It’s been snowing since I got up this morning so after brewing myself my pot of Sunday coffee, I sat down to write at my desk by the window, Scout curling up in the bed at the top of his cat tree behind me.
When I write fiction, I generally write and edit at the same time. Very rarely do I ever write a draft and then go back to edit it — those manuscripts end up being one and the same. As I’m writing a line for the first time, I highlight or demarcate (in brackets, for instance) parts that I feel will need to be edited. That way, every time I open my document to continue, my gaze immediately catches on all the highlighted sections one by one, and I can quickly make changes if I can think of how to edit them with my fresh perspective. In this way, my newest sections of text are always streaked with tons of colour and annotations, and fully edited sections of text look plain. In short: the colourful sections are for my eyes, and once the text has been made plain, it’s ready to be read by someone else.
As I write, I also like to worldbuild on a larger scale, and make little references to other WIPs or completed pieces, so on days like today, I end up opening other projects or manuscripts and cross-referencing. It’s such a pleasure to solve a problem or a plothole in one WIP with another (whether directly, or just because your subconscious happened upon the solution while you were busy focusing on the current WIP). Which is to say, in writing TE10, I’m solving a huge issue that I otherwise would have had with the opening chapters of my novel!
Once the pot of coffee ran dry, and the words that had been flowing so readily in the chapter did too, I decided to switch to doing a general clean-up in the apartment (…not my favourite activity in the world, but it needs doing) as well as the laundry, both of which gave me a good excuse to get a bit of exercise and pop outside for a bit of fresh air. And to admire the icicles and falling snow.
Scout was only too happy to try and help me change the bed sheets once the other set came out of the dryer… the operative word being try. His idea of helping of course, was to hide under the covers and swat at my hands as I tucked the fitted sheet over the mattress.
I have also begun considering the idea of adding a sign that says The Scouthouse above the litter box, but considering the fact that I have already put a sticker of a peach above it, I feel the pun might be overdoing it.
I’m open to feedback.
On an unrelated but equally-weird note, Scout is finally starting to drink in front of me after nearly a year of coming to live with me. Before then, I’d only witnessed him drinking from his bowl two or three times, even though the water level would go down a little bit each day after refilling it.
You know what this adorable little weirdo does?
He dips the tip of his forepaw in the bowl first, and then he starts drinking.
Leaves a little wet partial pawprint on his placemat.
I have absolutely no idea why, but he does that every single time.
It’s a given (that is, researchers have proven) that music is not a human language, does not have communicative structures in the way that the many thousands of human languages have and have had. Qualitatively, they are not the same, even though they both allow for written forms, and have been standardized while still maintaining an incredible fluidity in expression, permitting innovation and improvisation on the part of any speaker, signer, or musician.
Language exists to make possible conversation — that is, there is always a person conveying a message and a person decoding the message according to some agreed-upon meaning. Music absent of any accompanying words (that is, mutually-intelligible language) does not exist to engender conversation. It doesn’t convey information but rather atmosphere and emotion in all the nuance that standard dictionary definitions and poetry can’t quite manage; as such, it also has less precision and interpretation is far more open-ended.
The open-ended nature of its interpretation of meaning is something that many humans don’t enjoy, preferring music to be accompanied by words in a language they can understand (lyrics) or that music be in the background of a scene of some kind (like in movies, or in a play).
Listening to or feeling music by itself, unaccompanied by precise, mutually-intelligible words or a scene of some kind is an act of deep reflection or a journey into memory. What does the arrangement of sound make you feel? What do you imagine from the music alone? What do you think the composer might have been feeling or imagining as they crafted or improvised the piece? What do you think the musician who played the piece was thinking or imagining as they played it?
These questions are far more readily answered when words or scenes are included; it becomes a conversation, a set of signposts to guide you.
Without these, music is music.
A living memorial to feeling, to atmosphere, to thought, to impression, just as open to individual interpretation and imagination as its structure can be replicated by other skilled musicians. But its structure being replicable does not mean that its originally intended meaning can be fully divined by the one doing the replication (or interpretation).
