jaymee

No prob~

This tweet from a girl who had a bad experience with Lawson canceling her tickets is making the rounds on Japanese Twitter. Although this might be a rare situation, just something to note in case someone here experiences the same trouble. To summarize: She got an e-mail that her pre-sale ticket reservation was approved and paid for them at Lawson. After that, she then receives an e-mail that her tickets have been cancelled, so she calls Lawson customer service to figure out what's up. The female operator tells her that her tickets were cancelled that morning, and assumes she cancelled them. The girl insists she wasn't the one that cancelled them, has already paid, and asks if the tickets can be re-validated/re-issued. The operator says that this isn't possible, and the girl asks if she can look into the details/status of the cancellation. The operator obliges, and the girl is switched to someone higher up, this time a male operator. The male operator tells her that it will take up to two weeks to look into the situation, but even if the reason is found, the tickets still will not be able to be re-validated/re-issued. The only thing she can do is try another pre-sale or wait for the general sale. He also states that they usually don't refund ticket sales, but since she didn't cancel the tickets herself, they will refund her if she sends the receipt. Lawson calls her back a second time, this time a higher up representative than before. He tells her they didn't find any evidence she had cancelled the tickets herself. He also tells her customer service has been notified in detail about the situation, however it doesn't change the fact that they cannot re-validate/re-issue the tickets. They tell her to feel free to share her story online, etc. in case there are people with similar issues. They call her back a third time, to report that it was some kind of system error that caused her approved ticket reservation to disappear from the system. They apologize and tell her to try again for the general sale tickets. There's nothing she can do so she has no choice but to let it go. However, what's interesting is that from this, a lot of commenters have reported about instances where Lawson has double-booked tickets, given out incorrect reservation numbers (numbers that are too long to fit into the Loppi reservation machine), given tickets for areas that were off-limits/not being used on the day of, and failed to send tickets out in a timely manner. Some events/artists only sell through Lawson, so this is obviously worrisome for many. Anyways, might be something to keep in mind should you experience any strange errors when reserving live tickets.

Late summary of the 8/27 (Sendai) live... Setlist was pretty much the same as Osaka's date. (Not my tweet) - The lucky item was the purple/orange bracelet - Daishi and seek commented how Sendai fans usually seem shyer than fans in other cities, but this wasn't the case today. - This could be because this live was being streamed live on Nico Nico, and the members were really into it and working the crowd hard - Because of this they made a few mistakes, and as AYA was hurrying to drop his pom poms (he uses for furi) after "You & Me" and pick up his guitar, he ran into seek, which seek mentioned during his MC. - Not many of us noticed because Lida was making these weird, hilarious faces during the first half of the set and a lot of us were trying not look and laugh too much. - Daishi asked how many of us were coming to the D'ERLANGER live on Sept. 16th and said that his first band in high school was a D'ERLANGER cover band, except for a time or two when they covered BUCK-TICK as well. Daishi said he felt bad betraying D'ERLANGER for BUCK-TICK, but AYA reassured him that if you had to betray D'ERLANGER for someone, BUCK-TICK was a perfectly reasonable excuse. - seek finally tried to dive in his huge dolphin costume, but kind of just ending up rolling around on all of us up in front section. - For some reason Darwin's A/C was super weak or the live house refused to turn it on/crank it up, so despite the reasonable weather, it was crazy hot in the live house. - It must have been hell for the members on stage, and sure enough when a few other girls were holding AYA up on the bar at the end, we could feel his costume soaked in sweat. Like Osaka, all the members came out again (this time even seek, who kind of just dipped his dolphin nose in the crowd for the girls in front to touch) - I forgot to mention it before, but in between the encore when the bad guys (Gerunika) come out, they yell out stuff like, "We're going to turn you all ugly" and then hit random girls in front with pika pika hammers, especially the girls that "boo" them. The final tour date is on 9/24 at Toyosu Pit, and there PLC will finally "battle" the evil Gerunika. To date, they haven't played D'ERLANGER'S song "Darlin'" that they covered for the new tribute album. I'm going to the show on 9/16 so I'm excited to (hopefully) hear it live. Although the way ticketing went for the show I have horrible numbers omg... Haven't had numbers this bad on a long time lol. Just hoping some of other gya I know got luckier than I did and can save me a place up front during switch-out D:

Well, Goemon Records is billing this new band as their "third assassin", so basically they plan on this band being their new, biggest killer after Arlequin and Pentagon. I think it would be a bit silly for them to exaggerate that much if this was just a band full of newbs/nobodies, but hey, wouldn't be the first time for a new band to get a lot of fake hype... lol As for the band's name, I'm guessing POIDOL is some kind of romaji rendering of "poi" (toss something away) + "idol" to mean something like "throw-away/cast-away idols".

