Be Truthful, Gentle & Fearless

Well, I don’t know what to say.  I have been very sporadic with this blog and generally pretty scatty in life…I don’t mean shitty and I definitely don’t mean “weee bap boop ba dooo bah” scatty, but a general “all over the map” meaning of the word.  I’ve been a busy girl, learning how to settle into one life and stop giving into my itchy gypsy feet whenever I feel a tingling travel sensation.

But I must say, I am getting into the groove of learning and making mistakes and cleaning up my own mess and scurrying around to make things work in the nick of time.  What is life if we are not on our toes???

January 23rd, 2012 marked the New Year of the Dragon, a creature of myth and legend, and a symbol of good fortune and intense power.   Yesterday was also a day that put a little fear into those of us living in Tokyo.  New numbers have been released suggesting that there is a 75% chance that the big earthquake, the one people have been talking about since 1923, will shake us in the next 4 years.  After the devastation this country has seen since the gargantuan earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, this is a very sobering thought.  No one is invincible.  No one is more valuable than another.

So with a big heart, lots of love and somewhat heavy thoughts, I face the Dragon and enter this new year.  Living in fear is not something I believe in, so I am making it my mission this year to live in love and to give; to make people smile, to radiate the positivity I believe in and to celebrate the amazing life that I have been blessed with.

Facing my struggle to get cozy with committment, I am bravely committing this year to Truth, Love, Patience, Faith and Celebration.

Something tells me it’s gonna be a very POWERFUL year!

Big Love,

Amber Joy

What was once so crazy…is still crazy!

Having just read one of my favorite friend’s blogs, like an older sister I admire her passion for hitting the waves and determination to become a sassy surfer, I get that tingly feeling in my veins.  What tingly feeling, you ask?  The one where I drift into dream-land and imagine my life, driving a convertible, hitting the waves everyday, drinking smoothies, and wheeling a Keanu Reeves hunk circa Point Break.  Oh, it could be so good for me!

But then there is little angel on my shoulder saying, “You just wait a minute Amber Joy!”  And I am reminded of my 2011 mantra…Be Here Now.  So although the daydreaming is sweet, and I do want to become a surfer babe one day, I’m gonna be here now.  And here ain’t so bad at all!

Just like living in any place that is millions of miles from where you were raised and the culture holds customs that you may never ever understand, Tokyo can be a challenge sometimes.  But who doesn’t love a challenge?!?!

The typhoon headed our way tomorrow at 3pm, just one of many challenges!

It actually amazes me sometimes how I can get so used to some things that used to seem so insane!  Here are some things that never cease to rock me & shock me….

Like when you are entering a store fitting room and the shop staff hands you a white cotton-like sack that you have to put over your head while you are changing into and out of your items of choice, but before that you take your shoes off to even enter the changing room.  Or how if I picked up my cell phone to have a lil chat on the train, I would get lazer beam death stares, but no one flinches at the dude reading sexy manga (comic books) with girls in school uniforms next to me.  When you make hotel or travel reservations, you don’t have to pay a deposit because no one would be so offensive as to not show up or change their plans.  How you can get so drunk and pass out cold with your Louis Vuitton wallet hanging out of your pants and no one will take it!

I didn't take this and cannot take credit for it, but it is hilarious!

I’ll never understand what shops like this are for or begin to imagine the life of this little kitty’s best friend (the owner), who sometimes gets yelled at by a foreign guy on a mini motor bike…

Why these mushrooms always look so incredible to me…

The fact that this outfit didn’t make people stare any more than they would usually…

The madness you can get away with in a kareoke booth with the Trippple Nippples!…

How Santa Clause is being held hostage in Kabukicho and nobody seems to want to help the poor man!!!

I continue to wonder why I do not own this cropped beauty!?!?!  And who on earth does?…

Japan is like a little dream land, and despite our fears of radiation and concern for the economy, rebuilding of a nation, this is a powerful place to be.  It is so nice knowing that people are looking out for each other and that some of the oddities I don’t understand are still going strong!

