Viva la Japan - Continued

    I thought it’d be better to leave some time between blogs.  This way, there isn’t THAT much catching up to do from the beginning and I don’t have to think of something to say on a daily/weekly basis.  So here it is, the next instalment.

    It’s a Saturday here in Japan and I’m hungry.  Not to say I’m hungry purely because it’s a Saturday but on this particular Saturday, I haven’t eaten since brunch time and it’s creeping up to 18:30pm.  I’m sure you’re just dying to be told what I ate for breakfast but alas, that must remain a mystery to keep you on your toes.
    Not too long ago, I decided to give myself a kick up the arse with regards to this website.  The design was all over the place and I wasn’t completely satisfied.  This called for a makeover and another blog entry (which I’m doing right now, incase you hadn’t already realised).  I think the only thing (for now) the site needs is content; more videos of covers/originals, more photos and more words.  This is all relatively simple to solve although, I just need time to book out the right space in order to continue filming which will then be shared with you lovely people.
    It’s actually quite exciting that my financial status is at a level where my productiveness has a professional result.  Definitely a far cry from recording videos on an iPhone in my bedroom which was not the best quality but it did the job at the time.  Now, I have no excuse but to use the equipment I have to produce something worthwhile.  I’ll be learning the editing process step by step with each video so cut me some slack if they’re totally shite. 
    Something random.  I never used to enjoy wine.  Yes, I am completely sober right now, I’m not shitting you.  “How could one be so naive?” you say.  Well, I was a bartender for awhile (as you may already know from entry l) and endured a lot of wine tasting sessions that I was never able to fully appreciate.  I learned how to fully taste the wine, accepting it for everything it’s worth before allowing it to flow through the bloodstream, intoxicating no, liberating the senses with drowsiness and sexual appetite.  Needless to say, I wasn’t attuned to this experience until just before I left for Japan.  Now, well now I know the difference between a wine that strips down to it’s sexy french lingerie and playfully teases before blowing your world away and well, the bottle of piss with a slightly unsettling shade of food colouring.
    The Christmas of 2014 was my first one away from the family and it was surprisingly alright.  I managed to grab ahold of them on Skype the night before and spoke to them later on in the day as I’m 9 hours in front.  My girlfriend Emi and I made a nice little video of our morning and sent it to them as a virtual gift which went down well.  I have to admit, I was apprehensive about my first Christmas away from home but Emi managed helped me get through it and it actually turned out really nice.  Not only did I have a splendid morning, the evening was great as we met up with a group of mates and had Christmas roast at a nice little place in the city.  All in all, Christmas was very different.  Bloody wonderful though, thoroughly enjoyed it.  Hope that warmed your cockles.
    I suppose I should get back to piano practice now as I surely won’t be getting anywhere without it.  There’s also a show coming up which gives me the chance to get a new live video onto the site so look out for it and share it amongst your fellow mellow music lovers.  Not sure how long it’ll be until my next entry so until then, so long and take care.  I’ll be putting the majority of my time into relearning songs I’ve forgotten and writing new material.  That, plus a ton of food and wine, I’m sure I’ll have enough tales to tell.  I may even write the next one drunk, who the hell knows.  Take it easy chaps.  Over and out.

Viva la Japan

    So here's a little story about how a young lad from England relocated to Osaka, Japan for a year.    He needed a better job to fund his personal ambitions and the opportunity that arose simply could not be refused.  

    It all started when I was given the chance to audition for a singing job in Japan; this meant that I would move across the world and pretty much change my life as I knew it.  Working a dead end job (in my case bar work) in the UK or anywhere else for that matter can grow extremely tiresome.  Especially if you have the urge to perform as opposed to shaking cocktails and pulling pints.  Luckily, I managed to land the gig at Universal Studios Japan before multiple mental breakdowns occurred.  Pretty simple really.  Leave home for ten months, perform several times a day, make a shit ton of money (yes, I swear a lot.  Shoot me down) and utilise my spare time in order to pursue a hopeful career as a musician.
    Embarking upon the perilous journey that is the life of an aspiring singer/songwriter, I thought I’d go by a different approach.  Doing gigs around the local area and self-marketing across the internet gained a handful of avid listeners but without certain resources, I was doomed to fail.  So, instead of knocking back shots of bourbon behind a bar at ridiculous o’clock, I took myself to the land of the rising sun.
    Give or take a couple of months, I’ll be out here for about a year with the possibility of an extended contract.  Cushy salary, accommodation, no bills and if that wasn’t enough, they even threw in a bicycle for good measure.  Complaining too much about my current state would make me a terrible human being so count me as grateful.  The work schedule is pretty straight forward; five days a week, several shows a day.  Evenings are still mine and my weekend is now Thursday and Friday.  This means that Wednesday is Friday, Thursday is Saturday and Friday is Sunday.  I suppose that did confuse me at first but once you spend enough time in this country, the definition of “normal” becomes an enigma no one bothers to understand anymore.  Which isn’t to say it’s nothing short of amazing.  It’s just hard to differentiate between fantasy and reality when you feel as if “Pokemon Trainer Tommy wants to fight” on a daily basis.
    The content within these posts is almost certainly going to be random.  At times I won’t make sense at all.  Diary entries have never really been my thing so please be sure to cut me a little slack if I manage to bore the absolute shite out of you.  A mixture of topics is what I would like to include so aside from this introduction, expect various tales of my exploits whilst simultaneously having to put up with my…  Well, I guess just having to put up with me in general.
    Considering I’ve been here for about five months now, I thought it was only natural to get off my arse and start writing content for my website.  It’s amazing how much you can get distracted when you have so much spare time to get things done.  There’s so much to see and learn out here, it becomes a struggle to actually sit down and concentrate.  Creating the website from scratch itself has taken up a lot of my time and now the time has come to fill it up with all kinds of crazy, starting with the blog.  It just so happens that I managed to write an entire entry not 24 hours ago.  Just as it was about to be proof read, it somehow managed to self-destruct thus, leaving me with an empty page and a slightly numb left arm.  Needless to say, my day was ruined.  Usually, I’d go home and compose a beautifully depressing song about the cause of tragedy however, even I think writing lyrics about the loss of a blog entry is a tad self-indulgent.  Look at me though, I got back on that stubbornness horse and I’m riding through the countryside that is a blank page on a computer screen, gradually filling up with the nonsensical babbling’s of a tortured artist.
    “How are you going to use this opportunity for your future?”
    Well, I’m glad you asked.  Working here gives me the chance to put enough money aside to buy recording equipment piece by piece.  With said kit at my disposal, everything becomes that little bit more professional.  Delivering material at a higher quality is the way forward so that is my sole priority.  With a bit of luck, I’ll be taken more seriously and my aspirations will flourish into a living, breathing part of reality.
    So, this is where the first instalment comes to an end.  If you have read this far, congratulations.  You win absolutely nothing.  I do hope I have achieved something greater than a general vent and casual chit chat between me, myself and I.  Having only started my adventure, I can only imagine what mysteriously exciting challenges are lying ahead.   If you would kindly lend me your eyes and ears, I’ll try my best to honour that decision by providing an ever-evolving source of quirky entertainment.