tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89943659390178371902024-03-14T09:31:41.959+09:00The Blog-Tick PhenomenonCaycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.comBlogger681125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-19551418499402176872023-12-30T22:49:00.005+09:002023-12-30T22:51:59.402+09:00If y'all think it's crazy...<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Give your regards to Ignaz Semmelweis and Galileo Galilei, and Lynn Margulis. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ignaz</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Semmelweis - died in a mental hospital after being forced out of his obstetrics practice for daring to claim that hand-washing before performing C-sections or other surgery drastically increased the rate of survival among mothers of pregnancies with complications. We know who was on the right side of history here.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Galileo Galilei - put under house arrest for "heresy" by the government for daring to claim that the Earth goes around the Sun not the other way around and that Jupiter has moons. Died in agony in confinement. His dearly beloved daughter starved to death in a convent because he was unable to provide for her.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lynn Margulis - Ridiculed by the man-child "scientists" of her generation, including the "esteemed" Richard Dawkins," for daring to claim that the entire Earth, that is to say Gaia, is an integrated living organism and that we are symbiotic with bacteria, archaea, fungi, and everything, everything is alive and we cannot live without one another.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And then listen to this song.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_uE7LG_d7DU?si=INeI-tsJndfGksNn" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Free your mind.</span></div>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-64631119395138967532023-12-30T03:52:00.005+09:002023-12-30T03:52:49.055+09:00Blue Pill<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Do you need a refill on your prescription?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVlyIbruDF4oSSXPSEPgtgHIuE-NY423-pFhlHJ0emb3_INNssPNOKvLOilWqz1fkBgR-13wzgoPL625vCiK8ealVP2Fv0XBpXLOVSi8qR7_OmG0T3FqQiYKDX5LHQhBpt2MFa9bbvPjWaE8x4VKgU-PlQozVP2pM5BXYU064H4qNGDg87v-ZiYIk4J60/s1281/vlcsnap-2023-12-30-03h50m00s945.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="1281" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVlyIbruDF4oSSXPSEPgtgHIuE-NY423-pFhlHJ0emb3_INNssPNOKvLOilWqz1fkBgR-13wzgoPL625vCiK8ealVP2Fv0XBpXLOVSi8qR7_OmG0T3FqQiYKDX5LHQhBpt2MFa9bbvPjWaE8x4VKgU-PlQozVP2pM5BXYU064H4qNGDg87v-ZiYIk4J60/s320/vlcsnap-2023-12-30-03h50m00s945.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVfchK_ZhJW-jsM2izuTMMW_yPdzwop2SxSD8zPU12TiFjSQYFXiqI8dqbwOLqKoFVYePWuGdPCGRcezpsh2EsVgANrT3wr0RHvlzq3W-Nc6ydJIW6Kdu3Ti7DSMa-mP5MK49Sr435R9uggtTQB28pXo2lZn2mRWoXxUiakNEp2XRIGmLrhQrvzzKSVJA/s1281/vlcsnap-2023-12-30-03h50m07s895.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="1281" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVfchK_ZhJW-jsM2izuTMMW_yPdzwop2SxSD8zPU12TiFjSQYFXiqI8dqbwOLqKoFVYePWuGdPCGRcezpsh2EsVgANrT3wr0RHvlzq3W-Nc6ydJIW6Kdu3Ti7DSMa-mP5MK49Sr435R9uggtTQB28pXo2lZn2mRWoXxUiakNEp2XRIGmLrhQrvzzKSVJA/s320/vlcsnap-2023-12-30-03h50m07s895.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuoejHZj9qSfg_Wh-5PkuErclppQZqZ0205k2WTZmq2FwaMu6OkIZ0sgBfakD36DGil0IxWvvKaIyYVOODcjXGGPxKfBHOHQAZ7eiRC2XUK_7U4vUgNjMwArMobJo8GC9gTwEJzuxavZUVMsGy37s9qmUaeFf4RZduVawFSmFi7t09dEysAtEMJn5MrH4/s1281/vlcsnap-2023-12-30-03h50m16s882.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="1281" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuoejHZj9qSfg_Wh-5PkuErclppQZqZ0205k2WTZmq2FwaMu6OkIZ0sgBfakD36DGil0IxWvvKaIyYVOODcjXGGPxKfBHOHQAZ7eiRC2XUK_7U4vUgNjMwArMobJo8GC9gTwEJzuxavZUVMsGy37s9qmUaeFf4RZduVawFSmFi7t09dEysAtEMJn5MrH4/s320/vlcsnap-2023-12-30-03h50m16s882.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's vegan :D</span></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-77316456875207470732023-12-30T01:34:00.003+09:002023-12-30T01:35:35.869+09:00We Are Stardust<p> </p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CEBmKi2xmoU?si=1Oa83vcDKysV5Y13" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you don't wanna listen to us, listen to Imai-san, and 44 herbs and spices and a pint (two pints!) of beer. And this song.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">We are stardust</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Billion year old carbon</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">We are golden</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Caught in the Devil's bargain</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">And we got to get ourselves back to the Garden</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I don't know who I am, but you know, life is for learning ;)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Peaceful winter holidays.</span></div>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-34383722034073369472023-12-25T23:21:00.002+09:002023-12-26T17:32:32.469+09:00That Mysterious Vocal Guy<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">You knew it was gonna be Maru.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It has now been 100% unofficially not announced but you just know it's gonna be that because it had to be.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And nope no live reports if you thought we were gonna go to that shit you clearly don't know us as well as you thought you did jeez who do you think is playing keyboards Imai can't play keyboard theremin sing backup and stand up at the same time using a cane kids the dude is only 93,000 million years old sry kidz kthxbai.</span></p>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lwLLFbC1H0c?si=kJFjJVcPzHM0H8yc" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, we recommend ham & eggs, a hearty draft of craft beer, and some artisanal Catalan sausage with 44 herbs and spices as a topping-off to your Christmas meal, if you couldn't find lamb.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tootle-oo.</span></div>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-57898496606729535092023-12-25T01:23:00.002+09:002023-12-25T21:36:42.940+09:00Happy Christmas! Lamb and Asparagus for Christmas Dinner<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Happy Christmas, folks!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nope, this recipe isn't vegan, but if y'all are not of a vegan persuasion we recommend this one as a hearty, easy recipe for your winter holiday get-togethers.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Most cooking blogs tell a person's entire life story before introducing the recipe, but as y'all know, we prefer our recipes short and sweet (also, we have no life). The long and short of this recipe: we invented this one day as we browsed supermarket shelves and found some delicious lamb and asparagus and wondered how we could cook it up in a very simple yet delicious fashion.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lamb and Asparagus Sautee</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ingredients (quantities are up to you, we don't know how many people y'all are cooking for or how garlicky you like your food):</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Lamb</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pork if you can't get lamb</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Beef if you're halal and can't get lamb</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Fresh asparagus (baby asparagus if you can get it)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Spinach, komatsuna or water spinach if you can't get asparagus</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">-</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Extra virgin olive oil</span> </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Salt and pepper to taste (we recommend sea salt and fresh ground black pepper but whatever suits your sensibilities)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Sesame seeds (for garnish, if desired)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Cookware Required:</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- A skillet (cast iron if possible)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- A spatula</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- A knife</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Please remember to cut your meat on a non-wooden cutting board, and wash your knife thoroughly in hot water between cutting meat and cutting veggies. If you will be handling meat directly, make sure to wash your hands in hot soapy water for hygiene.