[Day 3] In Which There Was A Concert
I woke up to more rain.
Also realised I was supposed to attend a concert - the actual reason I'm freezing my arse off 5000km away from home.
The concert was held at Makuhari Messe (gaming geeks will recognize this immediately), so after waiting for Keith to finish putting on his makeup (how come guys take longer than girls? Is it being meticulous? Their motor skills aren't as good? What?), we got our standard Vie De France breakfast pastries and hopped onto the train.
Mmm, chocolate.
The train to Makuhari is pretty straightforward: Once you take the train to Tokyo Disneyland, you're well on your way to the place.
Pictured: Tokyo Disneyland on a cold, rainy, wintry day. Yeah, gorgeous scenery right there.
Or so we thought...
So there we were going through suburbia, drifting in and out of sleep (I can see why the Japanese would take trains - gives them a chance to catch forty winks), admiring Japanese suburbia as we headed for Chiba...
...But one hour later and seeing this for the 10th time after Tokyo Disneyland, it was time to get a biiiit suspicious.
So I checked the train route, and WADDAYA KNOW WE WERE ON THE WRONG TRAIN. 8D Turns out we were supposed to alight a stop or two after Tokyo Disneyland and change trains to get to Makuhari...or take a different line altogether right where we started. On the bright side, we could have taken the train right to the terminal and THEN realised our mistake, since Makuhari was a terminal stop itself, we would've just sat tight and dozed off and thought "oh well, the train's gotta stop sooner or later" and BAM somewhere else and possibly late for the concert. So we got off at the next station and backtracked to take the right train.
Whereever it was we were at , I can honestly tell you it looked like a scene right out of a Makoto Shinkai movie. It's exactly like his shows - the ruralness, the bridge over the train, the out-of-place gaijin waiting at an empty train platform, the cloud pr0n...I think it was worth the detour, and if we had time I would've taken a picture of the surroundings instead of having to leap into a train back to an interchange.
So anyway, here we are at Makuhari Messe...3 hours late for the merch line!
Nadia and Sherlyn went to find Layla and collect their tickets while Keith and I were to stand in the merch queue so that they can cut in with us later. The queue started around the back of the building (with a political campaign van rounding the area blaring propaganda and playing patriotic music - now that's something you don't see every day!)...
Up the stairs, around the hall (where there was a family-oriented event going on - I only say this because I cannot justify the toddlers otherwise) and looping back at the end of the balcony...
...Loop back to where we started...which is the halfway mark of the queue...
...Walk past a fountain, go down some steps and get into the main area...
...Loop around the barriers and end up in front of the display truck where you can pick the merch you want to buy (if you hadn't decided when the list came out online the week before)...
...Get into one of TEN queues and prepare your cash...
...Step up, tell them what you want, and pay up! Congratulations, I am now the proud owner of The Gazette's RM160 hardcover photobook and a B@arbrick after 2 hours of waiting in line!
Now traditionally this would be the end of the adventure and it'd be time for the concert. Well, partly, yes...but this is also where all the assholicry and bitter tastes in mouths begin. You ready? Go get some candy and water and get comfy; you're going to realise that not all Japanese are nice and efficient and this may permanently ruin your image of the country. In fact, let's have a happy pic of Keith and Sherlyn before we start.
Aight, let's go.
This is the stupid-arsed concierge bag check of hell. When we passed by we thought "oh this is very efficient, why can't others think of this", and then the main problem cropped up: The staff ran out of large plastic bags to place your items in. That's right, the organisers RAN OUT OF PLASTIC BAGS. So after that they ONLY accepted trolley-type luggage because those they could just line up around the corner without a plastic bag. Anything else? Sucks to be you, either drag all your crap into the hall OR chuck it just outside the hall entrance!
...Wait what.
Did you just tell us to dump our bags at the door? A large unmanned door with hundreds of other bags? I don't care if this is Japan, I am NOT trusting my valuables to a corner of Makuhari Messe.
