オーストラリアディおめでとう！！オージー達エーミちゃん（ダリのゾウのタトゥーの子）が愛国者タトゥーシールを持って来てくれた！
Happy fakkin’ Australia Day!… a few days late. Aussie friend Amy (the girl with the Dali Space Elephant on her leg – check it out!) brought by some patriotic tattoos so we could get our unchecked nationalism in full effect.

中国製や！大丈夫かなぁ。スーパー玉出の肉の匂いやわ。
Proudly made in the “people’s” republic of Fugazis – China! Just like fake tattoo machines and fake copies of my tattoo flash!

さぁ、ニックケーヴに仲良くするため、どれに選ぼうかな？
But which design to choose to ingratiate myself to Paul Hogan, Nick Cave, and Jon Howa… ok, just Paul Hogan and Nick Cave.

キョンちゃんはシンプルなデザインを！本物やったら彫るのは大変そう！
Kyon, goin’ for simplicity! In case anyone wants an actual tattoo is concentric lines around letters… I don’t recommend it.

残念ながらタトゥーシールのプロじゃないからオージーのお姉ちゃんに任せるしかない！
Sadly, we were too incapacitated (and too inept) to apply temporary tattoos and had to have the service performed by a qualified Australian.

有刺鉄線は囚人っぽいからえぇやないか？でも一件で終わらせるわけない！
Barbed wires are a traditional convict-y tattoo so that’s what I picked. But why stop there…

これにしたら自分のタトゥー番組がもらえるはずやなぃ？大阪インクやぁ！次のタトゥーブームの中心はここから始まる様に！
Make way for our ailing industry’s new darling – Bat Von B! If you need me, I’ll be in my diamond encrusted dressing room awaiting my next tribal armband and memorizing my lines for the next season of Osaka ink… but only after I’m done driving my gold-plated Benz in front of the cameras.

…

or at the local pub singing the wrong version of Waltzing Matilda!

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寒過ぎやわ！はよ春が来ないのか、ほんまに？！
Even for a global-warming-2010, it is too cold. Even my 2 minute bicycle commute is arguably too long to be patient for warmth.
Oh, emperor-god! I dance for you to bring about spring early!

暖かくなる様に…
I am sure coke-snorting producers are on their way from “LA” right now to offer me my own popular tattoo television show any moment now.

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アメリカのステッカーガイから頼んだ新シールが届いたー！２種類もある、今回。（白黒反転のヤツ）こういうシルクスクリーンで作っているステッカーを印刷やっている会社は日本には一件もないって知っていた！？大分探したが何もでてこない。あればいいのにな。国際配達はめっちゃ高いわ！
New stickers from the one and only Sticker Guy! Did you know that NO ONE in Japan does custom printed vinyl silk-screened stickers? The shipping on these things alone was enough to kill an elephant.

欲しい？無料やけど遊びにきてくれないと！待っているでぇ！
Do you desire this rubbery, sticky delight? Deyz free, but chew gots ta come here n’ fin’ me!

（今日のモデルさんたちは国際カップル、セブとクミ！）

千社札をデザインするのはめっちゃ好きやねん！
Love designing senjafuda. Now all I need is my own printing setup.

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…と似ているけどスペル間違えた、僕。これや：
…looks like it, but spelled wrong – Here it is:

2010年1/08.09.10@CASO, Osaka City

外人の客の為、英語の説明：
I know I post a lot about Graffiti art related events, and the effect is usually the same: If you’re into it, you already know about it and plan to attend. If you aren’t into it, then you couldn’t care less. So I’m making it a special point to say: Even if you have absolutely zero interest in graf – even if you have never attended a gallery in your life, if you are in Kansai for the next couple days, go. Go. GO.

Osaka’s beautiful bay side art space CASO is holding the gallery. Several massive rooms, housing pieces of over 30 artists. Writers from every Japanese island are at this thing – no joke – for the full list of talent check out the flyer/sticker at the organizer’s site!

Best of all, there’s going to be live painting on all 3 days (as I understand it). Unfortunately, this is a super limited engagement but well worth a few hours of your weekend! (If you’re in Minami, just hop the Chuo subway line to Osakakou and hoof it south for about 5 minutes.)

PS – not to be confused this with “Lucky 13″ which I blogged a few weeks back. That’s at Prohibit on the 16th. (Many of the same participants – different works)

運が良くて、イベントの前日に少し入らしてくれた。残念やけどあの日iPhoneのカメラしかなかった！！
I was lucky enough to sneak inside and sneak some preview images! Sadly I only had the ol’ iPhone cam on hand. (but as they say, “the best camera is the one you have with you”)

スプレー缶は半端ない数や！
No,…this is a lot of paint.

あなたは真腰さんの目に命令されている通り、このギャラリーに遊びに行ったら良い！
Do as Magoshi’s eyes command!

