JAPAN RECAP-
Here’s an abbreviated version of my trip to Japan. If you want granular detail and full videos, may I suggest checking out my Patreon page. I have been posting exclusive content for my Patreon supporters since my first day in Japan. I still have lots of footage and stories to tell so consider becoming a supporter.

The early 90’s was the time that I started considering visiting Japan. I dated a Japanese student at UNT when I lived in Denton and I started noticing Japanese bands that were touring the US. VHS tape trading and rental dubbing was also a source of Japanese bands and pop culture. More specifically, the VHS compilation “Where the Action Is”

Fast forward to the time spent under COVID  and I start watching lots of videos about Japan and how to visit on a budget. Just like many others, I decided that 1- I could afford a trip to Japan and 2- That I could perform while I was there. I bought my ticket 6 months in advance and then started to plan my visit. I buy the JR Pass, which is an all you can ride pass for 2 weeks on most JR trains and Shinkansen bullet train. I also bundle it with a pocket WIFI hotspot.

I had contacted several people in advance and I managed to arrange 3 performances. I had a plan that was loosely fitted around those performances plus one special appearance by Seji of Guitar Wolf. I had a reservation for one night at the capsule hotel in Shinjuku with the intention of figuring out my hotel situation on the fly. I had a plan on how to pull off my live show and also perform on the street.

September 12^th finally arrives and I’m on the plane to Japan. The flight is about 13 hours but it wasn’t a beating. I managed to get some rest with my eyes closed but I wouldn’t call it sleep. I watched documentaries on Little Richard & Muhammad Ali and listened to Jim Cornette’s podcasts. The flight was over before I knew it and I was in Japan. This is where things go South and I realize that I didn’t plan well enough.

I get to the JR office and I don’t have the vouchers for my rail pass or my WIFI hotspot. I have all of the receipts and the conformation/transaction numbers printed up but not the actual vouchers. The rail employee tried very had to confirm with that info but eventually realized that she couldn’t do anything without the physical vouchers. I had to buy another 2 week rail pass and rent another WIFI hotspot. That transaction went through on my credit card but I couldn’t buy an IC card (a rechargeable credit card) or getting cash was asking me for a PIN. I converted my $25 in pocket money into Yen, bought a ticket on a bus to Tokyo with my credit card (because my pass didn’t start until the next day) and went to the capsule hotel to regroup.

I spent the next few days sorting out my credit card situation and I was finally able to concentrate on enjoying Japan. I am staying at a capsule hotel in the middle of Kabukicho, Shinjuku. This is the most tourist centric section of Tokyo and it is packed with restaurants, bars and adult entertainment establishments

My next trip was to Hiroshima to visit DUMB records and then to Matsuyama to see Seji, Guitar Wolf and his one man show at Hoshizora Jett nightclub. I wasn’t able to get any capsule hotels in either city, so I had to get slightly more expensive business hotels. Hiroshima was a bust as I walked to DUMB records but they were closed. At least I got some decent sleep in a real bed. I got to Matsuyama in the afternoon and didn’t have a lot of time to rest before I went to the club. It was nice walking from my hotel to the entertainment district of Matsuyama. I needed to get there early so I could talk to Seiji and the owner of the club & make contacts for the future. Seiji then did his show called “Rock N Roll Jett School”. That’s when “Rock N Roll Jet Lag”caught up with me and I began nodding off. I managed to stay awake and really enjoyed the show. I wanted to hang out and try to talk to Seiji more but I was really starting to crash and I needed sleep, so I walked back to the hotel.

The trip back was 6 1/2 hours on the Shinkansen and I was lucky to be able to shoot footage of the amazing scenery. A lady was sitting in the window seat on the trip down from Hiroshima, and she didn’t want me shooting footage over her shoulder. I made sure to reserve a window seat for the trip back and it was worth it. The coastline scenery and the views from the bridges were amazing. My Patreon supporters have access to the full video if you’re interested in checking it out.

