Back on track

Wha, and so the blog lives again it seems, it just got a little interrupted by earthquakes and radiation.

Me and Beata have been out on our adventure in Kansai, it was a really memorable trip! We started with what should've been three days in Osaka, but since the trains didn't work because of the power cuts we had to take a night-bus and arrived early in the morning instead. We had a full day with inner town sightseeing and izakaya and the other day was spent in Nara and after that we went to the movies to see Gantz, which turned out to be really good! Then we took of to Iyô-hôjo, a really small town out on the countryside. Actually it was so small we got a little worried about how we could spend the time when there was nothing to do, but our awesome house manager saved us by giving us a ride to the much bigger town Matsuyama, and we got to play with his adorable dog Miyu-chan. In Matsuyama we visited the castle, ate matcha ice cream and went to the shopping district. It was a nice town, and the apartments there was just ridiculously cheap, but I really don't think I could live there, it's just to far away from all other big city's like Osaka and Tokyo. After this it was time for our two days bicycle adventure. It turned out to be the best thing I have ever done, you came so close to the nature and seeing all small country villages up close is memories that will last a lifetime, it was like seeing a totally different side of Japan which hasd so far been limited to the big city's for me. We spent our night at a really nice place on a beach, it even had an onsen, and god knows we needed that for our bodies hurt pretty bad after more than three miles on a bicycle. The next day we got up really early and managed to get to the end of our destination many hours earlier than planned, but it was only a good thing because when we were to change trains to Himeji we ended up on the wrong train and went 1 h in the wrong direction, so it was 2 hours lost to fail haha. But in the end we got to Himeji and could check in at our luxurious hotel, yeah it was nice to spend a couple of nights not sleeping on the floor, even though I have nothing against futons. The next day we went to see Himeji castle, which unfortunately was under restoration, so it was not the most exciting thing, but we ended up at the museum of history and that was both interesting and rather fun, we met this japanese woman whom worked there and we ended up having a long and rich discussion about this and that related to history and religion. Unfortunately the weather was pretty bad and it was moist and rained so I ended up buying an umbrella, which broke just a few days later, and then we went back to hotel to plan where to spend the rest of the evening. In the end we ended up at an izakaya which had absolutely delicious food! The final day was spent sitting on different trains, good I've never been so bored as I was when we sat on our final train, me sitting still on my ass for too long just isn't a big hit. But we passed through this black out area and it was really pitch black outside, it was booth a little scary and intriguing, it really makes you think about how much energy you waste on different things.

After that followed a few easy going days and we decided we're going to Korea! I just know that will be so much fun!

Yesterday, I can't even... I hardly know what happened, it was like that final night last time I visited but still so much not like it. It was just 100% crazy, jeez some guys.... But returning to Tokyo after Korea might be funnier than I thought (A). Well well, now maybe I can start writing on a regular basis again, even though I probably won't while I'm in Seoul...

Koreamat+metal=win

OK today I'm tired and lasy so this will be in swedish..

Igår tog jag nog personligt rekord i att gå, knatade först till Takadanobaba där jag mötte upp Beata, sen drog vi iväg mot Shinjuku. Det är en bit att gå från Ikebukuro och dit om man säger så. Vi hade några missions, köpa skivor, det lyckades hyffsat, dock kom det med annat som ju öh, va jättenödvändigt. Köpa nagellacksbortagare, jäklar va det va omöjligt att hitta tills vi kom på vad det heter. Tvättmedel, dagens upptäckt, hela förra resan tvättade jag mina kläder i mjukmedel, uff, iofs blev kläderna renare med det än tvättmedlet jag faktiskt köpte nu... Hitta koreanska restaurangen jag va på förra gången, det sket sig. Jag kom inte alls ihåg vart stället låg, nackdelen när nån japan bara drar med en till nåt random ställe. Men vi hittade ett annat ställe i korea-town som va jättemysigt, så där blev vi kvar i några timmar. Inte ett jättebilligt ställe men inte så att man blev ruinerad precis. Och det gick ju inte att inte sitta och diskutera den härligt dåliga koreanska musiken som spelades hela tiden haha. Och ja vi gick självklart till korea-town från Shinjuku, och sen gick vi därifrån till Takadanobaba när vi skulle hem, så ja, motion fick man!

