Japan Trip 3 - Day 1 recap / Kalafina / After Eden Live - part 2

I have finally finished my account of our first day in Tokyo on my third trip to Japan.  This includes the trip to Animate Shinjuku to see the Kalafina Museum and the Kalafina "After Eden" Special Live.  I had a few reasons for going to Japan again this year.  Top of the list was that I really wanted to see Kalafina live again,  I was also obsessed with the idea of going to the Good Smile Cafe and lastly, I just really wanted to go to Japan... I just like too many things about it. :)

So when I found out that Kalafina's After Eden Special Live will be on the 25th Nov, my three friends and I made plans to go to attend the concert after Itsuko confirmed that she managed to secure 3 tickets in the fan club lottery for priority booking.

The Plan

Danielle had just started her new job and hence, had very little leave that she could take, so in order to try and maximize our leave, we decided to leave Singapore on Thursday night to save one day of leave.  Our original plan was to try and reach Tokyo at 8-9 am in the morning and hangout at Ikebukuro till we could check in to our hotel, rest a little in the hotel and then head over to the Tokyo Dome City Hall to buy t-shirts, other concert memorabilia and then watch the concert.

What actually happened - First Tsukiji Market

In the end, we could not get the flight that we wanted and we ended up having to take the 945pm flight out of Singapore on Thursday night.  So by the time we reached Tokyo it would be approximately 5am in the morning and we would have nothing to do till we could check in at 2pm.  So in the end, we decided to go to Tsukiji Market and try and eat the omakase breakfast at Sushi Dai.  After getting through immigration and customs at Haneda airport, we headed to Tsukiji Station where we shoved our luggage into the lockers there before going out into the cold morning air to check out the area.

We easily found the outer market but we got kind of lost trying to find Sushi Dai.  In desperation, I actually had to go online to access Google Maps on my cell phone (ouch!!!).  The funny part about all this was that even with Google Maps we still managed to get more lost than we already was. I think we ended up accidentally wandering into the Seafood Wholesale area which is supposed to be out of bounds till after 9am.  There were lots of little vehicles zipping around and we were a little nervous as we tried not to get in the way.  I didn't take any photos in the market as I was getting anxious and after we managed to somehow make our way out of the Seafood Wholesale area I pulled out my cell phone and tried to find Sushi Dai for a second time using Google Maps and Navigation.  Some how we managed to stumble upon Sushi Dai but it was already 8am and a staff from the restaurant came over to tell us that the wait would be something like 3 hours!?!?!  After a little discussion amongst ourselves, we decided to try another restaurant and we ended up at Sushi Daiwa next door.

I really have no idea how good the sushi at Sushi Dai is but the sushi we had at Sushi Daiwa was pretty awesome and the chef that served us was a very nice gentleman who smiled and treated us quite kindly.  When we entered the restaurant, we were the only foreigners in that section.  There were a few Japanese seated quite near us and they soon realised that the three goofy looking and a little dishevelled young women that had just entered the restaurant were clueless foreigners.  As we ate our sushi, they tried to engage us in a little conversation using their limited knowledge of English.  My spoken Japanese is really pathetic and I was a little embarrassed and said very basic one word replies.  But I was really touched that they were really trying to make us feel welcomed and really trying to help us enjoy our very first meal in Japan.  Even if Sushi Dai's sushi was a million times better, I would forever be happy that we did end up in Sushi Daiwa that morning.  The food was incredible and the people were really awesome.

Zozoji Shrine / Tokyo Tower

After we finished our omakase breakfast and bid our farewell to the chef and the other awesome Japanese patrons in the little restaurant, we retrieved our luggage and made our way to Zojoji Shrine.  This was one of the things that we had to do in Tokyo on this trip.  Last year, because our stay in Tokyo was so short, we did not see the Tokyo Tower nor did we go to Asakusa and Danielle was rather disappointed about both those things.  So this time, when I planned this trip I made sure to include both these places and as Zojoji Shrine is very close to what is currently probably Japan's most iconic tower, I decided that we should go there first and then proceed to the tower itself should Danielle wish to get closer.

In the end, Danielle was just simply happy to be at the shrine and to see the tower from relatively close by.  So we shot photos of both the shrine and the tower and relaxed in the shrine's beautiful and peaceful grounds for a while.

