2024 July Challenge Thread - Welcome to Japan! (日本へようこそ!)

[Turbo]

Day 30 / 2024.S7.E30 - On Top of the World (世界の頂点で)
This skyview at the top of the Yokohama Landmark Tower goes up to 69F and provides a 360º view of the city of Yokohama. This view looks down on Cosmoworld amusement park and the Shinko Ward (新港). Despite appearing like a bourgeois owner’s club, an admission ticket is only ¥1000 per person! There is no time limit to your stay, and they have a seating space to take in the view from the northwest angle. They have a snack bar with beer, ice cream, fried chicken, a few other consumables, as well as a gift shop. I stayed up here for two hours, right in between the time of sunset to the lovely nightfall. Play a record that you spent a (subjectively) hefty amount on.

Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here" (1976 CBS/Sony; 1978 Japanese reissue)
This wasn't cheap and was VG+. Pressing sounds excellent to me, but I'd still like a cleaner copy at some point (mainly because there's a repetitive click at the end of side 2). That said, the common 2016 Grundman cut I have is pretty damn good too in the meantime.

 

[zomgbear]

Day 30 / 2024.S7.E30 - On Top of the World (世界の頂点で)
Play a record that you spent a (subjectively) hefty amount on.


Amon Tobin - Permutation

Not including boxsets, this is probably the most I've ever spent on a single record. I usually try not to drop large cash on records unless I've waited so long for a reissue that I've lost all hope. This was actually the case. This is an OG pressing of Amon Tobin's Permutation - they reissued it in 2013 but I missed it and i waited until last year and gave up on there ever being another reissue. The reissue gods saw me give up and purchase this record and decided to repress it 2 months ago (25th anniverasary) (which I also ended up picking up also at 1/3 of this price lol). This is my favorite Amon Tobin album & actually one of my favorite albums in general so no regrets! I'm also looking at you - Bricolage repress 2013. 30th Anniversary please.

 

[Rip_City]

Day 29 / 2024.S7.E29 - To the Sea (海へ)
Later in my first day visiting Kamakura (鎌倉), I walked down to Yuigahama Beach (由比ヶ浜海水浴場). Spent an hour here walking on the sand and enjoying the ocean breeze during sunset. Went to eat dinner an hour later back at Komachi Street (小町通り). I miss these views dearly. Play a record that depicts the ocean or somewhere underwater.

Akira Ito (伊藤詳) - Marine Flowers (Science Fantasy)



A (mostly) beautiful Japanese ambient record, with a lone track on side B somewhat clashing with the flow. Dare I say that this sounds like p r o g r e s s i v e a m b i e n t ? Especially with the first song "序章 華やぎ (Prologue, Into the Beauty)" exuding shades of the beginning of Pink Floyd's "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", seeing that Wish You Were Here was just used for a prompt?

 

[Rip_City]

Day 29 / 2024.S7.E29 - To the Sea (海へ)
Later in my first day visiting Kamakura (鎌倉), I walked down to Yuigahama Beach (由比ヶ浜海水浴場). Spent an hour here walking on the sand and enjoying the ocean breeze during sunset. Went to eat dinner an hour later back at Komachi Street (小町通り). I miss these views dearly.

Kamakura is a beautiful area, and was a very pleasant two days spent away from the hectic Tokyo metropolis. The beach was calm and just as free during the daytime.




Dinner in Komachi Street (小町通り) was tasty, albeit unwieldy. Shirasudon (しらす丼; whitebait rice bowl), fried whitebait/vegetable tempura (シラスと野菜かき揚げ天ぷら), miso soup (味噌汁), salted dried plum (梅干し), potato salad, and traditional egg custard (茶碗蒸し). The kakiage is so large with uneven weight that it is difficult to pick up with chopsticks.
I believe this was ¥2400 (~$15.50 USD at the time) or something close.

