moseskoul-blog

[moseskoul-blog]

And why are you in Japan.

Primarily to shoot videos for my band, and also explore the country that has influenced me since my childhood.

[moseskoul-blog]

The 8th of June, 2017 // TOKYO // DAY 1

I’m finally in Tokyo.

I cross this temple on my way to the hotel, the smoke from the incense cleanses my day old clothes, and it’s the warmest welcome I’ve received in a while. There is a water body somewhere close by because I can hear it, but this empty suitcase needs a home and I need a shower. I’ll come back.

The hotel, albeit rather snug for me, has subtly in its ambience told me that the memories I spend creating here are going to embed themselves deep. The origami crane on my bed makes me realise how much I love details and how terrible I was at arts and crafts.

I’m back to explore the Temple. The first step you take inside the temple is accompanied by a 10dB drop in sound level. Could it be the titanic hydrangeas,  the zen-like water fountains or the finest case of confirmation bias?

A little girl is playing hide and seek with her mother. Frightened by the ominous looking bumblebee hovering above her (I think it must have had something to do with her beautiful lilac floral dress) she runs to her mother who is busy readying her fixed gear bike. She places the girl in the basket on the front.

I’ll head further inside.

Pictures can be such a travesty of beauty sometimes. Here is a fine example of it. 

MOS Burger.

“Firsts”. I don’t particularly care about them. But, the first meal is important. It’s like mood lighting. Setting the tone. Mapping the ambience.

Of course my first meal wasn’t a Japanese burger. But, I followed up on my first meal with a Cheese Burger from my namesake restaurant.

The waitstaff were straight out of 2002 Nickelodeon and extremely courteous. I never forget anyone who is kind to me, and I make sure they don’t forget me.

The Japanese Supermarket Experience. A portal to another dimension where ‘spoilt for choice’ takes a whole new meaning.

The Wait.

She is waiting for someone. That someone must be extremely wealthy because he has arrived in a taxi.

Cold hard cash gave way to a warm, all encompassing hug.

Money can’t buy love but it can buy you a shorter route to it, though.

There is something about this street at night that makes me gravitate towards it. 50 metres from my Hotel, I always start my walk from here.

The sound of Pachinko machines drown out everything in this street, only to go completely silent the moment the street ends.

Japan is extremely well designed, but even I know that the secret sauce lies in things that aren’t contrived but just come together - like this street, or the fact that I will end up interrupting what (to me) seems like a Yakuza recruitment.

The First Dinner.

This particular Ramen is without a shadow of doubt one of man’s finest creations. Words fail to do justice to this gustatory joyride.

Deep inside my soul I know, that ice-cold water will write my obituary at the end of this adventure. But, when in Japan...

3 AM, Nippori.

My first day in Tokyo has taught me one valuable lesson. Wherever you go, vending machines follow.

It’s bemusing that I didn’t shut out the sounds of the city with music as per usual. Another first.

An African American brother is handing out mixtapes by the staircase that leads up to the subway station.

I start walking towards my hotel and press play on my phone.

SONG OF 8th JUNE 2017: Blue in Green by Bill Evans Trio