Kinokuniy-aaahhhhhh!

[imomus]

It's a buzz coming back into New York, even after just a day or so away. Boston may have lots to recommend it -- the waterfront ICA, the smell of the seaweed, the gulls and lobsters and Irish beer -- but it can't match New York's density and intensity. When you come out of Penn Station the first thing you see is the Empire State Building, glinting in the sun. The sidewalks are seething with vendors, commuters, soldiers, Asians, and New York's very own brand of vociferously self-expressive crazy people. On the roads emergency vehicles blast by with sirens screaming. You're tired, but the brutal energy of New York perks you up, spins you up to its own speed. There's nothing quite as varied, as vital, as over-the-top for thousands of miles around.



New York is also a world city in a way a place like Boston (or Berlin, for that matter) isn't. I head for the fantastic new Kinokuniya on 6th Avenue, facing Bryant Park. It's quickly become one of my favourite New York locations. The ground floor has all the Japanese magazines you'd expect to find in a big Japanese bookstore, and they're bang up to date, too.



Upstairs there's a cafe, manga stuff, CDs. There's nothing like this store in the whole of Europe, not even in London. You're basically in Japan the moment you step inside. You sense the different etiquette of the browsers (and you can actually browse, the mags are mostly open), that deep Japanese detachment and discretion, itself a product of the density of great cities.

So what caught my eye amongst the Japanese mags at Kinokuniya? Well, the latest issue of Studio Voice is themed "I love vintage", or, more poetically, "new discoveries of vintage mind". It's about the delights of secondhand shopping. I particularly liked the Voice Art Space section, which shows a group of artists who've collectively refurbished a traditional shitamachi townhouse and are living there in simple trad-Jap style (kerosene heater, teapot, kotatsu).



Brutus Casa shows some intriguing photos of Ryue Nishizawa's new Towada City Art Centre, which has the satisfying sparseness of SANAA's New Museum and skews his Moriyama House into diagonals.

I must say that the feeling I get, ducking into a Japanese bookstore straight from an American street, is that I'm instantly in a better, more beautiful world. It's not just Nishizawa's light, rational, relaxing buildings, or the beautiful fresh patterns of the tenuguis on sale, or the gorgeous girl floating round the store in a billowing green dress made from some kind of new, light gossamer material, like someone teleported in from a refreshingly graceful future. It's also the girls in Spoon magazine, gracious creatures with beatific smiles and incredible crafts skills. Inside, there's the inevitable Aoi Yu photoshoot, for who could be more gracious and beatific than Yu?

Upstairs I'm somewhat intrigued by a table of CDs from Powershovel audio, a Japanese label (started by a Lomo photography fan and camera-maker called Ohmori Hideki) featuring releases from my friends Alejandra and Aeron, my noise heroine DODDODO, and the excellent Yuichiro Fujimoto. A label with great taste, then.



I'm particularly interested in the CDs of Mika Sasaki, who records her albums with her cellphone (well, we have keitai novels, why not keitai albums too?). The blurb says: "Mika Sasaki is living in Japan, she is an ordinary woman, not a musician or an artist, and she never studied music or played an instrument. I doubt that she never bought a CD, either. She has started making music like keeping journals ever since she found out that her cellular phone has a tool to create her own melody. The sound composed with her rule and control is the rough as a sketch and mysterious (small) electronic music, which is so far from something made to be musical but very attractive. There are over 300 songs, and she still keeps making more." The results tinkle like the sound of tiny cowbells.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

So the thing you like about New York is that you can pretend you're in Japan there?

[(Anonymous)]

It does seem a little odd that you fetishize a country that you don't seem to want to live in. I mean, what's stopping you? It's not even that expensive any more.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Hisae doesn't want us to live in Japan, she thinks I'd be undermined morally by the beautiful women. She may well have a point!

[(Anonymous)]

Is there a market for gaunt, balding 50-year-olds among the beautiful women of Japan?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Well, they all love Arto Lindsay!

[(Anonymous)]

can i get my ability to comment back please .remember you upset mgee on facebook.i dont want any trouble guv honest.
i need something to do whilst up looking after my baby.tend to get carried away late at night.
ps if my comments have been disabled by accident or fault ignore this slightly embarrassing. if its due to inappropriate behaviour gulp ..even more embarrassing.
in my defense ive bought all your albums and dvd and ill be buying your book...well ill have to see about that.

nueterd.

