Category Archives: Europe

Europe (UNWTO Area)

18th & 19th May 2019: Madrid (Spain) for Jupiter (and fesFE[M]!)

Posted on by

The weekend started extremely early on Saturday, when I took the first bus out to Madrid, and I think I was there around 7:30 to meet my friend C*****. She had been having a rough time and she had asked me to “keep her head off things”. Up until a couple of days before, we did not even know whether she would be able to come to the concert, so I had a whole plan up my sleeve. Unfortunately, a couple of steps backfired slightly. The main event – which we had been planned since the previous December – was Jupiter’s concert for the ZEUS Europe Tour on Sunday the 19th, but we made a whole weekend out of it. I was not actively following Jupiter at the time of the announcement, but C***** and I decided to attend because Madrid is easy and convenient, well-communicated and an opportunity to spend a weekend decompressing somewhere. As the time drew near and we could access more material, the excitement built up – I also managed to find the album they were promoting and it sounded really well, actually.

Her bus arrived earlier on Saturday than mine, and when we met, we decided to have breakfast at the coach station, to catch up and to give shops and so on the time to open up. When it was a reasonable time, we took the underground to drop our luggage at the hotel – the lovely EXE Moncloa. I had selected it because it was near the concert venue, and I hoped that we could hang out the terrace and the swimming pool, which unfortunately did not open until June. After getting rid of the luggage, we rode the underground towards the neighbourhood of Chueca, where I had looked up a bunch of Goth apparel shop which were right up her alley and… did not open at 10:00 as the internet said, but at 12:00.

Fortunately, other shops were already open and we were able to pass the time amicably. We were actually close to the Telefonica building, so I suggested we headed up there for the TeamLab exhibit, which I had already seen, and I thought she might like the digital art.

Teamlab logo and digital art: Waves, butterflies in red and green, and a dripping circle as if it were painted with a brush. All of them are light or bright colours on black.

Afterwards, we moved onto Callao Gourmet Experience for a snack. I wanted to introduce C***** to the Niji Mochi shop, and we also shared a chocolate ice-cream shake.

Mochi and coffee with whipped cream

Afterwards, we were shopping for a little longer before we moved on to have lunch. I had a surprise for her. While I care little to nothing about Korean food, she is a fan of everything Korean. Thus, we hit one of the best Korean restaurants in Madrid, called Seoul. I gave her free reign to order for both of us and we shared, though being honest, the only thing I enjoyed was the green tea at the end.

Lunch: fried dumplings, roasted meat, rice with vegetables, and green tea.

After lunch, we went on and found an underground station. We rode towards the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, National Archaeological Museum, although we had not realised that it was museum day so instead of a quiet exhibition I was used to, we had to deal with a ton of families! On the bright side, it was free, though. The museum, which shares a building with the national library Biblioteca Nacional, was founded in 1867, at a time when creating national museums had become popular among European governments. It was the start of the development of archaeology in Spain. I remembered it from the time I was a kid, dark and with wooden floors, but it was recently renovated with wide spaces and modern interiors.

Exhibits at the archaeological museum: bones from a mastodon, boar statue, lady statue, Neanderthal skull, Roman mosaic of an octopus, Horus statue, Iberian stelae, primitive animal that looks like a boar or a bull carved out of stone, Grecian vase

C***** was tired from spending all night in the bus, so we left the museum and headed back to the hotel to finish our check in process and then catch a break. On the way, we stopped and bought a few snacks for the following day because you always have to be ready for a post-concert low.

We had to look for a place to have dinner, and I found a few interesting places. There were not one, but three Japanese restaurants in the area where we were staying. One of them required queueing and sounded quite self-important, so we were left with two options. We decided to try one in the evening and the next for lunch the following day. Thus, I booked a table at the nearby Naniwa. We had some decent sushi, chicken, and takoyaki… then ordered takoyaki seconds because we had a discount (and I was hungry because I barely picked on lunch).

Dinner: sushi, fried chicken, octopus balls, chicken skewers

The next morning, we headed to the venue Sala Copérnico door around 9:00 and upon seeing nobody queueing yet, we went to have breakfast at a nearby café. Then, we walked around the Moncloa park area, mostly chatting, until we went back to the venue – no queue. And later went back to the venue – no queue. And afterwards, we went back to the venue again, just to find there were still no people in the queue.

Coffee and bread breakfast

In the end we ran into the supporting bands went to have lunch to the second Japanese restaurant in the block, Morikaen. It was around 13:30 as we were heading there, and I said something along the lines of “I feel sorry that they’ll arrive and there’s nobody here to greet them”, and as we turned the corner we almost literally ran into the whole crew coming out of the bus. Talk about timing. They looked tired so we just walked by, but we were rather sure that we had been noticed. On our way to the restaurant, we walked past a family all clad in “Sunday church clothes”, and their small girl wearing aaaall white just stared at us – in rock-goth black clothing – with pure envy in her eyes. Here’s to you, little one. You’ll get there too.

Lunch was all right – tuna tataki, tonkatsu, takoyaki. A bit more expensive than the previous day’s dinner, but we also ordered higher-class ingredients and more complicated dishes.

Lunch. Tuna tataki, rice and chicken, breaded pork, octopus dumplings

Jupiter is a Japanese band who define themselves as “melodic metal band”. It could be said that it is a visual kei symphonic power metal, which means they combine a very particular image (or a bunch of images, the most iconic being Hizaki’s Baroque-inspired dresses) with a subgenre of metal that combines hard drumming, metal guitars, and elements of classical music. On the 22th November 2018, Jupiter announced their new album, a Japanese Tour, and a European Tour, ZEUS Europe Tour. Bassist Rucy left between the announcement and the album release due to creative differences, and I really thought they would cancel the tours, but luckily everything went ahead. The remaining members – guitars Hizaki and Teru, current vocal Kuze, and drummer Daisuke were joined by support bassist Shoyo.

Schedule for the tour

There were two promoters involved for this concert. The local promoter, which in Spain was Madness Live, sold general admission tickets – they have a clean and neat webpage and buying from them is easy; I got ours on the 12th of December. The other, Editions Hikari, was in charge of coordination of the European tour, general information, and ticket upgrades. I think they are one of the worst organisers I have ever come across.

Hikari announced those upgrades in January. There would be VIP experiences, on sale on the 14th of February. Besides that there would be two kinds of upgrades, there was no real information about them until a few days before the sale. The best tickets were called “Venus Premium” (40€ face value + 5€ reservation costs) included autographs + handshake + backstage access before or after the show or soundcheck access (if possible) + photo with 1 member taken by a professional photographer (sent by e-mail later after the tour) + priority access to the merchandise, and there were five per show. The “Venus” upgrade (25€ VIP + 3€ reservation costs) comprised autographs + handshake + priority to the merchandise, there were 20 available per show. Getting the tickets was chaotic, but in the end, C***** managed to buy the two Venus Premium tickets we wanted – luckily. A lot of people did not even find out about the option to upgrade. In the end, the backstage pass / soundcheck was not available for any concert in the tour, and the priority access to the merchandise was impossible in Madrid due to the two independent promoters. Either of the VIP upgrades granted the option to buy an “Instax” (Polarid) photograph with the whole band at extra cost.

Hikari’s Facebook instructions were that Venus and Venus Premium ticket holders had to go to the merch booth – to which they supposedly had priority access – at the beginning of the concert. However, as the access to the actual venue was controlled by the local promoter ticket, there was no way they would access the merch booth with any kind of priority unless the managed to somehow skip the queue. Any kind of communication with Hikari was impossible as “they could not check emails, Facebook messaging, nor reply to comments.” However, they still made posts, and that is how we found that the CDs which Jupiter brought to sell at the merchandise booth were confiscated by customs’ officers before the first concert!

On the 10th of May, we received an email form the local promoter, Madness Live, informing us that the door timing had been changed and they were nice enough to send us the following schedule: Doors at 19:00, VII ARC (German support band) at 19:15; fesFE[M] (Japanese support group) at 20:20; Jupiter at 21:30. There was no information on the upgrades, because they had no clue about those, as Hikari was in charge. The day of the concert thus arrived and we had no actual about that, except for rumours and comments of what had happened in previous concerts. That was why, even if there was no queue, we had decided to stick around Sala Copérnico instead of heading into the city centre.

Eventually, after lunch, I decided that I was too tired to keep going up and down the streets, so around 16:00 we settled at the venue doors until they opened so we could get into the chaos that was the concert. At 16:30, other people arrived, so we got talking – that was how we found out that many people had never even heard about the upgrades. Doors opened around 19:00 – without any kind of priority access to the merchandise, nor separating VIPs and GA. C***** and I decided to divide and conquer – she went to secure a spot on the first row, while myself checked in at the merch booth to get the Instax tickets with the whole band.

That is when I saw the lousy, half sheet of paper taped there saying “Venus and Venus Premium ticket holders, gather at the merchandise booth at 20:00”. That placed the “Venus experience” in the middle of the support act, which meant either having very good friends who saved you the first row spot, or sacrificing it. We decided to give the place up and find somewhere more convenient so we could move about. Without holding spots for the VIPs, this was totally unacceptable in my opinion, especially since there had been no early entry, or priority merchandise. A bunch of people who did not want to buy anything missed out on what they had paid for.

The first support band was VII ARC. They were okay, a bit of stereotypical German heavy metal. I can see how they might appeal to the general metalhead crowd, but it feels that they were chosen because “they dress up sometimes”, and Hikari thought they would fit. It is formed by Kay (vocals), Fū (lead guitar), Bena (guitar, screaming), Grazel (Bass) and Z’ev (drums), and they could probably fit a bit on the “visual” style, but they did not bring any distinctive gear.

VII Arc playing in Madrid

At 20:00, as fesFE[M] prepared to take the stage, the Venus Premium and Venus ticket holders gathered around the merch booth and we were ushered past a barrier, towards the bar. There, we had to wait for about 10 minutes while the second support act started. A Japanese staff lady with little to no English came to “check” the Premium tickets and “sort of explain” to us the whole thing. First the Venus Premium would be shown backstage one by one for the one-on-one photograph – there were four of us, we never knew if the fifth was never sold, they did not come, or they missed the whole experience. Afterwards, we would come out again and joined the regular Venus for the autographs and handshake, then the Polaroid would be taken for the ones who had bought it. We were ushered past a curtain and the backstage door towards the mess room where the remains of the lunch buffet were.

As I entered, I caught sight of Shoyo, the support bassist, who was sitting down on a low mattress in a room to the left, looking bored. I greeted him in Japanese, and he greeted back. C***** turned to see whom I was talking to and her eyes were wide. I asked Shoyo if he felt lonely, he said a little. Another attendee who also spoke Japanese asked for a picture (beating me to it, actually) but he said he was not allowed.

The conversation died out when it was time to go into the private band area for my picture with one of the members. As I walked in, there was Kuze to my left, Daisuke to my right and Teru and Hizaki in front of me, Teru dead centre and Hizaki a little to the right. I was asked whom I wanted my picture with and chose Teru, as I had long ago decided that I would if I could. He smiled and posed with me, then he shook my hand. I have got to learn to look into Japanese musician’s eyes when I talk to them.

