Peter's Japan blog

Not much happened today, moving from Tokyo to Osaka with the Shinkansen. My suitcase has really gained weight ;p Thank god, that there are escalators everywhere at train stations. Except the last one, near my hotel in Osaka. (actually there were, on the other side, which I didn't know).
I was going to go to Kobe in the afternoon, but I was too tired. I think I can do it later.

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Went to Harajuku today, to hopefully see some cosplayers at Harajuku bridge, but there were only a few. There were a lot of performers though. Amateur bands that play their stuff near Yoyogi Park hoping for a record contract and to distribute selfmade cds to people who like their music. And there were also those who were dancing to rockabilly music with appropriate outfits and hair.

As I was walking through Yoyogi park it seemed that it was the first day of Hamami or the waiting for the sakura to fall. Lots and lots of people were gathering in the park with blankets to sit on and eating food. It's a real gathering all over Japan, this Hamami.

Then, after walking a bit through Omotesando, went to Tokyo Dome to get in line for the last of three X Japan concerts. First, got in line for the merchandise, but unfortunately, only the photo book was still available. All the rest was already out of stock from the previous two days. It was still a long wait until the doors finally opened at 16h30 (on the ticket it said 16h). I had a ticket at the top balcony on row 21 (there were 27 rows). Although I sat quite high, I had a very good view of the whole stadium and the whole stage, even though it seemed a little small from up their. The concert started about 35 minutes later than it should, so it was again a long wait. But it finally started with a bang. The stage was big and had 3 catwalks into the crowd. Hide was really present during the whole concert. They used a cylindrical screen near his place on stage that projected his image playing guitar. Unfortunately, they only used that screen for the first few songs, but still, he appeared a lot on the other large screens. For some songs there was a lot of crowd interaction like during I.V., X, Forever Love and Endless Rain. Toshi talked about what all the 5 members have done during the last 10 years. There were also a few guest support musicians to replace hide, but they were kept on the background a bit. Hide made an appearance by playing two of his songs. And also Violet UK brought a song, which was actually quite a weird song, in combination with a light show, an american female singer and fashion models on the catwalks, which is all part of the Violet UK project from Yoshiki. Yoshiki did his long drum solo again on the rotating stage that goes into the air and all the way to the middle of the arena, this time also featuring some synths. The whole concert had many of the same elements as the Last Live from 10 years ago. He even did a short repeat of his thing with the fire extinguisher ;p. This time they also threw roses into the audience.
At the end, when they all come to take a bow, Yoshiki went behind stage and brought back a large puppet of hide, to join them in their bows. It was a wonderful sight, hide will never be forgotten. It doesn't have to be all sad things, hide would have loved this, even if it looks funny. I think everybody felt that he was present and that he was honored.
I think it was a great concert and shows that they haven't lost their feel for the music and that they are definitely back. Yoshiki has even announced after the first concert that they will be doing a concert in Paris. This is wonderful, so my friends can go see them too!

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Just got back from the first public day and I'm exhausted and my back hurts from all the free bags & goodies ^^; Got about 6 bags and loads of pamphlets. I actually missed one other bag that I really wanted but seemed to be out of stock ;( Now I got only one problem to solve, that is how to get the bags in my suitcase... It will be a puzzle ;p

Ok, I must say it was awesome, seeing all this anime in one big hall. Many of the booths had cosplayers handing out stuff. Even though it said on the website that pictures are not allowed unless otherwise shown at the booth, you could actually take a lot of pictures on, most of the no-photographs signs where next to tv screens. And thank the nice folks at Good Smile for letting us take pictures of (most of) all the nice figures ;p
Saw many booth with previews of new shows to come. I'm especially looking forward to Tetsuwan Birdy - DECODE, since I liked the original OVA very much. And the updated Birdy looks good as well ;p Also looking forward to To Love-ru, Druaga no To: the Aegis of Uruk and Kurogane no Linebarrels. GONZO is up to some nice stuff.

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There's a new set of nendoroid petit from Lucky Star. It now also features other secondary characters like Kuroi-sensei, Yutaka, Minami & Hiyori.

