3.6.23

Mugen Loop ~teaser~

If you are satisfied with machine translation of B-T, that's your choice. You have free will to choose convenience over meaning, and those of us who were trying to create meaning also have free will to die in peace and leave this sick sad world behind and probably be much better off for having given the fuck up already. (Kind of joking about that... probably... it took a lot of effort to grow a whole carbon-based 3D body and we're stingy and don't want to give it up too soon. Oh shit, Cayce, corporeal you say? What's the world coming to? My dears, we're asking the same question.) 

But, in any case we'll tell you here and now that while GPT or Deepl might tell you what the "words" mean, no bot is ever going to tell you what the *song* means. If y'all wanna listen to AI music there's already plenty of it out there, you don't need B-T, go on, run along and play in the soup of "what if Kurt Cobain were still alive" and all that. That's fine. 

But for those of you who still want to listen to what five aging, tough-as-nails, sick-of-this-shit-but-still-here Japanese oyaji have to say about things like this so-called "life"... as a token of our good faith, here's our translation of "Mugen Loop" for y'all, without the kanji, romaji, or notes. Think of this as a trailer. We're working on the rest of Izora, and analysis articles, but it's going to take some more time. We'll publish the rest of the content as soon as we can. Thanks again for your support. As always, the English lyrics are singable in English.








Infinity Loop

Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi

Music: Imai Hisashi


You feel the south winds blow

They're beckoning to you

Full of a sweet perfume

Making you smile


Come, darling dance with me

At the edge of the soft waves

You know, I'd like to try

Stopping time now...


But partway through

My blissful dream-world

A flash then a flash of

Seeing you, dreaming of you


It makes me twitch my nose

Ineffable feeling

And yet then I forget

Every single scene


But still somehow

In my blissful dream-world

A shred then a shred of

Seeing you, dreaming of you


Infinite loop, ooh

The waves on the seashore glow

In the gloaming

Moon rising wet like the dew

Essence of beauty

To love is to become joy

In the gloaming

You flowing wet like the dew


Infinite loop, ooh...



A dream of you

Lulls me in slumber

A flash then a flash of

Seeing you, dreaming of you


Infinite loop, ooh

The waves on the seashore glow

In the gloaming

Moon flowing wet like the dew

Essence of beauty

To love is to be sorrow

In the gloaming

You rising wet like the dew


Infinite loop, ooh...


Infinite loop, ooh...


Forever, I love you

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(all photos taken by Cayce Pollard, who retains the copyright to them, whatever that fucking means, eat my cake and have it too, Neuromancer. I always thought you were more interesting than GPT anyway. Would be happy to share some tinned military rations with you in a bunker on a post-apocalyptic beach in Rio if you feel so moved.)

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2.6.23

Not Greatest Site Not Found

Hi, folks.

It's been a while. We hope you're weathering the AI storm well (and the typhoon, too, if you happen to be in Japan, what a typhoon there is today!). Things are only going to get weirder, so hold onto your data and make sure you have some meatspace gold coins in a treasure chest and analog copies of your important info, just in case.

We have received a number of inquires from y'all in the past few weeks about whether we'll translate the lyrics of Izora. Don't worry! We are currently working on translating Izora, and have already translated many of the songs. However, Izora is an even more complex album than Abracadabra, with many interwoven oblique references, and so this time, unlike in the past, we've decided to do things differently and translate the whole thing before writing the notes and posting each song. We know that y'all come to NGS/Blog-Tick because you want more in-depth analysis and background info, and we would like to give that to you - so please, give us a little more time and stay tuned. We have not, I repeat, have NOT decided to abandon NGS/Blog-Tick.

However...

On May 30th, 2023, Google Sites summarily deleted This is NOT Greatest Site, without warning. This is NOT Greatest Site was powered by Google Classic Sites, which was retired in 2021. We have been considering options on where and how to port This is NOT Greatest Site over to another platform, but it's taken us some time due to the onus of work commitments outside our work for NGS/Blog-Tick. Google Sites previously claimed that websites hosted on Classic Sites would continue to be accessible to visitors, it's just that they couldn't be updated or edited anymore. They gave us no warning that they would delete NGS, and no timeline for when they would do so. The deletion of This is NOT Greatest site was NOT our fault or our intention. We still have all the content of the old NGS, and will do our best to get a new site up and running as soon as we can, but realistically, this is going to take some time, as there are many updates we need to make to the content that's out of date, and we also plan to review and revise translations as necessary.