Furthermore, a great deal of theory and structure underlies the creating (or playing) of music, but listening to it, even reproducing it without any knowledge of this, is possible. Paradoxically.
Like repeating a word or a phrase that you like the sound, the feel of, in a language you have no knowledge of. You repeat the word or the phrase finding it beautiful or meaningful in some way, without knowing its agreed-upon significance to another person or group.
Music by itself is like a perpetually foreign language, an atmosphere, a feel to be enjoyed and appreciated without needing to understand it in a concrete way.
Poetry can offer the same pleasure (or discomfort, depending upon the individual), eschewing sometimes the conventional in order to play with words in an idiosyncratic way, one that might not allow for easy understanding between the poet and the admirer. But that absence of immediate, standardized understanding is what makes it and music an art form. They require time, thought, feeling — and a willingness to engage both in introspection and in extending empathy toward the other party.
Should poetry written in gibberish, then, be considered in the same vein as wordless music?
I woke up before sunrise today, and this (possibly incoherent line of questioning) was what was on my mind.
Babs went through a whole lot of trouble to come back to Ottawa this year, having delayed flights, spending an inpromptu couple of nights in Calgary (miraculously, a good friend of hers happened to be in a similar position and so they had an unexpected dinner together), and finally arriving in our hometown and still managing to be able to coordinate with me for an evening of dinner and conversation. We decided to catch up at D’arcy McGee’s, an Irish Pub downtown, after I’d finished work and thankfully got there early enough to enjoy the quiet before the evening rush.
The pub sits just across from the NAC, so on nights when a big show is being put on (like this night), concert and play-goers fill the pub before the performance. The server figured we were going to see the musical Come From Away as well, but we assured him we were just relaxing and in no hurry to leave.
I have seen that musical, though, and it was superb. I went with my parents, part of the particular draw being that we used to live in Gander, where the musical takes place.
On this night however, Babs and I were just intent on talking and enjoying one another’s company in person. And eating delicious food. I got fish and chips (my usual order at this pub) and Babs tried a good, hearty stew of some kind.
Afterwards, we split a rich chocolate cake while we chatted about anything and everything, veering frequently to politics, work, and politics within pop culture. And then got ourselves some specialty coffees to continue our discussion while a musician started playing covers on acoustic guitar on the other end of the pub, near the bar.
I can’t speak for Babs, but from my perspective, something about this night felt particularly relaxed in a way that it hadn’t for a number of years. Call it stress related to work or stress related to the pandemic — whatever it was, it hadn’t felt as present this time.
We said our goodbyes after having finished one last drink each and headed off our separate ways, considerably more relaxed and cheerful than when we’d met up. The night was a relatively mild one for this time of year, most of the snow having melted. Taking off my glasses, I was soothed and fascinated by all the holiday lights blurring and enlarging due to my poor vision, reflecting in the meltwater on the pavement, and so I adjusted the focus on my camera to capture how soft the night looked to my eyes… walking home in a waking dream of a landscape.
The 9th chapter of The Everyforest was at long last completed late last week, both the text and audio (via The Side B Anthology podcast) available to read or listen to for whoever is interested. It should be noted that the instrument whose strings I pluck at (amateurishly) at the beginning of the audio version is not a lyre but a ukulele; I had to use what I had on hand.
Recording the audio to upload for the podcast is quite different from the headspace necessary for performing the reading in full in real time, so especially with long readings like this one, I end up editing the recording afterward. This usually means removing long pauses, breaks to drink water, heavy sighs, moments where you can hear a car passing or neighbours talking in the hall, or else my fumbled attempts at reading full passages resulting in me starting over again.
And of course, the occasional interruption from Scout.
I use very rudimentary tools to create and edit the recordings (read: the voice memo app on my phone) so editing is limited to removing sections from a single audio file and nothing more.
In the beginning, I was rather a purist about it and would often just keep deleting and restarting the entire recording until I could read the text properly the whole way through, but as texts got longer, that stopped seeming reasonable. So, for anyone interested, the raw audio for TE9 is below.
If you just want to hear Scout interrupt me and then say “mrrrrrw?”, skip straight to the 44:50 mark.
