1 year JAPANNIVERSARY!
August 4th, 2014
1 YEAR JAPANNIVERSARY
It's been exactly one year since I've started living in Japan as a JET. I can't believe it. It feels like I've experienced a lot in this year - not just living here, in Yatsushiro alone, but within this year, I also travelled to a few other places in Japan, such as Tokyo and Osaka. I also travelled to Singapore, where my roots are, and Korea, where I lived for a year and half when I was still an undergrad student, not too long ago.
However, it's hard to believe sometimes that all of this happened within this year, within my own singular individual life. I know that may sound a bit strange, but what I mean is, visiting other countries, or even, to a lesser extent, to other cities in Japan, I feel like I almost enter different worlds. I am still essentially the same person, but I may just be speaking a different language, and living a different life. I can strengthen ties with different friends, open doors to different networks, and explore a new world. I am extremely fortunate, and feel grateful that God has given me these opportunities. My hope is to use my experiences in "different worlds" together somehow, and help other people in some way. Perhaps this blog will be the start.
Yesterday, August 3rd, was one year exactly from when I left for my JET adventure. It was also the day that I went to the Otsuka Ai concert in Fukuoka. All of the concerts I have been to in Japan, I've gone with my friend S and they've all been in Fukuoka. August 3rd was was no different. S had our concert tickets but I had our shinkansen tickets. There's a special discount ticket called "Bikkuri Tsubame" [びっくりつばめ」that takes you from Kumamoto station to Hakata station (in Fukuoka) and back for 5650 yen per person. That's around half of what it normally costs. Now, you do have to purchase the ticket at least one day in advance, and you do have to select specific times/trains (it's only valid for same day return) but you do get 1000 yen in coupons to spend in AMU plaza, a shopping complex at Hakata station. You can check out Bikkuri Tsubame here (Japanese only).
Morning Mishap
I live in Yatsushiro, and S lives in Kumamoto. Unfortunately, I missed my train to Kumamoto. If I took the next regular train, I would miss our shinkansen from Kumamoto to Hakata, and also, I had both our tickets for the shinkansen. I tried asking to see if I could change our shinkansen tickets for a later time. What should have probably been very quick transaction, turned into a 10 minute conversation with a number of miscommunications. I explained that I had just missed my train from Yatsushiro to Kumamoto so I wouldn't be able to make my shinkansen from Kumamoto to Hakata, and was wondering if I could change both of our shinkansen tickets for a later time. He told me that he could exchange mine but he couldn't exchange my friend's ticket. It sounded like each person's ticket had to be exchanged by that person directly. However, it turns out that he thought I only had my ticket and my friend had hers, despite me mentioning several times that I had both sets. I think the third time I stated that I had my friend's ticket, he said there was only one. I then took out the other set of tickets. All of the previous times I bought bikkuri tsubame, the person had separated the "going to Hakata" tickets from the "going to Kumamoto" tickets, and I guess I assumed it was going to be the same. Although I had mentioned several times that I had my friend's ticket, he didn't see it, so maybe he just thought I was a silly foreigner that didn't know what she was doing.
Anyways, I'm glad that was resolved. Now I know that we can change our shinkansen times, given that there are enough seats on the requested shinkansen
An interesting fanbase
outside the concert venue. Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of the fans, which doesn't really show what many of them looked like
After arriving at Hakata station, we grabbed lunch, walked around, and also took some purikura (sticker pictures). We took the subway from Hakata station to Tenjin station, and then walked from there. When we were near the venue, we turned the corner to see some people lined up, or just waiting around. I felt people staring at us - I don't usually get stared at too much, and this was also Fukuoka, much bigger than either Yatsushiro or Kumamoto city, so people should probably be more used to seeing foreigners. We stayed somewhat close to the venue entrance, and the guy calling ticket numbers asked us what number tickets we had. We showed him, and he said just to wait a little longer.