The reason why this is an issue is The Gazette's most major piece of merchandise: The Black Moral Grab Bags of DOOM (BMGBOD). I don't have a picture of the bag itself (my rage wouldn't let me take a pic of it), so let me repost a pic:
See the large black bag the girl under the pink-lined black umbrella is holding on the right? That is HALF the size of the BMGBOD. Priced at either 5000 or 10000 yen, each bag holds a bunch of random merch from previous tours totalling up to the value you paid for the bag. This can be anything from old tour pamphlets to T-shirts to old parkas and incense candles, etc. This bag can weigh almost 5-10 kilograms. Now we didn't buy it...but Nadia's Aussie friend wanted one, so we *possessed* one. The only thing the bag was good for was storing our handbags and coats (and all the junk in it), and then the BMGBOD doubles as a body pillow. Now, remember what I said about the No More Plastic Bags Go Dump Your Stuff In An Unattended Corner? We lugged this bag into the hall.
So far, so good.
Hot DAMN that is really near the stage! Sure there's large caucasian ladies in front of us, and we have a bag to take care of, but we made friends with a tiny Singaporean girl named Sherilyn (NOT to be confused with Sherlyn, that's another lady) who had TWO BMGBODs to take care of! No worries, we'll huddle together and surround our bags so nobody trips on-
...Why are 15 girls in front of us shouting for a staff? Why are they pointing at us? Why are they hollering for someone who knows english? Why are 30+ Japanese girls staring at us now? What *is* going on?
Thankfully a girl behind us could speak English, and she explained the excitement: These girls were *extremely* concerned about our 3 large bags, and wanted us to move our bags away. They want us to go hand it to the bag concierge people who won't accept our bags, but GOD DAMN IT MOVE YOUR BAGS IT IS DANGEROUS FOR MOSHING. When Nadia explained that there really was nowhere we could put it (and Sherilyn's passport was in one of the bags, which makes it even riskier), the stupid hollering girls called for staff EVEN LOUDER so we told them SHUT UP BITCHES WE UNDERSTAND YOUR MOONSPEAK GDI in Japanese and they backed off, but by now a staff member had gotten involved. So we said we'll check in the trolley bag, and then come back. 30 minutes before the concert and there we were walking back out the way we came (at least they kindly parted way for us) and got into the whole mess about chucking your bag in a corner again. So with no way to keep the bags anywhere safe and the concert starting in 5 minutes, we resigned ourselves to standing somewhere towards the middle...but it's definitely not the front-row spectacle we had earlier.
Right next to us were 2 girls who had BMGBOD, so 1) We weren't the only ones with the problem, and 2) there really wasn't a fuss...just the 15 hollering girls at the front of the barrier. God forbid they watch their step.
BUT THAT'S NOT THE END OF IT.
Japanese people are crazy moshers, we've established that in the last series of Japan posts. It is hard to enjoy a concert when people keep bumping into you, and I have to look out for Sherilyn who's like 5 feet or less and keeps getting shoved into her bags, AND keep my footing. Thankfully the girls next to us with the BMGBOD also apologised when we accidentally bumped into them and vice versa, because they understood our pain. /__\
By encore I had enough of the moshing, so we moved further back and met up with the Singaporean bunch with Clay and Keith and a few others, so we could at least form a bigger circle around the bags (and there was generally more space). Didn't stop Sherilyn from finally falling face-first into her bags on the floor, but at least we had SPACE. Also, we were quite near a runway where the band would run to and strut their stuff, so I could leave the circle to LOOK AT NOSE BAND GUY WHOOOOO SO CLOSE and then come back without injuring too many people.
And if you're curious, here's the setlist:
Miseinen
Akai One Piece
春ニ散リケリ，身ハ枯レルデゴザイマス haru ni chirikeri..
～zetsu～
Psychedelic Heroine
SWALLOWTAIL ON THE DEATH VALLEY
Ganges ni Akai Bara
Sumire
Kareuta
Cassis
THE $OCIAL RIOT MACHINE$
Ruder
VERMIN
VORTEX
HEADACHE MAN
IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS
Filth in the beauty
- ENCORE -
Ride with the ROCKERS
Nausea & Shudder
Juuyonsai no Knife
Doro darake no Seishun
Anata no Tame no kono Inochi
Kantou Dogeza Kumiai
LINDA～candydive Pinky heaven～
W -ENCORE -
Wakaremichi
Shunsetsu no Koro
It's nice to be familiar with SOME of the songs this time!
