#buck-tick fan story

I meet up my friend at the train station so we can head out to the show. But before I even get there, I’m having trouble with rush hour trains. I swore the sign said the train is coming and then I don’t think it came or I couldn’t read the sign on the actual train and then it left. Everyone is in line to boot so I can’t really see. Anyway, I think I go back and forth a few times trying to figure out where I’m supposed to be. We don’t have trains in Okinawa. Trains are the best and worst part about navigating Japan. Eventually, I get there and there’s still time before the show starts. When you have assigned seats, then you have the freedom to check out the merchandise booth for as long as you wish. Curiously, one of the Toll produced items looks like it’s a menstrual pad holder. I picked up the parka and wore it everyday I was in Tokyo, which wasn’t long. I also was listening to the Atom Miraiha No.9 album non-stop in my iPod. It has echoes of the past. I can’t quite place it. Sounds like Kurutta Taiyo here and some other album there. Moments of wandering the city and having the album as my personal soundtrack were quite nice.

They sold rubber wristbands for each show. Each show has a different color and the date on it or the venue too, etc. I saw someone wearing so many. It made me a bit mad at the business side of things. Buck-Tick sells so much merchandise that to be a “true” fan who buys a lot or a collector who buys everything, well you better have an amazing job or born into money. I also hate this notion of having to prove yourself by showing how much merch you’re wearing. It may not be true but it felt that way in that moment. A pamphlet, a couple t-shirts, and maybe a couple other things like guitar picks and badges. That’s all that’s really needed. I stopped treating my Buck-Tick items as sacred because it’s such a waste to buy something and never use it. I’ve never used the stickers but I feel like there’s also people who buy one to use and one to save in pristine condition, shit like that. I cry for our collective bank accounts.

We get to our seats and I’m further away than I had hoped for but I knew I wouldn’t be up front. There’s some strange shape projected up there. Doesn’t look like any atom I know. A quick photo before the show starts. Looks terrible because very few people were even doing that! Japanese being way too polite. The concert hasn’t even started. No harm in a photo of the stage in anticipation of what is to be a great night.

The show is great. The sound is on point. I brought ear plugs just in case but Japanese venues have the volume just right. I’ve been to concerts outside of Japan where even though I’m wearing ear plugs, it still feels too damn loud and my ears ring for awhile after. 

Almost every show has the same setlist. Buck-Tick tends to do that, with just a couple songs varying, usually in the encore. Honestly, it annoys me. It’s why I could not be one of those people who go to multiple shows. I want more variety, spontaneity, a sense of excitement because the show is an unknown. Not they start 3 minutes exactly after the printed start time and you can expect these 10-15 songs in a row and 3 out of these 6 songs in the encore. I try not to look at setlists before attending concerts for that very reason. Surprise me. Entertain me. Get lost in the moment. I’m not here to watch a musical. This is rock ‘n’ roll!

Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate professionalism. I love how well-rehearsed Buck-Tick is. How the sound is flawless. The group is very tight and that’s not as easy to find in a live show. But sometimes you can be too rehearsed and it makes it rigid. I like when there’s room for improvisation. When you have a vast catalogue, you can’t possibly love every song from your past, nor be well-rehearsed for every song. I completely understand that. But there could be more randomizing of the song order. Once I went to see another band live 2 nights in a row and it was pretty obvious they were playing the exact same set. I was younger then so I had memorized what they played on night 1. Before each song, everyone is shouting what they want to hear. I was shouting the title of the next song that I knew they were going to play. Some people next to me caught on that I knew what they were going to play so they started copying me and chanting the same song title. It was kinda funny.

Before one of the encore songs started, there was just a note, a chord, a sound. Just one sound and as soon as I heard that, I knew exactly what they were going to play and I couldn’t believe they were going to play it. I got very excited and had to take a photo to remember the time when I got to hear Misty Zone live again.

