Japan Trip 2012

Boo

Japan was even more amazing this time around. Don was again the perfect guide and host. After busting ass in China for the better part of a week- it was great to kick back and chill with friends. The Tokiwa Hotel is our home away from home. We had McD's everyday- but the true feast was served up by Tets at the Boo restaurant. Dish after dish of great expertly prepared delicious entrees were devoured all night. Matt and I got to hang with our friends Ayako, Mori, Cord Viper, AAA, Itokin Park and Ai. We had a blast!

The Boo restaurant is attached to Ayako's Uamou store/studio. What a genius set up- Tets Boo themed restaurant on one side and the Uamou store on the other. Ayako is an amazing talent and super smart business lady. She has quite the operation! It is a truly amazing thing to experience- great food to chow and hundreds if not thousands of Uamou and Boo toys and art all over the place to check out! Ayako knows what she's doing.

Matt and I are very excited to be sharing a booth with Ayako at NYCC. She came a long way! Come check out her stuff at booth #578 if you're in town. We'll be kicking around all weekend.

Mega Muffin

After a laborious work week (and a few days) in China- we skipped over to Japan for a little R&R. Our hotel was right next to a 24 hour McD's. We loaded up on Australian beef burgers and Mega Muffins daily. Our main man Don (Datadub) was our guide through the back allies and subway labyrinths of Tokyo. We went on a toy binge to near overload for a few days straight. It was glorious.

As a special surprise- Don arranged a joint toy romp with Yasuhiro Naito. He is the man behind Trigun, Assemble Borg and Gungrave. Naito was kind enough to let us check out his studio. He is into the same stuff we are! It was like looking at my own book, comic and toy collection scattered about someone else's studio workspace. This guy is an amazing comic artist. We got to check out some of his work in progress. After a bit of gawking- he took us to a Japanese style egg pizza place where we ate our fill of grub that included some sort of crazy octopus egg pizza.

Superfest was wicked awesome. We saw all of our pals and brothers and sisters in arms. I was extra excited to see Ayako (Uamou) and Kiuni (Cord Viper). Many ideas were exchanged and potential collabs were planned. I love these guys.

We had a great time with Samurai Master Mori drawing, sketching and hashing out ideas at a cozy meat on a stick place. It was very exciting to see Mori at work. Magic was happening before our very eyes! I also experienced the spiciest chicken ever- even the food baby took a tiny taste to prove his manliness.

"I live with risk every day." That's what Mori said about what he does. He is hard core. He is hyper dedicated to his work. Mori is also a super generous and kind hearted guy. He works around the clock like Matt and I. I am forever grateful for his creating the vinyl Callgrim. I can't thank him enough.