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>How to Prepare:</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">1. If you can find thinly-sliced meat at your local market, that's ideal, but if you can't find thinly-sliced meat, slice the meat as thinly as you can. This is a stir-fry, not a roast.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">2. Prepare the asparagus. Wash, then break off the tough bottoms of the stalks (should be about 1/3 of the stalk that you break off, saving about 2/3 of the stalk to cook). Chop the asparagus stalks into 1-cm segments, leaving the florets intact. If you are using spinach, komatsuna or water spinach instead, wash and chop finely.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">3. Prepare the garlic. Peel, then mince, grate, or press as you prefer. Get all your ingredients ready before you cook - this recipe cooks FAST.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">4. Set your skillet on LOW heat. This is an olive-oil based recipe. High heat will cause the oil to burn, so avoid high heat. Ideally use a cast iron skillet but any will do. Add a generous helping of olive oil. Wait until the oil is smiling, that is to say, moving toward the edges of the pan. This will happen a lot faster if you're using a cast iron skillet on a gas range vs. a non-stick pan on an electric range, so use your judgment (if you still have any lol).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">5. Toss your meat into the pan and add the salt and pepper to taste. If you are using very thinly sliced meat, add the asparagus immediately (if you are using spinach, etc. wait about 30 seconds to 1 min before adding). If you're using thicker meat, you may want to let it cook 1-2 minutes before adding the asparagus or other veggies. Spinach generally has the shortest cooking time, while mature komatsuna and water spinach cook at about the same speed as baby asparagus.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">6. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chili powder optional if you like spicy, but we recommend going easy on the chilis in this one.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">7. Add your garlic, if you like a nice spicy garlicky taste. If you prefer a more roasted garlic taste, add the garlic before you add the meat.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">8. Sautee the meat until cooking through, stirring carefully with a spatula constantly to make sure that the meat doesn't stick to the pan. If anything looks in danger of sticking, add a very small splash of water to the pan (if you're using a non-stick pan, you won't need this, if you use a cast iron skillet, you might). Do not overcook. As soon as the dark coloring is gone from the lamb, you're done. Turn off the heat immediately.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">9. Toss your yummy stir-fry out of the skillet onto a plate and serve with rice, bulgur wheat, pita bread, or any other side dish you prefer. We recommend Eastern European or Middle Eastern inflected side dishes with this dish.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">10. Bon apetit and Merry Christmas!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Love from Cayce's Kitchen. We promise we'll be back with the vegan food soon.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> .</p>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-4241612263884659882023-12-22T17:28:00.007+09:002023-12-22T17:30:10.367+09:00Idol<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Y'all want me to blog, eh.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Happy Solstice.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dance into the fucking mirror kiddos. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Watch this video or leave the blog now. Released on April 11th, same day as Izora, broke all records. Listen and *actually listen*.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">We'll be back next year with more healthy vegan recipes to whet your appetite for 2024, the dimensional shift, the aliens, and everything else related to unicorns and sparkles. </span></p><p><br /></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RkjSfZ30GM4?si=cgd6S6r___zZXTCf" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Recommended watching: YOASOBI (you can see them live at Zepp KT Yokohama and Zepp Haneda on January 25-26 if you live in Japan!)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Recommended reading: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Gray House, by Mariam Petrosyan</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Catwings, by Ursula K. Le Guin</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">A Sign for the Sacred, by Storm Constantine</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Cayce, over and out.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-76604322519645634222023-10-24T21:11:00.000+09:002023-10-24T21:11:00.025+09:00Lunar Eclipse <p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sunday, October 29th, from 3:03 AM JST until 6:06 AM JST. If you can only join in for ten minutes, join between 4:07 and 4:22, centering on 4:11 AM JST.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">A mass meditation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">For your dreams.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Reality is no object.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Reality isn't really real anyway.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Believing in faeries is free.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">For few sweet minutes, believe in faeries with me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">No sadness, no negativity, only the desire to birth a miracle.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you want to wail and tear your hair, that's fine, but that's not what this meditation is for. One way ticket passengers to the New World only.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">No comments on this thread. I will delete them. Either join the meditation, or don't, as you see fit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Consider this blog and NGS on indefinite hiatus until further notice.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thanks to you all for your support and friendship.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bye for now.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Unless you want to join the eclipse.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-11863360253434743602023-10-04T22:10:00.000+09:002023-10-04T22:10:40.601+09:00It's Physical Neurose (or, On Neurodivergents and Libel whoops I mean Labels)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Folks, since the comment thread on the Safety Dance post got so completely out of hand and off topic, I felt tempted to address the issue of labels and neurodivergence to a fuller extent in a longer article. Then I wondered if that would really a good use of my time, since this blog is about Buck-Tick and I still haven't been able to scrape together the time and energy to write all the notes on the Izora songs so I can post the full translations, and that, if I'm not mistaken, is what y'all are here for. But then I realized that I just can't address this issue to a satisfactory degree without writing a longer article.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm writing this in order to make my position clear, and hopefully calm some people down if they've been upset, but I'm not going to write this kind of article again and again on a regular basis. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;"><i>This is a Buck-Tick blog</i>.</span></b> If y'all want to have further long discussions about mental health topics, please go on Discord, or Quora, or wherever else people discuss such topics.