Photos: Nighttime and Markets

With my stay in Japan reaching its countdown stage of under a month, I realized I should post the photos I want to share while they’re still slightly relevant. This week, I’m finally delving into the couple thousand or so pictures that I’ve taken in the past several months this year.

This first set of pictures is of the markets in Asakusa (Tokyo) and Toji (Kyoto) as well as some night shots of Dotonbori (Osaka) and Akihabara (Tokyo).

Click Here for the pictures.

The temple in Asakusa is the most visited in Japan, which I imagine would make it the most visited in the world. Even on weekdays outside of peak season, it and its markets are slammed with patrons both Japanese and foreign. I don’t know the exact figure of how many people go there daily, but lets just say… oh…. 6 trillion people a day.

Kyoto’s Toji temple turns from national treasure to giant Flea Market the 21st of every month. The juxtapositions of mounds of Japanese garakuta (junk) with centuries old temples and a multi-storied pagoda makes for an interesting contrast.

Dotonbori is the large promenade of Minami (southern Osaka) filled with eateries, bars, beautiful people, neon, and belligerence. It runs alongside a river in which hundreds of drunk people dive when the Hanshin Tigers win the Central League baseball championship.

Akihabara is the nerd capital of the world.

DJ Justice Returns!!

This past Saturday, the Japanese listeners of WKNC 88.1 FM came out in force and were treated to the comeback of their beloved Legend and American Hero. It was the return of DJ Justice in his first public appearance since retiring from the airwaves and The Brad Dixon Radio Program: The Nuisance Party.

In the Japanese music scene, there’s a wonderful underground movement of Rock DJing. Its for those of us who can get into the screaming riffs of Mars Volta and the nerdy sass of Weezer a lot easier than the “what, what, whats” of hip-hop or the “un-tisk-un-tisk-un-tisks” of trance.


The idea of Rock DJing seemed absurd to me when I went to my first event. Flashing lights and cheesy laser effects generally reserved for raves and the like illuminated a kitchen-sized dance floor packed with cheering, lively Japanese people. Some danced while others jumped up and down screaming out the hyms of their favorite records, but everyone was facing the DJ like he was putting on a rock performance of his own. In reality, he needs do little more than flip through his CD collection and fade through tracks, but there’s plenty of energy and fervor to spice things up. The blend of everything from the Crystal Method to Alkaline Trio had me hooked from my first show.


Fast forward a year and a half and I find myself in the DJ line-up for RIZM: Vol. 5, an event combining rock DJs and bands into a stage club event. The idea is non-stopped music. As one band stops, a DJ immediately starts while the bands set-up their equipment and tune, and it continues band/dj/band/dj/etc., ending with the DJs playing until sunrise. I would have never imagined a place in Japan where I could start off a DJ set with At the Drive In (at 3am no less) and have people dance and scream the lyrics back to me with such enthusiasm.