Not travelling in the times of Covid-19

Posted on 29 March 2020 by JBinnacle

As the Covid-19 pandemic rages through the world, I’ve started thinking about the trips and getaways that are not taking place. This is a historical situation, probably not unprecedented but unseen in the modern world is a general catastrophe translated into the high mortality rate first, the impact on the economy later. After being on lockdown basically since the 13th of March 2020, I’ve thought that recording information about the trips that I haven’t carried out might also be interesting for future reference.

As I write these lines on the 29th of March 2020, there are 681,706 confirmed cases, but we know that the number is much, much higher as many people have not been tested. The number of people who have got over the illness is 145,625, and the deaths are 31,734, which leaves 504,347 active cases, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. By the time I finish this post there will be more.

15th March 2020: Drive to Presa de Manzanares el Real (Spain) [Scrapped]

This was a low-impact cancellation as the only thing I lost was the time invested in reading up how to get there.

21st March 2020: Barcelona (Spain) daytrip [Completely cancelled]

I was planning to go to Barcelona and back on this Saturday. I had booked train tickets and upon the lockdown order Renfe gave me my money back without even having to do anything myself. The lockdown order became effective on a Saturday, I received the email on a Monday and the refund was really fast.

7th – 10th April 2020: Berlin (Germany) for MUCC [Completely cancelled]

This trip had been in planning since December, but got caught up in this whole thing.

Even before the border closing was ordered in Europe, on the 17th of March, booking.com had already contacted me to ‘re-organise’ my trips. I had free cancellation on my hotel anyway, so I just went ahead with that.

On the 20th of March, the airline informed me that my flights and that I could apply for a refund. It was acknowledged on the 24th of March.

On the 19th March 2020, both Ganshin and Nine Lives Entertainment announced the cancellation of the whole tour. We immediately went on to ask for the ticket refund on the webpage, which was accepted.

On the 26th of March we had another email that told us the refund would come within four weeks.

✈ Edit 10th April 2020: The airline sent me an automated e-mail telling me that the refund was being processed.

✈ Edit 20th April 2020: Turned out that the refund was a voucher. I tried not to accept the voucher and use the automatic service for a cash refund, but it was impossible.

✈ Edit 2nd March 2020: Managed to get in touch with customer service and they told me they set the actual cash refund process in motion. A few hours later I received an email that I was in the “refund queue”.

✈ Edit 10th June 2020: The Madrid → Paris airline sent an email that the refund had been issued.

✈ Edit 20th July 2020: I had to start a complaint with the bank because the airline refunds have not been processed!

✈ Edit 29th July 2020: After giving the bank a few days to process the claim, in the morning I got in touch with the airline to get the transaction numbers and comfirm the data of the refund so I could pressure the bank a little further. I don’t know if it was triggering or pure chance, but in the late afternoon I received a message from my bank to check my account – and the refunds had shown up!

18th & 19th April 2020: Paris (France) for Saint Seiya Symphonic Adventure [Concert rescheduled / trip cancelled]

I have to admit that this was a bit of a crazy one. I found out about it way late in the year (three months after sales had started) and thus I had no option for a VIP or anything. I tried to talk myself out of it but in the end I decided to get me a ticket as a Christmas present. And when I did, I found out that the “Christmas plan” was so that I could get tickets for both sessions for the price of a one session in normal pricing. Well, to be honest, for 5€ more. So I decided to do it because what the hell could go wrong. Then I arranged transportation, but as I had work on Friday evening, I had to take a red-eye flight and directly go from the airport to the venue, then come back with a different airline on Sunday to make it affordable and doable time-wise. It mostly worked until this whole thing went down.

As of now, the concert has been rescheduled ~~to October 2020,~~ for the ~~second time to May 202 third time to October 20211~~ fourth time to May 2022, and the companies I was flying with (I had two completely different flights for getting there and return) have both offered me “free rescheduling”. I’ve not taken up their offer yet, because I’m waiting for the evolution of things. I’ll probably have to do it next week, but as of now I’m waiting to see how things are the second week of April and whether it makes sense to reschedule. I’ll try to arrange a less-crazy schedule for October if I can travel at all…

Again, booking.com offered mediation with the Paris hotel, but this one was non-refundable and the hotel is not making an exception. I did request a change of dates for the new concert date, still not an answer on that.

✈ Edit 30th March 2020: The Madrid → Paris airline sent me text / e-mail regarding the cancellation of the 18th of April flight. I claimed the refund

✈ Edit 4th April 2020: The Paris → Madrid Airline sent me an automated e-mail (in English) telling me that they would get back to me “regarding my options”: change, voucher or refund.

✈ Edit 10th April 2020: The Madrid → Paris Airline sent me an automated e-mail telling me that the refund was being processed.

✈ Edit 14th April 2020, Paris → Madrid airline: Second automatic email, in local language, telling me about my options: change or voucher. I got in contact with the airline pointing out that on the 4th of April there had been a refund option.

✈ Edit 20th April 2020, Madrid → Paris Airline: Turned out that the refund was a voucher. I tried not to accept the voucher and use the automatic service for a cash refund, but it was impossible.

✈ Edit 28th April 2020, Paris → Madrid Airline: I received an email regarding the start of the refund process.

✈ Edit 1st May 2020, the ticket vendor contacted me with a “refund form” and I am considering taking it… but on the other hand I want to keep a little hope.

✈ Edit 2nd May 2020, Madrid → Paris Airline: I managed to get in touch with customer service and they told me they set the actual cash refund process in motion. A few hours later I received an email that I was in the “refund queue”.

✈ Edit 20th May 2020, Paris → Madrid Airline. To make everything worse, the idiots got their database hacked and my name and email leaked. I never save my card on these websites, so I’m relative calm about my financial information but really? FML.

✈ Edit 18th June 2020: The Paris → Madrid airline sent an email that the refund had been issued.

✈ Edit 30th June 2020: The Madrid → Paris airline sent an email that the refund had been issued.

✈ Edit 17th June 2020: The refunds for the ticket arrived in the bank account though the credit card and the date of the concert.

✈ Edit 20th July 2020: I had to start a complaint with the bank because the airline refunds have not been processed!

✈ Edit 29th July 2020: After giving the bank a few days to process the claim, in the morning I got in touch with both airlines (remember that I had different flights for Madrid → Paris and Paris → Madrid) to get the transaction numbers and comfirm the data of the refund so I could pressure the bank a little further. I don’t know if it was triggering or pure chance, but in the late afternoon I received a message from my bank to check my account – and the refunds had shown up!

✈ Edit October 2020: I gambled a refundable high-class hotel and a super-cheap but non-refundable flight for the 16th – 18th October just in case the concert happened on the 17th, but as France was hit harder and Paris started enforced restrictions again, the concert was postponed again. Obviously, in the end I did not travel, so I lost the money from the flight, but the hotel had no expenses. To be honest, the airline’s publicity was misleading regarding changes – you could only access those if you booked the super-expensive tariff. But well, it was a gamble, and when you gamble you sometimes lose. So at this time, this is the only open front with active tickets.

✈ Edit March 2021: Concert rescheduled again for October 2021.

✈ Edit October 2021: Concert rescheduled again for May 2022.

✈ Edit March 2022: Correspondence with the promoter regarding the VIP tickets made me feel hopeful…

✈ Edit May 2022: It finally happened!

1st May 2020: Aranjuez (Spain) [Scrapped]

This would have been just a drive away too, and we were still negotiating whether to stay overnight or not, so we had not booked anything. In the end, there was no definite plan.

23rd May 2020: Crazy London escapade (Great Britain) [Scrapped]

This was only a silly thought, but plane tickets to London for a round trip on the same day were ridiculously doable, and I could hit the Victoria & Albert Museum to watch the Kimono exhibition, along with Yoshikimono, for less than 100 quid. I never materialised anything – I was going to the weekend lockdown came. Still, as the date came and went, it hit me quite hard.

23rd June 2020: Madrid (Spain) for Babymetal [Completely cancelled]

The hotel has free cancellation and the trip itself has not been booked. Waiting for word on whether the concert (which btw is sold-out) gets cancelled or not, but I think all events are officially cancelled till September, so it’s only a matter of time.

🚗 Edit 23rd April 2020: Tweet from the organiser, Resurrection Fest, about “rescheduling to a later date”, and that there is more information to come (the tweet was actually pretty confusing due to very weird use of adverbs).

🚗 Edit 4th May 2020: The official notification of the tour cancellation came through. Resurrection Fest said that they had tried to reschedule, but that had not worked. The refund process would be automatic. I proceeded to cancel the hotel booking and cited Covid-19 restrictions as a reason.

🚗 Edit 3th July 2020: Refund notification for the tickets arrived. Back in the day I paid for them with a credit card that is no longer valid, so the actual refund did not come through until the 17th July. And thus this trip is completely cancelled now.

4th – 9th July 2020: London (Great Britain) [Completely cancelled]

The airline has offered rescheduling credit, and the hotel has free cancellation. I did not make this reservation so I’m waiting for the decision by the person who did, aka my father. I’m not hopeful for this for two reasons – one, the UK is having a less than stellar moment managing the virus due to Johnson’s idea of “building herd immunity”, and two, my mother has already made up her mind that it’s too dangerous, and this trip had been organised because she wanted to see London one more time before they left the EU.

✈ Edit 17th May 2020: In the end, the airline is only offering refunds up until June, so we have probably lost those tickets, but hotel was cancelled for free.

✈ Edit 29th May 2020: Airline offered a voucher (not sure if it is general or just because I’m in the rewards program). I will write to them about the possibility of a refund, but we will take the voucher in case there is no refund offer.

✈ Edit 12th June 2020: After being originally told that we did not qualify for the refund, in the end the flight was cancelled. Once that happened, we could initiate the refund process.

