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March / April 2010
| ISSUE 4 |

WhenTheWorldIsRunningDownYouMakeTheBestOf What’sStillAround
Your opportunity to help...

...is Right About Now.

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PHOTO: MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES
 CONTENTS March / April 2010 - ISSUE NO. 4

THE MUSIC ISSUE

5

Features
Shagadelic. Yeah Baby!
What’s Fat and Blue and Almost Famous?
Shamisen on Speed
Bad to the Bone Zero
Michael Wade is a Schizo
Vinnie Vintage Spits Fire
Unsound Unraveled
and more...

Hope, Prayer and Love

18 Even though Japan is a country where
natural disaster is always right around the
corner, how do Japanese respond to disaster
when it strikes unfamiliar places?
J7 sat down with a local Haitian to guage
the response on the street here.

No Hope for Haiti?

20
Bleeding Pink
25 Pink Eiga in the afternoon

36 Nana Cafe
You want an underage girl with your coffee?

37 A Gathering of Penises

42 Crossword Puzzle
Check out this cultural crossword
from Power English.

22 The Green Spot 34 Taste

Departments

Trapped in a Plastic Bubble Casablanca

24 Deadly’s Tips 38 Should

Sound and Silence
I Stay
or Should I Go
JPN 4 LYFE bitches!!
26 When In Rome
Foreign Dudes Suck
Fashion
40 Boost your Eye-Q
30 RAN Recommends
If we eat it, see it, listen to it,
43 RAN ZOO
buy it, go to it, and we love it,
then we think you will too. We couldn’t get away
with saying shit like this,
but animals can.

COVER PHOTO: LARRY DEFELIPPI |RAN| 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS PHOTO: ACHIM RUNNEBAUM
 Publisher: TD Houchen
Chief Editor: Jason L. Gatewood
Photography
Editor: Achim Runnebaum
Cheif designer: Adrien Sanborn
Illustrator - designer:
Adam Pasion

Send story ideas to:

editor@ranmagazine.com
Send photography and illustration
to: asanborn@ranmagazine.com
To advertise, contact:
ad-sales@ranmagazine.com
Promotional Events/Co-Promotion:
trevlove1@ranmagazine.com

www.ranmagazine.com

4 |RAN|

M u s t
s i c !
Mu
O
n the cover of our second issue, we told you Nagoya
Rocks! –There was a reason behind this not-so-subtle
proclamation--music is pouring out of the pavement
in our fair city-everywhere you go you can hear it practically
coming from the sidewalks and trees and rocks in the parks.
Whether it’s super-explosive Jet Shamisen notes ringing
out in Sakae, golden guitar chords swirling around Kanayama
Station at midnight, percussive hip-hop drum beats thumping
under the bridge at Wakamiya Dori, or dope bluesy rock
making you nod your head in Central Park, there is no doubt
that Nagoya is a musical city—and all that is just what’s going
on in the street.
In our fourth issue out, we’re exploring the musician’s
soul here in Nagoya. We’ve got a sick-ass intro to some
of the folks here in the Nag who are making themselves
heard, word. Of course, there are tons more musos in the
area, we don’t claim to know them all, but these are a few.
My man Mike Wade is a screaming demon when you see
his alter ego ‘STONEY’ live..Vin spits fire every single time,
and if you’re a blues man, Takashi has your licks…DJs, rock
6 |RAN|
Be
e
Th
bands, acoustic balladeers, soul-shakin’ RnB, emo, techno,
dubstep, drumandbass, reggae, house, thrash, funked up rock,
whatever your pleasure musically, we’re telling you man,
NAGOYA FRICKIN’ ROCKS.
On March 5th, at the Hard Rock Café, you can check
out some of Nag’s best gaijin superstar musicians in our
benefit show for Haiti. It’s called ROCK THIS TOWN -and
that is exactly what will happen on that very same evening.
You need to be there to support not only the musos here who
are digging in their souls for you, but also to help support the
folks who are displaced and whose lives have been shattered
by disaster and catastrophe in Haiti. It can happen anywhere,
anytime, and we all get by with a little help from our friends.
PHOTO: ACHIM RUNNEBAUM
Support the scene. Support art. Support your friends.
Support RAN. Support each other. This is part of our
“message” at RAN, if we’ve got to have one…the streets of
Nagoya are alive with the sound of Music.
Is everybody IN?
tdh
BAND PICTURED: TOMO FRIENDS
 The unbearable
Phatness
of Elvis Tomo Shagger Band Examined
| By Larry Defelippi |
T
he Tomo Shagger Tribute Band hail from a tradition of
bluesy riffs and ramshackle lyrics of 60’s British rock
bringing to mind The Kinks, The Yardbirds and The
Stones.....or not. Tomo ,the lead singer of the band, has it that
he is indeed channeling Elvis....his accent, his moves, his
style et al... Not Jagger at all... But if indeed he is the Japanese
personification of Elvis (and I thought that was Former PM
Junichiro Koizumi), then he is a boy, strike that-- man, from
Gifu channeling Elvis who in turn is channeling Mick Jagger
with some James Brown thrown in for good measure...Testicles
included. Enough there to give Kundera a moment’s pause of
thought. Behind our iconic lead singer Tomo are four gaijin
whose playing is as tight as a 13-year-old Mandy Smith. To
see them play is to know, to put it quite simply, that the Tomo
Shagger Tribute band are one of the best rock bands out there
in Nags.
RAN: Let’s start with a round of band member intros.
James: I’m James...I’m from England...I’ve been in Japan for
seven years...I’m eating a big fuck off salad...and I play bass.
Mitch: Mitch from Texas..I’ve been in the band for
about a year and a half now...plus another year I was in
the band before...another incarnation of the...uh...I was
in the Marmites.
James: I’ve been in the band longer than I’ve been in Japan...
longer than I’ve been alive.
Mitch: You’ve been a Marmite...You’ve been a Shagger...
James: I was created from Marmite....
PHOTOS: LARRY DEFELIPPI / J.L. GATEWOOD
Mitch: So yeah...Mitch from Texas...I play guitar.
Sam: I’m Sam from England...I play the drums. I met Tomo in
a bar on a night out. He recruited me into the Shagger band...
Tomo: This is Tomo. I’ve been in Japan a long time. I’ve spent
all my life in Gifu and Nagoya.
RAN: Aren’t you a lonely old boy from Gifu?
From what I hear.
Tomo: Boy?
RAN: A lonely old boy.
Tomo: Boy?
James: Just agree with everything
he says.
RAN: That was the piece you gave me. It said ‘ I’m a lonely
old boy from Gifu’.
Tomo: Oh yeah..yeah...absolutely...I’m just a lonely man....
RAN: You’re a man now...
Tomo: This old boy getting lonely...
Ben: I’m Ben from Australia and I believe in the healing
power of rock’n’roll.
RAN: Let’s jump into musical influences. What music has
influenced you?
Tomo: I like Elvis a lot. I stole his accent..
RAN: Elvis Presley? He would’ve spoken with
an American accent...
Tomo: Yeah....he was an American
RAN: I kinda saw you as Jagger-esque...but actually Presely....
like a slim Elvis Presely...before he got fat
Tomo: Absolutely.....Yeah....I like him...I like him a lot.
Sam: You channel Elvis...
Mitch: We all like James Brown..
Tomo: I have his soul as well....I stole it after he died...
James: You have his testicles as well.....In your cupboard...
in a jar.
RAN: I was hoping to segue into a Stones question....so I’m
going to do it anyway....even though....
Mitch: It’s the elephant in the room.
RAN: It is basically. I was going to put it out there that The
Yard Birds are far more influential musically than The Stones....
not that there is any Stones influence going on here.
Tomo: I agree.
RAN: You’re meant to disagree with me..
Mitch: What would be your argument?
RAN: Just saying we have Jimmy Page, Clapton...we have
Beck...three of the greatest guitarists of all time that came out
of The Yardbirds....The Stones gave us Bill Wyman....
James: The Stones made more money.
Sam: Maybe they have more fun.
James: They have naked girls on the aeroplane.
Tomo: Ever since they’ve been playing...they’ve been singing
a song called Money...money don’t buy everything it’s true.....
|RAN| 7
they know it’s true...they are very down to earth. They are very
rich....yet they can’t be satisfied.
James: Tomo...you’ve always said how you like how the
Stones have stayed together for so long....and they’ve kept on
going....a lot of bands fall apart...they have disagreements....
break ups...The Rolling Stones stayed together...They’re a
unit...It’s what Tomo preaches here as well. He keeps
us together.
RAN: A lot of bands just broke up because they became shit
and no one wants to listen to them anymore.
James: I don’t know....they seem to rise above that....they
might realize that they are not the most cutting edge...they are
just having fun....they have the opportunity and they are going
to enjoy it.
RAN: How do you feel about amateur archaeology as a band?
Everyone: (Silence)
RAN: There is a good reason or perhaps not that I asked
this....archaeology...Its probably unknown to many people....
but Bill Wyman has his own brand of signature metal
detectors.
Mitch: That’s right...I knew that....He’s really into that.
RAN: And he’s one of the top living sex legends of all time....
number 4 after Tomo Shagger....So if the Tomo Shagger Tribute
Band were going to endorse a product...What would you like
to see the Tomo Shagger name on?
James: What would we brand?
Mitch: Styling wax...We could endorse lipstick....
different shades...
James: We could have a funeral parlor as well....A Tomo
Shagger Funeral parlor...
RAN: Shagged to death....that’s lovely...that’s where I want to
be interned after my death.
Tomo: We would endorse rock n’ roll.
RAN: How rock n’ roll is it being a ‘Shagger’?
James: Very.
RAN: Yours is very rock n’ roll....you have that fuck
off chicken salad thing going on...
James: Yeah....I just don’t stop....
Tomo: I like to do my rock n’ rolling on my bed...
While I’m taking my socks off... That’s as rock n’ roll
as I get.
8 |RAN|
RAN: That’s a very sexy image of you...
Mitch: Whilst wearing lipstick...
Tomo: The night is fantastic.
RAN: You mostly write your own material
Tomo: Yeah...
RAN: But you refuse to do any Stones covers?
Mitch: We do some covers... but no Stones covers.
Ben: We’ve probably done covers that they’ve done.
Tomo: In a way we are covering satisfaction.
James: Rolling Stones step aside.....Tomo Shagger
rises above...
RAN: If you had just one album and one only?
Mitch: For my one album It’d have to be Who’s Next... It’s
one of those albums I always come back to... I was a huge fan
when I was younger.
James: The four people I’ve listened to most and I’m sure I’ll
listen to forever more... are Gil Scott-Heron, Nick Drake, Tom
Waits and James Brown.
Sam: I don’t know about the album but I’d have a CD full of
songs by The Meters...A funk band from New Orleans.
Ben: Swordfishtrombones by Tom Waits....always sticks in my
mind as the one.
Tomo: I love all the great musicians from the fifties to the
seventies... I particularly love the Junior Wells album Hoodoo
Man Blues... I just want to make that sound.
RAN: What is that you want as a band?
Tomo: Why can’t there be a Japanese rock’n’roller? ...I want
to see that. People know how to rock not how to roll... I
wanna bring this to the people.
Sam: Everyone to have a good time.
James: People dancing like loons.
Mitch: Just have fun.
Ben: To entertain.
Tomo: I want me some donuts on the bed.
We know you’d be up for a Shag--check
out their tunes on their Myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/
tomoshaggerband
Nick Edges (stereophonic)
B
orn in the UK, Nick grew-up when the UK
underground scene reached a critical mass
- raves were being shut down left right
and center and the club boom hit off. What was
underground now became mainstream and he
had tickets for it all, spending his misspent youth
on a keen diet of clubbing and what was now
illegal raving.
On arrival to Japan Nick Edges spent his first 5
years running one of the top clubs in Hamamatsu,
Shizuoka. With his move to Nagoya, he met
Babur Mogul another keen-minded DJ/Promoter
with an unstoppable desire to push something
new in Japan leading to the formation of the event
and promotion group Stereophonic. Since its
creation the group continues to bring something
new and fresh to the clubbers of central Japan
with their simple approach of good music and
unforgettable nights, be it show casing the local
talent or flying in International artists such as
Danny Howells.
The success and reputation of Stereophonic
has lead in the past to Nick and the team working
with reputable UK label Defected, Japan’s No.1
online music store Wasabeat, support from in-
ternational companies like Zima & Chivas
and producing the yearly renowned 3 venue
mega-party “The Absolute Halloween”. Edges
has also had the pleasure of working with many
nightclubs and other events such as “Smash” with
resident Dj/Producer Ogawa, to bring artists like
John Digweed, Jim Rivers and Hernan Cattaneo
to the region.
Overseas has seen Nick on the white island
of Ibiza playing at the legendary Bar M, the
Orange Corner and Koolwaters Pool Party in
San Antonio, before having the opportunity
to DJ alongside UK’s Deepgroove and Marc
Vedo at the 5,000 capacity mega-club Eden in
summer 2008.
You can find Nick Edges playing in Nagoya
at Stereophonic parties held at Club JB’s which
was ranked in the top 100 clubs in the world by
DJ Mag in 2009 or at other events and venues
around the region and beyond
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/
pages/Nagoya-Japan/
StereophonicProductions/
30554153542?ref=ts
Bookings:
stereophonicjapam
@gmail.com
|RAN| 9
 i s e n S p e e d on
Sha m
I
’d like to lead an honorable life, to dam up the flow of
decline on our Japanese musical traditions. Sometimes
I think my weapon of choice, the Shamisen isn’t “cool”
enough... It’s a traditional instrument, but I’ve chosen it...
So I have to use what I’ve chosen.

