Japan, Weeks 13-14

Again I’m late… no excuse, really.

 

 

It was another round of not-really-exciting weeks for the most part. I was in Choshi again for the 7th and the 8th to do test assessments. One of the classes was cancelled, so I’m actually heading back in a couple of hours so we can get that one class done tomorrow, and then my time in Choshi is done.

 

 

Here’s me on a bus! Marvel at my British nose!

 

The weather was really nice in Choshi on the 7th, so when I went to get lunch, I had it outside.

A katsu-and-cheese sandwich from the little bakery near the station. Very good, nice price (especially compared to Sunkus. I never want to see another Sunkus again.)

Here was the kicker – shoyu (soy sauce) ice cream!
Sounds disgusting, right? But it was really, really good, one of the best ice creams I’ve had. If you’ve ever had dango, with the soy sauce syrup, it tasted like that syrup. If you haven’t, it tasted a lot like caramel, only deeper and richer and a bit saltier. It was soooo good and I’m going to go get another one tonight or tomorrow to enjoy it.

 

On the 8th and the 9th, there was the GazettE’s “Ōmiya 2days” part of their current tour. I went to both days, and you can read my entries about them here (the 8th) and here (the 9th). I’m no good at live reports, since I basically just give my impressions and some of the highlights, but you can hear some of it, lol.

 

I met Ren at the concert on the 9th, and we’re keeping in touch through Twitter, e-mail, and mixi. It’s so nice to have a Japanese friend to talk to, even if we’re not super-close at the moment. :3

(Also, Lolitas are really really boring. I dislike being at a live next to a Lolita now. No energy whatsoever! All the Lolitas at the first day just stood there during the live, didn’t participate at all before during or after. Really. Come on now.)

 

 

On the 10th I was on my way back to Choshi (nothing happened to report) and then I was back for the weekend.

Last week, I was in Kashima with Taylor. We were going to different places so we really only saw each other at night for dinner, and maybe at breakfast if our departure times were close to the same. But it was fun, and it was nice to not be there all by myself.

 

This was a pretty standard breakfast. Eggs, sausage, asparagus, salmon, bran flakes, rice, and some rolls. Orange or apple juice.

We went out to a second-hand store that was about a third of a mile from the hotel (maybe half a mile?) just for the fun of it and I found THIS GUITAR. OMG.

It was in gorgeous condition.
So beautiful~
(New model from official site, in case you’re wondering.)

 

Dinner the first night was this:

Just some shoyu ramen at the food court of the supermarket next to the hotel. Very good~
I’ve tried shio, miso, and shoyu ramen now, and shio is still my favourite. Because I’m an old person like that, I guess. It’s very simple and clean and light. Miso is probably my second favourite, because it’s a bit bolder and spicy. Shoyu is just… like what you get with the 25-cent ramen at the store. No fun, just plain.

 

Dinner the second night was this:

Curry udon with a fried satsumaima, one of my favourite treats.

 

Dinner the third night,

we ended up walking probably two miles to Sukiya for dinner one night just because Yoshinoya didn’t have curry available (WUUUUUTTTT)
Buy a Sukiya Kewpie strap. No thanks.

I got the yakitori curry bowl. Very good, very spicy. ( *｀ω´)ゞ

I’M SUKIYA.

 

 

Passed a large hotel and wedding hall on our way to and from Sukiya (this was a landmark telling us we walked way too far, haha.) It was so pretty, but I was a moron and forgot my actual camera that night so I could only take iPod quality photos. >_<

Thanks Taylor.

 

I was bored lol.

 

PUB MATENROU. 8D -shot for being a dork-

 

It’s Christmastime in Japan (unfortunately) and the hotel had these lovely faux-trees up all over to celebrate.

 

A student at the school I went to assess on Friday gave me this. x3 Aww.

The whiteboard of the English room! Cute.

 

 

Random things:

I never did show you guys my really awesome vacuum. Here it is, and it was only 2400! So small and simple but very nice. I’m bringing this baby back with me. I’m going to get my whole money’s worth out of it.

