Home, sweet Japanese home

First off i would like to thank everyone who wanted to be part of my black metal book and jumped in on short notice to get tattooed in the upcoming month. I hope you are as excited as I am. This means that there is no more room for requests BUT it doesn't mean that you can't get you black metal tattoo later either.... And no it doesn't mean that you have to get satanic stuff either. So thanks to all who made it and thank to all that didn't but got on the waiting list instead.

Now to the real post. It is brought to you by my iPhone in association with Instagram.
The last day of our short Japan trip has come. This trip has felt super short in some ways and ok long on other ways. It has been so packed with work and stuff that it feels like we must have been here longer but getting reminded about all the things we didn't have the time to do make me remember that it has only been two weeks. But that's ok. You know why? Because we are coming back in April and will stay for a whole month!! Yeah!! This makes it easier to go back home tomorrow.
We will be back here and in Ink Rat from the 8th of April till the 8th of May. There is some days reserved for actual vacation but there is plenty of openings to get tattooed. So if you are interested in getting something done on our next trip then book it with Hata on inkrat00@yahoo.jp and let him know what you want to get and where and size.
But it has been great to be back to the place that I love so much and that I have missed since we haven't been able to go here for over a year. Funny thing is that not much have changed. Don't know why you expect that everything will change as soon as you turn your back to a place for two seconds. It's the same feeling we get when returning to Denmark after a long trip. Why haven't anything changed?
Ok I have tons of things I want to say about this trip and I can see from how I'm already rambeling that it could take a while and honestly... I rather get out and enjoy my last day in Tokyo. So here is some pretty pictures to look at. There might be a tattoo or two that's missing. Secret stuff. Yeah!! I wanted to put text under the photos but i don't know how to from the phone so you will have to do with just pictures. Ok so here they are. See you soon with more news.

BLOODWORK: SHIGE

Rie chan arigato Oaska kara kitekurete. Gomen!

BLOODWORK: FILIP LEU

While we were shooting in London late last year Filip requested that, on our next visit to Japan, we photograph the suit he did for Shige to include in the BloodWork: Bodies project.  It was a request we were honored to fulfill.

BLOODWORK: SHIGE

It's rare that a tattooer can walk the bridge between generations. It's even rarer to then transcend and create an entirely new mountain.

BLOODWORK: SHIGE

Spent a full and productive day photographing Shige and his clientele in Yokahama.


Dinner afterwards with the whole group. Gochisousama Shige san.

Neko Desu

I am almost done with my Tattoo marathon part one. I will have a brief stop tomorrow and then back on it friday. But today is still a work day so you will have to wait just a bit longer for some crazy tattoo pictures.
Mean while, here is some pictures from our first trip to Yellow Blaze. Shige had saved this tiny kitten the morning that I got tattooed. You can read more about this little fellow on Amalies blog HERE





Now I will have to go to work! One more day and then finally a day off. Ahhhhh...

Mata Neeeee

TOKYO: BASARA

While in Tokyo I, alongside many others, attended the Basara exhibition at the Spiral Gallery.  An interesting visual intermingling that highlighted aesthetic beauty and resistance simultaneously, two subjects I am particularly fond of. 

A number of creatives contributed in an diversse swash of mediums but those I readily recognized and/or am a fan of were: Shige, Tenmyuouya Hishashi, Ikeda Manabu, Maru Waka, Tetsuya Noguchi, and Hitozuki.

The contribution of most interest to me, socially speaking, was Shige's clientèle.  The significance of this will not likely present itself unless one has a broad understanding of (assuming the reader does) tattoo culture in Japan but, to my knowledge, this was the first exhibition of live tattooed bodies at a substantial public space within Japan in modern history.

Although, in Japan there are other times tattoos are displayed in public, such as the Sanja Festival in Asakusa, this display by the Yakuza is not officially sanctioned.  Nor is notice taken by those in the "high art" (hate that phrase) circle of snobbery.

Also, as the NSKolectiv we did do an exhibition of live backpieces in Osaka during 2007, but this milestone is not as significant as the current for two reasons: 1) As was all things we did/do the event was intentionally DIY, taking place at the Three Tides Gallery which is located below a tattoo workspace.  Therefore the expected attendees were directly associated with the local tattoo community not the overall civilian population. 2) We, as foreigners, were allowed a certain degree of social lax in which to put something like that on.

Spiral Gallery, on the other hand, is a public art space in the heart of Tokyo.  The exhibition was sanctioned by a third party not directly associated with tattooing.  Shige's work was tethered with other creatives working in more socially acceptable mediums.  Anyone could attend and a broad array of people did from an equally broad cross section of social sects, which are much more defined than, for instance, back in the States. 

I was duly impressed by the significance of the event.  Was an honor to see something like that go down.  Well played.
Tenmyuouya Hisashi

Ikeda Manabu

Tetsuya Noguchi

Shige 

Foxy Lady (someone had to say it)

Yesterday we went to Yokohama and Shige again but this time I was off the hook! This time it wasn't me who had to be nervous about getting tattooed. Yesterday was the day that my brave wife got her thigh (and then some) tattooed by Shige. You should go see her new fox and some more of my pictures on her blog.

While she was getting tattooed I got a chance to sneak out for a moment and enjoy the weather for a bit. I wanted to take some more pictures for my (in progress) series of Japanese people but old people in Ichikawacho is angry looking. Every time I as much as thought in my head that I would sneak a picture I looked at them and they would look angry back at me. So not a lot of picture here. I did take a few on the street anyway.
Soon after I went back to make sure that the wife was alive and well and that was the end of the nice weather.
Today it is raining like hell!! Tomorrow will be the same! Good thing is that I have finished a bunch of drawings for my upcoming project. More about that later.

Not exactly a political correct sign. On a bar called Party Animals.

Two days of ARRRRHHHH!!!!

...( Amalie came up with the headline)

So as you can see I did survive my two days of torture with Shige. 13 hours of tattooing in two days is no fun.
But here is the result so far.


See more pictures from those days on Amalie's blog.

Colours

Hello again. Yes I am still here and we made it home safe from Japan. The time back in Denmark have been stressfull and not just because it always sucks to get back to Denmark afteramazing trip. The jetlag lasted forever and doesn't even seem to have left yet. DAMNDANISH WINTER! How are we supposed to get to our normal routine when there is 2 sec ofdaylight? Ohhh well!! We'll survive this year too. A bunch of other things that was supposed to be our joy and happyness when we came home turned out to be a bigger headache than a comforter. I won't get into details about that just yet...don't want to jinx anything.

So! To get back into the blogness here is some pictures from brighter times. These gems is part one of two posts from my day with Shige and his family in the most amazing garden and one of Shiges favourite places. Those of you who reads my wifes blog have already seen pictures from this garden since it has become one of the places that she will visit while I am getting tattooed by Shige for hours and hours.
After my last session on this trip we stayed an extra day in Yokohama to hang out with Shinge and Co. Amalie had gotten a bad case of food poisoning so all she could do was stay at the hotel and sleep and try to get better so I went out alone.
The garden is truly amazing. I have chosen to let this first post focus on the amazing colours there is to be found here. Since there is so many different tree sorts to be found in Japanese gardens there is a mix of colours specielly around fall. Well see for your self. an












Hope you enjoyed the pictures.
I promise I will try to squeeze in as much tattoo/art related stuff as I can but there will be a lot of photography coming this here way. Hang in there tattoo lovers.

Also...we bought tubes today to send the Sataninc Antler lady print so we will be back soon with prices and info about how to buy the last few limited prints.