WRAP UP

Thursday July 30. Went out for wrap-up drinks with the cast, crew and clients for the commercial I filmed last month. The shoot was for Japanese mobile carrier service, DoCoMo...
As the main character, I was made up to look like an old priest officiating at a wedding that goes slightly off track. Instead of asking if they promise to love and support one another and be happy together forever etc. he suggests they enroll in the Mobile Phone service DoCoMo Premier Club, and goes on to extoll the virtues of life with DoCoMo....
The shoot commenced at 7am, and the last scenes filming started at 11:30pm,...I think I got home about 2am! The 60 second spots can be seen in all movie theaters throughout Central Japan as of tomorrow, August 1.  

R.I.P.

Can you see the look of concern on my face? A friend seems to have passed away,... a friend I have flown half way around the world in helicopters with, a friend who has been places, and seen things. A friend who has shared a number of important moments together, a friend who literally lived in my back pocket!
Yes, my trusty Sony Cyber-shot digi-camera seems to have kicked the bucket. I took some shots for one of my many blogs a few moments ago, but the picture broke up, and on review, showed a grey white screen with a ghost of an image. I've been had this for about 5 years, as you can see, it's a bit scratched and dented from years of service, but boy, did we see some amazing things together! Cyber-shot, Rust In Peace!

PAISLEY

Todays fashion point are these side-laced, boot cut, flared trousers,...with red socks of course!
Up close you can see the paisley pattern in dark grey, on a light grey mottled material. "Surely no one wears paisley these days!"  I thought, "Not since the late 60's, maybe early 70's...."
And then at 79.5FM Radio-i, fellow DJ Sano Eri turns up in a paisley print summer dress. This either means we're both really trendy, or we're both getting old,...

SAMURAI SYMBOL

At this time of year, the skies above Japan are filled with dragonflies, or tombo in Japanese. To the Samurai, the dragonfly was an auspicious creature. In the days of old, dragonflies were called kachi-mushi.  Kachi is the word for victory, and so the dragonfly motif can often be seen on Samurai arms and wear, in art and literature. This photo is a close up of my hakama, the trouser like garment worn under the armour.

DESSERT

After a Yakiniku BBQ dinner, it was time for dessert! Hot cocoa and rich, thick chocolate cake!

Surrounded by sweets? 

AFTER DINNER MINT

July 29. Went for dinner with some friends to a local Yakiniku BBQ restaurant. What I look forward to the most is the mint at the end of the meal! Forget the rice and meat, give me  a dozen of these mints and I'll be happy!

FOOTWORK

I'm off to L.A. in mid August as part of the Japan Armour and Weapons Research and Preservation Society, Samurai team. We'll be in L.A. as part of the Nagoya - L.A. Sister City 50th anniversary events. Tonight I spent sewing the cords onto my split-toed tabi boots in preparation for the Samurai parade and events.

ROTOR & WING

My monthly helicopter magazine, Rotor&Wing has arrived! I'm looking forward to relaxing and reading it, but there just isn't the time right now. Rather than read about helicopters, I'm looking forward to Japan's rainy season ending so I can go flying again!

CLOSE SHAVE?

The sideburns have been there for years in tribute to John Lennon, but I'm looking forward to August 16 when I can shave again,...that's right, I won't be shaving for at least another 2 weeks,...Why? You ask, and I'm glad you did,... Well, ...I'll tell you later!   Stay tuned!

BLACK BELT PEAS

The Black Eyed Peas play Nagoya's Nippon Gaishi Hall on Friday Sept. 18. I gotta feeling I'll be there! The song I can't get out of my head these days is the catchy "I Gotta Feeling", we're playing is almost daily on my daily program PMi!  By the way, did you know that Black Eyed Peas member Taboo has a black belt in Ninjutsu? Does that makes him a Black Belt Pea!??!

CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN

Todays fashion point is this most expensive, no doubt luxury brand shirt.

I bought it about 7 years ago on a trip to Penang in Malaysia for about 300....