We said good-bye to Shoyo on the way out, and almost left, but it was now time for autographs, handshakes and Instax. I pulled out the CDs I had brought for C***** and myself, and I got to shake hands with all four of them and receive the band’s autographs. Since the CDs the band brought had been seized, we might have very well been the only ones in the whole country that produced some official material for signing. Then, we took the Instax and the staff would ask with a thumbs up sign “okay?” to check the picture was good, before we left.

CDs signed by Jupiter members

All in all, the band was very friendly and amazing, but the timing and organisation was horrid. We lost out first row – despite having “priority access”, and we missed half of the fesFE[M] concert. As Copérnico has two levels though, we found a nice spot at the stairs that connect both, and I could lean against the handrail to watch the rest of the act.

fesFE[M] is a relatively new visual kei band where all the members take up “doll” personas. Their career in 2017 and released their first mini-album in May 2019, just in time to come over to Europe for Jupiter’s tour. For each album / season, the band dons a doll theme, and they were currently on the “horror genre” dolls. The members and their doll types are: Lion [リオン], vocal, Distress Coppelia doll (from the namesake ballet, dressed as a bloody bride); Aito [アイト], guitar, Apathetic Prince doll; Zeno P [ゼノP], guitar, Bloodthirsty Child Killer doll; Toru [徹], bass, Emotional Princess doll; Rensa [蓮沙], drums, Psycho Butler doll; and Jun, keyboards, Scalded Dollmaster doll (dressed as a nun because… reasons?).

The first time I heard a song by fesFE[M], I was not extremely impressed – the PV was a bit too creepy. However, they are really good in person, even with the bad sound quality and reverberation in the venue – and the fact that we missed about half of their act. They were really engaging. The whole visual part was amazing, and the coordination was great! Their music was much more powerful live. The band played some songs from their mini-album enseMble autoMata: Doll in blueberry jam [Doll in ブルーベリィジャム], Arachne ni haitoku wo [アラクネに背徳を], Psychological stolen heart, and Freiya [フレイヤ].

Fesfem live in Madrid

The Jupiter concert was as expected, very energetic and fun – it actually went beyond expectations. Our spot was really good in he end, a bit raised, without getting pushed, and we actually watched the concert next to fesFe[M]’s bass Toru. Sometimes he smiled and waved at us, and we waved back without fail.

Kuze, Jupiter’s vocalist held his ground better than I thought he would be able to. I was kind of impressed when I listened to the Jupiter single Theory of Evolution and later to the album Zeus: Legends never die. While we were expecting the guitar and metal power, Kuze’s voice range in the recording was rather wild, and I did not think that he would be able to keep it up live, especially on a final concert after touring both Japan and Europe. He proved me wring, and he held all his notes and his vocal range, just like the recording. He had practised his English a lot and learnt the MCs, but he switched to Japanese quite often, and he spoke too fast for me to get! He did a great job even with songs that had been released in the previous vocalist’s time.

Daisuke was pretty much hidden by his own drums from where we were, but we did see him bounce a couple of times. Hizaki was on the other side of the stage from us, and he looked divine in his Baroque dress. I don’t understand how he can even move in those clothes, much less play guitar or crouch, which he did so a few times in order to interact to first-row fans. A couple of times I did fear for his safety as someone grabbed either him or the guitar. Most of the songs that were played were his. It’s fun to imagine what he would be thinking when writing “die, die, die, go fuck yourself”, when he presents as such a beautiful and innocent lady, but it surely was fun to yell.

And finally, Teru had a blast. He kept twirling around as he played, his stud-leather coat swirling around him. He played with a huge smile on his face all the time and he gave off the vibes that he was having a lot of fun. He also interacted with fans a lot.

Jupiter Live in Madrid

Setlist:

  1. Arcadia
  2. Last Moment
  3. Angel’s wings
  4. Drastic Night
  5. Bring me out
  6. Show Must Go On
  7. No cry no more
  8. The spirit within me
  9. Tears Of The Sun
  10. Memories of you
  11. B.L.A.S.T
  12. Blessing of the Future
  13. Zeus: I. Legends Never Die / II. Conversations with God
  14. Symmetry Breaking [Encore 1]
  15. Theory of Evolution [Encore 2]

While the concerts were a lot of fun, the whole event was stressful due to the abysmal organisation. I actually feel a bit ripped off, because they did not deliver a lot of what they had sold in the upgrades. At least C***** and I are lucky enough that we managed to get our pictures, autographs, and saw the concert from a relatively good place. All in all, Jupiter are amazing, they were super nice, and so were the guys from fesFE[M]. The concert was great, and we don’t regret going for a second.

After the event, waved at Toru for what we thought was the last time. When lights went on, we also saw Rensa, who stopped for us when we told him he had done a good job. C***** and I decided to pool our money together to buy the CDs fesFe[M] had brought – and not got seized. Apparently, it is typical that the entry-level bands hang around merchandise booths after concerts, and we were lucky enough that they agreed to sign the CDs and take a photo with us. Lion was extremely surprised and nice – or acted so. He complimented me on my poor attempt of Japanese and complied with what we requested.

CD signed by Fesfem members

Finally, C***** and I headed back to the hotel, and we went home the next day – fortunately we left from the same bus station so we could maximise our time together.

Hikari took a few days to send out the VIP pictures, but they eventually arrived on the 1st of June. Getting them was also hard, and amateurish – they wanted to put them in a Google Drive link and post that on Facebook. At least we got them to send them via email, citing European Data protection laws at them… I really, really hope to avoid this promoter in the future, but if I do, I’ll be on the lookout in order not to miss anything.

4th May 2019: Museo Naval & TeamLab in Madrid (Spain)

Posted on by

There were a couple of exhibitions in Madrid that I wanted to see, and my mother decided to tag along. We took a train and walked to the Museo Naval, the Navy museum, which was being renovated – so the permanent connection was not being shown. In the end, that turned out to be awesomely lucky because it allowed us to see the marble staircase and stained glass of the classical building, which is very rarely shown.

The exhibition that I wanted to see was related to the trips to Asia, mostly China, Japan and Philippines, and it was interesting for 3€. one of these days I would like to come back to see the whole museum when the renovations are over. It’s on the bucket list, I swear. One of these… I’m not sure, months, because I’d been saying I want to go to the Museo Naval for years.

After seeing the “Asia in the Naval Museum” exhibit and the ceiling, we walked towards the Telefónica Building. There, there was an Exhibition by TeamLab, the museum of virtual art from Tokyo! I really want to see it.

There were three exhibits:

  • Flutter of Butterflies, Born from Hands (2019), a magical wall where you can rest your hands for butterflies to come up.

  • Black Waves: Lost, Immersed and Reborn (2016), an amazing scenery of breaking waves.

  • Enso – Cold Light (2017), a self-tracing enso (perfect circle traced with one stroke in calligraphy).

I was very happy to see this, and then we walked around the “Evolution of phones” exhibition- however, I apparently have not taken pictures of that one. I think it was too nostalgic, because god did it make me feel old (≧▽≦).

Before we returned home, we had lunch at a De María restaurant – an Argentinean meat-grill where we got a glass of rose champagne to go. Another place I want to return! However, this time I did not take pictures because the atmosphere did not feel adequate to do so.

23rd & 24th April 2019: El Escorial, Vizmalo & Lerma (Spain)

Posted on by

23 April 2019: El Escorial

The Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial aka Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial is located a shy hour away from Madrid. It is most known for the Monastery that used to be an official residence of the King of Spain. The Monastery was built between 1563 and 1584. It is the masterpiece of the Spanish architect Juan de Herrera, after whom the Herrerian style, a sub-style in the Spanish Renaissance, was named. The building is a sober building made of a granite, and it is the burial place of most of the Spanish kings and queens. Some urban legends say that it was based off the descriptions of the Temple of Solomon.

We drove in around 9:00, dropped off the luggage, and went out, as we had tickets for 10:00 – although the hotel did not want to let us in. Contrary to the nice weather that we had been enjoying, it was cold as hell. The whole town felt grey and sober, and the cloudiness helped the mood – we had breakfast at a nearby bar (the only one open) and headed off to the monastery. The building hosts many artworks, along with a chapel, the royal pantheon and the most amazing library ever. Pictures in the inner areas are forbidden, unfortunately. The Monastery is a Unesco World Heritage site.

At lunchtime we walked out of the Monastery and headed off to the Royal Carriage House / Cocheras del Rey, a museum / restaurant. We had lunch, then visited the museum as the entry was free with lunch. It was raining like mad by then so we headed to the hotel to finalise the check in.

After an hour or so the rain had stopped so we decided to walk to the Prince’s House and Parks / Parque y jardines de la Casita del Príncipe. By the time we arrived it had started raining again – pictures were not allowed inside of the house either, but OMG was the inside Baroque, with flashy wallpapers.

On the way back, we could catch a glimpse of the monastery through the park. By now it was raining like crazy, so we spent the rest of the evening indoors.

24 April 2019: Vizmalo & Lerma

We left El Escorial early in the morning and we headed north for lunch. Yeah, well, let me explain. We had a reservation for lunch some two-and-a-half hours away, in Vizmalo (Burgos). This was a bit of a silly whim, but we were going to visit an estate / farm and have lunch there – the St. Rosalia Estate / Finca Santa Rosalía breeds wagyu for meat, and holy are they yummy. We had a booking to see the estate first.

While it was still cold, the weather was slowly improving, and in evening we had some sun. We saw the orchards, the grapevines, the cattle, the trees and so on. Then we moved into the wine cellars and saw the barrels, before we tried the wine and some of the meat-dishes that they prepare and sell. The selling point of Finca Santa Rosalía are the wagyu, cattle of Japanese origin. Wagyu meat is completely different from any other beef because it is soft and tender, and in general delicious.

Lunch was brilliant, based, of course on the wagyu meat. The T-bone was scrumptious and even if it was on the “a lot of money” side, it did not feel too expensive for a once-in-a-lifetime experience considering the amazing quality.

After lunch we drove off towards Lerma, a city which was revamped by the Duke of Lerma back in the 17th century. After finding our hotel and dropping our stuff off, we walked to the Duke’s Palace turned luxury hotel: Palacio Ducal & Parador de Lerma.

We walked around and came across the Mirador de los Arcos / Archway Viewpoint.

Then we saw Colegiata de San Pedro / St. Peter’s Collegiate church, where there was a religious exhibition being held (“Las Edades del Hombre”), with the topic of angels. Pictures were not allowed, or we would have shown you a few… interesting representation.

Sunset crawled upon us and it was nice view. We had dinner somewhere around the town centre, and called it a night before we drove home the following day.

17th April 2019: La Almudena & Mercado de San Miguel (Madrid, Spain)

Posted on by

A Japanese friend had a layover in Madrid, so I took the day trip to see her and stay with her until she moved on to her final destination. We dropped off her luggage at the coin lockers in Atocha station and I asked her what she wanted to see.