✈ Edit November 2020: When the refund was not there yet after almost half a year, we called the airline again, and the refunds were in the credit card account by the end of the month.

4th – 7th August 2020: Athens (Greece) [Completely cancelled]

All bets are off on this one. I’m trying to convince myself that it is not going to happen, but I am waiting for further information and how things are developing. I guess I’m still hoping that things get better by June.

✈ Edit 2nd May 2020: I’ve given up on this by now. I’m going to reach out to the airline and check my options.

✈ Edit 17th May 2020: Airline is only offering refunds up until June. The hotel is free-cancellation until the day before so I’ve left it for now.

✈ Edit 7th June 2020: The airline changed flight times and they offered a voucher, which I took, and I cancelled the hotel. I was very sad to do this, because I’ve been trying to get my butt back to Greece for a few years now.

7th – 10th February 2020: Paris (France) for DIR EN GREY & BABYMETAL

Posted on 27 February 2020 by JBinnacle

I organised a weekend in Paris because two concerts conveniently aligned on Saturday and Sunday, and I had Friday free, as well as Monday morning. It was a great mental break that I needed badly. ETA: There were rumours about a flu from China, and some of the airport workers were wearing masks. We had no idea what was about to hit us…

7th February 2020: Through the Strikes

I had found quite a convenient flight that left at 9:00 on Friday for 35 €, which was a great deal. At first, I did not understand why it was so cheap. It turned out, the plane came from South America and it was on a Madrid stopover – so it was pretty much full already. It was a huge aircraft with on-board entertainment. That came in handy when the pilot informed us that we were going to have to wait something between one and two hours to be able to take off due to the air controllers’ strikes in France. But at least we were flying and I had films to watch.

We took off at about 10:00 and our big plane made the jump in just one hour, as opposed to the 2h10 minutes of estimated travel, which meant we were almost on time! Of course, this did not sit well with the strikers, who had us wait first for the parking spot, and then for the stairs to deplane. I finally managed to leave the airport and get onto the train so I reached downtown Paris around 13:00. I wanted to inspect the damage caused to the cathedral Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris by the 2019 fire. My first impression, looking at the main façade and towers, was optimistic, but as I walked round the building, I could see the real damage and reconstruction efforts. Furthermore, it still reeked of burnt wood, probably because they were still pulling out debris. My optimism did not linger long, I’m afraid.

Collage of Notre Dame showing the cranes and scaffoldings in the repairs

As it was sunny, I decided to walk to the Sainte-Chapelle (Holy Chapel) and see its windows in good weather. The Sainte-Chapelle is a small two-level chapel inside the Justice Palace Palais de Justice de Paris in the Île de la Cité, smack in the middle of Paris and not far from Notre Dame – actually, both of them belong to the same Unesco World Heritage Site, Paris, Banks of the Seine. The chapel has a lower early Gothic level, and an upper level with impressive stained-glass windows which I love. As the sun was shining outside, the views were stunning.

Collage. Sainte-Chapelle: outside showing the spire, inside with some colourful windows and pointed arches

Collage of the upper floor of the Sainte-Chapelle. It shows different angles of the long gothic windows, covered in colourful glass

The weather was great – especially considering February in Paris, which is always more to the north than I mentally place it. Unfortunately, the forecast for the following day was quite miserable, and thus I decided to just walk along from the Île de la Cité towards the Arc de Triomphe (some 5 km away). On my way, I walked by the Louvre, Les Tulleries, the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais, the Alexander III Bridge, and into the Avenue des Champs-Élysées – the Banks of the Seine that the Unesco declared World Heritage.

Collage with different landmarks of Paris - the river, neoclassic palaces, Luxor obelisk, Champs-Élysées.

Finally I reached the Arc de Triomphe, which honours the fallen in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It was commissioned by Emperor Napoleon in 1806, and completed in 1836, and you can actually climb it, which I might do some day. From there, I took a train towards Montmartre, where I had booked my hotel. I dropped off my luggage and walked up Square Louise Michel, a sort of urban park which leads up to the church Basilique du Sacré-Cœur (222 steps). There was a pretty carousel Carrousel de Saint-Pierre, and from the square, I could watch the Eiffel Tower Tour Eiffel against the sunset from the lookout Vue de Paris.

A view of the Sacre Coeur with a classical carousel in front of it

A profile of the Eiffel Tower in a blurry sunset in orange tones

I went back to the hotel for a while during twilight. On the way, I bought a snack in a nearby supermarket for dinner as I waited for the evening to get dark and the lights to come up. When it did, I took my last adventure for the day, and walked off to see the Moulin Rouge while I listened to KAMIJO’s song of the same name. It was a few minutes’ walk away from my hotel, and Moulin Rouge [ムーランルージュ] is one of my favourite songs of his. Since the man is obsessed with France, he has a few songs that fit my weekend. Truth be told, I did consider dinner and a show there, it is after all the most famous cabaret in the world. However, it was a bit expensive and I had read quite a few reviews about bad seats if you are alone. I did not want to waste money, and I did not know how tired I would be that evening in the end – and to be brutally honest,I really had not felt like packing fancy clothes for the evening.

The Moulin Rouge cabaret, all lit up in bright red for the night

8th February 2020: Louvre and DIR EN GREY

The weather forecast was accurate, and despite the lovely weather on Friday, Saturday dawned stormy and dark. I decided to go to the Louvre Museum Musée du Louvre, even if I had been there before. It is after all one of the greatest museums in the world.

The Louvre holds so many pieces (over 600,000) that it would be impossible to describe them all, but for me, its core is the Winged Victory of Samothrace, a Greek sculpture from the Hellenistic period, around the 2nd century BCE, and my favourite piece of art. The Louvre is a national art museum, which opened in the post-revolutionary France in 1793. It exhibits around 35,000 items – Egyptian antiquities, Sumer and Assyrian pieces, Greek, Etruscan and Roman items, Islamic art, neoclassical and Baroque sculptures, a collection of objets d’art (Decorative arts), paintings, prints, drawings… It is located in the former French Royal Palace of the same name.

A collage with several Louvre pieces of art - Winged Victory, sitting scribe, the three graces, Diane washing her hair, Hermaphroditus sleeping, Psyche and Eros kissing, Liberty guiding the people, Venus de Milo

I wandered there for a few hours and I might have lost my way in the galleries a few times. In the end, I managed to (re)visit all the artefacts and artworks that I wanted. Because there are hundreds of thousands of items, but I must always see the Sitting Scribe, the Borghese Hermaphroditus, Canovas’ Eros and Psyche, and the remains of the Gates of Istar. I had a bit of a headache, so I eventually went back to the hotel to get some rest and prepare for the DIR EN GREY concert and VIP experience in the Élysée Montmartre live house. DIR EN GREY or “Diru” is a Japanese heavy metal band known for its dark themes and scenography that I thought I needed to check at least once (the final verdict was that I don’t need to repeat the experience, but it made for a nice mental break). The band has remained stable since its formation in 1997, and it is composed by Kyo [京] (lead vocals), Kaoru [薫] (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Die (lead guitar, backing vocals), Shinya (drums) and Toshiya (bass, backing vocals).

A dark stage with a drum set. Letters projected on the screen behind the stage read Dir en Grey Tour 20 This Way to Self-Destruction

Setlist:

    1. 絶縁体 [Zetsuentai]
    2. 人間を被る [Ningen wo Kaburu]
    3. Rubbish Heap
    4. Devote My Life
    5. 軽蔑と始まり [Keibetsu to Hajimari]
    6. Celebrate Empty Howls
    7. 赫 [Aka]
    8. Merciless Cult
    9. Downfall
    10. Values of Madness
    11. 谿壑の欲 [Keigaku no Yoku]
    12. Ranunculus
    13. The World of Mercy
First encore:
    14. Followers
    15. THE DEEPER VILENESS
    16. 詩踏み [Utafumi]
Second encore:
    17. Sustain the untruth

Listing of all the concerts in the Dir en Grey 2020 tour

The concert was the final of DIRU’s 2020 European Tour TOUR20: This way to Self-Destruction. When I walked by the venue on Friday evening, around 18:00, there was a small number of people queueing already. I did not care enough to queue all day, and I had a VIP ticket with early entry, so I just headed to the line about 15:00. When the queues were separated and organised, around 16:30, I was VIP number 42. The weather was miserable, and I could have totally skipped the downpour while waiting, but I was lucky enough to be against the live house and not in the middle of the boulevard, where the General Admittance queue was. Doors opened at 19:30 for GA, and the VIP experience was held beforehand. The VIP queue started getting in around 17:30. As present we got a VIP pass and an “exclusive VIP only merchandise item” which turned out to be a scarf – very appropriate with the weather. The experience itself was a group photo with the band. There were five cushioned chairs for the fans, and the band stood behind. They did not say a word, nor interacted with fans in any way, not even acknowledging a hello or a thank you.

Afterwards, I headed for the hall, and I found an almost-barrier spot in the left area, on the second row. The people in front of me let me grab the barrier between them so I had something to hold on while I waited. The special guest was a DJ, who was more focused on getting recorded by his buddy on the phone than mixing music. The main show started a little after 20:30.

DIR EN GREY’s music is quite powerful, with a heavy focus on strings and drums. They also have a huge flare for theatricality and they enjoy the shock factor as part of the aesthetics. The singer, Kyo, donned a Joker-like make-up appearance, with a fake-suicidal attitude on stage, using the microphone to mimic stabbing his chest, or the wires to hang himself. It became a bit disturbing because it was repeated more than once. The act also felt rather distanced, there was very little interaction with the fans. At some point, a pick flew in my direction and the person behind me actually felt me up to try and find it in the folds of the coat I had tied around my waist. That was probably even creepier than the act.