I started out 10 years ago in Kanayama, you know...

The south side of Kanayama station where a lot of
musicians play. I had no skill. zero. But I didn’t care, I
just played with reckless abandon. It really didn’t matter;
the professional shamisen players would show up there,
pack away ¥20,000 in tips each day, and I would be left
with scraps.

So I decided to head up to Tokyo--I may have played

every train station there! I crashed at my friend’s place
whenever I needed to sleep, but I played all the time--rain
or shine, cold or hot, to crowds, or nobody at all. I
just kept playing. I really had no plan. I just played to
increase my skill level... I couldn’t help myself.

One day a woman I was fooling around with says, “ I

can’t make love with you!”
“Why?”, I asked.
“Your shamisen is too strong... It makes your
love-making bad... You have to be gentle sometimes too.
Both with shamisen playing and love-making...”
I couldn’t understand what she was saying; I was still a
young man in attack mode! I’d make my shamisen scream
and cry out... We were both rough, and liked to make the
crowds jump and flinch. This became the basis for the
style I’m known for today.

One day I was invited by a friend to play at a club

known for techno. I took one listen, and was inspired; I
found myself prisoner in the digital music world, and I
liked it. I wanted to fuse the sound of the shamisen with
this type of music.

It was me freestyling; there hadn’t been anything like

this style before. But I also noticed that my skill hadn’t
increased. Sure I could play, but I couldn’t seem to follow
the music organically. I thought I was finished, nothing
worse than an almost-has-been in music. So I decided
to come back to Nagoya to see some old friends. One
friend heard my new sound and said it was really good,
that I should continue trying to refine this style. Then I
Check out remembered my old flame’s words, “be gentle.” So I did,
Jet Shamisen online: and became Electric Jet Shamisen.

I started playing back here in Nagoya, playing with no

http://ran4.us/ shirt on on the street. I was able to land a gig in a few TV
jet-shamisen ads, make some CDs. These days though, I play one day at
a time... If I come up with something better, then I’ll do it,
but for now I’m the Jet Shamisen.

10 |RAN|
 GUNSLINGER
THE ELECTRIC BLUES
Name: Takashi Terada
Age: 24
Birthplace: Nagoya
Style: Blues, Classic Rock
Influences: Jimi Hendrix, Chet Atkins,
Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughn, BB King,
Buddy Guy

Why did you pick up a guitar in the

first place?: “I thought the American band
KISS was cool, my friends played J Pop,
which was just chords, I wanted to play
notes and blues riffs, I wanted to feel the
music more…”
Why do you enjoy playing with
non-Japanese?: “Playing with gaijin
is really interesting and fun, the feeling
is different, they have more feeling,
[conversely] playing with Japanese is
quiet and polite..”
Where is your favorite place to
play in Nagoya?: “Hard Rock Café,
because it’s Rock-n-Roll.”
Dream Gig?:
“I want to play around the world.”
|RAN| 11
 t h ep u r e
emcee
Government name: MR. K.P. ADU
Artist name: VINNY VINTAGE
Place of birth: MISSISSAUGA, CANADA
How long in nagoya music?: about 1 1/2 yrs
Style: What is produced when hip hop has intercourse with other genre.
Music influences: A long list. But just to name a few: James
Brown,Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, The Beatles, Sade, Lucky Dube, Lau-
ryn Hill, Kool Moe Dee, Quincy Jones, Dr. Dre, Timbaland, etc...
Music goals: to express myself and send out messages to everyone
in the world until i am no more.
Upcoming gigs: there will be many as soon as i am done recording
my album.
Favorite artist/why?: In the hip hop category I’d say Biggie Smalls,
Tupac, Nas, Jay Z, Kool G Rap, Busta Rhymes, Eminem, Kanye West
and 50 cent. They wrote songs that have unique flows, great delivery
with many subliminal messages.
Best nagoya moment thus far: performing at the maddlovely
springfest 08 was one. becoming one of Japan’s most wanted and
surviving it was another.
If not nagoya, where and why?:
Toronto...cause there’s no place like home.
12 |RAN|
 MIKE WADE IS
S C H I Z O!
A

Government name: Michael William Wade

Performer name: Michael William Wade,
Michael William
Place of Birth: Hollywood, California
How long you been in Nagoya?: 5 1/2 years
How long you plan to stay?: As long as I’m
happy.
Day job: School Teacher
Musical influences: Elvis, Aerosmith, Lynyrd
Skynyrd, Eric Clapton, Waylon Jennings, Rob
Thomas, Dave Wallace, David Crosby.
Musical goals: To keep playing live as long as
people enjoy my gigs.
Favorite artist(s): Linkin Park, Rob Thomas,
David Crosby, Garth Brooks
Best Nagoya moment: 8/4/04: The day I fell in
love unconditionally for the first time.
Worst: The first time I tried natto, even worse, the
second time.
If not Nagoya, where?: Living in the tropics.
e ( Stoney )”
Beach, sun, sand, beer, guitar…Heaven!
J o h n n y S t o n
me
Performer na
o f B ir t h uknown
P l a c e
b e e n in N a g o ya? 2 months
How long U
w l o n g u p l a n to stayb?reaks I’m gone.
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When the yell
day joB? s
Day job What R o b e r t P l a n t, Elvis, JRaomsee, Bono,
Musical in FLuences n, Steven Tyler, Axl eznor,
Brown, JimRM orriso Lee Lewis, Trent R Redding,
h, Jerry y, Otis
David Lee koJtagger, Freddie Mercur
Ozzy, Micppa
Frank Za
ic a l g o a l s W orld Tour o s m it h , Van Halen
Mus k , A e r
v o r it e a r t is ts Linkin Par c o m in g Stoney .
F a hus f a r B e
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At that inoem ent I age was mine.
r . T h e s t
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Worst None t h e r e w o u l d
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If u werehny’t? in L o s A n geles. in the morning Dodgering
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4 h o u r s n L a k e r s g a me in the even
2 fter noo
game in thneigaht surf session. |RAN| 13
and a m id
 e A
A f
f r
r i
i c
c an
a n
Th
T he
R o o t s m a n

Name: J. Fox
Birthplace: Kenya
Age: Unknown
Affiliations:
Foxhole Entertainment,
Roots Vibes Reggae Bar
Role: Producer, Rapper,
Singer, Cultural Icon
Styles: Reggae, Hip Hop, Hybrid

J Fox is a mystery man, known

throughout Japan as a premier
producer/performer, ‘Fox’ is a staple
on the underground hip hop and
reggae scene here in Nagoya.
His label, Foxhole, has the lofty goal
of attaining international cultural
diversity in and outside of Africa,
through music.
When you are in the market for
dark, soulful, driving, percussion-
laden beats, seek out the Fox. When
you’re in the mood for real roots
reggae vibes, his joint, Roots Vibes
in Toshincho is open until sunrise.
Just pass on thru. Roots Vibes
Located in Toshincho, ROOTS VIBES bills itself as
an “All Reggae Muzik Space”. It’s got live reggae
musicians on any given night, food, plus DJs and a
great bar. If you’re into deep dub bass and crisp reggae
beats, ROOTS VIBES is for you. Say “HAIL UP” to JFox
when you fall in..