By this time, we were really beginning to get quite tired.  All of us had been working pretty hard till Thursday and even though I had taken Thursday off, I was actually pretty exhausted.  I had just finished my very first stereo clean-up shot at work which had been very interesting and fun but extremely tiring and it didn't help that I had barely recovered from a mild flu and eye infection.  We had also just flown into Tokyo and even if we managed to get sleep on the plane, we were in economy class so it's usually not very good sleep anyway. So even if Danielle and Jessie didn't suggest that we head over to Ikebukuro and see if we could check-in early, I would have suggested it myself.

Ikebukuro

We got lost once again in Ikebukuro.  This would be the story of our trip in Tokyo actually. :)  As a result, we took the very long way round to get to our hotel.  Yeah.... we kind of walked around one city block or something like that when we could have come up an escalator, walk down a small side road and arrive at our hotel in 3 minutes.  So by the time we got to the hotel, we were quite glad to get out of the cold, use the toilet and leave our luggage with the hotel even though we could not check in yet.

We ate a donut at the depachika

We were really early and we really didn't know what to do, so we decided to walk around for a bit in Ikebukuro because we still had to pick up 2 gifts.  One for Manami who helped us to get tickets to the Ghibli Museum and one for Itsuko who helped us to get tickets to the Kalafina Live.  As we walked around the basement of one of the large malls in Ikebukuro we ended getting more food.  The takeaway food in these basement food areas is simply amazing.  Everything looks so good, we wanted to eat EVERYTHING.  But in the end, good sense prevailed and we ended up getting just a few things.

We also sampled several sweets and chocolates as we tried to decide what to get for Manami and Itsuko and we ended up getting them a box of rather tasty Millefeuille chocolate wafer snacks.  The young woman manning the counter was very nice. She realised quickly that we were foreigners buying gifts for our Japanese friends and after we made our purchase she gave us three bars of the chocolate wafer snacks as samples for us to taste.  We were really happy and I kept thinking that that was so generous.  In Singapore, you'll be lucky to get a bar as a sample and getting three bars, one for each of us, is pretty much unheard of back home.  See why I love going to Japan?  Complete strangers can be quite kind and generous. :-)

Lunch - snacks fr the depachika

But by the end of this little excursion, we were really dying to be able to just rest... so we made our way back to the hotel lobby where I actually fell asleep for a couple of minutes in one of the sofa seats.  I don't know if it was Jessie or Danielle who was the smart one.  One of them went up to the counter and said that although it was only 1pm, we were really tired and asked if we could just check in even though we were one hour too early.  Good thing for us, they did let us in and we all just kind of laid prone on the three separate beds for a while.

As we were scheduled to meet Itsuko at 230pm in the hotel lobby, we ate all the snacks we got from the basement takeaway counters for lunch... rested a little bit more, then went down to meet her.

Animate Shinjuku - Kalafina Museum

Before I left for Japan, I found out that Animate, the anime goods chain store, will be hosting a smaller version of the Kalafina Museum in different Animates in the country.  I knew too that when we were in Tokyo, one of the exhibitions will be hosted at the Shinjuku branch of Animate.  The museum will only be at the Shinjuku branch from the 19th-27th of Nov.  As I really didn't know just how things may pan out in the ensuing days, I decided to ask if Itsuko would help us find the Animate in Shinjuku before we went to the Tokyo Dome City Hall for the concert.

I really wanted to go to the Kalafina Museum because I knew that I may never have the opportunity to again and since it was right in Shinjuku, really close to Ikebukuro, it would be silly not to go.  I was really glad that I asked Itsuko for help because as I would discover on another day, Shinjuku Station is incredibly difficult to navigate for people who are unfamiliar with it.

So with Itsuko's help, getting to Animate Shinjuku was relatively painless.  I was thrilled to find out that a huge Mahou Shoujo Madoka poster adorned one section of the building, just above the entrance to the multi-story store.  The museum itself was on the second floor and was actually rather small which was what I expected so I wasn't disappointed.  I was also at the Animate to see if I would be able to pick up any goods that they sold in September at the Kalafina Cafe / Museum.  I also knew that Animate was giving out Artist Cards for select artist during that period and Kalafina was one of them.  So if we bought a Kalafina cd / dvd / blu-ray we would receive one of the cards and if we bought enough goods we could apply for a lucky draw to win their autograph.

