anakuro

personally I wouldn't say them not looking at you is snubbing you
 
Also I was always fond of sitting on the floor and headbanging. I think that's one thing I will miss from VK haha
 
I think my fav non-VK experience was Bara from HONE YOUR SENSE handing me a beer from the stage😂
 
As for VK....
 
I can't count catching picks/drum sticks/etc as special, like them looking at me,  talking directly to me or being given the mic to say something/scream at a live because that's honestly not that unusual.
 
I've gone to like 200 VK lives so under a spoiler because there's a lot of little things (and this is the condensed version)

back when i was bangya and had the time and money to travel for concerts i was still generally stuck on only being able to go on saturdays, since i lived in shimane and there was no way i could get back if it was a sunday. So basically i chose the dates that were on saturdays and went for it--I never went off of honshu mostly because of the time and money it would take to go somewhere outside of the hiroshima~tokyo area.
 
Depending on where I went determined my method of transportation. 
Tokyo: cheapest was overnight bus but because of foot swelling issues and the fact that it was 11hrs, etc etc I went for the second cheapest option which was flying Nagoya: before the foot swelling really happened I would bus there then shinkansen back. Eventually I stopped going to Nagoya. Hiroshima~Osaka: bus(es) As for accommodations I would generally go for the business hotel route too. Hostels would be cheaper but I dont want to share a room with strangers, basically. Also I wanted my own bathroom. 
 
After a while I would just stay with friends in whatever city I went to. And to be honest if I have any piece of advice it is that: stay with friends. Cutting out the cost of hotels/accommodations can make an otherwise expensive trip reasonable.
 
Eventually I moved to Osaka and stopped enseiing. I just went to lives there, which is still mostly true since I just go to metalcore and hardcore now instead of VK.
 
 
I would also recommend using sites like bushikaku.net to compare bus prices. 
Also: as an ex-bangya I regret how much money I spent on cheki before. they're useless. get a towel or something instead.

back when i was bangya and had the time and money to travel for concerts i was still generally stuck on only being able to go on saturdays, since i lived in shimane and there was no way i could get back if it was a sunday. So basically i chose the dates that were on saturdays and went for it--I never went off of honshu mostly because of the time and money it would take to go somewhere outside of the hiroshima~tokyo area.
 
Depending on where I went determined my method of transportation. 
Tokyo: cheapest was overnight bus but because of foot swelling issues and the fact that it was 11hrs, etc etc I went for the second cheapest option which was flying Nagoya: before the foot swelling really happened I would bus there then shinkansen back. Eventually I stopped going to Nagoya. Hiroshima~Osaka: bus(es) As for accommodations I would generally go for the business hotel route too. Hostels would be cheaper but I dont want to share a room with strangers, basically. Also I wanted my own bathroom. 
 
After a while I would just stay with friends in whatever city I went to. And to be honest if I have any piece of advice it is that: stay with friends. Cutting out the cost of hotels/accommodations can make an otherwise expensive trip reasonable.
 
Eventually I moved to Osaka and stopped enseiing. I just went to lives there, which is still mostly true since I just go to metalcore and hardcore now instead of VK.
 
 
I would also recommend using sites like bushikaku.net to compare bus prices. 
Also: as an ex-bangya I regret how much money I spent on cheki before. they're useless. get a towel or something instead.

Good tips!   I agree, if you can stay with friends that will save you a lot. I forgot to mention that sometimes, depending on the area, Airbnb is much cheaper than staying in a hotel and usually better than a hostel. I use bushikaku a lot in general when going anywhere long distance by bus, so yeah def a good site.
 
I also agree about the cheki. You can always use a shirt, towel, or bracelets/jewelry at the next live, but the cheki (or back in my bangya days it was usually just photosets) I just ended up sticking somewhere and not caring much. (Same goes for pamphlets, unless it was a really memorable show.) The resell value for cheki and pamphlets are usually pretty bad for indie bands, too.
 
Hopefully your foot got better and you don't have any trouble enjoying lives now. 

back when i was bangya and had the time and money to travel for concerts i was still generally stuck on only being able to go on saturdays, since i lived in shimane and there was no way i could get back if it was a sunday. So basically i chose the dates that were on saturdays and went for it--I never went off of honshu mostly because of the time and money it would take to go somewhere outside of the hiroshima~tokyo area.
 
Depending on where I went determined my method of transportation. 
Tokyo: cheapest was overnight bus but because of foot swelling issues and the fact that it was 11hrs, etc etc I went for the second cheapest option which was flying Nagoya: before the foot swelling really happened I would bus there then shinkansen back. Eventually I stopped going to Nagoya. Hiroshima~Osaka: bus(es) As for accommodations I would generally go for the business hotel route too. Hostels would be cheaper but I dont want to share a room with strangers, basically. Also I wanted my own bathroom. 
 
After a while I would just stay with friends in whatever city I went to. And to be honest if I have any piece of advice it is that: stay with friends. Cutting out the cost of hotels/accommodations can make an otherwise expensive trip reasonable.
 