6Th Floor Ocean Bldg. 4-10-2 Sakae Naka-ku

052-263-3181

14 |RAN|
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 e Ze r o
Bon
u a r tet
ic Q
C l a ss
The
B
one Zero is something that just kind of happened, like a
force of nature, a law of karma, like Over the Rainbow,
like having the best looking girl at the party hit on YOU
for a change. But mostly Bone Zero came about because
Nagoya needed a band that played rock and roll the way it
was meant to be played. Four seasoned musicians from four
widely different backgrounds got together and clicked from
day one through a shared love of classic Rock and Roll.
“Magnificent” Mike Bagely (drums and backing vocals).
From California, the land of Disney and Hollywood. Mike
was given his nickname by the women who come to see
the band. See when he plays, they leave their panties
on the dance floor and throw THEMSELVES at the stage!
Mike has had a long career with various bands both in
the US and Japan, most notably when he was formerly the
drummer for Nagoya’s popular band, Sushi Cabaret Club.
“Magic” Tom Bauerle (vocals and guitar) from Indiana
USA, the land of James Dean, Michael Jackson, the
Reverend Jim Jones and Bible-thumping snake handlers.
Tom has been a fixture on the Nagoya music scene for
a long time-- singing jazz, soul, blues, folk and country
music in various combos. He was previously with the rock
and soul group the Screaming Hormones, but he is ecstatic
to be belting out raunchy Rock and Roll with this band.
“Jolly” Robert Hewer (lead guitar) from British
Columbia, Canada, the land of moose and maple. Robert
played professionally for a number of years in Canada
16 |RAN|
:
before moving to Japan. He’s calm. He’s Canadian. But
there’s a fire hidden within. Beware of the calm before the
storm… when he rips off a riff, it shakes the walls down.
Stephane Vizio (bass) from Switzerland, land of chocolate
and cheese. Stephane has many aliases, including “Jaco,”
“Chopper Sikorsky” and most mysterious of all, “Stephane.”
No one knows why. The police have been informed and are on
the case as we speak. It’s Stephane’s skill at improvising on the
bass plus his encyclopedic knowledge of classic rock songs that
is an integral element of the foot-stomping rhythm of the band.
The name “Bone Zero” comes from the idea of basic,
stripped down, lead guitar-driven rock and roll, that defined the
genre from the start. It’s fun, it’s loud. it’s straight-ahead driving
music that gets you jumping up out of your seat and dancing.
“I’m constantly surprised at how good a musician
these guys are,” says Magic Tom. “We take Classic Rock
songs and change them around, make them our own.
We write and play original music that sounds as good
or better than the classic stuff. But most of all, these guys
know how to IMPROVISE at the drop of a power chord.”
He adds, “It’s in the same tradition as the great guitar bands
of the early days of Rock. There are some songs we never play the
same way twice. And while we’re playing, if one of us, say the
guitar player or the singer, goes off in a new direction, the others
are right there with him. If the drummer or bass player want
to take a solo, off they go, and we create something new there
in the moment, and it sounds great, and DAMN THIS IS FUN!”
FAT
BLUE
MAN
I
f you have been in Nagoya for any amount of time, it’s very
likely you have heard the name Fatblueman more than
once. The name Fatblueman might conjure up images of
Tobias Funke from the TV show Arrested Development, but
the truth is there’s a reason you’ve heard that name so much.
Fatblueman creates compelling and relateable music that sticks
in your mind after one listen. The music is rooted in alternative
country, but it strays from its genre like all mature bands
ought to, and the simple and straightforward lyrics betray a
richness of experience and insight. John, the central figure
around which the fatblue world spins, accurately describes
the feelings of alienation and frustration of living in a foreign
land without coming off like a bitter old expatriate and more
often than not, you’ll find yourself nodding in agreement to his
observations of life. What follows is a heavily edited transcript
of a discussion about physics, God, copyright and Google. Oh,
and there is a little bit about music thrown in for good measure
(pun intended).
RAN: For those who are uninitiated, what is Fatblueman
all about?
John: It’s basically about me and whoever I can get to do
music with me and has always been. So the first Fatblueman
was four guys who are all gone now. That’s the problem
with doing music with foreigners, so then we said let’s not
get foreigners lets get Japanese guys. We did get Japanese
guys, and we got a Japanese girl and then the foreigner starts
dating the girl which leads to all sorts of other problems.
So what has become the “main period” of Fatblueman was
when we had five members, Hiroko on violin, Tom on bass,
Eishi on drums, Hiro Hirashiki on lead guitar and me doing
stuff up front. When it was that format, that’s when we had
some Youtube videos get to the front page and get a bunch
of views, sold a bunch of CDs and got invited to the Youtube
Live event about a year and a half ago in Tokyo with BoA and
some major Japanese artists. Anyway, these days live music is
a little more limited as far as what you can do and what you
can draw so we are kind of focusing more on the
internet anyway.
RAN: So you think that embracing the internet is where you
want to take the band?
John: It fits our station of life right now, older guys with
kids and jobs and degree studies and stuff. We got the CD
on i-tunes and CD baby, and we put the album for free
on Jamendo which is a free download, creative commons
license site where we got all kinds of downloads and the
cool back story is sales went way up instead of way down.
Obviously people were listening to it with that version they
downloaded, and then going and buying it as well. Its kind
of like-- you can trust the good heart of your fans. You know,
recorded music has existed for what-- 50 years or whatever.
Okay, so it was a big money getter for some big bands for a
while, maybe those days are over and maybe that’s fine. I was
listening this week to Gene Simmons from KISS. Asshole. He
said the sad fact of digital music is that there will never be
another mega band like KISS or The Rolling Stones. I say you
might be right and I say who cares? The only reason that you
were a mega band is that we didn’t have any other options.
When I was a kid growing up in the mid-eighties, the music
that was good was whatever you were told was good by
the big companies. Now the quality of the music I want to
listen to has gone so far up. I almost never listen to big artists
anymore. Actually sometimes I feel like I have a responsibil-
ity to steal their music. If its a big artist then download it, if
its a small artist then pay for it. Its kind of like, you’re plainly
telling us what it’s really all about for you. Its about getting
rich, having lots of groupies, kinky sex, drugs.
RAN: Well if groupies and sex was your main goal then
Fatblueman was probably not the best choice of names. How
did you choose that name?
John: When I chose it as a screen name it was because I was
really huge – I was like 113 kg sumo size, and really lonely
and blue. No friends, didn’t speak the language and we didn’t
have the internet like now. To be honest I don’t really like it,
but it’s the one that got known and once you’re known you
can’t switch it. The other thing is that it googles really well.
RAN: How do you feel about the term gaijin superstar and
do you think it applies to you?
John: Anyone who ends up staying in Japan for a long time
probably has a bit of a celebrity complex. Some gaijin say
Oh I hate it when people notice you and stop and try to
talk to you. I always liked that. I grew up in a town that was
nothing but white people and if a black guy came to town I
would have been the one to be like hey what are you doing
here? How are you? What’s your name? I am interested in
interacting with someone who is different, but I understand
that for some people like my wife, she hates to be noticed,
she hates to be the outsider. We have little white babies and
when you go out in public with little white babies you get
super noticed. I like that but she hates that. She is just like
don’t touch them, don’t look at them, just treat me the same
as everybody else. Whereas I think, you’re not the same as
everybody else your a gaijin superstar.
RAN: So you think every gaijin is a superstar in a sense?
John: I didn’t say that! Well, famous or notorious. It has a
good side and a bad side, every gaijin stands out...
|RAN| 17
 La voix d’un Hatian, de nombreux oreilles Japonais
Halfway around the world,
a daughter of Haiti sends
hope, prayer, and love.
| Pictures and words by Jason Gatewood |
O
n January 13th, I woke up and
downloaded the news podcasts
like I do every weekday so I
could listen to them on my commute
in to work. As I boarded the subway,
and hit play on the iPhone, CNN was
reporting that a massive earthquake had
hit the island of Haiti in the Carribean.
Details were sketchy at that point; the
quake struck around 6:53am Japan Time
(4:53pm Haiti Time), so scarcely an hour
had passed since my podcast’s download.
But one thing gave me a chill down my
spine--the newscaster’s words “all com-
munication has been cut, and we fear the
worst.” The last time I heard those words
was during the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina’s onslaught of the American Gulf
Coast. Images of devastation and despair
filled my mind.
We all know what came next. In the
days and now weeks that have passed
since that great tragedy, some untold
losses have mounted. So many people
have lost everything, but eventually
houses, churches and buildings can
be re-built. Sadly there is no recovery
plan for a human life lost. I have
been priviledged to be aquainted with
someone who calls Haiti her homeland,
and she granted me permission to share
her story here on the pages of RAN in
order to put a local face on this tragedy.
“I came to this land to discover
myself”, says Dominique Fevry. She’s
a spunky, outspoken, very atypical Ca-
nadian-Hatian from Montreal. “I came
because I wanted to go someplace
completely opposite of the spectrum
from my own experiences.” She
explains,” when I was going to university,
we’d always have these case studies in
World Politics class. We’d often see what
the opinions were of the residents of a
lot of ‘First-World’ countries, and more
often than not a lot of those opinions
would end up being similar. However,
the exception in a lot of cases would be
Japan. It made me wonder ‘what’s up
18 |RAN|
with Japan?’ and ultimately it influenced
my decision to become a JET once I
graduated.”
About three years ago, Dominique
became the JET representative for the
city of Gero, in northern Gifu prefecture.
“My first year there was extremely hard.
It was the first time for many of the
locals to ever see a black person.” Most
people’s idea of someone from the West
still evokes images of “blue eyes, blonde
or brown hair, and fair skin--A straight
up White person.” Dominique is the
very antithesis of this. She has skin the
shade of a dark chocolate, dark eyes, and
high cheek bones. Less like even a girl
you’d come across in the Canadian Great
White North; she brings to mind the
people you’d see from Liberia, Gambia,
or Sierra Leone. “even in the mega-cities
of Japan, you’d have a hard time finding
a black woman there. So my first year in
Gero was tough. I found it difficult to be
accepted.” She is also a very outspoken,
opinonated woman. “I had to fight just
to keep my [motor]bike. My position
as a civil worker was on the line, just
because of my hobby. The older people
here believe a woman shouldn’t be riding
motorcycles.”
However after getting to know her
neighbors and vice-versa, things have
become different than that first year. “I
was only going to spend a year--maybe
two, in Gero. But I became close to
the people here. I have found a deeper
respect for Japan, and it’s people.
Especially after what happened in my
motherland.”
Of course she’s talking about the
Haitan Earthquake that hit January 12.
“I wasn’t even aware of the quake at
first. When I wake up in the morning,
my routine is to check the CBC news
online. I remember seeing some pictures
of black children crying and there was
some rubble, and the headline Haitian
Quake, so my thought was ‘Oh there
was a quake back home’ and I didn’t
think the damage was as widespread and
complete.” I didn’t have the time to read,
since I had to go to work, but even my
sister who is studying back in Canada
emailed and said “what’s going on” and I
said “I dunno”. It was too early.” It wasn’t
until she had gotten to the school she was
teaching at for the day when a Japanese
friend broke the full severity of the news
upon her. “My friend says ‘is your family
ok’ and I say, ‘oh I don’t know’ but then
again we don’t really have earthquakes.
It took me two days to grasp the scale of
the event.” Due to the time differences,
a busy work schedule, and the lack of
real news coverage on the local stations
in her area, she didn’t have a complete
scope of the event until 48 hours later.
“Thank God for the internet, ya know?
Of course maybe to most Japanese, this
isn’t day-to-day news so it really wasn’t
covered like it was, say in the States.”
When asked about her intial feelings
once she could take in the full scale of
the devastation, she takes a moment...
“We have no country.　Our palace...
The presidential palace is the symbol
of government for Haitians. It’s like the
White House to Americans, or Parliament
House to Canadians. I saw a picture of
it toppled over like a house of cards. I
couldn’t believe what my eyes were
seeing. We have no government. Its like
waking up and seeing the White House
is gone.”
Haiti is the poorest country in the
western hemisphere by most statistics.
But the Caribbean island nation is also
the only country in the world that was
taken by former African slaves after they
revolted and kicked their French colonial
masters out in 1804. This also means
it was the first independent black-led
republic in the world. It has a past that
is sprinkled with years of dictatorships,
wars, coup d’etat, and other huge natural
disasters, usually hurricanes. Haiti
is described by some as “A nation on
the verge” and by others as “Trouble
in Paradise.” For Dominique and
others with Haitian heritage, it’s simply
home--the Motherland.
“This is a sad thing...”, she says with
tears welling. “But the beautiful thing
about it is seeing the Hatian diaspora
stand up. Hatians from Montreal,
Toronto, New York, Miami, Paris, and
all over helping our homeland. We’ve
never had something like this to unite
us, I think.” She goes on to tell me how
Second-generation Haitians are able to
become connected now to the country
that their parents talk about growing up
in, that they know only from summer trips
or grandparent’s visits. “In the sadness of
it all, we can feel the connection and
the deep love for our country. It brings
hope, because we are very strong and in
very hard situations, we’ve been able to
stand up before. We can do it again.”
For over 200 years as an independent
nation, Haiti’s economy and standards
of living have been tumultuous at best;
perhaps this is the fire that the phoenix
can be born from.
Being here in Japan though, what
can someone do? Being a whole 24
hours away by plane, half a world away
literally... You might as well be on Mars
trying to do something to help your
homeland. And its hard enough for this
American to donate money and clothing
to the Haitian relief efforts back home--
initially, the only way I could personally
do anything, was by going on the internet
and using my Paypal account to donate.
So what about the Japanese response?
What’s it like being up in Gero,
population 38,623 mostly Japanese, and
1 Haitian-Canadian, when this type of
tradgedy hits? Do they even care?
“It took something of this magnitude
to get me to see the beauty of the people
here. Most of the Gero-ites have never
met a Canadian or American, let alone
one of Haitian descent. This was the
biggest surprise of all, the response that
I got from my neighbors in Gero.” She
lives in the naka-no-inaka or as I call
it “waaaay the F up in Gifu.” Gero is
known for its hot springs and ryokan
inns. There’s only one road winding
its way through the Hida River valley
and connects the various communities
in town. “It took this sad event though
for me to see this community less as
a backwoods town, and see it as a
close-knit community.” Dominique’s
friends in the town rallied around her the
second they heard the news and came
up with various ways to support her and
show they care. “I went with the idea that
I was all alone up there [in Gero] for the
past 3 years. Now I see that in Japan-
-especially in the countryside--it takes
a while for people to open up to you,
but they’re not blind to you. They see
everything.” When asked what changed
her mind, “I only talked to two people--
My two friends since the beginning of my
stay here, Junko and Yuko. We talk every
week so they were the first to respond.”
Her friends then spread the news like
wildfire, and along the way, someone got
the local Gero city elementary schools