I had long intended for this novella to be nine chapters, but after careful consideration I eventually decided to split that last chapter in two for a total of ten. It was getting much too long… and now it matches the length of ALICE NINE.’s album GRACE as well. That final chapter is largely written, so It will be out (and this incredibly dense, weird novella finished) in 2023.
And now I’m off to do a bit of reading before bed…
Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Ueno, getting a few gifts, walking around, and enjoying seeing all the Christmas decorations that had already been put up.
I also made a detour to the Book Off to check that location for some old CDs and magazines on my list and then when I found none of them decided to search for and ultimately indulge in some PS4 games that I had been wanting to try for a long time instead: the highly-acclaimed ELDEN RING and an intriguing JRPG called Tales of ARISE. It’s more fun to challenge myself to play them in Japanese.
After picking up a few essentials at a grocery shop (玄米茶、茶づけ、かつおぶし) and selecting some bread from a パン屋さん I liked as a treat for later in the evening, I headed back to the hotel just before dusk.
Then packed up my suitcase while watching the Japan/Costa Rica game. But I was pretty distracted. All I could think was,
I don’t want to leave.
Some breads and a beautifully scented bath helped soothe my ruffled feathers before turning in for the night.
The next morning, I got up early after having had plenty of sleep (disturbed by three distinctly weird dreams), and at checkout time, headed for the airport. My first flight had already been delayed by an hour, though thankfully it wouldn’t impact the rest of the journey.
At Tokyo Station, I was just waiting in line to get my N’EX ticket to the airport when a dude came up to me and asked me if I knew the area well, in English, to which I kind of sputtered “yes… and no”. Turns out he and his travelling companions were on a 4 hour layover and wanted to get to Shinjuku for some sightseeing as quickly as possible. He was asking me if it was easy to get there by train, or whether they should just take a taxi. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever even been to Shinjuku, so I couldn’t immediately tell him which train to take, and wasn’t sure how costly it’d be to get there by taxi. When I was looking it up for him, he stopped me, thanked me, and said his friend had just texted to say that they’d just take a taxi to make better use of their short time frame. He offered his hand to shake, asked for my name, and then said, “Thanks again, Shenik, I’m Jay.”
Weird coincidence, but kind of funny.
It’s rare that someone hears my name and pronounces it right on the first try — I didn’t see any need to correct him.
And then off he went with his friends on a vite-faite tourism stint.
After that, getting Narita Airport was uneventful. I just stared out the window at the scenery, at the particular way that Japanese houses are constructed, and which I like so well. The airport’s international departure wing was far quieter than the last time I was here, and though I’m sure it will ramp up in activity again before long, it was nice to actually be able to get a seat while I waited for the check in and baggage drop to open… those, too, had been delayed.
While all three of my flights were smooth, I encountered delays between each of them, nearly missing my last flight back to Ottawa by a narrow margin.
I was rather grumpy by the time I landed for good, but actually getting my luggage and being safe on the ground made me feel a lot better, and by the time I got in my front door, despite the sadness at leaving Japan, I was just glad to see Scout.
Not to worry: my suitcase passed his inspection, and yes, he is a tall boy!
For this, the longest train ride of the trip, I came prepared with material to translate on my phone and a mocha to enjoy whenever there were sights to sit back and enjoy from out the window. I also finally wore my tour t-shirt and adorned my eyelids with a deep purple shadow.
The view of Mount Fuji this time around was even clearer.
The walk to this venue, tucked away past a residential area in an industrial district, was pretty interesting. So interesting that, even though I stayed on the right track the whole time, I thought I was getting lost.
First, I came upon a grey cat casually grooming itself on top of the hood of a parked car, then I crossed into a residential area and passed a small park with cute, hand-painted signs featuring well-known characters along its perimeter, and finally I trekked into the industrial district… which felt largely abandoned until I hit another street and fell into step with some other 九組 heading past a convenience store towards the venue proper.
I arrived just as they were starting to call everyone into the venue sequentially, so I got within hearing range of the staff member and waited my turn to go into the cool, high-ceilinged warehouse the live was to be held in. By the time I got inside, it had already filled up quite a bit, but again from my position more towards the back, I still got to stand opposite Saga in the crowd and had a great view of the whole stage. This time, I actually did switch out my Groovy Chiko hoodie for my much lighter stained glass robe so I was more than ready to dance, jump, and headbang the night away.
