Lick Lick

Yokohama, Mama! Blog Burstin’ with Matt

Wednesday morning found Lick Lick once again tromping through the endless antiseptic mazes of Shinjuku station (peopled by harried yupps, pallid fashionistas, cute girls texting, and one smelly loud American rock band).  We made our way to the east side of the station, passed several television screens the size of the Lincoln memorial, and finally (finally!) experienced the sushi apocalypse we have been yearning for: a subterranean conveyor-belt Mecca named Shion.  We felt like Homer Simpson in the land of chocolate, and Mo’s stack of empty plates reached to the heavens.

Wednesday afternoon found us in Yokohama, a place that is fun to rhyme things with.  Continuing our quest for the soul of Japanese culture, we toured Yokohama’s China town and then went to Starbucks.

One power nap later, we were whisked away to FM Yokohama 84.7 (accompanied by the unstoppably wonderful Osuka and Kazuya of THE EMERALDS) for a midnight interview for the “Yokohama Music Awards” radio program, hosted by the “Fabulous-Furry-Freak-Brothers-T-shirt-wearing” host, Teppei, and translated by Kanako Tanabe, the lovely and effervescent ex-schoolmate of THE EMERALDS. (They may look like rock stars to you, but they’re still just sophomores to her!)

The interview was a flippin’ blast!  Both the loud Americans and the classy natives had lots of questions to ask and lots of anecdotes to share.  Our new friends were amazed that four of us are teachers (evidently in Japan you must live the rock and roll dream or abandon it entirely), and they treated us and our music with far, far too much respect.  We plugged our upcoming show with THE EMERALDS, they played our “Team Thong” (for some reason they said it sounded naughty) and THE EMERALDS’ “All My Love for You”, and we made repeated false claims about our hometown in a shameless attempt to further the Austin-Japan rock and roll lovefest.  With any luck our couches and floors will soon be peopled by bedraggled Japanese rockers and our mouths will spout endless volleys of Japanese hipster slang!  We look forward to repaying the favors that have been bestowed upon us with tacos and Lone Star!

Now on to Kobe.  As the sagacious Akio told me in Yoyogi, “you GOT to KEEP ON ROCKING.”

Filed by Eric at July 17th, 2008 under Japan, Tokyo, Yokohama