Our first destination was quite accidental. We were heading towards La Almudena cathedral when we stumbled into the Changing of the Guards in front of the Royal Palace of Madrid, the Palacio Real de Madrid.

The Catedral de la Almudena, Madrid’s cathedral, is right next to the Palace, and we were there a few minutes later. We walked around the upper area. It was a nice, sunny day so the coloured windows made neat reflections on the walls and floors.

Afterwards we found our way to the cathedral crypt.

Then we moved on towards Mercado de San Miguel, St. Michael’s market, a bit of high-end foodcourt. I’m still traumatised due to the 6€ we paid for four lousy croquettes, but that’s life and she really wanted to go there.

It was very hot, so we took shelter in some of the shops and then we headed off to have some ice-cream in the Callao Gourmet Experience and enjoy the view. Afterwards I dropped her off at her train so she could go on her merry way and I went back home.

16th February 2019: A day at Japan Weekend (Madrid, Spain)

Posted on by

Having nothing better to do, my sibling and I headed over to IFEMA to spend a few hours in the Japan Weekend convention of “Japanese culture and other stuff”. It took place in Madrid over the weekend, and I had read that there were a couple of Japanese musical numbers that looked interesting.

Aside from the two mini-concerts, there was nothing fixed on our schedule. I saw the stand of a teashop called Punto de Té (Tea Point). It looked like a really nice place – judging by the prices. They offered small Japanese matcha “workshops”, and I signed us up for one of them. Matcha [抹茶] is my favourite type of tea, after all – especially freshly made. It comes from the plant Camellia sinensis, which is kept in the shade for the last four ways before harvest so it produces extra theanine and caffeine. The leaves are trimmed, dried and finely ground into a powder.

The workshop was not really a tea ceremony, more like a mock-up, but we were able to whisk our bowl (chawan [茶碗]) of matcha using a real chasen [茶筅], a sort of bamboo brush that is used to dissolve the tea powder in the boiling water until it makes foam – the best part. I am not an expert, but the tea was really good, and my sibling enjoyed the experience. We decided that we would come back to buy some stuff when we were about to leave as we did not want to be carrying around stuff all day. Fortunately for the shop, when we came back the had sold almost everything!

Collage showing how matcha dissolves into water, from powder to whisked to foamy green liquid.

Afterwards, we watched a kendo exhibit for a while. It was not a competition or anything, but those people were living the fights. That was cool. I don’t know one thing about kendo, but they did look like they were having fun, while at the same time taking everything very seriously.

A group of kendo practitioners, showing two of them engaged in a fight.

One of the mini-concerts I wanted to watch was that of Kuni-Ken. Older brother Kuniaki and younger brother Kenji play “shamisen rock”, mixing classical sounds with modern tunes. Their instrument of choice is the shamisen [三味線], a three-string guitar or lute played with a pick. It is not the first time I’ve seen shamisen applied to rock or other modern rhythms – Kennichi Yoshida does something similar.

The concert started a bit late and to our astonishment, people wanted to watch sitting down! My sibling and I were on the first row, and we got yelled and poked at until we crouched down. I am getting too old for these events, really. Kuni-Ken came on stage with masks from their Zero to One promotional video. They played a few cover songs, and some original ones. The last song was a cover of City Hunter’s theme Get Wild.

The concert lasted around 30 minutes, and afterwards we headed off to the meet and greet area. Kuni-Ken had a problem as they could not open the suitcase they had brought their merchandise in, and in the end they had to rip it open. We bought some CDs and they were kind enough to sign them – even doodle. They also gave us a sticker and took a photograph with us.

Kuni-Ken waving from stage

Kuni-Ken signed CD

Later, we stopped at Japanese drummer-turned-rapper AKKOGORILLA’s concert, a young woman who tries to defy a stereotypes of how “good girls” – and especially Japanese girls – are supposed to behave. She chose her name during her drumming times because she learnt that gorillas communicate using rhythm. Her songs invoke themes of feminism, LGBT+ and gender ideas.

She has a very particular style and moves as if she had batteries or something. She bounced and jumped on and off stage and never seemed to catch a break. She totally blind-sided the organisation by going into the crowd and pulling people up to dance with her. She was not close to us, but I got some cool pictures.

AKKOGORILLA calls her own style #GRRRLISM. She’s bouncy and vibrant on stage and she invites the listener to bounce along her catchy tunes. She sings a lot in English. The concert was again only 30 minutes though. Her songs included Yoyu and GRRRLISM, in which she clearly expresses “my body, my choice” – because she apparently commits the deadly sin of not shaving, and people seem to have opinions about that.

After the concert, I hoped to get a signed CD – I liked her more than I thought. Unfortunately, she had not brought any music, so we got her Zine signed instead. I also got a photograph.

Akkogorilla singing on stage

Akkogorilla autograph

Before leaving, we went to check the tea shop, but they had sold out everything we wanted. They offered to restock for the next day, but I was coming down with a migraine – the yellow lights at IFEMA are horrible. I also think I’m getting too old and cranky to hang out with the younger crowd though. In the end, I don’t care much about the shops – having credit cards, I don’t need a physical stand at a convention to buy stuff, and I avoid bootleg merchandise… Going to this kind of places for short live music displays… is starting not to cut it.

2nd January 2019: Jurassic and 19th Century Madrid (Spain)

Posted on by

I was in the middle of winter holidays and a couple of family members asked me if I had plans – I said I was getting tickets for a dinosaur exhibit in Madrid, and they jumped in. We made arrangements to head over there on the 2nd of January and spend the day in Madrid. I don’t think they really realised what it meant to be around me and the “terrible lizards” (≧▽≦). But off we went.

General entry ticket for 2nd January 2019

The Jurassic World: Exhibition was held in Madrid. The whole thing is organised in-verse, as if you actually visited the island.

Jurassic World the Exhibition logo and title

After you walk in, there is first a small introduction on the “boat” as you travel towards Isla Nublar. There you are given the instructions (mainly, keep your hands to yourself), the boat makes dock and you are let into the Park. Keeping in touch with the spirit of the films (not the book though *giggles*) there’s a Brachiosaurus there to greet you, just like the first animal you see in Isla Nublar (and later the last).

Pretencious gate with two columns on the side, reading Jurassic World. A brontosaurus head peers down at you

You also catch a glimpse of a Parasaurolophus.

The head of an herbivore dinosaur (parasaurolophus) peering through the bushes

Then you get to the “stables” where you get to see a Triceratops mama with her baby.

Mom and baby Triceratops behind a fence that reads Gentle giants petting zoo

Afterwards, there is a small room that represents the laboratory where the dinosaurs are made – I could have made it out with a critter but there were only baby Iguanodon.

Fake amber pieces and DNA extactor along with an incubator with eggs and baby dinosaurs

Next, you walk into a tiny museum with some fossil reproductions and actual scientific information…

Reproduction of carnivore dinosaurs skull and bones, along with the drawing of a huge T-rex fooot print drawn on the ground to compare it to a human one

… right before everything goes to hell and back when you’re shown a hologram of Owen Grady talking to his velociraptor Blue and you get a… guy in a velociraptor costume prancing around (≧▽≦).

Person disguised as a verlociraptor

The next room shows the Tyrannosaurus rex cage (by the way #TeamTRex here, in case you did not know) behind her cage, menacing and staring.

T-rex animatronic, showing the huge head behind a fence

The final room is another garden in which you get to see a Stegosaurus being stalked by the made-up Indominus rex.

Stegosaurus

Head of the Indominus rex, looking like it's stalking prey

And at the end of the exhibition, after the shop even, you find the velociraptors, which have apparently escaped and are ready to attack!

Jurassic world velociraptors on a wrecked crate

All in all, being the dinosaur geek I am, I had a blast. I’m not sure that my poor family members that had wanted to tag along with me knew what they were bargaining for (≧▽≦).

However, they were still willing to put up with my for a little longer, and together we drove off to the centre of Madrid, and somehow ended up at the Museo Cerralbo. They asked if there was something I wanted to see, and the Cerralbo Museum was running a couple of Japan-related specials I was curious about. The museum stands in the Palace of the same name, and it holds the collection of the late Marquis Cerralbo.

The museum is… crammed and chaotic, but interesting in its own way. It holds thousands of pieces, from worthless-looking mementos to priceless paintings by masters such as El Greco. Art experts say that the Cerralbo collection was the most valuable of its time.

Collage of cerralbo museum. A room with two samurai armous. A centrepiece made with swords. A long table, set, with chairs along and an ellaborate lamp hanging from the ceiling. The hall of the museum, with a staircase with an ellaborate balaustrade and a glass lamp hanging from the ceiling.

The museum was holding a designated route focused on the Japanese pieces it has, including samurai armours.

Collage of Asian and Japanese pieces of the museum: hars, a samurai armour, and an hexagonal carey box

Furthermore, there was an origami exhibition on the lower floor.

Origami pieces: a phoenix, a snake, an orca, corals, and a life-sized hippo

After the museum we sat down for lunch at a fusion Asian-Japanese restaurant, because the family members “wanted to try” – although they were rather scared of the food. Eventually they managed to enjoy it too, and even have seconds – however I needed to make a run to get my tablet serviced.

Lunch. Sushi, chicken skewers, rice dish and noodles dish

Once it was up and running, and family had come to find me, we walked towards the shopping centre in Principe Pío for dessert – yoghurt ice cream with berries and smarties. A great way to end the day!

An old station from iron architecture epoch repurposed into shopping centre

Frozen yoghurt with berries sauce and smarties

3rd November 2018: Samurai Spirit in Madrid (Spain)

Posted on by

I booked tickets to see the show Kamui x Mika Kobayashi: Utakatana Sekai – Samurai Spirit in Madrid. In a last-minute change, my parents decided to tag along, so we just drove there in time for the show. It took place in the theatre Teatro Fernando de Rojas, one of the halls in the Círculo de Bellas Artes building.

Publicity poster with the show's date

Samurai Artist Kamui [剱伎衆かむゐ, Kengishuu Kamui] is a “samurai sword artist troupe” . They perform stories through “samurai communication” using music, sound and light to work on the atmosphere, along with of course, Japanese sword – katana – performances. The founder and leader of the troupe is Tetsuro Shimaguchi [島口哲朗], who played a part in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill vol.1, a film for which he also served as choreographer for the swordfighting.

Mika Kobayashi [小林未郁] is a singer, pianist, and songwriter from Hiroshima. She is known for her vocals on anime, such as Attack on Titan or Gundam UC, and video games like Final Fantasy XI. She established her own style and record label in 2016 and has been doing her own thing since then.

The collaboration Kamui x Mika Kobayashi: Utakatana Sekai – Samurai Spirit seems to be designed for touring overseas as there is no trace of that name in Japanese. Utakatana Sekai would roughly translate as “the world of singing swords”. It features Kobayashi as singer and pianist providing the background voice for the show.