Eventually I moved to Osaka and stopped enseiing. I just went to lives there, which is still mostly true since I just go to metalcore and hardcore now instead of VK.
 
 
I would also recommend using sites like bushikaku.net to compare bus prices. 
Also: as an ex-bangya I regret how much money I spent on cheki before. they're useless. get a towel or something instead.

looks like the government is finally cracking down on visual kei  

@anakuroThank you so so much! <3 

I didn't buy the CD and haven't been going to VK lives so I honestly don't have anything to contribute right now
 
as for in stores...
a lot of people leave buying the CD for the in store until last might so generally you don't have to worry about it... just if you do that you'll probably get a shit number and have to stand at the back. 
A lot of these places don't ship overseas and even if they have the option for letting you pick it up in stores AND reserve an in store ticket at the same time they'll only hold it for you for like a week. Like an Edison holds CDs for one month.
Unless the CD isn't out yet you shouldn't even have to fill out anything to get an in store ticket. 
The CD order forms that you are given you just have to fill out 1. your name 2. your address 3. your phone number and then the CD info but tbh the shop staff normally fills out the CD info for me. 
If the CD is out you just go buy it and say you want to participate in the in store and they just give you the ticket right then and there.
I'm not as up to date on stores in Tokyo or internet mail order forms since I live in Osaka and can just go to the stores myself these days but all the stores methods are just variations on a theme

@doombox yeah i really appreciate BDP when it comes to the composition.  I prefer BDP live honestly...probably because I can appreciate the instrumental bits more w
 
 
@itsukoii yeah while some screaming types are not my cup of tea, i do appreciate range... on the other hand I still love Bara (HONE YOUR SENSE's vocalist). I appreciate the fact that he's screaming so clearly so I can make out a lot of it lol Plus unrelated to his style of singing he's incredibly nice 👌  To be honest, HYS in general is full of some pretty great guys.
 
Anyway! Glad you liked like a corpse too. Their stage presence is very similar to suggestions, actually. One time the other day the bassist got off the stage and just laid on the (dirty) floor playing while staring up at the ceiling ww
 
Here's another video of suggestions where he legit tosses himself over the rail for your viewing pleasure
It definitely leaves an impression www but it's shit like that that I love. He's so committed on stage to this persona 👌
If you ever come to Japan and get a chance to see them you should. it's an experience 👌 Plus they're actually quite nice ww

@doombox yeah i really appreciate BDP when it comes to the composition.  I prefer BDP live honestly...probably because I can appreciate the instrumental bits more w
 
 
@itsukoii yeah while some screaming types are not my cup of tea, i do appreciate range... on the other hand I still love Bara (HONE YOUR SENSE's vocalist). I appreciate the fact that he's screaming so clearly so I can make out a lot of it lol Plus unrelated to his style of singing he's incredibly nice 👌  To be honest, HYS in general is full of some pretty great guys.
 
Anyway! Glad you liked like a corpse too. Their stage presence is very similar to suggestions, actually. One time the other day the bassist got off the stage and just laid on the (dirty) floor playing while staring up at the ceiling ww
 
Here's another video of suggestions where he legit tosses himself over the rail for your viewing pleasure
It definitely leaves an impression www but it's shit like that that I love. He's so committed on stage to this persona 👌
If you ever come to Japan and get a chance to see them you should. it's an experience 👌 Plus they're actually quite nice ww

@itsukoii no problem I go to a lot of metalcore now which as you can imagine means i end up seeing a lot of deathcore too
 
HOTOKE was pretty great live and tbh so is BDP. I think the recording lost a lot of the quality for BDP because the composition is actually quite good--the vocals arent my thing, though, as i mentioned before. They're young and have been around for like two? months so they just need time 
 
You might want to check out suggestions & like a corpse too if you havent. I think like a corpse calls themselves deathcore. suggestions is actually downtempo deathcore and as they like to say "sadcore" 
 
 
I posted a different video of suggestions before so here's a different one
 
the vocalist of suggestions is very committed to creating the atmosphere ( @doombox I found a video of it)
like a corpse has a very similar stage presence 
 
 
 

@itsukoii no problem I go to a lot of metalcore now which as you can imagine means i end up seeing a lot of deathcore too
 
HOTOKE was pretty great live and tbh so is BDP. I think the recording lost a lot of the quality for BDP because the composition is actually quite good--the vocals arent my thing, though, as i mentioned before. They're young and have been around for like two? months so they just need time 
 
You might want to check out suggestions & like a corpse too if you havent. I think like a corpse calls themselves deathcore. suggestions is actually downtempo deathcore and as they like to say "sadcore" 
 
 
I posted a different video of suggestions before so here's a different one
 
the vocalist of suggestions is very committed to creating the atmosphere ( @doombox I found a video of it)
like a corpse has a very similar stage presence 
 
 
 

@anakuroholy shit! thanks so much for the recommendations!
 
HOTOKE were a band i remember being recommended to me months ago, but i must've got side-tracked in getting music from other bands, because i don't have any HOTOKE in my library.
 