Here you go... Kiyoharu - NOOTO (Notebook) Romaji English

I have no idea who these guys are but I think it's hysterical they literally ripped their name from this show. (Called "Subarashiki Hibi" in the Japanese release.)

Ugh wayyy better than the Mode of Macabre stuff, which was a total let down :/

Kyo looks like he's trying to channel Ao lol

Personally Acid Android's cover has me the most intrigued. Feeling pretty mixed on this to be honest. Some previews were good, some okay, and some really god awful D:

@BrenGunI see. I guess your experience would differ from mine since I mainly use Twitter for updates/trading and not for tweeting bands/members themselves. There's a stereotype in the idol/VK scene that girls who actively/always tweet to members and reply to their tweets are usually the more obsessed kind or gachikoi (fans who are "in love"), so I can see how that would be a breeding round for jealousy and pettiness if these girls with their sights set on some band dude felt they were being "overlooked". It's possible you like bands with crazy fans, too lol. Sometimes the smaller the band, the more crazy the regular fans are, because they believe there is a bigger chance of them hooking up with whatever member they like someday. I dunno, I've refused a lot of Lawson ticket reservations in my day and my account has never been suspended or warned or anything... I imagine there are some penalties if you cancel multiple times in a row or something, though? (Or depending on the ticketing site?) But I think on average I cancel once for every 4 lives I reserve because of people backing out or I end up not being able to go myself. This is especially true for the lotteries, since those often have a longer waiting period. You can't cancel once the tickets have been printed and paid for, though. I know in the past if you reserved with a band and you blew off your reservations, they'd stop taking them for you. Yup, gya like that never realize they are doing everyone a disservice, including themselves... I mean you can't stand in saizen anymore if there is no band to see lol. Also, even if a band guy did happen to be into on of them, why would they want to hook up with someone costing them fans/money? Of course bands are responsible getting new fans and keeping new and old fans interested, but I feel like in the VK scene (and idol and other indie band scenes in Japan) the fans are supposed to feel some responsibility for supporting the band as well... This can be monetarily (you go to all/most of the shows on tour, including any side projects your favorite member is involved in, buy all/most of their tour goods), publicity-wise (you try to bring new people to shows, and are active on sharing band content on social media), and/or at helping create an enjoyable atmosphere that other people will see and want to be a part of at events. When a band goes major or eventually makes it to Budokan (or a similar-sized arena), there's this overwhelming feeling that both the band and their fans have made it possible. It's not uncommon for bands to cry during their last indie live or playing Budokan for the first time. Anyways, one way of creating this enjoyable atmosphere is with furitsuke. Everyone is doing the same thing together, and by doing that, you feel part of a group. Sometimes regulars will come up with the furitsuke in a band's early career, and sometimes it will be furitsuke the band has come up with themselves and taught the fans. The furitsuke is also a way of showing your affection to the band. I think if it were left up to complete randomness, a lot of Japanese people wouldn't do anything while they watch, afraid of standing out or what other people might think. I agree that experiencing music in your own way allows for a better experience sometimes. At the same time, I have been to other concerts in the West where audiences have looked dead af, which obviously doesn't make for the most fun experience (for the artist or concertgoers). Whether you do furi or not is up to you. If you're concentrating too hard on furi it can be easy to miss some of the more memorable moments, and there were always be girls that just straight up spend the whole live transfixed on their favorite member.

Just out of curiosity, how are you having issues with Japanese bangya outside of Japan? Is this like with the gya who follow bands overseas? Because as you can probably tell by their willingness to drop everything and follow a band to Europe or whatever, they probably are pretty obsessed/may be crazy lol. When a (Japanese or foreign) gya slights me, I usually don't do anything back. Often they are just ignorant or they often do the same to other people, so they start off with or already have a crappy reputation with the members, other gya, or both. Once some newb fan (I say newb because she didn't seem old enough to have been following the band extensively) tried to run up and push me and another girl out of saizen and Tanuki was real quick to shit on this person the next day. Since then, I haven't noticed this girl trying to aggressively push her way up, or really sticking to the front much, since she got burnt. As a foreigner/minority, unfortunately you will also come out looking like the aggressor if you escalate the situation or actively try to pull other gya in to mediate. This goes for work relationships and stuff here as well. Also, I feel like bands who give a ton of visibly unnecessary attention to foreigner (girls) are kind of shitty themselves. They should know better that this behavior will pit you against the crazier types. Guys tend to get a free pass because they're not seen as "competition", but not always. Also, fan cattiness gets worse the younger/more immature the fanbase is. All of this! And yeah sometimes some of the worst gossip in the scene back in the day was perpetuated by foreign gya themselves.

