kyoto day two

Almost two months late (seriously?!) but I finally had time to sit down and edit some more photos from mine and Ri's trip to Kyoto in July. I did have this ambitious goal to edit all of them but that was quickly abandoned.

For now, onto part two!

The first day that we got there we actually had a live to cover so after eating about seven different times, we decided to try to walk to the livehouse from our ryokan. Deeefinitely not as close as we expected.

The live was great and both of us kept thinking if we hadn't come for "work" that it would have been tons of fun to get down in the dance pit. Hopefully we'll be able to post more about this after our interviews etc have been posted!

The next morning we got up very early and met Ri's friend for breakfast by the station before heading out for the day.

We took the bus over towards Kiyomizu Temple and I ended up taking way too many pictures.

Kiyomizu was gorgeous and I really, really wish I had the time, money and the vacation days to go visit in the fall as well. For now, some "project" work to do, then early bed.

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music debut

I haven't updated in almost two months! I can't believe it! To be honest, ever since Ri and I got back from Kyoto towards the end of July, August got insanely busy and I barely had time to sleep or call my parents much less blog.

Most of you probably don't remember,  especially since I barely blog lately, but back in April I mentioned helping out an acquaintance's band with something and now, after almost 4 months I can finally talk about it! 

Recently I received FEAR FROM THE HATE's first full album, "Birthday of 12 Questions as a present. Want to know why? Look really closely at the names, notice anything?

If you missed it, miss wave! Vocalists MEG of ARTEMA and Taama of ROACH lent their voices to this album as well.

Okay so in my case, it's not an actual singing debut but this is certainly the first time I've ever participated in anything like this and I'm really thankful to the members for giving me this opportunity. I'm happy to have participated--even if it was just a little bit--on what turned out to be a really great album.

For those curious↓↓

FEAR FROM THE HATE is an indies post hardcore/emo-core band from Tokyo. Their music is electronic and very easy to listen to with elements of metal and screaming thrown in as well. If you're in the Tokyo area, I definitely recommend going to a show of theirs. They usually play with a lot of other really great acts as well.  The PV for their single "Paint a trip party" below.

I realize that metal or emo-core etc may not suit a lot of the tastes of my readers but I wanted to post this anyway because this was a really big deal for me and inadvertently has been gradually opening more and more doors for me along the way and hope I'll get to work with them again in the future.

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kyoto day one

I have so many things to write about but unfortunately not nearly enough time to cover even half of them.

For now though, part 1 of my trip to Kyoto with Ri! I had been planning on going in August with my family when they came to visit me but unfortunately due to various things going on in America, I'll be going back to visit my family over summer holiday instead.

Things have been kind of hectic lately and I really just wanted to pop out of Tokyo for a bit and breathe.

Kyoto Station

Kyoto Tower

We hopped on a night bus at on Friday night at about 10:30pm out of Shinjuku and arrived at Kyoto Station at about 6:00am on Saturday morning. Not nearly as tough as I thought it would be. Though I do have absolutely the worst time sleeping on moving vehicles.

Stopped for breakfast at Mister Donuts and walked around a bit before having second breakfast at a little cafe on the way to our ryokan. We were such fantastic little hobbits when it came to meals that day.

We had something to do that night so we spent most of the day walking around and...eating. A lot more.

I swear my arms aren't that skinny IRL.

This is kind of vulgar but it needed posting.

Bath house from Spirited Away, anyone?

I do kind of hate when people post only these types of Japan photos but to be honest, I've lived in modern Tokyo so long it was really nice to get out and see something different. It's taken me a year and a half to finally visit Kyoto but I'm so glad I did.

More tomorrow!

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damselfish

Yet another belated entry! Usually my life is so busy during the week, when I get home from work I'm so tired I usually just end up watching Criminal Minds and pining endlessly over Dr. Spencer Reid. Then by the time my weekend rolls around I get really busy again and end up running out of time to blog. It's a vicious cycle.