Finally whoo concert over, let's go grab our bags and go back I am so tired of-
This is a quarter of the line collecting bags from the concierge. Turns out the plastic-bag system wasn't that efficient, and staff were having trouble locating bags. Our luggage ended up having a pair of shoes that belonged to no one (and our group had about 12 of us, mind), so we returned it and hoped someone didn't need to go back barefooted that night. Nadia somehow found a cellphone on the ground, and managed to return it to some grateful high school girls. Most of us were tired and thirsty after the concert, so while waiting for our luggage (which took over an hour AND apparently some posters were ruined in the moshing while some thoughtful moshers threw the posters over the barriers to preserve them) a few of us went out to find a konbini to buy water.
There were some complexes 15 minutes from the hall - the walk was only made pleasant by indie bands handing out brochures (some of the girls were excited seeing their bands doing their shameless plugging in person). It's always cute seeing struggling young bands promoting their upcoming concerts, I'm sure Gazette did this at one point. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO COOL O__O
Got some water, headed back, claimed our luggage, made sure everything was in order, then trudged back.
Claim your umbrella...or get a free one!
So with that the concert was over and we lugged that stupid BMGBOD back to the station, with Clay helping out at the stairs (and us helping some girl with her merch at one point). Most memorable moment? When Reita and Aoi played rock-paper-scissors to see who'd give their anniversary speech first, and Aoi won. It was the sort of silly you could miss if you were looking at Kai talking instead, but if you catch it you feel lucky. Everything else is a haze of moshing, body contact, and staying alive. So screw you stupid Black Moral Grab Bag of Doom for ruining our concert.
Upon reaching Ikebukuro at midnight, we went to Cafe Gusto where I ordered a salad. Family restaurants are apparently the mamak shops of Japan - they open till very late, and people have their yamchas there. Food is nowhere as tasty as mamak food, but when you've just come back from a 1-hour train ride and it's cold and you can eat beef, there's no better place to be...I guess.
Let's end this with a creatively heartwarming ad for a phone hotline (I think):
The phone number actually corresponds to the phrase "kokoro yasashi" (gentle heart). That's a surefire way to remember a phone number, if anything!
Next up: Asakusa revisited, and my PMS gets confrontational with the natives!
Also realised I was supposed to attend a concert - the actual reason I'm freezing my arse off 5000km away from home.
The concert was held at Makuhari Messe (gaming geeks will recognize this immediately), so after waiting for Keith to finish putting on his makeup (how come guys take longer than girls? Is it being meticulous? Their motor skills aren't as good? What?), we got our standard Vie De France breakfast pastries and hopped onto the train.
Mmm, chocolate.
The train to Makuhari is pretty straightforward: Once you take the train to Tokyo Disneyland, you're well on your way to the place.
Pictured: Tokyo Disneyland on a cold, rainy, wintry day. Yeah, gorgeous scenery right there.
Or so we thought...
So there we were going through suburbia, drifting in and out of sleep (I can see why the Japanese would take trains - gives them a chance to catch forty winks), admiring Japanese suburbia as we headed for Chiba...
...But one hour later and seeing this for the 10th time after Tokyo Disneyland, it was time to get a biiiit suspicious.
So I checked the train route, and WADDAYA KNOW WE WERE ON THE WRONG TRAIN. 8D Turns out we were supposed to alight a stop or two after Tokyo Disneyland and change trains to get to Makuhari...or take a different line altogether right where we started. On the bright side, we could have taken the train right to the terminal and THEN realised our mistake, since Makuhari was a terminal stop itself, we would've just sat tight and dozed off and thought "oh well, the train's gotta stop sooner or later" and BAM somewhere else and possibly late for the concert. So we got off at the next station and backtracked to take the right train.
Whereever it was we were at , I can honestly tell you it looked like a scene right out of a Makoto Shinkai movie. It's exactly like his shows - the ruralness, the bridge over the train, the out-of-place gaijin waiting at an empty train platform, the cloud pr0n...I think it was worth the detour, and if we had time I would've taken a picture of the surroundings instead of having to leap into a train back to an interchange.
So anyway, here we are at Makuhari Messe...3 hours late for the merch line!
Nadia and Sherlyn went to find Layla and collect their tickets while Keith and I were to stand in the merch queue so that they can cut in with us later. The queue started around the back of the building (with a political campaign van rounding the area blaring propaganda and playing patriotic music - now that's something you don't see every day!)...