Before long, the lights dimmed, and we all began to clap, tempting the members onto the stage…
On this the night of the semi-final, and the sixth repetition of their opening songs for the setlist during this tour, they were well-practiced in performing Living Dead and Answer, all of us in the audience responding to the music enthusiastically in kind. Adding to the gradual flow from dark and rhythmic to lighter and more melodic, they then starting playing the utterly cheerful TSUBASA., the crowd bobbing along to its upbeat notes. Next, they turned up the heat, whipping us into a fervor and working up a sweat with the speed of 百科繚乱.
Too fast to live, too young to die!
Our bodies all warmed up, we then fell into the luxurious sway of their song Moondance and again I was very glad to have a bit of elbow room closer to the back where I was so that I could dance to my heart’s content. Next came BABYLON, with Saga’s initial solo, made more challenging by the restraints that were part of his stage outfit. He gave the song the dark, decadent introduction it deserved, and then together the members drew us into a strange caper, or rather a wonderland of weird dimensions. BABYLON has always given me very interesting (not to mention clear) mental images.
I love that they debuted 界 not by releasing it as a single, but by playing it at a live, during a fest. 界 is just awesome and definitely gets even more impactful in a live setting. In particular for this performance, they had smoke machines going, so at certain points from my vantage further back in the room, the stage was just a dense red fog. It increased the intense feel of the song even more.
To the gods of rock, we did pray.
As the dark chords of our collective prayer stilled, a staff member helped Saga switch out 焔 for an acoustic guitar, and thus began Envy, as enchanting and as soothing as ever. Then we were treated to another amazing performance of Saga’s on acoustic guitar for INSOMNIA. I love that song so much… it’s one I often recommend to people who’ve never listened to ALICE NINE. music before and I’m so happy I got to hear it during the course of the tour. When the soaring and diving melody of the song had faded, every member except for Nao left the stage.
For the Drum Solo this time, Nao surprised us towards the end by getting out two neon pink glowsticks to drum with, and then threw them over his shoulders at the end in an imitation of the Drum Solo caught on film from their HELLO,DEAR NUMBERS live DVD. I loved that little nod to ALICE NINE. history. The audience participation has been so much fun each night, and we were all energized and ready to go for the intensity of the next song, as the other four members returned to the stage.
After another powerful rendition of Roar, I was very excited when they started playing カルマ, a song with a great sound tucked away on the Stargazer: single. We all let loose for the rare treat of a song, and then slipped into RAINBOWS, the room filling with lights of every colour as we jumped, headbanged, and danced. I knew it would be my last time dancing to RAINBOWS for a while, so it was even more blissful an experience than the last few nights.
During Funeral, I danced to the ribbon of Saga’s bassline, enjoying the way everyone else’s instruments and Show’s vocals intertwined to bring the incredibly cool song together. Exodus: built on that momentum, to lead into the frenetic heat and cool rhythm of 開戦前夜. After which, I gave myself up to the soothing sway of Farewell Flowers, floating in its notes.
The members left the stage and it was our turn to make some noise and encourage them to return to play the Encore. I was in a strange headspace, feeling both incredibly present in the experience I was having of the live, while also feeling a measure of disbelief that it was actually happening. The feel of being packed into a smaller, more intimate livehouse this time as opposed to the larger, assigned-seating halls for the lives I had been able to attend before 2020 happened was exactly what I’d needed. The energy of each performance was so warm, so casual, and yet so well-rehearsed and passionate. It did feel like being enveloped in the sound and mindscape of ALICE NINE., a world of sound that the members had worked so hard to build and protect for 18 years and counting, with the help of everyone over the years who chose to listen and show up in whatever big or small ways they were able to.