According to Animate's website, there are 3 versions of the museum and the version at Shinjuku was the A version, the same as the one the Sendai branch hosted earlier in the month.  There was a a little blurp about the Kalafina Museum in the Kalafina Paper.  There are two photos showing the A and B versions of the museum.  The one at the bottom, with the white dresses is the version hosted at the Sendai branch which is the same one as the Shinjuku branch.  While I'm really not into fashion and not one of those who are really fascinated by Kalafina's costumes, it was still really quite cool to be able to examine them closely. :)

I looked at the goods but I think most of the really good stuff had already probably been snapped up before we arrived since we were there at the tail end of the campaign in Shinjuku... so no t-shirts for the t-shirt fiend. :(  I did get  something from the Kalafina Cafe goods section that I really, really wanted.  I picked up the wallet chain that Hikaru designed.  I may be a Keiko fan but I'm not that obsessed that I would buy stuff I don't need or want just because it was designed by her. :)  I already use wallet chains... two actually. :p  I'm totally not a girly-girl at all. :)  The wallet chain that Hikaru designed is actually really rather nice. It doesn't look like much in the official picture detailing all the goods on offer but the thing has a nice weight to it and is quite nice.  Although I'm not sure why there is a butterfly and key on the chain.

The chain is about 60 cm long which is a nice length.

After our trip to Animate Shinjuku, we made our way over to the Tokyo Dome City Hall.  We were going to try and buy concert memorabilia before the Live begins 7pm.

Kalafina's "After Eden" Special Live 2011 - before the Live

Getting to Tokyo Dome City Hall took more time than I anticipated and I was quite glad that we decided not to hangout some more in Shinjuku or have dinner first.  When we got to the location, we discovered a really long queue waiting to buy concert memorabilia.  After joining the line, Itsuko explained to us that one of the concert staff members was announcing that the sales of the concert memorabilia would close at a specific time (I can't remember exactly when... maybe it was 5pm).  That staff member also explained to us that we were at a point in the line which may not make it in by the cut-off time to buy the shirts.  That made all of us near that point in the line a little worried and I could see several people checking the clock nearby or their watches quite often.

In the end, I barely made it in.  I was separated from Jessie and Danielle who were just behind me and I was allowed in with two other people who were next to me.  They let in a few more after I had entered but Jessie and Danielle who were next, decided to give up their chance to enter to the more anxious looking Kalafina fans around them. :) I ended up buying the t-shirt, Kalafina Paper, Kalafina 2012 calendar for myself.  And on seeing that Jessie and Danielle had not made it in, I also got two copies of the After Eden limited edition album for Jessie and Danielle who's primary reason for wanting to enter the sales area was to buy these cds.  At that point in time, Itsuko was no longer with us.  She had left us some time ago to join the line that had tickets to the arena area while we had tickets to the balcony seats.  We then re-joined the queue to enter the concert venue for the Live.

By this time, we were really quite hungry, cold and thirsty.  But as we wanted to try and buy Itsuko dinner and also because we were very unfamiliar with our surroundings, we simply stayed in the line instead of trying to find a place to rest and eat.  Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we were allowed into the concert venue and we gratefully sank into our seats... cold, tired and hungry.  I think we made quite a sight because unlike the other people around us, we looked a little messy and very tired.  We had about an hour or so to rest before the concert began at 7pm and the three of us started to doze off.  Apparently, according to Danielle and Jessie, we attracted a few curious looks from several people and some glares from one particularly fervent Kalafina fan who was apparently quite annoyed that we were sleeping.  But HEY... have a heart... we had to fly for approximately 7 hours to get to Tokyo and haven't had a chance to take a much needed nap, nor have we had dinner and we had also been on our feet and in the cold for the last hour or so.  But I guess they didn't know that and I was basically oblivious as I was too busy trying to get some quality rest time so that I would be able to enjoy the up-coming Live.

After the Live, the three of us decided that, if possible, we would never arrange to fly in on the day of the Lives themselves, it's simply too tiring.  Admittedly, even though the Live was really, really enjoyable... during the lull moments which were mostly the MC moments since both Jessie and Danielle don't understand Japanese and I only have a very rudimentary knowledge of the language, the three of us had moments when we kind of zoned out.

Kalafina's "After Eden" Special Live 2011 - AWESOME!!!!