involved. “Before I knew it, I was being
told the school kids had raised ¥90,000
in 1 yen coins... I couldn’t believe it.
I still can’t”
Sometimes it takes tragedy and great
loss to make one appreciative of the
things that make up our lives. “It’s sad
but true--and I feel more than a little
foolish for saying this, but my great loss is
actually a gain. Before I felt like a stranger
in a strange land. Maybe more than that,
I was an alien on another planet. But
now I feel so connected. These past few
weeks have erased 3 years of stigma I’d
built up.” Dominique will be attending
graduate school from this coming fall
back in Canada; but she wants to find
ways to help her Haitian brothers and
sisters from right here in Japan. “We
each have something we can let go of; districts
an old jacket, maybe forgo a trip to the in the Kobe
izakaya a few times a month, and you’ve seaside were
got a few thousand yen to give, no pain” on fire or collapsed. This
True-- I’ve taken to walk past the Hub in could easily happen here
Sakae recently--walk past it a few blocks in Nagoya. Scientists are
and hit the Circle K and save ¥300 on calling for an M7 or greater
beer in one go. The rest goes to Haiti. quake to hit the Tokai
And before you start groaning about region sometime before
giving up that catbird seat in the back 2025, and there’s a 10%
of OXO in Kanayama once a week, chance that it’ll top M8.
remember all this could easily happen Not good. The region hasn’t
here in good ol’ Nippon. I just know you had a large earthquake in a few hundred
didn’t forget that we sit atop one of the years, so there’s cause for concern, but
most active geological zones on Earth, unlike Haiti, Japan has a strict, uniform
right? Perhaps you’ve forgotten the rattler building code, along with lots of lessons
we had just 7 months ago last August. learned from previous events. In other
That was a M5.1 quake that hit around words, the same M7 quake that hit Port-
5:30am, centered in western Shizuoka/ au-Prince and left that town in shambles,
eastern Aichi prefectures. It was enough would scarcely be worth writing home
to shut down a 3km section of the Tomei about here... We hope.
expressway due to a section of it sliding So while I’m on the subject,
off into the Pacific! Hmm... Need more? break out your wallet twice. Once
Go to Kobe and ask those folks about to make a donation for Haiti and pay
quakes, and if they were around during that karma bill. And once more to
1994, you’ll get all kinds of sympathetic prepare an earthquake kit for when
ears. The Great Hanshin Earthquake it’s our turn. As of this writing, the
struck around 8am on a cold January death toll from the earthquake
morning, killing 8000, and leaving many has reached 212,000 with
more homeless and injured. Half of 300,000 injured and over one
Sannomiya, Motomachi and surrounding million homeless.
|RAN| 19
 No
| By MzLove |
Hope for
H
aiti, one of the poorest countries in the Caribbean, was
struck by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake on January 12th
2010. Who doesn’t know that? I am sure everyone of
us feels the same sympathy for the small country, where reports
estimate that up to 200,000 people may have perished within a
few minutes. That is bad. Really bad. How bad? In the
recorded natural disasters in the 20th and 21st centuries, only
the Sumatra Tsunami of 2004 that took 246,000 lives and the
1976 China earthquake that claimed 246,000 lives is larger in
scale to Haiti. The Kashmir earthquake in 2005 killed more
than 75,000 people in India and Pakistan and another
earthquake in China killed more than 69,000people in 2008.
And who could forget Cyclone Nargis, that made landfall in
Myanmar in 2008 and killed more than 138,000 people…OK,
so maybe you don’t remember that one and neither do I, but
before we start to feel guilty about not remembering foreign
catastrophes half way around the world (I saved that for the end
of this article….) these comparison DO show the severity and
huge scope of Haiti’s disaster. This one will go down in the
history books. Sure, some of you are thinking, Haiti’s population
was among one of the world’s poorest poor, they can’t have lost
that much anyway, right? So, their corrugated iron shacks
collapsed, and maybe they lost what few measly possessions
they had…maybe a few family members…they got big families,
right? Surely it won’t take too many US
dollars to fix them right up again, right?
Lickety split. I mean, Haiti had it bad
before they lost 200,000 people within a
few short minutes. With a Human
Development Index (HDI) rating by the
UN of 149 (out of 182 listed countries),
Haiti was considered pretty much the
bottom of the barrel in developmental
terms, or a “low-development” country.
They are far below even neighboring
Caribbean countries with Cuba rated at
no. 51, border-sharing Dominican
Republic at no. 90 and Jamaica no. 100.
Most Western countries are in the top
20. Actually Japan is the only
non-Western country in the top 20.
Though Haiti’s claim to fame has long
been their reputation as being the only
nation, historically, born of slave revolt,
their recent history has been marred by political and financial
instability. They have seen 32 coups in their short 200 year
history with US, German, French and British forces often
helping things along by bankrolling and arming opposing
Haitian military factions. Nothing new here. When has the
West ever kept out of 3rd world nations’ domestic problems
20 |RAN|
when there wasn’t something to be gained from it. That would
just be lost opportunity! Haiti was also in fact occupied by the
US from 1915-1934 (and we wonder why they are politically
unstable….?) More recently, the UN was forced to station inter-
national peacekeepers in the country since 2004 under the UN
operations name of MINUSTAH (US Stabilization Mission in
Haiti) This article will brighten considerably after a quick token
mention of even more widespread misery-inducing and
devastating tropical storms that struck Haiti in 2004 and 2008.
(severe flooding is reportedly partly to blame from widespread
and rampant deforestation, so severe that you can see the
border clearly from space, the Dominican Republic side is
green, the Haitian side is brown.) Ok, so Haiti has had a hard
century and a half. How can you help? Any donations that you
give will only be a drop in the ocean compared to Haiti’s
problems. A grain of sand on a never-ending beach….the
money will never actually reach the needy, it’ll be snapped up
and thrown into government coffers…or offshore accounts…
they’ll never get their shit together anyway, why waste my
money on them? Ok, maybe we are not all that negative in our
assessment of charitable donations to less fortunate nations. I
for one, really really wanted to donate something after the
quake. (lame) I asked my husband last week, “So, don’t you
feel like making some kind of donation to the victims in Haiti?”.
“No”. Oh. “Really? You don’t even
want to give, like 5,000 yen to help
them?”. “My money won’t reach them
anyway….There are too many people on
the planet…I would much rather give
my money to animal charities”. (lamer)
Are we all really such apathetic
lameasses these days? Am I any better?
Enthusiastically pointing my righteous
finger at my pessimistic husband for his
apathy to donate? I want to donate…but
didn’t though. The point being that as of
Feb. 3rd, I never actually made a
donation. (lamest) Why not? Well, I
don’t want to use my credit card online,
in case it gets illegally stolen by some
PHOTOS: MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES
hacker. I never use my card online
anyway, if I can help it. Unless of course
you count that time last month I bought
books on Amazon for my book club…or
purchased movie tickets online….or bought some songs on
itunes….but those are all really secure sites and, I mean, come
on, can we really trust the Japanese Red Cross online banking
system? A flaky NGO? And I really needed all those material
things, whereas I don’t really need to donate my hard earned
cash to needy people that I have never met and can’t be sure
r Haiti ?
will ever even see any of it….right? Totally understandable.
It’s just logical. And completely lame. What is wrong with us?
Youtube showed that George Clooney’s comments for
HOPEFORHAITI telethon concert generated 286,000 hits at the
end of January. Beyonce’s performance, “Haiti I can see your
Halo…”, alone generated 80,753 views. Regular news updates
only showed half of those hits or much much less. No one must
be interested in Haiti unless Taylor Swift and Shakira are
involved (involving very very tight pants I might add…). Are we
such a celebrity addicted and obsessed civilization that it takes
Clooney’s skillfully assembled “recognizable bag of faces”
answering phones while celebrities hog the spotlight to make
us donate our money to helpless victims of a nearly unprece-
dented natural disaster? I mean, if even one percent of the net
worth of all those “recognizable-bag-of-faces” was donated to
Haiti, they wouldn’t have even needed to have the bloody
telethon. 61 million dollars raised? How much did George
make on his last movie? How much did Conan O’Brien just get
for being bumped out of his late night time slot? I saw the
telethon on TV a few weeks ago live while I was channel surfing
and actually flicked past it. I saw Madonna belting out her 80’s
hit “Like a Prayer”, (or was it 90’s?) in black leather pants and
wondered whether I could physically prolong a cringe for that
long while sitting on the couch. I figured it would actually be
detrimental to my health and moved on…eventually turning
the TV off as the Discovery channel was showing re-runs of that
medieval war re-enactment. I’d already seen that. The point is,
is assembling mega rich celebrities to answer phone live in TV
really the only way to coax our lackadaisical and lazy asses into
donating anything these days? Even lackadaisical asses who
won’t watch telethons won’t make donations. What is wrong
with us? Ok. Guilt trip is over. What was the point of this
seriously downer inducing article? Opus Dei style self-flagella-
tion? Nietzsche-esque introspection of the worthless losers in
all of us? If you did donate, then you deserve a pat on the back.
Go ahead, do that right now. You deserve it. For the rest of us,
donations can be made online to the Japanese Red Cross at:
……..Ok, forget that. I just went to the site and it says you can
make a bank furikomi donation until Feb. 12 through UFJ? Ya,
right…. I know you are sooo doing that right now…..I could
only access the Emergency Relief Donation page in Japanese
(the English site hadn’t been updated since 2009…) and though
I could see Japanese people have donated the equivalent of
292,000 US$ by 59,000 people, I could not for the life of me
figure out where to click to actually pay anything…and my
Japanese is level 1! Forget that. Donations can additionally be
made to the Canadian Red Cross at www.redcross.ca where a
nice big red flashing “DONATE NOW” icon is waiting for you.
You can even donate in French if the fancy so takes you. Pick a
charity. Donate. Don’t be lame. Your money will help. You
will get into heaven for free. You will be beatified after your
death by the Pope in Rome. You will feel good. You will help
someone. Just do it. Peace.
(At the time of printing MzLove still hadn’t donated a
damn thing to Haiti, but is waiting to do so in person at the
RanMagazine benefit concert of local, very non-celebrityish
artists at the Hard Rock Café, at 7:00pm on March 5th. It’s
written in ink here…with witnesses present. She will then,
officially, no longer be donationally-challenged or lame.
Join her!)
|RAN| 21
The G reen
環 | Story and photo by Achim Runnebaum |
境
TRAPPED IN A
PLASTIC BUBBLE
A
s you do your usual grocery store
run, you suddenly notice that you
forgot to bring your backpack or
grocery bag with you. No problem! In
Japan, they wrap everything two or three
times for you and (unlike most European
countries) you get a free plastic bag
to boot. Not anymore! The days of
free plastic bags are numbered, and
that’s a good thing. We all know how
convenient plastic is. If you visit any
conbini or supermarket these days you’ll
notice about 90% or more of the goods
are wrapped in some kind of plastic
container. Without giving it a second
thought, we buy plastic drink bottles,
ready-made bento in styrofoam, and
don’t even notice that bananas come
wrapped in plastic as well. It almost
seems like there’s more plastic here than
even in Hollywood.
While I can’t explain the necessity for a
Hello-Kitty plastic wrapped banana, why
don’t we take a look at what all that plastic
does to our bodies and the environment.
Is plastic biodegradable? - for the
most part, no, so it ends up in a landfill,
or worse..... in a burning facility, thus
releasing one of the most toxic substance
known to man into the air - dioxin.
Is plastic harmful for the environment?
- It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to
figure out that plastic is a horrendous
22 |RAN|
SPOT
burden for the environment all the way
from the production stage to the the
waste management and disposal stage.
Does all this contact with plastic have
any effects on our bodies? - Yup, afraid
so. One of the building blocks of any
plastic is a chemical called Bisphenol A
(BPA). Plastic will leech this chemical
and others into whatever food or liquid
it’s wrapped around. Also the amount of
Bisphenol A that is leeched into the food
or liquid drastically increases as heat,
pressure, or time breaks down some of
the chemical bonds. Now how many of
those combini bentos do you see being
carelessly shoved into the microwave
each and every day? And who doesn’t
appreciate a hot (BPA infected) drink
from a vending machine on a cold
day? Think about all those chemicals
that end up in the food or liquid and
thus in your bodies any given day.
* How does it actually affect the
body? -- Well, that’s really tough to
say with any kind of certainty because
everyone’s body reacts differently, but
one particularly popular “C” word
comes to mind - Cancer! But that’s not
all plastic contamination has to offer you:
* Premature Puberty
* Hyperactivity
* Low-Sperm count
* Obesity
* Schizophrenia
The problem with plastics in
regard to this potential is their relative
instability. Plastics break down over
time, releasing toxins. This process is
sped up in the presence of heat. When
these toxins leak into the environment,
they tend to contaminate our food,
cosmetics, commonly used products,
and toys, or are spread into the air
where we then inhale them. Almost all
toxins released from plastics make their
way to humans in one form or another.
Still think plastic is not harmful?
Well, these next few statements should
really give you a good wake up call:
“BPA shows negative effects in brain
tissue “at surprisingly low doses.”
-Scott Belcher, PhD.
“BPA has often been implicated in
disease or developmental problems.”
-University of Cincinnati Research
Team headed by Scott Belcher
Since it mimics Estrogen in the body,
it has also been linked to changing
sexual orientation in Lab Mice. In
another series of tests, it has been
shown to alter the brains of baby boys, making them
more feminine. Males exposed to high doses in the
womb went on to be less likely to play with boys’ toys
like cars, or to join in ‘rough’ and tumble games, say
US Researchers. The study group was still very young,
but it was concluded that reduced masculine (testoster-
one-fueled) male play at an early stage of development
might lead to other ‘feminized’ developments later in life.
Heard enough? Scared yet? If reading these facts
(and there are many, many more) has finally woken
you up from your deep slumber enough to notice that
especially in Japan, we are surrounded by plastics, and
you’re wondering what to do about it, think no further
and join me in trying to boycott or at least significant-
ly reduce the use of plastics from our everyday lives.
Instead of buying bottled water, buy a good filter for your
tap water and use a reusable bottle or container to bring the
water with you instead of buying 3-5 plastic bottles a day.
If it can be avoided, don’t microwave any food that is
covered by plastic, whether its a bento box, or an onigiri, etc.
Heat releases more BPA into the food you’re about to eat.
By the same token, resist the urge to get those hot drinks
from vending machines if they come in a plastic bottle.
The bottles have been sitting in the machine for who knows
how long, while being kept at a certain temperature. The
amount of BPA and other harmful chemicals released
into the liquid throughout the day must be staggering.
Don’t use and/or reuse plastic eating utensils.
I know it’s tough trying not to rely on plastics so
much. Try this little experiment: The next time you go
shopping, notice all the plastic things that end up in
your shopping cart. Think for a second if there are
alternatives available and if that’s the case, get those
instead. Let’s stop the widespread usage of plastics
to improve our health and improve the environment
around us. Everyone can do their part. It’s time to stop
living in a bubble, open your eyes and realize what’s
really affecting your lives, and how you can contribute
to the global environmental change in a positive way.

