Monthly Archives: September 2014

Royal Origin x All That Low 日本 Daikoku Night Meet 19/09/2014


Spot the me! Nooooo! I hate being in front of the camera, haha!

Posted in Cars | Leave a comment

Momofuku

shortrib
Deep-fried short rib with snails and asparagus, definitely my fave dish of the night.

momofukudessert
Anise & chervil meringue on a bed of corn custard.

jess_me
Jess and I, wasted, seated right in the middle on the bench overlooking the kitchen, best seats in the house!

Jess wanted to get dressed up one last time before she goes overseas on her epic adventure, so she booked us in to Momofuku for an amazing meal. I’d been once before back in 2012, but last time I didn’t do the beverage pairing. This time we went for the full pairing and my God we got trashed! SO much booze, so awesome! The menu was completely different to last time too, the chefs as well, but that same David Chang iPod playlist was in full force with AC/DC blasting from the speakers.

Jess took photos of all the food, and booze. I took some notes, but my notes got worse as the night rolled on (haha). I’m sure her blog post will be much more comprehensive than mine, look out for it on her blog soon.

Posted in Food | 1 Comment

ONE DAY SUNDAYS

screen
The sun was out, was a beautiful day and I had a photoshoot planned, but it fell through so that meant that I could drop in to ONE DAY SUNDAYS at the Vic on the Park Hotel in Marrickville to celebrate Jess’ going away.

nikes
Straight up, Dennis and I are twinsies! Both rockin’ Midnight Fog Nike Flyknit Roshe Runs. And yes, I wore tights (back to my roots! Haha!).

crackling-omfg
Then I spotted this… OMFG. Crackling!

crackling
Couldn’t resist, was delish!

justinfox_ken_redlantern
Ran into Red Lantern’s KENCITO who gave me the great news that he won The Urban List’s Sydney’s Best Cocktail Maker! So proud and happy for him!

girls
Jess and her girls Robyn and Caitlin.

jess
Jess and her mate Thien.

davidcordy
David and Cordy came out to play. YAY!

annrobbieglenn
Ann, Robbie and Glenn.

pj
Turns out it was PJ’s B’Day party too!

nick
Also ran into Nick Turner (right), and his mate Scott.

basketball
Basketball out the back.

graff
Was way more chill once the harsh sun started going down.

gotojail
On route back to the car.

glenn_lexus
Then I spotted Glenn and crew, who had just gotten Krysti and were heading back in for more!

Posted in Spam | Leave a comment

Nanami’s Latest Piece

nanami_heartstrings
Caught up with Nana-Chan today. She’s finished a piece she started a while back so I got to have a good look at it.

heart
As always, you’ve really got to check out her work in real life. The amount of details she manages to capture always surprises me.

hands
This time around she’s used 3D ink for the string in this piece, again, just has to be seen in real life.

doublebay
We then ducked out for a bite at Australian 18 Footers. her Dad’s old Yacht Club in Double Bay. Such a beautiful day for fish and chips!
nana
Nana, Paul was with us too.

calamari
Calamari.

fishandchips
I ordered Fish & Chips! Yew!

dock
Soon after I took this pic a charter fishing boat anchored up and a big group of drunken yobbos all walked off the boat with huge King Fish. All I could think about was SASHIMI!!!!!!!!!

Posted in Art, Food | Leave a comment

Ohayō Coco

coco_komatsu_shinjuku_justinfox_onesie_front6

coco_komatsu_shinjuku_justinfox_onesie_front5

coco_komatsu_shinjuku_justinfox_onesie_front4

coco_komatsu_shinjuku_justinfox_onesie_front3

coco_komatsu_shinjuku_justinfox_dresser_cheeky2

coco_komatsu_shinjuku_justinfox_dresser_front2

coco_komatsu_shinjuku_justinfox_dresser_side2

coco_komatsu_shinjuku_justinfox_bed_side

coco_komatsu_shinjuku_justinfox_laughing

My photos from last week’s photoshoot with Coco are now live on Zen, view the full set on Zen Blog: http://www.zengarage.com.au/2014/09/ohayo-coco

Posted in Photography, Travel | Leave a comment

Hello Coco!


When I shot Coco in Tokyo last week we talked about her getting more out there, and making YouTube videos was one of the things we discussed. She’s just kicked off her channel and I get a little mention in there! So glad you guys get to listen to her English too, considering she’s never lived anywhere outside of Japan, and was born in Japan, it’s amazing, don’t you agree?!