Idag va jag på ett flerbands live med Beata och Malla. Lotus, トマス, Reivier, l.a.m. och aim lirade. Var väl blandad kvalité på banden men inget som sög iaf och det va definitivt ingen popskit, nu snackar vi metal! Även om vissa av oss har lite olika uppfattning om vad som klassas som vad haha. Första gången jag va på Ikebukuro Black hole också, pyttelitet ställe men det är bara roligt när man ser så här små band. Blev rätt peppad att se Reivier igen måste jag säga. Och Lotus hoppas jag kommer bli stora för jag köpte nåt småkonstigt mini-album med låtar som jag knappt tror ska va släppta än, sånt = klirr i kassan om dom blir kända. Banden körde en session spelning också på slutet, det va lite roligt.

Efter detta gick vi och fikade, det va trevligt och vi satt och diskuterade musik tills vi mer eller mindre blev utschasade pga stängningsdags.

Så allt som allt två till riktigt roliga dagar i japanland :)

摩天楼オペラ ♥ :D rantings from a happy fangirl

OK, so since I work for JaME I probably should act more professional but what the hell, now I'm gonna fangirl rant my ass off about todays concert 'cause this is my BLOG!

The day started with me walking to Takadanobaba since it was really warm and sunny, so it was a pleasant walk indeed. There I met up with Beata and we went to eat curry, oh god I've missed it sooo much! Then we went straight to Akasaka Blitz because the concert started rather early. We discovered there were a whole lot of males at this gig, and quite a good looking bunch too, and we also discovered that apart from some of the taller guys Beata and I completely hovered over everybody else so despite us not having the best seats we still had a perfect view of the band.

And yeah, the concert was pretty awesome, it definitely satisfied my cravings for a gig you could rock out to. I saw these guys all the way back in 2008 when they were one of the opening acts for Versailles. Back then I already liked this band more than Versailles and that liking continued to grow. It's pretty fun when you've had a chance to see a little nobody band grow it self this big, 'cause todays gig was nothing like the gig three years ago. They've grown so much, both individually and as a band as whole. Sono's voice has surely improved, it sounded quite beautiful. And my little favorite member, Yuu, when I saw him back in Sweden he was so shy, he literally hid behind his drums when they were packing down their equipment, but today he OWNED that drum set! And yeah he dropped his drum stick during his solo, haha that was cute, I seriously like him even more now.

The concert was rather long so they played a lot of familiar songs, and one that neither me nor Beata recognizes, it could be a new song, who knows. Anyways I'm really glad this gig didn't get canceled 'cause obviously the band had been a victim for the flu so some concerts had been canceled during the tour. They even played X's Kurenai, stating that because they did that it made them metal, 'cause obviously otherwise you can't be booth VK and metal? That was some fail logic since X was like the starter of VK...

But anyhow, after the concert the most confusing thing happened. We were supposed to leave the hall, but as we were walked through the corridors we ended up in the hall again! And no one seemed to know why. The staged was being taken down so the band doing another encore was out of question. So after about 15min of confusion we find out the band are holding a hand shaking-session, we really hadn't expected that at all! This is the first time I have witnessed a band doing something like this after a concert in Japan. But it was fun meeting the guys and say thanks for a great concert. They seemed happy and under the concert they said they were sorry so many of their friends bands were breaking up lately but that Matenrou opera surely will NOT break up any time soon, that was really nice to hear. But I guess they hadn't seen foreigners for quite a while 'cause man were they looking, and Anzi must be the most serious hand shaker ever, seriously I was gonna move onto Yuu and he still held onto my hand when I started walking haha.

After this fine evening we went to my place to watch a movie, it was uhm special to say at least. But quite entertaining on some level. I love the guy who played the evil manager, he obviously always plays an evil manager haha. Then Beata helped me carry out some of the trash that has been piling up in my room since I moved in. Then that was the end of an quite wonderful day, I think next week will be kinda not so intense, we need to gather up power for the week after when Swedens finest will conquer Kansai!

A night to remember

So, yesterday I was gonna hang out with Beata and the day starts off wonderfully with that I overslept and had to run into the shower with the speed of Superman, but I wasn't the only one who had been tired that day so no harm done.