Almost every setlist is comprised of these as the main set:
1. Cum Uh Sol Nu -Flask No Besshu- 
2. Pinoa Icchio -Odoru Atom-
(some shows: 3. My Fuckin’ Valentine)
3 or 4. Bi Neo Universe
4 or 5. Baby, I Want You.
(some shows: 5. My Fuckin’ Valentine)
6. El Dorado
7. Jukai
8. Melancholia -Electria-
9. Devil’s Wings
10. Boy Septem Peccata Mortalia (9 and 10 sometimes switched)
11. Future Song -Mirai Ga Tooru-
12. The Seaside Story
13. Cuba Libre
14. Manjusaka
15. Ai No Souretsu

All possible encore songs: (6 songs were played; final show 7 songs)
Kirameki No Naka De…
Mienai Mono Wo Miyou To Suru Gokai    Subete Gokai Da
Mudai
Keijijou Ryuusei
Buster
Makka Na Yoru
Misty Zone
Tenshi Wa Dare Da
Romance
New World -Beginning-

And with that, the show was over. The house lights came on. I snapped a goodbye photo of the venue.

And that was it. Haven’t seen Buck-Tick live since. Haven’t been back to Japan since. The next Uchinanchu Taikai was supposed to be held in 2021 but pandemic. It’s been postponed to 2022 but I don’t think I will be going. Buck-Tick has announced some shows this year but if venues will be using the Japan only app for vaccinations, I probably won’t be able to get in as I was vaccinated outside of Japan. So I wait. Wait for this pandemic to end and hope I have some time and money to continue to see more parts of Japan that I have never been to, to see my family again, and to see Buck-Tick live.

I hit up Tower Records again but mostly take photos. There’s some nice displays for Buck-Tick and I even spotted Yukio’s autograph. He was in The Mortal with Atsushi but his main band is My Way My Love.

Tower Record! No music, no life. No Buck-Tick, no life.

The magazines I actually bought below. Plus, one of the Welcome back to Victor tote bags.

One thing I did not take a photo of was my haul from the used shops. Never skip out on purchasing first releases when you can afford it. There have been periods when I don’t buy Buck-Tick stuff right away and then it’s really hard to find. Plus, it was still motherfucking expensive. I got the Oral History book, Atsushi’s solo books, and some magazines. There’s still some magazine issues from the late 1980s when I first became a fan that I don’t own. My friend owned them so I would look at her copy. But one day I will get my own copy. Those things are even harder to find now and still expensive to me.

My friend invited me out to have dinner at a place she thought I would like. I brought along my mom. Maybe that’s weird but the first time I met my friend, we were in high school so she’s met my mom before. Plus, my mom is an extrovert so she kept the conversation flowing, sometimes in strange ways. The place we went to had Schaft autographs on the wall. Later did I realize my photo was blurry. Always check your photos before you leave.

Damn, Schaft. I have never seen them. I really want to see them. I will never get to see them. Right after The Mortal was announced, Schaft’s return was announced and I knew I wouldn’t be able to come back so quickly to see Schaft. C’est la vie.

There were also some bottles decorated by U-ta. He drew female versions of Serious Bear. You can tell it’s him because the bottle on the right has Shiriko written above, where the ko kanji denotes a girl’s name. Both bears have the letter Hi written on them, which is for Higuchi. Serious Bear always has that Hi. That’s how you can quickly tell that it’s not Rilakkuma. My friend once was here when U-ta was here but she was too scared to say hi to him. 

At some point my mom used the restroom and came out saying there was a poster in there with a phrase (I can’t remember the phrase) and she was really impressed, talking about how profound it is. Then my friend uses the restroom and comes back to tell me it’s a Kishidan poster. She was laughing her ass off, asking me if I know that they’re not a serious band. Yes, I know. Let my mom think she just read some great philosophy.

Another blog post years too late. After my 2015 solo trip, I returned almost exactly 1 year later with my mom. I’ve never gone to visit Japan two years in a row so that’s quite something. We went back for the Worldwide Uchinanchu Taikai, the festival held every 5 years for the Okinawan diaspora. This time I clearly said that I am not interested in going back home to see family if all we did is see family. We have to visit other parts of Okinawa too. Other islands we have never been to. The deal was struck. I also contact my friend in Tokyo and convinced her we should go see the Atom Miraiha No.9 Tour since neither of us have seen Buck-Tick live since the 1990s. Seeing Atsushi last year in The Mortal was great but now it’s time for the main course!