 

My earphones died so I got new ones. This model was called “mame” because of the bean-shape of the phone. Cute. And they’re very comfy! ( *｀ω´)

 

This was my quick and easy powerfood after the concerts. It’s rice with sausages and egg cooked in miso soup. poured over the top Sounds gross but it was really really good. 

 

More kabocha sukiyaki! I bet you didn’t see this one coming! This time I added egg to the mix though.

 

Japanese strawberry jam. This stuff is legit. It’s soooo good.

 

Chocolate snack~

 

Katsu sandwich. Not my favourite, but it was hearty and filling and got me through the day.

 

Mugi choco! So basically what this is is… puffed barley covered in chocolate 8D Soooo good.

 

I didn’t think to take this photo until I was over halfway up, but this is one of the escalators in Tokyo Station that’s about five stories tall. xD You get vertigo.

 

This guy was on the train with me for a bit. He looks like he should be some VK artist or something… he looked and sounded really familiar. xD Maybe I’m just imagining things. But he was super-cute.

 

 

Yesterday Taylor and I went to walk to the nearest Aeon mall, which formerly was in the next city over, but since Hatogaya no longer exists, the mall is technically now in our city. It was about a 3-3.5 km walk in the pouring rain xD But it was good, we had a lot of fun. We stopped into the music store to look around and I found these:

Just trays and trays of them. xD
Unfortunately they didn’t have any of Reita’s or Hizaki’s or Teru’s, but I’ll just check around all the music stores I can find and see if I can’t come across some of those other ones. Bought these ones to make jewelry and such, what fun~

 

 

 

 

I have just over a month left in Japan. My schedule is full basically right up until I go. The last few days I’ve been feeling pretty distant from myself and not like myself at all… the real me is light-hearted, fun, good humoured, excited for every little thing because it means a new adventure. Lugging a heavy suitcase and a backpack through crowded Tokyo Station? Exciting! Look around and see what you can see! Go to a school full of children? What will this school be like? Are the kids outgoing or shy?

I know that may come as a shock to most of you because normally I’m not that way. That’s because normally I’m stressed with school, with work, with life. But since I’ve been here, I’ve been in an environment condusive to my behaviour, my personality, my personal growth, and everyone I’ve worked with has been worried to see how down I’ve been the past few days. I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was the moving around, the odd hours, the poor meals (lots of convenience store food, not healthy and not self-esteem helpful) and the lack of exercise and availability of what I enjoy. Homework is probably also not helping – I’ve just been told I have a whole new load to do in the next month that I didn’t know existed, and I will be writing back to say that what is not on the signed contract is what I will not do, just because I simply don’t have the time or energy.

That being said, I think it’s a mixture of all these stresses that has been putting me down. I’ve been grumpy, quick-tempered, unenergetic, hardly able to get up in the morning and make it through work. Hopefully now that I’ll be back at home during my evenings, though, hopefully I’ll get back up and feeling better. After yesterday, the long walk in the rain and a good hot homemade meal and an hour of vigorous exercise, and a full night of sleep in my own bed, I feel much better. But I’m also clinging to the parts of myself that are still normal; my companions and friends here in Japan, whom I can talk to and banter with and generally just be that light-hearted and good-humoured person that naturally I am and that has blossomed here. That’s helped, and the interaction has helped.

I can only hope that it gets strong enough that I can still maintain it when I get back to America, because there’s a whole lot back there ready to quash it. I don’t want to lose this light self I have here, this confident and inspired person. So I still have to work hard so that I’ll be okay.

 

 

It’s been a long time since I wrote about myself, and I think soon I’ll write an entry just about me and my thoughts and my feelings. I can only pray that I’ll be able to managed to convey what I wish to convey.

 

 

Looking on to next week. I’ll push ahead with my head high and do my best to keep it that way.

the GazettE Tour ‘11 VENOMOUS CELL at Ōmiya Sonic City, Day 2

Ruki promised different, and different we got.

I went a bit earlier this time so I could get a couple of goods.
( *｀ω´) So you get to hear all about the excursion.

