By the time Judas Priest hit the stage, more than 9 hours after I arrived at Tokyo Makuhari Messe, I was spent–tired, thirsty, and hungry. My SD cards were nearly full, and I had no available space left for a video. The above photo did come out rather nice though. I took it a split second before Priest hit the stage. The green on the screen was “painted” on with laser and moving rapidly. The camera froze the completed drawing an instant before it disappeared.

Another Judas Priest picture from Loud Park can be found here.

I first saw Priest back in the 80s. I saw Rob Halford when he had his solo act going in the late 90s. The show hasn’t changed much, but they did do something different. To kick things off they played the entire “British Steel” album from beginning to end. “British Steel” is a good album, but it is not their best, IMO. I could certainly have done without “Living After Midnight” which is one of the most overplayed songs in the history of radio.

The setlist was something like this:
Rapid Fire
Metal Gods
Breaking The Law
Grinder
United
You Don’t Have to Be Old to Be Wise
Living After Midnight
The Rage
Steeler
The Ripper
Prophecy
Hell Patrol
Victim Of Changes
Freewheel Burning
Diamonds & Rust
You’ve Got Another Thing Coming

I split during “Diamonds & Rust” to beat the crowd to the train station and because I figured the only thing left was “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” which I didn’t want to hear again. I was right.

For me, the Priest set was worth it with “The Ripper” and “Victim of Changes.” Substitute “Genocide” and “Tyrant” or “Beyond the Realms of Death” for “Living After Midnight” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’,” and I would have been really pleased.

Day one of Loud Park was over. Day two I kept myself in better condition by drinking and resting more. I had lots of energy all the way through Slayer. Stay tuned for those pics and video.

Posted on October 17th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: judas priest, loudpark, metal. Comments Off on Judas Priest @ Loud Park 09

Loud Park was the first time in 19 years that I witnessed Megadeth live. Before that was 1987 at The Stone in San Francisco on the “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” tour. Dave Mustaine has really mellowed over the years. He was positively happy and in a good mood throughout the set.

Both Dave and Chris Broderick, Megadeth’s recent guitar addition, are in really good shape for their ages–for any age really. Maybe they have hired a band chef and personal trainer or something.

Dave, and the band, came out for an encore at the time they were supposed to be done. (All other bands, both days, stuck exactly to the schedule.) He said they would let him squeeze in another song. Then he said, in a way that is totally Dave Mustaineish, he doesn’t like to follow the rules. He did technically play only one more song (Holy Wars), but in the middle he threw in an extra song (Mechanix) so Megadeth ended up going way over time. Everyone loved it. Judas Priest, to stay on schedule, had to start their set just a few minutes later.

The setlist (or set list) was something like this:
Set The World Afire
Wake Up Dead
Hangar 18
Skin O’ My Teeth
Headcrusher
She-Wolf
In My Darkest Hour
Tornado of Souls
1,320
Devil’s Island
Kick The Chair
Sweating Bullets
Rattlehead
Symphony Of Destruction
Peace Sells
Holy Wars Intro (Mechanix) Holy Wars Conclusion

Here is Megadeth doing Hangar 18. Crank it up. This video came out pretty good considering how crazy the crowd was around me.

Posted on October 17th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: concert photography, loudpark, megadeth, metal, video. Comments Off on Megadeth @ Loud Park 2009

Arch Enemy’s appearance at Loud Park was one of the main reasons I wanted to attend. I have previously seen many “similar” Swedish bands like Opeth (four times), Amon Amarth, and Dark Tranquility (twice). But Arch Enemy is one of the few bands from Sweden that I like who I hadn’t had a chance to see, until now.

Due to hunger (as I had to grab something to eat before they began), and tiredness, I didn’t have a great spot to view them. The photos came out rather well zoomed up at 17X as their lighting was better than it was for some other acts at Loud Park. The sound wasn’t good though. Indoor arenas are not ideal for sound quality. If you aren’t standing near the mixing board the music isn’t clear.

Another photo of Arch Enemy from Loud Park 09 can be seen in this blog entry.

The set list was something like:
Bury Me an Angel
Revolution Begins
The Immortal
Ravenous
Beast of Man
Snow Bound
Pilgrim
The Last Enemy
I Will Live Again
Demonic Science
Bridge of Destiny
Nemesis
Fields of Desolation

Angela Gossow is the lead singer for Arch Enemy. She spoke, in English, between a few songs and could barely breathe. She was quite winded from sprinting around the stage and her “growling” vocal style.

This video didn’t come out great, but here is a brief taste of part of Arch Enemy’s “Ravenous.” I apologize for the short length and incomplete song, but my SD chip filled up with this video.

Posted on October 16th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: arch enemy, concert photography, loudpark, metal. Comments Off on Arch Enemy @ Loud Park 2009

Waseda University has the largest number of international students in Japan at almost 3,000. Although the vast majority are from Asia, and hence don’t stick out in a crowd, it isn’t as uncommon to see Caucasians walking between Waseda University and Takadanobaba Station as it is in most other parts of Japan. There aren’t nearly as many gaijin faces as you’ll see in Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Hiroo, or Roppongi though. That said, shops on Waseda Doori, linking Waseda University and Takadanobaba Station, aren’t very surprised to see us. However, if we stray off the beaten path a bit, things change rather dramatically.

We live on the border of Shinjuku-Ku and Bunkyo-Ku. A three-minute walk to the north puts us in Bunkyo-Ku. Outside of Ikebukuro, there don’t seem to be many Caucasians in Bunkyo-Ku. So when we walked into the above restaurant in Bunkyo-Ku it felt like we were the first foreigners to have ever entered their doors.

The couple that ran the place seemed slightly worried until they realized I could communicate with them just fine. The lady was so sweet. She kept bringing more and more side dishes over even though we hadn’t ordered them. We received the “special” treatment.

I ordered sukiyakidon (thinly-sliced beef with raw egg, onions, and a sweet sauce over rice). Everything else you see in the above photo was a free “gaijin” bonus.

My wife ordered ebitenpura soba (battered and fried shrimp in a soup of thin noodles) and had a few freebies tossed in as well.

Posted on October 15th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: food, nishi-waseda, people. Comments: 2

We’ve been in Japan for two months now. I remember on those first couple of days thinking that I should immediately take lots of pictures of interesting things in our neighborhood as they would soon become so common in my head that I would forget how curious they are to someone not living here. For whatever reason, I didn’t take those photos and now I can’t remember what those things were. As I originally thought, my immediate surroundings have become too familiar and are no longer strange.

On my walk to Waseda University I pass the above home. It is just around the corner from our apartment. While you may think that Tokyo is all high-rise apartment buildings, there are actually many neighborhoods with few such buildings. Ours is one of them.

The lady who lives in the above home is frequently out watering her plants or chatting with her neighbors. On this morning she is airing her futons, which is a common sight when the weather is nice.

A close up of some of her plants and flowers revels that Mrs. Uchida has won an award. If you can read Japanese click on the above photo to see her award for flowers and greenery.

When a matsuri is going to happen in the neighborhood these lanterns and gohei line the streets.

The streets of Japan, even a big city like Tokyo, are usually spotless and would be very aesthetically pleasing were it not for the power lines that obstruct and foul the view. Maybe one of these days they will be put underground.

Here is a rare camera angle that actually was able to capture a bit of Tokyo without any wires. This home doesn’t look very Tokyoish. It looks more like one you could find in Denmark or other parts of Europe. Our neighborhood has many such “different” homes. I’ll show you some more in later posts.

Posted on October 14th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buildings, gohei, lanterns, nishi-waseda, Tokyo. Comments: 5