168 / Dr Rob / Tokyo-To Kissa #10
The Tokyo-To Kissas were made, one a month, during 2007. My first year in Japan. Prior to the move to Tokyo, I had spent much of my free time recreating Harvey`s Moonshadow sessions in a shed at the end of our garden in Croydon, so I was already on a pretty mellow one. Then someone,...
122 / Dr Rob / Tokyo-to Kissa #9
I wake in cold blue before the sun. Unraveling the dreams I have come to treasure. One or five AM. I have no idea. My head so cold it aches. I check the kids are covered and brave downstairs. Three degrees in the kitchen. But the fish are still swimming. I light the stove with...
109 / Dr Rob / Tokyo-to Kissa #7
Sitting in a cold school playground. Neath a clear Autumn sky. Koyo in reds and browns. Pale yellows. Jealously watching my kids hot-foot it after girls. A game of “Taka Oni”. Up the slide. Round the Jungle Jim. Old tires rolled for hula hoops. I fold my arms and pull my shoulders up around my...
086 / Dr Rob / Tokyo-to Kissa #6
Image by Francesco Yayoi Tanabatta. The seventh day of the seventh month. Once a year star-crossed lovers meet. Orihime and Hikoboshi. Vega and Altair. Opposite banks of the Milky Way. That heavenly river. Kawa in the sky. Seperated by Tentei for the sake of the Emporer’s new clothes, once a year the Princess and the...
073 / Dr Rob / Toyko-to Kissa #5
Painting by Tsuyoshi Ozawa. When he calls she doesn’t pick up. As she was leaving Monday morning, he asked if there was anything she wanted to talk about. He had been surprised by the look on her face. She had remained silent, quickly picked up her bags and gone out to the taxi. Absent from...
055 / Dr Rob / Toyko-to Kissa #4
I watch Tokyo go by from the window of a Metro train. Mejiro, Takadanababa, Shinjuku. I wonder if I will miss any of these places. I am leaving. I have grown tired of Tokyo. Or rather, she has worn me out. This beautiful lady has a bounty to offer but only if you have an...
045 / Dr Rob / Tokyo-to Kissa #3
The pink balloons atop the four foot tall Altec 7 cinema speakers are deflated, spent and shriveled like ball bags in an outside privy on a winter’s morning. The lists of cocktails that decorate the walls have long since been mixed. The night lit by fluorescent shots long since sunk. No more limes to slice....
040 / Dr Rob / Toyko-to Kissa #2
Catching my reflection in the mirror, I look like an old prospector. I’m in red long-johns to keep out the cold. Lee Marvin in “Paint Your Wagon”. My star has wandered. I’m either getting softer or Tokyo is getting colder. I bought the long johns, or Akapan, from Sugamo a week ago. The red colour...
035 / Dr Rob / Toyko-to Kissa #1
Test Pressing is happy to welcome to the fold Robert Harris a.k.a Dr. Rob who used to live on these shores but is now in Tokyo with family. Rob is going to be posting the mixes from his Tokyo-to Kissa series as well as writing whatever tales he feels like sharing and covering the Japanese...