Hey Record-loving homies!
I finally get to introduce you to lovely Amy with whom I shared a long and friendly conversation in the shelter of The Suzunari’s Yokocho where we hid out from the sudden downpour, chatting about her music, fashion, traveling, rock climbing, and an architecture internship that brought her to Tokyo for an extended stay from Singapore where she lives and studies.
Sidenote: I tend to keep Tokyo Record Style completely free from work-related talk only so as to have a place to focus completely on play, freedom, and fun. Having said that, I have blessings to count to be able to earn my living in a creative field and one that is surrounded by art, design, and tons and tons of architecture…
…so when Amy told me that she’s studying to be an architect, we actually had heaps to chat about and I knew all the studios where she had already completed internships. When I began to press her about her aspirations in architecture after school, she become a little bashful, saying that she was deeply inspired by a trip to Hokkaido’s Moerenuma Park, designed by celebrated American/Japanese designer Isamu Noguchi (who’s iconic table I have and look at everyday) and that she someday hopes to design parks and playgrounds. Wow! The people you meet and the stories they tell!
Amy told me that her experience as a rock climber also inspired her interest in park and playground design. So Cool! Having spent a decade in rock-climbing mecca Boulder, Colorado, I got a share that some of my best old pals have become super well known pro climbers. I also shared with Amy that during a recent trip to my hometown of Tulsa, OK (which not only boasts one the nation’s best new parks known as “The Gathering Place”), my family and friends spent an entire afternoon at “Climb Tulsa” a HUGE indoor rock-climbing gym, and I couldn’t believe how crowded it was and how social of an environment it was, in fact it seemed just as much of a social affair as it a climbing one. I was really impressed and Amy echoed that climbing culture in Singapore is similar and that she loves it for the social aspect of it as well as for the athleticism and everything else it offers.
As you can see, Amy was also putting the style in Tokyo Record Style, with her yellow vintage 90s Nautica windbreaker, her tattered and paper thin tiger t-shirt (that perfect poly-cotton blend that wears so fine), her cute handmade Batman bag, her petticoat shorts, and slick wellies, she was struttin’! And she had just scored her first two records EVER, mentioning that she had not idea what she had bought, but the price was right, and more than anything, she just wanted to mark off her bucket list: “Record shopping in Shimokitazawa” CHECK!
Finally I asked her what music she was ACTUALLY listening to these days and she told me that her new jam is the song “Acid” by English duo, Jockstrap, both song and band new to me, so was happy and grateful to Amy for expanding my musical horizons!
THANKS FOR THE HANG, AMY! Good luck with everything! Hope to see you back in Tokyo someday again …AT THE RECORD STORE!!
More Tokyo Record Style on the way!
さだまさし Masashi Sada – 道化師のソネット / Happy Birthday
Label: Free Flight Records (3) – FFR-3
Format: Vinyl, 7″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: Japan
Released: Feb 25, 1980
Genre: Pop, Folk, World, & Country, Stage & Screen
Style: Pop Rock, Theme
https://www.discogs.com/release/5422238-%E3%81%95%E3%81%A0%E3%81%BE%E3%81%95%E3%81%97-%E9%81%93%E5%8C%96%E5%B8%AB%E3%81%AE%E3%82%BD%E3%83%8D%E3%83%83%E3%83%88-Happy-Birthday
来生たかお Takao Kisugi – 夢の途中 〜セーラー服と機関銃
Label: Kitty Records – 7DK 7019
Format: Vinyl, 7″, 45 RPM, Single, Stereo, Injection Label
Country: Japan
Released: Nov 10, 1981
Genre: Pop
Style: Kayōkyoku
https://www.discogs.com/release/8581291-%E6%9D%A5%E7%94%9F%E3%81%9F%E3%81%8B%E3%81%8A-%E5%A4%A2%E3%81%AE%E9%80%94%E4%B8%AD-%E3%82%BB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A9%E3%83%BC%E6%9C%8D%E3%81%A8%E6%A9%9F%E9%96%A2%E9%8A%83
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