I got:

The Blackmoral wristband. Despite what it looks like, it’s all made of silicon so it’s actually super comfy~

The Blackmoral Boston bag. This thing is GIGANTIC. I can’t even tell you. I stuck my other bag (with book, wallet, camera, two water bottles, and pencil case) in it and there was still tons of room. This is going to be a very handy thing. x3

There was the GazettE’s promo truck right outside!

So cool. x3

Saw awesome cosplayers and got a picture with them, along with a fan from Germany that I hung out with. The cosplayers were super nice and really humble, lol. We got a picture with my camera, the German girl’s camera, and a couple of the cosplayer’s phones because they realllly really wanted one, haha.

I chased them (the cosplayers) down afterward and asked for a picture with just them and their friend. xD (Chased meaning “ran and leaped in front of them yelling ‘MATTEEEE!!!!!!!’” ahaha they thought it was really cute though, they loved it.) Their friend wasn’t cosplaying so she resisted joining in but I really wanted her to because she was really cute and super sweet, so she went in on the condition that I take a picture with her phone xD So I did and we were all very happy. (And she liked the picture very much lol)

They were really sweet and talked with me for a few minutes after. I told them I really wanted to cosplay but for me it’s muri (impossible or pointless), and they disagreed and said I should try sometime. xD Maybe I will.

Oh for fun.
Sonic City Hall is split into different halls and venues, so there was a list of what was going on where. It was so funny to see all the people coming in for the LEM21 meeting and coming out from the other one to see all the cosplayers gathered. They were all older people and they looked super confused xD I wonder if the LEM21 people could hear what was going on? 8D

Did you read my previous journal entry? Did you guess what the KitKats were for?

They were a present for Reita. xD Yes, I took him a present and I was shaking like mad as I put it into the basket for him, haha. I’m such a wimp. But others thought it was cute.

What do YOU, the viewers at home, think?

I stood with the German fans waiting for the venue to be opened and there were a lot of older people walking past, squinting all the signs that said “THE GAZETTE” on them. One lady asked a girl behind us if this was a meeting for older people or younger people xDDD Best.

When we got into the hall, I went to the GFC area with the German fans hoping for an empty seat I could steal, but it was not to be, so I went back to my actual seat: row 15, seat 36, directly in front of Uruha.

(Got all angles on this tour. I’m good.)

This was the view from the GFC seats, row 8. ONCE AGAIN the photo does not do it any justice at all. They were maybe twenty feet from the stage at most.

This was the view from my seat in row 15. AGAIN. No justice. I was still really close, maybe just the length of my apartment away (if even that much!)

I like how I snuck all these pictures with a staff member right behind me. (゜∀゜)オホホ

I’m really glad I sat where I did though, because I met Ren.

(I’m so fugly ahhhhh. This is post-live bytheway.)

She was a really sweet, really cute girl, twenty-five years old. We both like Reita, liked the same songs, thought the same stuff (she’s even a big fan of Versailles too!). We had a really good conversation before the live, during the encores, after as we walked to the station together, and it sounds like we’re going to be keeping in touch. Yay friendly friends! ~(^w^)~

(It turns out we even sat in the same row and just a few seats away from each other last night too! IT WAS DESTINED TO BE XD)

During the live we fed off each other’s energy, challenged each other, tried to outdo each other in jumping and headbanging and calling. I told her, “Makenai yo!” (I won’t lose to you!) I shredded my throat calling to each member louder than her… except for once she screamed, “REITAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!1!11!!1!!!!1!!!!” really loud and there was no outdoing that. xD We had a Reita-calling contest and a Ruki-calling contest once too.

We were sitting right behind an Aoi cosplayer, a Reita cosplayer, and a Ruki cosplayer lol they were really cute. And the Ruki cosplayer said she really really liked my hair, haha. 8D They said and Ren said that I should try cosplaying too. Ren thinks I would make a good Uruha xD And she said Uruha’s and Ruki’s haircuts would suit my face so I should keep with them. :3

The setlist for today was:

