Event: Peace and Smile Company 10th Anniversary Concert
Date: January 3, 2009
Venue: Nippon Budokan
Number of fans: 13,000 (all sold out in 1 day!)
Length: Approximately 5 hours. (4:00pm to 9:00pm)

Band order:
SuG
Screw
Kagrra,
Kra
alice nine.
The GazettE
Miyavi

Set list:
SuG
1. Vi-Vi-Vi
- MC -
2. LOVE SCREAM PARTY

Screw
1. Death's door
2. VEGAS

Kagrra,
1. Kotodama
2. Sai
- MC -
3. Shigatsu Tsuitachi (April First)
- MC -
4. Uzu
5. Utakata
6. Urei

kra
SE - Keiyuu piano solo
1. artman
2. Renjou philosophy
3. Mutaku to mutaku to
4. Amaoto wa shopan no suirabe
5. Buriki no hata

alice nine.
SE - Saga synthesizer solo
1. the beautiful name
2. Velvet
- MC -
3. RAINBOWS
4. RED CARPET GOING ON
5. Blue Planet

the GazettE
1. Filth in the beauty
2. LEECH
- MC -
3. COCKROACH
4. DISCHARGE
5. LINDA ~ candy dive pinky heaven ~

Miyavi
SE - Aishiteru kara hajimeyou
1. Kabuki danshi
2. Aho matsuri - ahho matsuri -
3. Shouri no V-Rock!!
4. Saki hokoru hana no you ni - Neo Visualizm -
5. As U r - kimi wa kimi no mama de -

( Official Report Under Here! )

Katheryn showed Michelle and I around Osaka last weekend. The last time we were in Osaka, we stayed around the Umeda area which was basically filled with huge shopping centers. This time we went to Shinsaibashi and walked along some of the smaller streets. I felt like it could have been a smaller version of Harajuku in areas.

Katheryn had spent some time living in the area four years ago when she came to stay in Japan as a high school student and she still remembered many of the more obscure gothic and visual kei stores. One thing is for sure. If you're planning to do more than window shop for Gothic and visual kei clothing, you'd better be ready to shell out some major money. This stuff is top-of-the-line brand clothing. At the first shop we went to, I found a skirt that cost 90,000 yen or $900!

Next we went to Kera--which is the store for the Japanese fashion magazine of the same name. It specializes in a variety of eccentric Japanese fashion from Gothic Lolita to punk to visual kei.

While we were there, I bought this dress which I will be using for *Halloween. There's a chance that I'll attend a Gothic party event in Osaka as well in which case I will also wear this dress. And if I get the chance to see certain visual kei bands I may also wear it. It cost me more than I am inclined to admit but let's just say that it was an investment that I have been thinking about for about half a year now.

Afterward, we hit up Bodyline which specializes in Lolita fashion but is considered by many to be inferior to other brands. Basically, the clothing here tends to average around $40 for a dress rather than, say, $200 or more. This is due to the quality of the fabric and the make of the dresses. I've heard it said that Bodyline is more for Lolita cosplay than actual fashion.

That being said, if you're looking for a cheap Gothic or Sweet Lolita outfit then this is the place to go. You'll find some great stuff for cheap. Be warned, though, that it may be difficult to find something that will fit you if you are somewhat tall or heavy. Some of the things there were a tad small even for me and I average 5'3'' and 105 pounds.

Our next stop was PureSound which I would consider to be the ultimate haven for visual kei lovers. The store specializes in visual kei products, many of them second hand and thus dirt cheap. I was able to pick up some Miyavi merchandise for much cheaper than I would have ever thought possible. In addition to all kinds of band merchandise and memorabilia ranging from magazines to CDs to signed postcards to bags and guitar picks, the store also offers second-hand punk, gothic, and visual kei clothing from well-known brands like Moi-même-Moitié, Sexpot Revenge, and h.Naoto. Basically, all of the kind of clothing that would get your mother in a tizzy.

In addition, the store offered some really fun things like first lives for older bands on VHS and first demo tapes on actual cassette tapes rather than CDs. There were even a few rarities behind glass to gawk at. We're talking about first lives on VHS that cost $900. Any fan of Jrock will definitely want to give this place a look over at least once in their lives. They definitely won't regret it.

I'd like to post a little bit more on the various fashion brands and trends I've mentioned in this entry so more detailed entries on these subjects should follow soon.

*From what I've gathered, Halloween is not as big in Japan as in America. The holiday does exist and Halloween decorations and candy have been readily available all over Hikone for weeks now but I think the holiday is still in the process of becoming popular here. I would probably not bother with a costume except JCMU is having a Halloween party open to the surrounding community.

