Watch our trailer, it’s really cool. Promise.

I think his music came up in conversation at the first ever Jet Set Zero production meeting back in Seattle and we all said “yeah, it would be rad to have that on the show,” then never did anything about it.  After our success with Space Captain in Season 1 though, I started seriously considering contacting him.  I thought it was going to be a difficult process of convincing him to let us use his music so when I got an immediate “sure, your show looks cool!” the next day I was left pretty confused with all my follow up arguments dangling in the wind.

Getting his music on the show has been great, but it was all seriously just a ploy to let me use Earth’s Assault on the Central A.I. in… something.  I didn’t care how or in what context, I needed to work with that song.  So thank you Judson, and thank you to all the other groups we’ve worked with over the past year. You’ve been a big part of making Jet Set Zero what it is today.

We’ll probably be using more of Tettix’s work in the future along with our ever growing roster of new musicians, so stay tuned and don’t forget to check out the artists’ pages!

Judson Cowan, Tettix

I’ve always strived to tell a story with my music. I usually insert subtle hints at what the story in my mind was but I mostly leave it up to the listener to interpret. I’m always curious to see different people’s interpretations too. It really gives me no end of joy. Some people apply my music in ways that hit pretty close to the mark. Others apply it in ways I never would have imagined. I cannot think of a more flattering application than JSZ’s adventures in Tokyo. A truly remarkable story. It’s a constantly evolving beast that I think has grown into something the guys never would have expected when they embarked but I’m sure all of you viewers – like myself – have been spellbound the whole way. And as much as I hate to end a sentence in a preposition, it’s a story I’m humbled to be part of.

I would never have the balls to sell my place and quit my job. To give up all the creature comforts I’ve amassed over the years. To fly thousands of miles from my home country without an inkling of what lay in store for me. All I can do is sit in the comfort of my studio, thousands of miles away, and type “absolutely!” whenever Jed asks to use a new song. I may have only contributed music, the other great bands who have been involved may only have done the same, the viewers may only have contributed their time, but we’re all cheering you on and we’re all thrilled to be along for the ride.

Ganbatte, fellas.

To learn more about Tettix, and for a full song archive, visit www.tettix.net. You can find “The Graves of Good Humans” on Technology Crisis II.

We hope you enjoy it. We know Matt sure did.

The one glaring financial flaw in my little scheme was food.  At the guesthouse, I could enjoy our cheap diet of rice, eggs, bread, eggs, rice, and eggs.  In the field, sorta speak, I couldn’t cook, and the cheapest available food sat in the convenience stores and 100 Yen fast food menus.  But with what I was about to put my poor body through, I couldn’t justify living off corndogs, rice triangles, and McPork burgers, so I needed to get creative, which is to say, desperate.

Meal 1: MOCHINAKO – Mochi, Kinako, Banana (150 Yen)

Mochi balls were like a kind of dumpling made from rice instead of flour, and I dipped those into a bad of mixed fiber and Kinako, a super-cheap protein powder.  I splurged on the banana – I think it was the only piece of fruit I ate in 2 weeks.  This little meal had calories and some pathetic attempt at nutrition.  It was definitely one of my favorite meals…because they did get worse.

Meal 2: TOFANGO – Mango drink and soft tofu (90 Yen)

I was proud of this one, because I think it was my cheapest meal invention.  Tofu is a great source of balanced calories, and the piping hot mango drink from the internet cafe was free.  Unfortunately, soft tofu doesn’t taste too great and even all the sugar from the mango drink couldn’t make me describe as anything other than “edible” and “harmless.”  But at least it wasn’t fried cockroach.

Meal 3: RICEBAILS – Rice, green onion, mayonnaise (30 Yen/ball)

About once/week, I stopped by the guesthouse because I was still tutoring in Kanagawa, and I’d load up on rice prepared in various ways.  Here, I mixed a chopped green onion, rice, mayo, and soy sauce, sometimes even tofu.  Rice + Balls + Failure = RICEBAILS.  Turns out they go kinda sour after 3 days, but my stomach handled that one pretty well…

The Backstory: We were so broke in Tokyo, mid-April, 2.5 weeks away from departure, and one of our monthly leases was up.  Renewal would be $500 we didn’t have.  We were already living in poverty in one of the world’s most expensive cities, so why not go one extra step…Manga Kissas, Internet Cafes: Tokyo is peppered with internet/manga cafes, a cross between an internet cafe, a manga library, and a hotel that rented cubicles instead of rooms.  You can rent by the hour or stay overnight.  They seem to be used for 4 things, as far as I can tell. 