01.INFUSE INTO
02.VENOMOUS SPIDER'S WEB
03.SLUDGY CULT
04.Filth in the beauty
05.THE SUICIDE CIRCUS
06.MY DEVIL ON THE BED
07.UNCERTAIN SENSE
08.RUTHLESS DEED
09.痴情 (Chijou)
10.UNTITLED
11.THE TRUE MURDEROUS INTENT
12.HESITATING MEANS DEATH
13.VERMIN
14.HEADACHE MAN
15.VORTEX
16.PSYCHOPATH
17.TOMORROW NEVER DIES
18.OMEGA

ENCORE
E1.Ride with the ROCKERS
E2.REMEMBER THE URGE
E3.COCKROACH
E4.DISCHARGE
E5.LINDA～candydive Pinky heaven～
E6.赤いワンピース (Akai One Piece)

DOUBLE ENCORE
WE1.関東土下座組合 (Kantou Dogeza Kumiai)

Extremely different. Ruki did promise different and we got it in full-swing. It was B-side day and it was absolutely fantastic. The crowd was really hot this time, too, everyone was getting way into it, jumping and screaming and challenging the band, and the band came right back at us.

(I really hope that Ruki keeps the same videos for INFUSE INTO and OMEGA for the finale so I can get them on DVD. They were super thought-provoking.)

I got basically all the songs I wanted to see live that I didn’t get to already today (Akai One Piece, MURDEROUS INTENT, and HESITATING I’ve been wanting to see forever). Ren was even complaining about how they hadn’t done Akai One Piece, and out it came. xD She squealed.

Ruki was really on key! There were some parts where you couldn’t hear him at all (I don’t know if it was because the music was too loud, there was a microphone malfunction, or if he is losing his voice :/) but he sounded really, really good. :D

I finally paid some attention to Uruha today, just because he was directly in front of me, haha. I’m not going to lie, the man is a really impressive guitarist, and in the last year he’s become very technically talented. He plays very powerfully. But he’s so boring! xD From the few live reports I’ve read in the past it sounds like a couple years ago he was a fun to watch, but at all three lives I’ve been to this tour, even during the encores, he’s fairly uninteresting, he just stays in his corner and plays. Don’t know why. Ren says it’s because he’s shy, but… I don’t know lol. He probably goes all-out specifically during the ones that are recorded because he always seems way more interesting on those, but I wouldn’t be surprised if other than that he’s the same way he’s been at the ones I’ve been to.

I also made myself watch Kai this time, more than I did last time, especially during RUTHLESS DEED and VORTEX so I could see what he was doing. The man has to got have an amazing set of legs, haha, his bass drums are fantastic. He’s not as good as Yuki, definitely, but he has good solid technique and strong play. It was really impressive to watch him go at it, especially since he plays with all his soul. :3

Aoi was the same as ever today, trying to seduce the crowd and get a rise out of the other members, especially during MY DEVIL~. During that song he likes to pretend his guitar is… something else. And he goes about flaunting it. xD;; Aoi please. Stop. If I remember right he went over to Reita during the first part of MY DEVIL~ and said something and Reita just shook his head. Aoi stop it xD

I forgot to mention for the first day but Reita is a lizard. 8D He does little lizard-tongue things all the time during band-crowd interactions. It’s hot but it makes me laugh really, really hard because it looks so funny. Also, he didn’t seem to think that we were loud enough, he kept flipping us off and trying to get us to scream louder. By the second encore he seemed satisfied, haha, but during the main live and the first encore he kept trying to get us to be louder. He was doing this especially right before DISCHARGE, flipping us off, shaking his head… right before the music started he shook his finger at us. xD

Ruki was a lot of fun during the MCs today, just the same as usual, making a lot of jokes, making fun of us and of the band. For the encore, he came out and gave a speech about how he is truly grateful for the time with us, but he had a lot of pauses, and right before he said, “I’m grateful,” he paused for thirty seconds and we were all going “D8????!!!!” because we didn’t know what he was about to say. Then he said, “I’m grateful” and we all laughed and he laughed too. He also asked, “How many of you came to both days?” and we raised our hands and he said “Aren’t you tired?!!!” And we laughed and he said, “Apparently not. We’ll try to fix that.” He also apologised for making us wait ten minutes for the encore xD.

(When Reita and Kai came out for the encore, Reita apologised for the fact that Kai was there xD That’s mean, Reita. But Kai laughed his head off so it’s all right.)

