Torby Brand

Japan 2023 blog!

Added 2023-06-19 01:22:15 +0000 UTC

I took a big chunk of my vacation in Japan this year as well. In case you missed it, I visited Japan in December of 2022, you can find my blog post about that visit here. Since that time I've drastically improved my Japanese, and made a network of new friends; some that live in Japan and some that live here in Norway. I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to enjoy their hospitality when I visit, it's truly unrivaled. Here's some highlights in chronological order of the pictures:

-Happy pancake (my favorite!) and Yamaha store (I picked up a few new books) in Osaka.
-Okonomiyaki, deer, Todaiji temple and sushi night in Nara.
-An iconic shrine in Gion, as well as the monkey park and famous bamboo grove of Arashiyama. Both in Kyoto.
-Ruins of Kameoka castle and suburbs of Sonobe (remote village).
-The iconic Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, as well as Fushimi Castle in Momoyama, and Teramachi (shopping street) in Kyoto.
-The famous Himeji castle. We were lucky to be given a guided tour by none other than KanokaArt, a good friend of mine who recently helped me on the artwork for Your Lie in April - The Complete Piano Collection. I have a few new projects in the works with her too :D
-Enjoying ice cream at Meriken Park in Kobe, and going out for conveyor belt sushi, mega beers and karaoke!
-Meeting gratia at Tokyo tower! She sings the Japanese version on our new Kanata Haluka single. She was incredibly gracious to show us around, and host me later in the stay. Amazing person and singer! I'm excited to be working more with her.
-Shibuya crossing and Tower Records, they have an abundance of awesome albums/soundtracks there. Then Pompompurin cafe in Harajuku (golden retriever mascot).
-More Tokyo: Lunch with Kanae Nozawa, Keisuke Oda and gratia. Kanae I've performed with many times, most recently on my Spirited Away album. And gratia as I've mentioned earlier fronts our new Suzume single. It was lovely being able to chat with them and discuss musical projects.
-Grand piano at Yamaha ginza, ninja cafe and Asakusa shrine.
-Reuniting with Eleviisa! She met me the last time I was there too, we've done a few projects together. Another great artist!
-Nagoya castle, then fish market at Tsuji in Tokyo and summer festival. Next is Godzilla statue in Shinjuku, Joypolis (Sonic Statue) and visiting none other than Studio MAPA's offices in Tokyo. I wish I could say I was able to go inside haha.

It was another absolutely amazing stay! This time elevated even higher by the friends we were able to visit, they're all so pleasant to hang out with. As always the food and service is amazing, and it's very cheap compared to Norwegian prices.

Let me know if you have any questions, or want to share any of your own Japan experiences :) It's quite a long plane ride to get there from Norway (16 hours) but I can't help myself, I definitely want to go back again every year!