 

[jamieanderson1968]

July 30 - Play a record that you spent a (subjectively) hefty amount on

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew

This is the 40th anniversary deluxe edition. Cost me about $120 CDN in 2017 but worth it. At the time it felt like a big spend for me (and still does) but worth it for a great AAA recording and a great package. Prior to this I think the most expensive item I had purchased were the Bowie box sets

 

[jfitzy]

Day 26 / 2024.S7.E26 - Someday the Dream Will End (いつか夢は終わる)
Play a record that features eye-catching (subjective, of course) artwork.

Baroness - Purple

 

[throwingthings]

Day 27 / 2024.S7.E27 - Easy to Drink and Never Gets Boring (飲みやすく飲み飽きない)
Play a record that you can play front to back multiple times in one day and not have an urge to switch.
Interior – Interior (1982/1985)

This is one of my favorite electronic/ambient/new-age LPs, originally released on Haruomi Hosono's Yen Records in 1982 and reissued by Windham Hill, of all places, in 1985. The key to a really replayable record, to me, is that it can sit comfortably as "furniture music" just as well as it can command close listening. None of the tracks here really leap out—they all come together to form an undeniably smooth but subtly strange whole. Hosono's production, even in this tweaked US remix, is some of his most dynamic and spacious. Points for being a still-cheap record in an increasingly expensive genre.

 

[Rip_City]

Day 27 / 2024.S7.E27 - Easy to Drink and Never Gets Boring (飲みやすく飲み飽きない)
Play a record that you can play front to back multiple times in one day and not have an urge to switch.
Interior – Interior (1982/1985)

This is one of my favorite electronic/ambient/new-age LPs, originally released on Haruomi Hosono's Yen Records in 1982 and reissued by Windham Hill, of all places, in 1985. The key to a really replayable record, to me, is that it can sit comfortably as "furniture music" just as well as it can command close listening. None of the tracks here really leap out—they all come together to form an undeniably smooth but subtly strange whole. Hosono's production, even in this tweaked US remix, is some of his most dynamic and spacious. Points for being a still-cheap record in an increasingly expensive genre.

View attachment 209933

So good. Very jealous.

 

[jfitzy]

Day 27 / 2024.S7.E27 - Easy to Drink and Never Gets Boring (飲みやすく飲み飽きない)
Play a record that you can play front to back multiple times in one day and not have an urge to switch.

Don Blackman - Don Blackman

A solid soul/funk album that I can easily listen to on repeat.

 

[jfitzy]

Day 28 / 2024.S7.E28 - Handcrafted Souvenirs (手仕込みお土産)
Play a record that you received as a gift. If that hasn’t happened, play a record that you purchased with money received from a holiday/birthday.

The Cure - The Head on the Door

This was a birthday gift from my girlfriend last year. We got to see them live together not long after that.

 

[TenderLovingKiller®]

Day 28: Handcrafted Souvenirs (手仕込みお土産)
Play a record that you received as a gift. If that hasn’t happened, play a record that you purchased with money received from a holiday/birthday.

Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse - Odeon/Budokan

My SO gets me. I can be tough to gift shop for. I am the type that, if I want something will usually just buy it for myself. She still has managed to find me some incredible gifts over the years. Still, even she can get a bit stumped occasionally and on those occasions she knows if she buys me a Neil Young record her gift will be a winner. Thankfully old Neil is always got something new dropping so she has had plenty of options.

 

[avecigrec]

Day 30 / 2024.S7.E30 - On Top of the World (世界の頂点で)

Sun Ra & His Ethnic Structural Cosmo Arkestra – Live At Red Creek, Rochester, NY


I spent about $125 (Canadian) on this bootleg because I'm a crazy person.

 

[Turbo]

Day 31 / 2024.S7.E31 - My Favorite Things (好きな物)
This picture taken in Toyama (富山) wasn’t from the end of my vacation, but is a microcosm of the sensation from this year’s visit. It is also arguably my favorite photo that I have taken in Japan across both trips. I took a sakura river tour on a boat for about 30min across this river and snapped a handful of photos with upward angles from the perspective of the boat, but I feel this one holds the most importance for me. I might frame it once I have my father touch it up. Play a record from your favorite record label. What makes it your favorite?

