I surfed into another interested Japan related video that I found on Vimeo. This time time by Tan Hong Jiun who hails from Singapore and says he “Likes to take the road less traveled.” He made this video below over 10 days in February as he walked around Tokyo and Kamakura  - two places I enjoyed during my own trip to Japan last year. I recognize a few shops I walked pass on my way to the Great Buddha of Kamakura, lots of Japanese train train action, surfing in Tokyo Bay, foods like Okonomiyaki (I think) and sushi, pachinko, sumo wrestling and more. Check the video out below.

I LOVE finding and watching videos like this one, so if you surf into one you’d like to share feel free to do so on Twitter @Jamaipanese, on the Jamaipanese.com Facebook page or through my contact form.

Today, May 4th is Star Wars day so May the 4th be with you. Get it? “May the 4th be with you” as in “May the force be with you”? Genius isn’t it? I need not explain how huge of a franchise Star Wars is worldwide, especially in Japan. The geektastic Star Wars seeds haven’t been sewn here in Jamaica but I wish had a stormtrooper costume I could wear to work today. To my friends all over the world who are fans of Star Wars, whether it is the movies, video games, animated series, books and hundred of thousands of pieces of merchandise - Happy Star Wars Day and May the 4th be with you. So power up your android powered light saber and lets enjoy the day!

Fan of MMORPG can also join me in playing Star Wars the Old Republic. A great story driven MMO that i have been enjoying over the past few months. I play on the Sanctum of the Exalted server on the Empire side and my main is a Sniper.

It is that time of year again when Yoyogi Park in Tokyo wakes up from its winter slumber and rings in the spring and summer with various festivals celebrating different cultures. Not surprisingly I always like to highlight the coolest festival of them all – The One Love Jamaica Festival! This year it will be held between Saturday May 19th and Sunday May 20th and lots of Jamaica related culture, music and food will be available for all to experience. Jamaica is celebrating 50 years of Independence in 2012 so I am sure this year’s festival in Tokyo will be extra significant.

Are you in Tokyo and planning to attend the One Love Jamaica festival this year? If so leave a comment here or send me a message through my contact form. I always like to see and share photos and videos as well as hear about how the festival is! Check out photos and write-ups from previous years - 2009, 2010 and 2011. More information on this years festival can be found at onelove-jamaica-fes.org

Nothing says Jamaica like Jerk chicken and pork

I have reviewed some great Japan related books over the years but “Tokyo on Foot” may be my favourite Tokyo related book ever. I like this book so much because it is very unique, showcases they artistic skill of the author and offers a genuine peek into the life of someone living in Tokyo and Tokyo life itself.

Tokyo on Foot by Florent Chavouet

Tokyo on Foot

Florent Chavouet, a young graphic artist, spent six months exploring Tokyo while his girlfriend interned at a company there. Each day he would set forth, with a pouch full of colored pencils and a sketchpad, to visit different neighborhoods. This stunning book records the city that he got to know during his adventures, a gritty, vibrant place, full of ordinary people going about their daily lives. Realistically rendered city views or posters of pop stars contrast with cartoon sketches of iconic objects or droll vignettes, like a housewife walking her pet pig and a Godzilla statue in a local park.

With wit, a playful sense of humor, and the colored pencils of his kit, Florent Chavouet sets aside the question of urban ugliness or beauty and captures the Japanese essence of a great city.

Shibiya's streets look chaotic even in a drawing - brings back memories of my Sept 2011 trip

Not your typical Tokyo Travel log

Tokyo on Foot is a beautiful book that will appeal to fans of Tokyo and in fact could make an excellent gift for a Japan/Tokyo fan in your life but the book could also be appealing to a wider audience not looking for the typical “Tokyo travel log”. Reading the book is like reliving the adventures of the author from a mental and visual level, his stylized sketches, maps, notes and labels are a welcomed change from a sea of text and I felt like a child again rummaging though a very interesting picture book.

there is a comedic but still very realistic tone to Florent's sketches

Pick up Tokyo on Foot today on Amazon or any bookstore that stocks it, you will not regret the purchase.