Posted in Spam, Travel, Zen Garage | Leave a comment

Tokyo – Day 12

luke_justin_maiham_media_zen_garage
So glad I got to catch up with my buddy Luke from Maiham Media on my last day in Tokyo. The guy’s a busy motherfather, so I’m so happy that he took the time out to meet me close to my hotel.

jsburgers
We had a great catch up over some beers and a burger at J.S. Burgers Cafe.

sunset
Sadness, it’s home time. Sunset on the train into Narita Airport.

bye-dave
Goodbye Dave! One man down as Dave’s adventures continue as he makes his way to visit his Grandma in Ireland!

legspace
The plane back home was a completely different experience to the maximum capacity plane we caught to Tokyo (where I had to sit next to a sick man, and the flight was delayed on the runway). The plane was empty. I took a whole row and slept the entire flight. IE: I teleported from Tokyo to Queensland!

jimbeam
Landing in Queensland, the boys did some duty free shopping.

delay-qld-jetstar
So close but so far. We knew the trip home was going too smooth. In QLD Jetstar fucked up (as expected) and there was a 40 minute delay on our flight back home to Sydney. At this stage we lost another man as Chris left us to hang out with his family for a few nights.

landing-sydney
Finally! Landing in Sydney. Beautiful weather!

maroubra_beach_home
As soon as our bags came out we said our goodbyes and I jumped straight into a cab. I took the scenic route home. Ahhhh, the water. So so beautiful.

mia2
Mia was so happy to see me. Lots of head douching, licking too! I had to tell her to calm down and I amused myself by telling her in Japanese: “Chotto matte!”, which can loosely translate to “Easy Tiger!”.

goodies
I unpacked my suitcase, here’s a shot of all the goodies I got. I especially love the 2nd hand helmet with bubble visor I picked up from Up Garage, and the Mooneyes rug too!

I jumped in the shower, then as soon as I hopped out I got a call from my good friend Sarah who lives in London. She needed to hear all about Jiro! She wanted me to run her through the entire experience from start to end and doing so had me reliving the meal all over again! It’s been so bizarre writing this last post. From hanging out with Luke for brunch, through to flying back home and then having a long conversation over the phone to a friend in London. I’ve just opened up my email application. 1367 unread emails… then there’s the Zen pack and send to do as no products that have been purchased on our online store have been sent out since I’ve been gone! But hey, not complaining! Here’s cheers to an epic trip! I hope you’ve enjoyed the daily updates!

Posted in Travel | Leave a comment

Tokyo – Day 11

Sukiyabashi-Jiro-Roppongi-Hills
Saving the best for last. I had a date with Mimi at Sukiyabashi Jiro Roppongi Hills!

A few months back I decided on going to Jiro’s son Takashi Ono’s Roppongi Hills restaurant instead of Jiro’s in Ginza. Why? Well the news is that Jiro’s in Ginza is all business. You have to learn the right etiquette for eating the sushi otherwise you’ll be frowned upon, and there’s no talking, no photography and you have to be in and out quite quickly too.

Mimi tried so hard to get a booking a month or so ago, and it was looking pretty grim, but on her last attempt to call she got through! Again, just amazing how much luck I’ve got!

I read that Jiro’s son’s restaurant was way more relaxed, and dead set, it was such an amazing experience and the best sashimi and sushi I have ever had in my life. Takashi-san ran us through every dish (was great having Mimi as a translator!). Also noteworthy, they picked up that I was left handed and all my dishes were served left handed (mirror opposite to Mimi’s). We were “mmmming” so much! Heaven, sushi heaven!

tea
The green tea (which was amazing) was topped up constantly throughout the meal.

clam_flounder
We opted to go half sashimi, and half sushi for our set menu. First up, delicious flounder fin and clam.

jiro_sashimi_mackerel
This mackerel was amazing, so next level. Perfect texture. I can’t get over it.

bonnito_jiro_sushi
Smoked bonito was a taste explosion. It was had 2 ways, first straight with dipping sauce below.

sauce
Dipping sauce for bonito.

jiro_sushi_smoked_wrap
Second 2 pieces you used ginger and wrapped it up in a leaf. Amazeballs!

jiro_sushi_3
Sole fish.