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;">Also, before we start, another disclaimer. The comment thread on the Safety Dance post inspired this article, but this article <b>is in no way intended to levy any targeted attacks at any specific Blog-Tick readers</b>, or indeed, to attack anyone at all. I have responded to certain specific comments from the thread but the purpose is not to attack or dismiss anyone, merely to engage discussion. In fact, I want to thank all of you readers for inspiring me to write this piece, because I've been thinking about these themes for a long time, but it was your insight that helped me collect my thoughts enough to write about this and gave me a reason to, despite the fact that it is not related except tangentially to the content of this blog. Anyway, I want to make it clear that in this article, I'm going to be writing about <i>trends</i>. What I say here is directed at the general zeitgeist and trajectory I'm seeing in society as a whole right now, and <i>absolutely not</i> directed at any specific person or people. If you do end up feeling personally attacked, please sit on your own and think about it for at least three full days before leaving a comment on this article, but also know that personal attacking was never my intention.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">All right, let's go. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm going to try to keep this as simple as I can.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> (Clicks tape recorder, presses: Begin Rant.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">First, <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">neurodivergence</span></b>. What does it even mean?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Let's start with the roots:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">"Neuro" for neurological, i.e., relating to the nervous system.</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Divergent," meaning "</span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">tending to be different or develop in different directions."</span></span></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This term is derived from an earlier term, "neurodiversity," which was coined in the 1990's by Judy Singer, a sociologist studying autism. "Neurodiversity" means that people's brains work in a diverse variety of ways. Well, yeah.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The term "neurodivergent" was coined by </span></span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://twitter.com/UVGKassi">Kassiane Asasumasu</a>, to refer to "i</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">ndividuals who have a mind that functions in ways which diverge significantly from the dominant societal standards of 'normal.'" (<a href="https://sites.rowan.edu/diversity-equity-inclusion/blog/2021/09/defining-celebrating-neurodiversity.html">Rowan University</a>.)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">Neurodivergence can be innate (e.g., ADHD, autism, depression, dyslexia, or obsessive compulsive disorder, etc.) or due to a brain-altering event (e.g., head trauma, medicines, or drug use). (<a href="https://www.umassp.edu/inclusive-by-design/who-before-how/understanding-disabilities/neurodivergence">University of Massachusetts</a>.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's important to point out right here that Kassiane Asasumasu is an activist, not an academic. She's not approaching the topic from a clinical position, but from a social position, so her perspective is necessarily different from that of a mental health professional. There is actually no scientific or clinical consensus on what neurodivergence specifically is. It's an umbrella term, used in different ways by different people and groups at different times, and the definition is evolving. A quick internet search for academic research into neurodivergence is enough to demonstrate that. But it's pretty clear that most people today are using "neurodivergent" as a more or less catch-all term for people who are wired differently from what society sees or expects as "normal."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As the University of Massachusetts website so succinctly notes, "normal" is a perception, not an absolute. To quote: <span style="color: #8e7cc3;">"</span></span><span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Neurotypical does not mean 'normal.' It simply means that the behaviors fall within expected boundaries, which can differ from one culture to another. (Direct eye contact, for example, is considered rude in some cultures and expected in others)."</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> (</span><a href="https://www.umassp.edu/inclusive-by-design/who-before-how/understanding-disabilities/neurodivergence" style="font-family: verdana;">University of Massachusetts</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">.)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, for those of you who are a fan of the phrase "do your research," there, it's done. Conclusion: there isn't one. There can't be one. There is no black and white. We're swimming in a soup of fifty shades of grey (lol).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I get that these times are a watershed moment for a lot of people, with issues of HSP/neurodivergence/The Andromeda Strain/whatever word you prefer coming into focus in the mainstream. If labels and diagnoses are helping you understand yourself and explain yourself to the world, great. So help me, I'm not knocking that, nor will I ever.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Within this umbrella of "neurodivergence," as many of you well know, there are a lot of very specific diagnoses. Autism is a specific diagnosis with a long, long list of criteria, ditto ADHD. But as I said in the Safety Dance common thread, there's a Venn Diagram at work here. All autistic people are neurodivergent, not all neurodivergent people are autistic, etc. So let us be careful with the labels.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Which brings me to the next topic I would like to discuss: <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">labels</span></b>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Before we get too deep into this one, I'd like to remind y'all that we've been here before (collectively, as a culture). Who said <span style="color: #8e7cc3;">"a rose by any other word would smell as sweet"</span>? I think it was... uh... Shakespeare, right? (from "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet") <span style="color: #8e7cc3;">"Tis but thy name that is my enemy,</span>" said Juliet. And I'm siding with Juliet on this one. My stance, forever, on all labels, has been and will always be this: <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">labels are only useful when they're helping you sort out ideas in a positive way. They are not useful when they are divisive and limiting.</span></b> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This goes for absolutely every sort of label. Even record labels! (cough Victor cough let's leave that salt for another salt-mine). Anyway, because this is a music blog, let's take musical genre as an example. Musical genre is a useful label when organizing a record store, or when publishing a music magazine. In other words, genre labels can be useful for music critics, music promoters, and music fans... but they're the opposite of useful to musicians. As soon as a band starts labeling <i>themselves</i>, they're limiting themselves. How far do you think Buck-Tick would have gotten if they'd labeled themselves as a "goth" back back when <i>Aku no Hana</i> came out? Wouldn't they have just kept on wearing black lipstick and white face and releasing the same album over and over, as so many bands we could name did? </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">How would they have ever gotten from </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Aku no Hana</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> to </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Kurutta Taiyou</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">, let alone </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Darker Than Darkness</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">? I mean, </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Darker Than Darkness</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> isn't goth, it's JAZZ, ffs. If you can't see why DTD is jazz, I think you really need to study your terminology more before you feel qualified to discuss these concepts online. In fact, experts </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">everywhere</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> now agree that the walking bassline in "Kamikaze" and the saxophone of Atsushi Sakurai on the tour firmly places </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Darker Than Darkness</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> as a jazz album, no ifs, ands, or buts, if you have sax, it's jazz, and if you have sax with a jazz, you are jazz-sexual, and now Buck-Tick are no longer a goth band, everyone knows no goth bands ever used a saxophone not even once </span><strike style="font-family: verdana;">not even Auto-Mod</strike><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><strike style="font-family: verdana;">not even Daniel Ash in Bauhaus</strike><span style="font-family: verdana;"> you are woefully underinformed about the structure of goth music vs. jazz music and that's, quite frankly, </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">problematic.