Farewell, My Wonderful Japan Bash

So long, and farewell.

The last post was over three years ago. The last post that I actually put some thought into was even further back in time, in 2016. It's quite obvious that this blog is no longer something I think about. And though I will keep the domain name registered for shits and giggles, I have a feeling the site is about to implode.

You see, I hosted all the photos on a website called Flickr. In the past, it was around $10 a year for a pro account. Then they sold the company. The new owners raised the price. While I redesigned www.ramenadventures.com into a new, non-Flicker-using portal for all things ramen, Japan Bash remains tied to this service.

I canceled it in February 2021. There is a large possibility that the 21,000 photos stored on their servers will disappear. 

I started Gaijin Bash (the original name) in 2006 when I moved from San Francisco, California, USA to Japan. I guess you could e-stalk me by starting at that first post.

So thank you for the views. In total 243,000 people viewed this site from the first post in 2006. I made around $500 in adsense revenue, though I think that is also including money from Ramen Adventures, which is kind of depressing considering that the site has many millions of views. Looking back, I think I did the blog thing incorrectly. I had friends who claimed their blogs were making real money. Blogs about things much less SEO friendly than ramen.

The most popular post was my Teaching in Japan writeup. I hope this post was genuinely useful to people. It was meant to be.

Keep in touch. I'm on every social media platform I can think of @ramenadventures. Look me up. YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, FaceBook, Twitch, Discord, Clubhouse. Sorry, no Mixi.

I'm Brian, and this was Japan Bash.

November, 2016

Nvmbr



Bikes! Bastards closed the road up Mt. Fuji because of snow and death, so this shot will have to do (I was planning on an epic shot halfway up the mountain).



Snow for the first time in November in Tokyo in something like 54 years. What to do on a cold day like this?



Eat Japanese shaved ice of course.



And rent bikes. My childhood buddy was in town, so he rented this 400cc Ducati and we drove up to Mt. Fuji. I took a quick spin on it. Love those 400cc bikes on twisty roads. We've talked about all getting 400cc project bikes out here, going all Mad Max on them, but I don't really have an extra place to keep another bike.

And if you think I'm moving somewhere bigger, guess again. Rejected from all the places I applied for. Either my whiteness of freelance status is to blame. Racist capitalist jerks.



My favorite restaurant teamed up with Shake Shack.



And the, a few days later, at that same restaurant . . .



This was the Gelinaz Shuffle, an event where 40 top chefs from around the world get mixed up and sent to other restaurants. Above is none other than Virgilio Martínez Véliz, the chef from Central in Lima. I had just been to his restaurant two months prior. Super random. My only criticism from the spot in Peru was that the chef didn't come by to meet the guests, and now I'm sitting in front of the guy.



The food was fun, and I was the only one there who isn't a full time foodie Instagrammer.



One of the dishes had poor man's caviar; Peruvian grains colored with squid ink.



Then, an hour later, my friend invited me to have some real caviar. Wish you could get these at the local 7-11.



Full-scale replica of a kaiten suicide submarine from WWII.



Now that I have my own sticker, I can stop dreaming.



But Daruma has other things in mind.

New Years resolution: less food shots, lest I become one of those aforementioned full time food Instagrammers.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

I'm not talking about leaving Japan here, I'm talking about moving from my apartment.

I've heard of a 7 year itch, but I've got a 5.5 year itch to move somewhere a bit nicer. Nicer how? Well, my spot now is pretty legit, the size is good, and it is near a few stations. But there are a few things that suck.

• The bathroom is ancient, a tiny thing meant for a little old lady at best. The tub just takes up space. It is impossible to keep clean.
• There is no view. Not only that, the window is frosted, so during the cold months I get nothing to look at.

For reference, here is a video I took a long time ago:



I'd like to move toward the Shimokitazawa area, which isn't too far from here. A real estate guy at a bar I frequent is helping me out this time. We found a few places that fit my criteria. The first one looked great on paper. A modern building, designer style. The layout is a bit like my current place, without the separate kitchen room, something I don't really feel I need. Japanese kitchens are never nice, and an unventilated room with no windows that takes up 1/3 of the apartment is a waste of space. I'd rather have a smaller kitchen, counter style.



