The SM Detective

This post is courtesy rida who accompanied yours truly recently to the happening bar Sleeping Beauty to try out their tatami room which comes complete with beams, ropes and a bamboo cross. The following is a running commentary with lots of eye candy to illustrate the text. Enjoy. -- KJ

Meeting KabukiJoe for the first time, he is exactly as in the email messages we have been exchanging; a very likable guy, passionate about his vision of kinbaku and photography and with a very clear idea of what he likes and what he wants to transmit with his own images.

As for me? I just love rope and wanted to indulge both that love and my inner exhibitionist and so here I am, getting ready for my first semi-professional rope bondage photo shooting.

Gear collected, with a friend who joined us for the occasion, we head for Sleeping Beauty, Hajime Kinoko's club.

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UPDATE: Forgiveness is a beautiful thing. And second chances. Stay tuned.

Today, Monday the 25th, I had the opportunity to interview one of the legends of the Japanese SM world.

And I blew it. I forgot the appointment.

I had been working on this for weeks. Thinking about it almost every day. Through a friend I found an excellent translator.

Yesterday I went to Hajime Kinoko's event. I wanted to get the info and pics up as soon as possible. I worked on it all night. During the night I think fatigue set in and I just wasn't thinking about the appointment.

By the time I woke up, it was too late.

Now I'm in "compensation" mode. The interview is off. How do I compensate people to whom I've caused all this trouble? That's what I'm trying to figure out right now.

I think I'm going to lay off blogging for awhile. Need time to think about all this. The purpose of this blog was to get this kind of information from Japan that's so hard to come by for us Westerners. But if I can't even remember a simple appointment...

That's what makes this fuck up of mine so painful.

KJ

I wasn't able to make it to SM World in Night in Shinjuku a couple of weeks ago. I made up for it by attending an event in Shibuya hosted by Hajime Kinoko and his Ichi Nawa No Kai rope salon.

This one started in the afternoon and continued into the evening, while SM World was an all-nighter. I need my beauty rest.

The show featured very traditional nawa acts with most of the performers dressed in olden days Japanese attire.

I wasn't able to see all the acts because they were going on simultaneously on two floors of the club, a place called Module. Besides this, Module was a lot smaller than I had expected and it was really hard to move around. I was pretty much stuck on the B1 level and decided to remain there after hearing that the viewing arrangement on the B2 level was even more challenging.

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At Module in Shibuya.

It had been awhile since I'd got together with this young lady. The last time was towards the end of summer. Still too hot for me but not nearly hot enough for her.

This time the mercury had dropped significantly although we in Tokyo have yet to arrive at the really cold time of year. And unlike many places around the globe, no snow has fallen although we usually get at least a few flakes.

Judging from what I've been reading about Europe, I wonder if we will be in for some colder weather this winter and a heavier snowfall? I think it was two years ago that we went almost the entire winter with no snow. Then one or two flakes came down in Ginza and the meteorologists were thwarted.

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When you approach the entrance of Sleeping Beauty in Shibuya, you don't just walk through the door like it's the local convenience store. It doesn't open automatically like most doors these days. In fact, it's kept firmly locked.

There's an intercom outside. Push the button. When the door opens, if it opens, prepare to enter a different world.

Of course, the neighborhood where Sleeping Beauty is located isn't exactly Main St., USA. This is an area populated by love hotels, clubs and various and sundry other establishments catering to a decidedly adult clientele.

Sleeping Beauty is a "happening bar" and, as such, it fits in well here.

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Start the new year right in Shinjuku at SM World in Night. This is an all night affair beginning at 19:00 on Sunday January 10, 2010 and winding up the next morning at 05:00.

The line-up of rope masters reads like a Who's Who of SM personalities in Japan:

Shima Shikou
Aotsuki Nagare
Kazami Ranki
Kamijyoh Saki
Panda
Osada Steve
Miura Takumi
Hajime Kinoko
Tennosuke
Loving Circus
Master A

Special Guest:

Ozuma Kaname

Update: I've added the movie trailer at the end of this report.

Update #2: Apparently the Powers That Be didn't like the video and deleted it. Sorry.


It may be getting repetitive, putting the word classic next to so many pinku eiga SM films from Nikkatsu. But how else to describe movies that were created in the seventies, shot quickly on small budgets, and are still watched and admired three decades later?

Try that with most of the "video junk" put out today.

Maybe it's time to get back to our roots. Of course, that would involve writing a script, hiring people who can actually act and signing up a director and a cinematographer who know what the hell they're doing.

Kifujin Shibari Tsubo (Noble Lady, Bound Vase) may be the best Nikkatsu SM flick ever, and that's saying something since it was directed by the prolific Konuma Masaru who is revered for two other, yes, classics: Flower and Snake and Wife to Be Sacrificed.

All of these films star the inimitable Tani Naomi whom, I might add, I was quoting up there. When video killed the film star, she was right in calling it junk. Repetitive, unimaginative junk I would say.

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大変ご無沙汰いたしております。こぐれでござひます。ワタクシメのこと、覚えてくださっているでしょうか。気付けば前回の記事から9か月経過。

その間、このブログの読者が増え、成長したことはまことに喜ばしい限りでござひます。何より運営者のカブキジョー氏が日本の緊縛シーンについて日本から良質な情報を発信することにこだわっていらっしゃることの賜物でござひます。

書くことがありすぎて書ききれないきょうこのごろ。ワタクシメの2009年は言うなれば「ツール・ド・緊縛」でござひました。

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Hope you remember me! Nine months have passed since my last article.

I happily recognize this blog has been attracting more attention in the scene thanks to KabukiJoe's efforts. The good thing is that KJ focuses on providing high quality information on the bondage scene in Japan from the source country.

It's hard to know what to write as I have too many topics. I can say 2009 was a year of "Tour de Kinbaku" for me--so many things have happened during the last nine months including a lot of traveling.

FetiSM, a small fetish event I organized for the first time in February was a great success as KJ reported here (thanks!). The venue was filled with energetic air but was cozy and comfortable (at least for me). I've never seen so many people playing with rope at the same time! Thank you for all who made a visit to the event, and also a big thanks to the staff.

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