Schwarz Stein -15th Anniversary-

Schwarz Stein celebrated their 15th anniversary in November 2017 by presenting a two versions greatest hits, three live performances and a pamphlet. The greatest hits was devided into two different cd's; Dunkelheit, focusing on their darker songs, and Licht, with their more lighter reportoire. The first press bonuses which was offered was the Rudolf Steiner demo tapes, Queen of Decadence and Perfect Garden, as cd's when buying the cd's from Hora's or Kaya's webshops (Perfect Garden was given when buying Licht and Queen of Decadence when buying Dunkelheit). This offer is not offerend anymore however. Zeal Link also had a bonus item as in two different photo sets for each cd, and on the back of the images was Kaya's and Hora's thoughts on the featured songs. Zeal Link also offered instore events, at each place they had a live performance (Tokyo guested by Mana, Osaka guested by Közi and Nagoya guested by Maco).

Dunkelheit, as well as Licht, included one new song each, and Közi contributed with a remake/remix of two songs from their mini album Reccurence of Hallucination (2011).

Unfortunately I could not attend since I just got back from Japan at that time, but I was lucky enough to have a friend buy me some chekis from the live's as well as an extra copy to get photos from Zeal Link! I will in later entries post translations of the photos from Zeal Link, as well as (hopefully if I get the time to start) a translation of the interview in the pamphlet! Please wait for it~

D - Dark Fairy Tale tour final

It's been 3 months and I just now realised I never mentioned it, my last live gig this time around in Tokyo; D's Dark Fairy Tale tour final at Akazaka Blitz,August 29th.

Of course I got a bit lost on my way. I went straight from school to the venue and I was stressed since I only had 1h and it's a bit far away. I was also sad I didn't get to dress up as I planned (I decided not to since it was too hot and I also don't like going dressed up to school).

When I arrived in Tokyo this year I had seen D once before, and I enjoyed it so much I decided I'd go as many times I could this time around. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm not a huge D fan, but I think they're one of the best live bands in visual kei and I like that they always change. This year I saw them 4 times and went to 1 instore, and I had lots of fun all of those times. This last live was fun too, but probably the least out of these 4. For once I felt like the forever changing D did a re-run!

They opened this Dark Fairy Tale theme at the free live earlier this year, where they also announced the single. That live was really good, I got to hear a lot of songs I've been wanting so experience live, like 7th Rose, but unfortunately this live felt more or less like the same setlist.

When I've seen Buck-Tick live several times in a short period of time, I've felt a bit disapointed that they keep repeating the songs from their latest album, but this time with D, I wish they would've included more songs from Wonderland Savior! The setlist was very similar to their free live, so I was happy that I got to hear 7th Rose again, and of course Dark Fairy Tale. The band was energetic as always, but unfortunately I was kind of far away from the stage, and the worst part about that is that usually in the back are the people who just want to stand and observe with their own personal space. The girl next to me headbanged like crazy to Meteo though, to the point where I couldn't help but to wonder if that's really healthy...
I did manage to get to HIDE-ZOU's side of the stage which made me happy though. I was hoping badly for them to do Toki no koe, but unfortunately they didn't... What did surprise me was the fact that they didn't do an encore, but played the whole gig in one go! I think that might be the first time I've seen a oneman live in Japan without an encore. Despite the slightly boring setlist I was happy to see them live, I Always feel very positive when I see D. You can tell they have fun on stage. It's been over half a year since the concert so truthfully I don't remember any details (nor did I see them share the setlist unfortunately), I have to update right after gigs next time (new years resolution).

This was my last concert in Japan, and it made me feel kind of sad and a bit disapointed since I was hoping for a better setlist (sorry). But I'm truly happy that I got to see D so many times, and also attend an instore! (I might make an entry about that and the other instores I went to later)

D Always update their ameblo with news about goods and this time around I guess I was lucky! For everyone who purchased goods for 5000 yen or more, you'd receive the Ruiza bonus track (I have no idea what it is as I still have not listened to it) as well as a signed poster (as long as they had any in stock). I was pretty sure I'd miss out on both as my ticket number was really bad and I ended up being one of the last to enter, but I was lucky! Usually I don't really want to buy that much stuff, but they had a new cheki case and a perfume, so I passed the 5000yen limit alright... I'm very much into perfumes, I'd love to see more bands make them (so far I only have BUCK-TICK's, The Mortal and this). The fragrance is pretty nice, not too strong, I haven't tried it one yet, just smelled the top though. I was also super happy to receive this signed Hide-Zou poster! I felt a bit bad, in the line some people before me was another foreign girl and there seems to have been some misunderstanding between her and the staff (or maybe I misunderstood the situation), but it seemed like she didn't understand that she'd receive the poster for free and ended up telling the staff no when asked which member she wanted. I feel bad to this day I didn't butt in...

