Day 4 - Meguro THE LIVE STATION

Yet another day where I woke up at 7am....this is becoming annoying.  I tried to lay around until a decent time, and made it to 8am.  Good enough.  Kim finished getting ready for the day and headed out.  I pondered a bit for what to do, with no actual plans until 5pm.  Which made the decision for me to not do anything big, since I would need time later.

I got sort of ready and decided to go to the 100en shop and find a new make up brush for my foundation.  The one I have is pretty small, and not at all like the one I have at home that Amanda uses.  So off to the 100en shop!  

Nothing much happened there.  I got the make up brush, some Q-tips, some presents for people, and false eyelashes.  Unfortunately I broke one of the eyelashes when I got home ><  Lucky it's a two pair pack!  And the brush is a little stiff...but I suppose it did it's job.  I may find a softer one.  Don't like it too much.

Put on my make up for the day.  I wanted something a little more dramatic than what I'd been having, but nothing too out there.  Just some pink with a long cat eye.  And gloss.

Just showing you I have Jack Skellington hands.

Shirt from Old Navy, skirt part of a one piece from Hot Topic, and tights from Doll Kiss.  Oh, and Alice in Wonderland socks from Walmart! xD

Leaving the house, I decided to just wander around, so I went into Suitengumae station, and took a random exit out.  It was quite the populated area.  I was surprise.  But I walked for a long time, before finally deciding to head back and grab some food.

So I headed to Mcdonalds, my safe alternative.  I feel odd going into actual restaurants alone, so I opt for fast food.  Not healthy, nor too cheap, but it's more comfortable.

Today the girl at the register tried to speak english to me.  It was very cute!  I ordered something new.  The Ebi Filet.  Which, for those that don't know what Ebi is, is a shrimp filet.  So, Ebi Filet, fries, and Qoo.

Something I really like about Mcdonalds Japan is that when you're missing an item, instead of having you wait for everything, or not remembering your face when they have you sit down, they give you a nice little "Your order will be with you soon!" sign. With a number and everything, so they know what you're getting.

A perfect excuse for fresh fries.

The ebi filet looked pretty good, and I was excited to try it.  Mostly because it's something new and, well, I like shrimp.   It was pretty tasty.  I don't think I'll get it again,  but it wasn't bad.  Especially if you only eat seafood, it's a good alternative to the Fish Filet (Which I've never though looked good.)

Slight mess on the wrapper of mustard!  I took a photo because it reminds me of my co-worker Stacy and how messy he is.

Yum Yum insides.

So immediately afterwards I headed downstairs and got on the train.  My first train ride alone, from start to finish!  How exciting LOL.  All in all it was a painless easy ride.  From Suitengumae to Nagatacho, then from there to Meguro.  Busy station, but not bad.  Then I had to wait for Anna and Daria.  We agreed to meet at the East entrance.

Only problem was I couldn't find the east entrance ><  Only the west and central.  So I wandered around.  I'd gotten there about 40 minutes early in case of this, so it was no problem.  But I walked FOREVER.  Until I finally found a map with the right directions on it.

Graffiti.

More Graffiti in Meguro.

As it turns out, there is a second exit. Across the street.  In another building.  Who knew?  

So I hurried over to find Anna and Daria waiting, and I hurried up to them apologizing.  They laughed about it, and we set off.  Apparently the doors didn't open until 6, but Anna hadn't been sure, and thought maybe the show started at six.

I hadn't met Daria before.  She's a very pretty girl, a little taller than me and a little older than me, from Russia.  She's very sweet, and a little shy.  

So we headed over to get some coffee from Dotour.  It's a cute little coffee chain.  I opted out of a drink for a while.  We chatted about lives, and about fashion.  Out of no where Daria commented that I "don't look American"  that I must "look German or something like that."  To which Anna agreed.  I was like "What? Why??"  They both agreed that I looked "Too punk to be American."  I chuckled and told them I was from Seattle.  It's different.

Anna agreed and we talked about how all the parts of America are different than what's on TV.

Anna bought me hot cocoa.

THE LIVE STATION in Meguro.

FINALLY it was time to go to the show.  But we had to run to 711 for Anna to pull out money first.  Then over to the live! It was in an odd little underground spot.  You would walk in, then go down two flights of stairs, then you were at the door.  

Total it cost 3000en, with the ticket and drink card.  Not too bad.  And in we went.

Anna explained to me that the headliners, Aresz, usually has pretty strict rules for photography, so I had to be careful.  No problem.

The little tiny bar spot.

Merch.

You can hardly see it but here is the fence.

I was surprised by how small the venue was.  I'm used to the ones back in Seattle, where even if the main floor is small, there is a second story.  Anna explained that this was usual for Live houses in Japan.  Sometimes they were bigger, but not often.

My drink ticket, on my leg lol.

We set our bags down near the wall, and took up camp, waiting for people to arrive.

Again, I was surprised.  

By the time the show started...including us, there were only 16 people.  I was amazed beyond belief.  

I understand, for how known Aresz is, they're still not big time popular, and the other two bands aren't either.  Don't get me wrong, they're all great.  But I guess that's an explanation.

Aresz started the show.  They were amazing.  The singer has such a powerful voice.  And such stage presence.  She was really great to watch.  And the music was really catchy.  A little hard, but still really great.  