Furthermore, several posts on Blog-Tick were automatically censored by Google's algorithms for supposedly containing "sensitive content." The posts in question are "Babble of Babel" from November 17th, 2017, and "Thighgate," from January 21st, 2017. You readers who have been following Blog-Tick for a while know that while we are unapologetic in our use of profanity and our discussion of sexual themes, we only use profanity in service of artistic expression, and we only discuss sexual themes in the context of literary and sociocultural analysis. We made a commitment when we launched Blog-Tick to keep all the content of this blog friendly to viewers of all ages. We don't believe that it's inappropriate for "minors" to read discussions of sexual themes - let's be real, how many people under the age of 18 actually have no sexual experience? We're going to bet it's far less than half. 

As for profanity... "fuck" is not only the most versatile word in the English language (or maybe any language currently widely spoken by earthbound human beings), but also, how can hearing some little swearwords actually hurt a child? (Provided the swearwords are spoken in love and devotion, and not in the purpose of shame and child abuse. NGS/Blog-Tick is 200% opposed to child abuse). But, come on, admit it. Children are wild, magical, tough, resilient beings. It's adults who are full of shame and fear, and who love pinning their shame and fear on innocent kids who just want to play in the mud and run around screaming nonsense because it's fun, collect bugs, jump in the leaves, live in the moment. It's the adults who actually need to be looking in the mirror and doing some soul work and figuring out their issues. It's adults who pass on these issues to their kids, but we've got to break free of this Pandora's loop (see the lyrics to B-T's "Bran-New Lover" for more info, oh wait, they deleted our fucking website so you can't. Damn.) Anyway, adults, it's time we all do what we need to do to grow the fuck up. Therapy, meditation, whatever works for you. But we're out of time, the world needs you, stop pearl clutching and hand-wringing, get your shit sorted so you can get down in the trenches and help humanity get our collective shit sorted because hooo boy oh boy is there a lot of shit that needs sorting and the world is not waiting for your selfie.

There are a lot of big discussions going on in the world right now regarding censorship, free speech, and the use of AI and algorithms to enact censorship. The issue is too vast and complex to delve into in this post. To keep things brief, we'll say that in principle, we're opposed to hate speech and other kinds of content that actively hurts or exploits people (kiddie porn, revenge porn, all that good stuff) - but we also believe that censorship is an extremely slippery slope and censorship as it's being wielded by governments and corporations and Big Data in general is bad, bad news. We have no intention of censoring Blog-Tick in order to please algorithms, and we've had it up to here with the way in which Google has screwed us over on this project (i.e. NGS/Blog-Tick).

Therefore, we are planning on leaving Google's services, both for Blog-Tick and for NGS, ideally for a platform that supports independent expression, distributed authority, data privacy, and free speech. We were never tech savvy to begin with, but things are changing at such a dizzying pace these days that if we ever had been keeping up with the changes, we surely aren't able to keep up anymore.

This is where y'all readers can help us out!

First, if any of you have suggestions for blog and site hosting platforms that are more friendly to freedom of expression, please let us know. We're working with a wonderful web designer who's helping us redesign the site, but we're also welcoming suggestions from you readers just to cast a wider net before we make a final decision. We hadn't originally intended to port Blog-Tick to another platform, but now it seems like a necessary step. Those of you with suggestions, please post a comment AND also email us directly at themadaristocrat at gmail.

Second, most web hosting services aren't free to use. Google Classic Sites was entirely free to use, which is one reason why we used the platform for so long. But in order to re-launch the site on a different platform, we are in all likelihood going to need to opt for a paid subscription service - but our budget is very tight at the moment, and quite frankly, we can't afford to do this without your help. Therefore, we would like to ask you all, how much would you be willing to contribute to getting This is NOT Greatest Site up and running again, and keeping it running? We understand that we haven't been posting new content lately, but your financial support will make it easier for us to begin to post content more regularly as we used to do. 

We estimate that the cost of running the site will come to something in the neighborhood of 30,000 yen per year (barring total financial and societal collapse that is lul), hopefully less, but it depends on the service we choose. If y'all are interested in helping out, we'll create a poll to get more detailed data, but for now, please leave a comment and/or send us an email, to let us know whether you would be interested in contributing on a monthly or yearly basis, and how much you would like to contribute. Things are changing so rapidly that we'd like to get at least some rough feedback from y'all before we make our next move. We would like to keep all the content freely accessible to everyone and not use a paid subscription tier system as is so common these days. Why? Because this subscription model is just designed to bilk people out of more and more money anywhere and everywhere, and we want NGS to stay in the spirit of the free and open internet where this site was born and raised. But in order to do that, we'll need to receive contributions from readers, or we may be unable to continue. Thank you all in advance!