I think part of what I’d felt this time around was that I was seeing the more experienced version of the band I’d fallen in love with in the first place, so many years ago. The way that Saga plays bass in this emotional, melodic, understated way, then turns around and plays the chords heavy like a growl, headbanging all the while. The way Show commands the front podium with bright, distinctive vocals and an edge, putting words to the music. The way that Nao is very serious about the quality of his drumming, but so often seems like he’s just having fun. The way that Tora starts to grin when they’re playing a cheerful song out of their extensive repertoire (and sometimes during heavy songs too). The way that Hiroto is both intense and apt to visit other members during their most well-practiced classics. We all focus on different things, and even though I’ve tried to kind of describe the way I see what happens on stage, it is inevitable that words fall short — and that someone else would experience the same timespan in an entirely different way.
Saga’s understated passion on stage every night was so inspiring to experience again.
So, all of that and more was what I continued to chant encore! for.
When they heeded our cries for more and returned to the stage, gratitude and love were on my mind as they began to play Ray. Show’s singing of the beautiful lyrics gave the song definition, and my eyes were on Saga as he played its rhythm with a buoyant tenderness. Not knowing when I would get to hear this favourite played in person again, I placed my hands over my heart and held the magical atmosphere close.
They followed that emotional song with the absolute blast that is 春夏秋冬. Such fun!
I knew that Grace would be last, but it cast as strong a spell on me as ever as they played it. I was completely in the zone, feeling the music and dancing to the sounds by instinct. Grace is so alive that it just flows through the body, uplifting and beautiful.
It was the perfect note to end on for the semi-final of their tour and for my trip as a whole.
Whenever I hadn’t been closing my eyes, fully feeling the sound and the music in the room, my attention had been fixed on Saga, who was absolutely incredible up on stage, rocking out to each song (love when he headbangs while playing!), and making me feel even more wildly happy to be there. There’s nothing like literally feeling the music rumbling through the venue.
It was an unforgettable night.
An incredible tour.
Worth the wait.
I stood by the water afterward to take in the sight of the venue lit warmly in the dark and to let the memory of the night settle in my chest. Then I backed away and turned around to retrace my steps back to the station. I didn’t need my phone; my feet remembered the way, carried me through the quiet dark of the industrial district, then past the children’s park in the residential neighbourhood, and across a main thoroughfare, beyond which I’d be able to reach the subway entrance.
I stopped for a minute or two to hide a smile at some artwork by local kids on display in the subway tunnels on the way to the platforms. But then I forced myself to press on to the station so that I got back to Tokyo early enough to catch one of the last local trains back to the hotel.
The ride was calm and I spent a lot of it lost in my own thoughts. By the time we’d reached the final stop (mine), I was the only traveler left in car 16, and I enjoyed how strange that particular sort of solitude was. I hightailed it to the local connecting train and made the second last trip.
Then… I took a bath.
And replayed moments from the live in my mind.
And drifted off to sleep, the hum of the music still quietly rocking in my soul.
I was up very early (because I did all my sleeping the day before… ah, jet lag…) so I got everything done that I needed to for the day trip to Nagoya, and even started to re-pack my suitcase for the return trip to Canada.
Not that I’m in any way eager to go back.
After having arrived at the first two lives just in the nick of time, I learned my lesson and bought my Shinkansen tickets well in advance for the last two, just in case a lot of others ended up travelling during the same time slots as me.
The train was southbound from Tokyo this time, so the scenery I got to see along the way was quite different from what I’d seen on the prior northbound routes.
Most notably, I got to see 富士山!
I kind of just stared in awe and disbelief. I’ve travelled down to Nagoya and Osaka before, but for whatever reason (maybe I was sitting on the wrong side of the train), I’d never spotted Mount Fuji before. The only other time I’d spotted the legendary mountain was on a hill in a residential neighbourhood outside Yokohama, squinting at the peak far in the distance. The sight of Mount Fuji during the trip to Nagoya definitely set an awesome tone for the live I was about to attend.
And it turns out it was a very good thing that I set out extra early this time, because I got pretty lost in Nagoya station (accidentally entering through a local train fare gate instead of the subway station gate I had been trying to find). Still, I made it to the venue with plenty of time to spare, for once there early enough to line up in order and go into the livehouse in sequence according to the number printed on my ticket. That is something that’s quite interesting about the standing-room-only livehouse experience in Japan, because over here, everyone just needs to line up (or camp out lol) outside the venue and it’s first-come first-served once the doors open.