Tokyo big Buddha (Daibutsu) Jorenji Temple

This was my second time living in Japan for a longer period of time (not that long, but almost a year) and I rented an apartment in a suburb area on the subway Mita line in Tokyo. When you go to the city office to register (I mentioned that procedure in another entry) you'll get like a welcoming package with information, map etc. I thought I should have a good look around the area, because I'm a bit sad I didn't in the place I lived last time. On the map I found some interesting temples and I marked them for me to go at a later time. Time flew by and I had still not gone anywhere in the area. I had made plans to go see the big Buddha in Kamakura with a friend since I missed the opening hours last time I was in Kamakura. I felt fairly excited and decided to see if there's any hidden gems left for me to see. The big Buddha in Kamakura is really famous and mentioned in every guidebook there is. But I had the feeling Japan should have more of these big statues, so I began googling for the biggest statues in the world. On second place I found that Japan, close to Tokyo, was listed and I'll make an entry about that very fieldtrip later!

Anyway, I also found that in Tokyo area a Buddha of almost the same size as the Kamakura one was located, no less than two stations away from my apartment! I checked my map and saw the temple and now I really had to go.

So on a free saturday, in a burning August day I took the train the two stations needed and went for it. My sense of directions is worthless, it took me one hour to get there, eventhough it was like a 15 minute walk. In case there are any other people like me, I'll have a walkthrough with pictures below how to get there!

First thing to do is take the Mita line subway to Shintakashimadaira station. Takes about 25 minutes from JR Yamanote line Sugamo station.
Once you've arrived at the station you want to take the south exit and cross the street on the left!

To the left is a picture of the station, and on the right is the street which should be visible when you've exited the station and walked a bit up on the street.
Now all you have to do is keep walking straight forward!

You'll pass a 7/11 on your right, as can be seen in the picture below.

 After a while you'll reach a high way, with a bridge, cross the street and go up the small road.

 Just follow the road straight ahead and you'll see a small shrine on your right and this sign to your left.

While I was passing by I thought I might aswell have a loof. It's very small though.

Now, this is where I got lost. Because when you've passed the shrine it looks as if there's just apartment buildings and greens. But keep goign straight forward until you reach the 7/11 in the photo above and then turn left and keep walking until you reach the building in the picture to the left. As you can see there's a sign and an arrow pointing to the right, that's for some garden, but you have to turn right here too. 

After a while you'll reach the sign in the photo to the right, saying 東京大仏, Tokyo big Buddha. Congratulations, you've made it!

Go up the stairs and you're there. This temple is very pretty, and since a lot of people don't know about it, it's not crowded at all! I arrived one hour before closing, and it was very peacefull and nice to walk around. The Buddha is pretty big, BUT, it's only almost as big as the Kamakura one because of the elevation it sits on. So the Buddha itself is smaller, still worth seeing though! Besides the Buddha they have a statue of a 我慢鬼, gaman oni, oni of patience, a pond, and of course a shop from which you can get a mamori. I found a really cute one for my phone, in plastic, shaped as a bag.

 Especially if you're staying in Tokyo, and might not have the time, money or just don't feel like doing the 1h train ride to Kamakura, this is a very good option! Also this area, around the Buddha and also Itabashi, rarely has any tourists, so it's a very calm and quiet place, highly recomended to visit.
In the area around the temple is a small bakey (if you keep going straight and don't turn right with the sign to the garden), and right by the parking lot by that sign is a soba restaurant. I didn't visit the garden or the art museum, but I think it might be fun things to do while in the area. If going right, instead of left by the second 7/11 you'll reach the museum.

