Li Jianhong’s Japan Diaries, Day Four

by Ben

Speaking of Li Jianhong, here’s his account of the fourth day of his Japanese tour last year.

December 12, 2006
I first went to buy a transformer for my Boss ME-50 effects pedal. The electricity used in Japan is 110 Volts, so it’s not the same as in China.

Then I took my equipment and, accompanied by Marqido and itta, set off to find Zbigniew Karkowski. Before I left for Japan, Karkowski sent me a note inviting me to come and make a collaborative CD with him. He lives in Higashi-Nakano 東中野, not too far from Marqido’s place.

Today’s weather wasn’t so great, a nonstop drizzle. When we got to the Higashi-Nakano subway stop, we saw Karkowski waiting for us from far off, wearing a dark overcoat, looking cooler than I had seen him before! I’m very happy to have a chance to meet up with him while I’m in Japan.

His house isn’t very big either, but comfortably furnished. What made me happiest upon entering was something I hadn’t smelled in a long time: cigarette smoke, indicating I was free to smoke here. In a lot of places in Japan smoking is prohibited, so for two days I hadn’t had a proper smoke.

Karkowski grabbed a beer, and he offered us a wide choice of tea. I joined Karkowski in drinking beer, while Marqido and itta drank tea. Since there wasn’t enough recording equipment at Karkowski’s house, we didn’t record that day, so we made a date for the 18th after I returned from Osaka, when he could borrow a friend’s recording booth and we could record something together. So we spent the afternoon just chatting together. After beer, we turned to harder alcohol, so that by the time we left, my face was flushed deep red and I was feeling more than a little tipsy.

Karkowski gave me five of his CD’s, and we listened to a classical work of his that was recently performed in London. It was really great! He combined his laptop with string instruments to imposing effect; I might go so far as to say psychedelic. This was the first time I’d heard one of his classical pieces.

When we returned home the rain had stopped. In the evening, after we’d had a rest, we planned to head to Kichijōji 吉祥寺 to find something to eat and browse for second hand CD’s.

As we were leisurely strolling around, we discovered a shrine standing among the tall buildings, with all sorts of tomb steles made of wood and stone, uncannily peaceful and eerie amid the city’s noise and flashing neon lights. On the door was written “Cloud Cave Mountain Moon Window Temple,” and underneath was a series of inscriptions mentioning “Zen meditation club,” “aikido,” “tea ceremony,” “calligraphy club,” “tai chi,” etc. China also has a Cloud Cave Mountain, a tourist destination. But this place appears to be at least a place to rest and drink tea, if not a meditation center.

We browsed a few musical instrument shops and CD stores. We saw all the latest models of synthesizers, effect pedals, and the like. You’re welcome to play the instruments in the stores, and a lot of new equipment is plugged into speakers especially to allow people browsing in the shops to play. If you’re happy with what you hear and would like to buy an instrument, they’ll get out a brand new one for you, or if you don’t have money and just want to play, that’s also no problem. If you’ve got the time, you could easily spend a whole day in those instrument shops. In a second-hand CD store I uncovered a few soundtrack albums such as Natural Born Killers and From Dusk Till Dawn, and also some Yoko Ono 小野洋子. Everything was super cheap; each CD cost less than 20 RMB.

On our way back, we saw a few young people performing in the entryway to the Kichijōji subway station. There was traditional rock, Japanese punk, reggae, etc. Even though it was a winter night, the air was filled with the springtime scent of youth. Marqido said there are people performing here every night, so I said, great, let’s come back tomorrow and perform ourselves, so we can earn some tips to fund our trip to Osaka.




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