Jimisen – Jimi Hendrix Tribute Band

A few years ago I randomly stumbled into an underground bar/nightclub in Tokyo’s Aoyama District. I don’t usually go out after dark (I am morning person) but my friends wanted to stay out so I obliged! It turned out a lucky stumble though, as shortly after getting a table in the tiny (but very very cool club) Jimisen entered the tiny stage (well, room corner to be more exact) and proceeded to play one of the most perfect club gigs that I have ever experienced. Jimisen is a Jimi Hendrix Tribute band, four men who manages to look and sound as close to the real thing as anyone could ever wish for. Like many others around the world, I have a Jimi Hendrix phase when I was young, so I know all the songs by heart and have certainly annoyed friends and family with trying to copy the more famous riffs every time someone let me have a guitar for a few minutes. Seeing Jimisen perform was just one of those perfect moments in life: you know it isn’t really Jimi Hendrix, but it is just so good you don’t care.

Jimisen (look them up on Facebook) is playing several gigs in Tokyo this month, including a big Halloween gig and a smaller gig at this very same club, Red Shoes. If you are in Tokyo and want a very memorable experience to take home, this might be just what you are looking for.

And since the club was the size of a medium sized American kitchen I got to sit as close as I wanted, and I could shake the hands of the guys after the gig. Fun!

Softbank Dog Statue – Ginza

A lot of foreigners have noticed the hugely popular white dog maskot of the popular cell phone company Softbank here in Japan. Their store in Ginza had this one in front the last time I walked past. Incidentally, that store is a good place to go get your Japanese phone sim cards if you are a tourist with a hankering for net access.

Yasukuni Shrine – Searchlights

Two searchlights are casting beams of light above the grand Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo during the Miraitoterasu festival last month.

Tetzutsu Hanabi – Yasukuni Shrine

Last weekend was the stylish (and quite tiny) Miraitoterasu festival at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine and on both the Friday that saw the torrential rains and the mild Sunday there was a display of Tetzutsu Hanabi, handheld fireworks. I wrote a little on the history and art of Tetzutsu fireworks in this blog, so please have look! The Yasukuni event had I think 100 bundles, quite large. One person waited to pick it up while the other one lit it. After a good fire had started it would be picked up and pointed to the sky before going out in a big bang and a final burst of fire directed downwards. Few festivals are as colorful, loud and smelly as this one!