bikes galore

some of the best cruisers and road bikes i've ever lusted over. here are just a few i thought were interesting or just looked cool.

there was a girl who rode past on a dark colored bike with white sidewalls and a white chain, dope.

outside of the originalfake store:

I noticed that places that sold high end urban streetwear (mom, think fubu but 10 years later and much much cooler) streetwear kids usually had single speeds outside the stores.

they don't wear those massive locks new yorkers where. just a little lock on the back and they don't lock them up to things.

and no aileen, i didn't see one person who wasn't on a motor bike with a helment...but they all so have to ride on the sidewalks so...

My last full day

 Right now it is about 9 am on my last full day in Japan. There is still so much to say and show you. I wish I could live blog every moment. I'm doing my best to buy something for everyone but i'm quickly realziing i have not nearly enough money to do so. I think i spent everything and still haven't bought myself anything. can you believe it? Okay, maybe a small watch or two. What I think i'll do is set up everything I've picked up and having a little gathering sometime next week at the crib and if you come you can have something or at least see all the cool and interesting things. Of course i'll photograph everything.

My brain hurts...

It was just too much! Too many colors, too many lights, too many products. Sorry Dad, the camera isn't any cheaper here.

This is how they had the cell phones displayed. There were some nice things I noticed about the phones the most notible being the display resolution - much higher than even the iphone's. Some phones have your credit card linked to them so you can just swipe your phone instead of a card. Also, some bilboards have a little barcode kinda thing and you can swipe your phone and get more information.

My eyes! They were bleeding at this point.

3 isles of headphones

Cell phone straps and charms.

WHERE BROOKLYN AT!?

Last night we went out to a club called ShibuyaNUTS and I realized nothing gets me more hype then representing Brookyn, NYC. Thank you Biggie and Jay-z. ps. the DJs were incredible. Mayumi and saw DJ Premier spin here last weekend.

a better photobooth

Since Kate and I didn't get a chance to do it I asked Miho is she would regress back to 15 and join me in a photobooth. They are called Puri-kura (Japanese short for Print club...thanks Mish!)

So imagine a huge arcade with a section of 6 - 10 of these booths. There are all sorts of themes as you can see from the curtains and graphics. Pick a booth, go inside and sit on these green steps (like a movie green screen). Then pick how many photos you want and the theme of each. Take a few photos just like a regular photobooth and you're done. or so i thought...

We went out to the back of the booth and started adding our own graphics to the photos! Add all kind of graphics, short phrases, glittery things, stars, fairy dust, and cartoon characters. about 80 different pen color/stroke options. It was way too fresh.

you know i was all about doodling on photos! I could done this forever.

oh! you can also pick one and email it to your phone. Okay, so who wants to go in with me and pick up a few of these booths? Instead of having the photos sent to your phone you can send it to your facebook or myspace. Instant profile photo switch up. That would be money in the bank. Why has no one done that here in the states yet?

A short blog posting break.

I'm taking a little break from walking around so I can update this site. I've been in Tokyo for 3 days now and haven't been able to put up one post about it. I don't want to leave you all too behind. And I was out again unitll 6am last night which left me with about 3 hours of sleep. I will tell you about it soon enough. Remember you have to view the post to see most of the photos. Don't be lazy b. get off your RSS reader and jump to the site. Keep commenting!

ps, i have 3 days left and i'm already up to over 3000 photos...sigh. who taught me that i need shoot and shoot and shoot. Thank god for Adobe Lightroom. It makes my travel photo journaling so easy.

BK x Miyota

After a couple of hours talking with Miho and driving around her city i realized it is Springfield's twin. I can't wait to put up the post all about the cars! They are so tiny!

It's Grandma! She was very nice. She gave me 3 oranges and two charms she makes herself. Miho said she really wanted to speak to me but didn't know any english to say.

BIG BOY!? Snipper, you would also feel right at home here...but i guess they don't have any hamburgers....all bad.

The first then I saw in Tokyo when I came out of the subway stop was a Denny's. Don't worry, i haven't eaten there and i promise i won't.

Notice how the chairs are all different? That is how we want to set up our kitchen when ever we get around to buying a new table.

Yushi Cafe is easily the best cafe i've been to thus far. It is perfect. The interior was eclectic - kinda japanese, kinda vintage, kinda hip designy. They were playing Billie Holiday and the latte was good. 

Word button.

Off to Ueda

Mari, this is for you. I was thinking about which runs we would attempt to snowboard down. I could see a few paths and a lift from here.

Photos with cell phones.

Ah, the super quick shinkansen. It goes about 188 mph.

I met Miho via flickr this past March. We met up when she was visiting brookyn and walked around my hood for the day. Fast forward 8 months later and she is waiting for me at the Ueda station in Nagano, Japan.

Our lunch.