Anyway, went to HOOTERS by Akasaka-Mitsuke the other weekend with my roommate(s). It was one of those days where I could find absolutely nothing to wear in my closet. Plus it made me wish I'd bought this SLY sweater back in March in black instead of grey.

SLY X EGOIST

Mine and my roommate's dear friend from Australia is staying with us right now so please ignore the futon behind me.

Around this time I also went to a few shows with Ri and my other friend including one at Marble in Shinjuku. This was such a good show and had a lot of really great bands performing in it.

The same week we also went to another show at ANTIKNOCK and felt it necessary to commemorate with purikura.

If you're wondering, DAMSELFISH is my session band. Or well, what I hope I can make into a session band. Anyone in the Tokyo area who can play drums or bass, please let me know, haha.

Also speaking of bands, today Izzie and I interviewed FEAR FROM THE HATE for their first interview geared towards overseas readers. We had a hard time finding a spot but ended up settling on a nice outdoor cafe. Thanks for a great interview guys!

While Izzie and I were waiting, we stopped into Tower Records and I picked up this.

Along with a flyer for 激ロック！

I saw Ashley Scared the Sky for the first time recently at a show at Black Hole in Ikebukuro. I had gone to see another band that I'm hoping to cover an event for and, though I had never heard of the above band, I was so impressed with their set I bought their EP today.

Tonight I also went out to eat with Caroline and her K-Man at T.G.I.Friday's. We even dragged the poor man to purikura. Sorry Kenjer!

I have so many blogs I want to catch up on so hopefully I will do that tomorrow instead of TV...

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"a wish to end the tragedy" release party

Recently I was asked, "Hey yeah! Promote us!" when I told the guitarist of ARTEMA that I had a music, fashion, and lifestyle blog. That live is next week. This one I wasn't asked to write about but it's one that I wanted to anyway. 

2011.06.12(sun) 「A Wish To End The Tragedy」Release Party!!

Bands　
sever black paranoia
FEAR FROM THE HATE
Remembering Sensation
NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST 
INFECTION
One Last Breath
THE TWISTED HARBOR TOWN

 hosted by FEAR FROM THE HATE at THE GAME in Shibuya.

Situated right by PARCO and miu miu in Shibuya and right under Milkway and almost on top of Chelsea Hotel. I'd never been to GAME before but more than a livehouse it felt like a club. It's also much newer than Milkway so it felt a little more...fancy? 

Anyway. The purpose of the event was to promote an eponymous compilation CD--A Wish to End the Tragedy--by various artists in the Japanese metal/screamo/hardcore scene as well as similar artists from Europe and America as well. Proceeds are donated to the relief efforts for the Tohoku Earthquake and well, a lot of really great bands participated in it. 


Of course if you don't like heavy music this may not be your cup of tea but...


My friend who I've recently started to cover events with took some really great photos during the live with her normal digital camera. Why doesn't my normal camera take such good photos? 

© izzie

Most of these bands I've seen before but a few of them were new for me. What's amazing to me however, is Japanese musicians (or people in general) see something they like and replicate it so effortlessly. It's like they look, observe, comprehend and do. They look like foreign metal/screamo bands, they sound like foreign metal/screamo bands, they're just not. It's actually really impressive.




I love girly fashion and I'll be the first person to hop on a Spice Girls or Avril Lavigne song at karaoke but for some inexplicable reason I really, really like metal. I love the way it sounds and I love the energy you get from it. Like somehow it makes me feel stronger? I don't know. Some of it can be just as superficial as pop I'm sure but from what I hear, I like. Even if I don't understand all of it, if I can feel it that's all that matters to me. 


Of course it's not everyone's scene but if you're near any of the bands in this genre, I say definitely give them a shot. 

..............................................

I have 3 lives next week; 2 of which I'm attending and 1 of which I'm covering. I'm going to be exhausted but I'm really looking forward to it. Also going to Sendai this weekend so I probably won't have time to blog again before I leave. Sorry I'm so behind on reading too!

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