A few minutes later he called our number and we lined up. We noticed that about 90%-95% of the fanbase was female. Interesting. I would have thought that Otsuka Ai would have more male fans. Also, a few fans seemed dressed up, one even in Lolita fashion. Hmm, that seems strange. Otsuka Ai, as far as I knew, was not any sort of Lolita-esque, visual-kei, or punk kind of artist. The walls of the building were lined up with past concerts - mostly visual-kei, punk, or similar bands. I even saw a poster for a group called "Children's Dope". Wow. Haha
Posters of past concerts
..."Children's Dope". What a name.
I found it a bit surprising that Otsuka Ai, who plays mostly pop, would play in a venue that hosts mostly punk-type of artists. When we were almost at the entrance, I saw a table set up with 5 different baskets, that fans appeared to be putting gifts in. That was weird too, because Otsuka Ai is a solo artist. Hmm, maybe she has really famous band players for the tour? We walked in, handed our tickets to the ticket collector, and were told that our concert location was in fact, three doors down.
Well, that's a first. I've never gone to the wrong concert before. That also totally made sense - why there may have been people staring at us, why 90%-95% of the fans were female, why some of them were dressed up, and why there were 5 baskets outside the venue. I am pretty sure the concert that we almost went into was for a visual kei artist, or an artist of a similar genre.
The Concert
Sure enough, we just had to walk down the street a little further to get to the right concert! However, to be fair, the names are very similar - Drum Be-1 is where we almost went to the wrong concert, and Drum Logos was where the actual concert is. I believe both venues are under the same company as well.
These fans seemed more of what we were expecting - about half female fans and half male fans, and everyone seemed to be wearing regular clothes. It was our first standing concert (we had seats for previous concerts). Once we entered, we stood with the crowd. We then realized we missed the merchandise table, but within the time we took to decide whether or not to go to the merchandise table before the concert started, more people came in, and so it would have been difficult to get back to the spot we were at. We were about 10-15 metres from the stage! It was definitely the closest we've been to an artist at a concert in Japan, and it was also the smallest venue, despite Otsuka Ai being quite famous ( although she hasn't been super active the last few years).
The concert was great. At first, they had a thin fabric screen where they projected simple videos (mostly colours, or stars), with Otsuka Ai and her background band playing behind. At the beginning of the third or fourth song, the fabric screen dropped. Otsuka waved, smiled, and tried to look at her fans throughout the concert. She looked at us a few times, and she definitely did wave back and look at me one of the many times I waved at her. There were female fans, but I feel I didn't notice them much because the taller male fans seemed to tower over most of the the petite-sized female fans. Although I don't always like being tall, it proved advantageous in this situation as I could clearly see the stage :)
She didn't play too many of her old songs, but it was still great for me because I was listening to her music quite a lot the few months leading up to moving here, and the first few months of living here too. Although she didn't play this song last night, "Yumekui" reminds me of making my dream of moving here a reality. My dreams may change and evolve with time, but I should try my best to work towards them ^^
Lyics/Translation:
http://www.jpopasia.com/play/1770/ai-otsuka/yumekui.html
The concert we attended is her "Love Fantastic Tour 2014", which promotes her latest studio album, "Love Fantastic". Here's a music video of the catchy single!
On our shinkansen ride back, my reserved seat ended up being beside a middle-aged Japanese man. The man explained, in English, how to correctly eat the nagashi soumen dish I had bought at the conbini (convenience store) before boarding. Although I have eaten nagashi soumen a few times before, this was my first time eating the conbini version. Nagashi soumen, is a noodle dish, where the noodles traditionally flow through water in a tube or bamboo. You then pick up these flowing noodles with chopsticks and dip the noodles in a sauce. I felt a little embarrassed, seeing as how a stranger was telling me how to eat something that I've eaten before. We talked for a bit, and I discovered he learned English because 20 years ago he was working in Tokyo, and there was an English-speaking doctor who worked with him, and that's how he practiced English. He told me about some nice places to visit in Kumamoto prefecture before getting off several stops before ours.
