I always try to make my way to Type One every time I go back to Japan. In year’s past I’d message Aaron from Spoon Sports USA to see if it was okay if I went over there, worrying we’d get in the way or something. Better to ask than to feel unwelcome, you know? Sometimes Aaron would even be there to show us around. Give us a full tour and show us some stuff the public doesn’t have access to. My friends and I have created some great memories at this place over the past decade. Nowadays I’ll just send a quick message to Jomoto from Spoon to let him know I’m coming by to say ‘hi’, no matter how brief the encounter. It’s one of those things where when you’re in town, you just cruise by to see a friend. It’s crazy to think I can even say that today…

I still remember the first time I went there. Back then it was just a few of us. Salem had gotten sick days before we were off to Japan and he didn’t even make it. Ryan Der literally caught a cold the same time as me but his symptoms were so bad he couldn’t even get out of bed. I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to see Spoon Sports and Ryan from Rywire was the only one down (and healthy enough) to make the trek with me. We took the train, not knowing where we were going, since Google Maps wasn’t nearly as developed as it is now. The bus was an option but we couldn’t read the Kanji, so we found the nearest stop and walked for over 35 min in the freezing cold just to find Spoon—only to realize that Type One is in a different area. The first person to greet us was a much younger Jomoto. He gave me a Type One decal for visiting. Aaron happened to be there and he gave us a tour and even moved some cars around for me to shoot. That photo still hangs in my office today. They took us back to the train station after, dropped us off and we found our at back to the hotel. I slept the entire afternoon after that, sick as all hell, waking up at 1AM not knowing where I was before grabbing a beef bowl down the street. I think I’ll remember that day forever…

Even though I missed the big party this year, I still stopped by the day after just to see friends and to say ‘hi’…

Thanks for looking!!…