First, people who have missed the last train home and who don’t want to pay the monstrous cab fees to go home.  They’re either Japanese salarymen, stumbling out of a client dinner, or those damned denizens of Tokyo with money to enjoy the nightlife.  In the cafes, you could hear them throwing up or snoring drunkenly. 

Second, highschoolers who want some private time – they live with their parents and they can’t go to love hotels.  In the cafes, you could hear them…well, you could hear them.

Third, manga lovers and gamers. I was actually surprised that people paid money to go to a manga library and read manga.  What kind of manga people read or internet sites they browsed is anyone’s guess, although, in the cafes, they sometimes sounded like the highschoolers.

Fourth, the internet cafe refugees or “cyberhomeless” – people who can’t afford the outrageously expensive housing in Japan but who have enough money to afford a $10/night roof.  They rove from cafe to cafe, catching 7 hours of peace at night to recharge for a part-time job during the day.  It was in this fourth class that I fell.  So instead of paying $500 for another 19 days, I’d pay around $12/night for sleep in Tokyo’s central districts.  I’d save money on transit, because I wouldn’t need to travel out to exciting Kanagawa.  I’d also still be tutoring, so I’d be making a decent amount of money.  The cafes had free coffee and juice, and I’d enjoy internet speed we only wet-dreamed about back at our guesthouse.  I’d sleep in the cafes when I could and then just huddle up on one of the trains and sleep as it wound its way around the city.  So I packed my bags…

and set out with 4000Yen, about $45, to see where it would all take me…

Hiro was our closest friend in Oakhouse, almost every memory worth having from our home in Japan involved him in some way.  His life story was crazy enough that I asked for clarification a couple times.  He started as a financial trader, with a major company.  After amassing a small fortune, he left to start trading on his own.  That didn’t go so well, so he decided to become a sushi chef.  While touring Tsukiji, he told us stories of 5am tuna runs he used to make for his restaurant.  The days of a sushi chef are impossibly long, and after enduring some 14-hour days while working in Australia, he quit for a life with a little more relaxation and focus on friendships.  He took up fire dancing, traveling, carefree summers, and savings-heavy winters.  And so our lives intersected….

He made us sushi and showed us how to make it ourselves – basically all-you-can-eat for 500 Yen/person.  He joined us in our late-night drinking, sharing Franzia boxed wine and Chu-hi’s.  He showed us that there was more to 120Yen meals than French Toast and Eggs.  He showed us mesmerizing fire dances and taught us how light ourselves aflame.  He brought us to Tsukiji Fish Market and wandered around the Tea Gardens with us.  He made us yaki soba noodles, fried rice, and teriyaki chicken.  All in all, he made sure that returning to the guesthouse after a long day wasn’t entirely an exercise in defeat and demoralization. 

Hiro, you were aptly named (I know I know, an obvious pun, get over it and watch our trailer).  We miss you man. 

In the meantime check out our awesome new shirt designs, being printed as we speak!

Not all of the bizarre products we found were PG-rated though, and the girls in cute maid costumes handing out tissues on the sidewalk were just the beginning.

I honestly have no clue what to say about this one…a little doll is climbing out of this underwear.  I mean, I guess it would be a nice little pocket to hang out in…but it doesn’t make me want to buy the underwear.

And, a crowning jewel…

One of the upper floors of the Akihabara Don Quijote (like a wacky walgreens) is devoted to all things erotic and sexual.  This was one of the sex costumes…I’m not exactly sure it would be legal to sell this in the United States.  Role-playing as a “cutie” high school girl…there were some random and predictable others, but this one really took the prize.

Unfortunately, some of my other pictures have since disappeared, including one of some wafers that increased breast size, male underwear with an elephants truck protruding from the crotch, and a life-like replica of a Japanese celebrity’s hand…positioned quite suggestively…intended for women…the diagrams were so strange.

Akihabara was a bizarre place, full of video games and anime.  We never made it to a maid cafe, but when we return to Tokyo with money, we’ll have to check one out.