Up the stairs, around the hall (where there was a family-oriented event going on - I only say this because I cannot justify the toddlers otherwise) and looping back at the end of the balcony...
...Loop back to where we started...which is the halfway mark of the queue...
...Walk past a fountain, go down some steps and get into the main area...
...Loop around the barriers and end up in front of the display truck where you can pick the merch you want to buy (if you hadn't decided when the list came out online the week before)...
...Get into one of TEN queues and prepare your cash...
...Step up, tell them what you want, and pay up! Congratulations, I am now the proud owner of The Gazette's RM160 hardcover photobook and a B@arbrick after 2 hours of waiting in line!
Now traditionally this would be the end of the adventure and it'd be time for the concert. Well, partly, yes...but this is also where all the assholicry and bitter tastes in mouths begin. You ready? Go get some candy and water and get comfy; you're going to realise that not all Japanese are nice and efficient and this may permanently ruin your image of the country. In fact, let's have a happy pic of Keith and Sherlyn before we start.
Aight, let's go.
This is the stupid-arsed concierge bag check of hell. When we passed by we thought "oh this is very efficient, why can't others think of this", and then the main problem cropped up: The staff ran out of large plastic bags to place your items in. That's right, the organisers RAN OUT OF PLASTIC BAGS. So after that they ONLY accepted trolley-type luggage because those they could just line up around the corner without a plastic bag. Anything else? Sucks to be you, either drag all your crap into the hall OR chuck it just outside the hall entrance!
...Wait what.
Did you just tell us to dump our bags at the door? A large unmanned door with hundreds of other bags? I don't care if this is Japan, I am NOT trusting my valuables to a corner of Makuhari Messe.
The reason why this is an issue is The Gazette's most major piece of merchandise: The Black Moral Grab Bags of DOOM (BMGBOD). I don't have a picture of the bag itself (my rage wouldn't let me take a pic of it), so let me repost a pic:
See the large black bag the girl under the pink-lined black umbrella is holding on the right? That is HALF the size of the BMGBOD. Priced at either 5000 or 10000 yen, each bag holds a bunch of random merch from previous tours totalling up to the value you paid for the bag. This can be anything from old tour pamphlets to T-shirts to old parkas and incense candles, etc. This bag can weigh almost 5-10 kilograms. Now we didn't buy it...but Nadia's Aussie friend wanted one, so we *possessed* one. The only thing the bag was good for was storing our handbags and coats (and all the junk in it), and then the BMGBOD doubles as a body pillow. Now, remember what I said about the No More Plastic Bags Go Dump Your Stuff In An Unattended Corner? We lugged this bag into the hall.
So far, so good.
Hot DAMN that is really near the stage! Sure there's large caucasian ladies in front of us, and we have a bag to take care of, but we made friends with a tiny Singaporean girl named Sherilyn (NOT to be confused with Sherlyn, that's another lady) who had TWO BMGBODs to take care of! No worries, we'll huddle together and surround our bags so nobody trips on-
...Why are 15 girls in front of us shouting for a staff? Why are they pointing at us? Why are they hollering for someone who knows english? Why are 30+ Japanese girls staring at us now? What *is* going on?
Thankfully a girl behind us could speak English, and she explained the excitement: These girls were *extremely* concerned about our 3 large bags, and wanted us to move our bags away. They want us to go hand it to the bag concierge people who won't accept our bags, but GOD DAMN IT MOVE YOUR BAGS IT IS DANGEROUS FOR MOSHING. When Nadia explained that there really was nowhere we could put it (and Sherilyn's passport was in one of the bags, which makes it even riskier), the stupid hollering girls called for staff EVEN LOUDER so we told them SHUT UP BITCHES WE UNDERSTAND YOUR MOONSPEAK GDI in Japanese and they backed off, but by now a staff member had gotten involved. So we said we'll check in the trolley bag, and then come back. 30 minutes before the concert and there we were walking back out the way we came (at least they kindly parted way for us) and got into the whole mess about chucking your bag in a corner again. So with no way to keep the bags anywhere safe and the concert starting in 5 minutes, we resigned ourselves to standing somewhere towards the middle...but it's definitely not the front-row spectacle we had earlier.
