If someone asks me what would I miss the most in Japan, it won't be the food, the place, it will be the convenience of being able to move around easily and...

LIVE EVENTS.

ROCK IN JAPAN is an event filled with music loving people. Most of the people just dance along with whatever music they heard, and you can't help but dancing along too, especially being a Japanese music fan for so many years.

Short report:


Sound of Forest stage. I could see YUI clearly from the place I stood. It was torturing though, people squeezing each other. That's show how popular YUI is.

1. Laugh away
2. Ame agari no yozora ni (Imawano Kiyoshiro cover)
3. Rolling star
4. Love is all
5. I'll be
6. again
7. ZOO (one chorus, Kawamura Kaori cover)
8. Sea

Live report from official website with MOE pictures.

The moment YUI appeared on the stage, at first everyone was stunned for 2 seconds, then I could hear KAWAII~~~~~~~~~~ here and there. I couldn't believe my eyes too. Too kawaii to be true. YUI, was in front of my eyes.

Somehow I was hoping to see the normal T-shirt and jeans YUI, instead of wearing folded up yukata with heavier make up, since this is our first meeting with each other.

But once YUI started to talk, you will know it for sure that she's the same YUI who we've been supporting for years, slightly more outspoken which made all of us shocked when she made such remark:

YUI: I've shaved my armpit hair. =O

I didn't know the word armpit hair in Japanese so I guess she was saying that she had make 'protections' to prevent revealing her 'flesh' from the side of the yukata. The sleeves of the yukata are quite wide so if you are not careful enough, it'll get pretty sexy. If you know what I mean haha.

Then someone in the audience said "Check it out, check it out" and everybody burst out laughing. I didn't know why when I was there but after knowing the armpit hair remark, everything started to make sense LOL. So cute.

It's sweet that YUI chose to make tribute for the two artists who had just passed away recently. ZOO acoustic version (with a bit drums) was LOVE. YUI sounds brilliant when she plays acoustic stuff.

Before YUI I went to see Perfume at GRASS Stage, skipped Chatmonchy though =/


GRASS stage is so much bigger than Sound of Forest, with two big screens.

Perfume is love. Their MC was super hilarious. It was so fun dancing along with their well known songs, just ignore the fact that they are lip syncing.

I will write a detailed report once I'm back in Malaysia. Going back tomorrow =.=

Yeah I didn't get to wear Kikino's shirt =/ Long story. The package was few hours late. Sorry Kevin ><



Today I'll wear the normal one to show my Japanese friends.

Finally, check it out (lol) the well waited YUI-Lover collaboration 3 at YL. The details of the booklet done by Kikino can be found on his blog. Impressive stuff.

Waiting for your comments on the collaboration! Please visit Kikino's blog or tell him directly if you appreciate all the hard work he have done. I was the one who started this project but in the end Kikino and depyon has to finish up all the mess I've done, really sorry about that...

Last day in Japan!!

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Misc YUI Rumours:

According to this blog, YUI is having secret lives under the name e.u.Band. Instead of Muta san, drummer is the cool girl we always see in YUI PVs.

They did once on February 20, then recently on June 12, they performed again in some live house. Set list:

1. Laugh away
2. 雨上がりの夜空に (The singer just passed away recently)
3. Rolling star
4. I'll be
5. Love is all
6. again
7. Sea

If YUI performs the same songs in RIJ, the rumours will confirm true, I suppose. I wonder how will I react if I go to some random live house, and the special guest turned out to be someone famous.

In this forum, some speculated that:

E.U.
イーユー
ユーイー
YUI


LOL.

More sources can be found here, here, here. Japanese language knowledge is required.

Btw, the arrangement for Sea are done by Hisashi Kondo and, e.u.Band.

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Album: GO!GO!7188 - Antenna

I guess YUI secretly reads this blog, because she decided to appear on the first day (July 31) of Rock In Japan Fes 2009. I'll get to see Perfume (yay) and Chatmonchy (5th time?!) but according to the timetable, I might have to move around and it will be impossible for me to see dear YUI in front rows unless I start queuing on the day before.

Already reserved 1 ticket for the that day and lets hope that I will get it *prays*

I read that some people are wondering how to get concert tickets in Japan in YL forum. First get a person who stays in Japan if you want to get the ticket legally. Personal information are needed to buy tickets in Japan, and buying concert ticket is like getting a lottery, especially for famous artist. You can't select the exact seat you want.

The other day I was featured in YUPI-LOCKS, it took me by surprise wow. GREAT JOB Kikino!! Thank you! Gracias!! I want to go Chile!!!! I think Teo-chan resembles me alot haha, really honoured to be drawn. Thanks again! (Now I really have to send the CD to YUI......)

Then on Friday, I didn't get to see depyon's dance but I took a picture with him in his costume. The next day I went to see JYONGRI.


No signature keyboard.

Apparently it was JYONGRI's first appearance in Waseda, after being a student there for three years. For Waseda students: She likes building 11 (hate you guys). Never seen her around though. She sang 3 songs, including her new single which will be released on August for the very first time, and I think not many of the audience know about her.

Tomorrow studio practice!

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Misc YUI Rants:

I always think that Thank you My teens (YUI acoustic version) is kinda boring to play along until I saw this video:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ6J9AgwmCU

I'll need another 5 years to play that version of Thank you My teens.

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When I found out this Ontama Carnival Live '09, I posted a notice in our dorm common kitchen, looking for someone to accompany me.



No response. Maybe 7500 yen is too much. So I gave up the thought of going.

If the word 'Ontama' sounds very familiar to you, YUI appeared in that show before for the promotion of CAN'T BUY MY LOVE album, and I have translated it as well. This made me think that, if she isn't having break now, I might be able to see her w!t@f#k$n%n^c&c*b. One of the main sponsor was AU by KDDI, remember CHE.R.RY? =.=

Last Saturday, I woke up around 11 am *whoops*. Suddenly I thought of this concert and checked it out on mixi. Someone was selling the ticket at 4000 yen. The concert started at 2 pm. It takes around one hour to reach Yokohama Arena.