jiro_sushi_squid
Squid, so creamy!

jiro_sushi_scallop
Giant clam. It was, for a better word, amazing!

jiro_sushi_tuna1
Tuna, this was epic.

jiro_sushi_fatty_tuna
And just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, fatty tuna, which was just too good and had us both vocally expressing ourselves, and shaking our heads in disbelief.

jiro_sushi_sardine
Sardine, but not at all salty or fishy.

jiro_sushi_1
The dishes came up fast, and we were encouraged to eat them (with our hands) as soon as they landed on our plates.

horse-head-jiro-sushi
Horse mackerel was one of our fave dishes.

jiro
Takashi Ono, second son of the world-famous sushi master, Jiro Ono. Takashi-san spoke to us quite a lot, if Mimi wasn’t with me he probably would not have (he did not speak to the other foreigners much at all but spoke and joked with one of the locals a fair bit).

jiro_sushi_roe
Never had roe so god. Such amazing popping and bursting with liquid textures.

jiro_sushi_prawn
Prawn for me.

jiro_prawntailchop_ladiesonly
Prawn for Mimi. Chopped off tail, for ladies only!

urchin
Urchin, which I don’t usually love, but I loved this. It literally melted in your mouth.

eel
Sea eel, best eel I’ve ever had no doubt!

egg
If you’ve seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi, the movie, you’d know what goes into this amazing egg dish which finished off our meal.

mimi_egg
Chopped in 2 for ladies only!

mimi_jiro_justinfox
Takashi-san said ‘thank you’ to me in both Chinese and Indonesian, he see’s a lot of tourists and knows how to say thanks in over 40 languages. He was more than happy to have a small chat afterwards, and also asked if we wanted a photo with him.

sand
With happy bellies, hearts and minds, Mimi and I checked out the Mori Art Museum. This piece was beautiful, black sand pouring out like an hour glass, set to a moody soundtrack.

themovinggarden
Taiwan-born artist Lee Mingwei’s show was on and it was the best interactive art show I’ve seen in ages. This piece ‘The Moving Garden’ encouraged visitors to take a flower and then give it to a stranger you pass by on the way home.

mimi_flower
I gave my flower to Mimi though, apologies Lee!

boxes
Shoes off, we stepped up to a platform littered with tied up wooden boxes.

mimi_open_box
We were encouraged to open them up and find items of clothing from Lee’s childhood.

open-boxes-me
Under each lid, stories associated with each piece. Very sweet.

sandart
This huge piece on the floor was made by different coloured sand. The audience is dared to walk over the sand painting and deform the image, destroying the crazy man hours involved in making the sand painting in the first place.

letter-boxes
Loved this. The audience is encouraged to take their shoes off, enter and write letters that they had always meant to but had never taken time for. You can also read letters people have left, and if you put an address on the envelope the artist will send the letter for you when the exhibition closes.

viewtop
We then checked out the view from the top, that’s Tokyo Tower in the picture.

mimi_view
Was a beautiful day!

cremedelacreme
Back down to earth we tried some ice-cream treats from Crème de la Crème.

ellecafe
And bought a drink from the cute ELLE Café next door.

coldpressjuice
This almond milk drink was such a perfect choice.

spider
We found a place to sit and just and chill, was so great to catch up with Mimi. I’ve missed her terribly (and I’m going to miss her even more when I return home).

altered-vehicles-not-permitted
Spotted out the front of a carpark in Roppongi Hills.

festival
Later that night. A festival in and around Shinjuku station.

blackburger
From the highs of Jiro to the absolute low. The Burger King Black Burger just came out in Japan, we had to try it, right?! Visually trippy, but taste wise it was just AOK.

beer
We then hit up HUB British Pub in Shinjuku.

pub
Krysti and I managed to convince a couple of Japanese girls to join our table so that they could practise their English and we could practise our (horrible) Japanese!

itsasign
It’s a sign! We got pretty tanked in there, and we were the last group left when they kicked us out to close.

newrecruits
New Acquired Taste recruits!

kisskiss
Kiss kiss! Krysti and I, wasted!

feel
We hit the Golden Gai, where anything goes. The Japanese girls were infatuated with Krysti’s boobs! When Krysti gave them the go ahead, they couldn’t keep their hands off!!!

pervert
So much grabbing action.

pillow
Such epic lols!

krystis-go
Then it was Krysti’s turn to feel their boobs!

lol
Such a rad night out.

tattoo
Kaori’s tattoo.

wasted
Kaori, Miwa and me.

kebab
We stumbled back to the hotel, kebabs even!!!

vendingmachinedrinks
And we went a bit silly on the vending machines to prepare for tomorrow’s nasty hang over! What a night!