Not dollars,...Yen, (or about $3!)  I've worn it on TV, in magazine shoots and even radio outdoor broadcasts. The rest of todays ensemble comes from discount clothiers, Uniclo. If clothes make the man, then I'm CHEAP!

SHE'S NO DUMMY...

In the city centre I saw this sign out front of a glasses and sunglass shop saying "Please Wave!"

My initial thought was "Huh??"...until I looked closer at the bikini clad dummy on display....
What a great piece of marketing,...That's no dummy! She's real! And she's got a real nice body too, for a dummy!

OMAMORI

Today I went to the Great Ise Shrine in Mie Prefecture, the holiest of Japanese holy places, dating back over 2000 years. Right now, the sacred shrine is supposed to have 6 times the power it usually does.  Part of the Great Shrine region encompasses the Sarutahiko Shrine, the shrine for the Gods of the Entertainment Industry, and just to be on the safe side I paid my respects, then paid some money for a talisman.

TRAFFIC JAM

Driving home on the freeway from Ise to Nagoya, there was a 20Km long traffic jam blocking all THREE lanes. Heavy rains at Suzuka were part of the reason, but the jam slowed traffic to a crawl...10km/h,.. I can walk faster than that!
Bumper to bumper for over 20 Km,...it took an hour and a half to get to Ise, it took 3 and a half hours to get home...

MTVMJ

Just been watching a Michael Jackson special on MTV! What a great loss to the world of entertainment,... what a great loss to the world!

LIVE TWICE IN JAPAN

Needed a good laugh, so I just started watching 007, You Only Live Twice, the 1967 Bond flick set in Japan. It features everything I enjoy, Japanese scenery and Japanese girls,....
Helicopter action, especially Bell 47-G action (above)...... a Brantly B3, a gyrocopter, and in one part of the movie, an Aerospatielle Llama.......
How's this?? Both helicopters and castles! According to the movie, Bond lands in the chopper at a "secret Ninja training centre north of Tokyo",... in real life, it is the National Treasure and World Heritage ranked Himeji Castle about 400 km SOUTH of Tokyo.  Some of the scenes and Hollywood images of Japan are laughable, but hey, it's entertainment, Mr. Bond!

TODAYS FASHION

Today's fashion point is a shirt I bought in Nagoya by brand Tornado Mart..I have quite a few of their jackets, shirts, suits and pants... This shirt is a light weight short sleeved casual shirt.
The shirt features a reptilian leather pattern and on the left collar, a stylised FIRE looking motif in embroidery. Something cool on a hot summers day!

ROCKAMENCO

Thursday July 23. Went to see Japanese Rock Vs Flamenco band, ROCKAMENCO at Nagoya's Apollo Theatre. They really are great musicians, and every performance is hi energy rock with a flamenco twist! Rockamenco ROCK!

LUNCH

Lunch today consisted of a toasted ham and cheese sandwich, a bottle of GYM energy drink and some little cake breads, marketed as Little Mr. Black and Little Mr. White....
Really, how can you even think of eating something that looks back up at you with cute little eyes as tho' to say, "Please, don't eat me,...". Honestly, I had to shut my eyes when devouring him,...

D'OH! MURPHEY'S!

Bought some CD labels for a recent recording session, but the store only had 17mm holed labels. "No probs," I thought, the label press has interchangeable settings,...so being in a rush, I bought them and raced back to the office. Yes, the label press has various sized settings, however not as small as 17mm,...D'OH!

MOTHER...?

Conferring with my manager, Yuka.   Manager?? Mother is probably closer to the mark! I tend to forget who's company it is we work for, she's more like the boss than I am! Look at this photo for example,... she's telling me to "Shut up and listen!",...Yes Boss, ...Yes Mum...