</i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(I'm joking, but... maybe you get the drift here.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, my friends, I suspect that you're actually here, on this blog, because the whole reason Buck-Tick have stayed interesting for 36 crazy years now is the fact that they've <i>aggressively avoided</i> labels and genres of all kinds. "Why do you put your hair up?" they were asked when they were young. "Because we believe it's cool," they said. Then, the inevitable, "Why did you stop putting your hair up?" "Because we felt like it," they answered. (Source: paraphrased from the Sen-Sor documentary, Picture Product I video box. Not on YouTube but VERY worth a watch if you can find it somewhere). </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Also, in Mr. Sakurai's case, he stopped putting his hair up during the tour for the album <i>Taboo</i>, which, for those of you new to Buck-Tickistan, is the album that contained one of Buck-Tick's most famous songs ever, a song that arguably defines their entire philosophy as a band: "Iconoclasm."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">For those of you who don't know this word, or would like a refresher, let's review:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>Iconoclasm (definition from Oxford languages): </b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>1. The action of attacking or assertively rejecting cherished beliefs and institutions or established values and practices.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">2. T</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">he rejection or destruction of religious images as heretical; the doctrine of iconoclasts.</span></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now, please take a moment to consider the ways in which "cherished beliefs" are taking center stage in global society (especially Western society) right now, and please consider how many of these "cherished beliefs" relate to identity labels. Please also take a moment to consider the parallels between religious dogmatists telling people what to believe in order to belong to a certain religion, and identity label gatekeepers telling people what to believe/spew in public in order to belong to a certain identity label. Then please consider how these phenomena fit in with the concept of "Iconoclasm."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">(I'ma let that sink in for a minute. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">*Plays <a href="https://youtu.be/DykZEOV5wD4?feature=shared">Jeopardy! theme</a>*</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">While we're waiting...</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">Fun fact: before Buck-Tick were called Buck-Tick, they were called "Hinan Go-Go" which means "Criticism Go-Go". My two cents: you can't have effective criticism without meaningful discussion, and you can't have meaningful discussion without differences of opinion. And this blog is a critical blog, I mean in the sense that I'm a critic, here.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">Fun fact: Imai's birthday, October 21st, is the last day of Libra, cusp of Libra and Scorpio. This astrological cusp is known as the Cusp of Criticism.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">*Jeopardy! theme ends. Time to continue*)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm sure I'm far from the only one who's noticed a troubling trend in all the swirl and the churn of so-called "debates" in the global public sphere lately, revolving around everything from economics to pandemic countermeasures to gender to, whatever it is, pick a card, any card. And what I've been seeing is this: though there has indeed been a lot of incidence of people not listening to each other, there has also been a lot people accusing others of not listening to them, when in fact, the other person did listen, they just <i>don't agree</i>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Let's remember how <i>real</i> debate works, folks. Real Debate: one person speaks their piece. The other person speaks a rebuttal. Each person then provides arguments and counter-arguments to support their respective positions. If the debate is carried out in good faith, each person listens to the other respectfully before responding. But if you want someone to agree with you who doesn't agree with you, you have to <i>convince</i> the other person of why they should agree with your views. However, these days, I'm seeing a lot of demands, rather than convincing. Demands, like "if you don't believe this exact thing (insert whatever the currently accepted party line is of whatever party), you're (insert identity label here)-phobic!!!" That's not debate, friends. That's no different from saying that if you don't accept Jesus as your personal savior, you're going to Hell.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Commonly accepted understandings" of all kinds of things, from economic systems to human nervous systems, are in a huge, huge, HUGE state of flux right now. The "accepted facts" are changing like, every hour. Common, to who? Accepted, by who? It's all changing as fast as ChatGPT can churn out a new set of conflicting mission statements and post them into Google's promoted algorithm, one for every "side" of each new "debate." Have y'all noticed that? Friends, it's not going away. Things are going to get crazier, not less crazy. We are out of Kansas. We are never going back to Kansas. (Sorry, Kansas.) This is the New World we live in (hey that was a B-T song, let's cut to a commercial break to steer this wildly off-topic blog back toward Buck-Tickistan *cues "<a href="https://youtu.be/rprYNRauLhY?feature=shared">New World</a>" PV*)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, where are we going, in this new world? We're going out of that Kansas monochrome, into a technicolor world. Not even fifty shades of grey anymore, a world of fucking <i>rainbows</i>, baby cats. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYkAANSPh9rAxfwEjE71Te7BLmYnNEwHEHhm6GAwJtpXy4X67sj9HkF-LBZeAtmtXW3V8qDlD6D2mis0aVsioqloblPC2WVFui3fIAPwFoOKpPLT1Bf1BvixOCQvMvAC9U6miDVyYTz4enoBfQXjLYE7o7PITuxuHwmyBtTto6HtpXGuUfsTRIGi9N_sM/s5184/IMG_4892.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYkAANSPh9rAxfwEjE71Te7BLmYnNEwHEHhm6GAwJtpXy4X67sj9HkF-LBZeAtmtXW3V8qDlD6D2mis0aVsioqloblPC2WVFui3fIAPwFoOKpPLT1Bf1BvixOCQvMvAC9U6miDVyYTz4enoBfQXjLYE7o7PITuxuHwmyBtTto6HtpXGuUfsTRIGi9N_sM/s320/IMG_4892.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSyevnYQw7C1nJojKYt3Wr-TsoKub7tW309Ecz3xsIVdB_UOkgSvgNmbpy1yotZpk2hd-pYhrwfpYwWRrhGRSrkgBDZ5DcSh6J-SgvCCRMq9LF-AIAcWfkDPbFROEggfg7bqKml91QLRrqeU7SKY9QOqLEfV3azPKdz1cGSBnW6eMx0Ua7hX27LE6pif4/s1920/vlcsnap-2022-10-30-01h08m22s544.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSyevnYQw7C1nJojKYt3Wr-TsoKub7tW309Ecz3xsIVdB_UOkgSvgNmbpy1yotZpk2hd-pYhrwfpYwWRrhGRSrkgBDZ5DcSh6J-SgvCCRMq9LF-AIAcWfkDPbFROEggfg7bqKml91QLRrqeU7SKY9QOqLEfV3azPKdz1cGSBnW6eMx0Ua7hX27LE6pif4/s320/vlcsnap-2022-10-30-01h08m22s544.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJXXULkD-Cl-KEODunDdtq64eb1jptNUIoCeKtUne9Zc0IEbGuOV7ZCmoC_9pYBeSnaIpuK9AK0VSwbLus31hmGbbkDV9pZwxxCTmD7ZWsvql2k6uYCNBpc5NzGWHSppcaXGJvGVuGQCItMw-vD1xWkrmaV2gnfh4yYxzlUswh4075iuIURlgWYgxa8DY/s725/1-orchid-mantis-francesco-tomasinelli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="725" data-original-width="580" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJXXULkD-Cl-KEODunDdtq64eb1jptNUIoCeKtUne9Zc0IEbGuOV7ZCmoC_9pYBeSnaIpuK9AK0VSwbLus31hmGbbkDV9pZwxxCTmD7ZWsvql2k6uYCNBpc5NzGWHSppcaXGJvGVuGQCItMw-vD1xWkrmaV2gnfh4yYxzlUswh4075iuIURlgWYgxa8DY/s320/1-orchid-mantis-francesco-tomasinelli.