To tell you the truth, since I had to delay finishing this post for so long after the Live, I really don't remember too many details any more.  I probably should have jotted notes down etc but it is rather hard when I'm travelling and out for most of the day each day.  But I'm not the sort who goes to a concert or a movie to remember every single detail... I go for the experience and the overall experience was really fantastic.  And if I was to keep going on and on about how much we enjoyed it, I would be guilty of repeating myself. :)

What I do remember was that I felt that the songs from the "After Eden" album were really suitable for Lives.  While I still like most of their older songs more than the songs from "After Eden", it was during this Live that I appreciated the songs from "After Eden" more.  The songs in their third album have a lighter, more dance-able beat and so the first section of the concert, which comprised of a large mix of songs from their new album and a few old favourites, started out with the trio dancing and swaying much more than I remember them doing in the previous concerts.

They started in these dresses and ...

Pulled of their long skirts to reveal these, I think.

 (btw... I don't know who owns the copyright to these photos, I just downloaded them of the internet from various sources.)

Also this particular venue and the setup they had for the "After Eden" Special Live was very good.  The setup with the runway stage into the middle of the arena area allowed the three girls to get much closer to the fans and even in the balcony area I could see their faces quite clearly without binoculars which was just as well since I don't own binoculars.  By the time we reach the rockier songs like Magia, Magnolia and Destination Unknown etc, the crowd was quite pumped up and the crowd in the arena were really jumping and pumping the air etc.  I was actually a little jealous of them since it reminded me of my AFA11 experience and I wanted to jump and pump the air too but the people around me remained seated and Danielle, Jessie and I decided that we gaijins shouldn't stand and block anyone's view in case it was considered rude.

I didn't understand very much of what the girls said during the MC.  But in one of the earlier MCs... I think it's the second one because if I remember correctly, the first MC was very short and was simply the customary introduction and thanks.  In the second MC, they brought their successful BayFM banter to the stage.  The following is what I understood and remembered from this section. Keiko was the host this time round and she said something like it was time for "Fuyu no Corner" which means Winter Corner.  Wakana heard it wrongly and thought Keiko said "Fuyuu no Corner" which means "Floating Corner" and some teasing and laughter ensued.  It was quite funny actually.  I actually don't know what Wakana's answer to what Winter means to her.  Next up was Hikaru and I think she said that recently she'd become quite fond of niku-man which is a steam meat bun that is quite easy to find in most convenience stores in Japan.  It's a little like the meat "bao" we can find in our convenience stores in Singapore and at coffee shops etc... but the marinate in Japan is different and the texture of the bun is also different.  I like Japanese niku-man and the Chinese "bao" in Singapore a lot too and the "bao" is one of my favourite breakfast items.  Hikaru then goes on to talk about Japanese "junk food" (e.g. karage) in the convenience stores and how much she likes them.  After which she called herself "junk lover" (at least that's what I think she said) in a really adorable way which drew laughter from the audience.  Then it was Keiko's turn and she said something like in Winter, she thinks of ice-cream.  And just as my mind was thinking that Keiko always thinks of ice-cream, Wakana said something like "it's throughout the year, isn't it?" and the crowd laughed and clapped in agreement.  It was pretty funny. :)   This was the MC that I understood the most of.  There was one or two more MCs maybe, I don't remember how many more or what they said as a lot of the Japanese was too difficult and quick for me.  This second MC was the most memorable and was relatively long for an MC.

I think they wore these at the end.

Before long, we were near the end of the Live and Keiko's beautiful and powerful voice filled the hall as she sang the opening stanzas of "Mune no Yukue".  And at the end of the song, they bid the audience goodbye and disappeared.  And it was time to call the encore which is what we did.  This time, the call for the encore was really quite long... maybe 5 minutes long.  I actually started to get worried they weren't going to come out even though it is quite standard for them to come out for the encore.  I think the AFA11 experience kind of made me worry more than necessary since at the AFA, the call for an encore was cut short so that they could bring May'n on.  But happily they came out and this time they weren't in concert t-shirts, like they often are for their encores, but they were in dresses.  I generally don't pay as much attention to their dresses as some of Kalafina's other fans but I do remember that Wakana's dress was quite long because I remember she tripped and stumbled at one point but recovered her balance quickly and nicely.

