I came across a girl who does awesome hair tutorials on Youtube. She has long one-length hair (around waist to hip length) which she skillfully arranges into a variety of styles that are very fashionable in Japan, even though many of the styles are normally done with shorter and/or layered hair. I often get frustrated trying to arrange my hair because it's really hard to find cute style ideas and instructions for long hair and I guess my friends might have that feeling too sometimes.

http://www.youtube.com/user/binosusume

Speaking of hair, I think it's time for a trim. Maybe 5 to 8 cm off the bottom. I think I'd like my hair to stay around hip-length for a while as my layers grow out, and it's nice to have a little less hair during summer.

Today's not an important day so I experimented with sponge ball hair curlers last night. I'm trying to cut back on heat styling to avoid further damage. I got these sponge curlers several years ago when my hair was around armpit length and didn't like the results then, but I thought it was worth seeing how it would work with longer hair. Turns out I'm quite happy!

( results under cut )

I received an application from the Ward Office for a "supplementary income payment" worth 12,000 yen. Has anyone else gotten this? I assume it's some kind of economic stimulus package but don't really know. Not that I'm complaining about free money, of course.

By the way, does everyone who will be in Japan next month know about the concert Versailles is doing for international fans only? (6/17, Rock May Kan) It's going to be interesting to see how many people show up. Presumably they've gotten enough letters from fans in nearby Asian countries to make this seem worthwhile, because there's no way they can be relying on fans coming all the way from Europe or the Americas.

Anyway, you should all think about coming to this concert if you'll be in the area! Even if you haven't really been following Versailles and don't know if you like them or not, this would be a great opportunity to check them out because of the intimacy of the venue. They're making their major debut right after the Rock May Kan shows so this is going to be one of the last chances to see them in a small, comfortable livehouse. And even if it's a little embarrassing to go to a foreigners-only concert, it'll probably be the least crowded so might as well take advantage.

I'm in Niigata now. I had no sleep before I left but I got some rest on the train. These northern Shinkansens are monsters! Great hulking beasts compared to the sleek little trains that run on the Tokaido part. It's amazing to see one of them pull into the station at a "slow" speed. But I don't think the northern monsters reach the speeds of the little Tokaido trains and it's not as much fun to actually ride them. It was raining hard when I arrived so (unusually for me) I took a taxi from the station to my hotel.

I'm surprised by the way Versailles is raving in their blogs about how much fun Niigata was. Honestly, I don't feel like those feelings reached us in the audience. It was a nice concert but I still feel like Sendai was much more fun for us fans, and I'm puzzled about what it was about last night's show that made it stand out for the band and why I didn't receive any of those feelings. Maybe it was simply because of the design of the venue? The stage was perhaps 30 cm high and the sound quality wasn't that great. It might have been interesting and fun for the band to be just about on the same level as the fans and looking directly into the eyes of the first row. Maybe. But the price of that is that no one else could see them. And if we can't see them then no matter what they do onstage, it's not going to reach us. Well, I don't really know if this had anything to do with it. Just confused as to why there would be such a gap in perception.

This evening I'll return to Tokyo. It's my first time in Niigata so I'd like to walk around the city a little.

Just got back from Sendai. Last night's Versailles concert was great. It was the 3rd time I'd seen them there, and I now feel confident saying that Versailles in Sendai is like Lareine in Nagoya used to be. If you have a choice about where you can see Versailles, go to the Sendai show because somehow it always seems to bring out the best in them. The Sendai fans have as much joy and excitement at seeing the band as overseas fans, but they're also polite, energetic without being violent, and pretty good at furi so everyone can rock out together. The band responds by becoming more interactive and charming. Also, Junk Box has an unusually good sound system for such a small venue. We can hear and appreciate all the details of the music. I think the band must also be hearing it more clearly because they seem to play better.

Berry and I wandered around downtown Sendai today, shopping, drinking tea, and picking up zunda items. We discovered it accidentally when Berry got those zunda-flavor KitKats. The KitKats were delicious and we found out that zunda was a local specialty. I ended up bringing back 2 boxes of frozen zunda treats. We also got some tasty cherry blossom tea.

I just got a Twitter account. It seemed like it might be useful for commenting on-the-fly when I'm at concerts. Some of them, at least. I don't see myself using it at onemans, but at multi-band concerts I might send updates to pass the time between sets and help me remember what just happened.

This is my URL
http://twitter.com/x_inertia_x

Anyone else there?

Went to see E'm~grief~ tonight. Jeanne recommended them to me so I downloaded some songs a while back and liked them. Finally got around to seeing them live tonight.