I ended up marrying a Japanese person, but I have no ethnic preferences nor any pale/dark skin ones. There are plenty of hot guys from any corner of the globe. Aesthetically/fantasy-wise I think VK guys are really hot, but reality-wise I like guys with a little more meat on their bones that aren't so feminine-looking, if that makes sense. Besides not being too skinny, my personal physical preferences are must be neat/groomed without an extreme amount of body hair, decent skin, and a nice head of hair. Otherwise I'm not too fixated on body type- muscular, chubby, normal, etc. is all good with me. My only thing dating/relationship-wise is that from early on I was never interested in dating just to date or one night stands. I always needed to feel some kind of emotional connection to the person. Also, I could never date someone trying to impose their religion on me.

Definitely this if you are only here temporarily and can make the most out of the pass. Agreed just taking the atmosphere of a band/their fans the first time is good if you don't know what general VK live manners are yet. I have mixed feelings on furi. Sometimes it's really lame, sometimes it's simple/non-obtrusive enough to tolerate, sometimes it's crazy fun, and sometimes it just makes no sense and gets in the way. I like headbanging/fist pumping if the song is actually worth head banging or pumping to. Nothing worse than a band trying to get you to headbang to some crap pop rock lol. But if the shows are head banging/gyaku dai/etc. heavy, I think fans should have some general manners about it. Dir fans (especially a lot of the gyao) at the Androgynos shows were too aggressive and had no idea how to headbang without bumping into me/other fans and were bad about trying to push up front at times when it wasn't really appropriate. Push up during gyakudai and stuff, sure, but like using your fist to punch forward and make the other person move out of the way to avoid your fist so you can take that spot between them or just aggressively pushing people during jumping songs is kinda rude. Then again, gya who take too much space in the front and try to elbow people trying to fill in the space gaps out are also pretty rude. It's a fine balance, lol. Yeah, every band has their crazies who are obsessive/actually "in love" with their favorite member and will try to do everything they can not to have to share. It's dumb and immature. Rest easy knowing that if the girl is a jouren, her favorite member probably hates her guts tbh lol. A good band will watch closely what the girls/guys in the front are doing, and it's not uncommon for them to frown on or subtly discourage inappropriate behavior. More than once I've noticed a member making eye contact to check up on me or other fans in the front when girls or the occasional guy rudely tries to push themselves forward. Or someone will "out" that person on Tanuki and/or through gossip among fans to nip it in the bud. If there is an especially bad fan, sometimes it's common knowledge that a certain song was written especially with them in mind, and not in a flattering way lol. Yep, definitely switch out! And dear god, if you are a newb (especially a gaijin newb), the fastest way to become unpopular is to push your way from a distance to the front in an inappropriate manner. LOL the shit crowd surfers. At The ROMEO lives, the nice ones would at least take their shoes off or wear "soft" shoes. I feel like being kicked in the face by a crowd surfing casual lolita in platforms or otherwise is some kind of bangya right of passage lol. But like... the crappy bandmen from new/no1curr bands diving can be just as bad or worse lol.

