SO glad I went. (行ってよかった！)

So, all I'm saying is...

If you ever get the chance to attend a one-man, three day, close quarters live event....

Take. It.

Especially if that band is as good during their performances as is DEATHGAZE.

I mean, good lord people.

I don't think I've ever produced so much sweat before in my life. ...Even calculated cumulatively.

And my neck isn't even sore! Who knew that the cure for headbanging aches... was more headbanging?

(And, admittedly, liberal ibpruofen dosage, but still. I haven't taken any since!)

If that isn't a valuable life lesson, I don't know what is.

This little dude was at the drink bar every night. Well, I say that, but as another audience member and I were discussing... was it really the same little dude? This picture was taken on the first night, and he never did seem to degrade in any real noticeable way. Thus, he was either made out of supremely high quality watermelon (which is possible--this is Japan... which also makes me hope that it got eaten eventually), or someone managed to get so very good at carving the little mascot dude and his brethren that no one could tell the difference from night to night.

Or maybe it was all thanks to the スイカパワー！(suika powaa, watermelon power). Apparently, that's what we were all going on, and who am I to argue?

There was also some sort of metaphor about us all being the seeds, but I'm still trying to work out the deeper meaning of that one.

After we got the red fan on the first night, I dithered about bringing it along the second. I ultimately decided not to, as I wanted to keep my nice little souvenir as pristine as possible, and lo! We received another, and in a different color as well! (They're lined up in chronological order, because I'm just that way.) Probably the best souvenir possible to get in that venue, in this season. Never let it be said that DEATHGAZE is not considerate of their fans!

(They also made a big deal, both in blog posts and each night during the pre-show announcements, about not trying to power through if you started feeling faint or sick, but to let someone know--even one of the band members if that's what you could manage--and get someone to help you out of the crowd and into an open space so you could recover. I don't think anyone ever did/needed to, but it was a nice thought regardless.)

And since I still can't even come close to containing my excitement (I mean, come on, they announced their new single coming in November, and then another new tour staring in December! Allow me to squeal in fangirlish delight.), I find I must share just a weensy bit more.

(Plug your ears, grandma.)



Pretend that guitarist Tataki's hair is blonde for the full experience.

And since that's the first song of the album... why not wrap it up with the last?


Glory Sky

I had to wait until the last day for this one, but ah, it's always worth it. The look of pure, unadulterated joy on  vocalist Ai's face as the audience sings along with the chorus is absolutely wonderful, and it gets me every time.

(You can listen to this one, grandma.)

This is Edo, signing off nursing only a mildly sore upper-arm and battling a serious case of permi-grin.

The effects of the rainy season. (梅雨の効果。)

So, most of Japan is notorious for this funny little weather phenomenon called 梅雨 (tsuyu, the rainy season; check it out.) Basically, from some undetermined point in June to some undetermined point in July (okay, sure, there are averages, but we all know how reliable those are), the rain falls like a college student onto a free buffet which includes churros.

... indefatigably, I mean. Ahem.

Now, to a desert dweller such as myself, this is more than a little strange.

In fact, it's downright "freaky," to employ the vernacular.

(The humidity isn't too great either, let me tell you, but considering the fact that that's still an issue at present... it isn't really 梅雨-specific.)

Having only experienced these early summer months in Hokkaido before, I was, prior to this year, blissfully inexperienced in terms of this so-called rainy season.

So too, it seems, was my dear little desert amigo, Sabotendaa. (He has a name now. The resemblance to his namesake is uncanny.)

You see, I leave him out on my balcony so he gets plenty of sunshine. My room only really gets indirect sunlight, and I want to be sure that he gets as close to his native habitat as we can possibly manage in this temperate-cum-subtropical suburban paradise of Sakyo-ku. As we've discussed before, I've taken a certain degree of pride in his unprecedented growth since he has returned to my care. Far be it from me to rob him of his birthright. 

But... well...

Let's just say I may have been a little bit neglectful when it comes to remembering where my dear cactus was when it was coming down in buckets.

Oopsies.

Apparently, your average cactus is very much the optimist, and will attempt to make as many damn pitchers of lemonade as possible when presented with a veritable crap-ton of weather-varietal lemons.

Instead of giving in to the temptation to simply up and drown in this excess of precipitation (I have... experience with other cacti succumbing to such a fate... though through no fault of my own, I assure you!), my adorable little prickle-puss instead chose to put on a little weight in order to take full advantage of this bounty of hydration.

After all, that is, of course, what most desert creatures do, given the opportunity. Desert storms, while few and far between, tend to be hard-hitting, and therefore everything has to take in as much water as it can, as fast as it can, despite any resulting consequences, if it wants to survive until the next downpour.

In other words, my tiny little cactus has the survival instincts of a full grown saguaro.