The guitars and bass were tremendously powerful, and the drumming was amazing. The crowd was extremely loud, and the singer, Kyo, later confessed that he had been pretty exhausted and burnt out from the tour, which maybe explained why the concert felt so distanced. The encores were the probably best part of the concert, the part that felt more real and relaxed. After the concert was over, I headed off to the hotel to catch some sleep. Since I remembered that the area had felt a bit rough when I was there in 2014, this time over I wanted close accommodation so I could get back quickly without needing to use the underground.

9th February 2020: Destroy the Bastille!

Sunday morning was around 2 ºC, and it was windy. I lingered in bed for a while to recover from the previous evening, and then I headed out – I should have brought the merchandise-scarf with me! I saw the Place de la Bastille, where the revolutionary prison used to stand. In the middle of the square stands the “July column” Colonne de Juillet, which commemorates the Revolution of 1830 (which is not the “famous” French Revolution, which happened between 1789 and 1799). A few minutes away, in the Square Henri-Galli, I came across the base of the tower Tour de la Liberté (Freedom Tower), which was unearthed while building the first metro line. There are only a few stones remaining from the foundations, but I’ll take my fun wherever I can – so I stopped and used my music player to find another KAMIJO song, Bastille, just because I could.

Monument to the French Revolution

A few brick stones forming a circle, considered the last remains of the Bastille

It was too cold to wander, but I had a great plan. I headed off to the science museum Galerie de Paléontologie et d’Anatomie comparée (Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy Gallery), which was a short walk away. I had read about it and was curious. To be honest, I’m still trying to decide whether it was amazing, or the materials nightmares are made of.

The museum was founded in the 19th century, and it keeps the atmosphere – and the charm – of the old exhibitions. There are stands and wooden cases, and the smell of dust and old paper. The first floor holds a “Cavalcade of Skeletons” – the whole floor is occupied by preserved skeletons of mammals and birds. In the glass cases along the walls, there are taxidermy specimens, preserved animals and dissected specimens. In the far corner, there is “gallery of monsters” with natural oddities. It was enchanting, but at the same time deeply disturbing – especially the male human figure displaying muscles and blood vessels, with a vine leaf on his groin.

The second floor hosts the dinosaurs and other fossils, including a very cool toothed whale, giant crocodiles, a Bernissart iguanodon, a diplodocus, shark teeth… Most of the fossils are either casts or reconstructions – I swear I’ve seen that Irish elk at least three times before. Also, the T-Rex skull was adorably flawed, as it was imagined to be in the 19th century.

The third floor is… ammonite-land. There were cases upon cases of ammonites in different shapes, colours, rocks and materials.

Shots of the museum. Skeletons of animals - fish, oxen, crocodiles, elephants, whale. Fossils: Dinosaurs, fish, toothed whale, shark teeth, snails

After I was done with the museum, I decided it was too cold to wander the neighbouring Botanical Garden. Instead, I headed off to yet another one, the Musée national des arts asiatiques Guimet – the National Museum of Eastern Arts or Museum Guimet, which holds pieces of art from Cambodia, India, China, Japan, Korea and so on. There was a gorgeous dancing Shiva sculpture, collections of religious artefacts, calligraphy, samurai armours, even modern art and clothes inspired by the Far East. It was a really cool museum I had recently found about and was happy to visit.

Different pieces in the museum: Dancing Shiva, sitting Buddha, Calligraphy in the shape of a dragon, elaborate kimono, samurai armour, Indian goddess

After leaving the museum, I walked towards Trocadero to take the underground. I made a small detour to have a look at the Eiffel Tower Tour Eiffel, and saw a bunch of peddlers playing shell games with tourists. Someone lost about 400 €, I really hope they were in on the game.

The Eiffel Tower in front of a cloudy sky

Since it was too cold to continue walking around to find something to eat, I decided to get take-out, and I headed back to the hotel to get ready for the BABYMETAL concert. I had never listened to them before, but they are a sensation, the basic ticket was not expensive, and two concerts in as many days seemed convenient. They actually played in the same venue as DIR EN GREY on Saturday, so I found out by sheer coincidence on the live house’s website. At that time, I thought “why the hell not?”. Afterwards, they added Madrid to their Europe tour, so if I had known that beforehand, I might have acted differently. BABYMETAL is one of those insanely-profitable Japanese marketing stunts involving cute girls that had never really been in my radar more than in passing.

Notice with the date of Babymetal's concert

BABYMETAL is a product of the “Japanese idol factory”. It was created artificially to fill a market gap. Three girls were chosen to form an act that would mix the idealised cute idea of girl idols with the heavy metal genre. When they debuted in 2010, the term “Kawaii Metal” was coined. One of the girls left in 2018, so there are two main members and and support dancer on rotation. The members are Nakamoto Suzuka, “Su-metal”, the main vocalist, and Kikuchi Moa aka “Moametal” on back-up vocals and screams. The supporting musicians are called the “Kami Band”.

BABYMETAL’s long-awaited European tour is officially called Metal Galaxy World Tour. The VIP tickets sold for around 170€, and did not even entail a M&G, so even if I had had the chance, I would have not even considered them. Despite that, they sold out, along with the show itself.

When I left the hotel at 9:00, the queue had started organising, and the tour buses were already there. I had no intention to queue or try for a barrier. I had decided to sit back and relax, so I reached the venue around 18:45 for the 19:30 concert. There were tons of people waiting to buy merchandise, but I was good. Thus, I just headed to the floor, and found a spot in the back. Since the venue has sort a bit of an arena and some upper stands, there was a wall I could lean against and it was not the end of the room.

The crowd was quite different from DIRU’s, ranging from good ol’ metalheads to families with little girls between five and ten years old with a bizarre range of in-between: people with fox masks, goth and loli dresses, explicit heavy-metal t-shirts (a bunch of those T-shirts were much less kid-friendly than the show… everything you could imagine. I… don’t think most parents knew what they were getting into, and a few of the kids ended up crying.

At 19:30 sharp, the support act started – a German band called SKYND. Their sound was really good, but their lyrics are based on true crime, which makes them a bit on the disturbing side (and very much not kid-friendly). The name of the songs are all serial killers or similar criminals.

Setlist:

    1. Richard Ramirez
    2. Elisa Lam
    3. Katherine Knight
    4. Jim Jones
    5. Tyler Hadley
    6. Gary Heidnik

At 20:30, the BABYMETAL show kicked off with the projection of the Future Metal video as an introduction of sorts. The musical act relied heavily on the Kami Band, and Su-metal carried the weight of the vocals. She spent the whole one-hour concert jumping and dancing while singing, and her voice did not break even once. If she is not lip-synching, she has the most impressive lungs ever. Both she and Moametal encouraged the crowd, making a lot of eye-contact. Su-metal addressed the audience a lot, even – I think – trying French. The concert was non-stop, and it ended up feeling a bit short, but much better than I had expected. The one annoying thing were the daddies putting their babes up on their shoulders in the middle of the floor, when the kids gave clear signs of not caring or were distressed. But it was fun. Not sure I would repeat unless I made it a thing with friends or something, but I enjoyed the act, and had a good time.

Setlist:

    1. DA DA DANCE
    2. Gimme Chocolate!!
    3. Shanti Shanti Shanti
    4. BxMxC
    5. Kagerou
    6. Oh! MAJINAI
    7. メギツネ [Megitsune]
    8. PA PA YA!!
    9. Distortion
    10. KARATE
    11. Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!
    12. Road of Resistance

A group of girls dressed in black dancing in front of a logo that reads Babymetal

I was back at the hotel before 22:00. Thus, I got a good night’s sleep before I left, once again happy that I had taken nearby accommodation.

10th February 2020: No bells of Notre Dame

My plane boarded at 10:00 so I had to leave early for the airport. The weather was rainy again, so I took the underground to Gare du Nord, and then the train to Orly. As I was riding the train, I had a nice view of the Paris at dawn, but the bells of Notre Dame were not tolling, and my inner child was sad about that. Despite issues with the airport security staff, the stupidly-expensive food, and the general unpleasantness of early-morning public transportation, I made it to my plane without actual problems. As it was a big plane again, I settled down to watch Jurassic World during the flight, because I’m a nerd. Going straight into work from the airport was not fun, but it a small price to pay

I only had three days, but this trip was a very welcome getaway, and even if the weather did not help, I got to do a lot of stuff. I had to discard a few plans and improvise due to the weather. However, there is that film quote, “We’ll always have Paris”. After all, I’ll be coming back for the Saint Seiya Symphonic Adventure. ETA: Or so I thought, at the time of writing the article…

26th January 2020: Royal Palace and Norwegian salmon (Madrid, Spain)

Posted on 26 January 2020 by JBinnacle

A friend was over visiting for the weekend and we headed off to Madrid. It had been raining and the weather the previous evening had been rather miserable. Actually, when we left home it was rather foggy and dark, but upon stepping out the Avenida de América bus station, it had become sunny and not cold at all.

My friend wanted to see the Palacio Real de Madrid, the Royal Palace – we had been playing Madrid Cluedo the day before and she had mentioned that she had never been there. At first, we only wanted to see building. As it was Chinese New Year, the blunt of tourists was somewhere else watching the Parade, and we had a short queue to go inside, so she decided to wait as it was not expensive, either.

You can’t take pictures in most of the palace, but the yard looked really nice and you could see the cathedral from there. We also heard all the bells tolling at noon, which was fun. When you go into the palace you see several rooms, including the throne room and the old sleeping quarters. One of my favourite rooms is the one with the Stradivarius violins and other instruments.

While there aren’t that many pictures taken inside, here is a shot of the cathedral, Catedral de la Almudena .

After visiting the Palacio Real, we went to have lunch. She wanted ham, and I wanted a poke bowl I had seen announced in El Corte Inglés cafeteria, so it was a win-win situation. I had a “Poke bowl de salmón noruego”, Norwegian salmon poke bowl that was amazing – a sushi rice base with avocado, spring onion, purple onion, wakame, a soft-boiled egg and Norgweian salmon marinated with soy sauce, rice vinegar and kimchi.

