michael lambe

Mario sent me this info on an Intyatyambo event he and some other ex-Lado people have organized up in Tokyo. Looks like it will be a fun night in a good cause so if you are up in Tokyo at the time check it out. Unfortunately I can’t make it myself. I got that work [...]

I just spent three boozetastic days in Tokyo catching up with various legendary characters and damaging my liver/bank balance (eh Tony? eh?) Got back yesterday thoroughly macarooned and fell into bed at 7 in the evening. Anyway, those of you I managed to see – twas brillig! We must do it again! But not for [...]

On Sunday Paul took me to a very nice beer bar in Kagurazaka named “Bitter”. Kagurazaka itself, is well worth a visit if you happen to be in Tokyo, full as it is with nice little, shops, restaurants and dinky little bars. And if you happen to be in Kagurazaka, then “Bitter” is certainly worth [...]

Now I’m back in Kyoto and here’s a further update on Saturday night’s beer tasting party. (Scores were out of twenty).
1st >>> Harvest Moon Brown Ale (Chiba), 14.1 average score
2nd >>> Sagami Kolsch (Kanagawa), 13.6 (lower mean average)
3rd >>> Harvest Moon Schwarz (Chiba), 13.6
So, as these are the top-three tasting beers in Japan, you might [...]

Greetings from Chez Sparks. Last night was a very merry occasion, here in Ichigaya. 44 different Japanese beers, were tasted and adjudicated upon, taste test competitions held and (particularly enjoyable) quizzes were quizzed. And the elected favorite beer for 2007 (drum-roll please)…
Harvest Moon Brown Ale !!
That`s a very tasty micro-brew from Chiba prefecture which Paul [...]

So I got married at the weekend and this is my new wife:
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Anyone see Japan play Australia last night? I tuned in for the last (and most important) 15 minutes and what a funny game eh? I especially liked the scenes after the match of the delighted dancing Aussie fans and the speechless Japanese. Today, at school, I kept accidentally dropping the name “Australia” into different contexts. [...]

Beautiful day today, bright, sunny, warm… The hills were a shimmering green, the sky a perfect blue, and as the day cooled into night you could hear the frogs chorally burping in the rice paddies that they (the Japanese – not the frogs) somehow manage to squeeze in between office blocks and fast food restaurants.
This [...]

Luka (The Alan Quatermain of Kyoto)

So some time ago I was sitting in Pagode (http://www.h3.dion.ne.jp/~pagode/ – a very nice bar on Kiyamachi with a superb view and not enough customers) chatting with Luka (the Alan Quartermain of Kyoto) and Luka said he was going to a free music festival in Tokyo and I said [...]