The consensus (at least for PLC) seems to be that this system really works well for reserving fan club tix through eplus, but Loppi can be either first come (pay), first served (best number), or completely randomized. No idea how Pia does theirs... I only did a lot of reserving through the band way back in the day, Loppi, or fan club. If you reserve for multiple dates at one time from the fan club, they will try to switch up what ticket numbers you get. A lot bands don't actually like seeing the same girls get first row every time unless they have some interest in those girls. Horrible jouren in saizen can often make or break a band just starting out/small, too. (Make it hard for other interested parties to enjoy the live and get new fans.) But yeah, the girls who almost always end up in saizen will either all apply for as many tix as possible, pay one reservation at a time until they hit good numbers, and then they'll abandon the remaining reservations and/or sell off the tickets they already bought but don't need. Thanks for mentioning the cloak service! I forgot about that because I hardly ever use it. I know Toyosu Pit and bigger venues do it, but not all do. The few times I've done it, it's cost me 1,000 yen so I guess cost varies. Yeah, most live houses have a no BYOD rule, but whether they enforce it is a different story. I have had to throw mine out a number of times in the past, so I generally just hide it now. Better safe than sorry. I'm the kind of person that goes through two bottles per live, so I like having one during the show and then the drink ticket one after, and I don't want to spend 1,000 yen on bottled water at the venue lol. Yessss hotels can be horrible, especially in places like Osaka. (Tho if you are going to a show in/near Umeda they have a lot of cheaper options of varying quality.)

I figured it would be cool to have a thread like this for people just starting out going to lives, or maybe even some of you veterans out there that are always trying to make the most of your time and/or maximize efficiency getting in and out. Hack #1: Getting Good Ticket Numbers Hack #2: Getting a Locker Hack #3: Have Everything Ready Hack #4: How to Bring Your Own Drink/Keep It Out of the Way Hack #5: Buying Goods Hack #6: Trying to See Better if You’re Short Hack #7: Showing Your Spirit Hack #8: Making gya friends Hack #9: Saving Money on Transportation Costs Hack #10: Finding Cheap/Close Accommodation Hack #11: Buying Tickets Hack #12: Bringing/Giving a Gift If you know of more tricks, please add to the list by replying! EDITED 5/23/2018 with suggestions from the replies Also, thanks mod @platyfor the sticky!

That's awesome, OP! Pretty much any VK event going on during that time will be listed here: http://www.visunavi.com/live/2017/10/ Just click the calendar for what date(s) you're looking for. Events all over Japan are listed, although a good majority of them will probably be in Tokyo or Osaka. Re: CDs, vinyl, etc. which others have brought up... Almost everything will be cheaper if you order it used off of Amazon.jp and have it mailed to you (your hotel or a nearest convenience store) unless it is super rare. A ton of used/good condition old VK singles, especially for major bands, sell for like 1 yen. As a bonus, you don't have to waste your time/energy scouring a bunch of stores (just to likely pay more) and have to carry everything you buy with you while you sightsee. If you're into vinyl or rarer releases, and not just limited to VK, Disc Union stores are popular. As others mentioned, Shinjuku has little shops specializing in VK/j-rock like Disc Heaven, Puresound, and Like an Edison (Likea), or Brand X in Ikebukuro. These stores often hold events like handshakes, signings, etc. or give nice extras for new releases. If you're the type that's into just wandering into random lives, Shimo-kitazawa (kind of like the grown-up version of Harajuku) has a thriving music scene, or you could always check out the music dives in Shibuya, Shinjuku, etc. I would honestly avoid the super touristy vibe of Harajuku unless you plan on crossing over Meiji Dori and exploring the back alleys. The "real" VK culture/street fashion culture is long dead there unless you are into younger street fashion, but there are still some art and relics of the scene left in those back alleys where touristy and fast fashion shops have yet to touch. Lolita/goth and otaku are somewhat intersecting subcultures now, so as far as people watching, you're just as/more likely to find them in Ikebukuro, Akihabara, etc. now. If you're into VK/goth-style fashion, ignore the stores along Takeshita St. (maybe with exception to Closet Child) and go to La Foret, or the brand/boutique/second-hand select shops located along the back alleys previously mentioned. I'm not sure if it's still around, but Kenzi (THE DEAD P☆P STARS, ex-Kamaitachi) has (had?) at VK-themed bar called Star Cafe in Kabuki-cho. Also in Kabuki-cho you'll find BAR ZIN and Diablo, which are also VK-themed bars. They're kind of in the general vicinity of the live house Shinjuku Blaze.

So many Japanese people/businesss will do everything they can to not have to deal directly with foreigners when it comes to business. So either he is the only promoter with Japanese representatives or there is literally no one else in Europe to go to for these things. So unprofessional tho. This promoter is seems even more inept than whatever one(s) X Japan/Yoshiki uses when he does international shows, which I didn't think was possible.

So many bands wait until the last minute recently. Really shitty if you're ensei-ing and trying to figure out what time you need to arrive by to line up for buppan/how much cash you need to prepare. (Or like am I going to shink it or do I need to allocate that money to buppan? lol) I have no idea what they're waiting for tbh.

