The SM Detective

Recently I've been spending some time on a fellow's site which has had me quite intrigued. I won't mention the name or link to it as it's not SM related at all, but I do find it interesting because the guy who runs it is an unabashed otaku, and I consider myself an otaku as well.

I think otaku can be translated into English as geek or nerd. And a quick check with Wikipedia reveals that there are, indeed, any number of different types of otaku. You can be a military otaku, for example. That one never crossed my mind. I would say that these are probably the "weekend warrior" types -- the ones who'd piss their pants if someone started shooting at them for real.

I'm definitely a pasocon otaku. That would be Japanese-English for personal computer. I love electronic gadgets and computers fit right in there.

Right now I literally have five computers in my shoebox apartment, and that's after giving one away. I have two big monitors on my desk which come in very handy for editing video. I've got two high def video cameras and a digital SLR. The list of gadgets goes on and on.

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By now, Esinem and Electric Fairie should be back in London. Mark and Lani are leaving today to return to Australia.

I didn't have a chance to meet up with Mark and Lani but I did get together with Esinem and Electric Fairie a few times -- and they were good times.

Everyone came at the perfect moment to see the famous cherry blossoms. This year was a good one for the legendary sakura. The weather warmed up a bit and they began to bloom. And boy did they bloom, right around the time of Esinem's arrival in Osaka.

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As you probably already know, there are lots of "groups" out there catering to just about any fetish imaginable. It seems that Yahoo Groups is a popular platform for this kind of communication. Although I haven't noticed this recently, in the past some people I know have had their Yahoo Group taken down.

I discovered a website called FetLife that lets people start their own group using FetLife's server space. They have a ton of groups over there. I joined the Kinbaku and Shibari groups. The Kinbaku group seems to be the best fit for me. They keep things more focused on Japanese bondage. Some other groups have gotten watered down with all sorts of topics I, personally, have no interest in. But that's just me. Some of these are very popular so they're obviously doing something right.

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It's around 2:30 in the a.m. here in Tokyo and I just got back from Asakusa where I had a fantastic evening with co-bloggers Esinem and Kogure as well as with Esinem's partner Electric Fairie and Kogure's partner, the one and only Arisue Go.

Esinem, Electric Fairie and I had originally planned to get together at the offices of SM Detective, drink some beer, chew the fat and do whatever else came to mind. Then the opportunity arose to meet up with Kogure-san and Arisue-san and that seemed like a much better use of our time. Thanks for the invite, guys. I really appreciate being allowed to tag along.

I'm writing this post now, in the wee hours of the morning, because, 1.) I'm a night owl and, 2.) at my age, if I wait too long, I'm likely to forget important details and I don't want that to happen.

Speaking of age, I found out all three of us men are very close in age. There's only about a year gap. Arisue-san and I share the same month for our birthdays. We are only a few days apart. I must say, though, that Arisue-san looks the youngest. Of course, the two ladies look much younger than us. Not surprising since they are much younger than us!

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I met up with Esinem and Electric Fairie today (actually yesterday) and, as planned, we had lunch at the Korean BBQ place, the same place Esinem and I had eaten at a little over a year ago. It hadn't changed a bit and the food was as good as I remembered.

We rendezvoused just outside the Shin-Okubo station, a short train ride from where the pair are currently staying in Ikebukuro. A little further for me which is why I was 20 minutes late. Fortunately, Esinem came equipped with a mobile phone which had been lent to him by Osaka-based photographer Rik Sanchez, and I was able to inform him of my late arrival.

After eating, we noticed a little shop that was selling those unique polka dotted pieces of cloth that you often see used as gags in Japanese SM photos. They were cheap and Esinem got himself a nice supply. There was one with a large, red kanji character on it. He seemed drawn to it. The kanji said "matsuri" (festival). I advised against it. Not authentic and too touristy. I'm not sure if he bought one of those while I wasn't looking.

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