DJ Wes has been climbing Japan's 100 famous mountains (Hyakumeizan) over the last five years. This is the final peak, Mt. Hijiri, Southern Alps, Elevation 3013 meters. Wes was accompanied by his wife Kanako and friends Yuuki and Fumito.

Video by Alex Brooke.

Posted by Rob.

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Since we've been offline for awhile, I thought we'd celebrate by uploading some vintage NFTOS footage! Previously unreleased footage from July 2007!

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Omaha, Lincoln, Nebraska, Hans, Makiko, Rolf, airport, interstate 80, SAC, Martin Buscaglia, CSS, Cansei de Ser Sexy

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Posted by Makiko.

I visited Patrick Widdess in his hometown of Cambridge and he gave me the grand tour before we recorded a session for Headstand, his show on 209 radio. He knew his stuff and in this video you can hear some of his recommendations for visiting the town. Well worth a visit and well worth looking Patrick up if you are in town.

A big thank you to Patrick for being such a great host and tour guide. A big shout out to Patrick Sheil ( front man of the moth conspiracy ) for your excellent music, poetry and general excellence.
And a domo arigato to 209 radio for letting me in your studios.

Posted by Alex.

Tags: Patrick Widdess, Headstand, King's college, Cambridge, 209 radio, Headstand, Patrick Sheil, Moth conspiracy

This guy makes some pretty interesting and entertaining videos about Tokyo. This is his vlog #39, which was posted on the 5th, so it's hot off the press!



Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Tokyo, Cooney, YouTube, Pipo, Kyuta, vlog, Japan, sushi, life, living, blog, police

This is a clip of Ivan (also in our Tin's Hall video) philosophizing after a few shots of tequila and maybe an absinthe or two... The poster is hanging in Restaurante El Pancho in Shinsaibashi, Osaka. Posted by Rob.

Tags: Tequila, Mexico, Japan, Osaka, Ivan, absinthe, philosophy, sociology, sociología, global politics, Latin America

The ubiquitous Osaka web project dreamt up and run by James Russell and Erik Archer recently received its millionth page view. I had the pleasure of DJ'ing at the Bike Club Osaka kickoff party back in March of 2005, and have also presented art at their events, used their website to promote my own events, and helped promote their events and the website in a variety of ways since. Now I hear there's a Bike Club Tokyo in the works, and I hope to be a part of that in some way or another as well. This podcast is one of a couple of "interview" segments Alex and I did with Erik back in February or March of this year. Those were heady days for all of us. We were hyper-inspired and trying hard to figure out how to channel all the creative energy in the most effective ways we could. We're older and wiser now, I assure you! Since that time Bike Club has surfaced in many forms all over Osaka and Japan, including in print. Here Erik is on the cover of the Kansai Scene September 2006 issue featuring an article on alternate careers to the seemingly standard "eikaiwa" teaching job many English speaking foreigners have in Japan. Cover photo by Akif Hakan Celebi. More on the photographer. Posted by Rob.

Hans and Jim wrap up Cinco de Mayo festivities* and prepare to go out birdwatching at night and all day the next day which would've been 6 May...!? Honestly, I don't really get it either. *(Aparently Cinco de Mayo is getting really big in America and they're talking about making it a national holiday someday). Other stuff about Hans or by him: http://newsfromtheotherside.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=90494 ... I'll post his other links soon, but for now, just have a look around NFTOS and you'll find him several times! This post is by Rob.

Rolf & Carys recently visited Osaka, and here is a little glimpse of Japan as seen through their lens. I'll have a photo for this post in the morning. Something happened to the banner art again as well. Oops! Sorry 'bout that Alex. I should stay out of the settings. This post is by Rob.

Who is Rob ? Find out here...

A message from Waka from Wakayama...and Alex too.

Hans was up in the Colorado Rockies for a week looking for ptarmigan and whatever other rare birds he and his buddies (I think he mentioned Jim Brighton on the phone) could find up on Guanella Pass. Thanks for adding to our video collection of exotic faraway places bro! Posted by Rob.

Makiko films Rob and Yo discussing Murphy's Pub on the way home. Did it suck? Or did Yo suck? Who is Yo? Yo has been a buddy of mine since we met in Nebraska in 1997! We've played on the same soccer and futsal clubs, although, he has always been much better at both. We've also painted together from time to time. He introduced me to my favorite oil for oil painting--walnut oil. He is currently working on a Masters in art at UNLV. His sculptures are amazing! I'll post a link for him soon... Makiko has been making a lot of short videos lately (...). She has also been recycling old clothes by quilting, producing kilos of homemade soap and baking dozens of bagels. Photo shot at Calibre Cafe, in Shinsaibashi, before going to Murphy's. Posted by Rob.

Who is Alex Brooke, REALLY? To find out, stay tuned and win lots of PRIZES!!

Alex has been spotted around town with an as yet unidentified female whom he insists is "just a friend." We'll keep you informed of any further developments...

On Tuesday Beb, Alex and Rob recorded some video & mp3 podcast programs for their various projects that will be appearing during the next few days. Stay tuned! BEB, BEB's mixi, BEB & Alex, BEB & Alex mixi, Learn Japanese (i日本語), Learn Japanese (i日本語) mixi

Our banner art was created by Okha Ryu (a.k.a. "Flying Koala") of Seoul, Korea, who has been a member of the News From The Other Side art & culture crew since 2001! Apparently, this banner is just a rough draft, and she says the real thing will be ready soon. Okha has participated with me (Rob) in several art shows in Osaka and she organized the first NFTOS art show in Seoul in 2004. Besides being a clever artist, she seems to speak Japanese better and better each time she comes to Osaka for a visit. You can see and hear her for yourself in the "What's your favorite Japanese Word?" podcast or check out her web community at Recently Okha .