I've seen them once before, and it was a fun show for sure! Their fans were nice... They don't seem to get a lot of non-Japanese at their shows, so the people around me/in line next to me were really chatty. My only thing is non-VK/non-idol lives can be so disorganized lol. I somehow lucked out with a first row ticket, and people rushed the stage like 5 mins before anyone even came out. And it never let up so I was just squished like a sardine for 2 hours. I don't even know why peeps were rushing since there was a sizable gap between the audience and the stage, none of the dudes in the band are particularly hot, and they didn't come out to touch us or anything lol. Also my priorities just always tend to lie with PLC or Western indie artists gigs, especially since I'm not local to the bigger cities they usually play in D: But I want to go again, preferably with a bad number so I can just hang in the back and have enough room to dance along. I've only listened to Kanashii Ureshii but haven't bought the single. Waiting for this mini album to drop instead!

I've seen most of them at Mandarake. If enough people have an interest in old VK doujin, maybe I should pick some up next time. ^^;;;

Looking forward to this! I'm still debating whether or not to try and go to one of their tour dates this year or just catch a show during the second half next year D:

Just to revive this topic a little, because I know a lot of overseas gya go this route (I did lol) - JET has the best pay and is the most stable, but they will literally send you anywhere so if you're stuck in, say, Kumamoto or something, you're probably not gonna get to see many lives. It also has a 5-year limit. If you have decent Japanese skills, apply for a CIR position instead of teaching. Much less competition, so more chance of being accepted, and it will look better on your resume. - Dispatch teaching jobs are easier to get than JET and may offer you slightly better placement than JET. If not, after about 1-2 years of teaching in whatever location you do get, they'll usually let you transfer to a Tokyo or a bigger city position if they have a branch or contract there. However, you take more risk with pay, benefits, and shadiness than JET. - Eikaiwa jobs are easier to find around major cities. They usually pay more than dispatch, but offer the same risks. -If you can tough out teaching for at least 5 years and have good connections with the local expat/Japanese community, often you can score a direct hire teaching job with a school district. This is generally the biggest win-win. - If you come without a visa around early Jan-early Feb and are good about hunting down open positions, it's probably easier to get a teaching job in person. That would still give the employer ample time to get your visa processed for the upcoming Japanese school year in April. That said, you would need to be staying in country the whole time and take a trip to Korea at some point to finalize the visa process (cannot be issued in-country the first time), and this could cost a lot of money if you don't have someone to stay with. - I second not working without a visa or while it is being processed. Not only is it illegal, but you run the risk of your boss holding the visa over your head and taking advantage of the situation to make you do uncompensated overtime or something else undesirable for it. As far as which one is "better", that will also depend on you. All of these options will have pros and cons, and it is rare you will find a "good" teaching job your first year or even couple of years into teaching. The market is generally always over saturated and there are too many employers that take advantage of this. Teaching at a regular school often has the best hours (especially if your main goal is to attend lives) and requires less of you, but the English education system here is so lacking you might feel really unhappy from a "purpose" perspective or never see any real improvement in the kids you teach. On the other hand, with eikaiwa you will see more improvement in your students, but balancing the business side of things can be tough and demanding, and you may be busier or have to work more events than at a regular school. Whatever you do, decide your goals early on and stick with them. If you are planning to learn Japanese and get into something else as soon as possible, do that. If you like teaching, get certified and work on your skills so you can get those better positions down the road. The JET/dispatch/eikaiwa thing will burn you out and become a career dead end if you let it.

I don't think this exactly fits what you described, but it wasn't Jinkaku Radio, was it?

Hope you find something you like! They really are! I never get tired of seeing them because there's always something new to look forward to. I would imagine Mix lives had a similar atmosphere? (Not exactly sure because I only went to a few taibans they did when Yuki was still the vocalist.) Tho I guess you could say PLC (and us fans) have "matured" a lot over the years. I can't imagine them ever passing out flavored condoms again or making the same dirty jokes/MCs they used to lol

Well, honestly with all the doujin out there for MERRY, I think that void is filled regardless of fanfics. I used to read a lot of Malice Mizer and Dir fics back in high school. PIERROT fics were always pretty ick because both the overseas and Japanese (doujin) fandom were super into writing incest porn between Kirito and Kohta. I imagine it would be hilarious re-reading some of that stuff with a few drinks in me first, tho.