[(Anonymous)]

ah i seem to have my ability back to comment..great.now where did i put my vitriolic scribblings......

[krring.livejournal.com]

He IS an alien, though. No one should anything other than run from such looks and yet even I find myself uneasily drawn. It's the No Wave face.

While I'm addressing you, Momus, on my first day of commenting, I'd like to say hello. I have stalked Click Opera for a while and now turns out to be the time to pounce. I haven't bought any of your albums (though I've come across songs, good ones) so in my eyes your fame rests on being a blogger.

I find you inconsistent and much too verbal; eccentric, creative and endlessly open-minded. I hope we'll all get on.

[(Anonymous)]

She doesn't want to go home because she's scared her boyfriend would sleep around? Poor old Hisae.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

There are more ways to be "morally undermined" than that, and subtler ones.

[(Anonymous)]

what like?

do you read or just look at the pictures

[(Anonymous)]

Are these magazines bilingual or you read japanese? I doubt you do; it's all the better if you only look at the pictures

[theartoflamb.livejournal.com]

cant fetishize something you're surrounded by :p

[(Anonymous)]

Normally true, but in Japan you can. Yes, you can.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

So the thing you like about New York is that you can pretend you're in Japan there?

Yes. New York is almost a city in Asia. (http://imomus.livejournal.com/116963.html)

For the logic behind the idea that the greatest talent of a city is its ability to simulate another city, you'd really have to read Huysmans' A Rebours. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/À_rebours)

[kineticfactory.livejournal.com]

Yes. New York is almost a city in Asia.

As much as San Francisco?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

The Pacific Rim cities also have that feel, but not New York's density / intensity.

[kingfox.livejournal.com]

My good friend redvector's girlfriend works there, yet I have yet to make inside. Maybe this week, on your recommendation.

[parallel-botany.livejournal.com]

God dammit, Momus.

I've been dying to check out the new Kinokuniya for ages now, but I'm really not in a position to spend money on awesome-yet-expensive Japanese design magazines. It looks wonderful, though.

Stupid economy.

[milky-eyes.livejournal.com]

I cant tell if these posters are trying to bash this post as a humorous jab at the ribs or if they're just bored, uninventive and a bit nasty.
Anyways, yeah I love Kinokuniya, I enjoyed hearing your slant on the whole thing, and that you took the time to mention a few magazines, cd, etc that caught your interest. thats why I follow your blog... youre really quite gifted at pulling together a nice little mid-day discussion out of thin air.
I do want to bring up an earlier post about the less then perfect elements in America, all the pushy people in uniforms and rules, etc and contrast it to this post. I find it so interesting (I live in NY) that a place so rotten is yet so vibrant. It just is the biggest rush... and it's all crammed together in one place, at the same time.
... you know... want some time in a japanese book store...? just slip into Kinokuniya... and there you are... step out and your back in the crazy pushy ny life.

[uberdionysus.livejournal.com]

Mexico City, on the other hand, is massive, but it is not a world city. It has the density and lots of beauty, but it also has a tension that I find similar to Baltimore - a massive and palpable disparity between rich and poor. That said, I was recently in Acapulco for a local wedding and I was the only gringo there, and that felt REALLY good, although I can't really explain why.

Anyway, I'm back on the internet. Wish we would have had more time to chat... next time.

Oh, and Kinokuniya is amazing. I was wondering how close it was to Japan but was too embarrassed to ask my Japanese friends (and I'm not usually shy about asking questions - it's only potential cultural gaffs and insensitivities that trip me up).

[(Anonymous)]

I have a question;

Why is it that what may seem suspect in one place (music recycling styles and techniques from the past), passes largely unremarked and unquestioned in others (houses, interior decoration etc)?

What marks a tradition worth reviving or exploring and how does that relate to the cycles of fashion?

[krring.livejournal.com]

My guess is that areas where it's frowned upon are by nature creative, innovative, original, relevant in some vague way. A successful piece of music, literature, dance... (let's stuff them under the capital-Art umbrella) has all of those things demanded of it - demanded of its core, in one way or another.

