short update

I'm mostly repeating the same old routine up here on the mountain, so there's not that much to say. A few changes though; I've joined a circle (a student group or club or association or whatever) for practicing Japanese, and I've gotten involved in a collaborations for designing a t-shirt for my floor for a "World Festival" we're going to perform at in June. I did say "we", but I'm only contributing to the performance in off-stage activities, like (helping) designing the floor's t-shirt. The artistic challenges that this t-shirt project will let me play with will be a nice break from my other school work.

I've picked up again my Plastic Tree Concert review project, and I will finish and post it at some point. This is as much a promise to myself as to any of you out there, because you've probably lost interest already since I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I really want to write it. It's become my favourite procrastination activity - but I can't afford to procrastinate that much nowadays unfortunately...

other things;
The weather is shifting, awful, windy and rainy yesterday, and today the most beautiful sunshine and pleasant temperatures around 19-22 degrees (a bit cool, almost chilly actually, compared to last week). The view was clear enough that we could see to Shikoku - a fact I find very romantic. The view is one of the major things I'm going to miss from APU.

Middle left: The Kunisaki Peninsula,
Center Background: the tip of Sadamisaki Peninsula, Shikoku

And here are some more or less random pictures from Campus - taken with my phone so please excuse the quality...

1-2: Daffy and Donald (Look Aunt B! Donald in Japan!)
3-4: The invisible man, and alternative vases at the Osaka Ferry
5-6: Cake, and how to make animal figures out of sausages
7: Another proof there are fancy things in Japanese supermarkets
8: The Exoticness of APU - an Asian performance the amphitheater, lacrosse practice in the sports field in the middle background, and then view of Beppu and Oita
9-10: Random cool car in Beppu, and how APU teach hirgana to new students
11-12: Fantastic flowers blooming outside AP House
13-14: Sunset view from the APH bridge, and Christina noticing the price of pasta screws.
(100 yen ≈ 1 USD or 5NOK, you do the math...)

Concert review and related stories – Part 1: Prologue

Alternative title: “2 obvious aliens, a circus worth of Goth Rocker fangirls, Jelly Fishes – and Plastic Tree”; a concert review of Plastic Tree’s “Alone Again – Wonderful World” tour concert in Osaka Namba Hatch, April 10th 2008, and related stories.

The decision of going to Osaka was made on impulse upon learning about Plastic Tree’s concert 3 days later.

Wednesday, arrival in Osaka, the day before the concert. Main Activity; Handshaking Event.

Tickets for the handshaking event were sold at a record store morning the same day as the event.

We were early and the store hadn’t opened (calculated, on our part), so we decided it would be more comfortable to wait in the nearby park.

Rounding the corner we saw, not a group, but a row, of people in unordinary clothes standing side by side. This neat, but apparently unorganized (and perhaps spontaneous?) line was to us a very puzzling phenomenon. There were no signs or markings and no apparent people “in charge” to organize the line, and the people waiting were all an interesting contrast to the regular park visitors. They were just hanging about, either reading, staring into the air, talking in small groups of two or three – but still clearly in line, even within their small groups – and they were all girls. (Ok, perhaps some guys too, they’re not that visible (or discernible) among the girls here, but the guys were certainly underrepresented.)

Since we weren’t 100% sure if it was an actual (or official) line for the ticket sale, we sat down on a bench a little distance away and observed the whole phenomenon. At 11 (when the store opened) the line started moving so we got up too, and timed so we “accidentally” fell into pace behind the back of the line.

CD singles and tickets were bought, and then we just had to fill time until the actual event 7 hours later.

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The handshaking event itself

The queue was back in the park again, but bigger and flashier. There were girls of all kinds of (at least slightly gothic or rocked up) styles; Punk girls (modern & moderate ones), Rocker girls, Goth, and a surprising number of Lolitas of different kinds (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_Fashion). We felt really out of place – even with heavy make-up.

We had early numbers on our tickets so we got in with the first batch of people even though we came only just in time for the opening.

We were ushered into a room about half the size of an average classroom, into a new queue waiting for the band. Surrounded by nervous whisperings high expectations and giddiness from the crowd in general, I got caught in the mood too. I didn’t really care if I met them or not; I was there for the music, and to them I’d only become a fleeting impression at best – one of hundreds of fans they’ve met. (Nika cared though.) Still, since we were there and all, it was kind of fun being the only westerners/white people there. Especially when it was out turn to greet the band (well, the vocalist and the bandleader); to most of the fans they shook their hands and thanked them (for their support I assume – they said mostly just “arigatou gozaimasu” - meaning "thank you"), but Nika and I received longer handshakes and a “thank you very much, please continue to listen to our music”. I have to rely on Nika for the translation; because I didn’t expect them to say more than “thank you” I was quite baffled when the vocalist kept holding my hand while saying stuff in Japanese…

And then it was finished. The girls were so happy, one couldn’t stop smiling, and the other had to dry away a few tears. Segments of the line was still waiting in the park, waiting for their turn, new people were ushered inside in small groups, and the people coming out from the event was asked to move away to avoid crowds (everything was nicely organized, very Japanese).

Afterwards we went to the Dotonburi in Namba and ate Okomiyaki, and talked and talked and talked about the evening’s experiences, and how they were perceived, or possibly perceived, by us and all other people possibly present, etc. before heading back to our hotels.

Part 2 coming soon (hopefully).

A little Plastic Tree, and how I decided to go to Osaka

I have several windows of YouTube open now, acting as improvisory music station, enabling me to listen to all the Plastic Tree songs I didn’t know about until last Thursday. I have to buy all their CDs so I can listen to all their songs… It’s "only" twelve albums… Oh, where to start…

We were sitting in my room, me and my friend. We were trying to choose a CD to listen to, when my friend said he had a burnt CD with some J-Rock band he’d found on the ‘net. Maybe I’d like it, Japan fan & rock music fan as I am. As I liked the band, and my CD collection at the time was rather limited, he told me to keep the CD; Plastic Tree, unknown album name, all tracks named “track 01”, “track 02” etc.

4 years later, still, none of my Japanese friends have ever heard of Plastic Tree, at least until I mentioned them.

Last weekend I passed on my minimal collection of PT songs to a friend in the dormitory (Goji), in order to give him an alternative band to listen to other than just Asian Kung Fu Generation (which I also like, but… not *every* day…and not *only* AKFG).

Later the same evening, Goji, and another friend of mine (Nika), had a conversation along these lines:

Nika: I’m going to Osaka to see a band called Plastic Tree
Goji: Yes, I’ve heard of them
Nika: Yes, I gave you some of their song earlier on a mixed CD.
Goji: No, Cecily gave it to me today…
Nika: Whuh?!? Another Plastic Tree fan? Here in the dorms? Are you serious?!?

The evening after I met Nika by accident and Nika revealed that she too is a fan of PT, and during our conversation about the rarity of PT fans (or apparent PT fans), she mentioned that she was going to their concert in Osaka on the coming Thursday. I immediately decided that if there was concert tickets left I would go too –a decision I do not regret.

I got my ticket Monday, and took the night ferry from Beppu to Osaka Tuesday, arriving I Osaka 6:30 Wednesday morning. And returned home to the dorms this morning -tired, but too happy to stop smiling.

Coming soon:
Review: Plastic Tree, Osaka Namba Hatch April 10^th 2008
Other Stories from Osaka