Fo r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n , c h e c k o u t
the following links about plastic:

http://www.ecologycenter.org/
factsheets/plastichealtheffects.html

http://www.eco-ethical.co.uk/
plasticbag.html

http://lifewithoutplastic.com/

“Because we don’t think about future

generations, they will never forget us.”
-- Henrik Tikkanen
Deadly’s Tips
Sound
恋
愛
and Silence
関
係
| By Deadly D |
T
he way in which one’s personal
worries, fears, anger, emotions
and feelings are shared is strongly
dictated by the culture one was brought
up in. Some cultures stress the stiff upper
lip while others pull knives and threaten
each other on a daily basis. If you are
from a so-called “open” culture like
Australia or the US where people are
urged to “talk it out” and “communicate”
with their partners, you’re not going to
fit harmoniously together with a culture
like Japan where real heart-felt emotions
are never, NEVER displayed except
under extreme circumstances.
The Japanese have two terms for their
emotions: tatemai and honne. Tatemai
are the feelings you express in public and
to people you know. In essence, you say
and feel what you are supposed to. You
are expected to react just like everyone
else in the same situation. Honne are
your true feelings, your true heart, which
you are obliged to keep to yourself so
it doesn’t bother anybody. This takes
a great toll on them as human beings.
All that anger kept bottled up inside can
over flow and explode at what seems to
be rather absurd times. It’s obvious to
see the difficulties that would arise when
someone who wants to “talk it out” gets
*
Japanese see
many foreigners as
too uncontrolled
and rude...
Many foreigners
see Japanese as
being emotionally
immature.
involved with someone who has been
taught to stonewall any unpleasant
emotions as a matter of good manners.
Enough problems arise naturally
between women (who tend to be more
24 |RAN|
...
intuitive) and men (who tend to be more
logical) when trying deal with daily life.
An oft-repeated scenario goes something
like this:
Male: Why are you mad at me?
Female: You didn’t do A.
M: You never told me you wanted me to
do A!
F: You should have known I wanted you
to do A!
A: How the hell could I know that? I’m
not a mind reader?
F: Well, you should have known!
Now multiply this effect a thousand
times when you factor in the vast
differences in background experience
and expectations between two different
cultures:
M: Now what? Why are you angry?
F: You should have done A!
M: How was I to know that? You never
said to do A!
F: How can you be so stupid? Everybody
does A! How can you not know that?
And you didn’t do A the last time six
months ago, either!
M: Why didn’t you say something six
months ago? Nobody does A where I
come from!
F: This is Japan!
M: But I’m not Japanese. Why do we
need to do A that way anyhow?
F: Because that’s how everyone does it.
Everyone knows that!
So it is inevitable that judgments
about appropriate behavior during a
crisis are vast and various from one
another. Japanese see many foreigners
as too uncontrolled and rude because
they can’t help expressing their emotions
even when it is not deemed appropriate
in Japanese society. Many foreigners see
Japanese as being emotionally immature
because they can’t express themselves
emotionally except in two modes: either
stoic silence or in screaming about in-
consequential things.
Case study #1: One friend’s Japanese
wife began yelling uncontrollably at
him one day for no reason that he could
fathom. After everyone had calmed
down it came out that she had been
angry at him for years because of the
way he ripped open the plastic bags
inside cereal and cracker boxes instead
of cutting them open neatly with a pair
of scissors. “The cereal always falls out
through the broken top and is messy,”
she said. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he
asked. “I was too shy,” she replied.
Case study #2: One friend’s Japanese
wife actually ran him over with the
family car during what he thought was a
routine argument over mundane things.
Obviously they weren’t so mundane to
her! [Whatever the problem was, it was
quickly forgotten by us due to the gravity
of the ensuing outcome --Ed.]
An international couple needs to
figure out a way to communicate their
feelings somehow before internal
frustration poisons the water for
everyone.
 l o s t g e nre
ga
E ulogizin
| By Larry Defelippi |

S
exploitation, thinly masked social
critiques or allegories for left
wing political themes? Whatever
the consensus, Pink Eiga marches to
it’s own drum.
The elemental and explicit imagery
present in Western erotica are absent,
Japanese ero-productions had been
infused with their own particular style
primarily because of what couldn’t be
shown. Though with plenty of gratuitous
displays of bare breasts, asses and
simulated sex, no working parts were
to be seen. The genre ironically lost it’s
popularity because of it’s lack of explicit
pussy shots and fucking favored by the
at-home, VHS watching, wanking male.
It seems video killed more than just
the radio star.
It is the roles of the women in these
narratives that are the main attraction
here; the stereotypical subservient,
cute Japanese women that predominate
Japanese pop culture are not to be found.
Instead were tough, not-to-be-fucked-
with women who after surviving no end
of degradations and humiliations; rape,
cat-fights, sukebe, torture, sword-fights,
proved that the fastest road to female
empowerment was at the end of a
bloody katana.

|RAN| 25
When In Rome
郷
に
入
れ
ば
| By TD Houchen |

“...why am I such a misfit?”

-as sung by “Charlie In The Box” on the Island
of Misfit Toys/Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Look. We’re all a bunch of misfits, ne’er do wells, social
outcasts, adventure seekers, and maladjusted perpetual
adolescents, that’s why we’re here, on this lonely little
island off the coast of nowhere. We’ve come to reinvent
ourselves and some of us are doing almost too good a job.

Lost your marbles yet?

Last issue, we looked at stereotypes of Japanese women,

for which I received a lot of flak, but what the hell is so
great about us? Check these stereotypical foreign dude
personality types and see which best describes you.
Come on, you’re in there somewhere..

The-Uber-Idiot-Supernerd- The Over-Ambitious-Deluded-Wanker

Who-Has-Somehow-Trans- Everytime you see this guy, he’s got some new scheme
formed-Himself-Into-The- that’s either going to make him rich, make him famous,
Coolest-Guy-You-Know or allow him to never have to work again. He’s full of
Back home, this is the guy who ideas on how he can capitalize on being here in Japan,
everyone in high school took turns yet nothing seems to quite work out like he planned.
punching in his arm. Here, he’s the Right now, he’s working on becoming a world-famous
classic example of “zero-to-hero” gangsta rapper, straight out of Ichinomiya. Put down the
in 60 seconds flat, give or take. He pipe homie.
still doesn’t look quite cool, overbite
and grey crew-neck wool sweater
and all, but tell that to his smoking
hot Japanese medical-student
girlfriend. He speaks fluent Japanese,
has a black belt in Aikido, a great
apartment, and a million yen in the
bank. This is the guy we all aspire to
be here, but somehow, the Nerd wins
the prize.

The Bitter Guy

ILLUSTRATIONS: ADAM PASION

This guy is a walking dark cloud of discontent. He complains

about everything and everyone and wonders why people are
dropping him like a bad habit. He’s a negative force always trying
to bring everyone down and/or destroy everyone else’s good time.
He’s a killjoy in every sense of the word, and blames Japan and
Japanese for his bad fortune. He’s about as fun as diarrhea.

26 |RAN|
The Japanophile Otaku
This guy presumes to know everything there is to know about Japan, it’s people,
it’s culture, history, language, everything. He spends his time reading Japanese
history books, watching anime movies, and trying to memorize every Kanji
symbol that exists. He’s constantly trying to school and impress anyone within
earshot of his boundless knowledge of Japan, while he deludes himself into
thinking one day they’ll accept me as one of them, not realizing he’s the one
they’re making the most fun of. He’s wearing pajamas outside now.

The Pathetic Loser

Woe is him. This guy has no money, no job, no place
to live, no plan and no clean clothes. How did all this
happen? He doesn’t quite remember, but wants you to
spare him 300\ for some coffee. You want to help him
out, but first, he’s gotta want to help himself. He lives
in a park near you. He’s always down on his luck, no
matter where he is.

