Peter's Japan blog

This was quite a highlight from this years Japan trip. Seeing Ayumi Hamasaki, Yasutaka Nakata and Koda Kumi in 24 hours time ;p It is exactly 24 hours because concerts on Saturday start are after 6pm and concerts on Sunday end by 6pm ;p. But it was quite a busy day as it also involved us changing hotels and moving from Tokyo to Kyoto, and the Kuu concert being in Osaka ^^ (I have a feeling this will be a long post ^^)

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Here's the first part of the stuff I bought on my latest and 6th Japan trip. Quite a lot of CDs. This list is not complete yet as I sent some heavy stuff through EMS because that would be cheaper than to pay extra for an overweight suitcase at the airport.

CD Singles:
Ayumi Hamasaki - H (cover 1)
Ayumi Hamasaki - H (cover 2)
Ayumi Hamasaki - H (cover 3)
Ayumi Hamasaki - Daybreak
Ayumi Hamasaki - Endless Sorrow
Ayumi Hamasaki - INSPIRE [CD+DVD]
Ayumi Hamasaki - STEP you / is this LOVE? [CD+DVD]
Ayumi Hamasaki - Moments [CD+DVD]
Ayumi Hamasaki - A
Ayumi Hamasaki - appears
Ayumi Hamasaki - foregiveness
Perfume - Fushizen na Girl / Natural ni Koishite [CD+DVD]

CD Albums:
Ayumi Hamasaki - A Song for XX
Ayumi Hamasaki - Duty
Ayumi Hamasaki - Rainbow
Ayumi Hamasaki - A Best
Ayumi Hamasaki - Ayu Trance 1
Ayumi Hamasaki - Ayu Trance 2
Capsule - PLAYER
X Japan - Dahlia
Mizuki Nana - GREAT ACTIVITY
May'n - Styles
Idoling!!! - Sunrise (Limited Edition)

DVDs:
Perfume - Chokkaku Nitouhen Sankakkei Tour (Triangle album tour)
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Visual YMO the Best

Games:
Chrono Trigger (J) (SNES)
Street Fighter II Turbo (J) (SNES)
Legend of Zelda (J) (SNES) (including box)
AIR (Dreamcast)
Gundam Side Story 0079: Rise from the Ashes (Dreamcast)

Vinyl Records:
Ayumi Hamasaki - evolution [RR12-88220]
Ayumi Hamasaki - M [RR12-88219]
Ayumi Hamasaki - vogue [RR12-88174]
Ayumi Hamasaki - Deareset [RR12-88364]
Ayumi Hamasaki - Daybreak [RR12-88365]
Ayumi Hamasaki - Far away [RR12-88175]
Ayumi Hamasaki - from your letter [RR12-88112]

Photo books:
Idoling!!! 2nd Bikini Photobook
SA*KA*CCHI!! - Sakai Hitomi 1st Photobook (Idoling!!! No. 14)
Yazawa Erika 2nd Photobook (Idoling!!! No. 7)
Hirano Aya - 1/19 bpm

Magazines:
Pick-up Voice 1
Pick-up Voice 2
Pick-up Voice 17
Pick-up Voice 24
Animedia 12/2009
Friday (April 23rd)
Friday (May 7th)

Merchandise:
Ayumi Hamasaki T-Shirt (white)
Ayumi Hamasaki Sports Towel
Ayumi Hamasaki Uchiwa
Ayumi Hamasaki Ayupan x2
Ayumi Hamasaki Muffler
Koda Kumi Team T-Shirt (which we think is a fanclub t-shirt ;p)

Other:
Sleeping Cat Eta (can only be bought from the top of the Nikko shrine)
Clear file with Yamanote Line stations

This must be the weirdest thing I have come across on my last trip to Japan. We were walking around Fushimi Inari in Kyoto, and we heard a sound of what was like a crying baby, but I started to doubt that it was a baby, but that it might be a cat. Then we saw this around the corner. I've never heard a cat sing/cry like that before (or I just don't know anything about cats and this is perfectly normal ^^; maybe it was in pain, I don't know) You can actually hear the second cat moaning as well. Sorry for the focussing noise sometimes (it's a EOS 500D which doesn't have autofocus), and my silly joke about it sounding like it's chanting prayers ^^

Well, just posting this before going to sleep. Tomorrow I will be taking the plane to Japan! I'm flying with SAS this time, so I'll have a connection at Copenhagen. Will be arriving in Narita at 9h35 in the morning.
Will meet up with Matt there, as his flight is arriving at 9h30, so we could even already see each other at the immigration line ;p.
Some highlights for this trip: Ayumi Hamasaki concert at Saitama Arena with other Ayu fans, Koda Kumi concert at Osaka-jo Hall, Caddish 4th anniversary with Yasutaka Nakata at Club Asia in Shibuya.
Will also try to go see the latest Haruhi and Macross F movies, see the K-ON! school, and hopefully make some time lapse videos, and will take much more pictures and videos inside shops, of food and of course of trains ^^;

Anyway, I'm off to bed now, see you later for the next update...

Flights and hotels are booked for Japan 2010 trip. I'll be flying with SAS this time with connecting flight in Copenhagen. There was a cheaper flight, but that was with Alitalia through Rome, but for an hour shorter flight to Tokyo, I'd pay 20eur ;p.

Will be going from April 6th until April 23rd. My friend Matt who is now coming along for 2 weeks, will only stay until the 19th.
General schedule is 4 days Tokyo, 7 days in the south and then the rest back in Tokyo.

Ayumi Hamasaki concert will be the first concert of the Arena Tour 2010 in Saitama Arena on April 10th, so the whole concert will be a surprise ^^. And we're going to try (but I'm very confident as I may have found some reseller shops in Osaka) to go see Koda Kumi in Osaka-Jo Hall on April 11th.

First post about the next big trip to Japan in 2010. No schedule or dates yet, but a general period of March till May. This will depend on many factors like the people coming with me (which should be 2 friends from my own country and one from England), concert dates of various artists, dates of certain fairs.

Will probably have more info when the first concert dates start to get through at the start of January. January is a crucial month as it usually also has good sales for plane tickets!