This one is on the 1st floor, but it is actually a sub basement. So no natural light. And the size is just small enough to not work. Not seen in the video was a walk-in closet, which was neat. Cost for this place is around 130,000 yen ($1240)

Next!



This one has a decent layout, but nothing inside was that special. The awesome point being the rooftop balcony. If I really put my mind to it, I could turn that into an amazing deck / chillout space. I don't really have parties out here, so the idea of hosting barbecues and what not would probably never see the light of day. Cost is 150,000 yen ($1430). It's also next to a major road, so noisy AF.

Keep lookin!



Vertical filming, ごめん！I'm digging this spot. Up on the 9th floor of a 15 story building. The view is nice, looking north. You can see a bit of the Shinjuku skyline, but I just like being able to see the sky for once. A bit concerned about the layout, as it has strange diagonal geometry going on. How to visualize a bed?



Lay down some paper! Hmmmm, this might work. I'll probably never close that door, so if I change my current dark sheets for something light it would blend in nicely. Cost is 153,000 yen ($1457).

But wait, there's more!



The same apartment up on the 14th floor. Baller! The price goes up 7000 yen ($66) a month, but you don't have to pay the reikin, which is essentially a gift to the landowner of 1 month rent. So if you do the math, it is almost the same cost over a 2-year period.

Of course, none of these spots have a place for my motorcycle, so that is an extra 5000 - 10,000 yen a month for a spot at a local parking garage.

Time to spend some of that hard-earned ramen money on a life upgrade?

Tokyo Along the Waterfront

Rather boring photos turned into art because I made them black and white. Sorry, but that's how I feel at 90% of the photo exhibitions I see. Anyways, Tokyo's waterways are interesting, and you can operate a boat with less than 2 hp without a license.

Wedding Winner!

Weddings in Japan.  I don't know if my friends read this site, so I won't say anything bad.  But how do you rate a wedding?  With the take-home gift bag of course!  If you are ever out in Shibuya or Roppongi and see a group of people dressed to the nines, with matching fancy shopping bags, you can go 99% that they came from a wedding.  Living in Tokyo, seeing this sight, I came to imagine that the guests get hooked up with the funnest goodie bags ever.

The first wedding I went to in this country, they gave each of their guests two teabags.  Please don't give your guests two teabags.  Yeah, I'm petty, but I think most people secretly want to get hooked up with a bunch of presents.



A and Y's wedding wins, if this was any sort of contest.  Cake, candy, snacks, a choose-your-own-adventure prize catalog, and some fancy soap.  Oh, and a new iPad.

Actually, I won a quiz contest for the iPad.  Things are looking up for this guy!

Also, is it ok if I sell an iPad that I won at a friend's wedding?  I played with it for a couple days, and realized that it doesn't enhance my life that much.  It is fun to make the shiny things move around with my fingers, but after I checked the price of one of these, I would much rather put it towards my next motorcycle.

Or are there some apps that I am missing out on?  I travel a lot for work, and don't carry a computer, so I guess I could use this to check internet stuff.  Also, as someone who works part-time in the photography world, these tablets can be useful.  But usually creative people who have an iPad seem to be just showing off when they whip it out, and I don't want to be that guy.  Conflicted.

Back to the wedding.



Wow!  Real gold foil on my savory egg custard.  Tasteless, odorless gold.



I think he is talking about Per Se in that bit.



Thanks guys!

One Coin Fest in Hatagaya

My local hood of Hatagaya had it's monthly one coin festival recently. One coin? This concept is simple. One shiny gold coin (500 yen) gets you something. In this case, a bunch of the local bars were selling a drink and food combo for the low low price of about $5. Rad!

Yeah, there is a map with cute characters. Anyways, let's enjoy tasty meals and liquor and nice buddies!

