Metal Rock Bar in Nagoya, Japan (Scum)

Since the first time I heard Outrage in 1989 I always wanted to visit Nagoya. Despite living in Japan for three years, the opportunity never presented itself (despite having passed Nagoya on the train several times) until 2013. I asked Shinya Tange, Outrage’s drummer, if there were any metal bars or clubs he could recommend. He recommended Scum. The place was much nicer than the name suggests. The owner is super nice and can speak English having lived in California for a while. We spoke in Japanese though. He hands you his iPad and let’s you pick the music. The cover of the album of the currently playing song is projected on the wall. As you can see, I must have picked something off of Mastodon’s “Crack the Skye.”

The other customers were wonderful too. I chatted with a young local who had never even heard of Outrage. I found it rather ironic that I, a foreigner, was able to introduce a native from Nagoya to Outrage.

Posted on February 2nd, 2014 under Japan. Tags: beer, mastodon, metal, nagoya, Nikon 24mm f/2.8 AF-D nikkor lens, Nikon D600, outrage. Comments Off on Metal Rock Bar (メタル ロック バー) “Scum” (スカム) Nagoya (名古屋)

Osaka Castle

Posted on January 29th, 2014 under Japan. Tags: castle, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600, osaka. Comments Off on Osaka Castle (大阪城)

Chungjangsa Shrine sign

I always knew of the continuing tensions between Japan and other Asian people, but I never realized the extent of the seemingly never-ending animosity until I actually went to China and Korea. I quickly learned to stop telling people I met in China and Korea that I had lived in Japan for three years and could speak Japanese as I could tell it tainted me in their eyes.

Signs in English in Korea are few and far between, which is fine since it’s Korea. I shouldn’t expect things in English while in Korea. However, it seemed like when I did see a rare sign in English at a museum, shrine, or monument it was mostly anti-Japanese in nature. Words like enemies, invaders, and other harsh terms were the norm rather than the exception when it came to describing the Japanese. Now if these signs were put in place in the 1940s or 1950s I could understand, but they were all quite recent. I’m guessing the history textbooks written in Korean are just as bad if not worse. I’m not saying that they should whitewash history; however, history can be written honestly without instilling anti-Japanese propaganda.

Will the Chinese and Korean people reach a point where they can forgive and move on? I mean it’s been more than 60 years! The vast majority of currently living Japanese weren’t alive during the occupation.

For those of you living in the USA, imagine if everything in the U.S. describing any country who had done us wrong in the past was extremely negative. Imagine if when we talked about Britain, Germany, Japan, Italy, and every other country we’ve been at war with in our past we referred to them as the enemy or used similar terms?

Posted on January 26th, 2014 under Japan, Korea. Comments: 2

low tide in the rain on Miyajima

Posted on January 24th, 2014 under Japan. Tags: lanterns, miyajima, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600, rain, shinto, torii. Comments Off on Low Tide

Most Engrish still makes sense if you think about it long enough. Not this one. If you want to know what you get in the Cake Set you better learn to read Japanese because the Japanese are the only words on this menu that make any sense.

Posted on January 23rd, 2014 under Japan. Tags: engrish. Comments Off on Engrish