The Okinawan diaspora has spread out mostly in English, Spanish, and Portuguese speaking countries, hence the multi-lingual sign. Never fuck with the Brasil contingent. Their numbers are too great.

Bonus: while with family, someone rolled out a giant family tree poster. I didn’t take great photos of it. I snapped a couple but now I realize they’re not that legible. However, I did notice an interesting detail. (More terrible photos coming in the next post.)

The years written on it, when there are years written, refer to Chinese emperors. This is because those relatives were born and lived before Japan fully colonized the Ryukyu Kingdom by removing and exiling the king and turning a sovereign nation into Okinawa Prefecture. So there it is, my grandfather was born in the 1800s after Japan fully took over. But his grandfather was born during a time when the Ryukyu Kingdom paid tribute to China and was heavily influenced by China so his birth year is recorded in year of Chinese emperor with the Gregorian calendar year in parenthesis. All of that is in kanji though. Other parts of Japan wouldn’t have their family trees like this because they were always ruled by the Japanese emperor. This family tree starts in the 1400s by our famous ancestor but it gets a little sketch for the first few generations after him. As always in the patriarchy, very few women are noted. Just the names of some wives. Never are daughters named. It’s amusing to me that only 3 generations were born in the 1800s and only 2 generations born in the 1900s. Other people seem to enjoy procreating more often. Comparing my family to Atsushi’s family, both his parents and his child were born in the 1900s so that’s already 1 generation more than one line of my family. Of course, I’m pointing out the most extreme line that I can trace.

I came home with a lot more stuff than perhaps I thought I would be coming home with. Here is my haul of The Mortal goods.

Before I left Japan, my friend asked if I had opened the chocolate bar. She said it was tasty. I said I haven’t tried it yet. Some time passes at home and I eventually open the chocolate bar. Each comes with a sticker. To my surprise, mine was signed by Atsushi. 当たり！

So there you have it. You never know if the merchandise you purchase has something extra special about it.

I’ve wanted to do a pilgrimage to Gunma since 1990 or 1991, ever since I heard about you can catch a cab and ride around to see Buck-Tick related landmarks. But the years went on and on and I went to Japan less and less and always to see family so no time to go to the countryside to see Buck-Tick’s humble origins. My friend was busy so I went alone and hopped aboard some local trains, as opposed to the bullet train (much cheaper!), and arrived in Takasaki. Immediately in the train station you are greeted by a big daruma doll (dharma), which is what Takasaki is known for.

Takasaki is the hometown of the rhythm section, the Higuchi brothers, U-ta and Toll. I looked around the shops and found a Gunma tourist shop so I bought a small thing to remember Gunma by. Then I went off to trace the band’s footsteps. Not too far from the station, there are some notable locations. (This trip was before they opened up a Tower Records in Takasaki.) First, Club Fleez where the side projects have played. Toll has played there with his side project The Blue Sky. U-ta has played there with his side project Wild Wise Apes. Hisashi has played there with his side project Lucy.

Also nearby is Gunma Ongaku Center (music center), where Buck-Tick have played.

If you own the Picture Product 2 video from 2003 then you know that Toll visits his hometown and takes photos in the same spots as photos from his childhood. Here is Toll visiting his childhood school.

I decided to walk by his elementary school. The yard is quite large. I had forgotten how big school grounds can be.

A major landmark in Takasaki is the temple devoted to the goddess Kannon. (Where Canon camera gets their name from.) There’s a big statue of Kannon and you can go inside and see some Buddhist shit and get a view of the city. I had the monk write in my little temple book. It’s a thing. I’m not Buddhist but I enjoy doing little things like that sometimes. I almost missed him because he had to go pick up his child. I guess I was expecting a chaste monk so that surprised me a little bit. Anyway, here is a photo of Toll as a child and as an adult at the same spot. You can see how it’s changed over time.