She declared that she was happy after this, so we called it a day.

9th – 11th October 2019: Flash Barcelona (Spain) for Miyavi (and friends)

Posted on 11 October 2019 by JBinnacle

This was another of those flash trips, and it worked miraculously somehow. Miyavi’s concert was on the 11th, which was a Thursday. It’s not normally something I can do, but I managed to get away from Wednesday at noon to Friday at noon. So I worked on Wednesday morning, and in the late evening I took a train to Barcelona, where I met my friend C***** and we headed out to the hotel, which… turned out to be pretty bad. It was the closest we found in the general area of the venue for a different price but I draw the line at cockroaches, no matter how small they are. The bed was too soft, it was too hot and in the end we were both up at 6:00 to the point that we decided that we could get to the queue already.

Our tickets were VIP so they included a Meet & greet and a picture before the concert, which is one of the most fun I’ve attended lately. However, the road leading to it, and the organisation, was a bit of a chaos – there was a late-announcement of an opening act, the M&G time was changed and nobody really know what time it really was… It added a lot of unnecessary stress, as bad planning usually does. But in the end, Miyavi is an amazing human being and made up for it all. He greeted us when he came in, and when he left, and he gave his best on stage.

Miyavi kneeling on the floor playing guitar. He is wearing white trousers and a sleeveless black t shirt that reads No sleep till Tokyo

The concert was held in Barcelona’s Sala Salamandra as part of Miyavi’s European Tour No Sleep Till Tokyo. Miyavi, whose real name is Ishihara Takamasa [石原崇雅], was born in 1981, and has been active in the Japanese musical scene since 1999. He started off as the guitarist of the visual rock band Dué le quartz, and went on a solo career after its disbandment. His first album Gagaku was released in October 2002.

Miyavi is known to fans as “the Samurai guitarist”. He has a very particular guitar-playing style, and does not often use picks – he calls this style “finger slapping”. He used to have a very characteristic style, with crazy visuals, piercings, and wildly-coloured hair, but he it tuned after he and his wife Melody had their first child in 2009.

Miyavi can compose, write lyrics, arrange, sing, and rap. However, he considers himself a (samurai) guitarist, and he has collaborated with some top-notch artists and vocalists. Back in 2007 he was part of the “ghost” supergroup S.K.I.N., along with Yoshiki, Gackt and Sugizo. Although the band had an official “debut”, they never got any further than a presentation concert at an American convention. Miyavi has also collaborated with a wide range of artists such as Hyde, Seann Bowe or Samuel L. Jackson on his most recent albums. As of recent years, he has started acting, both in American films (Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken or Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) and Japanese productions (Bleach or Gangoose). He moved to the US with his family in 2014. Aside from his musical work, Miyavi is also known for being a Goodwill ambassador with the United Nations, working against the Refugee Crisis. He regularly participates in events and visits refugee camps to try and help in whatever way he can – usually with his guitar and some footballs.

After three collaboration albums, Miyavi switched from his own company to a larger distributor and announced the release of No Sleep Till Tokyo in July 2019. Soon after, dates were set for a Japan Tour, North-American Tour, Eastern Europe Tour and Europe Tour..

Tickets went on sale on the 28th of June through the venue’s website. There were two types – General admission and VIP, which included early entry, laminated lanyard, Meet & Greet and picture with Miyavi, using your own phone. Though C***** and I were considering either Barcelona or London, we ended up with VIP tickets for Barcelona.

The week before the concert, the Spanish promoter announced a change of schedule and a Spanish support band. In the days leading to the concert, the Meet & Greet also changed times, along with entry and concert start. VIP ticket holders were worried that GA would come in before the pictures were done and they would lose part of the advantage they had paid for, and thus the Meet & Greet was set to after the concert, only to be rescheduled to before the concert again barely 24 hours before.

The day of the concert, the black tour bus arrived around 12:30, and Miyavi came out a little over an hour later. He was nice enough to come greet the fans who were waiting, and asked how to say “hello” in Spanish. He talked to some people for a little longer and shook hands with everyone waiting before walking into the venue.

Doors opened at 18:40. The Meet & Greet consisted on basically that, you could exchange a few words with him and the manager would take the pictures. Afterwards, we got positioned at the barrier for the concert. The support act Suzy & Los Quattro did not fit much into the mood. The lead singer was all right but she screamed too much for my taste. I am sure that she has her audience, especially considering how much underwear she showed. Finally the main event started – Miyavi brought a DJ and a drummer along, but he took all the weight of the music himself. Clad in a two-piece white suit, flashing his tattoos and sweating like there was no tomorrow, he did not stop for a second – good thing he had plenty of ice water to cool down.

As much as his guitar-playing style, Miyavi has a very powerful stage presence, based on being everywhere at the same time – he jumps and stands and stares and plays the guitar, without a stop, without a breather except for his ice-water.

Throughout the concert, he showed off some Spanish – very well practised, to be honest, but mostly spoke English. Through different emcees he talked about coming back to Spain after eight years, and how he knew the word “eight” is “ococho” because it’s his favourite tequila. He mentioned Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and brought up that he has been shooting films, and how he finally got to play a non villain character – although killing people in films is so much fun. He also talked about his work at the United Nations, and that there were UN representatives and refugees in the venue.

Setlist:

1. Stars
2. Flashback
3. In Crowd
4. Rain Dance
5. No Sleep Till Tokyo
6. Tears on Fire
7. Other side
8. Secrets
9. Guard you
10. Wonderful World
11. Under the same sky
12. Ha!
13. Fire Bird
14. Day 1
Encore:
15. Fragile
16. Señor, Señora, Señorita
17. Long Nights
18. The others
19. What’s my name?

The concert lasted about two hours, in one long act and a short encore. The setlist was a combination of songs from the new album No Sleep Till Tokyo and older albums and singles, . There were very high-energy moments and some heart-wrenching ones. Tears on Fire and Long Nights are excellent pieces of music, but they have a poignant underscore.

Some of the highlights of the night included the rendition of No Sleep Till Tokyo or Under the Same Sky. There was a hilarious moment when some of the crowd asked for Señor, Señora, Señorita and he claimed to have forgotten – then proceeded to google it in order to “sing it if we helped”. Furthermore, The Others was fantastic – but that is one of my favourite songs of his, so I don’t think I’m objective. The final What’s my name with the quip “me llamo Miyavi” in Spanish couldn’t have been more powerful.

After the concert was over, Miyavi came back to stage to high five fans to the very last minute before the venue emptied. Even after a couple of hours, he shook hands with every fan who was waiting on the way to the bus. We waved him goodbye and left, exhausted and happy. My general feeling after this event is that Miyavi is adorable (and huge, I had not realised how much when I saw him in London) and I would love a hug from him. The M&G was over super quickly but he had a smile for everyone and that’s a super nice detail.

We went back to the hotel to catch some sleep and the next morning we met our other friend E****, who had not attended the concert, for breakfast. I took the early afternoon train and I was home for the afternoon-evening shift, so it worked.

Cup of coffee with fern art.

22nd – 26th August 2019: Food at San Juan and Alicante

Posted on 16 September 2019 by JBinnacle

This was a quick three-day trip for my father to have some diving time, and even if I had just landed from Japan I tagged along to make sure that my mother was not alone. I was understandable a little beaten from the big exiting trip, so there was not much that I was up to visiting. However, somehow we had a bit of a gastronomy splurge at the hotel and around.

For example, one day we had some awesome arroz caldoso con bogavante , Spanish rice with lobster for lunch:

For another lunch, I discovered that I could actually eat poke bowls in Spain – behold the Poke bowl de atún rojo de Almadraba , almadraba-caught tuna poke bowl. An almadraba is an ancient Mediterranean fishing technique in which nets are suspended mid-water that lead the fish to a central trap from where they are caught – as a curiosity, let me tell you that somehow orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar have learnt to use the almadraba to fish too! Anyway, the poke bowl had a rice base with avocado, spring onion, red onion, wakame, poached egg, and tuna marinated with sesame oil and soy sauce.

We shared some Spanish ham with that.

And finished the meal with a latte with vanilla ice-cream and a caramel biscuit because… yes, I needed something to prevent me going into a food coma.

We had granizados mid-afternoon – behold my lemon almost shaved-ice.

And one of my desserts was whiskey-cake ice-cream.

Not that much of an exciting trip, but there were some nice things to take from it.

19th & 20th August 2019: Bye-bye for a while, Japan {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

For my last day full day in Japan, I dropped my luggage off at Shinjuku station and met with D****e for lunch to say goodbye for now. I also got to say goodbye to Tokyo Tower [東京タワー] from Roppongi Hills [六本木ヒルズ].

Lunch was a bit sad, but the yakiniku was very yummy. After she had to come back to work I met with B**** for drinks and wandering around for a while in Shinjuku [新宿]. We mostly sat at Wendy’s, talking and drinking… whatever this is…

And then she took me to CocoCurry for goodbye-curry.

Then she came with me to Nippori station to help me carry my luggage to the train. I was so mentally exhausted that I did not even stop for a stamp at Narita Terminal 1. I had booked myself a hotel for the night at the airport because I felt that was the best thing for my mental health at that time, and I am glad I did. It was very handy and the transport to the terminal was very smooth.

I had been worried about my Fuji-climbing stick, but I had been told I could check it in. I bought a suit-cover which I sewed, and had no problems with it – I mean, I saw people checking-in kayaks, for fuck’s sake. My stick was tiny in comparison to that! The flight back was a-okay, unremarkable, mostly.

