It's been a week and I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that I am no longer on vacation. Now I can make that your problem by dragging out the dreaded VACATION PHOTOS! But lo! These are no regular vacation photos. I think it is a fair assessment to say that this was one hell of a trip...after all, it was The Flakes first Japanese tour...and The Flakes are San Francisco's rockiest combo...

Here are just a few of the trip's highlights:

The first two shows The Flakes played were at a charming subterranean firetrap called the Shelter in the Tokyo neighborhood of Shimokitazawa. Although Amy, Michelle, and I were distracted by this district's extreme shopping possibilities, the shows proved to be more extreme.
Here is 22 seconds of what the show looked like. Peepin John tosses the giant skull.

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Jackie and the Cedrics played too!

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Here's what Shimokitazawa looks like. That McDonald's bathroom ended up being very meaningful over those two nights at the Shelter club.


The second show at the Shelter featured the 5,6,7,8s as well as superhuman jet-rock-n-roll machine Guitar Wolf. (Please, if you haven't seen the movie Wild Zero, rent it now. That's an order.)


The crowd went wild. Maybe a little too wild. The highlight here is that the bouncer, dressed as Pikachu as it was almost Halloween, kicked a guy in the head and knocked him out. No one got a picture of that, so this will have to do:


The third show was in Osaka at the Rockrider. Osaka reminded me a lot of Berkeley...x 1,000. Compaired to Tokyo, the crowd was younger, giddier, and some lost their pants. It was total Flakesmania.


But it wasn't all shows.
We also walked around a lot and saw shrines and temples!




Drank Sake!




And went shopping.


We had a few really nice guides too. Thanks to Ayako, Rockin' Jelly Bean, Jun, and Jackie and the Cedrics. Perhaps others too.



here's these guys...