 
I’m back in Shinjuku on Sept 18^th and the next day is my birthday so I went to the Rock Inn Dice at midnight on my birthday and got pleasantly buzzed. The owner of Ichikura-ya Ramen invited me to come back the next day for a free bowl of ramen and it was amazing. I had scoped out many guitar stores in Tokyo and also went to the second hand store called “Hard Off”.  After  going to all of the places I could, I finally settled on a guitar and amp at the Koenji store. After adding on a cable and gig bag, the total came to about $110. I made sure to get lots of footage for my Patreon supporters, who got to see my guitar shopping adventures.

On the evening of the 19^th I had reserved a slot at the Ruby Room, which is Tokyo’s most famous Open Mic night. The performance didn’t go as well as I would have liked and there was some miscommunication but now I could say that I played Tokyo. I met DJ Yugo for the first time. We hung out afterwards, had a few drinks and then called it a night.

It’s off to Fukui with an appearance at Bar Style and I finally get to meet Kussie Marr, the drummer for URAMONES, a Fukui Ramones Tribute Band. Most of the URAMONES band was there to pick me up, take me to lunch and then to the hotel. That’s when I noticed the second instance of people offering me a fork with my ramen. I told them that I had been practicing with chopsticks months before I got there and that I didn’t need the “gaijin fork”. They all thought that was funny. We got me checked into the hotel and then walked across the street to the JR station where I made reservations for a seat on the train back to Tokyo the next day. Next, we went to the URAMONES rehearsal studio and played Ramones songs for about an hour until it was time to go to the club and get set up. Thursday the 21^st was normally an open mic night but they made me a feature performer for the night which gave me 2 sets that equaled about 45 minutes. All of the open mic performers did 2 sets as well. The staff was very accommodating and Reiko the bartender translated for me because she spent time in the states. We all hung around afterwards, ate some noodles and we talked about the differences between music scenes in our different countries. After a great night in a real bed, I woke up and headed to the train station (right across the street from the hotel) and there was Kussie, waiting for his own train. We talked for a while and he made sure I got on the right train. I had learned by now to write down every piece of info I could about the two trains I was taking because there is very little time between the the two trains when you transfer. It was about 4 1/2 hours back to Tokyo/Shinjuku and back to the capsule hotel.

It’s time to talk about the capsule hotel. If you don’t know what “capsule” means, basically, there are sleep pods made of fiberglass molded tubes. The “mattress” is a thin pad and you had better not be over 6 feet tall. I stayed at the “Shinjuku Kuyakusho-mae Capsule Hotel” right in the middle of Kabukicho Shimjuku. You get a locker about as big as a high school locker and there is an shower area with a sauna and onsen. Needless to say, this is not the kind of accommodations you want if you are shy. Suffice it to say that there is no privacy at this hotel. Plus, they always seemed to put the snoring guy right near me (those fiberglass pods vibrate and amplify snoring).  Kabukicho is the place they always call the “red light district” in the Youtube videos and they weren’t kidding. I couldn’t walk 100 feet down the street without getting talked up by the “Touts” (people who try to get you into their clubs for drink scams and the brothel in the back). All I wanted to do was go get something to eat, so I always declined their offers. I did manage to take the camera on a trip around Kabukicho but I didn’t feel comfortable recording everywhere I went. This is a good time to talk about IRL Streamers, Youtubers and Ugly Americans.

As I said before, I didn’t feel so bad about taking a camera around Kabukicho because even the Japanese people were doing it. However, there is something going on right now in Japan that made me feel a bit more self conscious. There are a lot of Westerners who simply walk down any street and record video with no courtesy or regard to other people’s privacy.  There are even streamers and Youtubers who become aggressive and start harassing the locals. These people have become so disliked in Japan that people are attacking them on the streets. I really didn’t want to be that guy, so I limited my recording to tourist areas and asking permission from individual businesses (mostly guitar stores) before recording. I was also worried about smelling bad because it was humid as hell and I sweated constantly. I even brought a hand towel and extra T Shirt at all times just to keep from smelling bad. I tried everything I could not to be “Ugly American Joe”. There was one Ugly American at my hotel that had an entitled attitude with the staff as he complained that there was ni WIFI. I later saw him at the Japan Rail office complaining that he left his passport at the hotel and that his American Driver’s License was all the ID he needed.