Walked distance: 19th: 11099 steps / 7.94 km. 20th: 5045 steps / 3.60 km. The displacement was a bit longer though… something around the 11000 km (≧▽≦)

The 2019 trip was a long one, full of awesome experiences that I won’t forget any time soon. I hope to gather experience from what went wrong, but not cling onto the bad feelings. I chose not to write about that, and look for the best in every day. Also, I did not really feel it, but a bunch of Japanese friends told me that my language skills had improved, so that made me happy. Now it’s time to go back to the real world and do adulty things, and start dreaming about the next adventure. また今度ね。

18th August 2019: 500 points at Swallowtail {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

I asked D****e to come with me to Swallowtail at Ikebukuro [池袋] once more because I can’t do them alone (yet). Hopefully next time. We got a very nice butler who wanted me to choose my teacup as I had already visited five times (500pts), but I always have my tea iced, so I wouldn’t be using a cup. That was a bit of a communication problem (≧▽≦).

I had a great salmon and salad set (though I pushed the pepper away, because… no thank you), and analysed the butler types. There was one so tall that the poor thing had to get backpain all the time from pushing the carts. There were the kawaii bouncy ones, broad manly ones, and one wearing lipstick. I guess catering to every trope out there.

Afterwards we sang some karaoke and then went back home until it was time for dinner. It was a quiet, unwinding day.

Walked distance: 12979 steps / 9.28 km.

17th August 2019: Oblivion Dust in Ebisu {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

I spent the day at Ebisu [恵比寿], where I got to say hi and meet a lot of known and new people . First, I had arranged a late lunch with my friend with E**chan. Unfortunately, her trains had problems and she was forced to drive to another line station to get from her village outside Tokyo to Ebisu – so in the end it was a very late lunch we had. I spent the time wandering the malls and the Ebisu Skywalk [恵比寿スカイウォーク], which is basically a long corridor without anything to see – the train service was disrupted and we did not know when she would arrive, I did not want to leave the area. She finally made it, and we managed to find some super-nice place in the Ebisu Atre building. By that time, we were starving, and when we caught sight of a traditional restaurant, we went for it. We ordered a katsudon [カツ丼] each, because it looked fantastic – and it was delicious..

Katsudon lunch set: miso soup, a bowl of rice with meat and egg on top, a cup of tea and grated cabbage to share between two people

A scoop of vanilla ice cream and a cup of green tea

Afterwards, we went to the Oblivion Dust’s Gods Of the Wasteland Tour 2019 Gods Of Reborn concert at Ebisu Liquidroom. Oblivion Dust, shortened as “Oburi”, is a three-man Japanese rock band. The current members (none of whom are founding members) are Kentaro “Ken” Lloyd (vocals), Iwaike Kazuhito “K.A.Z” (guitar) and Rikiji Masuda (bass). They usually work with two supporting musicians:Yuji (guitar) andArimatsu / Arly (drums). I’ve often seen both K.A.Z. and with VAMPS.At present, they are touring with guitarist Ryo, as K.A.Z. has broken his hand. Reportedly, he “remains behind the scenes, doing synthesiser work”.

Despite K.A.Z’s broken hand, Oblivion Dust has carried out a sixteen-concert tour during summer, Gods of the Wasteland. There are four different setlists, each played four times:Gods Of Elvis, Gods Of Misery, Gods Of Reborn and Gods Of Butterfly.

Gods of Reborn setlist:

    1. Goodbye
    2. Girlie Boy Imitation #6
    3. Ghost That Bleeds
    4. Sugar Free
    5. Under My Skin
    6. Death Surf
    7. Come Alive
    8. Plastic Wings
    9. Alien
    10. No Medication
    11. Nightcrawler
    12. Crazy
    13. In Motion
    14. Haze
    15. Lolita
    16. Sail Away
    17. Evidence
    18. You

After checking out the merchandise boot, E**chan and I had our numbers called and we went into the floor. We found good spot on the left,, just on the edge of the “mosh pit”, the central area where people jump and dance, and elbow you if you are not careful.

The concert lasted for about two hours, and it was full of energy. Vocalist Ken always amazes me because he does not drink anything, he just grabs bottles of water, dumps the liquid on his head, and then throws them at the crowd.Bassist Rikiji is probably a relative of the Duracell Bunny, and he does not stay still whatsoever. He mimics shooting at people with the neck of his bass, or is busy jumping around. Ryo was all right, but he was… not K.A.Z, which also showed as Ken and Rikiji did have their fun and trolling moments – Ken stole Rikij’s “bass microphone” and and Rikiji just offered him the bass to go with it. Ken also went to “visit” Arimatsu, who was having too much fun to be bothered, and just made some more noise. I mean, Ken seemed to be everywhere at once.

After the concert, everybody was happy-exhausted.I for sure was absolutely drained. E**chan invited me to tag along her and some of her friends for dinner, and we went to a typical izakaya. The food was great, but a bit (all right, a lot) on the expensive side.

The logo of Liquid Room, styled to look like an organic chemistry molecule, with hexagons for Q and Os

Walked distance: No idea, I forgot the watch. But most of what I walked was on the Ebisu Skywalkas I was bored waiting for E**chan since I was early but her train was super-delayed due to the accident (≧▽≦).

16th August 2019: SAITAMA Summer Rock Festival 2019 {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

After ~~developing an unhealthy obsession for~~ discovering fesFE[M] when they opened for JUPITER in Madrid in May 2019 I was very happy to be able to catch their act again in Saitama [さいたま市]. I also learnt a lot about the v-kei scene and how it works.

The event was the first day of SAITAMA Summer Rock Festival 2019 ~Shikokku no Symphony~ pump up!! [SAITAMA Summer Rock Festival 2019 ～漆黒のシンフォニー～ pump up!!] and it was held at Saitama Hall [埼玉会館ホール].

Schedule of the Event, in intervals of 25 - 35 minutes

Although fesFE[M] act was not scheduled until 19:15, I headed off to Saitama early because I needed a same-day ticket, so I was there around 12:15. I did not have any issues getting in, as it was a weekday in the morning. I had originally thought that I would just get the ticket and then snoop around Saitama city, but the event was held far away from most interesting stuff, so I decided to stay and see it all. It was, as I mentioned, an interesting experience.

Stuff I learnt:

I should have taken earplugs as seven hours in a small hall echoes hard
First rows are exchangeable according to which your favourite band is. Nobody bats an eye and people will make room for each other
The bands will sell their own merch to make new fans and even chat to you. They will be very surprised if they get two foreigners in their queue and they don’t know each other
Some of the bands are really good, some of them are really bad

After each show, the “leader” of the band would come out for a small interview. Some of them had to do stuff like playing with beach balls and stuff, but mostly it was promotion for upcoming band activities and stuff.

Ticket. It reads the names of the bands and the number F001

Here’s a curated version of notes I took after each act for the ones I attended:

{mid:night}: They are not bad but the vocalist (although tall) needs more stage presence.

ロクダマカルタ: Was not convinced, but the guitar is dressed as a schoolgirl and the furutsuke is fun.

[Ad]: Female vocalist. She’s good, but there’s something that does not completely click. They stayed the longest for selling their stuff and promoting.

マゼラン: They are really, really good, both music- and stage-presence- wise. I’m so glad I had not realised at this point that they would be outside selling stuff because I might’ve bought all the things.

機械人形歌劇団カラクリ: Didn’t like them

エンヴィル: They are the Kanjani 8 of v-kei. They troll each other really hard and they are fun, with passable music. They wear yukata and each has a different footwear. They also watched like half of the other bands from the back row and cheered like standard fangirls.

DARRELL: Not bad, but too yelly for my tastes

GLARD: They were fun. I got to talk to the vocalist and buy one of their CDs. As I was talking to him, another foreigner decided to talk through me, and translate the price for me? No idea, I think she was just trying to get his attention. The poor guy was very surprised when we did not know each other.

ºCellsius: I like them too, they are really fun (and they are wearing… tartans?).

Avilis: They are cute and bouncy

グレン: They look like a band put together for an anime that would later sing the OP

ROMIO: The male vocalist is very pretty, but I managed not to fall into the trap of his prettiness.

Finally it was fesFE[M]’s turn at 19:15. I moved to the second row (not the first because no idea what the furutsuke are) and I enjoyed the show. It was almost the same they did in Spain when supporting for JUPITER, including Doll in Blueberry Jam. I really loved the vocalist Lion (again) how the keyboardist Jun plays the dollmaster cutting all the ropes and bringing the dolls back together. Also, wow Rensa (drummer) for being able to twirl the baton in his hand for three minutes straight without moving any other muscle.

After the show, Lion came out for his interview and he explained that he would be there on Saturday with his “other” band. I felt tempted to come back, but I had plans for that day already.

Then I went outside to buy some merch, including some polaroids, but unfortunately the band did not come out (ó_ò). I would have loved to see them, but at least I got to tweet at them and some saw the tweet ヽ(^◇^*)/. I talked to some other fans who looked at trading the polaroids, but I did not have any Tohru (bass, aka “the blonde”) and he’s popular. I missed the last band while I was waiting, but it was all right. I decided to head back because I still had about an hour’s worth of train ride.

Walked distance (which no. This is 80% furutsuke): 15324 steps / 10.9 km

15th August 2019: Downpour Shinjuku {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

Once more in Shinjuku [新宿], I stepped out at Tochomae station to go to the Tōkyō Tochō [東京都庁] aka the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. To my surprise, there was a line for the observatory! Apparently they have closed the North Observatory for renovations (possibly 2020 preparation). When I got to the observatory there was a piano, and at that time, visitors were allowed to play it. I thought “Wouldn’t it be cool if someone did X Japan?”. And then two guys do 紅 with three hands. I was very impressed.

I hoped I would be able to walk around Shinjukucho Teien [新宿中央公園] before it started raining.

As I was in Shinjukujunisha Kumano Jinja [新宿十二社熊野神社], where I got a shuuin, it started pouring.