ECLIPSE

Today, the southern islands of Japan were treated to a total solar eclipse. In Nagoya, 2 thirds of the sun was blocked out at 11:20am. I experienced a total eclipse in October 1976 while living in Millicent in the SE of South Australia. That was great! As the sun suddenly went behind the moon and the world went dark, all the birds started panicking, chirping wildly and flying off to their nests,..our pet cat yawned and went to sleep,...2 and a half minutes later, the moon's shadow passed and the world slowly got brighter again.

PILOTS

Saturday 18th,...Flew by helicopter from Nagoya to Osaka to pick up a friend's brand new, just delivered helicopter, then flew tandem back to Nagoya. From Nagoya, we then flew on to Yaizu to take part in a small festival and operate a joy flight service.

That night, a special dinner for the pilots was put on by a local hotel. Dinner was tuna. 

Raw tuna, raw tuna, boiled tuna, raw tuna, baked tuna, and more raw tuna....

That Saturday night, the other pilots and I (above, Hashimoto San and I ) were commenting how there hadn't been any helicopter  incidents or accidents of late. The next day, Sunday late afternoon we flew home. The next morning, Monday 20th came news that the Chairman of the HCJ (Japan Helicopter Association) had been flying in adverse weather conditions and he, his passenger and helicopter were missing somewhere over Tottori Prefecture, Western Japan. Now, 2 and a half days later, they still haven't found him. 

MONTHLY BUSINESS MEETING

Friday 17th, went out for dinner with a small business group...interestingly enough, no one spoke business! Nice to relax instead!

NEW PRIUS

Took a ride in the latest hybrid car, the new Prius over the weekend. They really are a silent vehicle, which has me worried, if these silent hybrid cars become the norm, what are the hoons and street drag racers of the future going to do to annoy people and announce their presence?

G- STUDIO

In the G-Factory studio recording a video narration for a local limousine rental company...

ROVER IS HOME!

She's ba~ck...My car has come back from the garage with a clean bill of health after having it's annual check and a few bits and pieces fixed...clean is the key word here!
On the way home from the garage, with the car perfectly clean inside and out, (thanks to the team at Watanabe Jidousha garage,) ...it rained,..typical!

NEW COLA

Japanese beverage maker Asahi has released it's own cola, Simple and Quality Cola. Thankfully it tastes better than the name. It doesn't have the rich cola flavor of Coke, and isn't as gassy as Pepsi,...it's somewhere behind Pepsi and Virgin cola. The bubbles are smaller, and there isn't any nasty after taste like in the diet colas. I give it 7.5 out of ten!

JONATHAN ROSS

Currently reading the Sunday Times bestseller, "Why Do I Say These Things?" by British TV and Radio personality, Jonathan Ross. It's quite a good read, and some of the comments and situations have had me laughing out loud, or wincing as his similar experiences mirror mine.

I guess the lesson to be learned here is, if at first you don't succeed, try, try... to keep your mouth shut!

OKU HANAKO

Today's special guest on my radio program, PMi , was Japanese artist, Oku Hanako. Her 4th album, Birthday was released today,...and it isn't even her birthday!
Hanako wears glasses despite having 20-20 vision,...there's no lens in the frame. 

WISH EGG

This is a Wish Egg. There's a small hole in the end in which you're supposed to whisper your wish. That wish will grow inside the egg and hatch. Problem is, my wish list is too long for one whisper, and too big for one egg. Perhaps I'll keep it for one special wish....

FOX'S WEDDING

Although a few clouds, it was a bight, sunny day overhead....

But raining...In Japan, the saying goes, that when it's raining on a sunny day, it's a sign that the local foxes (long believed to be spirits) are getting married.  That or there's a spitting competition being held on a nearby building.

SOMETIMES EVEN MONKEYS...

There's a saying in Japan that goes:

Sometimes Even Monkeys Fall From Trees.

In other words, no one is perfect. 

This photo is for an advertising agency in Nagoya that purports to stage ENENTS, while in Japanese below, it says eVents... I'm so glad they realised their mistake and corrected the sign,... 2 months after it went up in the Central Park Underground Shopping arcades.