One of the things I did while in Shinjuku was to scope out potential busking spots. I saw this one guy playing guitar and he was in what could be considered the best spot in the area. It was sprinkling when I got back to the hotel but I thought I’d take the guitar and amp out to see if I could play on the street for a while. I had an umbrella and it wasn’t really that bad for a while but the rain got more heavy. I found a spot under an overhang but I soon found out that it was private property because a police officer told me I had to move. He was sympathetic, though and pointed to a tunnel that ran under the train line and it connected 2 parts of Shinjuku. Although it was a high traffic area and safe from the rain, people weren’t tipping and I attracted the attention of a homeless man who wasn’t too happy with my presence, so I packed up and went back to the hotel.

The next day I went to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant called “Sushiro” and documented my meal for my Patreon supporters. I didn’t feel so subconscious about it because I got there right when they opened and made sure I wasn’t bothering anyone. Then I explored some more and got back to the hotel. The next night would be my gig at Rock Inn Dice. I showed up at the RnD and DJ Yugo was there to help me get set up. This club holds approximately 20 people and I think at least 25 people came in and out that night but about 15 people were there just to see me. One of the most important people to show up was Yuki, the founder and president of the Ramones Fan Club Japan. I did 2 sets and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. I wish I could get that kind of enthusiasm in the US. Yuki asked me how long I was going to be in town and I said I was leaving Wednesday the 27^th. She invited me to go have a drink with her and her husband Tuesday night. After the gig, I walked back to the hotel and I can’t remember being as happy as I was that night.

The next day, I went to Shibuya to record the famous Shibuya Scramble crossing and looked for buskers. I found an entire band playing right next to the Harajuku station and found out later that you have to apply for a permit to do so. I went back to Shinjuku, picked up my guitar and amp at the hotel and headed out to busk. As luck would have it, there was no rain and the spot I coveted so much was open. I estimate that I played for about 5 hours that night and earned some decent money. I went back the next night and busked for about 3 hours. I have lots of footage of the buskers I encountered as well as my own, which is available to my Patreon supporters.

Tuesday, I went back to Hard Off and sold my guitar and amp back to them. I got about half what I spent, which was OK with me. I also made sure to organize my bags to go leave for Texas the next day. Yuki asked me to meet her at Koenji station, where we would see her friend busk by the station. He only got one song out when a police officer approached and told him to move. I was surprised at how patient the officer was because the busker was taking his time to pack up, while the officer just stood there. In America, if police tell you to move on and you don’t hop to it, you would probably end up with a ticket or even to be arrested. Yuki, her husband and I then went to a bar where we had lots of different meats on a skewer. We talked about Ramones and an old children’s show called “Gimmie Gimmie Octopus”. She said she enjoyed my show very much and asked if I was coming back to Japan. I replied that I was definitely going to come back and she said she would help me the next time.

I had to check out at 10am but my flight didn’t leave until 6:30pm so I put my bags in a locker at Tokyo station and walked around for a few hours. I had a nice bowl of Terriyaki Chicken ramen and then headed to the Narita airport. After returning my pocket WIFI hotspot and converting my Yen back to US Dollars, I boarded the plane for the 10 hour trip back. I spent the whole plane ride half sleeping and listening to audiobooks and then made it back home.

It’s been a week or so since I got back and my sleep schedule is still interrupted. All in all, despite the initial drama, the trip was a success and I am going to start saving up for the next trip. I added up my expenses and estimate I spent approximately $3040 if you don’t count the $500 I spent on an extra JR pass and internet. I have applied for a refund and hope to recoup that loss.
Would I do it again? HELL YES I WOULD
I am not even half way through posting all of the footage and extended stories of my adventures in Japan for my Patreon supporters, so please go to my profile and consider signing up.
Thanks for reading.
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