Through artistic sword-fighting and music, the performance conveys a story about the old samurai ways giving way to a new world. Short self-contained scenes tell the story of a samurai warrior who gives way to the new generation – played by a lady. A bit subversive from the Japanese traditional way, I guess.

The show has three parts. The first act comprises fights and individual actors showing off their individual skills. Younger or less experienced fighters, who get “swordsman #4” roles end up being killed two or three times. I liked a short story about a blind samurai better than the romantic ones. Unfortunately, I was a bit to the side – I only bought the tickets with a week or so when I found out – and my angle was awkward at times. I could see the gaps between the swords when they did not clash for real.

During the interlude / break, they brought two volunteers from the public to learn some moves and get the mood lightened up. This showed off Shimaguchi’s language and teaching skills, along with a flair for the dramatic, and it was really funny.

Different scenes from the show

The last part was more spectacular, full of stunts and coordinated exhibition acts. That was the part I enjoyed the most. All in all, the whole ninety-minute show was very fun. Mika Kobayashi’s melodic voice and piano tunes fit really well with the whole theme, and everybody seemed to have fun, and at the same time take their jobs very seriously. However, I’d need a better seat next time, in order to keep the suspension of disbelief and not see all the stunts as… stunts.

Artists’ publicity banner

Afterwards, many artists came out to take pictures with the audience. We got to take pictures with Mika Kobayashi too, and I bought a signed CD of hers.

Mika Kobayashi's signed CD

28th October 2018: HA·YA·TO: Drum Masters (Madrid, Spain)

Posted on by

Out of all the taiko [太鼓] shows I have attended, this was without a doubt the one I enjoyed the most. HA·YA·TO is a wadaiko [和太鼓] (Literally ‘Japanese drum’) group formed by the three Kanazashi brothers: Keita, Ryota and Yuta (Keita Kanazashi spends a lot of time in Spain, we’ve seen lots of ‘taiko workshops’ organised with him as a special trainer). This time they’re touring Spain with their show Drum Masters, accompanied by a number of renown musicians: Koji Hada, Takayuki Hashiguchi, Makoto Sekine and Syunchiro Kamija, aside from two special guests: Chieko Kojima (dancer and first female wadaiko master in Japan) and Masato Shibata (shamisen world champion).

Hayato Premium Ticket I found by chance

I was lucky enough to get a premium seat as I attended a matinee show in the theatre Teatros del Canal in Madrid. The show represents the four seasons of the year, and each part has its own rhythm and characteristics, along with energy and colour. At one point there were seven drummers and sixteen drums being played on stage at the same time.

Hayato Drum Masters Poster

The show was divided into the four seasons. During the first part, spring and summer, energy was abundant. Spring brought all the musicians to the stage, so while the great weight of the show rested on the drums, we also got shamisen (Japanese guitar) and Japanese flute. Kojima showed us her dancing skills in front of a black background with a flurry of cherry blossoms.

Then came summer, with a torii background and the matsuri (festival) atmosphere. The big central drum was put into action. This was when Keita Kanazashi showed off his Spanish and used the audience as another instrument, making them clap and stomp their feet in a sort of call and response routine which was really fun.

The most impressive number had the seven drummers on a row, and sixteen drums in total, all in a line. Thus, each drummer had three taiko, one in front, and one on each side, all lined up. However, they were actually sharing the side taiko with the drummer next to them, so at any given time that they banged they could collide with the musician next to them. It was amazing to witness the crazy-you-dont-get-to-see-the-batons-fast speed slamming the drum.

The second part started with autumn, that had the four supporting drummers playing ‘tennis’ with the small crash cymbals, first one on stage, then two, then three, then four, then with the audience, and then with each other all around the theatre. Then we had a demonstration of Chieko Kojima’s art on stage, first dancing, and then with the taiko – it was impressive to see how such a small lady can bang the drum in a ethereal red kimono. First she did it with the free sleeves, then she danced with a sash that she used to tie them back so she could play more forcefully.

Winter was a bit slower on the uptake – though with impressive technique – but it grew into an amazing mix of sounds and visual arts, again with dancing, taiko, crash cymbals, flutes and shamisen. In the end, Chieko Kojima danced with her parasol making it ‘snow’ (at a point her sleeve got caught in her hair décor and she needed a tiny stop). It was beautiful.

Hayato Drum Masters ensemble greeting at the stage

Theatre window with the Hayato Drum Masters poster

Finally, Keita Kanazashi introduced the musicians and informed us that they would be outside to take pictures after the show. I was lucky I could do so with everybody! All the artists were nice and friendly and it was a great experience. I also bought a DVD.

29th & 30th September 2018: The Pikotaro Affair at Japan Weekend Madrid (Spain)

Posted on by

The “Japanese culture convention” Japan Weekend was held in IFEMA, Madrid, over the weekend. The big problem with conventions tend to be the organisers. At some point they bestow upon themselves an importance they lack, and decide to either micromanage everything, or act as if they were the reason why people visit. It’s amusing looking back, but annoying when you have to deal with them –such as the mini riff-raff at the Salón del Manga de Alicante and INORAN’s autograph. Japan Weekend in Madrid is not an exception to this trend. The event spanned over the whole weekend. I attended both days, and on Saturday I brought my sibling over. The acts and activities we attended were:

Mitsuru Nagata’s sumi-e show

Mitsuru Nagata is a Japanese-born, Barcelona-living artist who creates pieces of art and calligraphy using traditional Japanese ink techniques of sumi-e [水墨画], “Ink wash painting”. He did a performance and demonstration on both Saturday and Sunday at 11:00. I really like his style, and own a couple of his works..

Ink wash painting of a samurai in attacking pose

Wa–suta: The World Standard Concerts

Wa–suta: The World Standard [わーすた: The World Standard] is girl band formed by five cute bouncy girls who aim to “spread kawaii culture around the world”. Kawaii [可愛い] stands for “cute” or “adorable” in Japanese, but aside from the adjective, the word is also used to define the Japanese “cuteness culture”, very prominent in certain circles – think Hello Kitty or basically anything else Sanryo puts out.

I am not sure that is the aim, but unfortunately kawaii acts tend to attract a not-so-kawaii spectators. Artists are supposed to carter to their fantasies, and be always perfect in appearance and behaviour – singing well is secondary. At the concert, Wa–suta put up a very good effort on being approachable and trying Spanish. They were also very cute, full of energy, and even in synch when they moved – which not all bands can do nor even bother to try. They did a cover of Evangelion’s song Zankoku na Tenshi no Tēze, which I would have preferred that they skipped, but in general they were all right – if girl bands are your thing.

Five girls in short white dresses and cat ears on stage

ITSUKA (Charisma.com) Concerts

ITSUKA (Charisma.com) is a lady-rapper and techno artist with a really powerful presence whom I really liked. Charisma.com was a two-woman “electro-rap” / hip-hop band which went into hiatus early in 2018. ITSUKA continued her career solo, and was invited to the Japan Weekend. She used a computer, a mixing table and her own voice to deliver two very impressive performances. She can rap crazy fast, too, and she has a very strong attitude.

Woman rapping behind a mixing table

Pikotaro Concerts and Meet & Greets

The reason why I wanted to attend this event was the presence of a Japanese comedian Kazuhito Kosaka characterised as his persona Pikotaro [ピコ太郎], a “singer” known for his histrionic personality and a flashy leopard-print clothing. He became famous around the world with Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen (PPAP), a silly song which parodies English teaching in Japan. I have heard so much about bad English teaching in the country from my friend B**** that I am actually… not so sure about how much parody and how much “fiction imitating reality” there is.

When I met with my friends E**** and K***** in Barcelona after the Kamijo concert at the beginning of the month, we talked about events and such. They basically dared me to “go to Japan Weekend and troll Pikotaro”. I already had tickets for Saturday, but after that, I decided to actually get myself the Meet & Greet “extra” – for both days.

The concerts were amusing to say the least, and not precisely due to the musical quality. The whole act was hilarious, done with the YouTube videos projected on the screen and the guy jumping and bouncing up and down the stage. At some point there was a blackout, so he started again, taking everything in stride.

There were paper masks handed out, that could (should? must?) be used during the M&G for autographs. There were four or five songs – among them Neo Sunglasses (which I personally found hysterical, as he sings “dark, dark, dark”, all the time until he takes off the sunglasses and grins “bright!”), and Can you see? I’m sushi. He of course sang Pen-pineapple-apple-pen to open and close the act. For the closing song he had prepared a line in Spanish and a “Japan Weekend” version that had people screaming.

There was a Q&A after the Saturday concert. They prepared a table and for him, all star-like, and in the end he just grabbed the chair to sit in front of the table, completely throwing the organisers off. He gave hugs and signed stuff, and he did really look like he was having a lot of fun.

The M&G tickets were 5 € each and I bought them for both days – they included a handshake, an autograph and a picture. Again, it was very fun. On Saturday, I put some sushi badges and pins on my neck scarf so I could quote “can you see? I’m sushi!” at him. He found it hysterical, and signed the cardboard mask for me before we took a photograph.

When I arrived home, I printed that so I could take it on Sunday. I signed one copy for him, and at the M&G, I asked him to dedicate the other one to me. Even if the Japan Weekend staff kept barking around the chaos they had turned the queue into that he would only sign the provided material, he signed whatever you asked of him, with the interpreter’s blessings (who by the way remembers me from other endeavours, so she basically left me to my own devices). Convention staff micromanaging everything again…

Japanese man in a Leopard print suit singing

Pikotaro autograph

Going to the Pikotaro M&Gs meant I missed Wa-suta and ITSUKA’s signatures, but oh, boy, was it worth it for the laughter.

21st & 22nd September 2018: The Vampire Rockstar in Barcelona (Spain)

Posted on by

I first heard about KAMIJO when someone handed me a flyer for his Paris concert when I was there to see Yoshiki Classical, back in 2014. I did not give that much more thought as I obviously don’t live in Paris. However, tickets for KAMIJO’s Sang Project Act III Europe Tour came out around my birthday this year, and I decided to get them as a present for myself – there was a concert in Barcelona, on a Friday. I had a good connection there, it was the weekend, and the tickets were not expensive. Thus, I bought the ticket, the VIP upgrade (early entrance and Meet and Greet) and the memorial photo ticket (individual Polaroid with him), a grand total of 68 €.

KAMIJO is a Japanese “visual kei” singer, both solo and with the band Versailles. Visual kei (V-kei) is musically similar to rock, though sometimes it leans closer to heavy metal. Singers and bands often don a particular style, the “visuals”, usually associated with some kind of fictional backstory (however, most of them tone “the look” down as they become older). KAMIJO has adopted the persona of an 18th-century French vampire which fits both his solo activities and the ones with Versailles. However, the illusion shatters as his French is worse than his English, despite how hard he tries.

Kamijo Sang Europe tour dates and venues

Between getting the tickets in May and the concert in September, I ordered and listened to the album KAMIJO was promoting, Sang. I recognised influences from older V-kei  bands Malice Mizer and Moi dix Moix – both of which have the same vocalist, singer MANA. However, there was something more up-beaty to it that took a couple of listening sessions to fully embrace. In the end, I decided that I liked it pretty well.