Miyota...amazing

Thanks to Miho I just arrived back at my hotel after the most amazing day in Japan yet (it is 5 am my time). I'm downloading photos and maybe tomorrow i'll be able to post some things up before I catch the bullet train (shinkosen) up to Tokyo.

I'm leaving Kanazawa in the morning

I'm not posting things chronilogically only because i'll get way too behind if i do. A few things I want to show are:

Signage / Wayfinding systems Store fronts transportation food kanazawa castle fall colors women's fashion

and a bunch of other things. do you have any ideas?

Saying Hello

My bad for the slight delay. Just think of it as being an over-dub from an old japanese movie.

muji muji muji

I love Muji. I've been using muji notebooks exclusivly for the past few years. For a while you could only get them at the MoMa store in NYC. Now I can the notebooks and a ton of other things at their new SoHo store. I checked it out just before I left so i could remember what things the Japan stores would have that didn't make it over. Little did i know i would find Muji products in the FamilyMart (think Dairy Mart or 7Eleven) store around the corner! Then I found a full on store yesterday in the mall. WORD. I would get everyone gifts from here if i could.

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I didn't get much, just a few small things but I plan on getting much more in Tokyo. I think the flagship store is there.

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rubik cube

Blazey, you know i had to get this shades of grey rubik's cube for you.

Any other black folks here?

Mom sent me an email asking. Instead of just replying back to her I'll just answer it here. No.

In fact there are very few people of any ethnicity other than Japanese here. Even the tourist all seem to be Japanese. I've seen a few non asian folks touring around but i haven't seen one...wait, i did see a black couple when i got off the train in Kyoto.

Today i sat outside Starbucks for about an hour at a pretty busy intersection and only noticed 4 non asians and two of those were a JET employee and his father.

Not all shrines and old things...

Before i get carried away with the age old photos of shrines, temples, giesha and seafood, let me briefly show you why i can't wait to get to Tokyo. I didn't get to do any window shopping in Kyoto but today I was in full "bk must find some fresh shops" mode. happen to run into this little gem. Blazey, what size AirMax do you where again? I saw a couple fresh pair in here.

Kicks & Garment Mart, Kanazawa.

Also, not all the bikes are cruisers w/ baskets on the front. I've seen a few ridiculously hot bikes in passing.

I promise, more photos of modern japan coming in the next few days

Omi-Cho Market. Kanazawa

Do I get lonely?

I was replying to a message that Mari sent me and I thought it might be a good thing to post: I wouldn't say i really enjoy traveling alone as much as I thought I did. It's probably because of you all. I find myself thinking, sometimes out loud, ah Mari would freaking love this or, AILEEN! or I'll want to turn to blazey and say something about homegirl that just passed by or how hilarious that sign is. So no, it isn't as fun as traveling with my friends especially since we've been on some amazing trips together. I've started to get used to experiencing the best times with all of you NYC kids, but that isn't to say I get lonely. Why? It is because i have my camera.

Every time i take a photo i'm thinking about somebody back home. Honestly, next to me just wanting to see japan i really came to photograph it for folks who couldn't and maybe will never make it over. So when i'm going around town getting lost it's cool 'cause all along the way i'm talking photos with people back home in mind. I did the same thing in Zurich. I kept thinking about how I wanted to show loren and ebony everything i experienced.  Now a new huge motivator is  all the random folks i've met and keep in touch with via this world wide web.

Yeah, it is really difficult to get around here and not know any japanese. Several of the locations are in English but none of the directions are spelled out to you and very few people speak English. Once i met up with Kate and her friend it allowed me to not think about how to get places and how to do things and it freed me up to just have a good time and enjoy myself. It also gave me some time to get used to things and learn a bit more about the country so today when i leave kate's house in a few and ride her bike to the city it won't be that bad. When I head out to the next city and then to Tokyo I will be a bit more prepared. I'll be back to traveling around and taking photos and not worring about what or where i'm going.

I really do love this TV

Last night Marcia stopped over to get some photos of her new hair cut and a new facebook photo. Yes i'm the most awesome facebook/myspace profile photographer ever. I should set up shop in local malls 'round the country. I bet that would be a great short term business. Well anyway, I've been wanting to shoot with this televeision since i stole it off the street last year. It looks pretty dope with the white walls in my old office and soon-to-be chocolate and tan lounge/brainstorm/cigar & whisky room. Once I load all the photos up and process them i'll put a couple up.

Bedford Avenue Dancer

p.s. My flickr and this site will probalby be a bit redundant for awhile till i get kids used to coming here to find and comment on my new things.

it's coming down

I have a bad (or good) habit of collecting things. Not just that, i also want to see everything i've aquired at once. So what happens is i end up posting up everything in this middle school girl collage format. I'm not sure if it helps me be creative or causes me to loose focus. Either way we moved our desk into a single room and i figured it was time to take it down.

These images are from my last office at Fitch.