I’m jetting off to New York and California this week, and I know I am gonna miss this place like candy!!!  The sweet old folks sweeping up all the leaves that fall on the street to keep things super clean (I’ll especially miss this while riding the rat run NYC subway), the grandpas on my street who like to greet me with fresh flowers on my way home, feeling like I can talk about anything in Japanese….with fellow 4 year olds, and the lovely lovely family and friends I have here.

Though I sometimes get lost in thinking about what else is out there, this is where I am now, and man-oh-man this love affair is hotter than an affair with a pro soccer player! (wink)

So I leave you with My Best….

XOXO

 

I can’t ever let go of TOKYO!

Sometimes I wonder where I am?  Sometimes I wonder Why I am?
Usually I wonder Where I want to be?  And always I wonder where else could I be?

For a girl whose mind moves a million miles a minute, these are the thoughts whipping through my heart and mind like the roller coaster Thunder Dolphin in the middle of Tokyo that I love to ride on a lonely sunny afternoon.  The feelings change, but the answer usually stays the same.  tokyo  Tokyo  TOKYO!!!

I am in Tokyo.  I am in love with Tokyo.  I am so inspired by all of the gorgeous souls here and all the history that oozes through the cracks.

It is difficult to explain to people sometimes why I keep coming back….time and time again, but this video series hosted by the oh-so-dreamy Parrell Williams features some of my bestest friends who I have been inspired by from the day we met.  Watch this and you can know why this city is like a magnet.

I can’t ever let go….cause it won’t let me go!

Click Here to Watch the Most Bang On Documentary on Tokyo in a Long Time!!!

The Tunnels under this city! Image from www.palladiumboots.com

Lovely Lovely Yuka Uchida - Image from www.palladiumboots.com

Yuka Uchida is stunning and the perfect example of the unique beauty that is Japan, Rachel from ilil & Kita Kore are changing Tokyo’s Fashion more and more every single day, Verbal and Yoon are doing an amazing job of using their power to show off and give opportunity to so many up and coming talented artists and designers in Tokyo.

Of course the music throughout is Trippple Nippples and so is the insane performance at the end!  They are 6 of the most authentic people I have ever met and they are the soundtrack to the magic that has been happening in Tokyo as of late!

Trippple Nippples private show at Trump Room was Super Duper Fun!!! - image by www.palladiumboots.com

Thanks to Palladium Boots to make so many of us in Tokyo so proud and for showing the world what the magic is all about!

X

Awwwwwgust! ♫ ♫

Summer is going to be gone before we know it; the days will get cooler, I’ll stop sweating like crazy and the evenings spent sitting on the rooftop watching the sun go down over the city will be long gone.  So enjoy it while you got it.

A mixtape for the sweaty nights of August!   Download it here…

♫ ♫ Awwwwwwgust Mix Tape!  ♫ ♫

Back on the Horse!

You know how some things just seem to slip away?  You just wake up one day and all of a sudden things look different?  I’m not talking about those nights that get “a little out of hand” and you wake up somewhere you don’t belong…those days are over (wink).  But you know how something triggers you to realize that your life doesn’t look quite how you last left it…you upgraded, you slummed it a little and you seem to have lost some of that precious time of yours.

Try throwing yourself into an insanely HOT summer in Tokyo where days become hours and the copious amount of sweat pouring down your body seems to take some of your brains & soul with it as it drips onto the steaming pavement.  Basically I am blaming the heat and insanity if Tokyo summer for my hiatus.  Not to mention the new sizzling tall drink of water in my life.

All excuses aside, Friday night at the SWAGGER Party, just 1 of 4 “must attend” parties in Tokyo that night, my friend Yu chan from Bambi&Faline asked my why I haden’t blogged since Okinawa?  Holy Banannas!  The horror!  When one of the raddest girls in Tokyo calls you on the fact that you have lost track of time, you are totally busted!  So here I am.  Back on the horse!  Yippee!