There were 9 bands. At this point most bands basically go in one ear and right out the other, and even 3 hours after the concert I can't remember them all. Misaruka may or may not be worth checking out again later. They're not good yet but there was something about the composition of their last 2 songs that made me think they might become interesting. SaTaN is not my thing but they're good at what they do and put on an enjoyable set. Wouldn't go see them specially but if they happen to be appearing at a concert I'll attend anyway I'll be glad. Heisei Ishin was pretty impressive -- they sounded great, had a good presence, I liked their last song -- and I'm having trouble figuring out how this is the same band who made the songs that come up under their name and photos on Youtube. o__O I'm quite familiar with how some bands' live power doesn't always come across in studio versions but this is still surprising.

E'm~grief~ were last and they are FREAKS. They're so campy it's brilliant. It was like something from a Voyage-era Malice Mizer video, back in the good old days when they did all kinds of crazy things and you didn't know whether to be amazed or burst out laughing or both. Some of it was fabulous. Some of it was so bad it was gloriously hilarious. Their exaggerated moves don't fit on the Rock May Kan stage and they can't really do them on their gigantic platform shoes anyway. (LOL) They did it all with a straight face and I don't know if they're really serious or not. The sound quality was so bad where we were standing that I could hardly recognize the songs. But it was an entertaining and fun set.

Anyway, after their set was over there was nothing left to do but buy a ticket for tomorrow night's concert too. (LOL) I genuinely like their music on its own merits (they're #5 on my last.fm charts for the past 3 months) and now that I've seen them live in their full absurd glory I think I need more.

(edit) And oh yeah, it's getting to be allergy season. Good times. -__-;

A BIG hand to the pilot of that US Airways plane for
1) Landing safely in the Hudson River with only minor injuries to the passengers
2) Not only landing smoothly in the river, but managing to glide the plane exactly into the path of the Midtown/Weehawken ferry line for immediate rescue. o___O I used to live in Weehawken, and for years my mother took that ferry line to work every day. Nearly anywhere else on the river, it would have taken some time for boats to arrive, but the ferry got there immediately.
3) And good call on landing in the Hudson instead of trying for Teeterboro. Teeterboro's close, but maybe not close enough considering the rate of descent.

I fly pretty often, and usually in/out of NYC, so I was on the edge of my seat reading that story. And it's really nice to read a story that shows that even if the plane fails, there's still a chance.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/nyregion/16crash.html?hp

Went to Sendai yesterday, came back tonight. I took a bus both ways. 123bus is turning into the Bangya Express. (because it's the cheapest, LOL) I met THREE other Versailles jouren on the bus yesterday -- individuals, not a 3-person group. This was just the jouren, though. There were other bangya-looking girls who might have also been going to see Versailles and just aren't friends with The Gang.

The concert was good... I really do like concerts in Japan the most! No waiting on line, we can buy bottled water at the bar and keep it during the show so we don't die of dehydration, it's easier to see (I had a "bad view" because I was in the middle behind male fans, but it was still better than my usual view overseas), and people don't yell during the middle of songs unless they're supposed to do it for that part. I can tell the band loves overseas concerts because the audience is full of frantic fans seeing them for the first time so the energy level is high, but as a fan there are so many things about overseas concerts that make it hard to enjoy. For ME, the #1 kind of concert combines the best aspects of Japanese and overseas -- that is, when the band appears in a Japanese city for the first time, or hasn't been there in a long time. All the comforts of Japanese venues, plus the energy level of a first-time audience. I'm going to Kyoto this month but I have a feeling it won't be like that because it's so close to Osaka and Nagoya.

And I was pleasantly surprised by my hotel. I stayed at Toyoko Inn, which is a very reasonably priced chain of business hotels. I read on their website that 90% of their employees are female and all I thought at the time was, "yay for feminism," but actually it makes a difference! Have you ever noticed that hotel rooms almost never have enough light for applying makeup? I always end up pulling the curtains apart, putting a portable mirror on the windowsill, and doing my makeup while sitting on the floor. And if you're getting ready to go out for the evening and can't use sunlight, there's no hope. It's like this even in rooms that cost in the $100 to $150 range. But the B-class single (~6,000 yen, not the cheapest A-class single) at Toyoko Inn had a really nice bright lamp with two bulbs that could be moved to different angles, conveniently positioned near the desk mirror. There was also an extra makeup mirror on the desk, and they give female customers a little care packet with facial cleanser, a nail polish remover wipe, and a facial mask. I thought, "Wow, this place really is run by women!" It was already getting dark by the time I was preparing to leave for the concert, so I was glad.

My suitcase broke as I was leavinng my apartment. -__- Somehow I got it to Shinjuku, and as I'd just gotten off the Keio line I went upstairs and bought a travel pod. The salesman was nice and let me repack my stuff right there in the store and then leave the old broken suitcase there. I'm at the airport now and through security with half an hour to spare before boarding so it turned out okay, but that was a helluva way to start the trip.