Speedy sleeplessness

Greetings from the Bullet Train! As I write this we are speeding at 130mph through the Japanese countryside... well, I say countryside but it's more aptly described as occasional punctuations of mountains in-between settlements. The two cities of Tokyo and Osaka sprawl out to almost meet each other, and if the Japanese could find a way to build on the mountain, then they would.

The gig last night was difficult. Power transformers surged on our equipment, the 65 super-brain computer refused to boot and I had problems with the timing of the videos. The visuals are triggered at the beginning of each track by a Midi hookup to 65 but over time they appear to have slipped. Drove Through Ghosts was a good 10 seconds out of synch, as was the always problematic 65 Doesn't Understand You. I can pull these problems back and get them back in synch with relative ease, but the fact that it is happening at all is very worrying. When we get to Osaka Paul and I will need to go through all the triggers and realign them. Fun.

The gig, actually, already seems like a distant memory... we had about an hour of downtime as the kit was packed up and we were speeded, stinking and sweating as we were, to a 14th floor Japanese restaurant for dinner with the promotions company. With a view over nighttime Tokyo we dined on shrimp dumplings, skewered chicken, fresh tofu, deep fried prawns, insane fried rice, incredible sushi, anchovy salad and pitches and pitches of domestic beer. It was probably the finest meal I have eaten since Robs birthday in Italy earlier this year, and it was a pleasure to finally have proper Japanese cuisine.

The classic line of "a quick beer before bed" ended up, predictably, with us staying in a local bullet riddled bar until 3am, and then continuing the party in kimonos in the hotel room with the remnants of the Jack Daniels rider. We met the local rich bling kids in the lift, all diamond encrusted teeth and Scarface paraphenalia. "Japanese weedu" they yelled to us as we staggered out at our floor "best in the world!" Bed at 5. Up at 9. Train. Incredible.

Japan is rushing past me at high speeds. Shanty towns, expensive cityscapes, industrial complexes, power stations, mountain dwellings, wide rivers... this country is amazing, and the width and breadth of diversity in the landscape is breathtaking. The mountains tower over everything, hazy and distant and appearing out of the mist like a looming bully. Everyone else is asleep. They've seen it all before... not me.