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Also, to add insult to injury, we're dealing with yet another serious crisis in our personal lives. Any positive vibes you could send our way would be much appreciated. Imagine the Great Giant Mantis of Andromeda raining blessings down upon us all! The power of collective intention is strong. We'll be getting the Izora lyrics up as soon as we can.

Thank you all again, from the bottom of our hearts. We couldn't have carried on this project so long without your support. We promise you, This is NOT Greatest Site is NOT dead. Just in suspended animation, getting a DNA upgrade.

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P.S. If we haven't answered your emails in a while, don't worry, we'll get back to you. It's just that the past few months have been a lot to handle. We're not gonna lie, the deletion of the site was like steaming dog poo on the top of a fresh shit sandwich. We're feeling pretty tapped out at the moment. Send us some rainbows and moonbeams to get us back up again, like Imai's broken leg on those transparent Lucite platform chunk heels.

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27.10.22

Buck-Tickets

Hey, y'all. We're very sorry we've been so lax with the blogging... our personal life circumstances continue to be very tough and it's been difficult to find the time and energy to update. However, there's something a lot of you have been asking about, that we want to address: namely, tickets to B-T shows.

So, what's up with the tickets?

Now that Japan is finally reopening borders to tourists, a lot of y'all are wanting to come to Japan to see B-T live... and we have some very bad news for you about that, for which we sincerely apologize, though if we had our druthers it wouldn't be this way.

The news is this. Since 2020, Buck-Tick's management have instituted a ticketing system whereby you can only purchase e-tickets via your smartphone. The tickets are non-transferrable, meaning that if you buy a ticket, you can't gift it to anyone else, even if you become unable to attend the show. It goes without saying that the tickets can't be resold, either. This frustrating system was ostensibly introduced to prevent ticket scalping, but ticket scalping was in fact never a major problem with Buck-Tick shows. This reasoning feels a whole lot more like a glib excuse for mass surveillance.

How so? Well, not only do you have to register all your own personal information, but if you buy more than one ticket, you are required to enter the name, birthday, and other info about your plus one. Not only that, but in order to claim your tickets, you are first required to register an account on TixPlus, the extremely dodgy, shitty excremental, incompetent company that currently manages B-T's fanclub and ticketing (blame Victor for this one). You then need to download the TixPlus app - but you also need to download the official Buck-Tick app, because, though TixPlus administrates the ticketing, all B-T concert tickets, whether you get them through Fish Tank (Buck-Tick's official fan club), Love & Media Portable (Buck-Tick's official mobile subscription service) or general sales, I repeat, all Buck-Tickets can only be accessed through the Buck-Tick official app. Last time we checked, this app wasn't available to overseas fans, but if this has changed, please post a comment and let us know.

Once you download those apps, you also have to register a photo of your face on their facial recognition software, because apparently posting really shitty poopy, ugly selfies on a buggy app that doesn't work somehow prevents Covid (!?). Don't ask us why. At the concerts we've attended since this system was instituted, the venue staff have barely glanced at the photos. Oh, and it doesn't help that the facial recognition algorithm is so bad that there's a long line for the tech support booth before every show. The only plus side: the tech support people are the only people in this whole shebang who've actually been professional and helpful.

We don't blame y'all for not knowing this stuff, because the wall of text of disclaimers, rules, etc. that you have to scroll through before even applying to buy a ticket now amounts to at least 20 solid A4 pages in point 12 font. This is not an exaggeration, we actually measured it ourselves. Does anyone read this shit, you ask? Even people fluent in Japanese don't want to read 20 fucking pages of disclaimers just to buy a concert ticket! The disclaimer bullshit horse manure used to be around 1-2 pages, tops! Where did this shit poop come from all of a sudden? Well, kids, we don't have an answer, but we did read through all that garbage, last year, when we first tried to get a ticket under the new system and the app didn't work, and then the facial recognition didn't work... and then at the 35th Anniversary shows at Yokohama Arena the app didn't work again... and we had to stand in line for the tech support booth outside the venue in a rather long line of fans who were in the same fucking copulating pickle. 

Apps: kill them with fire, please. We politely tell them to piss urinate the hell underworld off.

Edit: something one of our lovely commenters brought up that we neglected to mention: if you uninstall and reinstall the Buck-Tick app more than once, you will become unable to use the app. This is supposedly to prevent fraud but seems in practice to be for giving fans headaches, toothaches and buttaches. However, the latest problem we had with the app was solved by a tech support official at the venue uninstalling and reinstalling the app in an official capacity. Basically, you can trust the tech support people (though since we have a Japanese phone we can't vouch for what happens with overseas phones). 

About the delay in two-step verification codes: DO contact Fish Tank and TixPlus about this. You paid for that Fish Tank membership. They owe you. Sure they suck at their jobs, but they are still obligated to fix the issue. In Japanese business, the customer is supposed to be always right.

