Aside from me, there are many other strange and evil beings walking this earth. One of my favorites of course is the dark and lovely La Carmina.
She is a blogger, international tv personality, and an expert on Japanese pop-culture; specifically Harajuku & alternative fashion/subcultures(which she blogs about on CNN and The Huffington post).
As well as the author of the books “Cute Yummy Time” (about decorating food to look adorable) and “Crazy, Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo”(maid cafes, cat cafes, vampire and ninja restaurants).
You may have seen La Carmina during the Japan episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern for Travel Channel(reminds me, tentacle monsters are good chefs).
Photo: TravelChannelTV
But enough of the details. I ran into La Carmina during an encounter in a dark castle in an evil realm (some of you humans call it the internet). Let’s get the info from the mistress herself.
G: What first made you intrigued by Japan and its pop culture?/What is your favorite anime or manga?
LC: I love many aspects of Japanese culture, particularly the street
fashion, makeup, food, underground / youth / bizarre culture. I’m
afraid I don’t watch anime or read manga… it’s not where my passion
lies. However, I did enjoy Death Note and did a Goth cooking show
inspired by it, entitled Death Cookbook. (You can see it on my
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/lacarmina)
G: What is your favorite cosplay you’ve seen somebody dress up as?
LC: I saw some amazing Gackt cosplayers when I went to his Tokyo concert
in 2009. Here are some photos; the details that go into the outfits
are impressive.
http://www.lacarmina.com/blog/2009/07/gackt-concert-in-tokyo-japanese-cosplayers-outside-saitama-arena-j-rock-concert-visual-kei-band-merchandise/
G: What’s your favorite place in Japan?
LC: Midnight Mess, Tokyo’s longest running Goth night. All my spooky
friends congregate there, the music’s bloody dark and delicious, and
everyone looks scary but doesn’t bite. There’s info about this
EBM/Industrial party and more Japanese clubs in my guide:
http://www.lacarmina.com/blog/2009/04/japan-goth-club-nightlife-guide-tokyo-decadance-dark-castle-midnight-mess-gothic-lolita-heaven/
G: What is the weirdest event or place you have been to? Anywhere.
LC: I wrote a book about Tokyo theme restaurants, and they’re as
over-the-top weird as you’d expect. Probably the topping on the cake
is Kagaya, a home-style Japanese pub in Shinbashi. The Japanese owner,
who calls himself “Mark” has been running the place for over twenty
years. Without giving too much away, a trip there will result in a
multi-course meal of traditional vegetables and tofu, several costumed
puppet-shows, racy interactive performance art, and if you’re lucky,
some fun vintage parting gifts! I photographed and wrote about this
izakaya in my Crazy, Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo book.
(http://www.lacarmina.com/tokyorestaurants.php)
G: Why did you start La Carmina and the Pirates? (Aside from conquering
the airwaves)
LC: Appearing on Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods show opened floodgates to
gigs with CNN, NHK, Travel Channel, Canal Plus, Sony Australia, Dutch
Pepsi and more. My First Mate, Naomi, is invaluable as a translator
and fixer on Tokyo TV shoots. So the logical next step was to
establish our own company: La Carmina & The Pirates.We also offer coolhunting, subculture consulting, Japan brand connecting… you name it. The crew specializes in Cool Japan, cosplay, Goth, burlesque,
LGBT, Jpop fashion, music, art and youth subcultures. You can find out
more on our site: http://lacarmina.com/pirates
G: You’ve appeared on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and on No
Reservations. What Travel Channel show would you like to appear on
next?(besides Samantha Brown XD)
LC: In fact, I’ll be appearing on another Travel Channel show very soon…
stay tuned for an announcement!
G: As somebody very attuned with fashion, can you tell me if these horns
on my head makes me look fat?
LC: I think they are perfectly proportioned and utterly spook-tastic!
G: So what can we look forward to from La Carmina and her merry crew?
LC: More TV shows, creative projects (including a musical one), and lots
of cute Scottish Fold cat photos. As always, I’ll be writing about my
adventures on La Carmina blog http://www.lacarmina.com/blog
I would like to give major thanks to La Carmina for inviting us into her spooky little world (a place more fab than Goldust’s wardrobe). Let’s look forward to many interesting adventures she has in the future.
photos courtesy www.lacarmina.com