We started of with Beata showing me where Closet child is located, seriously if I don't remember it after this time I must suffer from brain damage.. Then we went to Freshness burger, were they played some remixed reggae, it was hard not to laugh while listening to it xD Our next mission was to find a sake-store, so we ran around half of Ikebukuro but still didn't find one, but we did find a random little shrine with loads of cats hanging around, so many fluffy cuties! And we ran into this really funny looking building which we figured out was a love hotel. After the fail of finding a sake-store we just went into a normal store and bought a little supply, then we headed back to my place and watched skiing and some fun show on a music chanel. When things started to get a little dull we decided it was time to move to HUB's.

And so we did and we discovered the hot bartender still works there, plus another really cute guy. Not long before we started to thinking about going home we meet three guys whith whom we'll spend the rest of the evening. And that definitely turned out to be the funniest night in Tokyo so far, can't remember the last time I laughed so much. Helan går added to the whole epicness, 'cause yeah you have to sing Helan går at an Izakaya in the middle of the night at least once in your life!

I got home at 7.30 am, and even though I've slept I'm still pretty dead, but I guess I must leave my bed in search for food later .__.

And yay tomorrow is Matenrou opera's final live, I'm so happy I'm going to see them again! :D Haven't done that since they played in Sweden with Versailles 2008, and then nobody knew who they were, that's kinda funny.

And next sunday we're gonna watch the St Patrick's parade at Omotesando, looking forward to that!

Finally a sunny day!

Today was the first day to have nice weather since I arrived so I took the opportunity to walk around in Ikebukuro and see how well I could find my way around. It went pretty well I must say, at least I didn't get myself lost (that HAS happened before, ehem Kabukichou...) But, I didn't manage to find Closet Child, I don't know what is is about that store's location but I just can't remember where it's located, so guess I'll just look it up on a map, I usually remember it better that way. Yes I know I'm senile 'cause I was there two days ago -__- But at least I found brand X, could be a good thing since there's usually a lot of band activities there.

It was kinda warm outside but people still dress like people do back in Sweden where it's more than twice the cold, so yeah I got kinda looked at 'cause even though I dress warm I don't wear that much. But I'm more than used to people looking at me by now xD.

And I've noticed I've gotten into the habit of skipping on eating again, seriously as soon as I start to live on my own I barely feel the need to eat, well that keep things cheap at least.

But what I really was supposed to do today was to buy a hair dryer, and so I did, found a really cheap thing for 998yen, hopefully it works too haha.

Tomorrow night we're gonna hang out at HUB's in Kabukichou, haven't been there since my birthday! Hopefully that good looking bartender still works there :3

Sleep is the cure to everything

Well now I'm gonna try and write this travel blog in english since so many people appreciated my last one!

Arrived in Tokyo the day before yesterday and the whole trip had went smooth (just comparing it to last time makes it seem like a dream). The only thing that was bothering me was that my poor bag had gotten absolutely trashed during the fligt, it looked as if it had been run over :( So it was more or less hell to try and drag it to the hotel. But apparently one of the guys at Tateshina recognized me, that was quite fun I must say. Then I met up with Beata and the two of us went to the wonderful Italian restaurant in Shinjuku which serves spaghetti with caviar, crazy as it sounds it tastes yummy! And I got this really fun candy, Beata knows me too well apparently. And she got her swedish delicatessens, so know she can do her original swedish macka. And seriously I had almost forgotten how many hotties there're around Shinjuku xD

Well yesterday I was supposed to meet up with my house manager at Ikebukuro station, only that we didn't meet and I had to find the damn place myself, and it took pretty much forever, so I was not happy and I had barely slept anything at all so when I found the place I was completely dead. But the place seems OK and the residents I have met so far seems nice. But yeah, I still miss Gotanda, that place was a little special to me, I have so many fun memories from that house..
Any how, Beata and Malla came over later and we headed out in Ikebukuro. Now maybe I have learned to find my way around a liiittle better. And the okonomiyaki and izakaya was pure win, so cheap and so much fun! (Especially since one of the guys working at the izakaya was really hot ehem..)

Now I've slept for 12 h and that was pure heavenly. So now I need to get out of the bedroom, which I'm not too keen on since it's cold as hell on my floor since someone is opening the windows all the time, seriously it's cold outside so just keep them closed please :/