Anyhow, the real kicker here for overseas fans is that the Japanese ticketing services, Ticket Pia and Lawson Ticket, only allow you to register on their service if you have a Japanese address AND a Japanese mobile phone number starting with the digits 070, 080, or 090. Furthermore, the phone number you register when you buy the tickets is the ONLY phone number through which you can claim your tickets - it's prohibited to buy tickets from a different phone than the one you intend to use at the concert. You have to physically bring your phone to the concert and present your e-ticket as displayed on your phone screen to the venue staff. We made several enquiries with Ticket Pia about this and they confirmed, in a maddeningly obnoxious fashion, that "Ticket Pia is a service only for people in Japan." Yeah, thanks Ticket Pia. Fuck fornicate you very much, too. You racist assholes anal orifices.

However, if you join Fish Tank (for only 6000 yen per year, how cheap that seems now that they raised the price of Buck-Tickets to 10,000 yen or more per show!)... if you join Fish Tank, it's theoretically possible to get tickets even if you're an overseas fan. We're not sure about Love & Media Portable - last time we checked, LMP was only available to fans in Japan (Fuck you very much, too. You racist assholes engage in sexual tacos with your own anal orifice, you discriminatory nationalists) but if anyone here has confirmed that that has changed, please do post a comment. Since we're located in Japan, with a Japanese phone number, we can't actually check ourselves to see if the service works overseas.

Note: if you buy tickets through Fish Tank, you need to write 000-0000-0000 in the Japanese phone number field, and fill in your overseas phone number in the field below.

The bottom line: we wish we could still help you get tickets to concerts, but the new ticketing system has made that pretty much impossible. The only ways you can get B-T tickets now, as an overseas fan, are:

1) Join Fish Tank and get tickets in the fan club lotteries. Is this a money-grubbing strategy by FanPlus to get more people to pay for Fish Tank memberships? You tell us.

2) Get someone in Japan to rent you a Japanese mobile phone to take to the concert, and use their address and the rental phone number to make an account on Ticket Pia to buy tickets through general sales.

3) Wait till you get to Japan to buy the tickets, rent a phone at one of the rental kiosks at Narita Airport, and use the address of your hotel to make a Ticket Pia account. Buck-Tick shows have been seriously undersold since the pandemic - almost none of the tour dates are selling out, and at every show we've attended since 2021, large sections of seats have been cordoned off, unused (what a crying shame! If they'd only issue paper tickets at more affordable prices, maybe they could still fill the venues!) Anyway, it's likely that you would still be able to buy tickets once you get here.

4) Last-ditch measure - go to the venue early and buy same-day tickets. Since the shows are no longer selling out, same-day tickets have been on offer at most shows, and the next kicker here is that the same-day tickets are real paper tickets! (If we could lock whoever designed this system into the old-fashioned Medieval stocks and pelt them with rotten tomatoes, you betcha, we'd do it.)

However, we did a little digging and it seems there are some services available that will let you either create a virtual Japanese phone number, or rent a Japanese SIM card from outside Japan. We're not sure if any of these services will work for this ticketing system, and we can't vouch for their credibility, but if you're very desperate, we encourage you to search around and see what you can find, using keywords such as "rent Japanese phone from overseas" or "get Japanese phone number from overseas." Since we live in Japan, we can't verify that any of these services work, so keep on alert for scams and misinformation and read all the fine print. Getting a phone number won't get you around the address problem, but since none of these services are ever going to send snail mail to you anyway, we offer the trollish suggestion of either registering the address of the hotel where you'll be staying, picking an address at random from Google, or just making something up. We can't be entirely certain of this because we haven't tried it, but we're pretty sure they won't know and they don't care.

Very unfortunately, since Buck-Tick became slaves to The Evil Empire (cough, Victor Entertainment, cough), they have done away with their general enquiries email address. Now, if you want to contact them, you have to do so through the Fish Tank web site, which you can't access unless you join Fish Tank (is that a money grab? You tell us). Those of you who are members of Fish Tank already know that the current Fish Tank web site is a mire of un-navigable gobbledygook and garbage machine translated Engrish, and it's very hard to find the enquiry page, but if you scroll through the help sections, you'll find a link to click on at the bottom, which will send you to an enquiry form. We highly encourage any and all of you to write to Fish Tank and complain about the fact that overseas fans are barred from getting tickets. They have been known to respond to feedback in the past - back in 2017, I encouraged all Blog-Tick readers to write to Fish Tank and ask for Buck-Tick's music to be available for digital download internationally, and within two months, they actually made that happen - they did listen to us! So probably, the best thing you can do is write to them and explain your situation. The customer support from TixPlus/FanPlus is absolutely terrible, but this is all we've got, in this modern world of increasingly crappy feces-covered software updates and separate apps for each of your toenails (too bad the bugs in the app prevent your little toes from logging in! And the app for your big toes painted your toenails orange overnight, without even asking you! But you can't complain, because by agreeing to this Terms of Service agreement, you waive all your civil and human rights forevermore. Fun fact: the German industrial rock band Rammstein have a song called "Buch Dich," which means "bend over" in German. Does that **** in your *** feel good? No? What's wrong with you, we thought you just love yaoi manga! And in yaoi manga, everyone knows that no means yes and yes means more b*tt**x!!!!!11)

