The next morning some fellow JETs and I headed back to down to Tokyo for Summer Sonic. If you don’t know what it is, google it. Other than the sweltering heat and expensive beer, it was a blast! Summer Sonic is held in Chiba at the Marine baseball stadium. The place is absolutely massive! It also had five additional stages around the stadium. I couldn’t find exact attendance numbers of the entire event, but last year’s attendance was over 190,000 people. Capacity at the Marine Stage was 30,000+ and the Mountain Stage was 20,000+, not including the Sonic Stage, Dance Stage, Beach Stage, and Island Stage.
Here’s a link so you can see what it looks like:
I missed out on seeing 3OH!3 and Taylor Swift, but did catch 30 Seconds to Mars, Nickleback, The Offspring, Sum 41, Everlast, Jason DeRulo, and Jay-Z. I have loads of pictures and videos from the first day. Unfortunately, my camera filled up and died before I could document the second. But I did get videos of Jay-Z’s killer performance, so check them out. We also met a Kiwi, an Aussie, and a South African prince (seriously) who taught me Russian slang, such as “zhopa peyanee”, which supposedly means being really really drunk. That’s not the exact wording, but it was a little too inappropriate to reprint. I don’t know why you’d ever want to be that faded but they were trying to get there.
After the first day of the concert we all grubbed at an “Izakaya”. This is a type of Japanese drinking establishment that also serves food to accompany the drinks. Everyone orders and shares small plates of yummy drunk food. While walking there we passed a small Japanese dog called a shiba inu (cuter than the pig). Why do the Japanese have to make everything small and adorable?! It’s like Pokémon – ya gotta collect them all! (that was for you Kirby).
There is a famous story about a larger Japanese dog breed (the Akita), which has been adapted for American audiences, called Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (featuring Richard Gere). The Japanese story is about a loyal dog named Hachiko. This special friend would accompany his master to the train station every day and return each afternoon to greet him after work. Sadly his master departs one day, passes away and never returns to the station. Hachiko faithfully returns to the same spot at the station the very next day, and every day for the next nine years to wait for his beloved master. During his daily visits, Hachiko touches the lives of many who work near and commute through the town square. Today, a bronze statue of Hachiko sits in his waiting spot outside the Shibuya station in Japan as a permanent reminder of his devotion and love. We saw the statue in Shibuya station but alas, the camera was already dead.
Finally, to satisfy my late night sweet tooth, we stopped at a bakery called Mister Donut. Their mascot is a lion whose mane is a donut (go figure). He takes his mane off and eats it while saying, “mochi mochi mochi”.
Again, the Japanese can make anything cute, even cannibalism.
well, i kinda stumbled upon your blog by sheer accident, or maybe not -- my story is a reverse of yours -- i lived in japan for 12 years (kyoto, mostly), and moved to portland, oregon, which is where you are from. seems like you are having a reasonable amount of fun -- i know i did. japan is an endlessly seductive culture, esthetically at least. your description of the izakaya was vivid, and certainly brought back some lovely memories. incidentally, being a (former) linguist, i can't resist: the russian expression is "pyanyy v zhopu" or, alternatively, "pyanaya zhopa". both mean someone drunk off their kiester...if alcohol is to be consumed in japan, i feel that the best bet is junmai ginjo kind of sake -- drunk cold or room temp only. there is a huge variety, and no hangover to speak of the next day.
ReplyDeletehave fun! japan can be a lovely place.