Although the original reason why I decided to go to the concert was convenience, the whole thing was a pleasant surprise. I also took the chance to meet with my friends E**** and K*****, who live there. Thus, on the 21st, I took the first train to Barcelona, and I arrived a bit before 10:00. I went over to the queue at Sala Apolo, a venue in the centre of town and I was the sixth person there. I made some nice acquaintances at the queue who held my spot when I ran to the hotel to check in, around 15:00 (with 15 – 20 people at the queue).

Apolo venue façade

As I arrived at the hotel, a man walked in behind me. I did my check-in and the person behind the desk asked me for “the gentleman’s ID too”. I blinked – I had a single room, a reservation for one and he thought we were together? Weird. The guy was actually looking for a hotel for the night without a reservation, and I sure as hell was not going to share my nice, soft bed.

I went back to the queue to wait the evening away. We did not see the tour truck nor the band come in – nor out afterwards – but the venue has an underground car park, so they probably just drove in there VIP doors were scheduled for 18:00, but did not open until around half-past. I think this was one of the nicest queues I’ve ever been in. By the time the venue opened, we had already sorted ourselves into a VIP and a GA line, everything ran very smoothly. However, we were very few – probably not even 300, and most of the tickets had VIP upgrades.

After doors opened, we were shown into the actual hall, the smallest of the three the Apolo has. There was no separation between the actual floor and the low stage – there was no barrier, and we were going to be close. We had to wait in the queue for the Meet & Greet, and after we were done, we would be able to either go to the goods or take our places at the stage.

Once all the VIP ticket holders were inside the hall, KAMIJO appeared to say hi. One by one, we went to him, shook his hand and talked to him for a few seconds. He was very kind and smiled a lot, and he mostly answered “yes” to whatever he was told in any language.

I took on first row, a bit to the left. My spot was kept when I went to buy some merchandise, and we were so few that even when the concert started there was no push (unfortunately, that might mean he will not come back…). The stage was all set, including a perfect glass of water, formal tableware style, he’s above utilitarian water bottles, apparently.

Kamijo Barcelona stage

The fun part was that I was close enough that I had to be careful not to actually hit KAMIJO when he wanted us to reach out to him. The tour story revolves about the Émigré, an innovative energy system that transforms human blood into energy. This system was created by “Louis”, who is over 200 years old, and is exploited by the Count of Saint-Germain during the French Revolution. I am not completely sure how this makes sense, but I’m sure it does for people who have been following him for longer.

The live interweaves narration with recorded and actual songs, building on that outline. At times the instruments and reverberations were a bit too loud. However, most of the concert was okay. After all, this is KAMIJO’s solo project, designed so his voice is the most important thing. There were four of us in the middle of first row who had to wave and cheer with caution or we would literally smack the artist. When he twirled and turned, his velvet coat flew around and we had to be careful he did not hit us on the face with it. I had never been so near a performing artist in my whole life – I could also take a photograph of the setlist.

Setlist:
[Recording] SE あらすじ Scenario narration
  1. Theme of Sang
  2. Nosferatu
  3. Émigré
  [Recording] SE Blood Cast セリフshort narration
  4. Vampire Rock Star
  5. Bastille
  6. Symphony of The Vampire 第五楽章「Sonata」
  7. 闇夜のライオン instrumental
  [Recording] SE Delta with narration
  8. Castrato
  [Recording] SE Ambition
  9 Sang I
  10. Sang II
  [Recording] Intro as narration
  11. Sang III
  [Recording] SE mademoiselle
Encore 1
  12. 私たちは戦う、昨日までの自分と
  MC
  13. Mademoiselle
Encore 2
  [Recording] Emblem narration (guillotine)
  14. Moulin Rouge
  15. 第四楽章「Dying-Table」
  16. Vampire Rock Star

Kamijo Barcelona 2018 setlist

For the first, and I don’t think this will ever repeat, so quite probably the only time in my life, I got to experience a singer singing to me. He reached out during Mademoiselle. And next thing I know, he’s cupping my face, pulling my chin up and looking into my eyes to the verse do you want to be a princess reaching out to me into les affairs d’amour?. I also got a high-five later, and he was gentle when he noticed my wrist brace, while other people told me he was high-fiving hard at that point – or maybe he just brushed me because he miscalculated.

One of the funniest moments of the concert was the MC. Apparently, last time he was in Europe with Versailles, KAMIJO fell and twisted his ankle in the concert before Barcelona. Instead of cancelling, he continued the tour, and sang in Barcelona with crutches spray-painted in gold, or sitting down. This time he was very adamant to tell us “I can sing on my feet! No need for…” and he forgot the word “crutches” and proceeded to mimic those. Then, he hopped all around the stage like a very fabulous kangaroo.

After the show, we had some time at the hall, without being herded or anything, before we lined up for the photograph with the artist. As you reached the head of the queue, they checked your tickets – and kept them – and took your personal stuff. We could shake his hand again and get the Polaroid taken. I reached out for the handshake saying thank you, and he pulled on me so he could wrap his other arm around my waist for the picture. I think because I was just the right size for this, compared to him and his platforms.

A few of us stayed behind for a while after the pictures were done, but we did not see anyone leave. I walked back to the hotel before it got too late, and headed straight for the shower, then the bed. All in all, the concert was extremely – and unexpectedly – fun, even if (or because?) we were few. I really expected him to be much more stuck-up due to the “vampire persona” act. People at the queue were very nice, too.

The following morning, I went out to meet my friends E**** and K*****. We went to an Asian restaurant and ate some really great food, with very good conversation until I had to go back to the station to take a train home.

28th July – 3rd ‎August ‎2018: The Spanish “Levante”

Posted on by

My parents sometimes vacation in this tourist-like complex in a little town called San Juan de Alicante in the east of Spain (the “Levante”). My father uses it as a base for diving trips, and sometimes I tag along to keep my mother company. When we arrived this year we found out that there was a new resident family in the garden – a family of squirrels that had apparently shown up travelling in trees that were going to be planted. The complex management decided to make squirrel-nurturing the local sport. Guests were encouraged to watch out for them, and leave them nuts. Also, there were educational signs about what was safe or unsafe to feed the little critters. I caught sight of them at some point or another.

One of the selling points of the complex – aside, of course, from the swimming pool and the great room service – are the big gardens, with lots of trees and plants, and the rescue bunnies. Now the squirrels came over to complete the scene.

Collage. A hotel room. Red flowers. A garden. A tiny rabbit. A tree and a close-up of that tree focusing on the squirrel on one of the branches.

31st July 2018: Chocolate & Lobster. Not together.

A meagre 20-minute-drive away from this little town stands the village of Villajoyosa, which translates into something akin to “The joyous village”. If you’ve never heard of it, I’ll just have you known that it has a chocolate factory, the Fábrica de Chocolates Valor, and the chocolate museum (and of course the shop). As it is a working factory, the visit is of course guided. We were told that there was usually a long queue, so we were there before 9:30 for the 10:00 visit, and we were quite literally the first to arrive. Once inside, you get to see what they call the museum, with a short video about how they used to and still make the chocolate, and you visit some of the old equipment. Then, there is a short trip around the factory using some hanging planks – when we were there, the production was halted due to pre-Christmas-campaign holidays. So FYI Christmas chocolate is made in August. The visit was done in one hour, and then we splurged in the shop.

Chocolate factory from outside

Inside the chocolate factory shop. A painting on the wall says we heart chocolate, another, in the backfround of several chocolate bars packaged as presents, it says All you need is chocolate, with the word love scratched out

After the visit we went back to the complex, where we had booked a made-to-order lobster “paella” (traditional rice dish) for lunch, and boy was it awesome. I totally sinned with the apple pie afterwards, too.

Collage. Rice pan with lobster pieces, and a piece of apple pie

1st August 2018: Alicante

The day started awesomely with coffee and pancakes, and that alone worked to make me happy.

Pancakes with chocolate syprup, a glass of milk, and a cup of coffee

Besides, twenty minutes in the opposite direction from Villajoyosa we had Alicante. And we could also be lazy and not take the car out, we could just take the bus. We wanted to see the archaeological museum, Museo Arqueológico Provincial MARQ de Alicante, and that was out first stop. However, for some reason a bunch of pictures got lost – and I can only show you this of the library, where pictures were not allowed anyway. It was a… photography accident.

A former chapel, with gothic windows. A glass lamp hangs from the ceiling and there are dark shelves full of books in the foreground

After the museum, we walked around the base of Monte Benacantil, the mount in the middle of Alicante – again, literally – until we were exactly on the opposite side to find the entrance to the Castillo de Santa Bárbara, Santa Bárbara’s castle. The castle is of Arab origin, it may have been built the 8th century. However, there are archaeological remains in the mount dating from prehistoric times. The castle gave the city of Alicante a vantage point towards any kind of threat, whether it originated on land or the ocean. The castle was reconstructed in the 16th century, and later, in the 18th century, it played a part in the war against the French.

Castle ruins and views of the sea underneath. It looks hot.

After this we walked over to have lunch at a restaurant we had read over in the tourist complex magazine, a prime Japanese restaurant called Nigo, which has the best sushi I’ve ever tried outside Japan.

Lunch - Japanese salad, fried chicken, sushi and tuna tartar

After that we headed back to the complex and planned our next move.

2nd August 2018: Valencia Diversion

My father was unable to go on his two planned diving outings, so we decided to head home early. However, he was feeling a little disappointed over the cancellation, and I suggested that maybe we could take a detour somewhere else instead. In the end, we decided to book a hotel in Valencia and use the time to visit the Oceanogràfic over there. This is a large aquarium complex. We also reserved a table at the “Submarine Restaurant” and had lunch there.

The aquarium opened in 2003 as part of a big project called “the city of art and science” in Valencia. It has a double layout, over- and underground. The underground area is the big aquariums are built, while the upper enclosures hold most the mammals and the birds.

An empty restaurant surrounded by an aquarium where fish swim

Collage of different marine animals: octopus, sea urchin, anemone, clownfish, surgeon fish, rockfish, seal, jellyfish, seastar, sea dragon, turtle, reef shark

Collage of different animals, and general view of the park. Penguins, crocodiles, seal, pelicans, snipes, ibises, tortoises, carps, crane

Once we were done, we said goodbye to the sharks and hi to the nice sunset. Next morning we drove back home.

Sunset above an unremarkable city skyline

21st & 22nd July 2018: Swan Lake in Madrid (Spain)

Posted on by

21st July: The housefront

This Saturday/Sunday getaway was a birthday present, and I have to admit that I was super excited about it – the main part of the present was a hotel night in Madrid and tickets to watch the (British) Royal Ballet in the Spanish Royal theatre, the Teatro Real. And I mean stall tickets, I was over the moon.