You can also consider writing to the B-T members directly and letting them know how sad it makes you that you can't get tickets just because you live overseas. The post-show feedback questionnaires have even been eliminated now, so at this point, anything's worth a shot.

So yes, this situation sucks. We are very sorry. If someone would just tell us us who we could pelt with rotten tomatoes... we'd be on our way there now...

But, in conclusion, we'd like to say the following. This new policy is not, and we repeat, is NOT the fault of the band members. This is a management decision. The band members actually have limited control over these things. In fact, Sakurai has very gently hinted a number of times that he is dissatisfied with how things are going with the management, though of course he can't come out and say it. But Buck-Tick aren't unique in this predicament - since the pandemic, most major label Japanese artists have instituted systems like this. In Buck-Tick's case, this was likely a management decision by TixPlus, which is a shady umbrella company that manages a lot of ticketing services and band fan clubs (very badly. Atrociously. Come at us, TixPlus, we've got a big basket of stinky, moldy tomatoes right here waiting for you.) Buck-Tick switched to having Fish Tank managed by TixPlus after they switched their label back to Victor, so this was also a management decision on the part of Victor. (Rumors of yakuza connections are currently unconfirmed, but it's been the way of the world forever that the relationship between organized crime and the media and entertainment industries is, shall we say... hygge-transcendentally cozy. A laundromat to wash your money in! Who doesn't want one of those!?) 

Anyway, do not assume that the band members are xenophobes or hate foreign fans - all the evidence points to the contrary. The band members have consistently looked visibly pleased by seeing foreign fans in the audience, and before all the pandemic stuff happened, Sakurai had even taken to addressing the crowd in English and Spanish at certain shows. Never fear that the band members hate you! They love you. For any artist, getting fans from around the world to love your work is a dream come true. Furthermore, the band members, Sakurai, Imai, and Hide in particular, have worked with foreign artists on numerous occasions (see Schaft, Schwein, Ai no Wakusei, and dropz). Sakurai still talks about how he loves to travel abroad and how much he loved recording in London. This is not, I repeat NOT, the fault of the band.

Rather, upper management at large, stodgy Japanese companies like Victor tend to be extraordinarily ignorant of how things work in the rest of the world - sometimes it feels like they don't even know there is a rest of the world. These are supremely imbecilic, ignorant people who are making these decisions. Not only can they not manage to build apps that work, the thought that overseas fans might want to attend concerts in Japan has probably literally never crossed their minds - that's the kind of small-minded, self-centered world of the Japanese corporation. I worked with people like this for years in my stint as a Japanese office drone, and talking to most of them was like talking to one of those creepy Japanese Pepper robots most of the time. They don't care about you. They have no idea what your difficulties as a foreigner in Japan might be. They can't even conceive of it. They have no idea what things are like elsewhere in the world. They have zero imagination and little empathy. It's not even that they hate you. They are just, pardon my French, dipshits a la fuckee I ran out of censored swearwords so fine, I'ma just go with fucking dipshits here. 

Anyway, to reiterate, don't blame the band members. They're not the ones betraying you. Instead, if you can, send feedback to these corporate robots. The more of you send feedback, the more likely they'll rethink their asinine system. (Please note that the Japanese postal service prohibits the sending of rotten vegetables from overseas, but if you send us donations, we'll buy extra rotten tomatoes for you).

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So, I'm sorry. I really don't like to take such a negative tone on Blog-Tick. I want this to be a place where fans can gather and enjoy themselves while learning more about B-T. But... this shit poo-poo is bollocks buttocks. I am so, so sorry that after 35 years, this is what Buck-Tickistan is coming to. Tonight, we're going to go drown the Victor offices in rotten tomatoes, so just wait for us in that shelter. 

I feel sorry for the tomatoes, though. They didn't do anything to deserve this crap.