Betrayer Death Penalty is... definitely interesting LOL, but not bad tbqh. i'll be looking more into both bands, thanks again!

btw i just realized you didn't mention HOTOKE so
 
I saw them with HYS, LDD & IOG so I'd put them in that group. Idk if you already know them or not.
 
Betrayer Death Penalty is pretty new but definitely worth checking out 
the fucking geezer part always cracks me up. their bassist is insane.
the singer is at like literally ever live i ever go to; I always see him around lol his screams arent really my thing but deathcore i'm pretty picky about in general for that reason💁

@doomboxwill do!
Suggestions is an e x p e r i e n c e live and the fact that they call themselves sadcore makes me love them a little more :') but yeah I really like BmW too. At first I was kinda meh about them but they grew on me ww
 
Yeah it's no problem! Give me the deets on facebook ok??
 
Right :'( but I will go to tokyo if I can spare the money for it too. I already told sable hills & abstracts's guitarist about my predicament lmao 

@anakuroSpam me anytime!   I have heard Sable Hills before, good stuff! Suggestions were good too but I think I dug BMW just a little more. If it's not any trouble I'd love if you can grab that Earthists release for me. Thanks so much! 
 
Oh that's just evil of them. How are you supposed to choose!! lol

@doombox i've just been going around seeing LDD and HYS and getting exposed to all these random bands along the way without knowing who the f they are haha i guess maybe I should start giving you recommendations from the super indies bands I keep seeing then👌 (if so: Breathe my Words, Sable Hills, Suggestions)
 
Actually the earthists live I'll go to is their release party. did you need me to grab you their CD while I'm there?? 
Yeah, I really like abstracts' melodic version of djent; it's so chill. I'm so frustrated that they're playing with Sable Hills in Osaka on May 21st and May 21st is also HYS' first oneman in Tokyo. I can't be in two places at once!!!
 

@anakuroALL MY JEALOUSY!! XD I need to go finding some new metalcore stuff myself soon, I'm falling behind lol. But I really like Earthists so I hope you enjoy the show! ♥ Abstracts and Earthists have this melodic take on djent that I love. I think Earthists just released something new recently that I need to pick up too. *o*

@anakuroSorry I'm late on seeing your post here but I got a few you might like? 
 
(mildrage is new to me but I saw them in the recommended while I was grabbing the links for the others and sounded alright to me.)

@doomboxthanks bro!!
tokage recommended abstracts and mildrage to me too which both get a thumb up. i like abstracts' take on djent and the guitarist is pretty cool👌which i mean i've known about abstracts for 50 years because of hikari but i never got around to looking into them really for that whole time, oops
I saw paledusk recently and thought they were all right, definitely something to keep an eye on. I've also seen FOAD twice and they were pretty good👌
I'm actually going to be seeing EARTHISTS on saturday iirc when going to see Suggestions & Devil's Inlay, so I'll definitely be keeping my eye open for them. I like the MV !!
I'm really feelin Graupel !!

they were just doing OK tbh
they've plateaued and interest has been waning for a while imo. I've never seen them get more than a few rows getting into it at event lives. Most of their songs people just don't even bother with--they just wait for them to play kangoku rockmen.
They really have never been able to get past being the The Kangoku Rockmen Band.
 
The recording quality has really suffered since they left badegg box and the newest single was forgettable.
 
they were pretty fun live (well, for the most part). I enjoyed seeing them whenever I did and hope I make it in time on Friday. live was way better than CDs imo. but I'm also in the camp that I just kind of accepted shiki's vocals. I hope they get a new vocalist but remember N@H is technically on hiatus too. So, I wonder if GIGAMOUS will come back at all.

JET has the best pay and support but will stick you anywhere. Recently they added a crap ton of Tokyo locations so there's a good chance of Tokyo now. But you had to apply last fall/winter in order to go this August.
 
A lot of those big companies that hire overseas you should be wary of because they are considered "black companies." Use websites like glassdoor to check for reviews on specific companies.
 
Generally you want to avoid eikaiwa.
 
Do not come on a tourist visa and try to find a job it is stressful and frankly extremely difficult. Likewise: don't work on a tourist visa.
 
One of the best sites to check for job listings is gaijinpot. It's honestly practically the only one.

@Tokage
not exactly what I was lookin for but you know I love your recommendations and stuff with hardcore influence 👌 thanks!

Bratbax - Apopstosis
Proxyon - Saisei
Deathvel (Melvel)  - Mezame Yumezame
 
Gifts
 


And other various flyers

JET has the best pay and support but will stick you anywhere. Recently they added a crap ton of Tokyo locations so there's a good chance of Tokyo now. But you had to apply last fall/winter in order to go this August.
 
A lot of those big companies that hire overseas you should be wary of because they are considered "black companies." Use websites like glassdoor to check for reviews on specific companies.
 
Generally you want to avoid eikaiwa.
 
Do not come on a tourist visa and try to find a job it is stressful and frankly extremely difficult. Likewise: don't work on a tourist visa.
 
One of the best sites to check for job listings is gaijinpot. It's honestly practically the only one.