Here’s a lil photo diary of what has been shaking down in the wonderful world of moi.  I promise, the coming posts will be a lot less scattered and a lot more frequent!  Mwwah!

On a lone wolf wander too Kamakura, I stumbled upon a crazy water matsuri (festival) and ended up spending the entire evening drinking Nihonshuu with incredible grannies and gramps!

Who knew one, ok two, banana treats could make a girl so happy?!?!This man was almost as obsessed with me any my purple hair as I was with him and his…This sign actually says “CHEESE BALL”!   Need I say more?The Magic of Light & Wonder!Haunted house….Tokyo Antique Jambouree.  Try spending hours drooling over the most amazing antiques & only going home with one little treasure.  Gypsys don’t have homes, remember!A day with the fishies!Took a slowboat home.

Kabuki!Magu…aka Magblue!Mademoiselle Yulia’s new album launch party!  おめでとう！！！ Just the begnning of her tour with the amazing Trippple Nippples.  I am so blessed to have such talented amigos.

Cult signs…oops! I mean gang signs.Angry Young Robotz Tour Tokyo…backstage with the maga babes Yuka, Qrea & Nabe…aka Tripple Nippples!  Such an insane show, I had to escape the messy mosh pit cause I thought my earing had ripped out and blood pouring down my neck.  Real life, sweat was running down my neck and I am getting a little too old for mosh pits.  Ha!The weather in Tokyo had been pretty obscure this summer and the little quakes and shakes keep on happening.  But the skies are gorgeous and as always, so are the people.

XOXO

Oh-Oh-Oh Okinawa. Part 2.

It’s hotter than hell in Tokyo this weekend, and there is no cool weather at the end of this hot, humid, summer tunnel.  Yesterday as I walked the streets of Aoyama, I could feel the heat from the sun above me contesting with the heat from the payment below, and man oh man was it a sweaty one!

All I can think of now is that blue ocean that I was swimming in only 7 days ago in Okinawa, the southern islands of Japan…was it even real??  I am now fantasizing all the big buildings, loud music and dirty hot concrete of Shibuya being washed away and replaced by a turquoise sea full of beautiful fishies and bright coral…

A storm a brewing and a beautiful scene for our ocean side breakfast!

Trying to decide if the storm was going to come our way...

One of the eeriest, most amazing moments of my life, waiting for the storm

The storm passed and we went searching for another beach on the island....it was like a whole different land. Different sand, sunshine and flying humans!

Time for another amazing dinner....mmmm mmmmm

A bit of Amomori (the worlds strongest Japanese booze) and redbull...next thing we new, we were rocking out in islands one and only kareoke booth.

I went on a little adventure, exploring the amazing old neighbourhoods on Kume Jima....felt like a different world

さとうきび！　Sugar cane everywhere!!!!

Really, nothing about this felt like Japan....except that tree.

All the houses which looked empty with no windows, all had voices coming from the inside, except this one. But I am still not convinced that it was uninhabited!

Laundry day.

Our last day on the beach. We found this little piece of heaven without a sould in sight!

This is what I want Shibuya to turn into!

We waited all day for the tide to go out so the sea snakes would leave us alone and Leon could swim to the other side!

It was so hard to walk away from this gorgeous ocean!

Pineapple Fields!

Sayonara Okinawa Pineapple Party!

Still hoping that Shibuya warps into Okinawa overnight….

A girl can dream can’t she???

Truth. Not Copy.

In a time when ideas are being recycled, designs are being replicated, and big cities millions of miles away from each other are starting to look the same; true individuality and authenticity can sometimes take a little bit of effort to find.  When I come across people doing exactly what they are inspired to do, when I can feel their passion even when they aren’t in the room…That is beauty.  That is truth.  That is what I live to love.

Here are 2 videos that have really inspired me recently.  Watch, feel their passion, then go out and live yours.

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strong pull of what you really love, it will not lead you astray”

~Rumi