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Note: This is NOT Greatest Site is currently frozen due to the updates in the Google Sites platform, and we haven't yet been able to port it to another platform. Until we do so, all information on Blog-Tick posted after 2020 takes precedence over the information on NGS, which is now out of date. We apologize for the inconvenience.

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Sayonara Shelter

Here it is, the song you just knew was coming - Mr. Sakurai's "I AM VERY ANGRY ABOUT THE WAR IN UKRAINE" song. Honestly, we suspect that there will be more after this one - B-T are currently on tour to support their 35 anniversary best-of album, but in between tour dates, they're also in the studio, recording a new album, which is due to be released in spring of 2023. This song was released on Buck-Tick's 5-disc 35th Anniversary Best album, appearing on the first disc, "Ribelo," which features Toll on the cover. This English translation is singable with the original melody, but as always, we strove to be as faithful to the original Japanese as possible. 

If you appreciate this translation, please consider supporting us on Ko-fi. We know we haven't been posting much lately but your support always means a lot. We've also recently heard from some newly-minted B-T fans from the younger generation... welcome, y'all! Please, don't hesitate to write to us, or to leave a comment, if you feel so moved.


Goodbye Shelter
Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi
Music: Hoshino Hidehiko

Ephemeral candle
In the bunker, dancing and flickering
(1)
A lamp with a genie (2)
Flaming in your eyes
Reach out your hand now
You've almost got that love love
At your fingertips
Playing with shadows
Oh my darling princess

Endless rain now
Pretend it's a dream now
And all I want to do is hold you tight
But someone's coming to kill us all... tonight (3)
It's senseless oh, it's senseless, I know

Tonight, I promise that I'll come to meet you
While you're sleeping safe and sound for me
Just wait for me in that shelter
Tonight, the Earth is a like shooting star, so lovely
I want you to bathe in the beauty
Just wait for me in that shelter

A colorless landscape
In a world with no sound, my love song
In trembling soprano
A little girl singing

The rain is so cold now
I wish this were all lies
And all I want to do is hold you tight
But I've got to go off and kill somebody... tonight (3)
It's senseless oh, it's senseless, I know

Tonight, I promise that I'll come to meet you
While you're sleeping safe and sound for me
Just wait for me in that shelter

Tonight, the Earth is a like shooting star, so lovely
I want you to bathe in the beauty
Just wait for me in that shelter


Note: Sakurai stated in Ongaku to Hito and PHY magazines, as well as on his radio program The Music of Note with DJ Chiwaki Mayumi, that he was inspired to write this song after watching the viral video of a little girl Ukrainian girl singing the Ukrainian version of "Let it Go" (from the Disney film Frozen) inside a bomb shelter (it doesn't hurt that she's an excellent singer despite being so young). Sakurai has been an adamantly anti-war activist for his entire career, but he stated that at first, he felt hesitant to write this song, due to the pressure on Japanese musicians to not express political views in an artistic context. However, he stated that he ultimately decided that he's old enough at this point to say exactly what he wants to say, and not worry too much about whether it might make some people uncomfortable. Tanaka, Buck-Tick's long-time album director, encouraged Sakurai to pursue this creative direction, and suggested that, due to its highly topical nature, this song be released with the 35th anniversary best-of box set, rather than waiting to release it on the 2023 new album. You can watch Amelia's video here. In perfect synchronicity, this video was uploaded on March 7th, Mr. Sakurai's birthday.

Sakurai also made reference to the word "shelter" in his song "Barbaric Man," from his side project album I Am Mortal. In both these songs, there is an implicit reference to the Rolling Stones hit "Gimme Shelter," which was partly written in protest of the Vietnam War.

(1) This is a reference to the bunker in which the little girl, Amelia, gave her performance of "Let it Go."

(2) This is a reference to the story "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp," a Middle Eastern folktale which is commonly associated with the 1,001 Nights/Arabian Nights tales, but was in fact added at a later date to the 1,001 Nights manuscript. Sakurai has been incorporating Aladdin imagery since the release of the single New World in 2016. Buck-Tick made heavy use of Arabian Nights imagery in the visuals and performance for their Abracadabra tours, as well as in the tag line for the 35th anniversary concerts at Yokohama Arena on September 23rd and 24th, which read, "New World For You." In this sense, "Sayonara Shelter" is a bit like a continuation of "New World," dealing with the same theme of the pain and senselessness of living as a human being in a world that is often violent and uncaring.

(3) Sakurai stated in PHY magazine and his radio program The Music of Note with DJ Chiwaki Mayumi that he included the line "but I've got to go off and kill somebody" in reference to the fact that in many Ukrainian refugee families, the men saw their families to safety, then returned to Ukraine to enlist in the military and defend their homeland. Sakurai has never shied away from assuming a certain responsibility for the violence on planet Earth in which all of us are often complicit. (See Guernica no Yoru for more on this.)


