Showing posts with label Saitama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saitama. Show all posts

Ryan and I at the MTV VMAs in Japan! (5)

7:07 PM by Ren , under , ,

MTV Japan Video Music Awards

As you may know from my last blog entry, I found out on Friday morning that Ryan and I would be receiving free passes to the Japan VMAs from his manager. We originally scheduled to arrive in Saitama, a prefecture north of Tokyo where the event was held, meet Ryan's manager and his wife, and go together. Unfortunately plans changed last minute and Ryan and I had to go to Tamachi station in Tokyo to get our tickets because Ryan's manager and wife became unable to go.

The Saitama Super Arena


A glimpse of the Red Carpet Show


Exchanging our vouchers for passes


The business cards that Ryan and I made for entry into a party around a month ago have been extremely useful lately. When exchanging our vouchers for passes into the venue we unexpectedly were required to submit business cards. Luckily we came prepared! We also passed them out to a bunch of people we met at the show.

In the arena, ready for the show!


The show started at 6:00PM sharp to the sound of Green Day's drums. I will let the following video do the talking. This was my favorite show of the night, because I always wanted to see Green Day live!




There were also performances by Boa, The Black Eyed Peas, Ciara, and some Japanese bands. Having worked at countless concerts, I have a decent idea of what it takes to put on a show. This show, though, had an incredibly elaborate stage setup, film crew, pyrotechnics, and more, which made for the most impressive concert setting I had ever seen in my life. I kept wondering how much it must have cost!

Katy Perry's show and attire were very fun!


I was very pleased with an unscheduled, surprise lifetime achievement award given to the Beastie Boys, who I also have wanted to see live very much. The three of them appeared on stage, first as silhouettes on a big white screen, then the screen lifted to reveal that the three of them were actually there! They all had microphones turned on, and the beat for "Sabotage" was playing, but they didn't perform. The cultural and language barrier made their acceptance of the award a little funny and after a long silence one of the Beastie Boys blerted out "Awkwarrrrrrd." That was one of the funniest moments of the night.

Making an exit


Two-thousand or so people had standing room admission to the show Ryan and I looked down at them from our seating area as the show ended. I was jealous of them when the music was playing, but it was nice to have a seat to watch the show from. I ran into a former student of mine outside the venue who apparently watched the show from the standing area.

Ryan taking a picture for some girls who asked in English


We ended up not getting into any afterparties even after trying our best to contact Ryan's connection at MTV Japan. We ended up going out for drinks at an all-you-can-drink place which was only around $10 for an hour and a half. I unfortunately leave here in just over a week but luckily I am under budget overall for this trip.



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Weekend Trip in Early January (0)

10:21 PM by Ren , under , , ,

In January my buddy Justin from Chico, his sister, and our friend Jun spent a weekend at Jun's place in Saitama. Saitama is a prefecture bordering Tokyo and is quite rural.

The train rides there were confusing and we ended up getting lost. Once we arrived at his station, Jun took us to his place by car. His neighborhood was somewhat suburban with neat little community gardens.

Train


Neighborhood





We all decided to go out for dinner and ended up at an izakaya (a type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks and often hosts parties). We had some good food and drink and even ventured to eat whale. I think this picture of us is when we had the whale but I can't quite remember as it was over a month ago.

A small child kept looking at us through the table divider and saying "obake!" (ghosts!)




We Went Next Door and Got Dessert





We then walked to a DVD rental shop and I will never forget how massive the adult video section was. If you too had seen it you would understand how it, in an odd way, stayed lodged in my mind and made it to my blog over a month later. I forget what movie we rented, however it wasn't pornography and I ended up falling asleep.

We all slept in the living room using just one tokatsu (A low, wooden table frame covered by a heavy blanket, upon which a table top sits. Underneath is a heat source, often built into the table itself.) I woke up sore and, rightfully so, feeling like I had slept on the floor. We then went to Jun's high school which is affiliated with my (Waseda) university. I am assuming this is one of the nicest high schools in the nation and it was beautiful with its tree-covered landscape.







Okuma: Waseda's Founding Scholar



A quick note about Waseda University's prestigiousness, I have seen pictures of two of the last three presidents here on campus. The current president has yet to visit.

Oh ya, Justin, his sister and I went to an Indian restaurant in the Ueno district and saw this girl sleeping at a table for two. There were people waiting to be seated so she was in the way. Isn't it like magic how she manages to hold her phone as she sleeps? You wouldn't believe how young Japanese women are able to use their phones. I need to get video of it someday.



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