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: red;">W</span><span style="color: #ffa400;">H</span><span style="color: #fcff01;">Ooo</span><span style="color: #04ff00;">A</span><span style="color: #01ffff;">A</span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">A</span><span style="color: #ff00fe;">A!!!</span></b></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And despite what you may be seeing in some corners of the internet, a rainbow means a diversity of experiences and opinions. (Look at the damn banner of this blog, we haven't changed it since 2017! We've been behind this rainbow the entire goddamn time.) Apparently, however, accepting a spectrum is something that's very hard for a lot of people to do, and therefore, many people are flailing. Apparently it's very scary to live in a world without binaries or status quotidians. The pendulum is swinging. It's probably going to be quite a while before things even out. Until then, <a href="https://youtu.be/myRc-3oF1d0?feature=shared">it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing</a>, baby! (watch the video it was recorded on March 7th 1965 and it's ELLA) But yeah. Nothing, nothing, nothing is in a box (except Schrödinger's cat). But, like </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Schrödinger's</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> cat... n</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">othing is decided upon but for what YOU decide upon (quantum physicists might be at pains to tell me that wasn't the point of </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Schrödinger's</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> cat but I'm going to rebut them and say it was. Quantum Consciousness, baby physicist. Pick it up and run to Nobel, off with you now.) Anyway, if you're </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">dizzy reading all this, just remember the friendly dialectic:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">THESIS</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">ANTITHESIS</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">SYNTHESIS</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">That is to say, first, people have an idea (thesis). Then some people come along and challenge that idea with an opposing idea (antithesis). Eventually the two ideas integrate and merge into a totally new idea that's a union of elements from the first two ideas (synthesis).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But you don't get to synthesis without antithesis. The anti. The <a href="https://youtu.be/VX23De-A0BU?feature=shared">Villain</a>, so to speak (to bring this back to Buck-Tickistan again). So welcome all colors of debate and don't shut someone else down with lines like "experts agree that..." <i>Which</i> experts? When did they agree, and on what? Did you actually read their work or listen to their talks directly, or is it hearsay? Are you going to cite your sources? If you want to convince someone that your point of view is correct, back up your arguments! And also...</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">...use your own words, use your own mind! Observe the world and draw your own conclusions! Express your own feelings, from your own heart, from your own experience, not based on what some internet trend or meme is telling you! Come up with your own ideas! Resist groupthink! Have you noticed how many people out there right now are preaching "freedom" and "individuality" while doing their damndest to shut down dissent? And no, I'm not just talking about "those" people. Really <i>look</i>, y'all. <i>See</i> what's happening. Do you want to be some kind of vector, parroting dogma? I don't think that's why you're here. Be an Iconoclast! Isn't that why you came to Buck-Tickistan?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Fan fact: as an Anarchic Republic, Buck-Tickistan has open borders and no visa system, so anyone is free to come and go as they choose so long as they respect the One Law of Buck-Tickistan which is the <strike>Golden Ratio</strike> I mean the Golden Rule. Actually the Golden Ratio might work even better.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Another thing: people around the world have different views. Politics and ideology are very, <i>very</i> different depending on where you go. "Accepted norms" in the USA, UK, and Western Europe are very different from those in Japan, for example. The kinds of identity labels that are so preciously in vogue in the West right now barely register in Japan. Most people in Japan haven't even heard of them. Most people in Japan don't know that such "debates" are even happening. Hell, to go after some really ripe, low-hanging fruit... pronouns as Western languages know them don't even <i>exist</i> in the Japanese language in the way that they do in many Indo-European languages. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As for mental health... fun fact, kids: Adder@ll is illegal in Japan because the chemical structure is deemed by the Japanese government to be too close to mxxhamphxtamine (also censorship algos are killing my blog and the free internet as we speak so pardon the l33+sp3@k but y'know everyone knows that if you talk about drXXs on your blog that automatically means you're the kingpin of a cartel that's the kind of world we live in now). Japan's too scared of narco-smuggling to even be willing to medicate people with ADHD. That's the level we've got on "neurodivergence" in Japan. Not saying that neurodivergence is not a thing, or that people in Japan don't have it. Obviously, neurodivergence is a thing and it's just as much of a thing in Japan as anywhere else. But there is <i>no one accepted worldview on this stuff</i>, and when you talk to Japanese people about these issues, you're going to get very different perspectives than if you were talking to Westerners. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Japan has its problems, for sure (so does everywhere), but if Japan didn't walk its own way, where would Buck-Tick be?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Drifting in the void, an unrealized seed that never sprouted, that's where.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The world is a big, big place. All the more reason to skivvy out of your labels and run nude through the wonderful garden of human diversity. And neurodiversity. And Neuromancer.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">...w</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">hich brings me to my next two points.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">1) As they say, to Assume makes an ASS out of U and ME.</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">and</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">2) Will you be the hero of your own life, or will that station be held by anybody else?</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Let's start with point 1. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Assumptions. Or, as my high school history teacher loved to joke, "ASS-umptions."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">When you communicate for the first time with anyone at all, or you're just getting to know the person, and <i>especially</i> when you communicate online with a person you've never met IRL, there are a LOT of things you don't know about the person. Communicating with a faceless stranger on the internet, who lives in another country... in many cases, you don't even know the basic information about the person that you would get if you met them IRL (e.g. what they look like, what their voice sounds like, their sex, approximate age, physical mannerisms, and many other non-verbal details that give a lot of information about a person even on first meeting). You probably don't even know the person's real name. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But beyond this, what you really, really don't know, especially in cases of online communication, are the details of that person's life experience, personal history, cultural background, family background, etc. You have no idea what countries that person might have lived in, what places they might have visited, who they might have loved and lost, what their family life was like, where they've worked, what their hobbies and interests are, you don't even know superficial little things like their favorite flavor of ice cream or even whether they can eat ice cream or whether they're allergic to dairy of vegan or what have you... you know NOTHING, Jon Snow!