The day started at the Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where there was an exhibition about yokai, the Yumoto Koichi Collection (Miyoshi, Hiroshima). It was called Yokai: Iconografía de lo Fantástico (Iconography of the fantastical), and it was rather interesting. It holds a collection of different items related to mythological creatures of Japan, yokai [妖怪] – there are scrolls, woodprints, games, pottery, even clothes and accessories. This was an interesting exhibition, and having seen it would later save me a trip to Miyoshi, allowing me to discover Takehara instead.

Rolls of paper, kimojo jacket and blookwood painting, showing different scenes and beings from Japanese mythology

After the exhibition, we went to the Green Tea Sushi Bar & Cocktail Room, which turned out to have the most overpriced mediocre sushi ever. The place was ridiculously expensive but fortunately we had booked with a special 50% discount, which made it bearable. However, fair is fair, and the tataki was delicious, and the chocolate coulant turned out to be amazing.

Lunch. Sushi boat, sald, tuna tataki, edamame, and an ice cream scoop

The hotel was in the right smack of Madrid, a short walk away from the “royal theatre” Teatro Real and we had tickets for 17:00 – to watch Swan Lake performed by British The Royal Ballet. Before sitting down we took a small exploration walk through the different rooms, including the ball room. I really loved the whole building and in particular the blue room and the ball room.

Royal theatre snippets - the main hall, the stage, the stands. Most curtains are a rich burgundy colour.

Swan Lake happens to be my favourite ballet – I love Tchaikovsky in general, though the stars have always aligned against me watching Sleeping Beauty. In Swan Lake, the evil sorcerer Rothbart turns maidens into a swan during the day, and they turn back to women at night as long as they are near the enchanted lake. The ballet officially opens with Prince Siegfried celebrating his birthday. He receives a crossbow as present, and he is later told by his mother that he needs to choose a bride the next night. As he becomes upset his friend suggest going hunting. In the forest, Siegfried becomes separated from the group and meets Odette, one of the swans. She explains of her predicament, and they eventually fall in love, and Siegfried invites her to the ball in which he needs to choose his bride. The next night, however, Rothbart sends Odette’s magical doppelgänger, to whom Siegfried swears love. Witnessing this in swan-form breaks Odette’s heart. As he realises his mistake, Siegfried makes it back to the lake.

The ending of the ballet changes. Sometimes it is a happy one when the spell is broken. The original ending has both Siegfried and Odette dying together to break the spell. Another alternative is that only Odette dies, but Siegfried manages to kill Rothbart and break the spell – this was the one that the Royal ballet played, and it managed to make me a puddle of happy goo. As Siegfried raises Odette’s inert body over his head, I shuddered all over. It was magnificent.

Snapshot of the credits, Showing Akane Takada as Odette and Odile, William Bracewell as Prince Siegfried, and Thomas Whitehead as Rothbart

The cast after the play taking their bows.

After the performance was over, we had dinner in the Plaza Mayor and then walked towards Puerta del Sol, then back went to the hotel to catch some sleep.

Square Plaza del Sol lit by night

22nd July: The backhouse

On Sunday we went back to the Teatro Real because we had booked one of the visits they offer, the technical one. During this visit you walk through the inner areas of the theatre, and even more interestingly, the upper area.

We saw the main hall, and afterwards we went first onto the backstage, then the backstage, and finally onto the stage where the Swan Lake props still stood, so that was really cool. The visit finished climbing up to the upper area of the theatre to see the views and the theatrical rigging system.

Empty royal theatre, showing the stalls from the stage, the backstage, and the view of the cathedral and the royal palace from the upper windows.

Finally, we had a bite to eat and we headed home for the weekend, and I have to say, I was happy as a skunk.

30th June 2018: Spanish breakfast, Japanese entertainment (Madrid, Spain)

Posted on by

30th June 2018: Spanish breakfast, Japanese entertainment (Madrid, Spain)

My friend C***** came over to Madrid for one of those crazy crazy things that we do – a crazy Saturday. She took a bus overnight and I went to meet her up for breakfast. The day started with a good omen, because I caught a rainbow around 7:30.

To celebrate that we had met up for the first time in a long while, we went to the most famous chocolaterie in Madrid, Chocolatería San Ginés for chocolate and churros. As her bus arrived in the early morning, I think we were there around 8:30 as I took the first train available.

After breakfast, we head over to the area of the theatre, Teatros del Canal, for the main event at noon – a piece of Kabuki [歌舞伎], a piece of classical Japanese dance. In this case we were going to see an adaptation of Fuji Musume and Renjishi. First, we checked out the little market of Japanese craftsmanship and decided that we wanted everything, because of course we did.

Then we walked into the theatre. The company Heisei Nakamuraza was bringing two key pieces in the history of kabuki. The first was Fuji Musume [藤娘] “The Wisteria Lady”. It is a representation of unrequited love, dancing under the wisteria tree that represents femininity, and the pine that represents masculinity. During the dance there are several kimono dances and it is visually stunning. The second piece, Renjishi [検索結果], “The Two Lions”, is a very spectacular dance, in many ways mirrored between two dancers. The first part represents a parent lion-dog and its cub, then there is a small comical interlude and finally the lion dogs come out again in celebration. No pictures allowed of the performance, but have some of the theatre:

The show was over much too quickly, sadly. We went out of the theatre and raided the matsuri / market.

Then we walked a few minutes to the Japanese restaurant Hayama, where we had some sushi, gyoza, takoyaki, curry and ramen to share.

As C***** had an early-evening train to get back (I did mention that this was a crazy escapade specially for her), I tagged along to the station and I saw her off. Awesome way to spend a Saturday, though I wish we could have hung out for longer!

23rd & 24th June 2018: London Express (England, Great Britain)

Posted on by

I took some family members over to London for the weekend, and they asked me to organise something so they could see a lot of things. We took the red-eye flight so we were downtown London something around 8:30. Our first visit had tickets for 10:00, so first spot was a Costa Coffee for breakfast! (≧▽≦)

Afterwards we saw the Tower Bridge over the Thames.

Then, at the right time, we walked into the Tower of London, where we wandered around visiting all the areas, including the White Tower, the dungeons, the Crown Jewels vault and the raven nests.

Once we were done, we took the underground to the British Museum for a quick visit through the most important collections, along with a few of the less known but interesting things – in the end we saw the Babylonian, Grecian, Egyptian collections, and had a glimpse at a few of the Chinese artefacts and the Hoa Hakananai’a from Easter Island.

We had lunch in-between and then went to the hotel to drop our things off. After that, we took off again and, via underground, we reached Trafalgar Square. We walked towards Piccadilly and on the way we stopped at Legoland and M&Ms shop. Then had dinner in an Angus steakhouse in Leicester square, and to end the day, we had a look at the lit Piccadilly Circus.

We got back to the hotel, and honestly, I had not realised how close to the centre we actually were until I looked out of the window.

The next morning we woke up early and headed off to have breakfast on the go – actually the weather was super nice so we got ourselves some Nero coffee and sandwiches and ate them in front of Westminster’s Abby. As it was Sunday we could not visit the Abby, but we saw the scaffolded Big-Ben, and walked around the Houses of Parliament.

We went to visit the Monument to Emmeline Pankhurst because the youngest person in the group needed to be told about a period in history in which she would not have been as free as she is today.

After that, we crossed over the Thames, then moved on to the London Eye. Half of the group wanting to go up, the other half being not fans of heights, we divided and conquered – two of us went to the London Aquarium while the other three enjoyed their VIP ride in the London Eye. I know you are not surprised I picked the side with the sharks instead of going up.

This guy judged us, very hard:

After our riverbank separation, we regrouped and headed off towards the Natural History Museum where we first saw the Butterfly carp that was installed outside it – they were extremely pretty and beyond friendly, because we were landed on quite often.

When we had finished the walk, we stepped into the Natural History Museum itself to wander through the dinosaur area for a bit, and then around the animal collection.

We decided to head out to the restaurant to have a bite to eat, and as we were walking through the marine invertebrate area (the room with all the crabs and so on), there was a nice lady showing items. And that’s how I ended up holding a megalodon tooth and fanbying like there was no tomorrow. Don’t judge me. Or do so, I don’t care ☆⌒(ゝ。∂)

As they walked into the insect / general creepy-crawler gallery, I walked around the gallery that held “less impressive” fossils, including the ones discovered by Anne Manning. We had lunch in the NHM, then moved on.

A short underground ride later, we were at St James’s Park, where we took a bit of a walk towards Buckingham Palace. As the weather was nice, we got to see a lot of the local fauna, even the local swans.

We hung around for a while as we saw Buckingham Palace, then headed off back towards the airport. Although we had a couple-of-hours delay, we made it home without further complication.

9th & 10th June 2018: Wicked London (England, Great Britain)

Posted on by

This will be the last work-trip, at least for a while. I might change my mind later, but for now I’m done with them (although there’s an upcoming family trip rather soon…). Again, we flew in early Saturday morning, and we went to walk around the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge.

Then we went to the British Museum. I left them for a couple of hours there and I went to visit some of the lesser-seen galleries.

We had booked tickets for the musical “Wicked” in the Apollo Victoria Theatre at 14:30, so we headed over there. Wicked is a parallel story to “The Wizard of Oz”, focusing on the story of the Wicked Witch of the West, who becomes a social outcast due to her tendency to speak her mind and the strength of her magic. I had really wanted to watch this for a long time, so I used this chance and convinced the group to get there. I absolutely loved it ♥.

After the show, we dropped our things at the hotel. The group wanted to get some rest, so we stayed there for a while, then got out again. We took the underground towards London central and we were in Trafalgar Square for a while.

Then, we went to Chinatown for dinner.

Later, we walked around Piccadilly Circus, checking out some shops and so. We even stopped for cake.

On Sunday morning we went to Saint James’s Park, where we got to meet the local fauna, especially a very adventurous squirrel.

Then we dropped by Buckingham Palace. Although we did not watch the Guard Change, we did see one of the relief marches.

We walked from there to Westminster, saw the Houses of Parliament and the Big Ben, along the outside of Westminster Abby.

We visited the Monument to Emmeline Pankhurst and stayed for a while in the Victoria Tower Gardens.

As a final visit, we went to the Natural History Museum.

Finally, we headed off to the airport, and the icing of the cake was that we got caught in a controllers’ strike, so we had like a three-hour delay on our flight and it took forever to get home (;¬_¬). All in all, this was a very… strange trip, and without a doubt the highlight was going to see Wicked, which is something I had wanted to do for a long time, and gave me a couple of hours of enjoyment to myself.

21st & 22nd April 2018: MIYAVI & London (England, Great Britain)

Posted on by

On Saturday the 21st I caught a red-eye flight and I landed in London Stansted around 7:00. After clearing security (aka a security guard very interested on WHY I was there and WHOSE was the concert again?) I got myself on the train and headed off directly towards ULU London to attend MIYAVI’s “DAY 2” World Tour in Europe 2018. I spent the whole day at the queue / venue, so I tell you much of what I did, except that I was an idiot and did not really eat much solid food, if at all. A cookie, I seem to remember, and a cereal bar, which in the end caused a bad stomachache. Lesson learnt. Also! Heatwave in London. How do I manage to always catch the heatwaves in London?