I was like, what??! While dealing with multiple sellers, I quickly had brunch, preparing to go out at any time if I got the ticket at 4000 yen instead of normal price (7500 yen).

At 1:55 pm, I reached Yokohama Arena. As the concert was 7 hours long, I quickly dashed to convenient store nearby and bought some food.


Yokohama Arena is kinda far from Yokohama, I think.

Thought I don't like arena halls because of that Shiina Ringo concert experience, this time I didn't care since I got the ticket cheap. And I actually got a pretty good seat, mine was on the ground floor (middle), 55 rows away from the stage.

Yokohama Arena can fit twelve thousand people, and the visual effect was spectacular. I got to experience the exact atmosphere I've been imagining ever since I watched concert videos of Hamasaki Ayumi, Mr. Children, Glay in huge halls, waving hands together at the same direction with 120000 people (in Malaysia it will be really messy), it was awesome. Not to mention that super clear HD quality screen on both sides of the stage and one in the middle of the arena with four screen on each side.

The concert started right after I entered the hall, as usual. First up was flumpool.

1. Hana ni nare
2. labo
3. Hoshi ni Negai wo *new song*
4. Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~

My German dorm mate introduced me this band (not Jdrama). She showed me the video of Hana ni Nare when I visited her room. Every time I saw flumpool CDs, posters here and there I'll think of her. Lead singer is cute, heard that he was once a sensei, and he writes interesting lyrics. I love flumpool singles, but not really dig their mini album.

I couldn't really hear the sound of instruments clearly though (habit of focusing sound more), maybe they started first so everything was not finely tuned.

Next up was monobright. Second time seeing them, as usual, in their white polo tees and black spectacles. They sang four songs as well.

Oh, since this concert was organised by TV asahi as well, the MC was that new Music Station girl. She looks berry berry cute, from that big HD resolution screen.

Then Ikimonogakari, performing at their home town (They are from Kanagawa prefecture). The moment Yoshioka san (not YUI) opened her mouth when she sang Akaneiro no Yakusoku, I was completely blown away.

1. Akaneiro no Yakusoku
2. Uruwashiki hito
3. Blue Bird
4. Kimagure Romantic
5. Kokoro no Hana wo sakaseyo
6. Kaeritakunattayo

I like a bunch of songs by Ikimonogakari, but the thought of watching their concerts never came into my mind because I'm more of a rock concert fan. Songs with 'simpler' arrangements to me are for listen only, not watch. I didn't know that listening to such powerful vocal live with my own ears can be so touching.

After Ikimonogakari, FUNKY MONKEY BABYS. They totally owned the whole arena, seriously. The moment their name appeared on the big screen, I could hear screams everywhere.

1. Morning Shot
2. Sono manma higashi he
3. Koi no katamichi kippu
4. Sakura *New Song*
5. Kibou no Uta
6. Chippoke na yuuki

Their performance was...powerful, really. They really sing right out of their hearts. Most of their songs are full of encouragement and motivate listeners to move forward, I could feel their energy and received their messages 100%. The cuter rapper was panting ALL the time, he even ran off the stage to the side walk. I was kinda afraid that he would get an asthma attack or something, panting non stop yet manage to deliver 120% performance. During MC, his words were really convincing and encouraging as well *Salute*.

I'm sure their new song Sakura will be the next big Sakura hit. If you are feeling down, listen to their songs.

And then we had Chatmonchy~ Second time seeing them.

1. Hira hira hiraku himitsu no tobira
2. Oya shirazu
3. Shangrila
4. Somaruyo
5. Last Love Letter *woot*
6. Donaru, Denwa, Doshaburi
7. Renai Spirits
8. Kaze fukeba koi

Suddenly the crowd became less excited compared to FMB's performance. In Japanese, they called it being 'AWAY'. Being a Chatmonchy fan I could definitely feel that I was out of place. Luckily, the guy besides me was a Chat fan, so I just danced along, don't care. As usual Ecchan changed her guitar like after every song. Fans were shouting Akko and Ecchan only, poor Bakumatsu sensei :'( Kumikon did a super great imitation of the host of Ontama XD

They sang Last Love Letter~ The beginning bass part was damn cool. Kaze fukeba koi always reminds me of Perfume. Kaze! Kaze! Kaze!

EDIT: Forgot to mention, Ecchan was wearing this cute shirt with lots of hearts.


Yoshioka san (not YUI) wore it before too haha. The words mean 'I love you' in German. Special thanks to someone in mixi.

I started to get tired after this. This is actually the longest concert I've ever been so far. Otsuka Ai was next. I thought that she will be the last to perform, I was wrong.

1. Yumekui
2. One×Time
3. Bye Bye *New song*
4. Rocket Sneaker
5. Frienger
6. Ai

I used to be a big fan of hers when she first debut, Yumekui is love. She sounds very good live when she doens't try to hit high notes =P Her skirt reminded me of an old patch blanket I had in Malaysia.

Artist number 7 is Saito Kazuyoshi. I didn't know any of his songs, his style reminds me of Okuda Tamio. Singer-songwriter + guitarist + guitar solo = Good. Even Mr. Children's Sakurai san covered his song, Utautai no Ballad. Meaningful lyrics.

The final performer, UVERworld. I was preparing to go back now, to avoid squeezing with 12000 people after concert. They were the 'HOME' for this concert.

1. Over the stoic
2. Hakanokumo towano kanashi
3. CHANCE!
4. Burst
5. SE.short ver. UNKNOWN ORCHESTRA
6. Just Melody
7. Roots

I didn't know that they sang the OP for Gundam 00 XD I used to like them a lot as well, somehow I think that their songs sounded kinda similar. As for their live performance, it wasn't that impressing. They rely on visual graphics, fancy electronic sounds more, which sounded weird to me. I couldn't really hear TAKUYA∞'s voice clearly. So I left when they sang Just Melody.