I arrived in Shizuoka with the Shinkansen 1h45 before the start of the concert. I was going to see if there was any merchandise to buy (and maybe, just maybe if there were still some tickets at the counter). While walking through the station to the exit I already came by other people that definitely looked like people going to the GazettE ;p On my way to the concert hall, many more people, totally dressed Visual Kei, were walking in the street. I think some where coming from far away as they were towing small suitcases.When I got to the concert hall, many people where already standing around and some scattered around the large square in front of the concert hall. Practically everybody was dressed visual kei,unbelievable but not unexpected ;p. Also, 98-99% were female. I kind of stood out as a gaijin and rather normally dressed. There was already a long queue for the merchandising, which I got on to as well. Bought a bag, t-shirt, muffler and phone strap (and later also a bandana). Then I noticed that at the cashier there was a sign about tickets, starting at 17h. I saw other people waiting there as well, and indeed, at 17h, the counter opened, and I bought my ticket! ;p
And it was a first row ticket at the balcony (the second floor as it was a theater-style hall). Got something to eat and drink, and changed my t-shirt to my newly bought gazette-t-shirt and got into the concert hall. I think the capacity of the hall was about 1100 people. I had a great view from the balcony. Finally the concert started after the sound check at 18h35, only 5 minutes late. It was one roller coaster ;p And so much better than the one I saw in Germany. Maybe because it was like a theater with seats and not a pack of people standing on each others toes. Another major difference is how these people are in sync with each other, they all do the same at the same time. It's like they know what moves to do at the right time of a song. It's like someone taught it to them before and now they perform it. If you know the Gazette concert at the Budokan, that is exactly how the audience was. Very energetic, responsive and in sync ;p During the pause between concert and encore, I was in awe. It was 10-15 minutes and the whole crowd just kept on shouting "encore", they didn't stop one second, the whole crowd. Amazing compared to the ones in Germany. In Germany, there were just sporadic groups of people who started, but stopped after half a minute.
Now something about the concert itself, the band was amazing. They played very powerful and energetic. They even played Guren and track 2 of the Guren single, Guren was played to absolute perfection, it was spine chilling. Aoi actually uses the double neck guitar live as well, but it seemed to have a different color (black) than in the PV. Some intros from songs were also extended which was very nice. At the start of the encore was another very good Ride with the Rockers. The concert ended with Linda of course. The show was very well done, the lighting reacted very good on the music and focussed on the musicians during solos. Near the end, came also the gazette logo at the back done with small lights. The lights were divided in blocks and alternated in motion (don't know how to say it). They will probably use it during the final as well, so you'll see it one the dvd ^^;

This post is finally done, so I can go to sleep. Tomorrow is Tokyo Anime Fair, long day, which I'm also looking forward to. Photos will be added when I have some time... Maybe the day after tomorrow.

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Decided to take it easy today, still kind of tired, and I might have a gazette concert in the evening which would be tiring as well so I had to be prepared just in case. So I walked not too far away to Sensoji temple in Asakusa. It's the third time now I've been here, but that doesn't matter, I was just strolling around.

Went on to Tokyo Station where I had to take the Shinkansen to Shizuoka. Was an hour early so I walked outside to take a picture of the beautiful train station. But the front was all construction going on. There were many large pictures with text about the construction, which was that they were going to restore the building to its original state. I knew that the building had been heavily damaged during World War II and that because of the fire the 2 large glass domes and the third floor of the building were lost. They are now going to restore it back with the domes and the third floor. That is going to be one hell of an undertaking as they will totally reuse and move the original stones. The "new" building will also be made earthquake safe.

Shizuoka is for the next post.

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Today was a busy day, actually only half of it was planned. The rest was filling up the free time.
First thing was breakfast. Went to eat some gyudon, more specifically Takanamentai Mayo at Sukiya. Gyudon is rice topped with meat and little vegetables. Takanamentai Mayo is a variation which adds mayonnaise on top of it. It was actually quite good.

On to the first (planned) location of the today: Ikebukuro, easily accessible with the Yamanote line. It's the second busiest station in Tokyo after Shinjuku, and that really shows. It also has 2 large department stores on top of it from Tobu and Seibu. Many shops in the neighborhood, a large shopping mall (called Sunshine City) and some high skyscrapers. Here is also the main store of animate. And again, the advance ticket for Tokyo Anime Fair was sold out.