I hope this guide will have helped you reach the Jorenji temple and the Tokyo daibutsu!

JILUKA - PHASE:synchronicity

After I got back from Japan in 2015 I was introduced to this band (because I had been brainwashed with these "new" kind of VK where they just growl and scream and have cheezy choruses while attending too many random VK gigs in Tokyo, ....and embarrassingly enough I enjoyed it), and thought Screamer was one of the catchiest new vk songs I've heard in a long while. Long story short, I began following them and thought I should go see them next time I'm in Japan, so I decided to go to one of their oneman gigs. Their 3rd oneman gig no less, "PHASE:synchronicity" at WWWShibuya.

I really like that venue, but I find it rather difficult to find, this time around I think I've learned though! Thanks Jiluka, hehe. I got there pretty early so I took the chance to buy their new t-shirt before the gig. I was kind of suprised to see the variety of people there; young, old and a lot of foreigners (for being a smaller band). Of course, as expected most guests were young japanese girls. Anyway, I wasn't sure to begin with if I had the money to go since I wanted to do a lot of other things before leaving Japan, so my ticketnumber wasn't the best. I assumed I'd end up in the back, but despite this there was quite alot of room infront of the stage so I was lucky enough to end up on the first floor so to speak, but in the very back. Anyway, the gig starts and the setlist started of pretty week with songs from their latest releases. I'm sorry, but I'm kind of disapointed in their last two releases. I feel like the songs are very similar now, a lot of growl and then some guitarsolo which sounds basically just like in any of the other songs. However, their first releases was also included and I got to hear some of my favorite songs, such as Raison d'etre, Screamer, D.O.J and Lluvia. I have to give it to them, they were pretty good live, and Ricko especially seemed very happy and enjoying himself on stage. There was a lot of parapara and some girls just take it a bit too far (IMO). I mentioned how I was standing in the back on the floor infront of stage, so above me was a girl standing on "second floor". She, and the rest of the girls standing at the front seemed to be JILUKA's groupies, they had all the items and they were...the most "energetic" so to say. This girl above me, was so into it, that when she headbanged she had to throw all of her head and hair straight down so it hit my face, pretty hard. It might sound weird, but when they start headbanging, getting hit by hair is like being whipped. It hit my eye at one point and that hurt pretty bad. On top of this, she had to stretch out her arms at guitar solos so bad she hit my head with her hand (this also happened several times -.-). For those who don't know, during guitar solos in particular (at vk gigs) fans tend to stretch out their arms, sometimes facing the guitarist. Some of these very, eccentric fans tend to want to stretch as much as they possibly can and that results in them putting one hand down and the other up. Which she did, hitting my head, acctually more like digging into my head, because she got stuck in my hair. I feel like an old hag, but I'm sorry, it's just annoying. You don't have to exaggerate in order to show the band that you love them or get their attention. There are others there, and it will most likely annoy them (me included). I've seen some pretty bad fan behaviour at gigs in Japan and it makes me so tired and pissed off. You're not alone, please respect the other people attending the gig.

Back on topic.

I had a pretty bad day, but I had so much fun (except for the girl who almost made me blind on my right eye) I forgot what a shitty day I had, until I got home. Ricko was really good live, not only because he was entertaining, but his vocals held up pretty good. Zyean was pretty shy, not wanting to talk that much. Anyway, the gig itself was pretty good, and I'd recommend anyone who likes the present vk scene to at least try them out.

【SET LIST】

SE. -Blasphemy-　

1. Necropolis　

2. Divine Error　

3. Faizh　

4. Raison d'etre　

5. Screamer　

6. ZONE　

7. Primal Urge　

8. Azure　

9. -drums solo-　

10. Bloodshot 　

11. Prisoners　

12. Crossing Fate　

13. (SE. -Bipolar- 〜) Omelas　

14. Sacrifice　

15. Lluvia　

16. Lethal Affliction　

17. Twisted Pain　

＜EN-1＞

18. -guitar solo-　

19. Faceless　

20. Monophobia　

21. D.O.J　

＜EN-2＞

22. Ultra BALUS

Capcom bar

I love videogames, especially old ones, so I'm always looking for new cool shops or bars with video game themes while in Tokyo. I heard there was a capcom restaurant in Shinjuku, and shortly after I was on my way!
They recomend you to reserve a table on their webpage, which I did. Their webpage is very convenient for foreigners as they have an English version showing the menu and other information. I arrived and the staff immediately asked if I had made a reservation and showed me to a table. They had seats by the bar, and then around 5 tables, so it's a small restaurant. The staff was super nice, and they were truly into the game theme... After cleaning our table after the maincourse she said "stage clear" before leaving, haha.

