TokyoBound

Before getting on that jet plane, I wanted to post this coverage of the beginnings of Studio SIX, the venue for Osada Steve’s Kinbaku Live shows as well as a host of photo and video shoots.

Studio SIX is located in an office tower somewhere in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. It’s not far from the east exit of the Ikebukuro JR station. Rumor has it that Steve dropped a million big ones to purchase the space he occupies in this building. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the single largest tenant. He also has offices here and his own production studio.

He’s come a long way from those days of walking around Tokyo with an empty stomach!

The photos of Studio SIX linked to in this report and the report from German bondage master, Matthias (aka Ryu-jin, aka Drachenmann) depict Studio SIX as it appears Read more »

My first trip to Tokyo in April, 2000 came at the invitation of Osada Steve. That visit coincided with the grand opening of Studio SIX, the place that Steve had just bought for a million dollars, and that was to become the home base for his mentor, the venerable Japanese bondage great-grandmaster, Osada Eikichi.

One section of what originally had been meant as Steve’s private photo studio had the false ceiling removed to accommodate suspension points for the ensuing Shibari shows.

Another section housed what Steve described as his machine park but to me it looked more like a junkyard. Yet another section Read more »

We now have our first gallery here at TokyoBound. Once again, I am indebted to Matthias of Germany for these pictures taken at the grand opening of Studio SIX way back in April 2000. Here you can see photos of Osada Eikichi sensei in action at the original location of Studio SIX.

The model in most of the pictures is Osada Kazumi who, as far as I know, remains active in the SM scene continuing the tradition of Osada Seminar. There is another unidentified model as well.

Click on the text link or the graphic to go to the gallery.

KabukiJoe

I have to catch a plane in a few hours so I’m going to combine two shoots in this edition of From the Editor’s Desk.

First we have a rope primer by Osada Steve that I mentioned earlier. This will end up as a DVD that will be included in the package when one purchases a complete set of official Osada Steve Shibari rope.

This tutorial isn’t a How To on Japanese Shibari. Rather, it goes into such things as Read more »

Ever get into one of those moods? You know, the one where you want to tie up your girl and take pictures. But the not regular, run-of-the-mill pics you usually take. No, this time you’re in one of those moods. Now you feel like doing something a little different, unique. A break from the routine.

You’re in an artsy fartsy mood so, instead of taking the regular color pics, you make ‘em black and white. Voila! You’ve just graduated from porn to art. Congratulations.

All right, I’ll admit I don’t know anything about photography and I suppose composition and depth of field play some part in creating these artsy fartsy masterpieces. But personally, I prefer color. Life is in color after all. The only time I can put up with black and white is with those old, classic photos. But that was before color photography was invented. Or it was too expensive to print lots of color photos in a magazine.

These days, especially on the Web, the cost of color vs. black and white is a non-issue.

Nevertheless, we aim to please around here so for all you artistes out there, some pics from a recent shoot with Asagi Ageha. I must admit, she looks good even in black and white.

KabukiJoe

I’ve been out of the loop recently and can’t give you a lot of info about last week’s Studio SIX. My editing duties take top priority right now and I’m so far behind I’m devoting every minute I have to trying to get somewhat on top of things here.

That said, I’m sure most of you would rather just see the pics than slog through a lot of verbiage from me anyway, so below are a few pics that showed up in my Inbox one day.

This lovely lady flew into Tokyo especially to appear as Steve’s model last Saturday night and for a video shoot the following day. She looks like a great model. Hope I’m there the next time she’s in town.

One of the problems is that I’m going on a business trip in a few days. I’ve had to make all those arrangements while working on a couple of difficult projects. One was the Randa Mai live show at the Wakamatsu strip theater. That one’s done by the way. It should be appearing over at JapanBondage.tv before too long. The other one I will tell you about soon in an upcoming post.

While I’m on the subject of Studio SIX, I’ll have some interesting posts coming soon just about Steve’s dojo in the middle of Tokyo. A gallery is coming with old photos taken by Drachenmann which show Osada Eikichi sensei performing at the grand opening of Studio SIX. Drachenmann, a rope master from Germany, makes yearly pilgrimages to Japan and knows more about Tokyo than I do. He has also written an article about the event which will appear along with the gallery.