Takasaki over. Time to move on to the neighboring city of Fujioka since that’s where the rest of the members are from. I was thinking of taking a taxi to the train station so that I’m there in time to catch the next train as there’s only one per hour. But. I. Can’t. Find. A. Damn. Cab. I’m in a decent part of the city. There’s a lot of stores and traffic. I never see a taxi. I decide to walk towards more shops and hope to spot one there. No. Nothing. This is insane! Even in Okinawa, I could catch a cab easier than this and to me Okinawa is the countryside. Mind you, in my head I’m thinking this is the big city if the girl I met from Maebashi said they would go to Takasaki to have fun. It must be really bad in Maebashi! Eventually, I just walk to the train station but I grow impatient waiting. Maybe after 20-30min, I just catch a cab at the train station and have it take me one station over to Fujioka. Hisashi’s parents owned a store just across from the station but when I walked it, it felt like it took forever. The years of anticipation have all led up to this.

I know his parents have basically retired but back in the day, this was THE place to be if you were a Buck-Tick fan. I’m really hoping I can see inside. “Gomen kudasai!” Someone answers. I go inside. I take pictures.

I chat with the old lady a little bit. I start to take out a small present because that’s what Japanese do. I can’t show up without a gift. That’s when the old lady starts to start yelling towards inside the house and I get confused for a moment. Then another old lady comes out and offers me tea and snacks. That’s when it hits me. I was talking to Hisashi’s aunt and now his mother has come out to do her hostess duties. So I think we’re just sitting there, watching tv, drinking tea, and eating snacks. She tells me I’m not the first foreigner to arrive. Um, I didn’t say I was a foreigner but that’s OK. I expect that always. Anyone not 100% Japanese is foreign. I say something like, isn’t it amazing that people have come from other countries to visit here. She gets this attitude like of course they would! My son works so hard! I was blown away. I’ve never seen Japanese parents praise their children. (Except perhaps when old ladies get together to gossip about how great their kids are doing.) She gives me a small souvenir to remember the shop. I say to myself I will never lose this. I think I lose it not too long after completing my trip. A reason to return! She asks me if I’ve taken a taxi tour of the other parents homes yet. Er, no, I haven’t. And that’s still possible? Oh yeah, there’s always taxis at the store nearby, go there. 

I go to the store. But. I. Can’t. Find. A. Damn. Cab. What is it with Gunma and the lack of taxis? I go inside the store and ask an employee about catching a cab. They said there should be some passing by. Never. Eventually they call one for me. The driver asks where to and I say that I want to see Buck-Tick shit. He’s like hmmm, I think I know where but let me call the office to confirm. So he’s on the phone with dispatch and they’ve telling him all the addresses to take me to. He’s like, “oh yeah! that place!” on the phone. He asks if I want to see Boøwy places too. No thanks, just Buck-Tick, thanks. So off we go!

Atsushi & Hisashi were in one grade in high school. Hide & U-ta in the grade below them. It was an all boy’s high school. They all graduated except for Toll. Toll quit after 3 months but I’m not sure which high school he went to. Their high school is no more. The buildings remain but have been repurposed as the Fujioka City Sogo Gakushu Center, or comprehensive learning center. You can rent some of the classrooms if you want to teach Buck-Tick 101.

Hide’s family had a store (dilapidated building on the left) and they used to live above it and behind but now the Hoshino family lives in the house next door. The store has long closed but nearby you can see the discarded sign for the parking area for the store. A couple years after I visited, they have cleaned up and thrown away the sign as well as demolished the old store.

Final stop was Atsushi’s family home, which has since been rebuilt. The taxi driver was daring me to go up and ring the doorbell. This muthafucka gonna get a BiTch in trouble. Just get me back to the train station so I can catch the next train back to Tokyo.

On the ride back, the train stopped at some station longer than usual. It was some kind of break. I was thirsty and didn’t buy anything to take with me. Usually there are vending machines or small stores at train stations but I couldn’t see any through the window and was getting nervous about how long the train was stopped. I didn’t want to leave the train to buy a drink only to have the train take off without me. So I asked a passenger nearby if he knew drinks are for sale at this station. He was kind of surprised I talked to him because Japanese don’t talk to strangers. He thought surely this station has drinks! But he also looked out the window and was thinking this is the one station in Japan lacking beverages. The train starts moving and we start chatting. Turns out he’s retired but sometimes does a little work and so that’s what he did today. Now he’s heading back home. He knows this route. He asks what I’m doing on this train so said I like this band and went to go visit their hometown. Then he tells me his celebrity encounter. Once Whitney Houston was eating at the same restaurant in Japan and he was a big fan but couldn’t bother her. When she left, he kept her chopsticks. He still has them. So cute. (She died 3 years prior to me talking with this man.) He thanked me for making this trip enjoyable and more memorable than the usual return home. Thank you sir, me too. Normally I don’t chat up strangers but maybe I should break out of my shell more often for moments like these.