Thus, I went back to the covered station underpasses as fast as I could and then tried to get my way round the inner passages… with dubious success. I did find the Shinjuku tourist office, because they had Coke packs there, but I could not find one that had sakura and Tokyo bottle in it (ó_ò).

Then I went to Tower Records to see INORAN’s guitar, which was on display prior to his tour.

And then I headed off to Roppongi [六本木]. And you know what I found in the first random vending machine I came across? The freaking Tokyo Coke bottle, which turned out not to be only in Shinjuku! I had been looking for it for days (;¬_¬)

Afterwards, I met D****e and M*****san for a nice shabu-shabu dinner.

Walked distance: 10978 steps / 7.85 km.

14th August 2019: The other side of Harajuku {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

After a sweep around the V-kei shops in Shinjuku [新宿], I dropped by Shibuya [渋谷区] (finally) to go to the big Tsutaya there, along with the Mandarake and Tokyu Hands. And there, in the most random vending machine in a backstreet, I managed to find the Shibuya coke bottle (which I drank with glee as I had approached the vending machine as I was thirsty). Then I walked towards Harajuku [原宿], but instead of Takeshita Doori, this time I turned towards the other side. I wanted to see the LemonEd flagship shop, as the Nagoya one did not convince me. LemonEd is a brand created by the deceased X Japan’s guitarist Hide, known for his bright colour combinations and hearts. I wanted to see the shop at least once, I guess, even if “bright” is probably not my thing (≧▽≦). There were many items, T-shirts and so on and I sneaked a couple of pictures.

I went on a little and arrived at Tōgō Jinja [東郷神社], which I really liked. I got a shuuin there too, and almost lost my shuuincho there because the miko would not call my number to give it back (;¬_¬).

I walked from Harajuku back to Shinjuku via Yoyogi [代々木], and I pretty much went around the NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building [NTTドコモ代々木ビル] from all angles (and weather backgrounds).

When I arrived at Shinjuku station [新宿駅] though, I came across… the Salamander God in a Takashiyama Window… I’m not kidding you.

Once I was in Shinjuku I tried to find the Tokyo Coke bottle in another random vending machine… It did not work, but I found the Kabukichō Benzaiten [歌舞伎町弁財天], which I had seen in passing, and wanted to snoop around.

After kushikatsu dinner, we called it a day.

Walked distance: 19234 steps / 13.7 km.

13th August 2019: Steamy steamy Tokyo {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

Following recommendations from some Japanese acquaintances, I headed off to the Shinagawa [品川区] area to visit Hebikubo Jinja / Kamishinmeitenso Jinja [蛇窪神社 / 上神明天祖神社], a pretty shrine where I got a pretty shuuin (aaaand discovered another stamp rally).

Among rain, sun and drizzle it was exhaustingly hot. I continued on to find Kimyozan Yogyokuin Nyorai [帰命山養玉院如来寺], a temple with amazing guardians.

And then I found an obviously very dangerous and aggressive tiny pond, I mean, look at those meshes (yes, I know that it’s probably for children safety, but I shall still make jokes about it). It was the Hara no Suijin-ike [原の水神池].

Checking how to come back I came across Ōmori Shell Mound Ruins Garden, Ōmori Kaidzuka Iseki Teien [大森貝塚遺跡庭園] and the Statue of Ōmori Shell Mound, Ōmori Kaikyo no Ishibumi [大森貝墟の碑]. The Ōmori Shell Mound was apparently the first archaeological excavation in Japan. They dig out a seaside village from the Jomon period (14,000 to 300 BC).

Opposite I found Naritasan Ennoji [成田山圓能寺].

And before I left I noticed the ground decoration on the pavement – life evolution and… telephone greetings. Because Japan, I guess…

Then I looked at Tokyo Tower [東京タワー] from Roppongi [六本木], as I checked the Don Quijote for Tokyo Coke bottles, without success.

I also came across tiny Asahi Jinja [朝日神社].

Then dinner was supermarket sushi, which was very, very yummy.

Walked distance: 14009 steps / 10.0 km

12th August 2019: The Surviving Fuji thing? Think twice {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

We didn’t sleep in, because why would we? We had only climbed a mountain – a volcano – the day before. We went to Shinjuku [新宿] for an avocado burger at Kua’aina, and then we did a sweep over Tower Records and Tokyu Hands.

Then we went to see the Amano’s Fantasy Art Collection [ファンタジーアート展] exhibition / sale at Shinjuku I-Land Tower [新宿アイランドタワー].

Later we sang some karaoke and then had a bit of a Hokkaido dinner – kanimiso yummy!

Walked distance: 16580 steps / 11.8 km. And every damn step – especially on stairs – hurt. Throughout the whole day, legs were on fire. But my back withstood, which was good. We whined a lot about being sore though, because we could (≧▽≦)

10th & 11th August 2019: Once in a lifetime – The Great Fuji-san Adventure {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

Mount Fuji aka Fuji-san [富士山] is a special mountain in Japan, both geologically and culturally. Japanese and tourists enjoy Fuji-san in different ways – contemplating it, visiting it, climbing it, going around it… Well… Guess who got into their thick head that they wanted to climb it? raises hand Exactly! Yours truly. I was already toying with the idea back in 2018, but I chickened out. However, as I mentioned before, this one time I wanted to scratch as many things off the bucket list as possible, so… There I went – kinda pushed by a feeling that if I did not do it, by the time I were back in Japan it might be too late as my health is not.… complying lately. But I had not hiked up a mountain before in my life…

Mount Fuji is the most famous mountain in Japan. Its iconic image is everywhere – enamel pins, t-shirts, postcards, classical art… Located around 100 kilometres south-west of Tokyo, it is 3,776.24 metres high, which makes it the highest peak in the country. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013.

Technically, Fuji-san is neither a mount nor a mountain, but a type of volcano known as a stratovolcano. Its current morphology was shaped by consecutive layers (“strata”) of lava hardening. It is mainly composed by a rock called basalt, and it is one of the few large basalt volcanos in the world. Basaltic lava is rather thick and slow-moving, so there are many lava tunnels and tree moulds created by the eruptions.

Fuji-san, as we know it today, was formed from a previous volcano (Komitake), and became active around 5,000 years ago. Around 2,300 years ago, there was a mud landslide (Gotemba mud flow [御殿場泥流, Gotemba deiryū]) that can still be identified. There have been several historical eruptions, twelve of them between the years 800 and 1083. There was a ten-day eruption of ashes and cinder in the year 864 (Jōgan 6 in the Japanese calendar, based on the different Emperor’s reign; 2019 is Reiwa 1, as current Emperor Naruhito just ascended the throne). In the year 1707 (Hōei 4 in the Japanese calendar), a few weeks after a big earthquake, the last known eruption took place. In the current Japanese Volcanic Alert Level, Mount Fuji is categorised as “Level 1: Potential for increased activity”, which is the lowest level.

Mount Fuji has frequently been depicted in Japanese art, most famously in Katsushika Hokusai’s [葛飾北斎] Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji [富嶽三十六景, Fugaku Sanjūrokkei] by, a series of ukiyo-e block prints (which are actually 46). Probably the best known among these is The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one copy of which is displayed at British Museum in London (actually, in 2017 they ran a whole exhibit around it and Hokusai).

Fuji-san is also an important element in the collective spirituality of Japan. In Shinto mythology, the goddess of Mount Fuji is Konohanasakuya-hime [木花咲耶姫]. She is enshrined in Fujinomiya town Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taisha [富士山本宮浅間大社]. Technically, this shrine has owned Mount Fuji since 1609, though there are no current records of ownership. The volcano stands at the boundary between the prefectures of Shizuoka and Yamanashi, and in order to manage the natural area, the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park [富士箱根伊豆国立公園, Fuji-Hakone-Izu Kokuritsu Kōen] was established.

Depending on the actual weather, Fuji-climbing season extends from late June or early July to early September. It is not allowed to climb Fuji “off-season” without a permit. However, people do not usually climb the whole mountain, but start quite closer to the summit. There are roads leading up Mount Fuji up to around 3,200 metres, to an area called the Fifth Stations However, no private cars are allowed on those roads.

From the Fifth-Stations there are four trails or paths to the summit, colour-coded to help people find their way, especially on the way down:

Yoshida Trail [吉田ルート] (yellow). It starts at the Fuji-Subaru Line 5th Station [富士スバルライン五合目] (Yamanashi Prefecture). This is the trail recommended to “beginners” and thus the most crowded.
Subashiri Trail [須走ルート] (red) Head. It starts at the Subashiri Trail 5th Station [須走口五合目] (Shizuoka Prefecture).
Gotemba Trail [御殿場ルート] (green). It starts at the Gotemba Trail New 5th Station [御殿場口新五合目] (Shizuoka Prefecture).
Fujinomiya Trail [富士宮ルート] (blue). It starts at the Fujinomiya Trail 5th Station [富士宮口五合目] (Shizuoka Prefecture).

When I told D****e that I was planning to try to organise the climb, she did not believe me at first. As she realised I was being serious, she decided that she was crazy enough to want to come with me as “she could not let me do such a thing alone” and actually took over most of the planning, since she had done it before. I would have just found an agency, but I think she was better.

So off we went. As she was working, we organised our hike on a Saturday-Sunday trip weekend trip – and we did not realise until afterwards that we would be climbing during Mountain Day – Yama no Hi [山の日]. We packed snacks, water, and everything we thought we might need – in my case, also gloves which I eventually lost, and a ridiculous amount of layers. D****e was chill, but I was a little worried about all the equipment the Official webpage for Mt. Fuji Climbing said that was needed, including oxygen and helmets. There were also warnings in place, such as your mobile phone battery dying super-fast, or the need for an evacuation plan in case altitude sickness got too much. I was also worried about weather (especially rain) and temperature changes – thus all the layers. She insisted we would be fine.