The Loud Mouth The-Guy-Who-Thinks-You-

This guy is always talking a-
mile-a-minute, about nothing
of any particular interest to
anyone besides himself. He’s
practically begging someone to
chop him in his adam’s apple.
He’s been everywhere, met
everyone, and always has a
story to top whatever anyone
else is saying. He might be
telling the truth, but who
cares? You just want him to
shut the hell up for a minute..
Should-Be-His-Best-Friend-
Because-You-Two-Are-Not-
Japanese
The song that best describes this
dude is Radiohead’s ‘Creep’-“..
and I wish I was special/you’re so
fucking special..”-this guy wants
friendship by default, the only
commonality between you two
is that you’re both non-Japanese.
Usually, the first thing out of this
winner’s mouth is, “..you know
what I hate about Japanese…?”,
he says this not considering
that maybe you’re married to a
Japanese, or maybe you’ve learned
a thing or two about Japanese
since arriving here. He’s a bit like
an earache, this guy, you just want
him to go away.

The Shady Guy

No one really knows much about this guy. Where he lives, where he works, IF he works, where he’s
from, it’s all a mystery. He goes by initials only, “DB”, “JR”, “ET”, something like that. He’s always
around and makes everyone a little nervous. He could be a serial killer on the lam, or a spy, or a
terrorist, or all three. He speaks in hushed tones and then suddenly, he’s gone. Last I heard, he was in a
Vietnamese jail, I don’t know really, no one does.

|RAN| 27
 The Liar The Perpetual-Culture-
Shock-Victim
Nothing this guy says regarding
his present or past life remotely This guy has been here 7 years and
resembles reality. He “used to” do still can’t get over the fact that he
and be everything under the sun. Of lives here now. He hasn’t learned a
course, you can’t prove or disprove word of Japanese, hasn’t adopted to
anything he says, all the better for this the social customs, and he sticks out
former shark-wrestler/stock broker/ like a giant purple squid. He’s about
professional stunt man/news anchor/ as flexible as a lightpole and the first
NASA Scientist/Pulitzer prize winning words out of his mouth are almost
journalist/Formula 1 Race car driver/ always, “..in my country”-he doesn’t
best selling author/lawyer/gangster/ yet realize no one gives a shit about
cop/doctor/drug-dealer/hitman/ his country. Thing is, he’s not going
male stripper/gynecologist-to-the- anywhere fast, and everyone knows
stars/DJ-come on man, are you on this but him. People tiptoe around
qualuudes or do you think everyone him where it isn’t necessary and he’s
else is? Get a clue Pinocchio. a bit like a big baby.

The Parasite
As the name implies, this cretin sucks you dry of
everything, offering nothing in return. He wants
your friends, your contacts, your style, your
dreams, your ideas, wants to know your places of The Wanna-Be-Japanese
interest and wants to go everywhere you’ve been Not to be confused with the Japanophile, who
invited, not to mention he’s tailing your girl-but actually knows something about Japanese culture, this
he never thinks to return the favor of what you’ve guy wants to be Japanese so bad he can taste it. He
done for him. Friendship is hard to come by in bends over backwards trying to “fit in” every chance
Japan, or anywhere for that matter, and this guy is he gets, saying “sumimasen” to anyone within earshot
just sucking your blood. and over-doing every little gesture to make sure the
Japanese within view don’t mistake him for being
a foreigner. He bows so low his nose scrapes the
concrete. Yeah, sure buddy, keep it up, one day you’ll
wake up and actually be Japanese. Enjoy that.
The Lifer
This guy has been here since the Edo period.
He hasn’t been back to his home country in 3
decades. He’s neither “foreigner” nor “Japanese”,
but something else entirely. He’s a man with no
country, as it were. This guy could be either the
coolest guy to hang out with, or the most bizarre
prick you’ll ever come across. Or both.

Are you one of these guys, or something altogether different? We

can all use a makeover, no one’s perfect, but don’t make yourself
over into one of these guys…next time you’re complaining about
anything or anyone, first, check yourself mate, what’s so great
about you?

Like my man Robert Nesta Marley said, “...who the cap fit/ let
them wear it.” Sometimes, I’m all of these guys. The thing is to
notice who we are in the moment, become concious of it, and
learn and grow from that point forward. Carry on.

tdh

28 |RAN|
|RAN| 29
 recommends
RAN ’s staff and readers like these places / this stuff. You might, too...
CLUBS - LOUNGES - BARS
Plastic Factory
Located in Imaike, PF is a great event/art/music space
housing some of the best electro/house/techno parties
in town. It’s also home to HARMONIUM PARLOUR,
Nagoya’s best open-mic event-the last Sunday of every
month. Plastic Factory has an eclectic mix of events and
music, call ahead.
Cover at PF is usually around 1500yen, drinks are decent.
Say what’s up to HEINZ behind the bar. Good man.
32-13 Kando-Cho Chikusa-Ku
090-9894-9242・www.plasticfactory.jp
Roots Vibes
Located in Toshincho, ROOTS VIBES bills itself as an
“All Reggae Muzik Space”. It’s got live reggae musicians
on any given night, food, plus DJs and a great bar.
If you’re into deep dub bass and crisp reggae beats,
ROOTS VIBES is for you. Say “HAIL UP” to JFox when
you fall in..
6Th Floor Ocean Bldg. 4-10-2 Sakae Naka-ku
052-263-3181
ID Café
This place is infamous on the Nagoya nightclub scene,
and for good reason. This space has 6 floors of music,
each floor a different theme. Saturday nights are
rammed and the party is not for the faint of heart. For
pure balls-out drunken juvenile beat-laden fun, ID is
the place. Right in the center of Sakae, walking distance
from seemingly everywhere. Cover runs about ¥3000
w/4 drinks, hip hop/techno/80’s/reggae, ID covers all
bases. If you make this a regular spot, cop yourself a
discount card, to get that cover charge nixed.
3-1-15 Mitsukoshi Bldg. Sakae Naka-ku.
052-251-0382・www.id-cafe.info
SoulGround
I almost don’t want to give this one away. It’s a small,
cozy, very cool bar upstairs from JB’s in Toshincho. The
DJs play vintage soul music accompanied by a large
video screen. It’s romantic, but laid back, sexy and
mellow…and the music, classic man. Bring your girl.
Or your girl’s girl. Or both..No cover.
3F Marumikanko Bldg. 4-3-15 Sakae Naka-ku
052-241-7366・www.underground.co.jp
RADIX
Located sorta close to TSURUMAI, Radix is a
late-night club-space made for dancing the night away
underneath thumping beats and a dope light show.
Radix usually houses reggae events, but also hip hop,
30 |RAN|
techno, and trance events make their home here. Cover
is usually in the 2000yen range, really nice party space,
if you don’t mind the trains clamoring overhead every
few minutes..
4-7-38 Chiyoda Naka-ku
052-332-0073・www.info@radix.to
Samba Brazil
This large Brazilian nightclub/restaurant/live house
is famous for all night parties with lovely Brazilian
ladies, sexy Samba, delicious food and tropical drinks.
An evening at Samba is going to set you back at least
3000yen, but the party goes until dawn and this place
definitely has it’s own flavor. Wild nights here. Carnivale
in Nagoya all-year round.
4-15-21 Kanko Bldg. No. 2 Sakae Naka-ku
052-251-1051
LIVE HOUSES
Huck Finn
Located in Imaike, HF is a Nagoya fave. Two floors,
downstairs usually features punk, thrashcore,
rockabilly, hardcore, speed metal, etc, acts from as
far away as NY, Australia and San Fran regularly make
their way onto the HF stage. Upstairs is a hodge-podge
mixture of acoustic stuff…was there recently and was
serenaded by the sounds of a very cute J-girl singing
Christmas songs accompanied by a ukulele. Odd, but
nice. Great food and drinks on hand as well. Down By
Law. 2000yen range.
B1 Ishii Bldg. 5-19-7 Imaike, Chikusa-Ku
052-733-8347・www.huckfinn.co.jp
Gary’s Motown
Gary’s is known throughout Japan as a hot jumpoff
spot for partying, drinking, dancing and mingling. It’s
walking distance from anywhere in Sakae, and it’s
a Nagoya institution. The bands who cruise through
Gary’s are some of the best R-n-B/Hip Hop/Jazz
musicians you’ll ever see anywhere. They know how
to get the party going and KEEP it going until the wee
hours. Usually around 2000yen.
B2F Koasha Bldg. 4-2-10 Sakae Naka-Ku
052-263-4710・www.garys.jp
Misfits
You know the place, but what you don’t know is that
recently Monday Night Open Mic has been blasting
off. With some really talented musicians rolling
through, Michael Wade serving up the booze, and
Stevie P. cooking up his gourmet specialties, MISFITS
MONDAY NIGHT is suddenly all the rage. No cover.
Bee House Bldg 3F 4-10-16 Imaike Chikusa-Ku
052-733-7352・www.misfitsnagoya.com
prices most certainly please the tightest of budgets--Can
you say ‘One Coin Beer?’ Suzuki-san and his sons keep
the place humming, and there’s a crowd of regulars
that will make you think you just walked on the set of
Cheers.

Club Quattro 1-12-28 Hi-Home Bldg 1F

Club Quattro is a gem of a live-house located in the 052-751-8058
Parco Building in the middle of Sakae. It regularly
features famous acts who are either on their way up
or down, but who rock out none-the-less. The space
holds upwards of 4 or 5 hundred people. Prices vary EVENTS
according to acts, but the sound is excellent and the
vibe is right. For Those About To Rock. ROCK THIS TOWN
RAN/ROCK/RELIEF - Haiti Earthquake Benefit
Parco Building 3-29-1 Sakae Naka-ku March 5th・7pm - until ?
052-264-8211・www.club-quattro.com
Live Music featuring some of Nagoya’s best bands.

RESTAURANTS - CAFES Cost: Free, but asking at least ¥500 cash,

clothing or durable food donation.

Golden Child Café Where?: HARD ROCK CAFÉ, Fushimi, Nagoya.

This is a sweet little café located underneath the train
(Subway Fushimi Sta)
tracks on the Tsurumai line near Kanayama St. Nice
http://ran4.us/RTT-2010
food stuffs, attractive clientele, massage chairs and
low prices keep the customers coming back. Don’t tell
everyone though, it’s our little secret.
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
March 6th・12pm
4-26-1 Chiyoda Naka-Ku (Kanayama Sta)
052-331-8139・www.goldenchildcafe.com
Everyone’s Irish on March 6th! Every year we have
hundreds of people join us in the celebrations at Osu
Pa’INA Aloha Table Kannon. The opening ceremony starts at 12:30 and
Pa’Ina means ‘party’ or ‘dinner’ in native Hawaiian
the parade begins at 2pm. After the parade there’s an
language. Aloha offers a delectable variety of food that
Irish music concert at the Osu Engelijo Theater. The
you can’t quite get anywhere else. The atmosphere is
celebration continues at Shooters at Fushimi from 6pm.
low key and the music is soft and enchanting, sorta
I wonder if they’ll have some green beer like
like Hawaii. There are two of these in the Nag area,
back home?
by Nagoya Station and one in Asunal at Kanayama
Station. Really nice date spot, and the Kanayama joint
Where?: Osu Shopping Streets and Park
is poppin’ when the weather gets warmer.
(Subway Osu Kannon Sta or Kamimaezu Sta)
http://stpatricksnagoya.com/
3-17-19 Meieki Nakamura-ku Nagoya
(Nagoya or Kanayama Stns)
052-589-3900・www.zetton.co.jp
Nagoya Walkathon
May 23rd・9am-4pm
Outback Steakhouse
Meat done Aussie style, blooming onions and delish
The 19th annual ACCJ / NIS Walkathon and Interna-
sweet bread, bet you forgot Nagoya has an Outback
tional Charity Festival is coming soon, so its time to start
didn’t you. Located in the heart of Sakae, Outback
signing up to walk! They’re building bridges between
is your spot if you’re craving a thick steak and great
the Japanese and international communities to raise
service.
money in support of vital work being conducted by
local non profit and charitable organizations in the
3-24-22 Kowa Bldg. B1F Nishiki Naka-ku
Chubu region. Last year they garnered ¥5.5 million,
052-968-7800 (Subway Sakae Sta) www.outbacksteak-
and this year the goal is ¥8 million in donations.
house.co.jp
Go get your walk on, then enjoy the bands and foods
in the rest pavillions afterwards. Sign ups can be done
Le Bersey on their website.
Trust me, the only thing French is the name. Just up the
street from Ikeshita station, this has become my “dive”
Where?: Tsurumai Park
over the past year. I say that with toungue in cheek; the
(JR & Subway Tsurumai Sta)
decor, drinks, and eats are far from dive quality, but the
http://www.nagoyawalkathon.com