Thank you all who made my trip so memorable. All the people I talked to really made it the most interesting time I’ve ever had in Japan and I used to live there so thank you for helping to change my mind from let’s bully and ostracize people to let’s have real conversations and good times.

A couple things from hanging out in Tokyo.

Hisashi once blogged to support Teranga Bar so my friend and I went to go check it out. The owner is really nice but Japanese never take custom orders. They just can’t handle it. I asked for some food minus the fish flakes on top because I don’t eat flesh. There they were, the fish flakes. My friend kindly ate it for me. There were some Imai model mai-mai guitars. I’ve never held one so I was half-tempted to hold one just to feel the weight distribution but that’s just rude. I should visit a music store to do that. Several musicians have signed the wall, including Buck-Tick and Soft Ballet members. Ken Morioka was still alive during this trip :(

We went to another bar to meet some friends and enjoyed some good conversation. Her friend is into X and we are into Buck-Tick so her friend didn’t know Buck-Tick refers to concerts as sex. She was really perplexed by this. We were perplexed why X can’t seem to release another album. It’s 7 years later since my trip and still no album. But she does run in some interesting circles because she told us how she was at a wedding and the table next to her was Buck-Tick. She didn’t care. My friend and I were gutted. Completely wasted opportunity. It’s funny that some months later, my friend was at a club and Yoshiki was there. She secretly recorded some video of her on the dance floor and quizzed me as to who was in the background. Her friend probably thought it was a wasted opportunity. That’s how fan life goes. You run into other bands that you’re not into. Keeps you from making a fool of yourself.

One night I watched Buck-Tick music videos at my friend’s place. It really took me back to being a teenager and hanging out at a music lover’s place and just enjoying the same things together or learning new weird shit. We were both screaming “WHY?!?!” when foreign women would appear in their videos. So unnecessary. But anyway, one night I walked by Shinjuku Loft, where Buck-Tick used to play before they got their big break.

Finally, I walked past somewhere and took one more photo of a mailbox. They’ve since moved but I guess I just wanted to know where all my money goes.

Since the main point of my trip was to see The Mortal live, let’s talk about The Mortal!

First, I hit up several record stores to see how I could go further into debt. Several stores had some displays for The Mortal and tour goods for sale, or just Buck-Tick displays and stuff. Images from store displays below. The Tower Records in Shibuya is the most notable because The Mortal played an exclusive show there. I didn’t bother to try to qualify because my itinerary was quite full for the trip and I was satisfied enough that I had a ticket to one concert. No need trying to win a ticket and getting my hopes up and missing a day of turbo mode tourism.

Now, on to the show! I went to Studio Coast in Shin-Kiba. To me this venue is notable for another side project, Hisashi’s Lucy recorded a live video there.

They had lockers so I bought a bunch of merchandise and threw it in a locker. Tickets were general admission and by the time I hit the floor, it was more crowded than I would have liked but I haven’t seen any member in forever so I don’t care. I’m just happy to be here.

There’s no photos at major label artist shows and fans are pretty respectful of this so I have nothing from when the band was on stage. The little old lady in front of me never wavered. She stood like a rock! She was so short but so solid. I wish I have such endurance to watch a live show when I’m her age. Much respect to you!

Here are the obligatory flowers from friends and companies. I don’t really get this practice but then again I’m not into flowers. I think it’s a waste of farmland that could be used for food.

After hearing all the songs, I was really glad that I was being so weirdly paranoid about my mortality and chose to go to this show. The Mortal by themselves don’t have enough songs for a full 2 hour show that seems to be standard so they also played Atsushi solo songs. Since I never saw Atsushi perform solo, it was a welcome treat for the ears. I still think though that he was pushed too far for some songs and his voice does not have the range needed.