I've had a good first year, which came with it's own challenges as well, but I'm looking forward to using these experiences to help make my second year better. ^-^
1 YEAR JAPANNIVERSARY
It's been exactly one year since I've started living in Japan as a JET. I can't believe it. It feels like I've experienced a lot in this year - not just living here, in Yatsushiro alone, but within this year, I also travelled to a few other places in Japan, such as Tokyo and Osaka. I also travelled to Singapore, where my roots are, and Korea, where I lived for a year and half when I was still an undergrad student, not too long ago.
However, it's hard to believe sometimes that all of this happened within this year, within my own singular individual life. I know that may sound a bit strange, but what I mean is, visiting other countries, or even, to a lesser extent, to other cities in Japan, I feel like I almost enter different worlds. I am still essentially the same person, but I may just be speaking a different language, and living a different life. I can strengthen ties with different friends, open doors to different networks, and explore a new world. I am extremely fortunate, and feel grateful that God has given me these opportunities. My hope is to use my experiences in "different worlds" together somehow, and help other people in some way. Perhaps this blog will be the start.
Yesterday, August 3rd, was one year exactly from when I left for my JET adventure. It was also the day that I went to the Otsuka Ai concert in Fukuoka. All of the concerts I have been to in Japan, I've gone with my friend S and they've all been in Fukuoka. August 3rd was was no different. S had our concert tickets but I had our shinkansen tickets. There's a special discount ticket called "Bikkuri Tsubame" [びっくりつばめ」that takes you from Kumamoto station to Hakata station (in Fukuoka) and back for 5650 yen per person. That's around half of what it normally costs. Now, you do have to purchase the ticket at least one day in advance, and you do have to select specific times/trains (it's only valid for same day return) but you do get 1000 yen in coupons to spend in AMU plaza, a shopping complex at Hakata station. You can check out Bikkuri Tsubame here (Japanese only).
Morning Mishap
I live in Yatsushiro, and S lives in Kumamoto. Unfortunately, I missed my train to Kumamoto. If I took the next regular train, I would miss our shinkansen from Kumamoto to Hakata, and also, I had both our tickets for the shinkansen. I tried asking to see if I could change our shinkansen tickets for a later time. What should have probably been very quick transaction, turned into a 10 minute conversation with a number of miscommunications. I explained that I had just missed my train from Yatsushiro to Kumamoto so I wouldn't be able to make my shinkansen from Kumamoto to Hakata, and was wondering if I could change both of our shinkansen tickets for a later time. He told me that he could exchange mine but he couldn't exchange my friend's ticket. It sounded like each person's ticket had to be exchanged by that person directly. However, it turns out that he thought I only had my ticket and my friend had hers, despite me mentioning several times that I had both sets. I think the third time I stated that I had my friend's ticket, he said there was only one. I then took out the other set of tickets. All of the previous times I bought bikkuri tsubame, the person had separated the "going to Hakata" tickets from the "going to Kumamoto" tickets, and I guess I assumed it was going to be the same. Although I had mentioned several times that I had my friend's ticket, he didn't see it, so maybe he just thought I was a silly foreigner that didn't know what she was doing.
Anyways, I'm glad that was resolved. Now I know that we can change our shinkansen times, given that there are enough seats on the requested shinkansen
An interesting fanbase
outside the concert venue. Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of the fans, which doesn't really show what many of them looked like
After arriving at Hakata station, we grabbed lunch, walked around, and also took some purikura (sticker pictures). We took the subway from Hakata station to Tenjin station, and then walked from there. When we were near the venue, we turned the corner to see some people lined up, or just waiting around. I felt people staring at us - I don't usually get stared at too much, and this was also Fukuoka, much bigger than either Yatsushiro or Kumamoto city, so people should probably be more used to seeing foreigners. We stayed somewhat close to the venue entrance, and the guy calling ticket numbers asked us what number tickets we had. We showed him, and he said just to wait a little longer.