I'm.... so proud. (sniff)

And look!

All better!

A month or two later, and he's thinned right out again. It may be my imagination, but I also think he's a little taller to boot. Talk about adaptation! This is one tenacious little sucker, let me tell you.

(...although you may be able to see that the fake dirt hasn't fared so well. Apparently it just can't handle precipitation of that magnitude.)

This is Edo, signing off pondering how her Japan blog has been overrun by such a cornucopia of desert-related tomfoolery.

So... yeah. (ん…じゃ。)

This isn't going to work, guys.

Despite my best intentions... I am being a horrible, horrible blogger.

I mean, really.

So, I think that a new blog-order is...well, in order, as it were.

You see, you people just don't realize how much effort I put into your average post on this thing. Really. I am deeply, deeply invested in these trivialities I throw out there into the ether for your amusement. I am also deeply invested, for some reason, in packaging said trivialities into large bundles that take time and planning to produce.

And nowadays, well...

Let's just say that there's probably a reason that "higher education students" do not represent a very large percentage of personal bloggers on the internet at present.

... at least, I don't think they do.

... I really hope they don't.

... if they do, please don't tell me.

Either way, though, don't take that as me complaining--because I am most emphatically not. Being in higher education is awesome. That's why I'm here, after all.

But it is not exactly conducive to my blogging activities.

Mainly because, to people outside of academia... my daily life at the moment probably provides approximately the same level of vicarious excitement as does watching bread rise. Except without the delicious, yeasty payoff.

So, my new goal, which may be at least partially inspired by the recent slew of band member blog updates that have inundated my inbox, is to lower my content standards.

... those are a few words I never thought I'd use in that order.

Er, what I mean is, I am going to start allowing myself to make posts that aren't, gasp, necessarily constructed around a cohesive, singular topic that is in some way personally distanced from myself. This is, after all, basically an "I live in Japan, aren't I nifty" blog, and if I am constantly reining myself in because I don't have a fully formed, five-page essay on a recently popular drama written, proofread, thoroughly edited and ready to go for the day... well.

Suffice it to say that I may lose a few readers if I start posting even more inane, day-to-day trivialities, but I will surely lose all  of my readers if I stop posting entirely.

(... yeah, that really doesn't sound as deep once I get it down in writing.)

So, for the time being? Let's try out the less of two evils, and see how things go.

...And now...

Well. I am researching gender and sexuality in the Visual music scene, so posting BUCK-TICK videos is entirely appropriate, regardless of any content downgrades, upgrades or sidegrades.


Especially when they're this awesome.

I am so excited for this album, you don't even know.

(Although really, Atsushi. What did your eyebrows ever do to you?)

Besides, concert-going is, in my opinion anyway, definitely the most exciting thing going on in my life right now, so I think we're really hitting all of our bases here.

This is Edo, signing off while wondering if using the word "nifty" automatically disqualifies you from being so.

The Great Clam Experiment. (ザー偉大なアサリ実験。)

So, it finally happened.

My great love of clams finally overcame my great desire to avoid intensive kitchen-type labor. (Er, that is, when I'm only cooking for myself. Give me a crowd and I'll happily spend hours over mixing bowls, ranges and cutting boards alike.)

The power of the desert compels you! (砂漠の力が強制する！)

That translation might be a little suspect, but then again Japan doesn't have quite the cultural history needed to really make that phrase work.

Which suggests that I might have been better served picking a slightly more universal title.

... but since when do I bow to the powers of untranslatability.

(Since never, that's when.)

And besides, it's incredibly fitting.

Because, seriously, just look at this dude:

LOOK AT HIM.

I really wish I had a picture of when he was small to compare it with... Definite lack of foresight on my part.

But for some textual perspective: he used to be shorter than the fake fruit he's in the pot with.

Admittedly, he did grow under Melon's care, but unless my brain deceives me (which I admit it sometimes does), he has shot up in the month or so that he's been back under my care.

Because clearly, my desert heritage has the power to super-charge cacti wherever I go.

...or something like that, anyway.

Given the option, I prefer to think that I have ecologically based super-powers.

This is Edo, signing off with a strong urge to run amuck through local garden stores.

Just a little late. (ちょっとだけ遅刻しちゃった。)

Although I'm sure you're all quite used to that by now.

I must inform you that, in real life, I'm actually quite punctual. I feel like I need to get that out there before you lose all respect for me.

And I'm not really talking about the blog post. No, no, I've come to terms with the fact that I am no longer maintaining anything close to a decent updating schedule. Ironically, being busy and (theoretically) having things to write about breeds nothing by apathy when it comes to online reporting.

No, I'm late on reporting BUCK-TICK's new single, エリゼのために (For Elise).