Houses are where all your ups and downs happen. They have to succeed in a much less wanky (read pragmatic) way. Sure, the design of a house has creativity, innovation, originality demanded of it, but only as a means to your happy existence.

You can't turn off a house. You can walk out of a house, but unless you get back in there soon, you'd better be feeling post-materialistic.

[krring.livejournal.com]

So, the clinching point I somehow forgot to mention (probably because I respect your intelligence to the point of laziness) is that since the values I mentioned are applied to Art as an absolute, the second manifestation of the same thing obviously scores fewer points. Usually, if you have a good idea you'll want to do it again, within reason, but it just so doesn't happen in Art because Art is the nervous exercise of idea-making.

Besides, you really have to make some effort - at least have a clear head - to appreciate the wholeness of a creative effort. Design, architecture, all that, should really do all of the work for you.

[tropigalia.livejournal.com]

there is a Sixties fashion magazine at kinokuniya (all mod all the time!) that i have been dying to get but can never justify spending $16 on.

my mom wanted to come see your show with me since it is my pre-birthday celebration but i don't know if 4 hours of songs about literature and bonin' are mom-appropriate.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I want to hear more about that Panquehue cheese! ;)

Ever been to Murray's? You'd love it. Cheese lover's heaven.

[tropigalia.livejournal.com]

Man it's been a while since I ate that Panquehue. If I remember, it was kind of buttery and sharp at the same time, like a delicious cheese paradox.

I have never been to Murray's! Actually, my trips to New York end up being a lot like Nick's, trying to make Japan out of the US, eating Pinkberry and shopping at St. Mark's, and getting tea at Kino.

I was led to believe DiBruno's was the last word in cheese. You should take Momus to Maido in Narberth for some okonomiyaki! There is a nice little cheese shop across the way, too.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

DiBruno's is truly a Philly treasure.

I usually focus on friends, food, botanical gardens, historical obscurities and museums when I'm in NYC. I'm too old, square and poor for much else.

I'm usually trying to make the New World out of the US, if that makes any sense.

Don't know Narberth very well. But I would recommend you visit this Philly gem. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/34822101@N08/3242981628/in/set-72157613170333241/)

[tropigalia.livejournal.com]

I've been to Morris Arboretum many times! I live about 15 minutes away from it. Have you been to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square?

Well, if you're up for an adventure, Maido et al are right next to the Narberth R5 station. There's nothing there besides a Japanese grocery (with homemade okonomiyaki, though!), a cheese shop, a French cafe, and an amazing children's book store, but I think it's worth the trip if you like any or all of those things.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Longwood is a bit grand for my liking, but their orchid room and silver succulent room are fantastic.

Kennet Square and the Brandywine region is an unusual place, a kind of vestige of 19th century life. A friend of mine lived there, and knew some colorful characters. One was a fellow named Frolic, who made a handsome living from society portraiture and was a renowned carriageman, once carting around Queen Lizzie herself. He apparently also had a retinue of immaculately groomed stable boys.

I can't tell you more since I was laughing too hard to follow the rest.

[(Anonymous)]

Kinokuniya is a nice place though somehow I like the more random and castoff treasure hunting experience at Bookoff. There's another larger Cafe Zaiya two doors down too, though you can't read and eat without buying first. As far as I know Zakka is still in Brooklyn by the Manhattan Bridge -- 155 Plymouth St for a more ecclectic mix of hard to find design books and toy collecting. -ndkent

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm a big Zakka fan.

[eclectiktronik.livejournal.com]

speaking of studio voice's latest - whilst over there, I'd try and find a thrift store. You'd be sure to get some inspiration from it. I love those places - usually packed full of old gadgets, consumer detritus, and lots of music on tape, cd and vinyl, make your average oxfam shop seem like a joke in comparison!

...and whilst you're in there, bring us back some classic cassette decks!

[eclectiktronik.livejournal.com]

....so, when's the Momus New York homage song coming out?! ;-)

seriously, seems like there are quite a few musicians who have sung its praises over the years. I haven't included Sinatra and Don Henley in the video selection, either!

OMG!!