The show started at 7:05pm and ended at 9:30pm according to my notes. At the beginning of the first encore, Yukio played with a theremin bow thing. Honestly, I can picture his silhouette on this but I have to go back and watch the live video they sold to remember exactly what he was doing and what it sounded like. That is, I assume he did the same thing at every show because the video is from another night. At the beginning of the second encore, it was Jake’s turn to show off so he did his solo thing.

Setlist:
1. Tenshi
2. Dead Can Dance
3. Pain Drop
4. Yume
5. Fantômas - Tenrankai No Otoko
6. Tsuki
7. Grotesque
8. Mother
9. Guignol
10. Sacrifice (Atsushi solo)
11. Hallelujah (Atsushi solo)
12. Wakusei (Atsushi solo)
13. Barbaric Man
14. Mortal
15. Sayonara Waltz
Encore I:
16. Shadow of Love (The Damned cover)
17. Cities In Dust (Siouxsie & the Banshees cover)
18. Spirit (Bauhaus cover)
Encore II:
19. Yokan (Atsushi solo)
20. Neko (Atsushi solo)
21. Explosion (Atsushi solo)

Bonus: the venue had this Buck-Tick poster. I should have nicked it ;)

Oh and uh if you heard someone singing the original English lyrics during “Cities In Dust”, well that would have been me.

The story will continue.

There once was a time when this blog post would have been a tale of a recent trip. 7 years later, this blog post is a story from yesteryear. I have a folder of photos I already prepped to share. I just never bothered to write up the tale.

There once was a time I lived in Japan with my grandmother and my uncle. Both are dead now. The house has been torn down. Yet, whenever I go to Japan it’s to do a 里帰り (sato-gaeri) trip, a trip home. (Sato implying countryside, a return to the hometown is a return to the countryside.) I stay with my other uncle and am generally bored out of my mind as the adults gossip about family. As more time passes, more relatives fight and I’m restricted from yet more relatives I haven’t seen since childhood. I wonder why I used my money and vacation time away from work to be bored. People think going to Japan is exciting. Japanese think going to Okinawa is a vacation. For me, it is neither. I’m not at a resort. I’m not at the beach. I’m not in the big city. I’m not even going anywhere new. I’m hanging out in a living room in the suburbs, having McDonald’s brought over for breakfast everyday, watching that same damn guy on every show on every channel. It can be downright annoying. No more. It’s time for a 大都会帰り (dai tokai-gaeri), a return to the big city. (My made up phrase.) Or that time I thought I was going to die so I went to Japan to see The Mortal perform live.

I don’t have any specific reason, other than perhaps I was not getting enough sleep each night and was commuting a couple hours everyday in an area heavy with vehicular traffic and thought I was going to get into a bad accident, but I had an overwhelming feeling that I was going to die and soon. Around the same time, Buck-Tick announced that Atsushi Sakurai had a new side project called The Mortal and they would play a handful of shows. I haven’t seen Buck-Tick live since 1997. I told myself I wouldn’t let 20 years pass without seeing them again. I feel like I’m going to die. I need to go back to Japan and see The Mortal. I have to. Ever since the Tohoku earthquake in 2011, I’ve started talking again to my old B-T friend who now lives in Tokyo. Good excuse to see her too. Would she want to go too? She hasn’t been to a Buck-Tick concert since 1995. This would be an opportunity to see things I’ve always wanted to see. But there are so many places I’ve wanted to see because we never sightsee. We just spend a couple days in Tokyo before we go visit relatives. There’s a place that seems interesting to take children but I don’t have children. A friend tells me I don’t need children to go there. Just go. I take time off work. I buy a plane ticket. I buy concert tickets. I plan what I’m going to do each day. But there is this guilt. I can’t tell any family members because I’m not going to Okinawa. I’ve never gone to Japan by myself. I’ve never gone to Japan and not visited family. I am feeling an incredible amount of self-generated pressure. But my mom just went back to Japan with her boyfriend to visit where he’s from and she didn’t see her family. Screw it. I tell her I’m going to Japan and not going to see family. She couldn’t care less. My mind is blown. They give me a transit card that has a little bit of yen left on it. My girlfriend is going to take care of the dogs while I’m gone. This is really happening.

