Niigata Asia Pop Festival with Gackt & others

Last Sunday I went on an outing with a group of students to Niigata City for the 新潟アジア国際音楽祭 (Niigata Asia International Music Festival). The tickets were free (for us!), offered by the school as a ‘cultural experience’ or something along those lines. The whole day was a lot of fun, and we ate at a very nice Japanese place, grabbed a scone and coffee at Starbucks and even fit an hour of karaoke in before catching our train back.  Actually, we had quite serendipitous timing on all our bus and train transfers. The whole day was a lot of fun.

Now, about the concert itself. The lineup included Gackt (Japan), Jerry Yan (Taiwan), K.WILL (Korea), Peter Ho (Taiwan/Canada/Hong Kong/America??), and AK (Taiwan). AK, the opening duo, were cute and promising. Peter Ho was a good show, and extremely charismatic – he devoured the spotlight and drew swoons from many female audience members. K.WILL was a powerful singer, but in the interview portion seemed a bit shy. He said it was his first time performing in Japan. Benny Yan, I have to say, was a very poor singer. He also seemed to be trying too hard to seem cute to the Japanese audience, and unfortunately I think it was working. He is part of the “Taiwanese F4″ – playing a character in a Taiwanese remake of a very popular Japanese TV drama – so other than Gackt he was probably the most famous performer. Yet, I cannot really say that I was impressed with this Jerry Yan guy.

Now, for those who are pretty lost at this point, Gackt is an extremely famous Japanese rock star. He’s basically the David Bowie of Japan, so of course he gets the most elaborate entrance. A Thai friend of mine here was uninterested in attending, saying she didn’t feel very well and would rather stay in her room. But when she saw Gackt written on the ticket she immediately said “Gackt?! OK, I will go.” Before Gackt came on, the state was covered with smoke and dramatic lights while the audience alternatively held their breath and screamed as his band entered, one by one (as an aside, one of the guitarists was amazingly good). When Gackt finally came on, I thought my ear drums would burst from the shrill orchestra of girls screeching 「ガクト！！」whose voices enveloped me. Luckily, the screaming guitars took their place instead, a welcome change for my ears. The set was only about half a dozen songs, if that, but it was a good show.

The ‘concert’ was about one part singing and one part interviews, with slideshows mixed in and commentary from a man I’ll just call the stage master. The stage master introduced and interviewed all of the acts. Each of them had their own trusty translators who would shuffle on to the stage after a song set ended. Gackt, however, paid no mind to the stage master, and addressed the audience directly in a slow, sultry speaking style. I actually was very happy with what he said though, because this show was part of a concert series commemorating the devastating earthquake that hit Niigata five years ago, and in many of the interviews there were condolences and discussion of the lives lost during that time, as well as expressions of solidarity from the Asian community for Japan.  Until Gackt, there was not even a mention of the more recent disaster in Haiti. Gackt talked about how terrible the earthquake in Haiti has been for the people, and then he made a nice statement about how we each command only a small amount of power in our hands, but that working together we wield tremendous power to make a difference. Admittedly, not a winner for the world’s most original statement, but it was aptly put and very appropriate given the context – I was relieved that someone brought up Haiti, and uplifted to hear him make that point.

Edit: I guess I should mention somewhere that I actually do like Gackt – although I certainly don’t compare to the caliber of some of his 大ファン. Some may be interested in which songs he performed, so I’ll just list those songs I recognized. Those included: 君が追いかけた夢, Another World, オレンジの太陽. I’m sure a quick net search could reveal the remaining titles, but as I said I only know a selection of Gackt’s work.

Layover in Minakami

Three hours of wandering while waiting for the next train departure towards Niigata. Traveling long distances on the 青春１８切符(Seishun 18 Kippu) provides ample opportunity for impromptu, serendipitous exploration. This is Minakami.
Minakami, Gunma, Japan. December 2009.

Homeless in Osaka for New Year’s 2010

During the mid afternoon of December 30th, a couple of friends and I decided to go to Osaka that evening.  We had all idly discussed it before, but no solid plans had been made, so it felt very spontaneous and exciting.  We caught an overnight train called the Kitaguni Express which runs from Niigata to Osaka, which was in itself quite an interesting experience for me.  Riding an overnight train full of sleeping passengers through snow blanketed countryside created an almost surreal atmosphere. Actually, our whole trip had that kind of a feeling.  We arrived in Osaka in the wee hours of the morning, and apparently a major cold front was moving through because it was actually snowing!  When I lived there for a year and it barely flurried once or twice.  Needless to say it was pretty cold this time.