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大好きなアーティストの素敵なライブを！！！

写真はほんま多過ぎてえぐい。つづきは明日！

台湾帰って来た！！外国の素晴らしさを知って、それこそ日本の素晴らしさをもっと知った。写真は山盛りあるからオモロいやつを選んでからアップするわ。とりあえず、チョップのクレージー忘年会リポート！
Totally beat from Taiwan. Learned now only about the wonderful rewards of foreign travel, but also the exquisite relief of readjusting to the familiar.

…あれ？ちょっとちゃうな。ちょっと待って、…
Wrong set, hang on.

これやな。
This one…

ろ？

好きやなぁ！

羨ましい、この仲良し

まだ動いているゎ！

ひくわ。

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えぇぇ、２００９年ってほんまにもぅ終わってんのか？はやっ！めっちゃはやい！早過ぎるぜ、おぃ！来年は２０１０って呼ぶのは不思議な気分や。あの数字はすごいサイエンス・フィクションっぽすぎてなかなか慣れなさそう。今年、色々あったな、えぇ事も大変な事も。もちろん勉強になった事も。このちっちゃいブログも短い一年の間に大分変わってきた気がする。寅年にも色々が待っているけどとりあえず丑年の１２月を復習！
It’s finally time to bid a fond farewell to 2009 and make plans to user in 2010. It feels so strange to be experiencing those ’science fictiony’ sounding numbers in real time. Hey wait, did I say ‘fond?’ Could it be that 2009 wasn’t nearly as terrible as I had feared? There were certainly a lot of ups and downs – including but not limited to this humble little blog. Big big big plans for the big tora-doshi – but before we get to those a bit of a review for the last month of the crazy year of the cow.

また引っ越しちゃった。一生に同じ部屋に１１ヶ月以上に住んだ事はない気がする。１０年毎ぐらい来日した時ワン・バッグしかなかったのに。
Made it through a harrowing move this year. Again. I don’t think I’ve ever had the same address for more than 11 months. I seem to remember moving to Japan a decade ago with only a single duffle bag.

子猫ちゃんの引越しダンス
Kitty moving dance.

わたる師匠がデザインしたパーカーは出来上がり！もっと綺麗な画像がCOCOLO BLANDのHPにのっている。これはポイント：フッドのチャクも頭の上まで閉められる！
Wataru did 6 original images all featured on these slick hoodies from Cocolo Bland. 100% old school, 100% Osaka style! The real trick? The hood zips up all the way to the top of the head!

ほら、こんな感じ！
Behold, an animated demonstration.

関係ないけど、これをみて！友達のIRIAさんが卵と手だけでこんな技が出来るでぇ！
Hey, look what my friend Iria can do with his hand implant and an egg! No animation, but if you blink one eye at a time and alternate you get the picture.

毎年正月っぽい生け花もだす、みせに。今年の選んだ形は富士山を表している。っぱとみたら一般な形にみえるけど、よぅみたら右側の枝は折れられている。富士山の姿がみえる？枝の先っぽの緑の部分は画家の筆みたい。坂からでている葉っぱは雲っぽい。
There are a plethora of original arrangements in the Sagagoryuu school for celebrating the new year – this is my first time assembling this particular variation. The prominent branch to the right breaks with traditional balance conventions in order to depict Mount Fuji. The far left sweeping branch is reminiscent of a painter’s brush stroke and the remaining green along the ‘mountain’s slope’ are meant to represent flowing clouds and mist.

アメリカの伝統なクリスマスディナー!… ってこんな感じだったっけ？正直にいうとあんまり覚えていないわ。イエスの誕生日のお祝いというよりFF13の発売お祝いにした。
Even had a proper xmas dinner this year to celebrate the birth of… well, a stomach ache from too much chikkin, stew n’ champagne!…and also the procurement of Final Fantasy XIII.

あの日、ブログを更新せず、バッター一個そのままで食っちゃった。
Instead of updating my blog that day, I ate this whole stick of butter.

出たー！クリスマスケーキ！手作りケーキを食べるのは久しぶりの人：これはおすすめ！季節的に苺は珍しくなっているけどなんとなく見つけた！
I even helped whip up some eggs for this magical mystical cake! When’s the last time you ate a homemade cake without a bunch of nasty-ass chemical preservatives? Even managed to hunt down some out-of-season strawberries for this one!

PS – if you watch Miyaneya tomorrow (the 29th) you can see me wish Macchan a congratulatory message!
ところで、明日のミヤネ屋をみたらベンが見えるでぇ！ダウンタウンのまっちゃんに特別なメッセージを伝える！

ほんな、TAIWANに行って来るゎぁぁ！みなさん、良いお年を！！
Off to Taiwan! See you in the year of the tiger.

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Disposable surgical gloves or polar bears?
A timely debate for the 21st century.

Contrary to my usual neurotic state, there are in fact times when I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I chose the correct career path. This was one of those times.

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