The Hitman

I played a hitman in an episode of Hanchou which aired on Monday nights on TBS in Japan. It's finished its' run now, but it was a reasonably popular drama about a team of police officers and detectives that dealt with the various n'er-do-wells that haunt the crowded confines of Tokyo.

The headliner of the series was Kuranosuke Sasaki, and he played the lead detective of the team.
In episode number 12, Michael Shorter was my name, and shooting mafia-related types hanging out in Tokyo was my game. But in the end I was rather easily apprehended by the cops. The featured guest of this episode was kabuki actor Kamejiro Ichikawa who played the role of Andy Matsuo.

The episode took several days to shoot, of course, and the longest of those days was spent out at a complex of warehouses in Chiba where the episode's climax occurs and the bad guy gets nabbed.

One of the highlights of the day was the BBQ that the crew set up for dinner. They brought out a very good variety of beef and pork cuts and had three separate grills going at the same time.

It was just what the doctor ordered as I had spent the previous two hours on set with a gun pointed at my nose.

There's a quick preview of episode 12 viewable here. If you go to that page, you should see a small, round, red button on the left side of the screen. Clicking that will open a player that will show you the very short trailer for the show.

And yes, that's me in the beard.

The Hitman

Chuck Baser

From the Burlington Free Press:

BASER, FREDERICK "CHUCK"
FREDERICK "CHUCK" BASER BRISTOL - Frederick "Chuck" Baser, 31, died suddenly of natural causes on Saturday, June 6, 2009, at his home in Bristol. He was born on Sept. 17, 1977, in Middlebury, the son of Frederick and Marian Baser. He graduated from Mt. Abraham High School and Colgate University where he sang with Colgate 13. Chuck was a member of Bristol Conservation Commission and was active in restoration of Sycamore Park. Chuck loved the outdoors and he enjoyed fishing, hunting, jack jumping, and boating. He was a skilled woodworker and nothing pleased him more than a beautiful piece of wood. Chuck touched many lives in small and profound ways. Chuck is survived by his parents; and his brothers, Nicholas Baser and his wife Janel of Phillips, Maine, Gregory Baser and his fiance Nicole of Salt Lake City, Utah; his niece and nephew, Adelaide and Silas Baser, who brought him much joy; grandparents Frederick and Nettie Baser and also Gertrude Burke; many aunts, uncles, cousins, and great friends who loved him and will miss him very much. He was predeceased by his maternal grandfather Gerald Burke and his aunt and uncle, Kathryn and Ned Henderickson. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 11, in St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Bristol. Interment will be in Mt. St. Joseph Cemetery in Bristol. Friends may call at Brown-McClay Funeral Home in Bristol on Wednesday, June 10, from 5 to 8 p.m. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to Town of Bristol c/o Conservation Commission, P.O. Box 249, Bristol, VT 05443.

_____________________________

Chuck was a good friend from the theater crowd in Bristol, Vermont. I also have fond memories of watching him and Pete Buonincontro pump out adirondack chairs, benches and porch swings for their "Bristol Butt-rests" line several summers ago when we were all in Bristol at the same time.

Please feel free to post any stories you have about Chuck in the comments below.

You will be missed, Chuck. You will definitely be missed.

Chuck Baser

New Phone: Sony Ericsson S001

Had a little bit of a mishap on Monday evening and gave my trusty cell phone a 40 minute dip in the washing machine. It came out looking all sparkly and shiny, but it didn't really feel like turning on.

And no, I hadn't backed up my address book.

So we headed over to the au shop in Tanashi on Tuesday afternoon to figure out what could be done. Apparently you can ship your phone off to the manufacturer, and they can often get the data off of a phone that has drowned. The service takes about a week and costs 10,500 yen (roughly US$100). But while we were chatting about what to do, and the guy I was talking to was explaining my options to me, my phone started to buzz as an e-mail came through.

It's alive!

Why the au guy hadn't bothered to check whether or not the data was retrievable is perhaps an issue for another time, but the good news is that he was able to get my entire address book out of it and onto my new phone.

And my new phone is the green one pictured above. It has an eight mega-pixel Sony Cyber-shot camera crammed inside it, and there seem to be a lot of bells and whistles that I still have no idea how to use.

The one thing that I don't like so much about it is the fact that the 'clear' button rests just slightly below the down button, so it's very easy for people with adult-sized hands to hit them both at the same time.

Other than that, I don't have any serious complaints as of yet. I never thought I'd buy a slide phone, but my options were a bit limited to be honest with you. I'm still a little bummed because I really liked my old phone. It had a scrollbar which made tearing through a long message or my address book very easy.

Oh well. That's life, I guess. I learned my lesson. I immediately backed up my address book, which was miraculously salvaged from my water-logged cell, when I returned home.

New Phone: Sony Ericsson S001

Ricky Roma Wins!

I'm very happy to report that Ricky Roma (Justin Berti) won a very tight contest in the Mr. Latin category of the Harlequin modeling contest!

He has already commenced his duties as "Mr. Latin", and I know that he's already been to a couple of events to help promote the Harlequin brand.

I'd like to thank everyone who voted on his behalf, and I'm sure that Ricky will second the "thanks" if he ever happens upon this post.

Ricky Roma Wins!

A long, long night at Takadanobaba station

This poor guy missed several trains, and I'd be willing to bet that he didn't make it home that night. I was on the evening's final train headed to Honkawagoe, and I nudged him as I walked by, but he was out cold. After this train there were only a few more left, and even money says that fellow passengers left him sitting right where he was.

A long, long night at Takadanobaba station

Robert Glasper Trio

If you don't listen to much jazz, you need to start doing so now. The Robert Glasper Trio is in Tokyo at the moment, and as you probably won't have a chance to see them perform at the Cotton Club this time around, you should make it a point to get your hands on In My Element.

Yong-nam and I went to watch the trio (Glasper on piano, Vicente Archer on bass, and Damion Reid on drums) tonight along with our good friends Dave and Hisae. It was a playful, euphoric experience that, without a doubt, won me over as a lifelong fan. I've just now downloaded Glasper's first album, Canvas, from iTunes and plan to pipe it through the living room system for the next several weeks to come.

Can't wait for the third album which Robert mentioned will drop in July 2009!

Check here for Glasper's MySpace page.

By the way, Robert Glasper was very gracious and signed autographs and took photos with anyone who asked. That definitely ain't normal.

Robert Glasper Trio

I found the colonel!

He's in Jingu Stadium near the center field entrance.

[If you don't know what I'm talking about, please listen to this podcast.]

I found the colonel!

JR Finally Bans Smoking on Tokyo Train Station Platforms

As of yesterday, smoking was completely banned on the platforms of JR train stations in and around Tokyo, Japan.

Many will remember that up until two days ago, anyone could light up in open-air smoking sections on many JR station platforms. If you happened to be in the train car that stopped directly adjacent to the smoking section, and had a little help from the wind, it was not uncommon for the smoke to blow inside the train. It was just lovely.

But those days are finally gone, and another small step has been taken to divorce Japan from its "smoker's paradise" moniker.

Japan's largest tobacco company, JT, which is partially owned by the government's Finance Ministry, has enjoyed a snail-paced assault on its profit model over the years by anti-smoking regulators.

Some have argued that this latest move is not big enough and took way too long to materialize, but I'm actually quite content with these small victories. It seems to me that this will further load the debate in non-smokers' favor as smoking becomes increasingly demonized in Japan.

JR Finally Bans Smoking on Tokyo Train Station Platforms