I was so excited to get into the venue, that I forgot to switch from my warm, Groovy Chiko hoodie to stained glass robe when I was tossing my purse into a coin locker… the robe would have been lighter to dance in, but no harm done.
I really liked the layout and feel of tonight’s venue, and something about the acoustics made their sound seem extra powerful (or maybe that was just me being really excited). Overhead there was a cool, contemporary-style chandelier as well as a disco ball, while off to the right the bar was tucked away in an alcove where anyone could leave to get a drink if they felt like it.
Each night’s live has had wilder energy than the last.
Absolutely breathtaking.
After we had clapped them on during the SE, the curtains were lit a murky blue or green from behind and then raised dramatically, as ALICE NINE. began playing Living Dead. That was extremely cool. Next came Answer followed by WHITE PRAYER to get everyone in the room hyped up (I will never get tired of the live arrangement of that one) and from there they dove into the badassery that is the song RUMWOLF, to which I thought, hell yeah!
Because I had so much space to move around in this venue (I had decided to stand further back again, but still had an excellent view of Saga playing), this time I got into dancing the Moondance with even more wild abandon than before. To keep the decadence and debauchery going, they played 造花の代償 next, and the bass line was so cool… instead of each member throwing flowers (like I’d seen them do for ALICE IN CASTLE in 2018), it was just Show teasing the crowd with the fake flower while Saga kept the bassline going, everyone else’s instruments building the scene around it.
While everyone else did 振り付け (choreographed dances), I stayed still during the お経 in 界, palms clasped together beneath my chin, head tilting in the overpowering light to watch Saga’s shadowed figure mesmerize us from the stage.
Welcome to the temple of ALICE NINE.
Feel the might of their music, their sound, their tone, their performance.
With a quick switch from bass to acoustic guitar, Envy then began, and I’m not sure if he did it in previous lives (he probably did), but Saga’s rapping on the acoustic guitar with his ring sounded extra loud and sharp tonight. It was another beautiful rendition of the song with Shou singing in lower tones, the rest of the instruments building slowly, steadily, powerfully until the end of the song.
I truly didn’t expect 十六夜 to be played for whatever reason, and so it was such a surprise — a wonderful one at that. It was beautiful and powerful live. While the tender complexity of the song wafted and dissipated in the air, piano song began playing on the speakers in the dim lighting, and all the members except for Nao left the stage.
Thus began the Drum Solo, with Nao leading us both from the front podium and from behind his drum set in the beats he’d be performing for us that evening. Once again we all clapped and called out in time and unison, more than eager to keep the energy up and carry it through the rest of the live. With that, the other four members returned to the stage, took up their positions, and began playing Roar. On the tail-end of that powerhouse of a performance, they began Heart of Gold, everyone jumping and dancing in the stage lights while the members filled the room with the upbeat sound of that classic.
RAINBOWS came next, and it is SO much fun each time, it really is. We A-jumped, we cheered on all the solos, members ran around the stage, Saga took the front podium briefly to make sure we were all jumping and having fun (as we should be) and then Show gave the song a proper close with a high note!
Funeral‘s cool complexity melting into Exodus: was awesome. After which, they didn’t let us lose steam, and so started playing 開戦前夜. Because there was a bit of extra elbow room in the back where I was, a group of four 九組 next to me actually started dancing and moshing in a circle together at certain points in the song, and I almost wanted to join in (I never would have actually forced myself into their friend group though lol). It was so obvious, that even Saga took notice, looking over and grinning at their enthusiasm.
Lives are slowly starting to regain their footing 🙂
When the song ended, I felt elated, trying to catch my breath, and they then began to play Farewell Flowers. Each time I’ve heard this at a live, it’s become more soothing, like sitting in a canoe or a kayak on a calm lake at sundown, feeling the wind and the water gently rock you.
Shortly after they put down their instruments, waved, and left the stage, we collectively took up the call for an Encore, clapping and calling them back to the stage. We cheered when the lights went up again, and they returned, regaling us with a performance of the breezy, breath of fresh air that is 透明の翼. Next up was ブループラネット, and the song had such huge, playful energy tonight.
