Last week Aida Makoto-san, founder of the exceedingly informative http://www.j-music.com/, contacted me via mail inviting me to a gig on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately I couldn't make it but we were able to meet up last night at the Samurai in Shinjuku. Aida-san, his wife Eiko-san, and vocalist Togashi Katsuhiko were joined by pianist Itakura Katsuyuki and the three(!) bassists he played with earlier in the day. (Sorry guys but I can't remember your names now, email me!)

It was great to hang out with all these serious jazz maniacs, and I learned about a few new joints to go check out too (more on that later..). 相田さん、招待してくれて有り難うございます。又飲みに行こう！

I spent Saturday night at the Yodidore Hakushaku(http://www.yoidorehakusyaku.com/) in Yokohama with two freaky jazz (and NY Yankee) fans, Brian Drier and Tomikawa Masashi..and they served Guinness at the bar, as you can see. Unfortunately I could only catch the first set, but still enjoyed a couple hours hanging with those cats. More gig pics coming soon!

I spent the night in Hakone and was thrilled to find that my hot springs hotel had jazz playing the lobby all evening. There is nothing finer than taking a bath in the hot springs, drinking some sake and the leaning back to listen to some jazz. Japan = paradise.

Awesome album (and album cover!) I heard at Jazz Pub Michaux recently. Not a better evening to be had in Tokyo than grooving with all of Misho-san's records.

You too can be a Japanese "rastaman"! Jamaican festival in Yoyogi park this weekend was superb.

Sept. 3,4,5 at the Yurakucho Forum, looks like the usual good lineup. Check it out!
http://www.tokyo-jazz.com/

(I'll promote the event even though they stole that useful url from me...)

Great fun had by all at the Tokyo Jazz Society "Electric Miles Davis" night at Jazz Room Stick, Shinjuku. Many thanks to Wariya-san for being such a warm host, and to Peter Barakan for mentioning the event on his radio show last Friday. Stay tuned for details on the next session in early June!

Harajuku is the youth fashion center of Tokyo, not exactly the jazziest area in town..yet I forgot that on the side of the Volontaire cafe/bar were these fantastic portraits of Billie Holliday and Les

Everyone's favorite filipino-american Latin-Soul master Joe Bataan is in town at the beginning of June! http://www.elsurrecords.com/jo-bataan-injapan.html

Met up with Chris from New Zealand on Thursday night and Andrew & his daughter Beaah from the Philippines last night. Great fun had by all, the Tokyo jazz scene was all they had hoped for and more!