After waking up early again (what can be done? Early night → early morning) I walked out the hotel and took another stroll in Maruyama Kouen. Only this time, instead of heading towards Yasaka Jinja and Gion, I continued straight and I found Daiunin [大雲院].

I continued on to Nene no Michi [ねねの道], which has temples left and right. These temples have little statues that you have to touch for luck, wealth and so on. As I have been feeling so lousy this last year, I decided to find the health one.

On my way I climbed up the Daidokoro-zaka [台所坂], a bunch of gentle stairs that lead up to Kōdaiji [高台寺], a fun temple with a lot of yokai folklore. It also held some healing sutras, so I took the liberty to make them spin.

From there, I went to Kongoji (Yasaka Kōshindō) [金剛寺(八坂庚申堂)], which is a temple with… colourful balls where people write their wishes. They are supposed to entertain the ‘good faith monkeys’ (Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil) that guard the temple, I guess.

After that, I walked towards the Hōkanji (Yasaka no Tou) [法観寺 (八坂の塔)], a five-story pagoda.

A bit farther, I also found Rokuharamitsuji [六波羅蜜寺].

I went down towards the river Kamogawa [鴨川], where I saw some more wildlife – ducks, cormorants, herons (cranes? Have I told you I can’t tell cranes and herons apart?).

Finally – for my Kyoto trip – I walked down the Pontocho [先斗町] Alley before I headed for the station. It is renown for its restaurants, but everything was too expensive for my budget.

Then I took a Shinkansen to Nagoya [名古屋] as I was going to attend HYDE’s 2019 tour that afternoon. As I arrived too early for 15:00 check in, I headed off to Zepp Nagoya to see whether the goods were out. They were. A girl passed out at the queue a bit behind me due to heatstroke, and that was a bit creepy, but the staff took good cafe of her.

After buying goods, I went to leave my stuff and have a shower at the hotel, then I met up with several friends and even new friends. I enjoyed HYDE Live 2019 much better than the 2018 shows, which felt… somewhat disappointing at the time, almost clumsy and disarranged. Since then, HYDE put out the album Anti in May 2019, so he has found his grounds again. Last year he seemed to be rehearsing / perfecting a few of the songs, and combining them with the echoes of L’Arc~en~Ciel and VAMPS, which only emphasised what we did not have any more – I am still not too happy with the covers of VAMPS songs, especially Ahead, where I miss KAZ’s guitar. And honestly? Not a fan of Duran Duran’s Ordinary World.

Setlist:
    1. Who’s gonna save us
    2. After light
    3. Inside of me
    4. Underworld
    5. Fake Divine
    6. Two face
    7. Set in Stone
    8. Zipang (Japanese version)
    9. Out
    10. Mad Qualia
    11. Sick
    12. Don’t hold back
    13. Lion
    14. Another moment
    15. Midnight Celebration II
– break –
    16. Duality (Slipknot cover)
    17. Devil Side
    18. Ahead
    19. Ordinary World (Duran Duran cover)

As his solo goals, HYDE has set his heart in in the US. Thus, his new music is heavily influenced by American producers and musicians, and completely in English. Though he is mainly a vocalist, HYDE started off as a guitarist, so there is a heavy reliance on powerful strings. To emphasise the fact that he is solo now, he has given his support musicians masks to cover their faces. Or maybe he’s just decided he likes masks as he himself wears a half-mask for the first few songs. He was very active and engaging with the audience, which always makes lives more fun. In general, I enjoyed the act, it was powerful and engaging.

When the concert was over I met up with Sr-san for dinner. We had misokatsu [味噌カツ] in a famous shop, and had a long conversation about the concert and HYDE’s new songs.

Walked distance: 23305 steps / 16.6 km.