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's a cliché, but it bears repeating: <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">you can never be sure what someone else is going through</span></b>. That person who snapped at you at work, or frowned at you in the supermarket - you don't have a clue what kind of bad day, or bad year, or bad decade they might have had, to put them in that kind of mood. Yeah, maybe they're just being a jerk. Or maybe their best friend just jumped on the train tracks yesterday. Unless they tell you (and sometimes even when they do tell you), <i>you just. don't. fucking. know.</i> Yes, people need to be held accountable for their actions and words, but it's equally important to give everyone a touch of your grace, too. Because I guarantee you that you, being human, were definitely that person to someone else, at least one day in the past year, and probably much more often than that. And you might not even have meant anything bad by it, or even been aware of it. Let the person without sin among you cast the first stone. People in glass houses, etc. This is why assuming makes an ass out of you and me.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Extending from this: <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">you have no way of knowing another person's knowledge base</span></b>. You don't know what subjects they've studied, or what form their studies took (was it books, or was it the School of Life? You don't know, Jon Snow.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Unless a person tells you (and sometimes even if they do), you have no idea what types of life experience might have them to hold the opinions they hold, and at least for a person who's a grown-ass adult enough to have lived life a little, you cannot assume that just because a person holds an opinion that differs from yours means that they are ignorant or benighted or "wrong." Maybe they know something you don't. Maybe they've seen something you haven't. Maybe they've been abused in a way that you haven't. People's biases come from many sources, and everyone has biases - look in the mirror before you start pointing out other people's pimples! Plus, if you dismiss someone else's opinion out of hand like this, you not only dehumanize them, you lose a valuable opportunity for learning what they might potentially teach you. Even if you feel that the person is a bigoted zealot, you can still learn from them about the psychology of bigoted zealotry, and that knowledge might serve you well if mitigating bigoted zealotry is one of your goals. Antagonists have at least as much to teach you as friends, and if you don't dismiss people out of hand, you might find friends in surprising places, even if those friends don't always share your exact same views. Stay open-minded. Stay humble. There's a reason Jesus and Mohammed walked forty days alone in the desert and Buddha sat silently under a tree. Awareness doesn't come from shoving your opinions down other's throats. Awareness comes from <i>listening</i>. (Yeah, yeah, I'm talking rather than listening right now but this is a blog, that's what it's for.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But back to assumption - if you claim to care about mental health/neurodivergence issues, you need to be the absolute first person in your life to acknowledge that, when you talk to a stranger, you <i>cannot</i> know what the other person's mental health struggles might be. D</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">e-stigmatization of mental health issues is a laudable goal. But if you're devoted to de-stigmatizing mental health issues, first, you have to understand that you </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">cannot</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> make unfounded assumptions about people's mental health status, and you also have to understand that many people don't want to share their private struggles, not because they're ashamed, but because they want to keep their private lives private. Furthermore, you have to understand that even if people do choose to open up publicly about their struggles, there is still very likely a lot that they aren't telling you in public. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">So,</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> you cannot assume</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">. To assume makes you look arrogant and antagonistic. It shuts down discussion and debate. It creates the opposite of an inclusive environment.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now, let's go full circle back to the debate thing. If someone voices an opinion that you disagree with, don't take it personally and shut them down with some line like "you haven't done your research." If you really think the person isn't educated about the issue, guess what: it's your job to educate them. Young'uns these days love to shriek "it isn't my job to educate people!!!" but actually, if what you want is for people to be educated, and they don't know something, then, yes, sorry, fans, but it <i>is</i> your job to educate, even by providing a few simple, concise bits of data, with references so that the person can pursue it further later, if they so choose (cite sources! And no, for most purposes, Tumblr memes and random blog posts don't count!) If you're tired and you don't want to bother, say so, and walk away. But if you just sit there and crow at the other person, "I don't have to educate you," while feeling smug, what it looks like is that you care more about preening your own ego than in actually arguing your point or convincing anyone why you're right... which isn't convincing at all.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However! Even if you do feel like you want to school somebody, because you <i>cannot know</i> what the other person may have gone through, to take a hoighty-toighty attitude toward "edumucating" them may not be the best strategy, if you actually want them to see your point of view. It might be warranted in some cases, like in political debates, but in many other situations, it might not be. In any case, first, <i>listen</i> to what the other person has to say. If they say something you disagree with, ask them why they think the way they do. If they give an argument that you disagree with, counter by using actual evidence, or your own original thoughts, not by just parroting back someone else's politically correct opinion without having digested or absorbed or grokked it at all. <i>Think</i> before you speak. Use your own words. Use concrete examples. And be respectful of the other person's intelligence and experience. Unless the person tells you explicitly, <i>never</i> assume they haven't read all the books you've read, or lived through the same kind of crap you've lived through, or even gotten the same diagnosis you've got. Two people can go through more or less the exact same shit and end up with totally different viewpoints. How many of y'all have siblings?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">When you go and assume that your interlocutor doesn't know things, hasn't experienced things, etc., it's not only disrespectful, it puts the interlocutor in a nasty position of having to either open up about experiences that they might not want to discuss, or feeling like they have to defend themselves and risk looking like a defensive ass, or feeling like they can't continue the debate because you're dismissing them out of hand and that therefore there's no point trying to engage with you any longer. In political debates, the whole point is to defend your point of view without walking away. But in personal situations, it's a totally different game. In personal situations, when people are belittled because others assume things about them that aren't true, they tend to feel angry, frustrated, and silenced. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Not a good look to end up with, for those claiming inclusivity.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Incidentally, if y'all want a really <i>good</i> example of how to engage people in productive debate, watch Trevor Noah's interviews on <i>The Daily Show</i>. Noah is a paragon of drawing out people of differing viewpoints without ever disrespecting their identities, intelligence or experience. Recommended viewing for those of you who like to argue for the sake of ideas, rather than ego-boosting.