I’ll get all this stuff up before I take off. Then it will be dark for about a week, then I’ll be back with bigger and better stuff.

Here you go:

KabukiJoe

Have you ever watched a Japanese porn video and wondered how they put that mosaic pattern in there to cover up the genitalia of the actors? Probably not, but I’m going to talk about that today anyway!

Now that I think about it, you were probably wondering why they put that friggin’ mosaic in there in the first place. I don’t know the answer to that question other than to say that it’s the law of the land. I read once that it goes all the way back to Gen. MacArthur but then I read something else
Read more »

Sorry this is late!

Saturday night was Kinbaku Live night as usual at Studio SIX. The model was the lovely Emma. Emma really is a sweet girl and she did a wonderful job as Steve’s model for the evening’s proceedings.

I know I really need to get out more as this is yet another model whom I’ve seen for the very first time — and I hope it’s not the last. Pretty face, voluptuous body and a shining personality all in one. All I can tell you about Emma is that she’s not 17! This age popped up in random conversation for some reason and got me a little worried.

It turns out she’s actually 27 years old and comes from Yokohama. Not that 27 is old or anything (I should know), but she does look younger.

I’m sorry I can’t give you a real blow-by-blow account of everything that happened. I was there for the entire show but I was looking at it through the LCD screen of a video camera and was concentrating more on my shooting. In the future I will do better and I’ll try to give you hardcore aficionados out there the Japanese terminology as well.

There was another shoot the following day with Emma but I’m not at liberty to discuss the details of that one just yet. Perhaps in my next post I will give you a little behind-the-scenes look (without giving too much away, of course).

In the meantime, enjoy the photos of Emma and remember, if you’re ever Tokyo bound, Studio SIX is just a phone call away.

KabukiJoe

I’ve had a chance to look at the five videos on the recently released Sniper DVD. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to watch them all the way through but I think I got a feel for all of them.

First, with regard to my own efforts, I see what Steve meant when he pointed out the “black holes.” Basically, this is what I do: When there’s a dramatic change in content, I like to do a fade to black and then a fade-in to the next part. I think this works well.

However, towards the end of the vid, there were two or three of these “black holes” that just shouldn’t have been there. Simply wrong. Should have just done a cross fade in those places. What was I thinking?  I don’t know.

The most professional-looking of the vids was the one by Miura Takumi. Breathtaking. However, content trumps everything, I guess, and my buddy here in Tokyo who is an expert on this stuff, wasn’t impressed. He thought the style would have been appropriate for a short teaser clip but not a longish video like this was. And he had this to say:

I thought as far as presenting a sample of one’s work in a short segment goes, Steve’s was the best…your editing job was just what was required…

Thanks for that unsolicited endorsement (ahem). Just so you know, my pal is a big fan of Shima Shikou’s and Mira Kurumi’s.

One more thing: Sniper magazine says Miraclemi. I changed this in my previous post to MiracleEmi which I thought was a little easier to read. As it turns out this is, in fact, Mira Kurumi. I don’t know if this is an example of katakana English or if this is, indeed, a name he goes by.

Hopefully, we’ll all learn a thing or two as this blog moves forward.

KabukiJoe

The February 2007 issue of S&M Sniper is out and, as usual, it’s jam-packed with articles, photos and manga showcasing the vibrant world of bondage in Japan. This particular issue features a series of pictures taken by well-known photographer, Nobuyoshi Araki.

What’s especially interesting about this edition is the included DVD which contains short videos from bondage artists such as Shima Shikou, Miura Takumi, MiracleEmi, Kazami Ranki and our own Osada Steve. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the title of the DVD is Bondage Master Quintet.

I haven’t had a chance to look at the DVD yet but I’m intimately familiar with the Osada Steve contribution since I was the editor.

Steve’s shoot has Kazuki as the model. This was the first time I had come across Kazuki but Steve tells me she’s quite a sought-after model. The movie lasts for about 20 minutes and features a variety of rope techniques and positions including a sideways suspension and a suspended hogtie only in this case the model’s hands are stretched back behind her head.

All in all, well worth the 2,000 yen cover price.

KabukiJoe