The restaurant was kind of small, but it had a lot of fun things to look at! Everywhere was small action figueres from different Capcom games, and even in the sofa where I sat a toy duck from some game was put. Close to one table was a tv and a console for guests to enjoy.


So what about the food?

The games I've played from capcom which was featured at this restaurant is Street fighter and Mega man, also known as Rokkuman in Japan. So I decided to stick to those when ordering.

My cocktail was a vodka based drink with a slice of dragon fruit on the side. It looked very nice and it was very nice, so I highly recomend it to those who enjoy fruity cocktails!
For maindish I had the omuraisu, á la Street fighter. Sorry, but I can't really understand how this was related to Street fighter, but it was good. The rice was slightly spicy and mixed with chicken.
What caught my eye in the menu however was the desserts. My friend had the Biohazard brain cake! I have to say, it looked so gross I couldn't have it, and the amazing thing was that when it was served, our waitress had my friend stabb it with a special knife. I can't say how it tasted, but according to my friend it was rather good.

I chose to have chocolate guns, a dessert based on Devil May Cry. I got way too excited about having guns for dessert, and truth me told, it was a lot of chocolate. To the point where I felt like I wanted to throw up. I should make it clear I almost passed out afterwards, not because of the guns, but because of dehydration, so it might not just have been me being full which caused me to feel bad, but maybe a bit.

 Street Fighter omelette rice, with ketchup on the side.

Devil May Cry dessert.

Anyway, it was rather a big portion and truthfully not that good. Besides the guns in white and black chocolate was a soft cake, reminding me of a bad danish, topped with chocolate pudding, surrounded with a berry sauce. It was worth it for the guns, but for the taste, not so much...

I'm happy that I went, and I can see myself go again,  BUT perhaps only to have something small to eat and for the cocktails. The menu felt rather weak compared to many of the other theme restaurants I've been to, but for the experience it was worth it.

Perhaps it might just be me, truthfully I haven't been playing many of the Capcom games, so I'm sure fans of their games will enjoy this much more. Although that doesn't improve the menu.

Worth noticing is that this restaurant is a collaboration with Pasela, the karaoke place I reviewed in a previous entry. There's one place left of their collaborations that I will review later, which was a  lot better than the Capcom restaurant, however that place was more expensive. So please look forward to it, and do pay a visit to the Capcom restaurant if you're in Tokyo!

Visit their webpage: http://www.paselaresorts.com/collaboration/capcombar/english/index.html 

Sad Mask VHS

In 2000 (10th March) Velvet Eden released their PV collection Sad Mask. The PV's included were in order:

異形姫 (Igyou hime)
Confession
Sad Mask
A Lost
サーカス病 (Saakasu byou)
人形娼館 (Ningyou shoukan)
...And Schism
Maze
La Fin

The songs are all credit to Kalm in the DVD version. The PV version of  異形姫 differs from the album version as the last part of the lyrics is excluded (寄るもの全て傷つけるわ　泣き腫らしたこの目で  見るものすべて傷つける) and the song fades out rather than end as it does on the album人形娼館 (Ningyou Shoukan).
The VHS had a bonus item (appearantly), the 2 photos below. I had no idea about this personally, until I found them in a shop labeled as a first press items.

The VHS was re-released as a DVD in 2011 limited to the Russian market, as a result of their Russian tour. The DVD came with a booklet including old pictures and lyrics, even the previously missing part of the lyrics in 人形娼館 (Ningyou shoukan) was included.

Pictures from the DVD edition.

"We created monster

We created paradise

We created Sadness

We created cruel mask"

Vampire Café

Previously I wrote about my visit to the Alice in wonderland restaurant in Shibuya (I also visited the ones in Ginza and  Ikebukuro later, I highly recommend the one in Ikebukuro, very beautiful!).
Anyway, the same chain which has the Alice in Wonderland restaurants also have a Vampire restaurant in Ginza. I saw a flyer for it when I attended the above so I figuered I had to go!

