Yokohama Arena | JBinnacle – A Travel Logbook

This was the first day of my JR pass (in hindsight, I should have not have activated the pass this day, but the next), and also the day to go to the third day of Yokohama [横浜] to enjoy the X JAPAN WORLD TOUR 2017 WE ARE X Acoustic Special Miracle ~Kiseki no Yoru~ 6DAYS at Yokohama Arena [横浜アリーナ].

I headed to Yokohama early in the morning to line up for goods, and I took a book to the queue as I would be waiting along for a while. At around noon my friend B**** came along to keep me company and we had lunch together after I had bought everything that I wanted and had not been sold out (such as the Yoshiki keyrings). In theory my tickets were arena, but they were actually on the stands, though much closer than the previous time I had been there – for Gackt’s Best of the Best, when I was on the second-to-last row. This time I was close to the stage to the right-hand-side.

The mere fact that the concert was carried out is a miracle itself. Yoshiki has been recently had an operation on his cervical vertebrae to try to correct the nerve damage he has suffered through the years. The man can barely move, but he tried his best, and the concert was very emotional. It started with the documentary We are X, and then it moved on to a very powerful ballad-based concert – though it had its hardcore moments with ToshI’s solo. The highlights for me were La Venus, Hero, Miracle with guest singer Ashley Knight, and a very unexpected I.V.. I was very moved throughout the whole set list, and the whole thing was very emotionally-draining, if I am to be honest.

Collage of pictures of the venue, outside and inside. Yokohama Arena, which is just a massive white building. The X Japan We are X symbol. T-shirts from the merch. The logo on the screen. People waving red penlights in the dark. Good luck flowers from different artists.

Then we slept over at a hotel in Yokohama in order to avoid last train stress and be able to sleep in a bit the following day.

The day started Yokohama [横浜]-bound towards Hakkeijima Sea Paradise [八景島シーパラダイス].

The logo of the Yokohama Hakkejima Sea Paradise aquarium for its 20th anniversary, a jumping dolphin in the middle of a circle

I have tried to spare you fishy pictures, especially those I have shared already (read: I overcame the urge to post hammerhead shark pictures!! And deep-sea crabs too!!), but when I went to the Yokohama Sea Paradise, there was one main thing in mind that I had to see: the whalesharks.

A whale shark swimming

The polar bears seemed to be having a bit of a lover’s quarrel, but the camera did not do a good job focussing on them at the right times.

Polar bears exhibit. One is about to jump into the water, the other one is looking at the first

They also had an impressive amount of beluga whales.

Beluga whales swimming, the picture is taken from above, showing two of them clearly, and two at the bottom

And a very attention-demanding pufferfish or two.

A picture of benthic fish, with a pufferfish photobombing and swimming in the foreground

Finally I headed off to the other side of Yokohama, to the Yokohama Arena [横浜アリーナ], for the GACKT Best of the Best concert for his 40th birthday, which was beyond amazing.

Yokohama Arena, a massive white building

GACKT is a Japanese soloist music known for his ego and his… you may call it delirium of grandeur if you wish. He loves doing things big, so when I saw him in Barcelona in 2010 and 2011 I could only imagine how a big stage would feel. To be honest, it did not disappoint, and it was indeed grandiose. Furthermore, the 4th of July happens to be GACTK’s birthday so there were a lot of fun shenanigans going on, and a very nostalgic tone for old fans.