... Look, I'm a research student looking at conceptions of gender and sexuality within Visual Kei and its fan culture.What do you want me to post about? My cooking really just isn't all that interesting, especially considering the fact that I've decided that rice + some mix of meat and vegetables is both an easy and (somewhat) healthy fallback when it comes to daily cuisine.

... really? Fine.

See, レタスチャーハン (lettuce fried rice) really just isn't all that exciting. I mean, I did add some shimeji mushrooms, but that's really only interesting to a a very specific kind of person.

(...so I watched a morning show where they went to a lettuce farm in Nara and ate a lot of lettuce-themed dishes. Like you've never been influenced by the television.)

Just count yourselves lucky that I'm not, instead, posting endless links to fascinating articles concerning the gender dynamics of certain subsets of  modern Japanese women as relating to their musical preferences and the resulting societal implications. In Japanese.

Ahem.

This is Edo, off to cook more boring yet ultimately satisfying food. After updating her mp3 player, of course.

When all else fails... (他が全部駄目なら...)

Post pretty pictures!

 Really, you'd think I'd have tons and tons to post about, being an exciting research student and all, but as I am still in the "trudge through six months of Japanese-style Japanese language classes" period... well, let's just say it doesn't make for fascinating reading material.

But hey. Pictures are always fun. And pictures of flowers? Come on.

Saw these guys on the way home from a Nitori trip a few weeks back with Melon. Sure, it was kinda-sorta raining, and sure, it was getting colder and drearier by the second...

But we both stopped to get pictures of the pretty flowers. You gotta take your jollies where you can get 'em, I always say.

Okay, so I didn't take this picture, but whatever. It is nevertheless a relevant topic, and it was much quicker to do a Google search and then copy+paste a url than to take a picture with my phone, send it to my computer, download it, upload it and finally post it. Thank you, Google.

Anyway. For my non-Japanese speaking readers, this lovely little juice box says "One Day's Vegetables" (Ichi Nichi Bun no Yasai)... roughly. Basically, it's a small box of juice that, theoretically, provides a full day's serving of veggies.

It is glorious.

Sure, it tastes like the back end of a tomato, but for my entire day's vegetables? I will deal with a tiny box's worth of unpleasantness for that sort of healthy convenience, thank you.

Because, let's face it. Even as an adult, it's tough to suck down the recommended amount of veggies every day. Especially when you have to actually go out, buy them, come home, and then fix them up... all for yourself.

Long live the juice box, I say.

And finally... remember that far-too-beautiful-to-be-real Korean idol I spoke of a while back? (Scroll down.)

Apparently I was ahead of my time.

The man is everywhere. If I had a thing for sweet, fruity candy, I could see myself starting up a collection. Really, though, if they want to encourage that sort of consumerism, they should really get more than two shots of the guy on their canisters.

This is Edo, signing off with a wonderful box of scurvy-prevention running through her system.

No, seriously... (いや、本間に…)

I know I shouldn't repeat myself, but.... seriously. I'm telling you. The 食堂 is the place to be, people.

 I mean, come on.

This? For 390? For dinner? 

Ridiculous. That is more meat than most young people see in a week. 

And that right there, my friends, is a medium rice. Oh yes. There are no attempts to stiff hungry students at my 食堂, no siree-bob. 

(I was thirsty. Don't judge me.)

Oh, and by the way.

This is what you get for 400 yen. (Would have been 390, but I wanted my miso soup.)

Admittedly, this set runs out pretty quickly come dinner-time, but you can see why.

All that meat.

True, it is chicken more often than not, but that just makes it healthy. 

... no, honestly, healthy. I promise.

And thus concludes another installment of "what Edo's been eating lately," cleverly giving me another couple of weeks of not having to think up any actual content.

... oops.

Um... Ah!

I am going to a live tomorrow, which I am naturally very excited about. However, as I have already given a play-by-play account of this particular band's antics... 

Even so, I'm sure something extraordinary will happen. It's just the sort of band they are.

Whether or not I get around to writing about it is another question entirely. 

Oh, and remember the LIFT-OFFs?

I'd better start studying.

(Pretend that there is a rhythmic, intense shouting going on through the entirety of the video. Gives you a better feeling of the actual event. Plus, it's way more awesome.)

This is Edo, signing off whilst wondering why the weather didn't get the notice about Golden Week. 

Nambu		Probability of Precipitation	Temperature Forecast
Today 02 May	RAIN	00-06  --% 06-12  70% 12-18  70% 18-24  50%
Tomorrow 03 May	CLOUDY, OCCASIONAL SCATTERED SHOWERS	00-06  50% 06-12  20% 12-18  40% 18-24  40%

A student's life. (学生の生活。)

I have heard many things about the relative discomfort and aggravation of living the life of a student, particularly at the graduate level.