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Lots of walking planned for today as I will be looking for the locations featured in the Lucky Star anime. Took the Tobu Isesaki line to Kasukabe for my first stop. Kasukabe station itself is featured in the anime as well. The four girls frequently seen at the station and in front of it, as well as in the OP where we see Hiiragi Tsukasa dancing in front of it.
Next is the school they go to, this is quite a walk from Kasukabe station, and the school itself is in a quite rural area. The school has quite a large sports infrastructure, the school uniform is of course very different from the one in the anime ;p
All the way back to Kasukabe station, to go further on the Isesaki line to Washinomiya. In Washinomiya we have the Washinomiya shrine which is where the Hiiragi twins live with their parents who are the caretakers of the shrine. The Washinomiya shrine has become quite a pilgrimage for fans of the anime, on many of the wooden blocks hung at the shrine feature drawings of Lucky Star (or other anime). A few months ago there was even an event with 2 or 3 of the seiyuu from the anime. They seem to have big plans for the shrine as they are going to expand the building and the terrain quite a bit. A nice detail, they have a cage there which has peacocks (& some chickens ;p) in it.
After this went back to the hotel and got an early night of sleep.

(pictures and reference pictures coming coming later)

Today, the weather was a lot better than yesterday, it was actually quite warm in the sun in the afternoon.
Today, I went to visit the Yasukuni shrine. The shrine is dedicated to the spirits of soldiers and others who died fighting on behalf of the Emperor of Japan. The shrine is a bit controversial because it also enshrine some soldiers convicted of war crimes. Japanese prime ministers don't visit the shrine because it causes controversy in and outside Japan.
The shrine itself is largo with a long stone road in front of it.

Next stop is the Budokan. The Budokan is quite famous outside Japan because of the Beatles who did a concert there and the many other artists that followed. It is also used a lot by Japanese artists (like Gazette for example ;p). The Budokan was originally built (and still used) for national martial arts competitions. It has a very distinct octagonal shape.
When I was walking around the Budokan, there seemed to be something going on. A lot of young girls in kimono were walking around, it wasn't the coming of age ceremony which is in January. I'll have to look it up what it actually was about.

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Arrived in Tokyo station at 12h16 and you're really thrown in the crowd as Tokyo station is very crowdy and many platforms. If you haven't been here before, it's a complete chaos. But I knew which train line to take. I took the Keihin-Tohoku, which is faster than the Yamanote line as it skips a few smaller stations. This time I went immediately to put my baggage at the hotel. What was less good, was that it rained hard. And on the train to Tokyo, I realized I forgot to pack my umbrella ;p So I had to buy an umbrella and got me one of those clear ones that you see a lot in Japan. Anyway, got my baggage put away, and went back to Ueno to the park to see the remaining sakura, and there were still quite a lot, it was very beautiful.

Part 2:
After Ueno Park I went for a quick look at the reseller shop in Ueno for my tickets for the concerts. There were many tickets for Ayumi's tour but only 2 for the 6th, and none for the 5th. X-Japan had more choice as it were only 3 concerts. No Gazette tickets though...
Went for a quick stroll around Akihabara and went back to check in the hotel. The room looked just like last time, good enough.
Then I went for a walk through Harajuku to check the reseller shop there, but was rather dissapointed as they practically had no choice at all for Ayumi, just 4 tickets. Not coming here again. Then I went looking for the Hello Kitty shop on Omotesando. There isn't actually a Hello Kitty shop there, but a shop called Kiddy World. It has several floors of cute toys and has a large section of Hello Kitty on one of its floors. You really get overloaded of all the cute stuff, love it ;p Went to bed after this, sooo tired from the flight.