It was already around 9 pm when I left. 7 hours. I think we spent 3 hours waiting for the next performer. Luckily they whole event was seated. I don't think that I can survive those big rock festival alone. I'll go crazy waiting for them to set up instruments and what not.

My plan to check out Yokohama and China Town didn't make it because it was already late =/ Who wants to go Yokohama??



Special thanks to 131号 san for the track list.

Album: moumoon - moumoon

This post has something to do with YUI street live at Sendai.

It has been a while since I listen to a Jpop album repeatedly. If you think YUI sounds like Avril Lavigne, listen to this by moumoon. I actually had the chance to see moumoon for free, when they were opening for DAI free live.

Of course, I was late, so I didn't get to see them =/

Btw, I love Do you remember? by moumoon the most. Great album opener. After ELT, DAI, maybe Ikimonogakari, next will be moumoon.

I'll post about this before I talk about my Hokkaido trip.

Last week I went to STUDIO COAST in Shinkiba (Tokyo) with a Hungarian, to watch some concert for free. They have this so called 'live monitors' which they invite someone to watch some concert, and then these live monitors have to fill in a super simple questionnaire after the concert.


Outside STUDIO COAST. Very few people around.

Basically it means that they need someone to fill up the hall ;P
Finally got to see Jinn（ジン）~ Anime fans might heard of them, Raion and 解読不能.

I'm a big fan of the vocalist, Hitan's blog. She really put a lot of effort to update her blog, she divided her blog into three parts. First daily stuff, then something poetic (her writing is really good), then end with a well taken picture plus caption.

Since Jinn performs quite often, I was sure that I could see them for free someday, and I was correct =D When Jinn appeared, I was like,

OMG what happened to Hitan??????????

Someone she turned into a beautiful girl (can fight with those idol groups), while I was procrastinating and stuff. Don't get fooled by all those Jinn videos in Youtube. I'm so gonna go to their new album tour now, and do some serious exercising.

Oh I saw SCANDAL and HALCALI too, if you know who they are. Apparently Hitan was the oldest among all these female performers. Which means, me, YUI are getting old =/

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On the same week, I went to see GO!GO!7188 twice, once in Tokyo, once in Sendai, which is 5 hours away from Tokyo.


Akasaka BLITZ (Tokyo) is a nice live venue. Second time here. I still could see Yuu san clearly even though I was at the last row. As usual, orange juice. GO!GO! performed Kinkyori Renai *HAPPY*, and unlike my previous GO!GO! live, I got to see ROCK this time~ IT REALLY ROCKS!!

Of course, I was at Yuu's side and stared at her whole night. Funny that Yuu (GO!GO! guitarist) mentioned in her diary that she wishes to have Rin Toshite Shigure guitarist TK's skills.

I would like to exchange guitar skills with you too, Yuu sama.

Because eplus is selling tickets of POLYSICS 「ULTRA FIGHT OR DIE!!!!」 live with no transaction fees, I went to Sendai~


Zepp Sendai is just beside Sendai Station.

Morning 5 am, I left Tokyo by taking local train from Takadanobaba. It only costed me 2300 yen all the way to Sendai because I was using Seishun 18 Ticket.

A little bit of Geography lesson in case anyone is confused.


Red = Hokkaido (of course), Yellow = Tohoku region, Green = Kanto region

As my goal is to visit all 47 prefectures in Japan (so far 14) during my stay, and since I was using Seishun 18 Ticket, first I made a 2 hour stop at Fukushima station.



I had a nice lunch at this Italian Cafe called Lauren & Leaf, it was the best ever lunch I had so far in Japan.


My favourite Omurice, and potato salad =D They are actually Japanese cuisines haha. Restaurants outside Tokyo are so much wider, can camp inside whole day.

I didn't know how I discovered this restaurant online, for only 980 yen (Vegetable Omurice), I got to enjoy free flow of drinks and salad as well (I didn't know about it when I entered the shop).

Seriously, unlimited orange juice, potato salad and cornflakes with sesame salad dressing for 980 yen, I was the happiest girl on earth. Japanese salad is LOVE.


I printed out the voucher from their website, and got free dessert~ (cheap people)

As I had to catch another train to Sendai in 1 hour, I couldn't eat until the lunch time ends. I'm gonna come back again someday...someday.

That would be cheating if I don't visit real tourist attractions. Since I have some time before the live starts, I went to Matsushima, which is 40 mins away from Sendai station, can see so called one of Japan's Three Great Views there. To me, it is just another tourist attraction, reminds me of Kamakura.


I have to make this picture blurry haha. I was wearing GO!GO! tour T-shirt, and that pair of shoes were killing me. Moral of the story: Don't wear new shoes when you are going for a long journey. More pictures of beautiful Matsushima can be found in depyon's blog. He went there few months ago.

Marimokkori is everywhere, as long as it is a tourist spot.



My legs started to hurt and I dragged myself slowly back to the station. It was a Sunday, hence the seats in the train back to Sendai were all occupied. My hand phone battery was running low and I had to meet up with some stranger I know through mixi.

I was planning to skip the opening act by someone called LEO Imai. Since I have promised to meet up with this guy, I entered Zepp Sendai without having dinner. Luckily I bought some onigiri before that. Paid 500 yen for orange juice (as usual), and met with the guy. He is some concert veteran, likes moshing, Chatmonchy and DAI. Too bad I didn't get to talk much with him, too little time, plus my leg hurts.

Because of that, I gave up the thought off diving in mosh pits for the very first time. Plus the venue was only 70% full, I could move around freely.

Artist performed:

1. LEO Imai

I like TAXI a lot. This guy is actually studying in Oxford walao.

2. Fujifabric（フジファブリック）

They seemed to be an established band. First time listen to their songs. They have a bunch of catchy songs, guitarist is cool, this PV is very funny.

3. GO!GO!7188~

They performed C7, so me happy. I forgot about my feet, jumped and screamed like a mad person. Couldn't believe that I would see Yuu twice in a week. I actually joined their fanclub, and plan to attend as many lives as possible in their next Hentena tour (anyone wants to join?). I wonder if I will have the chance to see them performing songs such as 眠りの浅瀬 and 考え事 in the future.