Finally, last but in no way least, Grace was soulful and exquisite.
I was so sleepy, so satisfied, I nearly fell asleep on the shinkansen back to Tokyo… and then it was a mad dash once I did get back to the station to make sure I caught the subway back to where I was staying before the trains stopped for the night. Thankfully, by that point I knew my way around the station quite well by memory.
I had a good soak in the bath before bed, and then finally drifted off to sleep, replaying all the best moments of the live over in my mind… ♡♪
I had thought of perhaps visiting Kamakura again, or else Enoshima, but I felt too tired to make either of those trips (much less a full excursion out to Kyoto), so I lay in a sunny spot on my bed, curtains open, and read my magazines.
Before long, I’d fallen asleep.
When I woke up I thought of maybe setting out for Ueno, close by as it was, but even that felt like too much. I fell asleep again.
It must have been the jet lag, or my body telling me to just take a full day of being relaxed and sleeping after a full year of work and housework and projects…
By the time night rolled around, I felt well-rested, and went to get myself some food, then settled into the chair at my desk to write a letter to Saga (my Japanese handwriting is rusty, but I took my time and did my best to be legible) and plan for my trips to Nagoya and Osaka in the days ahead.
I spent most of the day sleeping… it was rainy outside, but so warm in bed…
Finally, I put on something fairly warm to go out in the rain with, and headed for this very particular venue. A huge milestone of accomplishment for bands in Japan, Budoukan is a large circular arena, impressive both from the outside and on the inside.
People arriving from the subway station, me among them, shuffled forward in the rain, taking out their umbrellas, and forming a line to walk through enormous doors of stone, wood, and wrought iron.
I’ve seen footage of several bands making their debut performance there (like ALICE NINE., NIGHTMARE, and the GazettE), but this was the first time I’d been able to go to the venue personally.
Even from all the way up in the second-last row of attendees, where I was, the view and the power of lynch.’s performance was awesome.
Despite having been a fan from years back, I didn’t end up knowing many of the songs included in their setlist that night (which was cool all the same). The first song by them that I heard was a grateful shit, followed up by their first album, and then The Avoided Sun, which remains one of my favourite albums in general! I am also extremely fond of their single Adore, for the b-side on it: an illusion. I kept up with listening to all their releases until LIGHTNING, after which (for some strange reason), I fell out of touch with their new material.
All this is to say that, despite not recognizing all that many songs that were played, I am definitely a fan of their sound in general and had a really great time.
Getting into the venue felt very dramatic in and of itself as we climbed the gargantuan stairs to head up to the second level, rounding the curved outer corridor once inside to find the quadrant and row that our seat was located in. Though I was high up in the stands, I had a great view of both the stage, and the Japanese flag hanging in the centre of the ceiling.
When the lights in the room darkened and lynch. began taking to the stage, we all stood and from there, the performance was dark, loud, and filled with melodic pockets of respite. Aside from their awesome sound, the visual effects that accompanied the performance were impressive as well (flame machines! lasers! cool videography!).
Hazuki kept remarking that the whole experience felt surreal, that even being on the stage that all of them had been aiming for for so long, it was hard to believe that it was actually happening — or feel nervous, due to all the rehearsing they’d done.
Everyone gave a heartfelt speech around the midway point, but none more than their bassist, who took accountability for his actions that had led to the original postponement of their performance at the milestone of a venue, apologizing, and thanking everyone for still believing in and supporting the band.
The air was kind of cleared after that and they played the remaining songs on their setlist with renewed vigor, or rather, with a different sort of vigor. Hazuki’s vocals, more often than not, dragged us all to hell.
Right towards the end, they brought out a daruma, which Hazuki explained had been gifted to them by a fan, years back, hoping they would (I think — I may be mis-remembering) do a nationwide Zepp venue tour. They accomplished that and so drew in the daruma’s first eye. Their next goal was to play Budoukan, and they’d been holding on to the daruma for years so that, tonight, they could finally fulfill that dream and colour in the daruma’s second eye.
Which they did: Hazuki took out a black marker and drew in another eye.