Spice Market did a Thai curry with a Thai iced tea. With booze. Nice place to begin the day. The floral scented tea was a good 3pm drink.

Nothing wrong with drinking at 3pm. Actually, we started drinking at 10, but that's only because we had to wait in a 2 hour ramen line in the morning. That's a story for another site.

Miyazaki's is the best yakitori shop this side of Shinjuku. Cost performance, friendly atmosphere, and it's open until some insane hour. Actually, 500 yen seemed a bit high for a drink and food here.

Expensive cuts of wagyu, that well-marbled Japanese beef that the West tends to just call Kobe. Not part of the regular menu, though I quickly requested the addition. Miyazaki's is a late night place, and eating and drinking when it was still light out was made stranger by a gaggle of local children, ages 4 and under.

Miu Bar is an eclectic spot. My Japanese friends, who had never had limoncello, scoffed at the tiny shot of yellow liquor. But, like any good grain alcohol product, a small amount does the trick.

Food was meat on a stick. Eclectic. Then I realized that at the table next to me sat a fortune teller. Eclectic. If you go, check out the bathroom. It is, yeah, eclectic.

Bar-hopping is a good chance to check out some new spots. Ranpo is a little izakaya, serving up your standard izakaya fare. One of the best values of the day, a plate of sashimi and some Japanese sake.

The one coin event is put on by the Hatagaya Kiwamu League, which sounds like some sort Shriner organization, but translates to the Hatagaya Awesome League. Maybe not. Anyways, nice buttons! I want one! Turns out there is a stamp rally point card, and 10 stamps gets you a button. Don't do the math, that's an expensive button!

C'est l'heure is a tiny wine bar situated in the middle of everything. It's too convenient not to go. A standard evening of drinking in Hatagaya utilizes a top-down approach. If Miyazaki is full, we usually head to Hanawa Baby or Fanka, followed by the wine bar or Noisily. Yeah, those are the names of the places I drink at.

Bistro Remeets is a fresh face on the scene.

The aforementioned point card.

Remeets was baking up oysters in the broiler. Turned out that 2 of the 4 buddies present had allergies. Score! Double kaki.

Sorry, I totally forgot where this one was.

I've walked by Dining Bar Scuba many times. Turns out to be a Korean spot. Makori and some snacks. The winner for date spot of the lot, I guess. They charged us a seating fee, which was lame for a one coin event, but I think they brought us some extra kimchi or something.

Then we went and had ramen.

Sure, you can get good and drunk for cheap in Tokyo, maybe much less than the 7 or 8 coins I spent. But go for the local vibe thing. This is life on the West Side. From Koenji to Shimo . . . throw your ダボルs in the air!

New Year Snow

A bit of rain at 6:45pm. Not really an issue, as my motorcycle can get me to my lessons in about 20 minutes. Waterproof riding gear is a given in this country. But as I edged out, the CB1000's headlight went off. The 20 year old wiring is on the outs. I debate what to do, choose to cancel my lessons (the train would take about an hour), and put on a Chinese rom-com to celebrate the New Year.

Turns out the bike is psychic. I would have been caught in this mess, though the nutters on facebook all rode around in it.

With a dry weight of something like 250kg, I'm not interested in a spontaneous drifting lesson. Maybe I should upgrade to something a little lighter . . .

These shots are all around my apartment in Shinjuku. After about 30 minutes the novelty wore off.

On a random note, I was thinking how carefreely I cancelled a couple evening classes. I don't do this often, but I never feel strange when something comes up (usually a bike issue, as I never get sick). But, being freelance, I essentially just tossed away a hundred bucks. More with the current exchange rate. Casual, like in all the hip hop videos that are hot right now.

But if I frivolously spend a hundred bucks on something, I feel really bad about it. There is a little sushi shop near my place, and for 5000 yen you get one of the best meals in town. But that shit is for special occasions.

Reverse the logic, and sitting in my underwear listening to podcasts counts as a special occasion. Correct?