skip to main |
skip to sidebar
On the 9th I had set a date with a friend of mine before I even arrived in Tokyo. Meeting at 1:30pm by the Takeshita Dori entrance of Harajuku station! Just that morning I'd arrived back in Tokyo on the night bus, so suffering from lack of sleep I dragged myself up and out to go and meet 'Jellyfish'. He'd spent the morning telling me it was too hot, so I eventually told him just to wear something easy and cool which turned out to be a Jinbe. Cute. We met up at the right time, walked down Takeshita dori before deciding it was way too hot and way too crowded, it only took him a moment to suggest going back to the station and crossing over to Meiji jingu shrine.
Under the shelter of the trees and away from all the people it was much much cooler, but the noise from the cicada was almost deafening in some places! (We don't get them in the UK). Wandering around..boys will be boys, and 'Jellyfish' insisted on poking at every single bug we came across, even the spiders......I've never seen such huge blue and black butterflies either than in Meiji Jingu!
It wasn't a very exciting day to report on, but I thought I would add it in. We spent an hour or so wandering around the shrine and the surrounding park, talking and swapping the dictionary back and forth when we got stuck, we went and sat down on some grassy area and chilled out with the skyscrapers towering in the background.
I always find going to these places in the middle of Tokyo a surreal experience.
After our walk we hopped the Yamanote line down to Yoyogi and went for another small wander before 'Jellyfish' decided he was hungry and we stopped off in McDonalds. Teriyaki burger ftw. Having to catch the Shinkansen to Akita tomorrow, and me needing to catch up on sleep and deal with Kiryu photos, we didn't stay out too late, instead deciding to part ways at around 6pm. 10th August - Gaienmae fireworks!
On the 7th of August me and Ku caught the night bus from Tokyo back to Hirosaki. What I thought was going to be a horrific journey turned out to be quiet alright, I'd say the night bus is a pretty decent budget way to travel long distances in Japan, and certainly cheaper than the Shinkansen!!!
So after a 9 or 10? hour bus journey we arrived in Hirosaki early in the morning on the 8th. We went and crashed at Ku's place ready for the evening ahead. Taking the train over to Aomori in the afternoon we went for food and then to head to the venu, loaded with my photography stuff and a nervous buzz. We had to walk past the line of fans to get into the venu before hand (ignoring the looks of curiosity and hatred), we received our press pass stickers and went to set up! Faced with a half dressed band as soon as we walked into the hall, I left Ku to do the talking. I also never really realized Takemasa was so tall......Oh and their manager is terrifying.....
The live itself was packed out! Something of a surprise, but it being a one man and all...I guess it was expected. Personally I've never listened to Kiryu, but I was given a good show and the band ended up being a lot heavier than I expected! Mahiro sounds awesome live. I wouldn't mind paying to be in the crowd to see them one time, it was a very active gig with much jumping and headbanging (unusual for a vk show it seems). Soon after the live was finished we had to pack and leave pretty sharpish, only waiting for the venu to empty and to beable to speak to management, because I was back on the nightbus to Tokyo the same evening!!
Overall I think it went well! I got some good shots (I took over 600 photos that night) and once they are published I'll link you all too them! I can't post any of the band on here because they have to be run through management first and then published with the article, but I'll give you a couple of ones I CAN post.