4. POLYSICS

I got interested in them after seeing I My Me Mine and Baby BIAS performance in ROCK IN JAPAN. They have great live presence, and it looks fun to watch their performances. The crowd went crazy when they appeared. I didn't really enjoy as much as I expected. Maybe because of the shoes, or because POLYSICS sang in alien language (their lyrics actually don't make sense). I felt totally out of place. Hence I left during encore. However, of all the concerts I've been to, POLYSICS has the craziest fans so far.

I left Zepp Sendai, and dragged myself to this place.



Sun mall Ichibancho, 15 mins walk (ouch my feet) from Sendai station. The ones who happened to bump into dear YUI were really lucky I guess. I don't know what time YUI went there, should be after concert, which would be around 9-10 pm. I took this picture around 10 pm, and it was quite empty.

Then I wandered around Sendai Station until my night bus back to Tokyo arrived. I had to go back Tokyo because I have classes on the next day (Monday) before our holiday starts (Tuesday). See, I'm a good student.

The next night, I took 30 hours train ride to Hokkaido.

To be continued.

I got jealous of these high school students after I saw this video in YouTube.

1. They got to see YUI.
2. They got to jam one song with YUI.
3. Some of them shook her hands.
4. YUI got really really popular these days......the students were basically screaming when she appeared.
5. When I was in high school, I couldn't even play flute properly =/

I wonder if they get those Sony mp3 for free.

YUI, when are you coming back??

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A little bit of update of myself, I took JLPT test last week, and few weeks ago I went to Kamakura with two Taiwanese, hoping to see some autumn leaves at some place with less crowd.


Taken on top of Hasedera temple （長谷寺）.

No, I didn't really do a proper YUI location pilgrimage like artunee does previously because I was too lazy to do the research.

I went to see the always pissed looking Great Buddha at Kotoku-in （高徳院）.


Dear YUI was once there too.

Then we walked to the Taiyou no Uta looking beach.



I'll do a proper pilgrimage next time...including Yokohama.

Then last Wednesday, I went to see ORANGE RANGE at Budoukan.



Yasukuni Shrine is just nearby, so I went there and see see.

Before that, I always thought that Budoukan is a huge hall, apparently it is not. My seat was at the second floor, facing the stage, I could see everything clearly, the screen on both side were like HDTV or something.

I had the feeling that I was ripped off by Shiina Ringo.

I was sitting next to girls, one of them was alone, the other one was with her friend. At first, they seemed to be normal Japanese girls.

When the hall turned dark, the girl on my right started to scream like hell. The one on my left got really excited. Later she screamed out names quite a couple of times, and danced and jumped along, even though she was alone. I was amazed. Since I'm not really a big fan of ORANGE RANGE (esp. after the cute drummer left), sometimes I kinda felt out of place, I had no idea when to sing along or jump and shout or whatever, but it was fun. ORANGE RANGE knows how to entertain the crowd.

All of us did "human waves", quietly. My first ever human wave with Japanese, which was kinda weird. In Malaysia, when we do human waves, we will like, "YAY" or "WOW" along or whatever when it is our turn to jump off the seat.

The human waves were organised though. My heart skipped a beat when they sang Hana >< That was the song I looked forward most to. And I almost forgot that they sing Asterisk too XD

Summer songs medley (Shanghai Honey, Locolotion, Onegai Senorita) was really fun~ Because I know all the songs, still stuck in Katchan's era.

When they sang the final song, I decided to sneak out early so that I won't stuck with the crowd later. On my way out, I saw the drummer of Flow. We were going out through the same exit, I was behind him, so he was like, looking back as if he thought only VIPs will leave early. Then he walked towards the specials staircase for VIPs.

Concerts are a good place to bump into artists. The tour goods booth was completely empty, so I didn't have to line up for hours =P I bought one T-shirt and wore it to school on the next day. No one noticed it though.

Yeah I don't like crowds and queuing/waiting.

I don't know if the sound setting was bad or the music was too loud, they didn't really sound that good in this live.

Seriously, no more arena halls, unless I have the $$$ to pay for the seats at the ground. I failed to get Mr. Children tickets in Budoukan =/

Watching concerts isn't that fun any more, time to travel instead~ I'm planning to go Hokkaido and Kansai area during winter break, using the cheapest method (JR Hokkaido & East Japan Pass and Seishun 18 Ticket).

Any suggestions on what should I do around new year's eve??

Guess who the artist is??



Hint: Female singer songwriter, guitarist, recently married, and has something to do with YUI.

One of my favourite singer songwriter.

Before that, on Tuesday, I went to some live house for the very first time to see FREENOTE, Pringmin, and Tornado Tatsumaki and experienced so called 'intimate' live. It was at a small live house in Shibuya, and I was in the second row.

Now I can really understand why YUI said that she goes to live houses quite often. There are really a lot of hidden talents in Japan music scene.

Even though I didn't end up being a fan of any of the three bands mentioned above, I can fully understand what 'one man live' in Japanese means now. That live I went was a 'three man live'. It was yet another eye-opening experience. Imagine if YUI, GO!GO!7188, Chatmonchy, Shiina Ringo perform in such live houses......

Special thanks to Steve from Canada for 'forcing' me to go ;)

Back to that female artist I said in the beginning. She got famous with her second single, My Sweet Darlin'.

It was in Hangame Square, Harajuku. Yaida Hitomi (Yaiko) was there to promote her latest single Koi Bus （恋バス）, a collaboration with the legendary Oda Kasumasa.

So this Koi Bus CAFE was opened for a limited period of time to celebrate the release of the single. Yesterday, Yaiko turned to be the owner of the Koi Bus CAFE, and had a live radio show recording inside the cafe.

I shall skip most of the details, because apparently not many YUI fans listen to her songs, since Yaiko debut earlier. But I tell you, before YUI, Yaida Hitomi was THE female acoustic guitar playing, singer songwriter.