|RAN| 31
GOT
Y I N K ?
| Story and photos by Achim Runnebaum |
our body is a temple, but how
long can you live in the same
house before you redecorate?
Pop Quiz; what do David Beckam,
Johnny Depp, and Amy Winehouse
have in common other than being
instantly recognized anywhere? They all
would probably be denied entrance to
an Onsen in Japan...... Why, you may
ask.... simply because they have Tattoos.
Having a Tattoo is almost becoming
the norm in other countries; it’s a different
story, at least on the surface, in Japan....
I got inked recently to remember
a certain period in my life of which I
wanted to have a permanent memory.
While totally accepted in most of the
western world (even my mother, who
is nearly 70 years old got a tattoo
about 5 yrs ago), here in Japan, it’s still
somewhat of a rarity.... or so I thought.
In the past, tattoos here were
associated first and foremost with the
Yakuza, who display full body tattoos
done the traditional Japanese way
(Tebori)....or at least, that’s the common
belief we’re all told, but actually it’s a far
older tradition in Japan than that. It all
started with the Ainu people, who lived in
what is currently Hokkaido, and tattooed
the lips and mouths of their single women
with broad blue bands that looked much
like mustaches. This ceremony was
called “Nuye” or “Sinuye”, the Ainu
synonym for tattooing. According to
legend, a deity descended from heaven
and explained to all the women that
every woman without a tattoo, who
married a man, is committing a big sin
and she won’t find salvation after death.
From that time tattoos were indis-
pensable and vital for Ainu women. The
tattooing is conducted by specialists over
years, by rubbing charcoal dust in the with
sharp little knives which carves the skin,
giving young girls a black-blue looking,
sideways pointed line called “Anci-Pini”.
Ainu women also believe that tattoo
marks lets them assume the appearance
of their goddess, so that the several
evil demons of disease will mistake
them for the goddess, and flee away.
This is a far cry from the sometimes
still frowned upon practice of tattooing
in Japan today. While it is certainly
becoming more and more accepted,
there are still many people here who
frown upon anyone displaying their
32 |RAN|
tatoos, because of the strong, negative
connotations this art has in Japan.
Several people I interviewed even stated
that they would feel uncomfortable
dating someone who has a tattoo. But
the times are changing fast, and more
and more people are getting inked for
various reasons. There’s a growing
community of Tattoo lovers emerging
all over Japan, even in our somewhat
conservative Nagoya. “To be tattooed
in Japan is to suggest that you have
abandoned society and turned your back
on the rules” said one heavily Tattoo
artist I had the chance to interview.
Historically, The Meiji Restoration
of 1868 marked the start of Japan’s
advent into the “modern” world. Japan’s
goal was to become the “equal” of
the Americans and British. Feudal
systems were abolished and Japan
attempted to absorb western culture,
with the Japanese adopting western
clothing, manners and education. As
part of this “restoration,” in 1872 the
government banned tattooing which
was regarded as a sign of barbarism.
While most people get tattoos just
for fashion, or in a drunken haze, there
are far more meaningful reasons. Some
people get tattoos because they want to
remember a certain time in their life,
some get tattoos as a mark or insignia (ex:
prison tattoos), some get their partner’s
names tattooed, while others get tattoos
as symbols of protection or right of
passage. A small minority even let
themselves get tattoos simply for adver-
tisement purposes for big corporations.
Microsoft Zune anyone......So the
reasons for getting them are as various
as the designs, but for me, a genuine
tattoo.... tells a story. I like stories and
tattoos, no matter how well done, and
if they don’t tell a story that involves
you emotionally, then they’re just there
for decoration; then they’re not a valid
tattoo. There has to be some emotional
appeal or they’re not, in my way of
thinking, a real tattoo. It tells people
what you are and what you believe in.
One of the purveyors of the Tattoo
scene in Nagoya is Sabado of Panda
Cafe/Eccentric Super Tatoo in Osu. This
guy is a legend in the Tattoo Art world,
frequently traveling all over the world to
show his designs. As a young man, he was
traveling through South America and met
a tattoo artist on the streets in Brazil. As
fate would have it, he got his first tattoo,
which was done in a very simple way
(on the streets of Brazil with self-made
equipment), and was hooked after that....
Eventually he would meet none other
than Ed Hardy who gave him another
Tattoo and inspired him to become a
Tattoo artist himself. According to him,
when getting a tattoo, one of the most
important things is who did the tattoo,
after that comes the design. It’s not just
about the design, but also about building
a relationship with the artist, because
the personality of the artist comes out
in the designs. And his personality
certainly comes out in the designs...
They were some of the most vivid, clean
and professional designs I’ve ever seen.
He only does original work though, so
don’t even think about asking him to put
your partner’s name on your body, or
getting a tramp stamp....he won’t have it.
Another main player in the Tattoo
World in Nagoya are BoobiesTattoo
and Black Rebel in Osu. When the
gang from Motley Crue came through
Nagoya, this is the place they choose
to get a tattoo. Boobies/Black Rebel
are one of the biggest Tattoo parlors in
Nagoya, and the Staff there are great!
There are 8 Tattoo artists, including
Ta’co (seen in the pictures), who will
help you with your design, or come
up with something truly original...
If you’re in the market for a Tattoo,
you can’t go wrong with either of these
places. Best part is both Sabado and
the people at Boobies speak English!
Tattoos have served in many
various and diverse cultures as rites
of passage, marks of status and rank,
symbols of religious and spiritual
devotion, decorations for bravery,
sexual lures and marks of fertility,
pledges of love, punishment, amulets
and talisman, protection and as
the marks of outcasts and convicts.
Now it’s your turn. We wanna
hear from you. Shoot us a picture
of your Mark and the story behind
it for a follow up in a future issue....
editor@
ranmagazine.com
? Boobies Tattoo Studio

Aichi-ken, Nagoya Shi

Nakaku, Osu 3-17-1
Akamon Brother Building 4F

Phone: 052-262-4649
www.boobiestattoo.jp

Ink to paper is thoughtful

Ink to flesh, hard-core.

If Shakespeare were a tattooist

We’d appreciate body art more - Anonymous

*Special Thanks to Ta’co of Boobies/Black Rebel

for letting me sit in and document
one of her Tattooing Sessions.