Michelle and I and woke up to a rainy day which didn’t bode well since we were scheduled to go to the An Café 5th Anniversary Summer Dive concert held outside the Aka Renga Soko. We woke up early, around 6, and got ourselves ready. I wore my Abbey Dawn skirt, leggings, and a matching top with a pink bow headband. We descended to the lobby in the elevator and met Rebecca there. After a quick breakfast of the granola bars that I’d brought along in my luggage, we headed for the train station and picked up a train to Yokohama station. There were few mishaps but for the most part the journey was uneventful. From Yokohama Station we went to Basamichi station and the road leading to the Aka Renga Soko was right outside the station exit. It was extremely hot so we were already sweating profusely after what was basically a ten minute walk.

We made a bee-line for the waterfront to look at the ocean and then sat outside of a café that was opening in about fifteen minutes since Rebecca still needed to eat breakfast. When it did open, we went in to look around but Rebecca didn’t really want any of the things there since it was mostly fancy sandwiches and cake. So we decided to go to another café across the Aka Renga Soko square but on the way there we were intercepted by a Japanese fan who came straight at me and started speaking in Japanese that I couldn’t understand. I apologized and told him that I was American in Japanese and he apologized back and told us in broken English that there was a sign that fans had made for An Café and we could go sign it with a message to the band.

So we followed his directions and found a small group of fans on their knees signing a long white sign. We approached and were offered candy (“Ichigo miruku” or “strawberry milk” flavored) and a marker to sign with. I wrote, “America loves An Café. We love you. Thank you.” In English on it because I felt it was important that they know they have international fans too.

While we were there we met Rebecca’s friend Mana who is a German girl living and working in Japan. She was hanging out with a Japanese girl named Akari who she’d just met at the concert. Mana apparently makes friends very easily because she saw about twenty people at the concert she knew. She attributed her connections to the fact that she speaks fairly fluent Japanese and the fact that she has attended multiple An Café concerts and has met many An Café fans. Her English is also extremely good so she was able to act as a translator between us and Akari.

We headed to a café to eat and Michelle and I split a Chocolate Banana Crepe which ended up being incredibly expensive but also totally delicious. It was a French style crepe with chocolate sauce, banana slices, whipped cream, and ice cream. We spoke a little with Mana who continued to translate for Akari. Fortunately, you don’t really need to speak the same language to get across certain ideas like being a fan of a band.

Akari told us that her favorite band member was Miku. He was also Mana and Rebecca’s favorite. After some deliberation I settled on Kanon as my favorite and Michelle decided on Teruki. After that there was a lot of wandering listening to the band do sound check which was extremely exciting. We tried to peek at the band between the outer gates a few times but were shooed away by staff members. At one point some Caucasian tourist tried to take a picture of Akari and I. I tried to move out of the picture because I’m not actually Japanese and he probably wanted a picture of Japanese girls but he kept gesturing me back so we took a picture together. Somewhere in the world there is a man with a picture of what he thinks are two Japanese girls but really he has one American Asian and one Japanese girl.

Later, Akari and I had a giggle about it. He probably thought we were two Japanese friends or something. I told her, “Nihonjin ja nai!” (I’m not Japanese!)

After a little bit of slinking around the entire area trying to see in because we could hear the band doing sound checks, we stopped to eat again because Akari was hungry. She ended up eating two hamburgers. Michelle, Rebecca, and I weren’t so hungry so we just ordered some drinks at another small café in the same building. We all ordered (well, Michelle and I ordered and then I had to order for Rebecca) a Summer Berry Ponchi which ended up being this delicious fruity drink. It was carbonated with berry flavored syrup and berry slush in the middle. At the bottom of the cup was a mix of pineapple, kiwi, blueberry, and gelatin. It just felt so right to drink Summer Berry at the Summer Dive concert. Satisfied, we went to the back of the warehouse and got in line to go in.

Mana found a lot more friends (some as young as 14) and spent most of her time speaking with them or Rebecca which left us with Akari. I thought she was really nice, a bit shy but really sweet. We were able to exchange a few words about the heat: “Chou atsui, ne?” “Un. Sugoku, ne?” (It's really hot, isn't it?" "Yeah. Amazingly hot." The heat really was incredible and I found myself wishing the sun would just disappear which unfortunately it did but more on that later.

One of the great things about this concert and perhaps Japanese concerts in general was that it opened almost exactly on time. Whereas in America bands often open the doors thirty to sixty minutes after the advertised time, An Café opened the gates around five minutes after the advertised time of 2:00pm. The line moved very quickly thanks to the fact that the merchandise lines were super organized. In America you just sort of mob the merchandise tables in a mass of pushing and shoving and billfold waving. In Japan, multiple people direct you, spreading you out over the tables in the most efficient way possible. There was no pushing or shoving.

