Welcome to TokyoBound

Thanks for stopping by.

The purpose of this blog is to highlight the activities of Osada Steve as they pertain to his weekly Kinbaku Live performances at Studio SIX, his Shibari shows all over Japan, his video productions, and whatever else he has up his sleeve with regard to the bondage world.

From time to time I will also report on other aspects of what’s going on in Japan rope-wise. If you have any news, feel free to send it in. If you wish to write a piece, send it along and if I use it you’ll receive the princely sum of a by-line! I do wish to keep this blog Japan-centric. Thanks for your understanding.

But this blog is first and foremost about a true pioneer. I didn’t say “the” pioneer (although I am actually not aware of any others). Osada Steve has been living in Japan for over two decades and has penetrated an aspect of Japanese society that few, if any, foreigners have succeeded in doing.

Allow me a brief aside: I first came to Japan about 12 years ago. I came here for one and only one reason — I thought I’d be able to see SM magazines at the local convenience store or on sale at kiosks in the train station. I kid you not, this was my impression before I arrived. I actually investigated the first newsstand I came across which happened to be at the airport.

Well, I didn’t see any SM magazines there, but I soon discovered how easy it was to find them. Even mainstream bookstores carried them. Heaven! I loved this place and the euphoria has never really worn off. Of course, there are other things I love about Japan now, but Japanese-style bondage was my reason for coming in the first place.

On that first trip I went to Ginza and there were large poster boards on the sidewalk which clearly advertised an SM event taking place that very evening. I walked into an adult bookstore and bought a bondage mag. I asked the guy behind the counter about the SM event. Another nice fellow in the store volunteered to walk me to the location of the event! It took about five minutes to get there. Unfortunately, the guard at the door then refused me entry.

This little story illustrates two points: one, you’ll find an awful lot of incredibly nice people in Japan. And two, you run the risk of being turned away on occasion . . . for wearing the wrong face.

That’s what happened to me anyway. Sorry, no entrance. You can’t come in here. Get lost, fucking gaijin!

Now, I’m not going to get into the psychology, sociology, biology or scientology of why this happened. This blog is going to be about positive things. Life is too short to be negative. But I would like to point out that Osada Steve has passed through doors previously believed to be impregnable to foreigners. He has done more in this enigmatic world than I believe any foreigner has ever done — it’s not even close.

I don’t know, but I’d guess that Steve has had a few doors slammed in his face, too. I don’t mean just in the world of Shibari. It’s difficult to live in Japan and not experience at least a little bit of xenophobia.

But Steve never talks about negative stuff. Either it’s just not his style or he’s figured out that it’s not the way to progress. Steve has proved that with the right combination of gumption and perseverance you can succeed in this world. He has done it and he continues to do it and this blog will serve as a journal of the on-going exploits of a truly unique individual.

To get things started, I conducted an interview with Osada Steve which you can find below. Part II will follow later.

KabukiJoe