I think my favorite part of the whole evening was watching the Bangya.  (Bangya is basically the term for VK fangirls, though more intense.  There's very little way to fully describe the feeling they give.)  I  picked up some of the movements they did to the songs,  but a lot of them you had to know the lyrics to properly do.  And I didn't want to put myself out there too much, because I know it's not easy to be accepted by Bangya.  So I just stayed in my corner and interacted when I could XD

I also learned that the singer for Aresz talks SUPER FAST when she's doing MC.  Another Aresz fact is that one of the guitarists is pretty freaking Hot.  Especially when he takes off his coat, and his nice guitarist arms are showing.  Dirty thoughts ensued.  

Promotional picture.  Mr.  Sexy arms is the man on the left.

After their awesome set, there was about 10 minutes intermission time, so Anna explained that they usually sounded better, but the sound here was off.  I was impressed, if they sounded that good now imagine how good they could sound.

So we all went up and ordered drinks.  I got a basic Whiskey Coke.  My favorite, so I was happy.  Then I settled in to wait for the next band.  Whom I actually got a few shots of, since they're small time.

The fans of Aresz moved back from the fence, so the Back Fire fans could take the front.  I was impressed.  There's a sense of loyalty in Japan that the American fans don't really seem to understand.

Anna and Daria had been saying that Back Fire was cute, because they were obviously new.  So I was expecting amateur performance with spunk.

They kind of blew my mind.

Apparently since Anna had last seen them they had greatly improved, even she was surprised.  They seemed like an actual band who had been playing for a while, and not just "a guitar, a bass, and drums all playing at the same time."  Their vocals were really good, and their stage presence was comfortable and fun.

Afterwards, another break, and the Back Fire fans moved so the VAGU*PROJECT fans could take the front.  Still pretty impressive, to me.

Finally VAGU*PROJECT came out and started their show.  I was impressed even more.  I had heard a few clips of them, but they were better than I expected.  They performed a great show and were rather interactive with the crowd.

At one point during the show, they even threw a big yellow balloon into the crowd, to be hit around.  It was fun and pretty amusing when it hit the same girl on the head three different times.  

I took a bunch of photos for Anna.  But I don't want to post them here, so they may end up on my facebook, if I use any at all.

After VAGU ended, there was another break.  The blonde from Back Fire walked around and handed out papers for people to fill out.  Little "How did we do?" surveys.  What peoples favorite song was, if any.  How was the staging.  Anything you want to say to the members?  It was cute.  When he came over to us, Anna started to talk to him in english, and he was like "...eh?"  So Daria translated, and he gave us papers to fill out.

Since my japanese isn't good enough to go into any depth on what I thought, I wrote in japanese at the top "Sorry it's in English~!!" 

Then I filled it out in English, a little silly mind you, and even doodled on the spot to tell the blonde he had amazing hair.  Whatever.  It's not like anything I could have written would have been helpful, so I played around.

Then Aresz came back on stage.  The singer looked even more amazing, as she had curled her hair, and the guitarist had spiked his.  They looked great.  

And they were just as good if not better than before. It was sort of nice having it split into two.  Knowing what you came for, then hearing other bands, then being reminded that they're the headliners.

Second set was great, though there was a song at the very end with a lot of interaction which was hard to follow!  She kept changing it!  And unless you'd done it before it was really hard to follow.

Afterwards, people from all the bands came out and went to their merch spot to sell their items and talk to the fans.  

Anna introduced me to members of VAGU*PROJECT, and they were very sweet.  Then we bought the Demo CD for Back Fire for only 100en.  They seemed pretty grateful.  Then back to VAGU.  After waiting for a bit because he was talking to the girls in front of us, Anna was so kind and sweet and bought me three pins and a CD~

Anna and her hide plush, and Daria's hide plush~

Then we headed out.  On the way out the door we talked to the singer, who looked just incredibly in pain.  He has a bad neck, and hurt it, so he was hunched over.  He just looked so sad.  He even said, in japanese, that it hurt so much he wanted to cry. : (  We told him to rest, and that he did a great job, then headed out.  Back to the train station. 

I'd forgotten which random train I'd used to get there (Namboku line...), so I took the same train as Anna and Daria to Shibuya, then we parted ways.  I thanked them for the great time, and said see you later!  Then I hurried down to the platform.

My Back Fire demo, Vagu*Project pins, and Single.

When I got to the platform, the doors had just closed for my train, so I had to wait another five minutes.  No big deal.  I leaned on a pillar and waited.  While I was standing there a group of six or seven boys, maybe end of high school age, walked up.  The second they spotted me they started to walk over.  Swarm is actually the term I would use.  They had dyed hair, and punk clothes, and a few of them had piercings.  In general they were the hoodlum sort.  And they hadn't exactly put on the "Hi, you're a cute foreigner I want to talk to you in English~" face, more of the "Hey, foreign chick, I wanna harass you in japanese." face.  So, before they could close around me, I gave them a very nice polite smile, pushed myself off the pillar, and walked away.  Over to go take a seat around people.

Not to say they were going to do anything bad or anything.  Maybe I should have stayed.  It's nice to talk to people.  But they creeped me out, and it's best to follow your gut instincts sometimes.  So I think I'm glad I walked away.

I got home, and messaged Anna that I was safe.  Snuck into my room around midnight, and went to sleep.

It was a great time and I'm SO happy I got to experience it!

♥Myshappy

Teaser for day 5:  He remembered me...