We spent the day shopping, sightseeing, people-watching and enjoying each other’s company.  I always have found people-watching to be interesting in Japan, but after living in farmland for these last few months, being in Osaka with the fashionable and metropolitan citizens striding by held a renewed thrill.  Eventually, after much striving and repeated failures, we managed to purchase tickets to the Universal Studios Japan Countdown 2010 Party from a Lawson in Umeda.  After getting the tickets, we had a fantastic dinner at Cafe La Boheme (the sister restaurant located one floor below my beloved Monsoon).  They also had a great deal going on for New Years’ that we would have gone for if that ticket situation had not resolved itself (Yes, of course I  made sure that we all split a Gorgonzola Honey Pizza with our meal, for those who I’ve exposed to this restaurant before).  After dinner we headed to Osaka Station and joined the mob of 20 somethings also en route to USJ.

When we arrived at the stop for the theme park, a massive, unbelievable wind picked up and we had to plough through the air just to reach the gates. It was made even more dreamlike by the fact that the park itself and the area surrounding it pretty much look like a movie set.  USJ was packed, and we froze our butts off there for a few hours before enjoying the countdown.  By then, while we still had a couple hours during which the park was open, we turned tail and sough warmer ground.  Apparently every other patron had the same idea though so it wasn’t the quickest exit ever, and unfortunately the crowd’s bodily proximity did not keep anyone warm.

From there we went to a Big Echo karaoke place and got a room for “all night” – pretty much meaningless at this point in the am.  My intention was that we do a little karaoke and then sleep in the private rooms we were paying for, but after warming up my friends to the new experience of japanese karaoke, they both became rather addicted.  We were there for about four hours, and I slept for about three of those, but my companions stayed up singing the entire time! It was great to see someone enjoy it, because usually when I introduce people to karaoke I get a much more lukewarm response.  After the karaoke time ended around 5:30 am, we rode on the HEP 5 ferris wheel over the night view of Osaka.  The only things open in the whole complex were the ferris wheel and the 7th floor Starbucks, where were bought drinks, rested and enjoyed free warmth for about an hour.  Then we gathered our things, and headed yet again to the train station.

We were using something called the 青春１８切符 (Seishun 18 Kippu) to travel at a discount, which limited us to local trains.  A trip that takes about 5 hours by bullet train ultimately took us around 14 hours by local trains only.  We transfered almost a dozen different times, and by the time we were back in Niigata prefecture we found out from a station employee that heavy snowstorms had reduced the already reduced holiday train schedule.  In fact, some of our trains were also late and went at below normal speed due to high winds. That man who we spoke to about the delays searched for a way to get us to our station, and actually called a special train for us (a single car train that was no longer supposed to run that evening).  We still only managed to get as far as Muikamachi, two stations from our destination.  We then took a taxi, which was tricky initially because it was a bit far and the driver wasn’t confident he knew the way, and then because of the roads being yet again snowed over.  Our final turn towards the campus barely looked passable by car.  We made it back to our rooms, with tremendous feelings of both fulfillment and relief.

It was a great experience.

Happy New Year! Have a great 2010.
明けましておめでとうございます。今年もどうぞ宜しくお願いします。

New Year’s 2010 photoset

Trains, Tourism & the JR Rail Pass: To Buy or Not To Buy

Japan, land of the Rising Sun, heated toilet seats, and trains. When traveling in Japan it is pretty much a necessity that you use trains – but even if that wasn’t the case, I think you would still want to ride the trains in Japan anyway. On the relatively tiny landmass of Japan, trains are not merely the most effective and cost effective form of travel, but the train experience is really an intrinsic part of ‘the Japan experience.’ The high population density in Japan has made the construction of the current and fairly comprehensive rail & subway systems profitable and therefore feasible. It is exhilarating the first time you successfully navigate one of the larger stations, such as the transfer hubs of Tokyo or Osaka.  Also, the view of the country that you get through the window of the train, the cities and fields whipping by against a backdrop of mountains is pretty phenomenal.

As a general rule, trains are not terribly expensive in Japan.  Local train rides in most cities range between 100 and 400 yen per ride. And if you need to take the same route regularly for something like commuting to school or work, there are various ways to make the process a bit cheaper and/or more convenient (such as buying bulk tickets at the same price for a discount, or getting a rechargeable card). And then, if you are a foreign national touring Japan you can get the JR Rail Pass.