While we waited in line, Akari showed me pictures of Kanon on her cellphone since she knew that I liked him. She showed me a picture of him in a maid outfit and I exclaimed “kawaii, ne” ("Cute!") for lack of a better thing to say. She agreed and then asked me what I wanted to buy but my brain was frazzled and I just nodded and smiled like a moron. She told me she was going to buy “gacha gacha” but I didn’t understand what that was. She tried to explain it to me by making a circle with her hands but unfortunately I didn’t understand still. So she left me to buy my merchandise and I ….well I splurged and got a Summer Dive T-shirt, a towel, a cell phone charm, the DVD/CD single, and a pack of An Café postcards. Don’t ask me how much I spent—it’s embarrassing. It’s just that ordering was really easy. They had pictures of the merchandise and I just pointed and said how many I wanted “hitotsu kudasai.” ("One please.") I didn’t feel rushed either like I normally do at a merchandise table so it was just too easy to buy too much.

Afterwards, Michelle and I were directed out and we found our seats by ourselves. Unlike most American rock concerts, many Japanese ones have assigned seats. This is good and bad. It meant we didn't have to arrive early in order to ensure we could see the stage but it also meant that we were stuck in the eats we had which were actually almost in the very back. Fortunately, since the venue wasn’t too overly large we still had a pretty good view of the stage. Plus we were just excited to be there in general. While we sat we deliberated buying something to drink but decided against it. We also thought of buying some food because apparently the venue was selling food that An Café members had invented or some sort. Like Kanon’s was some sort of meat-kabob, I think. But in the end the lines looked too long so we just sat and sweat and listened to the speakers which were playing the new "Summer Dive" song written just for this concert over and over.

Akari walked by on her way to her seat and greeted us. She’d bought her gacha gacha which turned out to be a round plastic container with something in it like you can buy from the gumball machines at home. They had cute things like hair accessories and such in them. I’m not sure of their significance or how they related to the band so I’ll have to do some research on them later.

About an hour before the concert started the clouds which had begun to roll in from across the water opened up and poured rain on us. I tried to stay dry but ended up soaking from the waist down. I didn’t know this but apparently my umbrella is more water resistant than waterproof because the rain began to leak through the fabric of my umbrella and drip on me. I will have to invest in a new one soon because Japan is ridiculously rainy.

Fortunately, the rain cleared up in time for the concert which started on time. As soon as Summer Dive stopped playing the crowd began to get excited. The huge video screen above the stage showed the band members backstage as they prepared to enter. Teruki came out first to cries of his name. There's a startling difference between how Americans greet bands and how Japanese people greet them. In America, my experience is that the audience will start clapping, screaming, cheering, and jumping up and down. In Japan, the audience threw their arms up in the air above their heads with the palms up and yelled the name of their favorite band member. There was very little clapping, even after songs. The audience usually only clapped if there was a particularly good solo or a band member said something particularly memorable during an MC.

The band began with the song Maple Gunman. The setlist had actually been determined by fan vote at a poll on the website since this was a special anniversary concert so of course the fans were happy. They wasted no time launching into furitsuke or choreographed dances generally done with the upper body--head, arms, and torso. These moves are usually created by the band (often the vocalist) and then either taught straight to the fans at concerts or picked up by fans who watch the music videos (called promotional videos or "PVs" in Japan) and see them done there. The different furitsuke (often called "furi" or "para para" as well) are exclusive to each song.

So what happens at each concert is a huge choreographed routine for each song. Fans who don't know it pick it up from those around them or from the vocalist who does the furi along with the audience. From my experience, furi is a good way to create group bonds between fans and between the band and the fans. You take cues from each other and take pleasure in creating something--in this case a synchronized sea of movements--together. However, if you don't know the furi or if there is no set furi for a certain song or part of a song then it can become obnoxious as you end up distracted from the band while you try to figure out what everyone else is doing which is usually copying the person in front of them.

Don't let the cute hand movements fool you, though. These fangirls can headbanger and they'll do it without abandon at the appropriate times. The best way seems to be to bend forward at the waist with your arms at your sides and thrash your head either side to side our in a circular motion as fast as you can until you can't see a thing and your hair is whipping around in the air like you mean to lasso a cow with it. You'll have to take musical cues for when to stop, though, as it's impossible to see what everyone else is doing while you're headbanging.

Maple Gunman was followed by another song and then a lyric-less song called Takaido which is a song the band plays while introducing itself one member at a time. The basic formula is that the band member gets a solo on his instrument and then stops and the audience calls out their name to the rhythm of the song. This was followed by a few more songs, including their very first song in honor of their anniversary, and then the band did a little bit of talking.

