U2 GUITAR

In an attempt to provide for a more Media / Radio image for the PPF offices, the Japanese antiques have been put away, and instead the R&R memorabilia is being dragged out! This guitar, purchased at a charity auction last year, has been on display in the PPF Studio, but is now on the wall in the main office......
This framed guitar has been signed by all members of U2, and is surrounded by a montage of U2 albums and singles. As mentioned, the PPF offices are being transformed into a more media friendly image... More updates on the transformation soon!

HARD ROCK LUNCH

Sun. Aug. 30.  Lunch today was at the Hard Rock Cafe, Nagoya,... a HRC Bacon Cheeseburger. Just looking around has given me a few ideas about re-decorating the PPF office. Manager Yuka has been complaining that it doesn't much resemble a Radio and Media production company and Radio School, and I have a few bits and pieces that may give it that media / radio image she envisages...

OASIS ENDS?

Noel Gallagher has quit Oasis!  Minutes before a live in France last night, the two brothers quarreled and Liam smashed Noels' guitar, prompting Noel to walk out on the band and announce his leaving on the official OASIS website. Apparently they haven't spoken for some time. They take separate travel arrangements on tour, and apart form being on stage together, ignore each other completely.

Oasis are one of my favorite bands, I've seen them 4 times. I chatted with Noel Gallagher at one of the radio stations I worked at in 2003. He did an interview with one of the other DJ's and really ripped into him when the DJ asked some pretty lame questions. When I had the chance to talk with him, Noel asked "Do YOU own this place?" to which I answered "Not yet,..." He was good with me and was interested in Japan and what I do here. 

SAMURAI ARMOUR CRAFTING

There's been quite a bit of interest shown in my Samurai armour of late, and so on my History Blog, accessible via my Japanese home page, (and only in Japanese too) I've put up the "Making Of" series of pictures and details. If you read Japanese, do have a look, otherwise, enjoy the pics.
This is me in '94 when I first got involved in armour making and made my first Kabuto helmet.

15 years ago,... Must be getting old!

ARIA AWARDS SHOCK

Aug. 27th was the night of the ARIA Awards. (Australian Recording Industry Association) It was also the night 5 Australian artists were inducted into the ARIA Hall Of fame. This morning I had 2 great shocks! First was on hearing who had been inducted. One was John Paul Young, who had the hits Love Is In The Air, Yesterdays Hero, Soldier Of Fortune etc etc in the 70's and 80's.... Wow, that's great I thought, and so I clicked to see the pictures......................

"Blooody Hell!" Were the first words to escape my lips. John Paul Young is no longer Young! If I hadn't read the caption, I wouldn't have recognised him...even after reading the caption, I STILL don't recognise him!! Then came the next great shock. One of my all time favorite Australian bands, Mental As Anything had been inducted...and rightly so, they've had more songs on the charts than any other Australian artist. Then came their picture.............
I met the Mentals in 1987, while at radio station 5MU. The Mentals played at the Murray Bridge and Districts Community Club.  I was On Air that night, but rushed around after the shift and caught the last of the gig, and then the radio station party with the band. I also stole the Mentals "Best Of" poster from the radio station studio wall and got the guys to sign it! My memories are of asking Reg Mombassa for his autograph. He looked kind of scary as I approached, but after introducing myself and asking for his sign, he broke into a big grin and was very friendly. Martin Plaza asked if I played guitar, I said, "no, why?" He said he thought I looked like a guitarist,... Ah, memories.  Anyway, looking at the photo, I was shocked, like John Paul Old, the Mentals had all aged!  But then again, after 17 years in Japan, so have I....

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

I was working in the Armour room at the PPF office, cleaning out some junk and re-setting the armour upon its return from Tokyo, when my manager thought it was awfully quiet. When she turned around to check, there was no Chris....

Ta Daaaaaa~ The boss was in the box!

When PPF's Gyoten Kun came in, I surprised him too by suddenly popping out of the box with a roar,....
Just managed to curl up and fit inside, and wait for the others to turn up...ah, the fun you can have with a cardboard box!  And at work too,...  How old am I again?

RAY

New sunnies purchased in L.A., first time on today and naturally Ray Ban! 

NIKU KAI

Once a month I get together with a business group for a dinner and to celebrate the birthdays of any members from that month. This month there were 4 members having a birthday, one turned 50, 2 became 42 and one celebrated 38 years. Once again, more gossip that business, but that's the fun of it I guess...

IN PRINT

Tues. Aug. 25.  79.5FM Radio-i director, Natsuhara is reading the paper, and seems quite interested in one of the feature articles...wonder what he's reading about.....
Oh gosh, it's me! Well how would you be!... Perhaps he's a fan!??! I appeared in today's Chunichi Newspaper talking about travel and exciting places I've visited. Not that there's been that many, but two of the places I focused on were the Mars like desert spikes of rock,  "The Pinnicles" in Western Australia, and the Indy Jones like location, "Ayutaiya Temple" in Thailand. Also talked about the trip by helicopter from Melbourne Australia to Nagoya Japan in '05.

BIG MAC

At last,  my new computer! A big i-Mac. Only just fits in the recess on my desk too! It is so fast. Used to be that I'd get to the office, turn the computer on, then do the rounds, switching on lights, radio, opening windows, tidying up, ...waiting about 15 minutes for the thing to get itself in order, then at last I could check mail etc. Naturally opening mail would be a time consuming chore, taking about 5 to 10 mins.

Now, the on switch goes on, and less than 15 seconds later, she's ready to run!  probably because it's empty right now, but what a great feeling, being able to get to work straight away!

NEW CAMERA

Got myself another new toy. After my trusty digital camera died recently, I had to get a new one. This time a 12 mega pixel (sounds impressive, but what does that mean?)F525 Panasonic Lumix.
Got a big screen too... Must find the time to read the manual and learn how to use it.