Gotta admit that I'm old now. I don't really pay attention to newer artists these days.

So I was lining up outside the Hangame whatever Square shop, the second last person, alone (as usual). The queue was kinda longer than I expected, but not as long as the crazy H&M queue beside the store.

When the CAFE 'opens', we went in.

As I walked pass the entrance and saw the CD booth on my right hand side. Yaiko was actually standing beside our right hand side!!! She was greeting every customers, fulfilling her duty as the owner for the day.

That.was.totally.unexpected.

My mind went all blank, I could only look at her face, double checking my eye sight. The real person is just the same as what you see from your computer screen.

One of the girls in front of me shook her hands, and the thought of doing the same came into my mind. I shook her right hand, and I managed to squeeze out this phrase:

マレーシアから来ました。 (I come from Malaysia)

I repeated twice just in case she didn't hear MALAYSIA clearly, you don't really get to hear that word often, being a musician in Japan.

She seemed to understand, a little surprised, and replied thank you.

Well I guess, that's the best answer I could get from someone like her.

Since I was the second last person in the line, and with the guy behind me could only stare at her and did nothing, Yaiko went to the back and hide from her customers.

I can still vividly remember that how the girl before me reacted, as if it wasn't real, since it happened too fast. I guess that's how most of the people felt when they met up close with someone that admire.

As I was willing to settle at the back, being unable to see the stage for live radio recording, one of the staff told us that we could watch the recording beside the stage. In split seconds, I settled myself in the first row.


After the radio live recording.

Still having this unbelievable feeling, I fell that I had to tell someone about it. So I bragged about it to some random Yaiko fan, she could only congratulate me and ended our conversation. Then I emailed two Japanese girls I know.

The real live recording actually started one hour later. While waiting, I exchanged emails in a super slow typing speed. There was this salaryman uncle standing beside me, taking pictures of the stage. So I was like, asking him to send me the pictures too via infra red, since I didn't have the courage to take pictures openly. But I failed to figure out how to send pictures from his Docomo phone to my Softbank phone.

At least, I managed to talk to three strangers today (Yaiko, random girl, salaryman uncle).

I could see Yaiko clearly when she reappeared, front row, 3 metres away. Some fans were sitting directly in front of her, less than 1 meter. Still, everyone was well behaved, and gave great response whenever the DJ and Yaiko were interacting with them. I guess Yaiko's fanbase are more towards 20s and above, they are more or less have basic communication skill lol.


Source: Natalie Music

It depends on the artist after all, nice artist, nice fans.

I really enjoyed the whole show. during the Q&A session, fans asked about her marriage life and stuff, what is the difference before and after married. Very funny.


How close the audience and the artist were.

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my better mp3 player, the recording I had was super crappy =/

And thanks to the free hot latte (cafe au lait), I remained awake until 4 am in the morning.

From a coffee addict, now I'm completely coffee free, my sleep cycle will be disrupted even just by one cup of coffee.



Hope that Yaiko will have concerts soon =D

After telling more than 5 people that I touched her right hand, it doesn't feel that exciting any more. Actually, nobody really cares haha.

Now I feel like learning the acoustic version of Koi Bus, though it might take forever.

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Misc Announcements:

It's already over November 25, and I still haven't receive any news from Lawson regarding our YUI 3rd Tour Goods......

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Last Friday I went to Saitama prefecture (above Tokyo) for the very first time to see Shiina Ringo sama.

Must put sama （様） because me respect her as a singer songwriter, guitarist, artist, whatever. Even her wiki entry sounds so impressive, can play so many instruments O_O Rejected contract from Yamaha and 'quarrel' with EMI *respect*

Speaking of wikipedia, can someone please edit YUI's wiki entry? It's YUI, not Yui. Plus, revealing her real name is not nice. We should ask the person who edited Ringo's wiki to write for YUI's instead.

Back to Ringo sama. I've been a big fan of hers ever since I listened to her second album, Shouso Strip. Though I don't really understand her lyrics (too difficult), I've been enjoying her various works and collaborations.

I just remembered that she once collaborated with Utada Hikaru XD

And YUI once sang along Marunouchi Sadistic in YUI LOCKS.

She is someone you wished you could be, someone you look up to, someone who lead an interesting life. Even though I cannot remember most of the title of her songs.


Crazy amount of people were lining up to buy goods. Not me, I am not patient enough.

I am just a casual fan, but I really respect her as a musician, and the fact that she quitted smoking. The few things I really don't like about Japan will be tobacco and excessive drinking.

So I paid 8810 yen (most expensive one so far) for the ticket of her 10th anniversary live, and hoping to have a blast in my first ever arena concert.

Sometimes it is better to have less expectations. I actually fell asleep a couple of times during the concert.

WHY?

The arena was freaking huge.

I was far away from the stage, though I moved further front under the staff's instruction, still very far. My seat was located at some awkward place, I couldn't even see the screen clearly. I don't know if it is intentional for the director to show weird angles and stuff on the screen, I couldn't really tell what clothes Ringo san was wearing, which guitar she was using, forget about her facial expression.

And, Ringo sama didn't really try to interact with the audience, nor introduced her band/orchestra. Nothing really flashy. I think she spoke less than 10 lines, it was really a concert.

I was kinda tired, so I slept instead, and got kinda tulan (pissed), I rather watch her concert DVD at home than paying 8810 yen for this.

The moral of the story is: Buy a good binocular, check your seat before going, and don't go to concerts when you are sleepy.


Ringo sama uses Red Tele too!!

But, people sitting around me were excited and all even after the concert finished. Kept saying sugoii and all. I guess it was just me.

I remained seated throughout the whole concert, so did the people sitting beside me. I actually said konnnichiwa (Hi) to people sitting beside me, they were kinda surprised when I did that, and replied konnnichiwa, END.

I was not going to give up, so I found another timing and asked whether if this was her first Ringo concert. First time too.

Enough practice for the day. Next time, two questions.