You're always under the supervision of an authority figure, for better or for worse. Your life is not necessarily your own (again, for better or for worse). Provided you're on a government scholarship funded by a recently slashed education budget and conducting some seriously cost-heavy observational research, you're embarrassingly poor and incredibly reluctant to buy anything not immediately relevant to your survival so that you can afford your books (which are clearly priced for top-level executives, and not the poor humble likes of we.)

But then again, at least in Japan...

You get this much food for 210 yen.

That, my friends, is a small bowl of rice, a hearty serving of miso soup, and a pile of tempura. All for me. All for 210 yen. (The tea is free. Ignore the tea. It is inconsequential.)

食堂 (shokudou; cafeteria) are far and away my favorite places to eat. Ever.

And then there's all the 学生割引 (gakusei waribiki; student discount) you find everywhere you look. Honestly, you can't swing a cat around Kyoto and not hit a place that offers some sort of discount for the academically inclined youth. It even got me a free service plan with au--all I pay for is data service, and even that's discounted thanks to an age-based service.

So really, being a student in Japan? It's not bad, my friends, not bad at all.

This is Edo, signing out only wishing that Japanese cafeterias were as close to her bedroom as the ones on her US college campus were.

Well then. (さあ。)

See, if I just keep apologizing for not posting, I'll never get anywhere.

So let's just pretend that I've been a good blogger. If everyone really makes an effort, I'm sure that the casual reader won't even notice the difference.

So, Kyoto in the rain.

Ok, not temporally accurate, but interesting nevertheless.

The main problem encountered in rain-besotted Kyoto (aside from the wet jeans and tendency towards trench foot) is the fact that surface public transportation tends to get a little... flustered.

Now, this isn't just Kyoto, I'm sure, but as I have very little experience with buses and above-ground trains in other cities, I'm just going to be sticking with what I know here.

The only 満員電車 (manin densha -- completely full trains; you know, those ones you always think of when the words "Japanese public transportation" pop up) I have ever experience have been on rainy mornings. One train runs late due to the weather (which, really, is sort of a shoddy excuse--it's not like back home where rain is something to get excited about) and then all hell breaks loose. You may be able to get a ticket at the station saying that you were late due to the failures of public transportation, but that doesn't seem to stop that salary man trying to cram into a train that reached full capacity three stations ago.

Now, luckily, as I am currently only commuting from the 宝ヶ池 (Takaragaike) area to Kyoto University, I don't have to fight a massive commuter rush, rain or no. Usually, I don't have to deal with public transportation whatsoever--I just pedal my hiney all the way down to school and back on my bike, cackling with glee whenever I pass a bus (which admittedly isn't often). Biking is, after all, the best way to go when you can manage it.

But then we come back to the rain. See, it is technically illegal to ride a bike whilst holding an umbrella. This doesn't stop most people, but as I haven't ridden a bike regularly in a good number of years, I don't quite trust myself to break this particular law without also breaking my body in any number of places. As I do not enjoy being soaked in 50-degree weather, I did what any number of stranded commuters do: I resorted to the bus.

In the morning, this was not a problem. My bus was, more or less, on time, and I got to the university with little to no hassle, unless you count a gentlemen with no sense of personal boundaries sitting next to me for the majority of the trip. But I digress. No, it was coming home, at around 6:30 in the evening, when the trouble started.

Now, as I live in a somewhat out-of-the-way (at least according to bus maps) locale, the bus I need to take only runs once an hour. Knowing this, I planned ahead, and arrived at my bus stop with a good ten minutes to spare, just in case.

Oh, ho ho, how I needn't have worried.

In Kyoto, city bus stops have little signs that, like in train stations, show you (roughly) where the bus is when it gets within three stops. As my bus was scheduled at 6:38, I started glancing up at the sign around 6:32 or so.

Nothing.

Any number of buses not going to my stop pulled up and left in turn--after a point it seemed like they were mocking me. 6:38, no sign of the bus. 6:40, still nothing.

It wasn't until somewhere around 6:50 that the bus even popped up on the sign, at which point I was wondering if I was going to have to wait for the 7:21. The bus it self showed up another five or so minutes later, without any indication that it was late.

Now, I recognize that buses are notorious (at least among the Japanese public transport system) for being late. There's a reason people prefer the subways and trains.

But really.

As far as I could tell, there was no problem with traffic, and the bus driver didn't seem to be particularly careful (unless he normally slammed on the brakes incredibly hard), making me a little dubious about the necessity of an almost twenty-minute delay on a once-an-hour bus.

And yet, somehow, I made it home, leading me to wonder why I bothered telling you all about this tiny adventure in the first place.

Then again, isn't that precisely why the blog was invented?

This is Edo, signing off whilst wondering if foreign-made 照る照る坊主 still work.