I know I said the next post would be about Omuraya, but I thought you might like to see this music video from Sunday night at Zac Baran. Local folk musician Udonya Mentei was accompanied by Yoshida Koichi on the shakuhachi to very powerful effect. A great night and so many good songs, I felt pained I only had enough memory on my camera for the one. I don't know what this song … [Read more...]
Mentei
This noodle shop by MotoTanaka station does some very nice homemade udon noodles. The owner (pictured a short ways below), is known to all his friends as Yama-chan, or by his customers simply as "Master". I can't remember what his real name is. He's a very nice chap. I first met him in music bar Hawkwind one night, and when he told me he owned the nearby noodle shop I said "Oh! … [Read more...]
In Search of… Vinyl
I have previously written about the record shop Prototype, managed by my good friend Yoshida-kun but I've been thinking it's time I added a few more Kyoto record shops to the list. I asked friend and collector Nana H. (that's her on the left spinning discs at Joao) to give me some pointers and she recommended the following stores. Bootsy's A pure, minimalist store without … [Read more...]
Honyarado
ほんやら洞 (Honyarado) is a famous café on Imadegawa, that has been supplying coffee and cheap meals to nearby Doshisha University students for over thirty years. The owner, Kai Fusayoshi, is a very productive professional photographer and his prints and posters decorate the walls of the shop. Check out some of the books of his work littering the place. In black and white and with … [Read more...]