Good parts of this concert:

- She sang most of the songs with original/similar arrangements. She sang GIPS, Honnou, kabukichou no joou, my FAVEs.

Part of the lyrics of kabukichou no joou:

Coming out of the east exit at JR (Japan Railway) Shinjuku Station,
that’s my courtyard, the Entertainment Kingdom Kabuki-cho.

Kabuki-cho is really located near the east exit of Shinjuku station LOL *Random discovery*

- Orchestra was cool, I didn't even know if I was listening to CD or not.
- Ringo's biography was narrated by her 7 year old son. I was completely awake when that little boy voice said:" Thank you for coming to my mom's.....*awake* WHAT?!!?
- Her dance moves were cute.
- Being in the same place with Ringo sama.

And this time, I was not alone, technically.



I sent a message to this girl when she was asking who would want to go to Ringo sama's concert with her in mixi. And tada, we were in Saizeriya (family restaurant). She bought ticket for premium seats (20000 yen *pukes*), we just met up before the concert and chat a bit.

She likes Fahrenheit （飛輪海） lol.

Now I shall find someone using the same method for GO!GO!7188 and Orange Range concert...

Really looking forward to the release of this concert DVD next year. Gotta watch this DVD in detail, since I missed out a lot.

Happy 10th anniversary, Ringo sama.


Everyone who bought 8000 yen ticket gets this so called お土産 (souvenir). To me, they were just rubbish, marketing gimmick. Whoever wants it, do tell me (except the CD and magazine).

I bought ILY limited edition from Tower Records the other day, wanted to get poster. Since limited edition has 20% discount instead and normal edition no discount, maybe someday I can sell it. They placed that Gekkayo magazine near YUI's corner, once I saw that, I knew that I had to get it......

PS: To members of Electric Mole Forum, I have a (bad) recording for this concert. Email me or something if you guys wanna listen to it.

I just came back from Iwate prefecture (Miyako) for a three day trip. First time staying with a bunch of Japanese students, only me the only gaijin. I got to see the snow for the very first time when the night bus stopped at Morioka (prefecture capital) service area ;D


Around 5 in the morning.

The trip was memorable, REALLY. I have never experienced such coldness in my life before, I will talk about it in next posts.

I have been checking out a bunch of artists in the past few weeks. Since YUI is having her holiday now, gotta find some other things to do, besides exploring Japan, and of course, going to school.

First I went to monobright concert at Akasaka BLITZ. I was surprised to see this guy sitting few metres away from me.


MTV M Size, 10 March 2006

And, I was late for the concert again. Akasaka seems to be an interesting place, TBS is there, I will explore it again when I come here for GO!GO!7188 concert on next month.

Then I met my idol during my teenage days, SPEED at this place.


Tokyo FM Studio at Shibuya PARCO 1

SPEED was there for Tokyo FM's radio show appearance.

If it wasn't for SPEED, I won't get to know J-Pop, study Japanese, discovered YUI, and in Japan right now.

It has been over 5 years since they disbanded.

Even though I'm not that crazy over them as much now, being able to see them again does bring back a lot of good old memories. Reminding myself why am I here now. Hence when I realised that I might get to see them for FREE, I went to Shibuya even though I have to finish my presentation and what not.


November 15, Shibuya PARCO 1. They covered the studio, with a bunch of staff in black suits guarding the place, and people were lining up, waiting for their turn to have a 'peak' inside.

I thought I will be late again for this, luckily I managed to get the lining number. I was the second last person to received the 'peaking pass'. Before SPEED's appearance was Aoyama Thelma, and after SPEED was Orange Range.

Basically, there's no point if you start queuing early in the morning, and if the line gets too long, there is a possibility that you might not get the chance to 'peak' inside.

As it was a live recording, while waiting for our turn, I listened to SPEED's talk in the radio show through my mp3 player. There was this guy standing beside me, he just stood there doing nothing, waiting, so I was thinking of asking him to listen to the radio show together, and took off one side of my earphone.

In the end, I didn't have the courage to ask him. Plus, he was looking at the other side most of time, didn't even turn his head towards my side.

Japanese.

Haha.

Hence my chance of talking to another SPEED fan gone. If it was a girl, I think I might have no problem on chatting up with her =/

That explains why I remained single for 21 years.

Then I thought of writing something on a paper and show SPEED from outside the window. I took out a piece of A4 paper, and wrote "I am from Malaysia" with a ball pen.

After 40 minutes of waiting, MY TURN!


Source: Natalie Music

Takako is really beautiful, I only noticed Hitoe has braces when I saw them, there were like less than 2 metres away.

It was just like seeing them on the TV with close up shots, I think.

Since I was the second last person in line, we got to stare at SPEED till they left (yay). Roughly 10 minutes, being so near to them.

If anyone of you guys know how to steal these two videos, can do me a favour? Steal them?

I still can remember back then I watched their concerts in VCD for more than thousand times XD And memorised all the dance moves, OMG. I don't do this now, not even YUI. Since I couldn't join YUI Fanclub now, I might consider joining SPEED fanclub hee. It was one of my dreams to see their concert, it seemed to be impossible to me back then, but not any more.

Hmm I wonder if I can get to go Ayu's countdown live LOL, I'm not even the member of her fanclub...

YUI been to this studio as well.


YUI - COUNTDOWN JAPAN (060923)

I wonder how will I react when I saw her up close.

Speaking of radio shows, I discovered Perfume Locks when I was listening to Chatmonchy's interview on School of Lock.

They are d.a.m.n hilarious!! Especially A~chan LOL. Perfume just performed in Music Fair together with SPEED, HALCALI and Lil'B, check out the talk part here, really really funny girls talk.

This one is for Chatmonchy and Perfume fans: MediaFire

After listen to this, my opinion on Perfume changed completely. I don't really mind that they lip synch 99% of the time any more haha.

I'll just listen to Chat Locks and Perfume Locks since no more YUI Locks =P

This Friday I'm going to see Shiina Ringo sama at Saitama Super Arena. My first ever arena concert, hopefully I'll reach there on time.

