This entry will wrap up the Slayer series. I will probably have another post or two on other Loud Park 2009 acts in the future.
Tom does a fine job of singing the most morbid lyrics with a smile on his face.
Kerry didn’t have spiked arms on this evening, like he has when I have seen Slayer in the past, but he looked great anyway.
World Painted Blood was still a couple of weeks from being released when Slayer played at Loud Park in October of 2009. Tom didn’t have the lyrics down for the new songs so he looked down at cue cards when they played about three new tunes.
Posted on November 1st, 2009 under Japan. Tags: loudpark, metal, slayer. Comments Off on Slayer in Tokyo, Japan – Part 3
More Slayer photos and video can be found in my prior entry.
The above picture is obviously a mistake. I must have been hit at the moment I took it. But I like the results. A photo like this conveys Slayer more clearly than a sharp image.
Dave Lombardo has been back with the band for a while now. I thought his stuff with Grip Inc. was also very good. For some strange reason, they scheduled his signing session at the same time as Children of Bodom‘s live set so I didn’t get to meet him.
Here is the other video of Slayer that I captured, “Seasons in the Abyss.” Enjoy!
Posted on November 1st, 2009 under Japan. Tags: loudpark, metal, slayer, video. Comments Off on Slayer @ Loudpark – Part 2
For Halloween, my son and I took the train down to Kawasaki for probably the biggest Halloween event in Japan. I think I heard someone say 2009 was the 8th year they have been doing the Kawasaki Halloween Parade. Signs said that Kawasaki is Japan’s Halloween city. Kawasaki was smart to grab up this holiday as the Japanese seem to really be getting into Halloween.
I read somewhere that sales of Halloween goods were up between 20 and 40% this year in Japan. Somewhere else I read that items sitting on shelves quickly flew off the shelf once the packaging was changed to a Halloween theme.
The stores were packed and the crowds were large on Halloween in Kawasaki. The parade could probably be even bigger if they had the space. As it is now they limit the number of participants to 3,000 (3 groups of 1,000 with traffic let through in between the groups). Probably 20,000 – 30,000 spectators pour into Kawasaki, like us, to watch.
The above photo is of a small piece of the crowd. The main reason I took this picture is because of the sign in the upper right corner though. Mizonokuchi (溝口) is a place in Kawasaki that I lived back in late 1988 and early 1989. New Year’s Eve 1988 was the last time I was at the Kawasaki Station. Nearly 21 years later I came back for a different holiday. I’ve gone through Kawasaki on the train many times since, but this was my first time setting foot down in the place since the 80s.
I have loads of pictures and two more videos. You’ll get to see a few of the pictures and the other two videos if you check back over the next few days.
While most Japanese don’t really dress up for Halloween or go trick-or-treating like people do in the states, some dress up whenever they go to Harajuku. Today’s photos were not taken on Halloween or at Halloween parties. These pictures are of typical Harajuku wear (cosplay or costume play).
The Japanese love pretty things; they love cute things; they love to decorate. They don’t really celebrate Halloween the way we do in the states (although they love to dress up as you’ll see in tomorrow’s entry), but you see more pretty and cute Halloween decorations here than you do in the states. You can also eat hundreds of different Halloween foods in Japan, and I’m not counting the candy. The above picture is of a window display (which has been up since mid-September) on Waseda Doori near Takadanobaba Station that I pass frequently.
Below is a photo taken of an underground store next to the Ginza Station on the Marunouchi Subway Line.
Posted on October 30th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: food, halloween. Comments Off on Halloween window displays
I have never seen so many pumpkins and Halloween decorations as I have this past month and a half in Japan. There was nothing even remotely Halloweenish 20 years ago in this country. Now Halloween is everywhere. Maybe 20 years from now there will be pilgrims and turkeys all over the place in November? I doubt it, but I certainly wouldn’t have predicted Halloween’s current Japanese fate back in 1989.