MIYAVI is a Japanese guitarists I’ve listened on and off for a while. I lost a bit of track of him when he got married and had a baby, but every excuse is good for a little getaway. And I have to say that he blew my mind.

I set off at around 4am on Saturday and arrived in the queue around 10 am. The line was incredibly well organised, and the venue staff was super-friendly and efficient (which is a welcome change from most). Often, when an artist comes in, you can hope for a wave, maybe an autograph or sneak up a picture – not with this man, who goes out of the way to shake your hand and thank you for coming.

Well, I did have a VIP ticket that included a handshake and a picture, so I got two handshakes out of him! The concert itself was fantastic, fast-paced and MIYAVI is a guitar master. He was supported by a number of musicians and singers and they all were bustling with energy.

MIYAVI's instagram story reading well done London you guys were hot tonight

Before heading to the airport, the following morning I headed off to the British Museum, which was halfway between the venue and the hotel. I spent a couple of hours there, mostly in the Korea and China areas. There I fell in love with the Bodhisattva Guanyin.

Collage. British museum façcade and some exhibit from the Asia ward - Shiva, Buddha, a green-faced priest, dragon, a Korean dress... The main piece is Guanyin, sitting with a knee up, their hand resting on the knee, the other leg hanging down

From the British Museum I directly went to the airport, and I grabbed some food at Itsu, which is not my favourite Japanese brand due to the price, but my stomach was acting up (my own fault though (≧▽≦)) and I needed something to appease it. So sushi, miso soup and Coke it was.

Sushi and miso soup

7th – 9th April 2018: 8º Salón del Manga y Cultura Japonesa. Alicante (Spain)

Posted on by

This was a crazy, crazy weekend in Alicante that I planned on the go with my friend C*****. It all started when guitarist Inoran, from Luna Sea, was announced as guest in the local “Manga and Japanese Culture Convention” Salón del Manga y Cultura Japonesa de Alicante. She was on the fence as to whether she wanted to come, but after musician Kenichi Yoshida was also announced, she was sold. I had already bought my tickets and booked a room, but it was fine for two people, so we could bunk together.

I finished work on Friday at around 19:00, made a dash for the local train station and jumped onto a commuting train to Madrid, where I took the long-distance train to Alicante. I arrived at around 22:30. C***** came to pick me up at the station, as she had arrived and already checked in. That was good, because she had time to walk around the area, and that would be handy later on.

Saturday, 8th April 2018

The next morning, we went to the bus station. After attaining victory over the ticketing machine, we found the correct bus. We knew we were at the right platform judging by the amount of cosplayers on the benches. The bus driver refused to sell tickets on board, so he sent everybody to battle the ticket machine. The bus set off late, but we eventually made it to IFA the, convention venue. Once we had a schedule, we started planning around it. At the very least, the Saturday plan was:

  • 13:30 – 14:30: Inoran’s presentation (which was supposed to have an autograph session afterwards)
  • 19:00 – 20:00: Inoran’s concert (which actually had the autograph session)
  • Walk around for a little, and check out the traditional area
  • C***** wanted to check out the artists’ alley to find some people she follows online

Inoran (Inoue Kiyonobu [井上 清信]) is one the founders and a guitarists of Luna Sea, one of the big names in the Japanese visual kei scene – now officially turned “alternative rock”. Inoran has also collaborated with different artists in different endeavours such as MAS*S with X Japan’s Hide, Fake? with Oblivion Dust’s Ken Lloyd, among others. Inoran has also established a solid career on his own as a solo artist. Someone (from the producer agency Here comes the Sound) fooled – or bribed with food – him into going to Alicante, Spain. Therefore, we decided to go and see him.

When we entered IFA, we walked around the space to get our bearings. The convention was divided in several areas: the commercial stands, the non-commercial ones (artists’ alley), and a small matsuri [祭り] “festival”, with more traditional decorations and shops. There, we came across artist Mitsuru Nagata, a man who makes the almost impossible way of Japanese calligraphy shōdo [書道] actually look easy. He he also creates sumi-e [水墨画] prints. Sumi-e stands for “ink wash painting”. It is the art of using calligraphy ink in various degrees of dilution with water to produce images. One of the characteristics of sumi-e is that no retouches are allowed, every stroke is definite. It is so difficult that the peak of the art is the ability to create a perfect circle in one precise stroke.

Mitsuru Nagata was born in Kyoto, but he resides in Barcelona these days. He started studying calligraphy when he was six years old and holds a Master Calligraphy degree. He sells his prints online and on different events around Spain, where he travels to promote Japanese culture. His stand at the convention had fantastic paintings.

Several hanging rolls of Japanese ink paintings, with samurai and a phoenix

After about an hour of walking around (probably even less) we decided to join the “queue” to enter the small hall where Inoran’s “presentation” was to take place. We got talking to a bunch of people, including a group of Japanese girls, including one, E**chan, who was studying Spanish! I think I met a Japanese version of myself…

According to the description, the presentation was a short introduction of the artist, an explanation of who he was, a summary of his musical career and some videos, followed by an autograph session, and lasted an hour. In the end, it was ten-minute event. There was a tiny summary of Inoran’s career and basically we just got to see him say “hola”, and we watched the MV of his newest song. There was no real “summary of his career” nor signing.

Inoran talking into a microphone

In general, I have to say that the organisation of the event was horrid. Out of the three scheduled signing sessions, only one took place, with no explanation as of why during the whole convention. The following week, it was mentioned that Inoran had requested two signing sessions to be scrapped. Instead of saying that, the autograph sessions just disappeared from the webpage schedule, so early print-outs had them, others did not. It was a bit chaotic.

After the presentation, around 14:00 we… had no plans until the concert at 19:00, so we decided to just… wait at the stage, and believe me, we were not the first to think about it,.We ended up sharing “first row” with a bunch of other Spanish and Japanese fans. We killed time snacking, we watched the cosplay contest, and got all pumped up for the whole thing. I mean, we could sit on the floor, against the barrier, with access to food and water. Best queueing conditions ever. We witnessed the preparation of the stage, including setting an iPad for Inoran to look at his lyrics, guitar checking and so on.

Inoran is the guitarist of Luna Sea, a musician at his core. Truth be told, he is not the best vocalist in the world. Other members of the group were u:zo on bass, Yukio Murata on second guitar and Ryo Yamagata on drums. The concert was really fun (and it elevated the number of members of Luna Sea I have seen to three out of five). I think it’s great when singers try the local language, or at least mangle it. Inoran did so with a very well-rehearsed “¿lo estáis pasando bien?” (are you having fun?). He also had some English prompts such as “scream” and “jump”, but most of what he said was in Japanese. Understandable Japanese at that.

Inoran on the stage, playing guitar and looking at the iPad to remember the lyrics

Setlist:

  1. Come away with me
  2. Get a feeling
  3. Awaking myself
  4. 2 Limes
  5. Beautiful Now
  6. No options
  7. D&B
  8. One Big Blue
  9. Rightway
  10. grace & glory
  11. Tonight
  12. Get Laid

The whole affair was even better than expected. Murata was utterly fun, and even if we had u:zo on the other side of the stage we still got to see a great deal of his. At some point they got the Here comes the Sound (producer) guy up to play some Luna Sea songs. The background noise was so great at that moment that it took me a long while to actually recognise the actual song…

As we had waited at the stage for hours, we had “first row”, against the barrier. A few minutes before the concert, the organisation brought a number of people to sit between the barrier and the stage – volunteers”, “workers” and “VIPs” who did not care at all, to the point that Inoran himself called them out at a point. The official pictures show them playing with their phones and not even looking at the stage. What’s the point of being there if you don’t care? Behind the fans there were the curious onlookers. I do wonder what Inoran found himself thinking about the convention.

The only actual autograph session and M&G happened after the concert. When we formed the queue, we were told (screamed at) that we needed to purchase a postcard for Inoran to sign. This postcard had the cost of 1<e, and it had been printed by the convention from an internet image,it was not even something the artist himself had brought. I told the volunteer that some of us had official material, and he shrugged, saying that only postcards could be signed. I subsequently asked if he could just enquire if Inoran was willing to sign anything else. The volunteer shrugged again with “I don’t speak Japanese” – tough luck, buddy, I do. Badly, but enough to ask for an autograph.

I paid my euro for the postcard and when Inoran reached out for it, I pulled out one of the CDs I had brought, and asked him to sign that instead. There was an uproar from the volunteers, but he had literally zero issues signing my CD. I mean, it was his original material after all (Note to the organisation: you fools, if I pay you the 1€ and don’t use your postcard, you can sell that postcard to someone else who will pay another euro. Seriously). We got selfies (with smile), handshake and signature, so it was all pretty great. At the same time, my friend C***** was recording everything, and Inoran’s staff were laughing in the background. As I was leaving, I asked Inoran to also sign C*****’s CD instead of a postcard too, and he smirked at me. I’m sure that the organisation hated me a lot that evening, as I started a trend.

Inoran's autograph

After the autographs, we left the area and walked towards the Matsuri. We bought some sumi-e art from Mitsuru Nagata, and then headed off to the artists’ alley. C***** bought herself a bunch of things (and some pins for me!). We also saw the Mary Poppins cosplayer who we thought should have won the cosplay contest, and we talked to her for a while, and took some pictures – according to the contest rules, she should have won the price, but the organisation chose something more anime-oriented. Finally, we headed off to take a bus downtown and walked towards the hotel.

Two Japanese ink drawings. One is a samurai drawing his sword, the other one some bamboo. Also two badges: one reads I speak fluent sarcasm, the other one everything is better with dragons

As we had had a small on-the-go lunch waiting by the stage, we decided to go for a serious dinner. The fun part was that we ended up finding Taberna El Chapeau, the restaurant where Inoran and the band had been the previous night. To be honest, it was very near our hotel, and we checked the menu for kicks and giggles as we were heading for something fast-food. It turned out the place was not expensive at all, so we decided to eat there! We tried the palm-honey eggplant, a mixture of fried seafoods, a mini-burger, and a very sinful brownie for dessert – the lemon sherbet was on the house.

Dinner. Some fried snacks and a mini hamburger, a pair of lemon shots, and an ice cream scoop

Sunday, 9th April 2018

Our must-do schedule for the day included:

  • 12:00 – 13:00: Kenichi Yoshida’s concert (unclear if there would be any signing afterwards. Spoiler: there was.)
  • 13:30 – 14:30: Q&A with Inoran (which was supposed to have a signing session afterwards)

Sunday morning started pretty much the same as Saturday’s had. We took the bus to the convention centre IFA, and walked around. We got to meet with Mitsuru Nagata, and we asked him to take a picture with us in front of his works. Aside from super-talented, he was extremely nice. He was very surprised when he found out that we did not work in the convention and we were so interested in his art – he seemed flattered / embarrassed. Nagata invited us to attend his sumi-e demonstration, but unfortunately it was at the same time as Kenichi Yoshida’s concert. When we told him that, he said that we absolutely had to go and see Yoshida, as the musician is not around as often.