Michelle and I were able to piece together that the band started by talking a little bit about what they had each done over the summer. A lot of them mentioned their family and there seemed to be a sort of running joke about cutting Yuuki off each time he tried to speak. The rest of it was a bit of nonsense and not only because it was in Japanese but also because silly nonsense is what An Cafe excels at. This was best exemplified by the next bit of the live in which Miku disappeared off stage and the rest of the band donned pink yukatas or the traditional Japanese summer garment that looks similar to a kimono but is much less elaborate and much more casual.

There followed some unintelligible talk and then Takuya claimed that Kanon was in fact not a penguin, he was a human. Kanon exclaimed, "I LOVE YOU, TAKUYA" in response and there followed a dramatic fake slow-motion run across stage with Kanon and Takuya ending up in each other's arms. Don't worry if you're scratching your head. I don't think it's meant to make sense.

A conversation amoung the band members about famous film director Miyazaki followed and then Teruki broke out into song. Then Kanon did as well. I later found out that Kanon had been singing a song by a famous boy's pop group in Japan. The audience knew this song and sang along but I personally had never heard it before.

Then the first few chords to An Cafe's infamous Duck no Magical Adventure (Duck's Magical Adventure) song began and cue Miku being carried on stage by a bunch of men in pink yukatas all holding big red plastic sledge hammers. The song earned it's name because Miku used to sing it in a Donald Duck voice while holding a Donald Duck plushie on stage. At this live, though, he sang it regularly as the men carried him around stage. Only on the very last line did he use the unique voice. My best guess is that the band was pressured for copyright infringement since they used to have to blur out the duck on the DVDs of the lives.

After this song, Miku made us clap and chant “Takuya no pantsu wa nan desu ka” or something similar. Basically, “What kind of underwear is Takuya wearing?” Takuya said black.

Next up was the song Nyappy in the World. The world "nyappy" is one made up by Miku who is known for his strange and often unintelligible speech patterns. I sometimes wonder if even Japanese people know what he is saying half the time. Anyway, nyappy is an integral word to the An Cafe fans and is basically interchangeable with the word happy. You could therefore say that you are feeling "unnyappy" as well as "nyappy." The word has become a greeting among An Cafe fans and is coupled with and hand gesture wherein one presses both their middle and ring finger to their thumb and leave their pointer finger and pink up. It looks a little like a rabbit, perhaps. One can always tell a group of An Cafe fans if they are exchanging "nyappy."

There are actually three Nyappy in the World songs--Nyappy in the World, Nyappy in the World II, and Nyappy in the World III. Why this is can probably only be understood by the band which seems to live in a world of their own. Miku taught us new furitsuke for the chorus of this song. It consisted of rhythmically timed hand and arm gestures that were reflected the band's strange brand of whimsical cuteness. Miku also made Yuuki show us the furi as well but the band sped up and slowed down at random times making it very difficult for him.

The band entered the last leg of their concert with some of their most recent songs including SUMMER DIVE which was created just for this concert. The song with its promotional video was available on a single exclusively sold at this concert. It will not be sold anywhere else.

The concert ended and the band left the stage but the audience remained adamant and cries of "mou ippai!" or "one more" rang throughout the arena. The fans called for quite a long time and the band responded with and encore. The encore consisted of three songs, one of them Meguri Aeta Kiseki or "The Miracle of Meeting." During the very last encore song Bonds which is about creating bonds between people and how those bonds are important and hard to break, the sky suddenly opened up and the rain that had held back during the concert came pouring down so hard that I was soaked in seconds.

It didn't matter, though, because the band kept playing even as the rain soaked them and their instruments. The fans were all holding their red An Cafe Summer Dive towels in the air and pumping their fists even though it was actually raining too hard to even see. I had to close my eyes against the onslaught. No one paid any notice to the rain and we all indulged in the exhilaration of a rock concert held during the middle of a storm. This concert was true to its name. It was definitely a bit of a "dive" into the water.

At the ending of the song, the big screen on stage began to play dramatic music and informed us that An Cafe would be releasing 4 new songs and going on a new Japan tour during the fall--the "Love and Gun" tour. Then the screen asked us to look to our left and we were treated to a brief but spectacular fireworks show which I believe was unique to this concert.

The evening ended like every other An Cafe live. Everyone in the audience joined hands and held them up in the air. I found myself holding the hand of a girl I'd never even met. On the count of three we shouted, "Tira-tira-tiramisu!" This is another word that Miku has adopted and used multiple times in his songs.

Also of note was the concert T-shirt I bought which says, "We love super summer diver!!!!!! Tasty summer. Peachy summer. Dive into summer. Look out!!!!!!!"

The exclamation marks are not exaggerated, nor is the Engrish.