery at the bottom of a marble corkscrew staircase, sitting there in his red beret. What an unusual place he chose to display his art! However, the laid-back atmosphere soon made me forget I was in the basement of a gigantic five-star hotel.





Masagon is a handicraft sculptor; he creates various kinds of sculptures mostly from clothes, shoes, and stuffed toys; but he describes himself as a graffiti artist. "I am strongly influenced by graffiti and street art. It is just that I use clothes and yarns instead of spray cans." Surely, if you see his work, you will feel like you are in Amerika-mura (American Village), the funkiest district in the city where you can find a mess of graffiti and street wear stores. My first impressions was that this dude is Ame-mura personified. "I travel overseas, but in Japan I've never moved out of Osaka. I just can't stop loving the city."





The turning point in his career was when an artist friend in the UK asked him to join an exhibit in France. One day, walking down a street of Paris in his custom Gundam-studded leather jacket, "A Parisienne hit on me out of nowhere. She said "Kawaii!" in Japanese. I was so surprised!"


Best way to recycle SD Gundam erasers!

The exhibit in France was a huge unexpected success, and he has since been featured in 'The Face'(UK), 'VOGUE'(Japan), 'SHOWStudio'(France) and various other media related to fashion and art. In recent years, he even joined an art show by DIESEL and worked with American artist Mark Jenkins on street installations.

All this and yet what surprises me the most is that this guy never learned to sew or knit! "I liked vintage clothes originally, so I just thought it would be interesting to create monsters, heroes and other figures out of them. I don't really know how to sew. I just looked at some embroidery and started imitating it."

If you are in Osaka, peep his show at Kitsutsuki in Tamatsukuri. It runs through November 13th.
Meet this pop art madman while the meeting is good!



Click here for more Masagon pics!
masagon

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Ken Shimura: Punisher Takes on Horror Classics

When I found these videos of Ken Shimura, renowned king of all things stupid, lampooning horror films a while back, I crammed them into our overflowing "stuff to subtitle" file. After a long period of procrastination consideration on how to translate the elegantly awful puns within the confines of a line or two on the bottom of the screen, I've come to the decision that it can't be done. Not without confusing everyone even more and leaving a million footnotes in my wake. If you want to know why something is supposed to be funny, ask in the comments.

Everyone who studies Japanese goes through several milestones that allow them to gauge their progress and give them the resolve to torture themselves with even more tedious kanji study. For many, the first comes when they go to video store and are able to read the katakana on the Akira box. Other examples include the first time you dream in Japanese, making it through a conversation without someone telling you how good your Japanese is, being able to order at a restaurant in Japan without pointing at the menu and smiling apologetically, or not having to look at the furigana while reading Ramenman manga.

Despite what anyone tells you, the ultimate affirmation of your Japanese skills is not passing JLPT Level One, but the ability to deliver brutal one-liners to the unsuspecting. Take my word for it; a nicely timed boke or tsukkomi will blow minds WAY more than reciting the onyomi of all 1850 jōyō kanji in order. A good gag shows not only a strong command of vocabulary and grammar, but also that you are hip to the culture (I'm not talking sushi and Mt. Fuji here) and are not a humorless prick. Like me, for suggesting that these skits are anything more than ultra-lame comedy. Enjoy, and let this be the next milestone on your path to owning the Japanese language!


Part One: Friday the 13th, The Exorcist



Part Two: Village of Eight Gravestones, Wolfman, Omen series, Alien

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Umezu Kazuo Documentary Finally Here!


Koji Ito, one of the webmasters from Umezu Kazuo's official homepage, followed the legendary manga creator for three years to create this documentary that showcases Umezu's personal life, from his musical side projects to the lawsuit over his Makoto-Chan House , whose inside decor needs to be seen to be believed.



I was fortunate enough to be invited to an advance press screening. More than just a documentary about Umezu's work, it offers a behind-the-scenes look into manga production and design, in addition to exploring Japan's issues with creativity and art appreciation.