After a big lunch, we took the Shinjuku Expressway Bus around 16:00 on Saturday the 10th, and arrived at the Fuji Subaru Line Gogōme [富士スバルライン五合目] / Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station at 2,300 m around 17:30. We (she) had booked a mountain hut at the Seventh station so we “only” had to climb two stations, right? Right. Read: wrong.

Approaching Mount Fuji: the mountain looms half-hidden by the clouds.

Right about the time of taking this picture it had sunk on me how much of a bad idea this had been (≧▽≦). I really wondered if it was too late to turn back and go home.

A date banner at Mount Fuji 5th Station, reading 2019 08 10

My first step was buying a staff – that we nicknamed the “Fuji-climbing stick”. The idea is that you use it to feel your way around and make sure that you step on solid ground, and especially when you hike down. However, (you’d never guess), you can get stamps burnt into the wooden stick as you hike up – usually for 300 ¥. Climbing Fuji can get expensive… D****e had chosen the Yoshida Trail [吉田ルート] for our ascending side (noborigawa [登り側]). And so… off we went.

From the Fifth Station, looking up at the summit.

From the Fifth Station, looking down at the car park and a sea of clouds underneath

We started off climbing at around 18:00. Between the Fifth (2,300 m) and the Sixth Stations (2,390 m), you walk along some dirt paths in the forest, and there isn’t really that much “ascension”. As there was also light, the first hour was easy enough. This area is crowded due to all the “visitors” going for a “walk” from one of the Fifth Stations to another. We actually saw someone using up their oxygen at this point. That was weird.

From the Sixth Station there was a first zig-zag upwards, with paths held up by some dams. This is one of the parts I found the hardest, as it is the same inclination all the time and I was not warmed up yet. Then, sunset came, and while it was pretty, it brought darkness upon us (yeah I’m being literary on this). Not that I had a problem with actual darkness, but other people’s torches and headlights kept blinding me, which made the most difficult parts hard to climb – because some people are idiots who point their lights forward and not downwards, where the ground is. Sheesh. There were parts that were just a gentle incline up, while others were stuck rocks or lava flows that you had to climb with your hand and feet.

At the Seventh Station (2,700 m), the path changed and we started. Though there were some slopes, there were also stuck rocks and lava flows that I had to climb with my hands and feet. Fortunately, I could make use of the short stops we made to stamp my staff. Workers of the Mountain Huts use hot irons to burn the stamp into the wood. I think I got all the ones I could on my way up (no stamps on the way down).

The sea of clouds at the foot of Mount Fuji

Distant lights in the night, down

Mountain huts [富士山の山小屋, Fujisan no yamagoya] are tiny establishments where you can get some food or spend the night for around 10,000 ¥. They often require reservations, usually in Japanese, that is why D****e took charge of that part. Some of them have a bin for rubbish – because you can’t dispose of trash on the slopes, you have to take back what you brought in. They have toilets too, and require a tip. Most of them follow an “honour system” with a small coin box, but some have a guardian to collect the money.

We continued upwards until we made it to our Mountain Hut, Shichigōme Torii sō [七合目鳥居荘], the Seventh Station’s Torii-so at around 21:00. We had been told it was the one with the red torii, and it was a sight for sore eyes. It stands at 2,900 metres high, closer to the Eight Station than the Seventh – we had expected to find it sooner due to the name.

A torii gate lit up in the dark

D****e had booked a bed and a meal. As we came into the hut, our staffs and backpacks were hung over the door, and we were given bags for our shoes and personal effects. We had a small riff-raff with the owners, because they claimed that we had arrived too late for food. However, D****e argued that the webpage said nothing about a time limit. Thus, we got some curry and rice as the dinner we had booked.

A dish of curry and rice.

Around 22:00, we used the toilet, and then we were shown to the common dormitory – the bed bunks are basically a line of futons put together so you share a blanket with the person next to you. The idiot I had to share with decided to lie on the blanket instead of under it, so she had me uncovered half the time until she left.

Thankfully, at around 23:00 there was a call for people who wanted to set off in time to see sunset from the summit, and she got going. Between getting uncovered, and lying down too soon after food, I started feeling queasy. I freaked out a little. I started turning in my head that I was going to get sick and not get to the summit and have to be evacuated. D****e helped me calm down and I managed to get a few hours of sleep.

But just a few. We were woken up by the noise around us around 4:15. I felt strangely not tired, and D****e indulged me. Thus, we got up and went outside to see sunrise. Sunrise from Mount Fuji!!! I mean… I can’t even. Unfortunately (and ironically) we left too early to get the stamp from our own hut! We continued our way and had breakfast at the next big rock where we could sit down.

Sunrise from the slopes of Mount Fuji.

After coffee (yes, I’m addicted enough to carry coffee to Mount Fuji), we went on hiking. To be honest this second day was not as bad as I had imagined – as in I was rather convinced that I was not going to be able to make it, especially during the night freak-out. My painkillers kicked in and I only felt a small buzz in my ears as pressure changed.

It did not take too long to arrive at the New Eighth Station (3,100 m). Once again the trail became irregular, which on one hand was tiresome, but at the same time, it was not tedious, so it did not feel as hard. Gloves were useful for this part of the hike, as I could hold on to things. We continued up to the Original 8th Station (3,400 m).

After the Original Eighth Station the trail became path-like again, with torii and stairs and fewer rocks you had to climb over, but a bunch of smaller ones that you had to step up on. Here I learnt to appreciate the actual usefulness of my staff. Vegetation disappeared gradually until the ground was barren.

I think I lost my gloves at the Ninth Station. We saw a group of people evacuating an injured / ill climber – we mentally awarded them like a million karma points, and after getting the injured person to help, they happily went back up again. One of them told us their group does it every year. I remember hugging some torii on the way, and a thousand thoughts twirling in my head.

Area closer to the summit of Mount Fuji. There is no vegetation and the ground looks reddish and more like gravel than actual rock.

Looking down from the barren area, there are clouds and a river at the foothill

And then we made it. Around 11:00 we reached the rim of crater. I could not believe my own eyes when I stepped in front of the shrine Asama Taisha Okumiya Kusushi Jinja [淺間大社奧宮久須志神社] and Fuji-san Chōjō Yamaguchi-ya Honten [富士山頂上山口屋本店] aka Top of Mt. Fuji Yamaguchi Shop. I had made it. I had beaten my own limits, and reached the crater.

Entrance to the Temple on the Summit of Mount Fuji

Online certificate that you can download using a QR from the Top. It has the date as August 11 2019

Of course I needed to get all the stamps and the shuuin and the exclusive Coca-Cola bottle. We decided not to go around the crater to the highest point, just a handful of metres higher, because it would add some 90 minutes to our trek, and we preferred to just hang around where we were for that long. Because I was at the freaking crater of Mount Fuji! I was the Kami of the Mountain.

Brim of the crater of Mount Fuji

Crater of Mount Fuji

Stone marker at the summit

Cheers with two Mount Fuji exclusive Coca-Cola bottles

Walking around the crater would have been great, but we would be hard-pressed for time for our bus if we took too long. D****e asked me what I wanted to do, and I was happy staying around the crater taking pictures and enjoying the feeling. After an hour or so, we set on our way back down – the trail was a bulldozered zig-zag of gravel, boulders and volcanic sand, and it was even more exhausting than the way up.

It was tricky not to slide and fall. It took us about three hours until we were back to the forest area and the Sixth Station. We reached our Fifth Station around 15:30. I did not fall even once – thank you, Fuji-climbing boots from the Decathlon Children Section for not letting me down, literally!! I also acknowledge that we were super-lucky with the weather, we only had a few clouds just under the crater, and it was not too cold even for me – and no rain, which would have made the experience miserable.

The path down, bulldozered into a straight line.

We actually made it with some time to catch our bus, so we looked at the souvenir shops and Fujisankomitake Jinja [冨士山小御嶽神社].

A colourful and crowded shrine. A lot of the tourists in front of it are wearing shoes that were definitely not made for climbing.

My made-for-climbing shoes, and lower jeans, which were originally blue, looking orange due to the volcanic dust.

As we left, we could see Mount Fuji in all its glory, and I could not believe that I had actually been up there! The total experience had taken a bit over 27 hours, and it was exhausting but exhilarating.

View of Mount Fuji from the bus

However, the downfall had to come, and it came in the bus, about 20 minutes into the ride home – once I stopped moving, my body completely shut down in pain. My back cramped, headache hit, left knee got stuck, and the road trip was horrible. I did not want to have any dinner even if I knew I needed it, but a hot pot in the conbini managed to draw me and it was exactly what I needed!

Hot pot with vegetables, mushrooms and pork

Walked distance: 10th: 9988 steps / 7.14 km; 11th: 21107 steps / 15.1 km. However! The damn watch does not take into account that I CLIMBED A VOLCANO!! I mean, come on! Some of those steps had a 70 cm difference in height! I managed to do it, and I feel damn proud of myself for it, and I will forever proudly display my Fuji-climbing stick as proof of the feat. Also, just so you know 11th of August is Yama no Hi [山の日] (Mountain Day) so this was ironically well-timed, even if by pure chance!

The walking cane I used, covered in hot-iron stamps.

I know that hundreds of people climb Fuji-san every year, but for me those almost 3,776 metres represent something special. It was my very own challenge, something I never thought I would be able to do, and yet I managed. I was extremely proud of myself. I think it helped me become more adventurous, as I found out that I could really push my limits. There was a price to pay afterwards, yes. But I had made it and I don’t regret it (I did regret it a bit the following day going down the stairs though. But not much). I was the Kami of the Mountain.

9th August 2019: Pretty lights, 2019 Edition {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

That morning I headed off to Ikebukuro [池袋], on my way to find one of the most important Tokyo [東京] graveyard – Zoshigaya Reien [雑司ケ谷霊園]. I wandered the graveyard for a while – it was damn hot.