Btw, I think my message on that A4 paper to SPEED failed to get through them because I used ball pen, the writing was too thin to be seen. Help me to get those two videos ya =x

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Misc Announcements:

I just forked out 30,000 yen to buy YUI goods, ordered by those who already paid their deposit of RM 40 or SGD 20.

For those who are interested in ordering YUI 3rd tour goods, remember that the cut off date will be Nov 10, and all the deposits must be collected before Nov 12.

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Entrance of Toyama Campus, Waseda University

When I first found out that Chatmonchy is coming to Waseda Festival, I was extremely excited.

However, I was one day late. The tickets were already sold out by the time I figured out how to buy it. My only solution at that time: Yahoo Auction (Even though YUI said that we shouldn't buy from that website).

In the end, a 2,000 yen ticket, I bought it for 5,505 yen. Every time someone overbid me, I was contemplating whether this would be my final offer or not. From 4k, to 5k, then ended up 5k more.

I'm glad that I bought it though, really. It is not often that your favourite artist comes to your school, so no matter what, must go.

The concert started at 2 pm, November 3. It was the second day of Waseda Festival. Before that, I went to see Reina's (another cute YUI fan) dance performance.

Unlike Malaysia, in Japan, concerts start right on time. That's why I always wait until the last minute then enter the venue. I HATE to wait. Plus, being alone, I can always sneak into somewhere in front if I want to. So I went to the toilet, and walked towards the stage slowly. My ticket was at Block A, front block.

I was on time =P

After the Sokei match incident, I decided to wear more layer of clothes than I needed whenever I'm going out for a long period of time.

Concerts = Hot

Hence I took off my YUI hoodie and stuffed in my backpack. I brought bento as well, and my bag got really big. How to watch concert with a big backpack on your back? So I put it in front of my knees.

Suddenly the screen showed Waseda school song. As a loyal student, I raised my hand and 'pretended' to sing (because I haven't memorise the lyrics). It was kinda embarrassing, because not everyone is Waseda students.

Then halfway through the school anthem, Chatmonchy came out and did our signatured hand gestures when singing school song. That was a good move, impressing us Waseda students XD

First song, Hira hira hiraku himitsu no tobira. Disaster came.

Everyone got really excited and started to move towards the stage. I was pushed down, and tried really hard to protect my precious backpack, and my mp3 player (aka recorder) dropped during the mess. It was really scary, for once I thought the possibility of me being stepped until dead or something.

Chatmonchy had to stop performing and they returned to backstage. Thank god.



The staff had to ask us to move back numerous times, and people were passing their belongings to the staff at front. I decided to put my bag at the other corner, didn't care that it will be stolen or anything, since I'm in Japan, not Malaysia, where we have to look after our stuff all the time.

When Chatmonchy returned back, Ecchan said something really touching. She asked us to show some consideration to the people in our left, right, front, behind, and enjoy the concert. I think everyone followed what she said. No pushing or body touching when the concert continued. Relieved. Sometimes I'm quite Japanese, because I don't feel like being pushed by unknown people, how can that be an enjoyable live experience if someone kept pushing you? And you always have to be careful so that you won't get pushed down by others.

Luckily I was in Japan, luckily it was Chatmonchy. Luckily Ecchan said something like that. That reminds me of Switchfoot concert I attended in Malaysia. I was in the front row hence I could hang on the barrier whenever someone pushed from the back, I wonder what will happen if I was in the middle of the crowd......

Set List:

01. Hira Hira Hiraku Himitsu no Tobira *CRAZY*
02. Hana no Yume
03. Koi no Kemuri
04. Tsumasaki
－－MC1
05. Oya Shirazu
06. Donaru, Denwa, Doshaburi
07. Sayonara Good bye
08. Renai Spirits
－－MC2
09. Mayonaka Yuuenchi
10. Tobi Uo no Butterfly
11. Bus Romance
－－MC3
12. Somaru Yo *LOVE*
13. Sekai ga Owaru Yoru ni
－－MC4
14. Saraba Seishun
15. Toukyou Hachimitsu Orchestra
16. Kaze Fukeba Koi
Encore
17. Shangrila

During the MC, Chatmonchy was saying that they wanted to visit the booths in Waseda Festival but they were surprised that there were nothing in Toyama Campus lol so sad. The booths were at Waseda Campus, somewhere 10 minutes away. Luckily the student staff brought a bunch of food for them to try out.

Halfway through the concert, I started to get very tired, no more energy to jump and wave hands lol (old woman). At first I could see Ecchan clearly, after that someone blocked my view and I had to switch my focus to Akko instead. Luckily Japanese are not that tall =x


Akko gave away all her and Ecchan picks at the end of concert. "This is Chatmonchy Eriko's pick." Someone in mixi got it. Akko said that Ecchan doesn't know how to throw picks, so she helped Ecchan, reminds me of YUI lol.

Thanks to the happening incident in the beginning, I had my own space to do jumping and stuff without bumping into each other (That explains why why I was tired even before the concert ends).

I wonder why Ecchan has to change her guitar so frequent, like every 1-2 songs, 2 Teles, 2 Gibsons. It kinda interrupted the flow of the concert. Ecchan uses a lot of weird chords, or maybe my guitar chord knowledge is too limited. Just like the previous GO!GO!7188 concert, at first the audience was screaming here and there, after a while, no more name calling. Guess they were tired, just like me haha.

I first heard Chatmonchy when they released Shangrila, got interested (guitar playing girl), Hana no Yume rocks, and yeah. Before the concert I watched Top Runner and I was really touched, even though Ecchan's outfit in Budoukan was a bit, ahem. And her recent hairstyle. Maybe she is going towards rock-ish side, I still like her haha.



Time to practise guitar.

Reports of this concert by Mezamashi TV can be found in YouTube.

Lesson learned: Don't go to a concert with empty stomach, and better, don't bring anything.

Note: YUI is mentioned at the last part.

Continued from Sokeisen in previous post.