A few minutes later he called our number and we lined up. We noticed that about 90%-95% of the fanbase was female. Interesting. I would have thought that Otsuka Ai would have more male fans. Also, a few fans seemed dressed up, one even in Lolita fashion. Hmm, that seems strange. Otsuka Ai, as far as I knew, was not any sort of Lolita-esque, visual-kei, or punk kind of artist. The walls of the building were lined up with past concerts - mostly visual-kei, punk, or similar bands. I even saw a poster for a group called "Children's Dope". Wow. Haha
Posters of past concerts
..."Children's Dope". What a name.
I found it a bit surprising that Otsuka Ai, who plays mostly pop, would play in a venue that hosts mostly punk-type of artists. When we were almost at the entrance, I saw a table set up with 5 different baskets, that fans appeared to be putting gifts in. That was weird too, because Otsuka Ai is a solo artist. Hmm, maybe she has really famous band players for the tour? We walked in, handed our tickets to the ticket collector, and were told that our concert location was in fact, three doors down.
Well, that's a first. I've never gone to the wrong concert before. That also totally made sense - why there may have been people staring at us, why 90%-95% of the fans were female, why some of them were dressed up, and why there were 5 baskets outside the venue. I am pretty sure the concert that we almost went into was for a visual kei artist, or an artist of a similar genre.
The Concert
Sure enough, we just had to walk down the street a little further to get to the right concert! However, to be fair, the names are very similar - Drum Be-1 is where we almost went to the wrong concert, and Drum Logos was where the actual concert is. I believe both venues are under the same company as well.
These fans seemed more of what we were expecting - about half female fans and half male fans, and everyone seemed to be wearing regular clothes. It was our first standing concert (we had seats for previous concerts). Once we entered, we stood with the crowd. We then realized we missed the merchandise table, but within the time we took to decide whether or not to go to the merchandise table before the concert started, more people came in, and so it would have been difficult to get back to the spot we were at. We were about 10-15 metres from the stage! It was definitely the closest we've been to an artist at a concert in Japan, and it was also the smallest venue, despite Otsuka Ai being quite famous ( although she hasn't been super active the last few years).
The concert was great. At first, they had a thin fabric screen where they projected simple videos (mostly colours, or stars), with Otsuka Ai and her background band playing behind. At the beginning of the third or fourth song, the fabric screen dropped. Otsuka waved, smiled, and tried to look at her fans throughout the concert. She looked at us a few times, and she definitely did wave back and look at me one of the many times I waved at her. There were female fans, but I feel I didn't notice them much because the taller male fans seemed to tower over most of the the petite-sized female fans. Although I don't always like being tall, it proved advantageous in this situation as I could clearly see the stage :)
She didn't play too many of her old songs, but it was still great for me because I was listening to her music quite a lot the few months leading up to moving here, and the first few months of living here too. Although she didn't play this song last night, "Yumekui" reminds me of making my dream of moving here a reality. My dreams may change and evolve with time, but I should try my best to work towards them ^^
Lyics/Translation:
http://www.jpopasia.com/play/1770/ai-otsuka/yumekui.html
The concert we attended is her "Love Fantastic Tour 2014", which promotes her latest studio album, "Love Fantastic". Here's a music video of the catchy single!
On our shinkansen ride back, my reserved seat ended up being beside a middle-aged Japanese man. The man explained, in English, how to correctly eat the nagashi soumen dish I had bought at the conbini (convenience store) before boarding. Although I have eaten nagashi soumen a few times before, this was my first time eating the conbini version. Nagashi soumen, is a noodle dish, where the noodles traditionally flow through water in a tube or bamboo. You then pick up these flowing noodles with chopsticks and dip the noodles in a sauce. I felt a little embarrassed, seeing as how a stranger was telling me how to eat something that I've eaten before. We talked for a bit, and I discovered he learned English because 20 years ago he was working in Tokyo, and there was an English-speaking doctor who worked with him, and that's how he practiced English. He told me about some nice places to visit in Kumamoto prefecture before getting off several stops before ours.
I've had a good first year, which came with it's own challenges as well, but I'm looking forward to using these experiences to help make my second year better. ^-^
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