Back cover of Tokyo on Foot

Other interested books to check out:

• Otaku Encyclopedia
• Japan an Illustrated History
• Drainspotting: Japan’s Artistic Manhole Covers
• Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential
• The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn

An interesting article entitled “Japan’s Reggae Affair A Deception?“ was published in last Sunday’s Jamaica Gleaner that was written by Gleaner writer Mel Cooke. It speaks about the popularity of reggae music in Japan, why it is popular and some of the changes that are affecting reggae and Jamaican music as a whole in Japan.

Jamaican reggae artists like Etana remains popular in Japan, but music by Jamaican artists is becoming less popular in Japan

I have included an excerpt below:

Speaking at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, in July 2010, Dr Noriko Manabe, assistant professor of musicology at Princeton University, explained cultural similarities between Japan and Jamaica which underpin reggae and dancehall’s popularity there. She outlined the similarities between Jamaican patois and Japanese, both melodious languages and Patois’ grammar, she said, is more reminiscent of Japanese than English.

Manabe noted that most of the Japanese reggae/dancehall performers are not from Tokyo and explained that there are aspects of Jamaican culture which resemble regional/rural Japanese culture. Among those are humour and warmth, directness and unpretentiousness. Even ‘Jah’, the invocation of deity in Jamaica, has a phonetic equivalent in Japan, though the meanings are entirely different.

Read the full article on the Jamaica Gleaner website, there are also some interesting comments posted at the bottom of the article.

I originally wanted to call this post “My 10 favourite anime villains but the list surged way past 10 and I couldn’t shred it down so I chose five that had to make the list and chose another 5 at random then deleted the others. Would love to hear via a comment after reading this post who some of your favourite anime villains are.

• Orochimaru

Not only is Orochimaru awesome, he is disgusting making him awesomely disgusting or disgustingly awesome, however you want to put it. Orochimaru is my favourite villain from the Naruto series and like most villains is plotting to take over the world. Everything about him is unique from his fighting style to his appearance and his selfish nature and fiendish theme music will make the bravest of heroes unsure of themselves.

• Tessai

• Master Freiza

Frieza is strange one and is one of the main villains in the Dragon Ball Z anime. I grew up watching Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z and Frieza was elitist racist bastard who thought of himself as better that everyone. As a child I wasn’t quite sure if “it” was male or female but I sure get wrapped up in the epicly drawn out battle between Freiza and Goku. Frieza easily wins the highest body count title on the list, blowing up planets and enslaving entire civilizations.

• Envy

• Aizen

Arrogance is a very important ingredient for all great villains and Aizen might be the most arrogant of them all, he is also a master tactician who proves that bad guys who have both muscle and a brain are ten times more likely to succeed. too bad the story of Bleach is flawed or it may be that the good guys always win but I stopped reading the manga and watching the anime after Master Aizen was defeated.

• Team Rocket

• Mariemaia Khushrenada

• Yami Bakura

• Ali Al-Saachez

• Broly

Looking back now I think I finally understand why Broly was so angry, the poor guy was constipated. Shouting Kakarot! was his way of calling out for help but instead of helping the poor guy his father put a device around his neck to keep him quiet. Broly is awesome just because of the level of pain he dished out to every and anyone in the DBZ universe, one of my most memorable scenes in a Dragon Ball movie was when he thrust his foot down Krillin’s…

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

This post may fly over the head of readers who have never heard of, read or watched the Dragon Ball anime or manga. While shopping in Tokyo I came upon a store that unknowingly had a powerful artifact called a Dragon Ball on display for sale. If only they knew that collecting all seven of them would cause the sky to turn dark and the opportunity to get almost any wish granted. Try as I might I was unable to recover the other 6 dragon balls while in Japan but I brought the one I found back home with me to Jamaica and any day now I am expected Goku and company or worst – a villain – to show up at my door…