Near the end of the Live, maybe even right at the very end... I don't quite remember, they released streamers over the audience in the arena.  Itsuko, who was in the arena, picked up a streamer and saved it for me.  That was really cool of her. :)



They ended the Live on a real high with the epic "symphonia" and the crowd was really high by then.  They went from end to end and down the centre to thank the audience and say their good byes and I was more in love with Kalafina then before.  If I can afford it and if Kalafina has another Live in the last quarter of this year, I intend go to Japan again just to see them perform.  All three of us and Itsuko could not stop talking about how great this Live was and how much we would like to see them live again.  Itsuko was particularly happy that they sang "symphonia" as it is one of her favourite Kalafina songs.  I was really happy they sang it too since I really like that song too and I though it was a really nice and epic song to end the concert.  It was really awesome and the atmosphere was electric.  The girls rapport with the audience seem to get better and better with each passing Live and they really sang very well.  True, it wasn't studio perfect, but I think people who expect studio perfect at a Live are a bit loopy.  I've heard Faye Wong live in concert before and she sounded near perfect, if not perfect.  And even though she sounded wonderful, I'm not as crazy about going to her lives because Faye just doesn't know how to relate to the audience.  And this is coming from a huge Faye Wong fan, I have every single album ever released and till today she still ranks as one of my favourite solo artist but when it comes to a Faye Wong concert... hmmmm.... let's just say I won't pay top dollar.

That said, it was time for us to leave the Tokyo Dome City Hall and even though we were all high and warm from the just concluded Kalafina Live, the cold autumn air still managed to seep through our jackets and we scrambled to get a few cans of hot coffee as we tried to find a place to eat in the vicinity.  In the end, virtually every place was closed except this ramen place called Ichiran.  And first, we were a little unsure if it was good because it turned out to be very tasty.  It's kind of a cool little restaurant.  You pay for your order at the entrance of the restaurant via a vending machine looking thing.  Then you take your ticket into the restaurant and you look to see which cubicles are unoccupied and you sit yourself in one of them.  Each cubicle sits one person and after you're seated, you can customise your ramen by circling a couple of options on the provided sheet of  paper and handing it over to the person behind the counter.  It's a little hard to describe but it's really kind of interesting eating in a little cubicle and the ramen was really, really tasty.  Of course, we were cold and very hungry so I'm not sure if this made the ramen taste better but we really liked it and Jessie almost ordered a second bowl.  Itsuko was initially quite apologetic that we couldn't sit at a proper table to eat as eating in separate cubicles isn't really ideal for interaction in a group but we reassured her saying that for us, it was quite interesting to eat in a place like that and the ramen was really very tasty.  I really did like my bowl of ramen and mine was pretty much just ramen only since I don't like Japanese charsiew and so customised it such that I didn't get any meat with my ramen, yet this was one of the tastiest bowls of ramen I have ever eaten.  Of course that's not saying much since I usually prefer soba to ramen and till I ate at Ichiran, all the ramen I have every eaten was in Singapore which is naturally not the best place to be looking for good ramen. :)

Tokyo Dome, bridge at night

After dinner, it was time for us to go back to Ikebukuro to our hotel and we bid Itsuko goodbye at the train station and that was pretty much the end of our very eventful first day in Japan. :) 

By this time I think most of you already know that the After Eden Special Live will be released on both dvd and blu-ray.  Available on  CDJapan ,  click me for the blu-ray and click me for the dvd release. First press release for both the Blu-ray and the DVD will be accompanied by a free mouse pad for those ordering from CD Japan.  Also, now that I have time to read that Sony announce properly... it seems like there will be 2 mousepads and postcard freebies as well.  There will be 3 different postcards given out, depending on which brick and mortar store the blu-ray / dvd is purchased from in Japan.  And there will also be two different mousepads given out depending on whether the dvd or the blu-ray was purchased.  I'll only be getting the blu-ray and will unfortunately not get the mousepad I prefer.  Still ... it's cool, I am way more interested in the blu-ray itself. :)

mousepad that'll come with the blu-ray

mousepad that'll come with the dvd release

Alrighty... that's it from me... am off to bed... but before I go... here is wishing all of you a Happy Lunar New Year. May the Year of the Dragon bring you much happiness, good health, prosperity, success, peace and lots more good music. :) Good night.