The limited run starts November 23rd and continues through mid-December, so get to the Tollywood Theatre in Shimo-Kitazawa while you still have the chance!

If that's not enough Umezu-stalking for you, word on the street has it that he will be making an appearance at the University of Tokyo's Komaba Festival on November 22nd, although the exact details are yet unknown. Can we hope for another live performance?

Monday, November 2, 2009

Shinjuku Loft Halloween Party

If you were on the Yamanote Line on the night of the 31st, it had better been to head into Shinjuku Loft for their all night Halloween concert!


The Loft has two stages separated by a sound proof door, and while that sounds like a good idea on paper, when the club hits full capacity it bottlenecks into a wall of immovable rebels without a clue who clog the sides of the narrow hallway like fat in an artery. Upon entering the venue you have the choice of two paths, so choose wisely my friend, for your decision will shape your musical destiny.

Halloween parties always bring in the most gregarious people from all around. The DJs kept people’s feet moving between sets with a mix of malt time classics and garage rock, but even the grooviest skirts can’t keep bopping for eight hours straight. The walls became lined with unconscious heaps of those who gave too much too early.

I was perfectly content to take this opportunity to re-charge with the silver-age horror and sci-fi trailers projected onto the stage. Anybody know Monster that Challenged the World?



The night was also host to something I thought I wouldn’t have to deal with outside the States—Scene kids! Since this was Halloween I can forgive people for putting on airs in trying to look cooler than the other guy, but there’s no excuse for the awkward atmosphere of everyone sizing each other up as they came through the door. Keep your egos at home kids.

To call the 5.6.7.8s the biggest disappointment of the night would be misleading. I wasn’t expecting a life-affirming thirty minutes of music, but it made my heart drop to see the mothers of Japanese garage rock lack the energy to pull together a coherent set. Is it age? The flu? If anyone’s seen them recently, do chime in to let us know they were just having an off night.

Thankfully The Mummies were there to make everything all right again. The scrutiny of the staff was surprising, however. The band couldn’t afford to have the equipment damaged after fronting the cash to fly themselves out to Japan, so the organizers pushed the crowd back and warned us not to get too rowdy. While I don’t judge the success of a show by how many liters of beer are thrown onto the stage, the phalanx of staff pooh-poohing crowd surfers kept the revelry below the expected apocalyptic levels. The kings of budget rock still did their thing, however, even with forces conspiring to contain the mummies’ curse.



Sometimes you are pleasantly sideswiped by some unknown band that kicks more ass than the headliner. Hell-Racer was that band. With their leather biker hats, iron crosses and eye shadow, they were something between a glam version of Marlon Brando in The Wild One and extras from a Suehiro Maruo manga. They weren’t shy about refurbishing every rocking riff from the 50’s and 60’s with a thick coat of reverb and distortion, but that’s the point! Any band that can seamlessly slip a couple bars of The Munsters theme into a song deserves your time.



LOS RIZLAZ were another unexpected treat that I would have liked to have seen come out before I was dead on my feet. Having never considered myself a sax guy, the last few shows I've been to have forced me to reconsider my position. Even if you think the luchador gig is played out, these guys have such an authentic vibe that you can't help but smile.

Call me an old man if it gets you off, but the night would have been far less grueling had the DJs turned it down a notch. The dance floor was a graveyard past midnight save for a few straggling ghouls, so who are they trying to fool? Unless you like having to communicate in screams and wild hand gestures all night, in which case you're ruining it for the rest of us.

Wandering the backstreets of Kabukicho waiting for the trains to start was surreal. Here's all the hosts coming off work hee-hawing at our costumes, when they're the ones wearing a fake set of skin every day. Get with the program, Japan! You were made for Halloween.


This is the only shot we managed to get at the show. We were given a warning to put our camera away, only to see everyone else in the club taking pics left and right. Shiiiiiit.