Heyheyhey, INROCKers. . . . .

Welcome to Robby's Lobby v.2011 . . .Happy New Year to all of you!. . So much has gone on in my orbit in the past month, I'll try to get it condensed down to a column without overwhelming the readers (and the editors) so I'll do my best to keep it brief!

I visited Japan for Christmas during a break of The Goo Goo Dolls Something For The Rest Of Us Tour . . . . . . here's a rough rundown of our busy, busy 9 days in Japan.

Day 1
After our long flight to Tokyo, I caught Shinkansen to Kyoto, had dinner near the station and went to bed.

Day 2 (sooooo busy!)
Next morning I woke up early and went to Kiyomizu-dera to see a beautiful sunrise, However, the weather was bad, and all I got to see was Radio Taiso by bunch of Ojichan and Obachan but it was still a lot of fun. We then went to Kinkaku-ji.(PICTURE)
It was so peaceful and picturesque; we heard it snowed shortly after we visited but it was sunny and calm the day we visited.ﾊﾊI took some great photos, but I think everyone ends up being a good photographer there as it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to.

I also went to the famous zen-garden, Ryoan-ji. It was so relaxing, I've always seen photos of this place, but being there in person was an amazing moment for me. After that, I visited Ryozen Kannon with a huge white statue that you could enter and visit many small shrines. We also visited Sanju Sangen Do with its 1001 life size statues in a building long enough to shoot arrows inside of.

That evening I went to see the band TsuShiMaMiRe at a club, Taku Taku. They just started their "Giving Blood" Tour, to support their upcoming CD that will be released in Feb 2011 in Japan, it will also be released shortly after in North America from my label, Good Charamel Records. After their energetic live set, I needed to try Kyoto curry.

Day 3
Next morning, I woke up early and had a breakfast at Mister Donut at the station. There are very few Mister Donut shops left in the U.S., and I was reminded that it's really pretty awesome. Everything in Japan is so cute and tasty.

After breakfast we transferred from the modern train we were on to an old train that was all decorated for Christmas and headed to Shigaraki Tanuki Mura to make clay Tanuki with our new friend Rishin.ﾊﾊ(PICTURE)

We then travelled back to Kyoto, we had some lunch and continued our travels to Tokyo where we had more curry and went to bed.

Day 4
Had a haircut at my favorite 369 hair salon in Harajuku and did some shopping to buy some cool new T-Shirts at Hysteric Glamour. We then made our way back to Shinjuku and went to Tokyu Hands to buy a Rabbit statue for New Years and some cool gadgets that we can only seem to find in Japan!

Day 5
Traveled to Okinawa on a bus tour with my family in Japan (I was the only gaijin aboard, but I was happy to be welcomed by all of the Japanese families that were on the trip). We visited Himeyuri No Toh, stopped at the beach and took in many other notable sights in Okinawa.

Day 6
Our 2nd day on the bus tour in Okinawa The Okinawa Aquarium was awesome, maybe the best I've ever seen, they had a dolphin show and the largest Indoor tank I've experienced. We also stopped at Okinawa world to check out some traditional Okinawan art and culture.(PICTURE)

Day 7
We left Okinawa after a few more stops including a 3D Habu and Monoose fight film (Not real), I made friends with a little kid whoﾕs family we were travelling with for 3 days, I wasn't sure if he was scared of me or not, but he flashed me a peace sign at the airport as the group was boarding their planes back home.

Day 8
Last day in Tokyo
Got together with my friend Serge in Tsukishima (Serge used to play bass in Limp and the Ken Yokoyama Band) for Okonomi Yaki and Monja yaki, and some nice Melon pan.

Day 9
My flight got delayed on the way back to NY, but eventually I made it home for a belated Christmas party with my family back in Buffalo.

The next morning I got back on a plane and we went to Oklahoma for a NYE Goo Goo Dolls performance. Many fans came to celebrate with us, we're pretty lucky to have such awesome fans!

A few days later I flew to Miami Florida to play half time at the Orange Bowl with the Goo Goo Dolls, it's a HUGE college football game televised all over the world every year, we performed with about 400 dancers and pyrotechnics and a lazer displays, pretty crazy . . . .

Now I'm writing this column in Cancun, Mexico as GGDs just did a VH1 event on Virgin America Airlines being interviewed aboard a plane from LA to Cancun. Pretty cool. Now I'm hanging out at poolside with the band relaxing, talking about politics, having fruity frozen drinks and fun stuff like that.

A cold, cold Canadian tour coming up in February . . . .but first, Next stop, Hawaii for the NFL American Football Pro Bowl in a few days.

Mexico is far, far from Japan, but as my latest trip reminded me once again, I love Japan. Kakkoii!!!!
Talk to you next month!
Robby