First, Buck-Tick adjacent or non-Buck-Tick things I did. It was November so I thought it would be cold and changed my clothes in the airport bathroom then headed straight for some Gegege No Kitaro sightseeing. I’ve always loved that show. Damn, the store I really wanted to shop at is closed. I should’ve looked up their hours. I’m starting to realize it’s not cold at all. I started sweating and had to take off a layer of clothing. The creator of Gegege No Kitaro is Shigeru Mizuki and he’s still alive. My trip concludes, I go home, and Shigeru dies. 4 years later in 2019, there would be a collaboration with Buck-Tick where their song is used in the show and there is merchandise sold with the members drawn in the style of the show.

I pack my days so full of things to do that there isn’t much room to breathe. I do leave some room to hang out with my friend. I check in with her and every time something is going on, she invites me to join but I don’t always join. I stay in a hostel dorm and am the first one up each day and the last one back in the room each night. Everyone is asleep and I get up. I get back and everyone is asleep. I really crammed in as much as I could each day because I felt my mortality creeping up on me and I was alone. No family obligations. Go, go, go!

My friend wants to check out the Kawaii (cute) Monster Cafe. I’m not into cute. I’m into cool but sure, let’s check it out. I check out some temples and shops in Tokyo. I run into the crazy cat man of Shinjuku. I check out a town in Saitama. I go to Disney Sea in Chiba for my birthday because I’ve never been. I go to Tochigi and walk until my legs almost fall out in Nikko. I go to Kanagawa to see the Daibutsu of Kamakura (great Buddha statue) and watch yabusame (horseback archery) on the beach. Could that day be more Japanese? I’ve almost seen all of Kanto now!

One day my friend takes me to a party with an interesting assortment of characters. Another day we go to a gathering with an even more interesting assortment of characters. One person is an artist from France. He doesn’t speak Japanese but one person speaks some French. So we’re communicating in Japanese via the volunteer translator. The French guy speaks English so sometimes just the two of us are speaking in English. I am starting to realize that this is a great trip. The youngest one there asks me what I think of Japan, perhaps forgetting for a moment that I’m half-Japanese–it happens a lot. I say that since perhaps my last trip some years ago as an adult, I’m seeing for the first time that Japanese can be kind. My childhood was not so nice. It was perhaps too honest and too real for such a casual question. She apologizes, perhaps on behalf of all Japanese, perhaps even for a time when she wasn’t even born yet, and I can see how awkward this could be. Even more awkward, I’m coming to a realization that almost of my bad childhood experiences were with my own people and it wasn’t even Japanese being mean to me, if we want to draw the line between Okinawan culture and society vs. Japanese culture and society. No time for a self crisis therapy moment. Anyway, I mention I also plan to visit Takasaki in Gunma and this person is from Maebashi, Gunma. They say that anytime they wanted to do anything, they would go to Takasaki. My friend and I are perplexed because Maebashi is the capital city of Gunma so surely there are things to do. No, nothing. Maebashians go to Takasaki. One night, I see a mouse in the subway. Probably going to his job as a sushi chef.

My friend and I walk around to see some Christmas lights (illumination). I’m pondering when did this become a thing. When I was kid, there was no illumination, no Halloween, etc. in Japan. You just got a cake from KFC for Christmas. More and more Western culture creeping into Japan in strange ways.

I go to one place and the owner is friends with Takanori Nishikawa from T.M. Revolution and there’s some Buck-Tick connections there but I don’t ask about the owner’s friendship and any celebrity sightings. Just a matter of fact thing. One shop is having an Okinawan fair so there are Okinawan products for sale. I buy some shikwasa juice because I always drink it when I go back to Okinawa. And here I thought this trip would be without shikwasa. I go to another place and there’s cats that just hang out there. There’s a glass of water just for the cats (labeled in Spanish) so don’t drink it unless you want babas.

While I’m visiting, there’s a terrorist attack in France. So many people left flowers at the French embassy.

I see a couple a dentist office named Imai and an apartment/condo complex.

More to come. Spoiler alert: I didn’t die.