McFRUSTRATED

For the last 4, nearly 5 years I've been plugging away with this early model iMac. It started getting slower and slower. In the morning, I'd wake up, turn it on, and it would be ready to use by the time I finished having a shower and getting dressed. Even then, it would often freeze just opening mail or Yahoo. (It was the only thing to freeze on a hot August day!) The screen was starting to break up, and was marred with vertical lines of various colour interrupting the vision, the keyboard was playing up and would often miss the space bar...so at last I took the leap and went to the Apple store. Good thing too, when I got back, the old beast had died,..glad I took this final photo before it finally packed it in wheezing like a grumpus...

First my digital camera, now the computer,...what next,...Not the CAR!?!?!

I'LL DRINK TO THAT!

Beverage maker Kirin have released a new drink called Diablo Ginger,...it's rather like South Australia's Stoney Ginger Beer in taste, although perhaps not as strong or as natural tasting. I would have preferred a stronger ginger taste, as Stoney you could feel going down as far as between your lungs,...this Diablo you can only feel as far as your throat. Still, I love ginger beer, so I'll be drinking it,...they'll make a Kirin, er, a killing out of me! And I'll drink to that!

THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN...

Japanese current affairs magazine PEN is running a Samurai themed Japanese history special this month...
There are articles on Japanese castles,...
and on the crests of the major Samurai clans....
and even on Samurai armour,...at last it looks as though Japan is about to have a revival in interest in it's own history and culture. And about time too!  For too long Japan has been abandoning it's culture and forgetting it's own unique history. I think we saw more people with an interest in Japan in Los Angeles last week than you'd normally find in Japan!

TALK BATTLE OF SEKIGAHARA

Sun. Aug. 23. In the NHK TV studios Tokyo for the filming of the special "Sekigahara Night".
At first was a brief rehearsal for standing positions and lighting checks....
Then I got changed into my Samurai armour,....
and then joined the programme with 30 Battle of Sekigahara "fans" to discuss the great Samurai battle in depth.
Part of the set was this recreation of the famous battles folding screens,...I wanted to take this home with me after the show,... The Sekigahara talk battle goes to air on Japan's NHK BS1 Sept. 11, and part 2 on the 18th.

ROCKETING ROTORS!

Sat. Aug. 22. With Radio-i DJ David Yanase at Hachiya Heliport. Took David and his wife up for a look at the fireworks festival at Mino Kamo.
We flew in a friends' brand new R-44, complete with air conditioning. (don't know why you need air conditioning when you've got that bloody big fan on the roof,...)

The fireworks were spectacular from the air...

Glad to hear David enjoyed it too!

CURRY AGAIN?

Sat. 22. Lunch today was curry and Nan at the local Indian Restaurant. I think that in every city in every country, there is an Indian restaurant named the Taj Mahal, just as there is a Chinese restaurant called the Lotus Garden and an Italian restaurant called Don something-or-other in every city in every country...

I GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP...

Fri. Aug. 21. Had a call from a media friend. He and some friends (above) were out drinking and called to see if I'd join them. An hour later, we were talking excitedly about some business plans and so decided to "drop in" on a cameraman friend who had recently moved and lived near by.... A minute later we were entering on of Nagoya City's landmark buildings....
My friend was living in one of this city's most famous tower buildings...this is his view from the 13th floor!

TO TOKYO

My set of Samurai armour sits on display in my living room. I have three permanently on display, but this is my main set. Last weekend, due to weight restrictions, I couldn't take my set to America with me,  but this coming Sunday I'll be in Tokyo for a TV recording of  2 nationally televised programs on NHK. The programs center on the greatest of all Samurai battles, Sekigahara! Part of the program will include a "Samurai fashion show", hence my set is off to Tokyo today!

Early today I packed it all into it's display box for transporting to Tokyo....

...and the courier came to pick it up this afternoon. The space where it usually stands in my living room now looks so open,...it's like a live-in friend has left, and the room is empty.

HAPPY 91st

Aug 19. On the phone chatting to my Grandfather who celebrates his 91st birthday today! Happy Birthday Granddad!

FAREWELL L.A.

After the parade thru' the streets of LA, the team returned to the hotel, packed their gear for sending back to Japan before heading off to a wrap up party...
"Captain" Katsumata celebrated a birthday and wanted a kiss...not likely! Bright and early next morning it was off to LAX and home to Japan!

SAMURAI ON PARADE

Sun 15. The final performance of the Samurai team in L.A. was the parade. The procession commenced with the Police Motorcycle Team...
naturally, the military played a part with uniforms and vehicles from WW2 to present....
Nagoya's Mayor Kawamura was riding in an open car along the 2 and a half Km course through the streets of LA and Little Tokyo...
Nagoya's float commemorating the LA-Nagoya 50th anniversary featured Deputy Police Chief Terry Hara in Japanese nobleman's costume, and star of karate Kid 2, actress Tomita as the Princess
The Samurai team marched in formation, breaking out into sword battles every few hundred meters along the course. When we fought the battles, the crowd would cheer on their favourite samurai. It was interesting to hear them go Oooooow, when one of us was "cut down".

SAMURAI MEET THE LOCALS 1

After the performance, the team and I wandered the event area meeting the locals and posing for photos.
Everybody enjoyed the chance to interact with the locals and talk to people about their armour and weapons. There were so many interested people, but never enough time to talk to them all.
In the middle is Terry Hara, deputy Chief of Police and Chairman for the Japan Week parade and events. Thanks largely to Terry, the team was able to visit L.A. and take part in the celebrations. Pictured here with Terry and the team are the parade Queens...