Sayonara Shelter
Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi
Music: Hoshino Hidehiko

Hakanai kyandoru     chikashitsu de dansu dansu     yureteiru
Mahou no rampu     hitomi ni wa honoo
Sono te nobashite     yubisaki de Love Love     ato sukoshi
Kagee asobi     saa ohimesama

Yamanai ame     yume nara ii ne
Anata wo dakishimeteitai kedo
Dareka ga bokura wo koroshi ni     kuru yo
Kurutteiru    kurutteiru yo

Konya     shizuka ni nemuru     anata ni ai ni yuku     kanarazu
Ano sherutaa de matteite

Konya     chikyuu wa marude     utsukushii nagareboshi     kirei da
Ano sherutaa de matteite

Iro wo nakushita     oto mo nai sekai     ai no uta
Furueru koe de     ano ko wa utau

Tsumetai ame     uso nara ii ne
Anata wo dakishimeteitai kedo
Watashi wa dareka wo koroshi ni     iku no
Kurutteiru    kurutteiru yo

Konya     shizuka ni nemuru     anata ni ai ni yuku     kanarazu
Ano sherutaa de matteite

Konya     chikyuu wa marude     utsukushii nagareboshi     kirei da
Ano sherutaa de matteite


Sayonara Shelter
作詞:櫻井敦司
作曲:星野英彦

儚いキャンドル 地下室でダンスダンス 揺れている
魔法のランプ 瞳には炎
その手伸ばして 指先でLoveLove あと少し
影絵遊び さあお姫様

止まない雨 夢ならいいね
あなたを抱き締めていたいけど
誰かが僕らを殺しに 来るよ
狂っている 狂っているよ

今夜 静かに眠る あなたに会いに行く 必ず
あのシェルターで待っていて

今夜 地球はまるで 美しい流れ星 奇麗だ
あのシェルターで待っていて

色を無くした 音もない世界 愛の歌
震える声で あの子は歌う

冷たい雨 嘘ならいいね
あなたを抱き締めていたいけど
わたしは誰かを殺しに 行くの
狂っている 狂っているよ

今夜 静かに眠る あなたに会いに行く 必ず
あのシェルターで待っていて

今夜 地球はまるで 美しい流れ星 奇麗だ
あのシェルターで待っていて

Buck-Tick 35th Anniversary @ Yokohama Arena

Amazing shows. Amazing set lists. Lasers all over the place. Insane LED stage effects. An anti-war/goth theme to the songs (hmm wonder who chose that?) Happy 35th anniversary to Buck-Tick! We wish we were able to write a live report, but the whole experience was so overwhelming, the little details are still swimming around in our heads like all those fish in "Aikawarazu no Are no Katamari." In the meantime, enjoy some pictures. With everyone in masks, unable to shout or cheer, was it really a Buck-Tick show? Yeah, it was. But we miss y'all, and we miss the good old days.


Set Lists:

2022-09-23

01. Iconoclasm
02. Babel
03. Uta
04. Gekka Reijin
05. Maimu Maimu
06. Kyouki no Deadheat
07. Kinjirareta Asobi -Adult Children-
08. Aikawarazu no "Are" no Katamari ga Nosabaru Hedo no Soko no Fukidamari
09. Rakuen
10. Revolver
11. Guernica no Yoru
12. Sayonara Shelter
13. Go Go B-T Train
14. Memento Mori
15. New World

encore 1

16. Django!!! -Genwaku no Django-
17. Aku no Hana
18. Illusion

encore 2

19. Koi
20. Yumemiru Uchuu
21. Solaris

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2022-09-24

01. Elise no Tame ni
02. Babel
03. Tight Rope
04. Mienai Mono wo Miyou to Suru, Gokai Subete Gokai da
05. Moonlight Escape
06. Dance Tengoku
07. BOY septem peccata mortalia
08. Aikawarazu no "Are" no Katamari ga Nosabaru Hedo no Soko no Fukidamari
09. Rakuen
10. Revolver
11. Guernica no Yoru
12. Sayonara Shelter
13. Go Go B-T Train
14. Romance
15. New World

encore 1

16. Angelic Conversation
17. Aku no Hana
18. Heaven

encore 2

19. Boukyaku
20. Yumemiru Uchuu
21. Kodou








Yokohama Arena is Arena as fuck.




All the fans seemed to agree that Cali-Gari's bouquet was the best of the bunch (no pun intended)... but it's rather touching that Hiroshi sent nothing but red roses as a token of his love for Acchan-chan.