However, there was one particular grave I was interested in, the restplace of Lafcadio Hearn / Koizumi Yakumo [小泉八雲], the 19th Century collector of ghost and mythology stories.

I decided to walk out the opposite direction from which I had come in because I wanted to see a park. I did not find it, but pretty much walked into Otori Jinja [大鳥神社] (and discovered a new stamp rally I should attempt at some point).

I continued on my way towards the station and sort of accidentally walked past Honnōji [本納寺].

And then this little guy drew my attention and I entered Zoshigaya Mimizuku Park [豊島区立雑司が谷みみずく公園].

The park holds Takeyoshi Inari Jinja [武芳稲荷].

And Kishimojin [鬼子母神堂] (which I saw before / later in Gokusen 2005 and I right about died laughing).

Afterwards I headed to Roppongi [六本木] to meet with M***chan and D****e for Chinese at Tokyo Midtown [東京ミッドタウン], and later we walked through the Midtown Loves Summer light festival.

Walked distance: 18686 steps / 13.3 km.

8th August 2019: Tokyo Tower & Nakano Broadway {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

When I was in Kawagoe I found the Saitama special Coke bottle, and I decided I would be on the look-out for them. Afterwards, I saw the three-bottle Kansai pack in Osaka. Thinking about where I could get some of the Tokyo ones (I have an Ueno one that I bought in Narita Airport at some point), I thought about Tokyo Tower as a place to find them. I was not successful, but I did say hi to Tokyo Tower [東京タワー] (Shiba Koen [芝公園]is still under construction though (ó_ò).)

Afterwards I had a shopping sweep in Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ] – where I bought my new obi and haori – and later I met D****e for dinner.

Walked distance: Unknown, as the connection phone / wristband malfunctioned. I estimate around 6 to 7 km. As you can see, I was feeling the tiredness indeed, so these few days were more relaxed. For now…

7th August 2019: Dragons & kappa {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

It is by now a tradition to go Ueno [上野] and the National Museum of Nature and Science, Kokuritsu Kagaku Hakubutsukan [国立科学博物館] to see the summer exhibition this time it was about kyouryuu [恐竜博], “fear dragons” aka dinosaurs – this year the exhibition was called 恐竜博 2019 THE DINOSAUR EXPO 2019. So it was a must-go for me (^o^)/

And then of course I wandered a little around the evolutionary wards of the museum, because of course I did.

I came out and I turned right instead of left, so I walked right into Kaisan-do (Ryo-daishi) [開山堂 (両大師)] (which on google maps appears as Rinnoji. Note to self: explore the area beyond next time over.

Then I crossed above all the railways leading in and out Ueno station.

I continued on until I got to Sogenji [曹源寺] also known as the temple of the kappa, Kappa-dera [かっぱ寺]. There is a legend related to a raincoat maker who was helped by a kappa when he wanted to build a drainage system in the area. There are a lot of kappa in the temple.

They also populate the nearby area, Kappabashihon [かっぱ橋本].

After that, I backtracked back to Ueno and from there I took a train to Ikebukuro [池袋] to do some window shopping. Then I looked at Tokyo Tower [東京タワー] from Roppongi [六本木] before D****e and I had dinner and called it a day.

Walked distance: 13384 steps / 9.57 km

6th August 2019: Tokyo & Yokohama Book Off Rally {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

To be honest, this was a weird day because my mind was full with some personal stuff, so I just wanted to keep busy. I did a Book Off marathon and I found a lot of interesting things, both in Tokyo and Yokohama [横浜市]. I wanted to visit the Tower there, but it was closed for renovation!

At 6pm I met up with Sr-san for way beyond amazing sushi! Lots of new things to try too!

In the end what I was worried about was solved ε-(´・｀) ﾌ and I went back without any problems (on the way out the regular train line was down).

Walked distance: 17438 steps / 12.4 km.

5th August 2019: Vampire Rockstar… I mean Vampire Café {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

After doing laundry (sweaty clothes and lingering smells of smoking rooms demanded those), I met up with B**** around Nakano [中野] station for lunch. Since I arrived earlier than her, I wandered around the shopping centre, and I saw yet another long jacket that I loved at a great price, so all in all, jacket success.

We did some karaoke and then she￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹ was kind enough to indulge me and accompany me to the Vampire Café in Ginza [銀座]. Themed cafés are rather popular in Japan. They are establishments that combine food, drinks, or both, with some kind of attraction or theme that makes them unique and / or special. A lot of them are are “animal cafés”, which have living animals as mascots. Back in 2013, B****, D****e and myself visited the Sakuragaoka Cafe, where you can feed the goats. Other cafés choose a topic or particular atmosphere, such as the butler café Swallowtails.

The problem with themes cafés is that one usually needs better Japanese than I have got in order to get by, so I have not visited as many of them as I would have liked. There quite a few reviews on the internet that complain about small portions and high prices for the cafés. It is true that they tend to be a bit more expensive than a regular shop, but you are paying for the experience on top of your food. I don’t think they are overpriced. Regarding the portions, I’ve always found them reasonable. So they are not like the hugely posh European restaurants that you get tiny amount of food at an exorbitant price.

We got off the train at Ginza station and found the La Paix Building or LapeBiru [ラペビル]. We spotted the café logo on the outside, and later in the directory next to the lifts. As it was a Monday, the place was not crazy full. I think they would have turned us down otherwise as we did not have a reservation. There was a direct lift to the entrance of the café, already decorated in style, with dim lights, cobwebs, lots of red velvet, even a skeleton.

We were given a note that informed us that each customer needed to order at least “a food and a drink” and that the time limit was two hours. While in general the experience was fun, I think that this café needs to be visited in groups so you’re in the main area and not the tiny booths to the sides. The main room had a coffin to the side, and there is a table for the groups. The walls were black, and the booths closed with heavy red drapes. There were candles (real candles, not lookalike lamps) for light, and a soft “music box” chamber music in the background in order not to disturb conversations.

Our waiter was clad in a long burgundy gown and she had bat wings on her hair. We’re not sure whether she was in character, or just unamused, but she looked very serious and a little unfriendly – she was probably just not in the mood to deal with the poor-Japanese-skills customers. Since we were only two, we were taken to one of the little booths with red sofas, a small black table, and black walls. As she drew the curtains closed – maybe for a casket-y feeling – we found ourselves giggling.

The food was not bad at all. We decided on a set for two, called Mankitsu Course [満喫ココース], literally “Enjoyment course”, and a couple of cocktails – a non-alcoholic ブルッドオレンジジュース “blood orange juice” for me, and a ブルッドオレンジサワー “blood orange sour” for B****. What was really on-spot was the presentation though – very in synch with the place, and rather cute, with roses made out of salmon, scythes and skulls sprinkled on the places and ice-cream spiders… and even those were cute.

Food consisted on:

Hamu moriawase [ハム　盛リ合わせ]: Ham assortment, more like sausage assortment with biscuits.
Shiisaa Sarada [シーザーサラダ]: Caesar Salad, really nice but not “Caesar”, it had a salmon rose.
Garikku Toosuto [ガリックトースト]: Garlic toast, in the shape of coffins, really adorable.
Ika sumi pasuta [イカスミパスタ]: Squid pasta, surprisingly good and with an adorable Grim Reaper presentation.
Haabu & supiisu chikin [ハーブ & スパイス　- チキン]: Herb & Spice Chicken, flambéd at the table.
Nishiki Aisu [2色アイス]: Two-colour ice-cream, strawberry and vanilla in an edible cookie mini-bowl with little spider legs and glazed-cherry eyes.

Our waiter tried to make us chant once, but we did not manage to understand what she wanted us to do until we heard it echoed in a nearby booth. The truth is that we did not get to communicate with her too well. The booth was cute and all, but it was a bit disappointing to be “enclosed” behind the velvet all the time and miss on part of the experience – “Dracula” skipped our booth, apparently because we did not have enough Japanese for him?

The place felt rather quiet. As the velvet curtains muffled the sounds from other customers, only the￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹￹ creepy music-box ambience could be heard, albeit very faintly. When the two-hour limit was nearly over, we got our bill. The meal, including drinks, was actually cheaper than I expected. They did not add the cover charge despite saying they would, so the total came up to 7,776 ¥ (6,000 ¥ for the set menu, 550 ¥ for the non-alcoholic drink, 650 for the alcoholic cocktail plus taxes), so it did not even reach 4,000 ¥ per person.

Reading the bill slowly later, we thought that what the waiter wanted us to chant was a Dracula invocation: koyoi wa sonata [コヨイハソナタ] “tonight is a sonata”, and chi wo itadaku [血ヲイタダク] “(I) receive the blood”. I might want to come back to this place if my Japanese ever improves enough to enjoy the whole experience. But I got it out of the bucket list, and that was great. After all, I might have been on a bit of a vampire high due to both KAMIJO’s concert.

Walked distance: 15168 steps / 10.8 km, again somehow.

4th August 2019: Gastronomy Day {Japan, summer 2019}

Posted on 15 September 2019 by JBinnacle

I took an early shinkansen back from Nagoya to Tokyo [東京] because I was out early the day before and thus up at an insane hour. I was on the train before 9AM for sure (≧▽≦). I have witnesses!

And in Tokyo… basically I had lunch with D****e, curry soup, in Nakano [中野]:

We said hi to the Doraemon [ドラえもん] in Roppongi [六本木].

Then we went for lamb shabu-shabu for dinner…

And that was it. There went my diet.

Walked distance: 17978 steps / 12.8 km… somehow. From the hotel to Nagoya station, and then from Nakano Station to D****e’s house (oh, wait, I got lost on the way, that explains a lot). Then back to Nakano Station area for lunch, and once more to D****e’s house, and then to the station? Yes? Okay (≧▽≦).)