Posted in Food, Travel | 2 Comments

Tokyo – Day 10

Meiji_shrine_emtrance
Group shot at the first Torii Gate. We all slept in today. Whilst we weren’t at all hung over, we had such a huge day and night yesterday that it almost felt like we were out clubbing! We thought we’d check out Meiji Shrine which I’ve somehow managed to miss every single time I’ve come to Tokyo. It was shut the other day when we were in Harajuku too (there has been a mosquito scare here lately so they shut it early), we were lucky to get there this time though.

sake-barrels
Sake barrels.

2nd_entrance
The second massive Torii Gate just a few minutes walk in.

wash-hands-drink-water
Do as the locals do. Wash your hands, and have a drink of the water too. It just felt so cleansing. So Zen.

Meiji_shrine
Into the shrine we go.

shrine_wishes
Krysti and I wrote wishes on little pieces of wood and hung them on the prayer wall, such a beautiful and emotional experience. We also tossed some yen into the offering box, instructions were to bow your head twice, clap twice, and bow once more. Again, such a beautiful experience.

shrine_wedding
We also spotted a traditional wedding procession.

harajuku_overpass
After the shrine we got our shopping on as we didn’t get it finished last time (as we were all just too hung over!).

supreme_hajajuku
I headed back to Supreme to buy a shirt.

cafestudio_chips
We fuelled up at Cafe Studio.

cafestudio_burger
Burger patty was excellent, cute little cafe too.

usboys_train
Then amazingly we ran into the US Boys from yesterday. What are the odds of running int someone in Tokyo?! We decided to all check out Akihabara, more commonly known as “Electric Town”, again, a first for me (despite the many times I’ve been to Japan!).

sega
As soon as you pop out from the station you’re greeted by buildings with multiple floors of stuff, anything from games, to electronics good and manga shops.

games
We played a few games, not the arcade stuff, just the prize stuff.

maidcafe
And we were very tempted to check out a maid cafe, but we weren’t hungry and we had a HUGE group so we gave it a miss, this time!

mangashop
We stumbled into an 18+ manga shop that was full of whack hentai.

schoolgirlspanties
Yep, school girls panties vending machine! We bought some, they were new (not used!), phew?!

sexshop
Then we found this shop. 8 floors of sex related goods. There’s some funny and innocent stuff in there, but thee’s some really sick as fuck shit in there too.

upskirting
Spotted this sign in the train station on the way home… makes sense to have these signs at Akihabara Station considering how perverted some of the goods that the shops sell are!

Posted in Travel | Leave a comment

Tokyo – Day 9

packed
Tight fit! Day 9 kicked off with Zee from All That Low picking 8 of us up from our hotel in a rented Honda van.

americans
We then met up with the American crew from Royal Origin and then we were on the road.

hpi_cammo
First stop, the biggest Up Garage in Tokyo. Matty pulled the trigger on this awesome cammo HPI harness and Zee scored a hydraulic handbrake for $46 for his Aristo (which funnily enough he was thinking of selling, but after buying this he’s turning it into a drift project!)!

upgaragegt
Zee then took us all to Up Garage GT, a more race focussed Up Garage. Alexi took us to this shop the other day but it was shut, so again, it’s just amazing how our luck is panning out on this trip!

wheels_upgarage
So much wants.

monkeys
Monkeys (also so much wants!).

hako2
Spotted in the car yard next door.

gtsr
And this beauty.

impul
Perfection.

nismowheel
I want that steering wheel + horn button combo, amazing!

crew
Our crew was growing in size as another car load of American guys met up with us.

gtrshop
Across the road from Up Garage was this GT-R shop. You can have that R34 GT-R for $30k.

mines_boss
Zee then surprised us with a visit to Mines and we each individually greeted by President and CEO Michizo Niikura. I was having a pretty massive fan boy moment as I’d seen him in so many magazines and DVD’s over the years.

mines_nismo
This super clean BNR32 was in the workshop. I got to show Niikura-san photos of my GT-R (which I told him came with a Mines ECU when I first bought it). He said “R32, Favorite!”.

