i got back last night

its a little depressing returning to philly. sorry folks. thanks for watching. will get phone activated soon.

glad to see that zima is alive and well

a few final pics. the best pizza i ever had, at savoy, tokyo. the tsukiji fish market at 7 a.m. view from the top of kyoto's moma. and my favorite temple in fujinomiya. here is a link for more comprehensive pics that my brother took on our trip. http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=23uk7wyf.9tjm52y3&x=0&y=-y4snid&localeid=en_US

hello again from toyota country

they got baseball fever over here in osaka. went to my first game last night, and it felt like the middle of a heated world series. these people are basically crazy for the hanshin tigers. they scored five runs in the ninth to win it. they even let you bring your own beer in.

"I really like lunch."

i know this one is in poor taste, but last night when miyata-san challenged me with this nasty food, i challenged him with pronunciation. not a lot of L's in the japanese language. we were both crying, we were laughing so hard. the waitress kept staring at us.
here are some much needed pictures
tomo's best friends girlfriends son at the temple with yours truly. the birdpark/greenhouse place. fuji-san from a lawn chair on the golf course with "super dry" in hand. whiskey and blues with tomo late. and this beautiful chef in her home with squid and pork okonomiyaki cookin. definitely soul food. notice her smock thing,
work simple
casual work
simple casual
work simple


let the good times roll

....worst pizza ever.

so back to the weekend. went to tomo's parents home on sunday to cook the pizza, and i was hurtin pretty bad. you never need to finish a night of drinking with whisky. ouch.
his family lived in rome for ten years, his father is a master sculptor. at the train station in town is a beautiful sculpture/fountain he made. the house is filled with art, very cool place right on the edge of the forest. will post some photos soon.
needless to say his family has eaten many pizzas and speaks italian. but i couldnt read any labels of the flour, yeast, ect. so pizza was really flat and crispy, kind of like a cracker. it was pretty embarrassing, but they said they liked it. i probably would have thrown it out. havent given up though, im going back after my brother comes.
my brother, scott, is coming friday. so hopefully thursday or friday is my last day at the nest. thank god. time to travel. mito-yokohama-fujinomiya-kyoto-osaka-tokyo. then my brother leaves and i go back to fujinomiya and stay at tomo's until may.
went out with miyata-san last night. he is always trying to get me to eat some weird shit. he orders something and says "challenge"? yesterday it was unagi(eel) liver grilled on a stick. who knew they even had livers? really bitter. i couldnt eat it. then he ordered monkfish liver. just like foie gras but fishy aftertaste. didnt like. it took five beers and two glasses of wine just to wash the taste out of my mouth.

forget april in paris...

sakura(cherry) blossoms everywhere. they have these parties(hanami), where they go to the park and sit under these beautiful trees and drink and eat, play music, whatever. went to fujinomiya to visit tomo. he is a really brilliant artist who studied and lived in philly for something like ten years. tomo has some great work at the fleisher ollman gallery. anyhoo, had a blast in his hometown. woke up at 6:30 for surfing, no waves. breakfast with beer and sake instead. went to the jurong birdpark. unbelievable. saw nearly a hundred owls. most of them were a couple feet away, without cages. went to driving range at base of fuji-san. had a couple asahi super-drys. drove golf balls? okinomiyaki and squid yakisoba at some really tiny restaurant. i think the woman cooking the food lived there. a few more super dry pounders. ready for nap. went to mt. fujis main temple. many sakura there. washed my hands in temple water, gave them some money, then did this prayer/clap kind if thing? off to the onsen. many different kind of pools and springs here. really relaxing. take shower. get into hot spring or sauna. just chill. went to grocery store to get pizza making ingredients(couldnt read a damn thing). went to the japanese bar(izakaya). ate too much, drank more beer and sake. then this great whisky bar. they play good blues music. drank jim beam rye. went home to make pizza dough......

richard prince who else

i knew a guy who was so rich he could ski uphill. another one. i went to a wedding at a nudist colony. it was easy to see who the best man was. another one. i told my mother-in-law, " my house is your house." last week she sold it. another one. i went to a psychiatrist. he said, "tell me everything." i did, and now he's doing my act.

p.s. please check out japanese artist Orimoto Tatsumi

Geisha Relief Fund

Knowledgeable sources estimate that there are just over 100 geishas left in Kyoto. With numbers ever decreasing, now is the time to help these poor girls regain their once exquisite grace and refined entertainment capabilities. Every dollar can help, every performance can be saved. With just over a dollar a day you can be part of restoring vital history to these trying times. Please make all donations payable to the Joseph Beddia Caring for Geisha Foundation, and we will make sure the girls recieve all the love they need. Send checks and money orders to 311-0133 1257 Kounsosu, Naka-shi, Ibaraki, Japan