Ruki did tweet after the live last night:

“Thanks for the Ōmiya 2 days. Guhhhh, it’s been a long time since I was this exhausted...”

I’m glad, that’s really a good thing. xD It means he fed off us enough to really push himself, and that means he enjoyed it. We all certainly enjoyed it too, so we can all be exhausted together. x3

Highlights!

*During Filth~, at the first part where the fans are supposed to sing, we all sang/screamed it and Ruki grinned really big as he started his part again.

*After MY DEVIL~, the lights went down, and one light came on to show Ruki making one of his cute little faces and making “devil horns” with his hands. It was soooo cute!

*When Reita and Kai came out to start Ride with~, Reita went up to the main part of the stage and started kicking stuff. Kai grabbed Ruki’s pimp cane and walked back to his drum set while spinning it around xD!

*During part of LINDA, Aoi and Reita passed each other and once he was behind Reita, Aoi kicked out behind himself and caught Reita in the butt. I think Reita might have kicked Aoi before that to get revenge (it sounds like while I was attempting to call Ruki to throw me a water bottle yesterday during LINDA and thus paying no attention to the other four, Aoi kicked Reita lol).

*During LINDA, Reita spun over to Uruha (who again just watched him, apparently he likes to see Reita spinning), and they faced each other. Uruha looked like he was again telling Reita he was going to beat him up and he flipped Reita off, and Reita fistbumped him and ran away xD Those two are sooo funny.

*At the beginning of Akai One-Piece, Aoi went over to Reita, faced him, set his head on Reita’s shoulder and said something, then nuzzled him and jumped away. xD

*At one point in the encore while the band was waiting for something, I screamed for Reita really, really loud and he looked my way 8D

*When Ruki came out for the second encore, he walked out and just flopped down on the front platform and lay there for a bit. Aoi was pretending he was going to go up and kick him, but Reita shook his head and thankfully (though it would have been funny) Aoi did not carry through with his evil plan.

*During part of Kantou, Reita went over in front of Kai and just bounced up and down trying to look over the drums. So cute! xD

*At one point in Kantou, Aoi cornered Reita and they had a long conversation up front where everyone could see lol

*During Kantou, Aoi came over to the right catwalk (near where I was) and flirted with some fans, then turned around, wiggled his butt, and stuck it out for the people close enough to touch. 8| Then as he walked away he had a laughing fit and had to stop for a second to wait it out xD

*When Reita was returning from the right catwalk where we were, as he passed Uruha, Uruha tossed his hair at Reita xD

*During Kantou, right before the last round, Ruki, Reita, and Aoi were up on the front platform. Reita and Aoi were standing while Ruki was leaning against it, but Reita squatted down and put his arm around Ruki’s shoulders for a bit (eliciting more screams) before he stood up again. Aoi looked unimpressed lol.

As for all this, I’m pretty certain that Ruki knows we all think he’s adorable and he’s just taking advantage of it, and one day we are going to wake up and he will rule the world and we will be incapable of doing anything to stop it because if we try to uprise he will go:

(Complete with that adorable smile)
And we’ll all fall at his feet. xD

This was by far the best one of the three I went to. Everything was great, the audience was into it, the band fed off us… Ruki sounded great, there were no technical issues, and everyone was in a really great mood. It was a really positive and really fun environment, plus I made a new friend! There’s no beating an experience like that.

I’m still really sad I won’t get to see them any more on this trip, and even more sad that I won’t be here for the finale (which is going to be really amazing), but it doesn’t have to be the end. I will come home to Japan again, and I will come to see them more. The inspiration all this has given me, and that they have given me, isn’t stopping here. It’s going to carry me through and help me develop myself and help me push harder for my goals.

But even so, I can’t wait until the next time I get to see them again.

ガゼットの皆さん、RUKI様、麗さん、葵さん、れいたさん、戒さん、お疲れ様です。この一緒に超えた時間、本当にありがとうございます。また会いましょう。その時まで、どうか一生懸命でロックしてください。そして私はその未来の会いまで待って進んで行きます。