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now, the ASS-umption principle applies to all kinds of situations. But in this specific situation, here on Blog-Tick, if you want to get personal, this is about as personal as I'm willing to get, on this blog:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">I don't get personal on this blog.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">The main reason being: this blog is about Buck-Tick, not about me.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you want to cultivate a relationship with me as a person, feel free to write me an email (sorry I've been slow on correspondence lately, but I do enjoy hearing from readers and I make an effort to respond to everyone even if it takes some time.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, y'all.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anyone who's reading this who isn't a personal friend of mine: beyond the opinions I've expressed on this blog over the years, you actually have no idea who I am or what I've been through. You can't even be sure that "Cayce" is the real "me" now, can you? Do you think Gothique Prince Acchan is the real Acchan? Who, indeed, is the Real Slim Shady? How do you know I'm not Spartacus? Please, do not assume. Whatever, whoever you think I am, if you actually knew the truth, I have a strong feeling that it would surprise you.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Why?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Because everyone is a fucking surprise inside.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Even your closest friends and lovers can be total enigmas at times.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Therefore, Aretha Franklin said it best:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">R-E-S-P-E-C-T.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The <strike>Golden Ratio</strike> I mean the Golden Rule.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now, on to point 2.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Being the hero of your own life, with respect to this ongoing dialogue about neurodivergence.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, neurodivergence is a very recently coined term, and a recently minted concept, as is HSP. The research on these topics is ongoing and rapidly evolving, and there is no consensus, as I already mentioned. But beyond that, if you really want to go about this scientifically, to try and claim "consensus" is in total opposition to the scientific method.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>The scientific method:</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>1. Formulate a hypothesis</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>2. Design an experiment to test the hypothesis</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>3. Conduct the experiment and gather data</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>4. Revise your hypothesis as necessary, based on the data you gathered</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>5. Repeat</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Science is <i>not a belief system</i>, but unfortunately, a lot of people who call themselves "scientists" these days go around acting like it's a belief system. Actually, it isn't even "these days" - a lot of the greatest scientific breakthroughs were widely ridiculed before being accepted in the mainstream as what we now call "fact" (if you're interested in the history of science and want to look more closely at this, look at not only Copernicus and Galileo and heliocentrism, but also tectonic plates, and my favorite, </span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ignaz Semmelweis and hand-washing... but the list goes on and on.) Why does this happen? Dialectic. Antithesis. And more importantly, for the same reason most stupid things happen on this planet: ego, money, and ego, and money, and ego, and power, and money, and ego, and power. And people don't like change. But real science is the kind of science that evolves. (Oops... remember Darwin? Remember how people reacted to him? And remember Lamarck? And then people accepted Darwin and Lamarck got kicked out of town... and now with epigenetics it's becoming clear that Lamarck was onto something too and actually they were both right! Poor Lamarck, he was right too but people didn't listen! <strike>Synthesizers</strike> Synthesis, baby! Look up the history of evolutionary theory if you want to learn more, it's a fascinating tale.)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Anyway, yeah. Stay humble. Stay curious. Stay experimental. Keep debating. <i>That's</i> how we learn new things. <i>That's</i> how we change paradigms. That's <i>real</i> divergence, in a positive way.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">From Robert Frost's famous poem, "The Road Not Taken"...</span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—<br />I took the one less traveled by,<br />And that has made all the difference.</span></i></b><br /></span><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I get that people who are currently known as "neurodivergent" are not served well by the society we live in today. For the record, I don't even think that "neurodivergent" is a bad term. It's actually a great term, as far as it goes. (Though as for this whole idea that "consciousness comes from your brain" *spits vodka soda out of nose laughing* GOOD JOKE GUYS don't even get me started on brains, consciousness studies, and "the hard problem"... please look at Rupert Sheldrake's work on morphic resonance and then let's discuss universal consciousness and <i>then</i> maybe we can finally, finally get out of the damn brain scans and on to actually <i>finding</i> the Unified Theory of Everything *cough cough the key is the forbidden C word nope not C for Cayce but C for Consciousness whoops I let the Schrödinger's cat out of the bag but the Buck-Tick guys have only been singing about it for 36 years now seriously you would have been able to SEE it if you stared at Andromeda hard enough here have a Nobel baby physicist congrats on "discovering" that water is wet now maybe we can actually start to do FUN things like vibrational healing and anti-gravity kthxbai*, but I digress...)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Maybe I even get that "</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">neurodivergent" people are not served well by the society we live in today</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> because I'm not exactly "neurotypical" myself. I mean, how "neurotypical" is it to live as a disembodied genderless internet icosahedron of photonic plasma who's been blogging about Buck-Tick for nigh on </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">eighteen years</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> (pass me the smelling salts!) and I mean, dear sweet readers, have you actually </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">read</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> this blog? ("Mad, call I it, for to define true madness, what is't but to be nothing else but mad? But let that go.")</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But maybe, just maybe, I have a bit of an iconoclastic view on society.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Owning your pain is a vital step towards healing.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Understanding that you have struggled, and where, and why, is a vital step towards knowing yourself.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And knowing yourself, in turn, is a vital step towards expanding your consciousness into a higher awareness.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But let's not forget that the ultimate purpose here is <i>healing</i>. And </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">expanding your consciousness into a higher awareness.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pain doesn't make you special. One shitty fact (spoiler alert) about this life: pain is a universal human experience.