Orgone "Beyond The Sun" (2015 Colemine Records; 2022 reissue)
This one has a more tenuous link to Japan, but I wanted to feature Colemine Records as my favorite label. I enjoy a vast array of genres, but as many of you know, I really enjoy funk. I have a fairly large collection of original funk 45's and was really into Soul Fire, The Poets of Rhythm, Daptone, Timmion, Freestyle, Jazzman, Desco and other similar labels and bands at the turn of the century. I discovered Colemine through their second Soul Slabs compilation, which rekindled my love of the genre. So many excellent artists on there including Monophonics, Delvon Lamarr, Kendra Morris, Ikebe Shakedown, Surefire Soul Ensemble, Say She She, Ghostfunk Orchestra and of course Orgone, who I was already listening to back during my first foray into funk during the early 2000's. And the tenuous link to Japan: Japan is known as the land of the rising sun, and since this is the last day, we are beyond the sun....

 

[Turbo]

And how am I the first one to finish the month, considering I started two weeks late?

 

[Turbo]

Thanks for organizing and sharing all of the nice pics and stories, @Rip_City !!! Fun month!

Here's what my selections ended up looking like. All of them have a link to Japan - most are Japanese pressings while others make a reference to Japan in song titles, etc.

 

[avecigrec]

Day 31 / 2024.S7.E31 - My Favorite Things (好きな物)

ganavya – like the sky i’ve been too quiet


Native Rebel Recordings has quickly become one of my favourite labels, in no small part due to Shabaka Hutchings who founded the label and has been involved with all of its releases, which have been an eclectic mix of familiar and unfamiliar artists, but always a quality product.

 

[avecigrec]

I have no idea why Ostrakon has been having issues downloading my Challenge Thread collages lately (and only my Challenge Thread ones) so I may not get one posted here but want to thank @Rip_City regardless for a really great month. Great prompts, great photos, great stories and great music!

 

[Rip_City]

Day 30 / 2024.S7.E30 - On Top of the World (世界の頂点で)
This skyview at the top of the Yokohama Landmark Tower goes up to 69F and provides a 360º view of the city of Yokohama. This view looks down on Cosmoworld amusement park and the Shinko Ward (新港). Despite appearing like a bourgeois owner’s club, an admission ticket is only ¥1000 per person! There is no time limit to your stay, and they have a seating space to take in the view from the northwest angle. They have a snack bar with beer, ice cream, fried chicken, a few other consumables, as well as a gift shop. I stayed up here for two hours, right in between the time of sunset to the lovely nightfall. Play a record that you spent a (subjectively) hefty amount on.

Mitsuhiro Sakakibara (榊原光裕) - 水の彩 - Clouds In The Water



A hefty ~¥7500 in Japan. But I was convinced by a shop owner in Shibuya to buy it. Private press of original 1989 pressing, which Discogs seems to support. A hybrid of jazz, environmental sounds, lounge, and new age. Very beautiful. Seeing what it has sold for, probably not the worst decision I've made to buy in person, especially with the hospitality that Japan offers.

Not on streaming services or YouTube.

 

[Rip_City]

Day 30 / 2024.S7.E30 - On Top of the World (世界の頂点で)
This skyview at the top of the Yokohama Landmark Tower goes up to 69F and provides a 360º view of the city of Yokohama. This view looks down on Cosmoworld amusement park and the Shinko Ward (新港). Despite appearing like a bourgeois owner’s club, an admission ticket is only ¥1000 per person! There is no time limit to your stay, and they have a seating space to take in the view from the northwest angle. They have a snack bar with beer, ice cream, fried chicken, a few other consumables, as well as a gift shop. I stayed up here for two hours, right in between the time of sunset to the lovely nightfall.

Some other views of Yokohama around the 360 view at the top of Landmark Tower, while capturing the transition from sunset to late night:



Food while up here:
Karaage chicken and chips (w/ginger ale) set for ¥900



Ice cream swirl; (vanilla and ramune (ラムネ; soda) flavor) for ¥550.

 

[LeeVing]

And how am I the first one to finish the month, considering I started two weeks late?

I blame work and the new Path Of Exile season...mostly the new Path Of Exile season.

I'll finish the last 2 days after I take a nap.