Right next to us were 2 girls who had BMGBOD, so 1) We weren't the only ones with the problem, and 2) there really wasn't a fuss...just the 15 hollering girls at the front of the barrier. God forbid they watch their step.
BUT THAT'S NOT THE END OF IT.
Japanese people are crazy moshers, we've established that in the last series of Japan posts. It is hard to enjoy a concert when people keep bumping into you, and I have to look out for Sherilyn who's like 5 feet or less and keeps getting shoved into her bags, AND keep my footing. Thankfully the girls next to us with the BMGBOD also apologised when we accidentally bumped into them and vice versa, because they understood our pain. /__\
By encore I had enough of the moshing, so we moved further back and met up with the Singaporean bunch with Clay and Keith and a few others, so we could at least form a bigger circle around the bags (and there was generally more space). Didn't stop Sherilyn from finally falling face-first into her bags on the floor, but at least we had SPACE. Also, we were quite near a runway where the band would run to and strut their stuff, so I could leave the circle to LOOK AT NOSE BAND GUY WHOOOOO SO CLOSE and then come back without injuring too many people.
And if you're curious, here's the setlist:
Miseinen
Akai One Piece
春ニ散リケリ，身ハ枯レルデゴザイマス haru ni chirikeri..
～zetsu～
Psychedelic Heroine
SWALLOWTAIL ON THE DEATH VALLEY
Ganges ni Akai Bara
Sumire
Kareuta
Cassis
THE $OCIAL RIOT MACHINE$
Ruder
VERMIN
VORTEX
HEADACHE MAN
IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAOS
Filth in the beauty
- ENCORE -
Ride with the ROCKERS
Nausea & Shudder
Juuyonsai no Knife
Doro darake no Seishun
Anata no Tame no kono Inochi
Kantou Dogeza Kumiai
LINDA～candydive Pinky heaven～
W -ENCORE -
Wakaremichi
Shunsetsu no Koro
It's nice to be familiar with SOME of the songs this time!
Finally whoo concert over, let's go grab our bags and go back I am so tired of-
This is a quarter of the line collecting bags from the concierge. Turns out the plastic-bag system wasn't that efficient, and staff were having trouble locating bags. Our luggage ended up having a pair of shoes that belonged to no one (and our group had about 12 of us, mind), so we returned it and hoped someone didn't need to go back barefooted that night. Nadia somehow found a cellphone on the ground, and managed to return it to some grateful high school girls. Most of us were tired and thirsty after the concert, so while waiting for our luggage (which took over an hour AND apparently some posters were ruined in the moshing while some thoughtful moshers threw the posters over the barriers to preserve them) a few of us went out to find a konbini to buy water.
There were some complexes 15 minutes from the hall - the walk was only made pleasant by indie bands handing out brochures (some of the girls were excited seeing their bands doing their shameless plugging in person). It's always cute seeing struggling young bands promoting their upcoming concerts, I'm sure Gazette did this at one point. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO COOL O__O
Got some water, headed back, claimed our luggage, made sure everything was in order, then trudged back.
Claim your umbrella...or get a free one!
So with that the concert was over and we lugged that stupid BMGBOD back to the station, with Clay helping out at the stairs (and us helping some girl with her merch at one point). Most memorable moment? When Reita and Aoi played rock-paper-scissors to see who'd give their anniversary speech first, and Aoi won. It was the sort of silly you could miss if you were looking at Kai talking instead, but if you catch it you feel lucky. Everything else is a haze of moshing, body contact, and staying alive. So screw you stupid Black Moral Grab Bag of Doom for ruining our concert.
Upon reaching Ikebukuro at midnight, we went to Cafe Gusto where I ordered a salad. Family restaurants are apparently the mamak shops of Japan - they open till very late, and people have their yamchas there. Food is nowhere as tasty as mamak food, but when you've just come back from a 1-hour train ride and it's cold and you can eat beef, there's no better place to be...I guess.
Let's end this with a creatively heartwarming ad for a phone hotline (I think):
The phone number actually corresponds to the phrase "kokoro yasashi" (gentle heart). That's a surefire way to remember a phone number, if anything!
Next up: Asakusa revisited, and my PMS gets confrontational with the natives!