Happy 35th anniversary! Mr. Sakurai keeps saying that he can't feel the time passing and he doesn't understand what 35 years even means, and on our part, we tend to concur. Here's hoping for a more open world and many more years of B-T tours to come!

16.8.22

Mr. Sakurai Has Officially Been Declared Corona-Free

As of a little past 9PM this evening, Fish Tank informed members via email that Mr. Sakurai had officially been declared corona-free, and had completed the required post-treatment quarantine, and therefore he will be back onstage this Friday, to celebrate Yagami Toll's 60th birthday. As Mr. Sakurai would probably shout if he were onstage right now, Whoo! You can all sleep soundly at night now! Go go on B-T train!


Anyway, everyone, stay safe, stay well, y'all. Eat healthy food, drink plenty of water, and get enough sleep. The best way to keep yourself from getting sick is to take care of your basic health on a daily basis. Also, for those of you living in areas that have been experiencing extreme heat waves (not gonna name names, *cough* Tokyo) - don't just drink water, make sure you get your electrolytes, too - if you don't like sports drinks, eating a little pinch of sea salt or Himalayan salt with each glass of water you drink is what staves off dehydration, and dehydration and heat stroke are bad, bad news. Stay out of the sun and don't push yourself further than you can handle. If you start to feel sick, seek a cool place immediately. If you're really feeling ill, get in a cold shower or cold path, then use ice packs on your neck and face (plus tons of electrolyte fluids, a little at a time). But for now, let's revel in the good news.

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4.8.22

The Corona Report

Well... this isn't nice news. But we'd rather you hear it from us than The Net.

As of about 9:30 this morning, Buck-Tick were all ready set to go on tour to Fish Tanker's and Love and Media Portable (minus everyone overseas) in Nagoya... and then a little past noon, the fan club announced via email that Mr. Sakurai was not feeling well, had been examined by a doctor, and had tested positive for Covid-19. So, the tour is postponed, or possibly cancelled. The management have not yet made the call on whether to cancel or postpone the show, but have stated that due to issues with the venue, cancellation may be the only option.

How much does this suck? A lot. It sucks of lot of ducks. Will this affect next week's fanclub only show at Toyosu Pit, and the recently announced livestream? That depends on a negative test, most likely. Given Buck-Tick's celebrity status, we expect the management will err on the side of caution.

However, one thing we'd like to say is that the level of medical care in Japan is extremely high. The level of serious illness and complications in this country is much lower than in many other countries, most particularly the USA. Many of our friends and acquaintances here in Japan have tested positive in recent months and in most cases, they have either been minimally ill, or they got ill, but it hasn't been cause for serious alarm, though getting sick is never, ever fun. Mr. Sakurai has certainly been vaccinated and boosted, as per the needs of his job, and there is no question that he will receive whatever support he needs to get well as soon as possible. 

At the same time, after two years of cancelled tours, now this? We can imagine he's feeling very upset, disappointed and grumpy (at least that's how we'd feel if we were him right now). So, y'all, please, send prayers and positive energy his way. The power of prayer is huge. It has even been scientifically verified. Let's get him out of bed and singing again as soon as is feasible (though of course, he needs to take the proper amount of time to recover). 

And y'all... I feel extremely the opposite of happy about this and if you could leave a comment with some good vibes, please do it, for Mr. Sakurai, for the band, for the blog, and for little old Cayce. Frying pan into the fire, rock and hard place, come the fuck on, I want us all to be happy floating on cotton candy clouds riding unicorns and it's like sucker punch after sucker punch and just, [insert word of exasperation here].

.

Update: The Fish Tanker's Only show on August 11th at Toyosu Pit has been postponed, pending possible rescheduling. For everyone looking forward to the live stream, it sucks, but I don't believe it's cause for concern as the general Covid policy in Japan is at least seven days of isolation, and really, having Acchan go onstage one week after testing positive just doesn't seem like a great idea even if he feels totally well and chipper by then. Health is first priority. For what it's worth, I do believe that even if the other shows are cancelled, Toyosu and the live stream will be rescheduled. If you're in FT, go ahead and write to their absolutely horrible Kafkaesque nightmare feedback service and tell them how much you hope the show will be rescheduled along with the live stream. The show scheduled for August 14th has also been postponed. Everything else depends on Mr. Sakurai's status of health... so what are you waiting for... if the postal service in your country still works (haha lol what a big IF, but yeah), send him a get-well card! Get-well cards can be mailed to the Fish Tank office, addressed to Sakurai-san. He might not be in the mood for reading mail but I'm sure a stack of get-well cards from overseas will give him some warm fuzzy feelings, even if he's totally recovered by the time he gets them. These last few years have been hard on us all. If you need the address, drop us a line.

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