Thus, we went to queue to enter the hall. We actually arranged to queue twice in one go, since Kenichi Yoshida’s concert happened in the same hall as the Q&A with Inoran. We had made some nice acquaintances at the Inoran queue the day before, and they agreed to “save our spots” for Inoran while we went to Yoshida’s concert, as long as we stepped out and took back the place (and did not stay in the hall). We thought it was fair. Besides, the convention rules said that the hall had to empty between acts to prevent people from just hogging the seats, or saving them for friends.

When doors opened for Kenichi Yoshida’s concert, it was clear though, that those rules did not apply to “friends with the organisers”, who could just step out and then jump back, dodging the queue as they had technically “vacated the hall”. When called out, they were indignant. One of them had been asked to translate last minute, so he and all his pals, of course, had immediate priority.

Furthermore, after queueing for couple of hours in order to get a good spot in first or second row, we were not allowed to sit down in the middle (again, saved for VIPs), and sent to the corner just behind cameras and tripods, joy. Thus, we migrated to third row to be in the middle. Fortunately, most press was restricted and we did not have to “enjoy” extra cameras rather than the ones used for the official recording. Before the concert started, we were told that there would be a signing session afterwards, Yoshida would be signing postcards – just like Inoran the evening before – but that there were only twenty of them. We were very annoyed at that because, yet again, C***** and I had brought our own original material.

Kenichi Yoshida had been brought to Spain in a joint project by the Japanese Consulate in Barcelona, the Music museum and the Japan Foundation for a concert and a few activities in Barcelona. Alicante was a welcome bonus. He came along with percussionist Yuki Tsuchida, leader of the band Cross Groove Premium.

Kenichi Yoshida is a skilful tsugaru shamisen interpreter, who debuted in 1999 along his older brother as Yoshida Kyodai (Yoshida Brothers). The shamisen [三味線] is a traditional three-string guitar like instrument from Japan, based on a previous Chinese one. It is played with a pick. The tsugaru shamisen is a particular variant of the regular shamisen, larger and with thicker strings, which is plucked as well as hit with the pick.

The concert was spectacular, as much as the one I had watched in Madrid in 2016. Between songs, Yoshida explained a little bit about himself, his instrument, and some of its history. He gave a few notions about how the shamisen appeared in Japan, evolving from a traditional Chinese instrument that entered the country through Okinawa and it gained popularity as it was moved up north. It changed through time and one of the variants that appeared was the tsugaru shamisen.

Kenichi Yoshida playing shamisen, with his percussionist on the right

At the end of the concert, as C***** and I thought the postcards would not be enough, we decided to try our luck asking Yoshida directly if he would sign our CDs. And thus, instead of going into “Battle Royale” for the postcards we… took after him. As Yoshida was climbing up the stairs along the drummer and the manager, I caught up with him. I… very respectfully… tried to tell him in Japanese that there were too few postcards and that my friend and I had brought the original CDs, and if he would mind signing those for us. Thinking back,maybe we could have just stood in line without the postcards, but I was not sure they would even allow us to queue.

To my eternal surprise, Yoshida smiled and said yes. The manager ushered me up to the second floor as C***** went to hold the place in the queue, and I got the CDs signed, along with a complimentary sticker. Shaking like a leaf, I went back to the queue. In the end, it turned out that there were enough postcards for all the fans, so we tried again! Yoshida was nice enough to take a picture with us and sign postcards again.

Yoshida's autograph

Then we went to the hall again to see Inoran’s last appearance, the Q&A session, which did not have a signing either. The event was carried out in Spanish, English, and Japanese. After watching the MV, the questions came. They focused on Inoran’s thought on Spain, and whether he knew about how popular he is in Spain. Some fans and “press” asked interesting questions about his career, experience and collaborations with different artists and bands – Hide, Tsuchiya Anna, Luna Sea, Fake? and so on. He was asked how to become “big in Japan” particularly as a musician, and he said “working hard”. And then I lost it when he called us fans “young”. That almost made me roll on the floor laughing.

Inoran sitting on a chair with a hat, a scarf, and his jeans rolled up

After the Q&A, Inoran left, and C***** and I headed back towards Alicante. In the bus, I exchanged information with E**chan to stay in contact. C***** and I picked our things up from the hotel and walked to the train station, where he had a super-late lunch.

Burger, fries, and a glass of coke

We had a shared train-ride to Madrid, and we spent most of it in the cafeteria, chatting up. We also got to see a pretty rainbow as it rained on the way. After we made it to Madrid, we separated for the last leg of our journeys, happy to have met up once more for yet another fun adventure.

Dark clouds and a rainbow

27th March 2018: Turiasaurus riodevensis {Dinosaurs in Teruel, 2018}

Posted on by

In the morning we walked back to the Torre del Salvador because we had learnt that you could climb it up.

Inner structure of the tower + views of the city

Then we dropped by the Museo de Arte Sacro de Teruel (Christian Art Museum).

Former cloister with a glass roof

After having lunch we drove off to Riodeva to visit the Dinópolis mini-museum, called Titania. Riodeva is a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, but in the palaeontological site there scientists discovered the biggest European sauropod, the Turiasaurus riodevensis. It is believed that the Turiasaurus, which lived in the Jurassic period, could be almost 40 metres long and just under 50 tonnes.

The guide here was nice, but horribly misinformed, claiming unscientific facts – such as scientists believing that Megalodon still prowls the ocean, and I might have got into a small discussion with her. Don’t get me wrong, aside from being #TeamTRex, I love megs from the bottom of my heart, but there should be a limit on how many urban legends you can claim as true in an educational facility, and that limit is zero.

Turiasaurus fossil pieces + head reproduction; crocodile head; megalodon tooth

Finally we drove back to Teruel and the next day (28th) we were off home first thing in the morning as I had a medical appointment that had come up after the trip was booked.

26th March 2018: Dinosaur bones and Lover mummies {Dinosaurs in Teruel, 2018}

Posted on by

We got to Dinópolis so we could be there when they opened in hopes to ditch the families-with-kids crowds, but to our confusion, we were told that even if the park was open, the palaeontology museum would not be for another hour. Furthermore, the only option to see the museum was with a guided tour. We did not care much about the 3D cinema, but there was literally nothing else we could do until they opened the museum part. We spent the morning in the park. We had to watch the first film, and somehow ended up doing two rides (Viaje en el tiempo & Último Minuto) and a show (the T-rex one), but the big things we cared about were the museum and the so called “Tierra Magna”, where the 1:1 reproduction stand.

The museum has a direct view to the lab, and while it has very few original and unique exhibits, is really good and informative. The big problem was, in my opinion, that it was only guided-access and those stress me out. Why can’t I just roam to my heart’s content and have to listen to a poorly-trained guide? We somehow managed to ditch the tour when the second and third groups came in and a bunch of people mingled around.

A collage showing different fossils and replicas from Dinopolis

It was cold outside, so we only had a quick stroll around “Tierra Magna”. We had lunch and decided we were done. If I had to rate this, I’d say it is a decent palaeontology museum with a lot of kid-friendly stuff around it – the latter is completely skippable, too, but I guess it brings money.

Life-size reproductions of dinosaurs outside Dinópolis Teruel

In the afternoon we headed off to see the cathedral, Cathedral of Santa María de Mediavilla, but I did not manage to sneak a picture of the famous wooden ceilings.

Outside view of the Cathedral

Later, we had a reservation to see the Complex of the Lovers of Teruel, which included the Iglesia de San Pedro (Church of St. Peter), its cloister, and the gardens.

Nave in Saint Peter church

Cloister in Saint Peter Church

Finally we got to the Mausoleum, el Mausoleo de los Amantes. The story tells that she was a rich heiress and he was a poor man, so he left to gain riches. While he was away, she was given off to another man and married, and when he came back she could not be with him because she was loyal to her husband. He died of a broken heart after she refused him a kiss, and she died after kissing his dead body. The bodies of the lovers were buried together afterwards. The two mummified bodies were found in the church of St. Peter, and they were thought to be the lovers, so the tombs were sculpted – if you crouch, which by the way I didn’t, you can see the mummies through the marble. The tombs were designed so that the lovers’ hands are very close, but they don’t really touch, albeit their shadows superimpose, as if they did.

Mausoleum of the lovers - they lie next to each other, hands reaching for the other one, but only the shadows touch

After this, we walked around town for a while and found the third tower, the Torre del Salvador.

Salvador Tower

We finished the tourist day at the monumental Escalinata de Teruel (the Grand Staircase).

Monumental Staircase

As we walked back to the hotel, we saw a beautiful sunset.

Golden sunset

25th March 2018: Main roads that feel like secondary {Dinosaurs in Teruel, 2018}

Posted on by

We arrived in the Albarracín area after driving for about three hours. Some of the roads were horrid and I was secretly glad my offer to drive had been rejected. We arrived in Albarracín around 11:00 and our first stop was the first Dinópolis mini museum, called the Mar Nummus (Nummus Sea).

As this mountain range used to be sea bead (like 150 million years ago), a bunch of marine fossils can be found in the area. Dozens of ammonites fill up the museum, along with the skull of a Liopleurodon, a marine reptile of the order of the family Pliosauridae, quite obviously a carnivorous one judging by the teeth. As a matter of fact, it was the apex predator of the Middle and Late Jurassic oceans.

Mar Nummus building, featuring a life-size liopleurodon + the skull of the liopleurodon + a lot of ammonite fossils

The visit did not take long, and then we moved on to drive to the Mirador de la Escombrera (Slagheap Viewpoint, don’t ask me) to watch the pineforest Pinares de Rodeno. We decided against walking through the forest because the shortest route was a couple of hours already.

Sandstone cliffs + pine trees

Instead, we drove back to Albarracín and walked throughout the historical centre, a medieval nucleus of streets and houses dedicated to shops and restaurants catering to tourists.

Albarracín, a Medieval city in reddish tones. It is surrounded by a wall

We had lunch, then drove the short 40 minutes to Teruel, where we found our hotel. After dropping our things off, we walked to the centre of the town – which was barely a ten-minute stroll away. Carlos Castel Square is widely known as the “little bull square”, Plaza del Torico.

Teruel is known, aside from dinosaurs, from its Mudéjar style buildings, such as the Towers or the Cathedral. Mudéjar style was used by Iberian Christians between the 13th and 15th Century. It incorporates motifs, decorative elements and construction techniques that were common in Muslim Al-Andalus (such as archways, porcelains, bricks, and so on…). On the first day we saw two of the Towers: Torre de San Pedro (left) and Torre de San Martín (right).

Mudéjar Towers

The second architectural characteristic of Teruel are the Modernist houses, built in the 1910s, such as the ones in the Plaza del Torico – Casa La Madrileña (left) and Casa del Torico (right).

Plaza del Torico: a little bull standing on top of a column. Behind it stand two Modernist Houses at dusk

After this we had dinner and we headed back to the hotel.