Many tears ago I had a weird addiction to collecting t-shirts. At the height of my “problem” I had dozens and dozens of different kinds of t-shirts that I prized and even refused to wear! I have recovered from that addiction, but recently I got an email from Boomslank, a business owned by a group of brothers specializing in printing original anime artwork on t-shirts, iPhone cases and most recently posters. The minute I looked at their website I fell in love with their shirt designs and knowing it was all original artwork made me appreciate it more, so I jumped at the offer of getting a free t-shirt of my choice so I could share the Boomslank goodness with my readers.

Flag is my second graphic tee. With this design I really tried a very different art style and theme. I do this often because…I get bored easily and love trying new things ^_^”. Flag or “Capture the flag” as I like to call it features three new OCs (original characters), Inoue Sato and two others (who will be revealed later) in a scenario very similar to the traditional game of capture the flag. But you can probably tell that this version of the game is a little more serious! XD

Just about every waking hour of my Japan experience was enjoyable and memorable in some way or another. Even when it became time eat I was still being adventurous almost all the time. I have already covered quite a few of my gastronomical adventures when I visited Japan such as eating Hitsumabushi or barbecued eel, devouring a tub sized bowl of Ramen, my favourite – Yakitori and even easily available Japanese fast food like Yoshinoya among other things. In this post I’ll recap my Okonomiyaki experience.

about to take the first bite of Okonomiyaki

What is Okonomiyaki?

According to Wikipedia, the name “Okonomiyaki” is derived from the word okonomi which means “what you like” or “what you want”, and yaki meaning “grilled” or “cooked”. After a long day exploring Nara, battling tricky deer, recovering from the shock of losing, then recovering my Japan rail pass and being in awe at attractions like Todaiji I retreated to Kyoto in the late evening with a stomach so empty I felt I might want to devour a meat mountain. My Japanese friend was impressed with the fact that I enjoyed Hitsumabushi and continued to tell me stories of how most of the Jamaicans that visit Japan almost never try Japanese food and instead get married to McDonalds. We searched the food court in a mall nextdoor to where we were staying (El Inn Kyoto) and after explaining what was available she encouraged me to try Okonomiyaki. The “old” me would never try something I couldn’t even pronounce properly but my empty stomach and aching feet encouraged me to go for it!

let the lightning fast mixing begin!

Unsuspecting Ninja Chef

As usual I was very impressed the setting, layout and overall ambiance of the restaurant, service was exceptional and the price of the meals were very reasonable. My Japanese friend had a lot of experience making Okonomiyaki as her mom had owned a restaurant specializing in it while she was growing up. She took over from the chef and transformed into mixing ninja. Okonomiyaki is made from all kinds of ingredients hence the “what you like” reference and I could recognize eggs, shrimp, flour, squid, ginger, cabbage and many other ingredients being tossed around and mixed together into a pancake-like mashup that smelled wonderful as it cooked on the grill built into the table we sat at.

Okonomiyaki goes through quite the transformation before it is ready to eat

Have you ever tried Okonomiyaki?

Soon the meal was ready (beer included) and while me first few bites were exploratory as I tried to save my taste buds from an unfamiliar shock I grew to like to varied tastes punctuated by different sources and toppings. Soon I was stuffed and that short walk to the restaurant didn’t seem as short anymore. Okonomiyaki like Hitsumabushi is one of those Japanese dished I couldn’t see myself eating often but on special occassions and such I’ll have to get me some more! Have you ever tried Okonomiyaki? Is yes, where? In no, Do you want to? Leave a comment below!

I am not sure if I was getting better at using chopsticks or Okonomiyaki was just more chopstick friendly

Chibo Okonomiyaki is the retaurant we ate at, kudos for great service!