Then, he placed the daruma onstage where it could oversee the last song(s) they played for the evening.
It was a truly awesome performance, and I’m glad I got to attend for such a big milestone.
When it was over, and we had clapped until they left the stage, people were asked to leave the venue by section to try to avoid overcrowding the exits and the subway entrances. Even after I left, I hung around off to the side of the subway entrance just to let the majority of people leave before me, as I wasn’t in any mood to be squished inside a train carriage if I could avoid it.
After the relative heat of the venue, being out in the cool (albeit damp) night air was a relief, though when I finally did get home (picking up something to eat along the way), I was more than ready to get out of my damp clothes and eat while watching the Japan v Germany world cup match. Then take a long, hot bath, and curl up in bed, to go back to sleep…
I’d meant to leave for Yokohama much earlier today, but fell asleep in a patch of sunlight while reading ALICE NINE.’s interview in the latest ROCK AND READ.
When I did finally wake up, I got ready, shaking off the last vestiges of my sleepiness, and headed out to Yokohama station. I made a beeline for Loft, and was surprised to find the mall already decorated for Christmas; while I was at it, I also picked up the latest CD DATA in the Kinokuniya right next to Loft.
I went to the motomachi chuukagai area next for an appointment to pick up a package from the address forwarding service I use. Their warehouse was simple to find, but I had to contact them to ask how to get to their office. It was through a little set of double doors I hadn’t noticed at first, and then up some stairs to another door that was clearly marked, but also not necessarily for customer use. White Rabbit / Blackship is a great set of services, though. I was there to pick up my autographed copy of GRACE as it would have cost far more to ship it home directly.
幸せ♪
The person I’d been communicating with via email invited me in to see the place, and I stepped in to take a look, but then excused myself because I felt shy and awkward. They were very kind about it, and it was close to their closing time, anyway.
I then walked all the way over to minatomirai, passing through bayside parks and around the Akarengakan mall.
And then… at the park leading to the entrance of the World Porters mall, I was enchanted by an incredible light display they’d set up in the park, transforming it, through LEDs and geometric shapes, into someplace magical.
I took my time staring at the displays as I walked, but I was pretty hungry and so didn’t dawdle; I went to one of my ‘usual’ bread shops and was pleased they still had some of my favourites left. The curry bread is just divine, but what I really went there for was their ちりめんじゃこ bread.
I found an empty bench along the boardwalk and ate my curry bread there by the light of a lantern, relaxing in the cool night air (plus, my feet were starting to get tired by that point).
Still, I wasn’t done. I got back on my feet and headed for minatomirai station to go back to Yokohama, this time heading through my usual route in Queen’s Square mall; the height of its escalators passing through several floors to go straight to the entrance of the subway platform really impressed me when I first saw it… and intimidated me a little. I’m not great at dealing with heights.
After a short train ride, I was shocked when I ascended the escalators out to the main square off Yokohama station, only to find that all the construction and restoration that had been ongoing during my last visits was all done, everything bathed in lights. It was a wholly impressive sight. I know logically it had been several years since I’d been back, but the restoration nevertheless wowed me.
I took my usual route to head to the Yokohama Vivre mall, also bathed in lights, because I wanted to check the Book Off there for magazines I’m missing, but found none… what I did find were a few more choice CDs (NIGHTMARE’s NOX/LUX, ELLEGARDEN’s greatest hits, and 凛として時雨’s #5).
And a gachapon shop. This time, quiet and empty as it was, I couldn’t resist satisfying my curiosity, and after perusing the whole shop, I indulged in 3 spins, for items that would add more tongue-in-cheek humour to my kitchen setup.
A kitten in a cabbage box with the same colour pattern as Scout, an extremely detailed replica of a portable toilet (I really wanted the Japanese-style toilet, but unfortunately got the western-style one lol), and a little replica of a capsule hotel unit that can fit another figure inside it.
Thoroughly exhausted, I finally called it a night and headed back to Yokohama station to take a quiet and rather empty train back to my hotel.
When I got home, I poured myself a bath, added some lavender-scented bath salts, and slipped into those mysterious, mystical waters before bed…