GO!GO!7188 at Nihon University school festival (砧祭, Kinuta-sai), College of Commerce. 2300++ yen. Alone, yeahhh.

In case you guys don't know who GO!GO!7188 is, I have included youtube links for the songs I mentioned in this post. I can't remember how I discovered them, but it was around the time when they released PARADE album.

That's why I prefer their recent stuff, old stuff is cool too, more folkish, weirder.Fall in love with them after watching the performance of ROCK during random youtube surfing. So kakkoii!! Never knew that such awesome female guitarist and bassist exist in Japan.


Pictures were taken after live because I was literally rushed to the venue.

I discovered the existence of school festivals thanks to YUI. She went to a couple of universities to perform during their annual school festivals, which are normally held around autumn. Waseda has one too.

After the dinner, I took Odakyu line (reminds me of Ikimonogakari) for the first time to Soshigaya-Okura station (祖師ヶ谷大蔵) from Shinjuku station.



The live started at 6.30 pm. I reached the station around 6.20, and I still had to walk another 12 minutes according to Yahoo maps.

Luckily I have memorised the route, I just followed the road which has the most student looking people came from. On my way, I was wondering why the street is called Ultraman Shopping Street.

When I reached the campus, I could hear Nounai Traveller. OMG OMG.

I quickly rushed to the information booth, and the staff pointed me some building and told me the live was on 4th floor.

4th floor...by the time I reached the hall (classroom to be exact), I felt so hot and took off my jacket and rolled up my sleeves. Freezing in the morning, now very hot. I won't to be late in my next concert any more......

But then, because that I came late, I got to move around the classroom. So I went as near to the stage as possible. Less than 5 metres away from them. I could see Yuu's Custom Made Vintage White Telecaster or maybe the other yellow one clearly.

Yay for Fender Telecaster~!!

But Yuu was at the other side (right), Akko was at the left side of stage. Bah. It was definitely 100 times better than DAI live I went anyway. No one was beside me, because it just happened that that row was completely empty. It feels weird to watch a live with nobody around, literally. But after a while, I became used to it. Shock sendiri you know.

During the MC, Akko (bassist) was really funny. She asked us to repeat after her these phrases:

「俺の、ものは、俺のものー！！」 (What belongs to me is mine~!!)
「お前の、ものも、俺のものー！！」 (What belongs to you is mine too~!!!)

Then Turkey's (drummer) turn:

「世界の、ものは、俺のもの！！」 (Everything in the world is mine!!!)
「世界の、女も、俺のもの！！」 (Every woman in the world is mine too!!!) *Akko pointed her middle finger at him LOL*

And she was saying that the 5 pretty girls standing in the front row was a rare sight in GO!GO!7188 live.

Yuu said that they better be careful of Akko XD And she told the audience that she went to check out the school festival before that too.

*Imagining Chatmonchy walking around Waseda school festival......*

Set list: (Thanks to 琴≒ごりこ san in mixi)

1. ROCK (OMG WTF I MISSED THIS!!!!!)
2. Nounai Traveller
3. Ska
4. Sandaa Gaaru
5. YOME toshite 2008 (Akko)
6. Bariburi (Turkey)
7. Kataomoi Fighter
8. Otona no Kusuri

I really like when everyone did the yeah! thing. It was fun. Yuu made weird + cute faces when she paused during the yeah part, very cute.

9. Futashikatashika *New Song*
10. Koi no Uta
11. Ukifune

I got very excited when they sang this song. Because this is the only GO!GO! song I've learned before, I can play 15 seconds of this song =.=

12. Hyokkori Hyoutan Jima
13. Manhole
14. Bungu

~Encore~
15. Jetto Ninjin

When Yuu moved to the other side of stage (my side) and started playing a bunch of crazy solos, only then I realised how pretty she is =3 Apparently she is left handed. She plays right handed guitars because she thought that there's no left handed guitar back then. Omg so cool *Salute her guitar skills*

One thing I noticed was when GO!GO!7188 first stopped to check the sound or had a break, the audience screamed here and there, after a few attempts with no response from GO!GO!, the audience stopped doing that. There were even times that the classroom turned completely silent for 5 seconds, which is impossible in Malaysia.

And during the final encore, Akko was promoting their upcoming releases and ask us to buy the tickets of year end tour in Akasaka BLITZ. When I heard that, I was so eager to shout at them that I already bought the tickets but I didn't dare to do so.

They always say, when you are in your dead bed, the things you regret the most aren't the ones you already did but the ones you never did. In this week, I have regretted on a bunch of things I didn't do.....haih. And I thought that I've become braver and willing to take actions but apparently not. Still have a long way to go.

All in all, awesome live. The best I've seen, because I don't really watch concerts in Malaysia. Right now it is the best haha. For 2,825 yen, I think is worth the money. We won't get to see overseas' artist in Malaysia that near for that amount of money, plus 15 songs, no way. Going to see them again next month~


Something I bought after the concert, I'm running out of clothes to wear so this might be a good one. V.I.S.C. = busaiku (不細工, ugly, plain, clumsy). Akko wore it in the live too.

As I was googling around for GO!GO! info, I bumped into Yuu's blog and she went to dear YUI's live TWICE, because YUI's bassist, Eikichi san is the bassist of another band of hers called チリヌルヲワカ (Chirinuruwowaka), so Yuu gets to watch free YUI lives so to speak.

It is weird to see Yuu not playing solos for the very first time. I really like カスガイ(Kasugai), sounds very different.


Shinjuku's Sakuraya, near West exit. There are more than 5 Sakurayas in Shinjuku. Very confusing at first.

Everything comes back to YUI =.= In the diary Yuu said that YUI has both voice and looks, there are times god will gave both voice and looks as well, to someone like YUI XD Yuu san, you are pretty + talented too, and I like your cute voice, don't get jealous of YUI. She's different =x

So when are you two going to do a duet or something?? (Bokura no Ongaku!!)

Next live will be,



Some band featured in this picture, in 10 hours time.