I was meeting up with a friend and we didn't have any specific plans so I mentioned I wanted to go there and off we went!
She had been there before so she even knew one of the guys in the staff. In the entrance was a moving skeleton and drapes covering the entrance. A waiter from the staff showed us to our table and we were handed their menu, which was shaped as a coffin! Also, when our waiter came I felt like I had seen him before, and the more I tried to sneak a peak at him while he explained the menu I felt more and more certain I did remember him and from what... I'm not gonna say who it is I think, or believe it was, but I can say that people who are into small VK bands should pay a visit...

It's very dark in this restaurant, so unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures because my camera is kind of bad. (The images which looks creepy light, it's just my flash XD)

Just like at the Alice restaurants they gave us an appetizer, some sort of japanese potatosalad with a cracker shaped as a lizard. Now to the interesting part, their menu...
I always get so excited at places like these because the menus are amazing! They had a special, time limited menu (I guess they update that every month or so), in which I found this amazing cocktail.

 I don't really remember what was included because it's been such a long time since I went (I need to update more frequently...) BUT, it was topped with rosepetals and to get the red color, an injection was put on the side, so you got to squeeze it in yourself. I do remember it was very tasty and fun though, so it was worth the 700yen it cost.

For my maincourse I had black pasta! Again, my camera suck, but on top of the pasta was a cracker shaped as a skull, and in some kind of powder (might it have been powdered cheese?) "DEATH" was written and a scythe was drawn. Another waiter came with the food, in a long, black hooded cape (I couldn't see his face, but I bet it was another bandman, huhuhu), and he poored the black ink on my food as he served. The pasta was just regular pasta with creamy sauce and octopus rings (I'm not sure what it's called acctually, but hopefully you get what I mean). It was tasty, not the most amazing food, but like always, at theme restaurants I don't expect Michelin class food.

Since the cocktails were so awesome and not that expensive I decided to ahve another one of the timelimited ones for my dessert and got the above. The flavour was of berries and it was topped with a tiny rose and an edible eyeball (made of jelly). It was also glowing adding a fun touch to it. Both me and my friend are Malice Mizer fans, and since I love Közi we thought I should take a picture with the eyeball in my mouth XD (Easier said that done, I almost unintentionally bit it off since it was all soft, hohoho).

So, the desserts, my friend had the above chocolate cake. Amazingly enough after served, they put it on fire! I regret not having this, because it looked great!

Being kind of full, I decided to have the smaller tiramisu. It seems Japan loves tiramisu, but having had European, and above all Italian tiramisu, it can't be compared. (Until this day I still haven't had a satisfying tiramisu in Japan...).

 The atmosphere was great, just look at the amazing pictures above from the restroom! On the side of the sink, was a head, and the walls was covered in blood. When google:ing for this restaurant I found some reviews on various rating websites, and their rating was kind of low. This is unfortunate I think. I also think that many of the bad reviews was more about language barrier than the acctual restaurant. I want to straighten something out. First of all, I want to mention that I am not a globetrotter, I've traveled a lot but within Europe, outside of Europe I've only been to 3 different countries (severeal times though), so I'm for most part used to being able to use English. However, many places outside of Europe, or the US, don't have the same level of English as you might be used to. That being said, you can't expect everyone to be able to speak English everywhere you go. This restaurant, and many others in Tokyo, aren't necessarily made for tourists, alot of japanese people come here and therefor they might not have staff which understand that much English. So instead of giving them bad reveiws I think people should try and think about the language and cultural barrier.

That being said, I highly recommend this place, like always, it's worth it's price just being there. About the prices, the original cocktails cost around 700-1000yen, maincourses 1000-2000yen and desserts 700-1500yen (of course there are even cheaper and more expensive but this is a rough estimation). The vampire restaurant is located in Ginza, please have a look at their website below for directions. Also, they recomend you to reserve a table, however it is not possible for people who do not have a japanese phonenumber. Although, I would say these places usually don't get packed, so the chance is high to get in, especially if you get there early.

http://www.diamond-dining.jp/shop_info/vampire/top_flash.html