mines
Niikura-san pulled out their amazing R35 GT-R, unfortunately the famous R34 GT-R was not at the shop.

mines_r35_engine
Mines Super Response Engine.

mines_r35
What a dream. Krysti got to sit in it too, and Niikura-san also told her that he though she was “very pretty” which had her squirming.

shakeys
We then headed for Zee’s hometown of Yokohama. After a quick tour of the area (which was all lit up and had a great vibe by night) we hit Shakey’s for all you can eat Pizza.

drummer
It was time to hit Daikoku for Zee’s All That Low x Royal Origin Daikoku Night Meet. Walking back to the carpark we spotted this old man drumming away in front of a crowd of youngsters at a game parlour.

shingo
Zee’s friend Shingo’s amazing ride. Our van was packed, so Krysti got a ride in this beast!

snappingnecks
Snapping necks! It just looked amazing rolling so low on the streets. Sounded beast too.

shingo_tunnel
I was trying to snap a shot in the tunnel. Soon after I snapped this shot a bike rider popped a wheelie past Shingo’s car and hit the hard left up ahead with one knee down. What a sight!

nsx
Daikoku was absolutely PACKED! Zee did an amazing job of uniting the stance community in Tokyo!

r34_4door
Beautiful. We’re all falling in love with 4-door R34’s.

wide
I’l take it.

lifetime_crew_skyline
This crew was called “Lifetime” and they had some absolutely sick rides.

lifetime_e46
Like this E46.

lifetime_e462

lifetime_r32golf_norearbar2
And this crazy R32 Golf.

lifetime_r32golf_norearbar
Which didn’t have a rear bar.

lifetime_r32golf
This R32 Golf was amazing too, it’s roll cage lit up with LED’s when he drove off.

airedscooter
This scooter was on an air set-up and scraped the ground rolling in to the meet.

e46
Loved this E46.

cambergang
I’ve never seen so much hardcore camber in the one place.

love
Beauty. Not everything on the night was stanced up.

starlet
And as expected, there was just so much variety on show.

golfbeetle
From old school VAG.

wild
To new school madness.

350z
Lots of cars were rocking USDM stickers. Illest etc.

funpolice
There were also a lot of fun local stickers.

bitchhnters
Bitchhunters!

odyssey
Had to take a snap of this Odyssey.

beetle
And one of my personal fave cars of the night. It was an oval window too!

pinkscooter
A guy owned this!


The Bōsōzoku rocked up, they were loud, and visually spectacular. They all parked up in front of the Police HQ at the car park (Yes balls! And yes, there’s a police station at Daikoku!) and very soon after the Police came out to shut the meet down (they were amazingly nice about it and no one was defected!).

cruising
When one venue gets shut down, everyone seems to know where to go to next. We cruised to our second venue in Yokohama with a bunch of very tough cars.

undergroundcarpark
Loved this carpark (which was already packed when we got there), what a backdrop! Reminded me of the Opera House. Again, there was a Police Station at the car park, but amazingly they let everyone stay.

s15
Hottest S15 there. Picture does it no justice at all. The colour was amazing, the whole car just had so much presence.

camber
There was just so much amazing fitment everywhere you looked.

view
View of Yokohama from the carpark.

pink
Wild!

class
All Class.

cima
I had to sit for a while in front of this Cima to take it all in. How is this rolling on the streets? Mind = blown.

blackmamba2
Loved this S13 convertible that rolled in.

blackmamba
It’s now reppin’ an Acquired Taste sticker!

skyline_longchamps
So happy that some old school metal rocked up.

eva_celica
Thing of beauty.

70
Heart is stolen.

datsun_70
Gahhhh. So amazing from every angle.

zee
1am. Zee from All That Low now rocking a Zen snapback and getting one last cold drink from a vending machine before calling it quits and driving us all the way back to our hotel. What a day, and none of it would have happened without Zee (what a man). The guy has 2 kids and a hardcore job, yet he took the time out to hire a car for us, drive it all the way from Yokohama to Shinjuku to come get us, then he gives us a grand tour and takes us to his meet, introduces us to his friends, gets us to another meet and drives us all the way back home (only to have to drive 1.5hrs on his own to the rental company and drop off the van before making his way home).

We owe him lots! Be sure to follow his page: All That Low.

Posted in Cars, Travel | 1 Comment