[(Anonymous)]

OMG!! Something positive about New York. -Jimmy McDonough

Advocating for the gentle pervert

[(Anonymous)]

Alright. A lot of the anons out there need to have someone have a look at that chip on their collective shoulder

I like poking fun at Momus as much as the next guy, the pretension, the orientalism, the contradictions, etc.. But at the end of the day I like the guy. It's gentle ribbing and I think the commenters (commentators?) and Momus both get a kick out of it.

But the comments have taken on a mean tone lately that I'm not sure I like. Click Opera is not about to descend into YouTube purgatory anytime soon but this needs to be addressed before it starts to slide down that slope.

Go back, listen to the man's albums, and read a few of his older posts. The whole New York thing has been kind of dull and repetitive, I know...but we know what Momus is capable of, so just...just don't...ok?

There. Momus is like my much older younger brother. I'm allowed to beat him up but I'll jump to his defense in a heartbeat if I see any of the neighborhood kids taking a crack at the boy.

So.
Grumpy anons = fuck off
Momus = Stop whining about New York and get the fuck on with the perverted philosophizing

Re: Advocating for the gentle pervert

[(Anonymous)]

Momus is a big boy, and he can jusrt as nasty as the anons when he wants to be - all in the best possible taste, of course! I find it incredibly narrowminded of him that he can got to a place like New York and all he wants to do is pretend he's somewhere else. I mean, if Japanese bookstores are his thing, there are plenty of them in Japan I hear.

Re: Advocating for the gentle pervert

[krring.livejournal.com]

Momus can take care of himself, but I agree with Goody-Anon's point about Youtube purgatory. We all need to do our bit to tend his comments section. We're each of us a blade of grass of the lawn.

I suspect that today, Momus went around, had some experiences and thoughts, and wrote them down. Other times he brings out a high horse and invites a/dissent - feel free.

"New York's density and intensity ... New York's very own brand of vociferously self-expressive crazy people ... the brutal energy of New York perks you up, spins you up to its own speed." It all seems attentive - tentatively appreciative at the very least - to the city he's in. As it happens, he's rather the tender pervert about Japan and it must've been nice to find such a hotspot of homely immersion in the midst of an already positive buzz.

All very defensive, I know, but I wanted to rephrase Goody-Anon's "fuck off" slightly.

Re: Advocating for the gentle pervert

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for that. I was going for "blunt and to the point" with that "fuck off" but it turned out off-putting and strange.

We are all big boys (and girls) and we can all take care off ourselves, I just wanted to put this out there.
This of course somewhat tongue-in-cheek...but I am serious about the comment section avoiding a certain type of tone - if we're going to be mean, the least we could do is be classy about it.

I love that Momus invites controversy, that head-shake in the morning is just about the only exercise I get these days. So I have him to thank for that too.

Re: Advocating for the gentle pervert

[(Anonymous)]

Indeed, indeed. I did not mean to equate 'rephrase' with 'erase'. It was as an alternative for the more sensitive reader; as an optional example of that classiness you mention.

Re: Advocating for the gentle pervert

[krring.livejournal.com]

That's me up there, that is.

Re: Advocating for the gentle pervert

[(Anonymous)]

hey, go back to the April 17th post and you'll find our man saying he sometimes writes the anon zings himself. Probably it's true. Possibly it's not. That admittance is an interesting place for any anons to start, because it will give you more idea whether or how you want to contribute i.e. how seriously you want to take ANYONE's comments here, the anons, The 'Open' and the users, the man himself or his moniker.

[theartoflamb.livejournal.com]

theres a kinokuniya store in sydney too. I was visting family in there last week and picked up haruki murakamis wind up bird chronicles while i was there.

sublime :)

[deadbatteries.livejournal.com]

haruka ayase/ayase haruka's face is plastered everywhere. i like aoi yuu, but haruka, i don't know. same goes for miyazaki aoi...

[(Anonymous)]

Timelord is the perfect pop album!!!!

It's not too long, too short, and it's great to chug Robotussin to.

Thank you for deciding to make that gem at some point in time Nick!

-Brian

[pay-option07.livejournal.com]

Beard Papa

[(Anonymous)]

Yum, did you have any Beard Papa?

[wingedwhale.livejournal.com]

Kinokuniya is the sad place where I buy my overpriced, outdated Japanese textbooks. (I always take my snobby attitude past the English-language manga section)