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I had quite an early flight, at 7h15 in the morning, which means being at the airport at 5h15, so I had to get up at 4h :s Then first a flight to London, where I had to wait 5 hours till my flight to Tokyo. When I was on the terminal bus between terminal 4 and 3, we came past an Airbus A380 from Singapore Airlines! ;p It was so sudden I couldn't take a picture :)
But because of security checks and the transfer of terminal, the waiting time at the terminal was 1.5 hours less ;p (still 3.5 hours though). Then the long 12h flight to Tokyo. As expected didn't really sleep. We arrived 10 minutes earlier than expected. I had already exchanged my money in Belgium, so didn't need to stand in line for exchanging money. Straight to the japan rail pass exchange office. The friendly older guy told me that the Sakura festival had just ended but that there were still blossoms in Ueno Park. I had to go see that, but that's for the next post ;p. Took the Narita Express from JR to Tokyo this time. Those trains are cool in the fact that when they have arrived at the terminal, the seats rotate to the other direction and the train goes in opposite direction but you are still faced forward ;p. Only one downside to the Narita Express, it doesn't top at Ueno Station but at Tokyo Station. So you still need to go from Tokyo to Ueno Station with the Yamanote Line or Keihin-Tohoku Line.
The rest is for next post. But here are some pictures of this part:

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Came home from work today and finally found my concert dvd in the mail! :D Shipping took quite a while. So I was finally able to watch the full concert that I went to last year. The dvd is the final concert in Fukuoka, but I went to the 2 Yokohama Arena concerts after the asian leg of the tour. The cover looks very nice and classy with the Ayu Asia Tour logo. It has two dvds which contain the concert with documentary pieces in between the songs. The picture on the actual dvd case inside the cover is very nice, it's a closeup of Ayu during 1LOVE.
I have just a few negative points: actually the fact that the concert is interrupted every 2 or 3 songs by the documentary, no 5.1 audio and no talk during the encore. I'm guessing something went wrong during production causing the dvd to be released so much later than the previous dvds. They usually come out arround october/november, but now it was march of the next year!
But anyway, I LOVE THE CONCERT! ^^ Ayu looks very beautiful in it and sings very good. The beginning of the concert is just awesome! It's also good that they included a few of the other songs that she sang during the tour that were not featured in the final concert.

I have a feeling that we can expect a better release than this one, probably on bluray, but don't take my word for it, I may be wrong, or just wishful thinking ^^;

But every fan should buy it, it's great!

(P.S.: only 2 more days to go and I'm off to Japan, whiii ^^)

Only 3 days (and a half) to go and I'm going back to Japan! 2 more long days of work and Saturday left.
Hopefully my concert dvd of Ayumi Hamasaki arrives before that, been waiting for it since last week, grr. And since I hardly have any free time left, I'll have to take the dvd with me and watch it in Japan ;p. Nice on time, before the next concert on the 4th or 5th.

But I'm getting quite excited ;p

Seems like everything is getting done for the preparation of my Japan trip. Got my Japanese money and my Japan Rail Pass exchange order today. Think I practically have everything sorted out. Maybe still clothes, because I don't know exactly what weather it will be there. Will be doing Tokyo and more of the south (down to Hiroshima and Fukuoka) where it's warmer.

So I'm practically ready to go! Only 10 days to go, can't wait!

Got my very first nendoroid figure of Suzumiya Haruhi this week and I just had to do a quick photo shoot. I'll give you a few pictures of this first shoot. Don't mind the background ;p. I will do a more decent one later, but I'm not sure if I'll have time to do it before my trip to Japan, so it'll be after that. But, Haruhi will join me to Japan, and will be featured in some picture there ^^;

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Since my old mail server here at home started to get short on disk space and wanted a more quiet one to put in my room, I got hold of a new one. The new one is a Pentium 3 450MHz, while the old one was a Dual Pentium 2 @ 233MHz each. The new one has a passive cooling which makes it very quiet. Put the new Fedora 8 on it and it works fine. Setting up Courrier IMAP was less pain than the previous time. It's now ready to be put into the closet, but I'm gonna put in more hard disk space in the future though to use it as a file server as well.

It just happens to be this week that my old trusty SMC router practically died on me. Need to reboot it everyday or the WAN connection drops at the end of the day. So I installed a temporary router that I still had lying around so everything is okay, that when I'm going to Japan in 10 days, that I can check my email on my server.

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I will try to write some location guides to finding real life anime locations in Japan.

So far I have gone to see locations from Onegai Teacher/Twins, Suzumiya Haruhi and Lucky Star. You can find some talk & pictures about them in my writings of my trips to Japan, but those aren't really guides.
That's why I'm going write some of my own in English because as far as I know, there aren't any in English on the web, only in Japanese.

But this is going to take time, which I don't always have, cause I want to draw my own maps as well. For most of the locations, maps are essential.