TokyoBound

As promised, the second part of Osada Steve’s post concerning the amazing and unique style of shibari as practiced by Randa Mai. This second installment is actually more of a running commentary of the master’s technique with accompanying photos to illustrate the text. KJ

As behooves a professional nawashi, Randa Mai always brings his own toys and equipment, his own girls, and his own music. There are his ropes (about eight seven-meter-long asanawa, the traditional Japanese kinbaku rope made of jute), one or two candles, one or two whips, Read more »

Yes, yes I know I said I’d put up the rest of the Randa Mai article, but I was at Kinbaku Live Night at Studio SIX Saturday night and I got a bunch of photos and I wanted to share them with you just as soon as possible. Steve is kindly allowing me to publish some of them here for your enjoyment.

This was the first time I’d seen Juli-chan in person. Like you, I’d seen some of her pics before. But I must say, there’s nothing like actually being there and having a ringside seat. Juli-chan is a pretty young thing with lovely white skin and classic Japanese features. She’s also quite charming. Steve said he really enjoys working with Juli-chan. For her part, Juli-chan had a good time except, perhaps, when the hot wax got a little too close to her nether regions.
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In Japan, the term “one coin” is used quite often. It actually sounds a bit more like wan coin but that’s neither here nor there. Now that I think about it, if you want to buy a carton of cigarettes, the way to ask is “Wan caton“, or something like that.

The first time I heard this term, it was in reference to wan coin husbands, those salarymen who were kicked out the door in the morning with a 500 yen coin in their pockets courtesy of their tight-fisted wives. This was when you could get lunch at McDonald’s for exactly 500 yen.

It came as a bit of a surprise to me to learn of an upcoming art exhibit of torture drawings by Ozuma Yoko and that the price of admission would be a mere wan coin. This information comes to us courtesy of Osada Steve who further reports that the exhibit will be held from Nov. 2-7 from 12 noon to 10 pm at Fuzoku Shiryokan. So, if this isn’t a typo, I guess we can’t complain that everything in Japan related to SM is expensive.

If you’re not familiar with these masterpieces, well, you just haven’t developed mad internet skillz yet. I’ve included a picture at the bottom with the link to get you started.

Included with this post is a new gallery. Steve paid a visit to venerable bondage master Yukimura Haruki and came away with some excellent shots of a session featuring two lovelies. Also in the gallery are some shots from this summer’s performance at the DX Kabukicho theater. And on a lighter note, we have some shots of what appears to be Pippi Longstocking being punished with rope for forgetting to put pickles on someone’s Big Mac.

FYI — Stay tuned. I’ll be posting Part II of the Randa Mai interview in the next couple of days.

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for a burger and a fag.

KabukiJoe

GALLERY

As I was reading the post below this one entitled “Lovely Andrea”, I was struck by Nureki Chimuo’s opinion that most videos produced today are, as he put it, “crap”. Now, Nureki sensei is getting up there in years and I suppose it would be easy to dismiss his comment as the rantings of an old man living in the past. But I doubt he’s the only one who feels this way. Okay, I’ll just come out with it: I agree with him.

I recently purchased a box set of five DVDs from the late, legendary director Ishii Teruo. Among bondage aficionados, Ishii is known for his sadistic fare such as “Joy of Torture” among others. He is also well known for directing yakuza films starring Takakura Ken.

Like the Nikkatsu classics of the sixties and seventies, these were shot on film in glorious widescreen. They actually have a plot. A bit bizarre, perhaps, and difficult to follow for the average Westerner, but a plot nevertheless. Actually, the Ishii films have a little too much story for my taste. I think Nikkatsu had it about right, effectively balancing the storyline with the bondage action.

That said, I wonder how much of today’s fare will even be available 30 years from now, let alone esteemed and desired by a whole new generation of bondage fanatics.

When video came along and pretty much killed shot-on-film bondage movies, it was a good news, bad news sort of thing. The good news was that you could crank out a lot of material cheap. The bad news was that you could crank out a lot of material cheap.

But still, in the early eighties, there were many excellent movies shot on video. Although Cinemagic has certainly turned out its fair share of boring, vanilla fuck movies with some ropes tossed in as an apparent afterthought, they also managed to hit the sweet spot on many occasions. The same thing goes for the old Art Video SM company.

About 20 years ago, there was a video I rented over and over again simply because I didn’t have two VCRs. I think you know what I’m talking about. This video was fantastic and it’s now all but impossible to find. I saw it a few years ago in a used video shop somewhere in Tokyo. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a spare 20,000 yen in my pocket at the time!

I have a mental list of things I believe need to be present in order for a video to avoid the crap designation. High up on that list is location. Back when they were shooting movies on film, things like sets and wardrobe mattered. Of course, they had people who could act pretty well, too. But even if you don’t have trained actors to work with, good locations will really enhance the viewing experience.

One company that “gets it”, I think, when it comes to the right kind of locations is Kink.com. The owner of Kink.com recently purchased the San Francisco Armory for shooting material for his own websites. He also plans to rent it out to mainstream movie companies. Personally, I like a grubby, run-down place like the armory to a hotel room or a red plastic “dungeon” for shooting videos.

When Kink came to Japan to work with Osada Steve, Steve scrounged up some interesting locations, the best of which was an old Japanese style house. In fact, this place has been used as a set for many bondage videos shot in Tokyo. Other than this place though, most of the videos I have seen recently have been shot in rather uninspiring locations.

I’ve gotten behind again so the gallery below is spread across two or three Kinbaku Live Nights at Studio SIX. Sorry ’bout that. You will notice a couple of new faces there. One is Misa-chan, the other Juri-chan. And, of course, we never get tired of the beautiful and alluring Ageha.

The five thumbs below relate to this post and are self-explanatory. The bondage thumbs are repeats from the Kink.com shoot. They just happen to be some of my favorites!

KabukiJoe

GALLERY – Studio SIX