SABADO
ECCENTRIC SUPER TATTOO

3-5-49 OSU, NAKA-KU

Aichi Prefecture
Nagoya 460-0011
Japan

Phone/fax: +81-(0)52-262-3246
www.lovesabado.com

|RAN| 33
Taste
味
わ
う
Casablanca
“of all the gin joints in all the towns
in all the world...” - Humphrey Bogart
F
ar beyond the novelty of eating
food from such a remote area as
Morocco, the charm of Casablanca
becomes evident even before the spoon
hits your mouth. The warm light of
Moorish lamps, ornate Berber rugs and
Arabian tapestries draped over the walls
creates an ambiance that is unmatched
anywhere in the city. On weeknights
the soothing Moroccan music creates
an intimate and romantic dining
experience, but with the arrival of the
weekend, Casablanca transforms into a
high-spirited and boisterous atmosphere
with live belly dancing.
To sample a wide variety of dishes,
I opted for the Casablanca set course, a
wise choice for first-timers. The first dish
to arrive was a flavorful bean soup called
Harrira. The soup is seasoned herbs and
spices as well as meat, but like almost
everything on the menu, there are
vegetarian substitutes. The next to arrive
was couscous and steamed vegetables
with a gravy like sauce, sprinkled with
chickpeas. The sensation on the tongue
is a rich, almost buttery taste and yet its
subtle and sophisticated. Immediately
following this was the briwat, a sort of
meat pastry. I will be the first to admit
the words meat and pastry do not sound
good together, but the briwat largely
succeeds. The crust is crisp and flaky,
almost like baklava and slightly sweet,
while the inside is made of ground beef.
The vegetarian course included a briwat
made of fish which was a bit spicier
and more to my liking, but there is also
the option of cheese briwat as well.
34 |RAN|
| Review and photos by Adam Pasion |
The main platter had kebabs which is
a deceptive word because nearly every
country from the Nile to the Ganges has
their own version of the kebab, and no
two kebabs are even slightly similar.
Comparing Turkish kebabs to Moroccan
kebabs is like comparing pasta to
ramen; distant cousins but not distant
enough that it’s okay to fuck them.
That said, the kebabs at Casablanca
are exceptional. They can be had in the
form of roasted lamb, beef, chicken or
fish. Far removed from the salty, oily
(and irresistible) kebabs that call your
name from the Turkish food carts after
the pubs are closed, these are kebabs
you can eat and not feel bad afterward.
Of course the Pièce de résistance is the
tajine, a sort of conical earthenware pot
that funnels steam and concentrates it
to stew vegetables with no extra water.
Necessity is the mother of invention
and the harsh desert is the mother of the
tajine which cooks the most delectable
stewed meats and veggies to perfection
every time. Casablanca’s tajines include
hearty portions of beef, lamb, chicken
or fish along with thick and succulent
slices of carrots, potatoes, okra and
squash. One can easily imagine sitting
inside a nomadic Berber’s tent, gathered
around a steaming tajine, mouth
watering like a Pavlovian dog. Slurp.
But what is the point of all this
exquisite food without something to
wash it down with? Casablanca boasts an
assortment of Middle Eastern and African
wines and various international beers as
well. Every time I’ve tried this restaurant
I find myself slightly disappointed by the
wines; perhaps they are not to my taste.
The South African white wine I found too
sweet, the Lebanese red wine I found to
be a bit dry and lacking a full flavor. The
Moroccan beer, also called Casablanca,
is a touch more flavorful than the typical
flavorless lagers like Asahi or Sapporo,
but is still quite run of the mill, lacking any
real character or aroma. The best drink
on the menu is included in the course:
Moroccan mint tea. This refreshingly
sweet tea serves to cleanse the palate in
a very subdued way without shocking
your mouth the way ginger does. Its an
excellent way to calm your stomach after
overindulging and it leaves a nice sweet
aftertaste on the tip of your tongue.
If Humphrey Bogart was eating
chow like this every day, its no wonder
he sent Ingrid Bergman off on that
airplane alone. He wanted it all to
himself. Casablanca is open every day
from 5:30 to 11:00pm. Its a 4 minute
walk from Takaoka station, near the
Denny’s. Don’t take me and Humphrey’s
word for it, go check it out yourself!
Nagoya-shi,
Higashi-ku, Izumi,
1-9-14, Takaoka
Residence 1F
052-953-7774
Map link:
http://goo.gl/TTdg
|RAN| 35
 Ca f e
Na t a n u n d e
na
r
ag
w
e
i t
g
h
i r
y
l
o u r
ou wa n
Y 　 　
| Story and photos by Achim Runnebaum |
T
issues, tissues everywhere and all
the guys did drool (over the Nana
girls). Whether you frequent the
bustling streets of Sakae, or hang around
Nagoya Station area, you’ll never have
to buy tissues for yourself. As a matter
of fact, I can’t remember the last time I
paid for tissues since coming to Japan.
The advertisements on them range
from language school offers to beauty
products, all the way to “companion”
services.
I’m sure you’ve accepted the
occasional tissue handed to you by
a very young girl, dressed a little too
provocative for her age, or wearing a
yellow coat with comic characters on the
back. Chances are, she works for Nana
Cafe. You’ve probably wondered just
what goes on in these “encounter cafe’s”.
Are they just a systemized way to have a
“konpa”? Do they serve young girls with
your coffee? Sit back, relax, strap in, and
put your tray tables in the upright and
locked position because you’re about
to embark on a journey to a place that
not many gaijin have been allowed
to explore. This one’s on the house...
Outside it’s cute and fuzzy characters,
but inside its systematic perversion at its
best. Imagine a cross between a peep
show, a maid cafe and a soapland style
“health club”. Nana Cafe and places
like it cater to the tastes of men who
like their girls young, fresh, and (mostly)
underage. It’s a haven for sugar daddies
and guys who pop Viagra like candy.
Usually, these kinds of places
aren’t really my thing, but journalistic
curiosity drove me to take a peek for our
readers (...the things I do for you guys...)
The patrons pay an entrance fee to
get in, and it quickly becomes apparent,
that this place is a “cafe” by name only.
Once inside, there are separate rooms:
girls hang around in a special “social”
room, doing their makeup, gossiping,
giggling up a storm, and generally just
being young and careless, and having
fun. They also get free food (mostly
36 |RAN|
c o f f e e ?
snacks), and drinks. The patrons are in
a special lowered viewing area behind
a one-way mirror, where their eyes
are about waist level on the girls. This
way, they can view the action up close
and personal. (The drinks, of course
ain’t free) If a guy fancies a certain
girl he can let her know through the
staff, and if she agrees, they can meet
in a private cubicle in a “couples
room” to talk for 10min (1,000 yen).
From here it gets interesting. If the
guy passes all of the “tests” (vague
conversation guided by the girl to gauge
job, income level, what car he drives,
etc.) then the two “lovebirds” can agree
to meet outside the cafe for a “date”
all for an extra fee of course, which is
“negotiated” between the girl and her
customer. This naturally entails him taking
her to fancy places, taking her shopping,
etc. What happens on these dates is
entirely up to the girls (and how much
she was offered) They have no obligation
to do anything. If the girl agrees, the guy
has to fork over 3,000 yen to the Cafe for
the priledge of taking his new friend out.
So let’s recap, the guys have to pay
for just getting into the place, have
to pay extra to get a chance to talk to
a girl they fancy, and are expected to
take said girl out to expensive places if
she agrees to go on a date, for which
he has to pay again. And if a sufficient
amount of money is forked over to the
girl, and she’s so inclined, she might (or
might not) offer sexual favours in return.
These guys are getting screwed in
every sense of the word. It’s almost
like future hostess training camp.
Talk about lifetime employment:
Start in an Encounter Cafe, and work
your way “up” to a Hostess Club.
The reason why so many young girls
work there (or rather hang out, as the
Cafe puts it), is that they basically get
paid just for talking with their friends,
and meeting guys. It sounds enticing to
young easily impressed minds... Hmm,
let’s see, hang out after school in a place
where they can get free food, free drinks,
free use of beauty accessories, etc, get to
read all the magazines they want, and get
paid to talk to guys; or go to Starbuck’s
and pay. Yeah, which one would you
choose? How else do you think so
many girlies can afford those expensive
designer clothes and the ubiquitous Luis
Vuitton Bags? Is that all that separates
these girls from designer clothing bliss?
Do sexual activities happen at these
places? Are these girls even legal?
Yes and no. Because it’s not a “health
club”, the sex-industry laws don’t
apply at these places since there are
no ‘professional’ hostesses there. These
shops are legally seen just as coffee
shops, so there are no regulations that
prevent people under 18 yrs old from
entering them. The Cafes say that it’s
none of their concern what happens
outside their doors. In other words,
there’s the potential for very young girls,
some of whom are still in high school,
to meet men who are old enough to
be their fathers, or even grandfathers
easily, and enter into an enjo kosai
agreement. In Japanese, enjo kosai
means compensated dating and is a
major social phenomenon in Japan.
This is voyeuristic materialism taken
to the next level. Is having a new Prada
Bag really worth selling your soul,
so to speak? Most of the girls being
targeted for this kind of job are still
very young, barely (if at all) legal, and
easily sucked into that kind of lifestyle,
thinking it’s the quickest way to get good
money, which is why most girls who
work there don’t seem to mind the job.
Of course, these places are busted
from time to time, but another one
will just take its place eventually.
Currently there are about 100 of
these kinds of places in Japan.
So, Should you want to visit Nana
Cafe, or its counterparts, bring your
Japanese skills, definitely your wallet, and
leave your soul at the door, cause it’s not
just hot, steamy coffee you’ll find inside...
 A Gathering of
| By J.L. Gatewood |

I
n Japan, there’s a fesitval for everything,
right? There’s the naked man festival,
several virgin teenage nubile girl festivals,
Penises
and even one that celebrates the invention
of nihon-shuu. Well we’ve got one that
brings all the dogs to our yard, right here in
Aichi prefecture. This one celebrates... err....
manhood... Specifically, the one thing men
have and women don’t... The dangling part.
Man-junk.

Honen matusuri or Harvest festival is a is

a fertility festival celebrated in and around
Tagata shrine in Komaki every year on March
15th. Like any festival, you have a large
number of Shinto priests, traditional Edo-era
music, yattai food stalls serving kara-age,
kishiyaki and more, and of course spectators
like me who turn up with conbini-bought
adult beverages, and a good buzz going
already. But this is like no other matsuri
you’ve ever been to... This is Phallus Phest.

The walk from the train station to the

shrine grounds is... Interesting. You’ll notice
stands selling all sorts of shlong-inspired
wares. A wind up cock with feet. A soft
sponge looking peter. There’s one guy who
seems to have a hobby by taking driftwood
and carving some very realistic renditions
of the male appendage. It’s like an outdoor
AV shop. The food items even give it a go...
Chocolate-covered BANANAS made even
more realistic looking with the help of icing...
(Why did I see elementary school kids eating
them too? Why did I see elementary school
kids AT ALL there??)

Then it’s time for the main “attraction”-

- The largest pecker you’ve ever seen not
attached to a whale. The HUGE shaft is
lovingly and carefully crafted in one of
two area shrines and makes its way to
Tagata Shrine starting at 2pm. It’s carried
on a large palanquin and the accomanying
entourage passes out plenty of free sake for
WHEN: March 15th・10am~4pm
the spectators. On arrival at Tagata shrine, the
huge wooden erection is placed somewhere
WHERE: Tagata Shrine,
so women can touch it--this is because it
Komaki City, Aichi
is supposed to help make them fertile...
PHOTOS: ADAM PASION

Everyone then gathers in the square outside

ACCESS: Take Meitetsu Kami-Iida line
the shrine and waits for the mochi nage, at
to Tagata Jinja Mae Sta. Once you exit,
which time the crowd is showered with small
just follow the crowds. Plenty of staff
rice cakes which are thrown down by the
on hand to help.
officials from raised platforms. The festival
concludes at about 4:30 p.m.

|RAN| 37
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
行
く
か
行
か
な
い
か | By Adam Pasion |
I
t’s fair to say Colin didn’t know what he was getting into when
he came to Japan. He didn’t watch anime, he had no interest
in judo or karate, and he was far from a connoisseur of Kobe
beef. The only reason he chose Japan over any other country
to spend his vacation was because Japan was hosting the FIFA
World Cup that year. He came to watch soccer. Somewhere
between the first kick and the airport he met somebody and
that month-long stay turned into a life commitment that now
includes a wife, children and car payments. Maybe Colin had
no reason to come, but he certainly has a reason to stay.
The (quite wonderful) fact of the matter is every person on
this island chain has their own reason for coming and their
own reason for staying. For some people, living in Japan is the
fulfillment of their lifelong dreams. For others its the constant
reminder of why you ought to practice safe-sex. But the matter
of coming and the matter of staying are two very different things
and realizing that is perhaps the most crucial point in not only
braving the rough waters of daily life, but enjoying the surf.
The difference between flourishing here and just surviving all
comes down to the fundamental issue of intent: that is whether
you intend to try living in Japan, or you intend to try Japanese
life. This will almost surely seem like a semantic triviality but it’s
so much more than that. There are far too many people in this
city alone who are trying to live as if they just transplanted their
life at home into a new context, but their new life is rejecting
C e rta i n d e l i c at e s o c i a l g r a c e s t h at a n at i v e J a pa n e s e m i g h t
take for granted will be completely misunderstood or misin-
t e r p r e t e d by a f or e i g n e r , b u t t h at d oe s n ’ t m a k e i t a b a d t h i n g .
the donor. Daily life in Japan is different than life in any other
country, and the frustrating thing is that it seems like its not.
Certain things will inevitably rub you the wrong way, not
because they are inherently bad, but because they are different
than what you may be used to. Certain delicate social graces
that a native Japanese might take for granted will be completely
misunderstood or misinterpreted by a foreigner, but that doesn’t
make it a bad thing. This problem is not unique to Japan at
all. Living in another place is difficult. Just changing states or
provinces in your own country can be surprisingly difficult.
For people with Japanese spouses or families this problem
becomes infinitely more frustrating because the native and the
foreigner are not on equal footing. The pressures of living in a
land where the customs and culture is unfamiliar is very taxing
on the nerves, but now the people you turn to are not on your
38 |RAN|
side. When you are watching the Olympics on TV and you can’t
find out who received the gold medal because the Japanese
athletes didn’t place, you have nobody to vent to. When your
partner’s elderly grandmother insists that sleeping with the fan
on will kill you and no amount of medical facts will assuage her,
nobody else sees the humor. Any attack on anything Japanese is
interpreted as an attack on your partner’s heritage. And before
you point the accusing finger consider for a moment how angry
it makes you when your husband or wife complains, “all western
food is oily and disgusting.” Even though you may happen to
agree, you don’t want to be told this by somebody who puts
mayonnaise on their pizza or makes spaghetti with ketchup. If
the couple were in a country mutually alien to both parties, they
might have a grand time of nitpicking every little difference.
We all get frustrated and grumble about trivialities, but things
can ease-up considerably by a simple change in perspective.
Do you still remember that feeling when you first stepped
off that plane. For some it requires a trip in the way-way-back
machine, but try to recall those first few months when
everything was new and novel. When you still took pictures
of the Sakura every spring instead of making fun of the locals
for doing it. When you thought the way young girls flirt was
naïve and coquettish instead of a form of mental retardation.
Before the new car smell faded away and everyone sunk into
the mundane routine of it all, life was so exciting and fresh
here in Japan. Keep this much in mind, in the months, years
or decades that you have been here, Japan didn’t change as
much as you did. That eager attitude of not only accepting the
things that are different or new but actually looking forward to
them is the secret ingredient to a more fulfilling experience.
Last week my wife put on a germ mask before she went into
a veterinarian clinic. I could have called her an obsessive-com-
pulsive germophobe but I just smiled and remembered where I
live. This is Japan and you came here for a reason. Even if you
don’t remember what it was, there are always reasons to stay.
Every time I see Buddhist priest on a moped I remember why I
like it here. When I see a high school student with an eye-patch
carefully applying eye-liner to her one good eye, I smile and
accept it. Sometimes the only reaction you have left is laughter,
so smile and enjoy the rare adventure you get to experience.
|RAN| 39
Fashion

Boost your Eye-Q

流
行

While it seems like most people

understand what sunglasses
are, the application seems to
elude some.
Let’s be honest here, there are
only three people who can get
away with wearing sunglasses
at night: The blind, Corey Hart
fans, and Jack Nicholson.

| Text and photos by Achim Runnebaum |

40 |RAN|
42 |RAN|
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