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Being "different" doesn't make you special, except in that <i>everyone</i> is special, because <i>everyone</i> is different from everyone else. That's by design. That's to be celebrated. That's why we're fucking here, people. Only you can do you. Otherwise, you wouldn't exist at all. For further reading, please check the lyrics to "Only You" (lyrics/music by Imai Hisashi, quoted in the banner of this blog). </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yeah, society is unfair, and it treats people badly, and some people seem to have a harder time fitting into the demands of society than others, and some of those people are what we call neurodivergent.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But... how do you really<i> know</i> that other people, the so-called "neurotypicals," are having so much easier of a time? How can you be sure that everyone isn't having a shitty time and faking it? (Ass outta u and me again here). How do you know who's neurodivergent and who isn't? Neurodivergent doesn't only apply to people with either autism spectrum disorder or ADHD. It applies to many other types of people as well, including people who are bona-fide "weirdos" and have a certain number of traits in common with ASD or ADHD or both, but don't meet any diagnosis, and don't even need a diagnosis, because there's no "treatment" required for being a weirdo. Being a weirdo isn't a disease. (I'm also gonna argue that autism isn't a "disease" either, because "disease" implies that there's something wrong that should be fixed, but let's come back to that.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">You want to get personal? Okay, let's get personal. To my autistic readers:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">One of the people (not Cayce) who has been a vital behind-the-scenes supporter of this very site/blog since the very beginning is autistic/ADHD. We've been working closely together for 18 years. We know each other better than family, in a lot of ways. I helped this person through their diagnosis, but even before they were diagnosed, we spent a lot of time discussing issues related to ASD/ADHD in depth, and this was long before these issues were out in the open in popular discourse like they are today. As I mentioned earlier in this article, autism spectrum disorder and ADHD, as they are currently defined, both have a long list of very specific diagnostic criteria (for criteria, please look at the DSM, not at random blog posts. Clinical psychologists are using the DSM to diagnose, not random blog posts. Yeah there are problems with the DSM but let's be consistent here.) The experience of people with ASD/ADHD is extremely distinctive. That's why I honestly think it's disrespectful to armchair over-label people with these diagnoses if they haven't been diagnosed. You can speculate but you can't assume.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Because, as I said in the previous paragraph, there are <i>many other people who have many of the same traits</i>, and a "weirdo" experience of life, and may be obsessive introverts who love cats and don't get along well in the hypermacho hustler technocratic capitalist hellscape we hilariously call "society," yet demonstrably are neither autistic nor ADHD. Maybe I know someone like that, maybe I don't. That's for me to know and you to guess privately. If these people desperately need a label, HSP seems to fit pretty well.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">HSP definition (from The Mayo Clinic):</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>A highly sensitive person (HSP) is a neurodivergent individual who is thought to have an increased or deeper central nervous system sensitivity to physical, emotional, or social stimuli. Some refer to this as having sensory processing sensitivity, or SPS for short.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>While highly sensitive people are sometimes negatively described as being “too sensitive," it is a personality trait that brings both strengths and challenges.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>The term highly sensitive person was first coined by psychologists Elaine Aron and Arthur Aron in the mid-1990s. Elaine Aron published her book, "The Highly Sensitive Person," in 1996, and interest in the concept has continued to grow since then.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">If y'all want to look more at the HSP thing, look at the work of Elaine Aron, take it from her, not me, I'm not a psychologist except when I'm sitting in an armchair, lol.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As y'all with the ASD/ADHD know, there is a LOT more to what you've got than simple hypersensitivity. A non-ASD/ADHD person who does Adder@ll is going to get high on it. Don't ask me how I know. Maybe I know someone who did that and got high, maybe I don't. That's for me to know and you to guess privately. But just because that person got high doesn't mean they aren't hella extra special sensitive. I mean... did you actually listen to the song "Speed"? This is a Buck-Tick blog, not a mental health blog.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I think HSP is just as relevant and useful a term as "neurodivergent," because HSP captures the essence of what it is to be one of those neurodivergent weirdos who don't have any diagnosis, they're just sensitive weirdos.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Common things general HSPs ("clinical weirdos") do that ASD/ADHD people also do:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">- Get overstimulated easily (therefore often have trouble with crowded trains, nightclubs, etc.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">- Get deeply obsessed with things</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">- Go into hyperfocus states (like staying up all night and forgetting to eat because they're writing a blog article)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">- Prefer to spend a lot of time alone (this is just introversion folks and nobody's got a patent on it)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">- Love cats maybe a little more than people most of the time (also not patented as neurodivergent)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">- Have digestive issues (wait that's not neurodivergence, that's what you get when you've been drinking all of Tokyo under the table since 1987 not gonna name names but if you wanna catch him just leave a big ol' bottle of sweet potato shochu in a bondage harness out overnight and in the morning you'll find him happily tied up in red rope clutching an empty bottle fast asleep and then you can feel free to use his red lipstick to draw a d*ck on his face whoops I think I just gave too much personal shit away there)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">- Feel they don't fit in in society (LMFAO who actually feels that they fit in in society, or as I like to call it, "society"? If you do, please leave a comment and tell us all about it!)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">No, these HSPs are not "in denial and have secret autism." Maybe a few are, but many more are not. Why not, and how do they know? Because maybe, just maybe, they <i>actually did look into it!</i> Maybe they did some casual research. Maybe they did some in-depth research. Maybe they got clinically evaluated. Maybe, more than likely if they're such clinical weirdos, they have a lot of ASD/ADHD friends, and they've seen on a daily basis with their own eyes that the ASD/ADHD experience isn't their experience... but they also know from their own lived daily experience that they're neurodivergent as hell. Sure, they've got sensory issues (shut <i>up</i>, Japanese talking vending machines!), but nothing like an autistic person. No trouble making eye contact. No trouble communicating and making friends with strangers. No trouble flirting or playing conversational games. Able to play a chameleon in "neurotypical" social situations and enjoy it at least for short periods of time. No hyper-distinctive sensory issues like being unable to eat out of metal bowls, or feeling excessively disgusted by certain smells that other people can't even smell. And the list of potential examples goes on and on and on. Spectrum, people. Venn diagram. Rainbow.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, how does this have to do with being the hero of your own life?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>It's because of the simple fact that we can't control what other people do, but what we CAN control is how we respond.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Whether there is any such thing as "objective" truth is a subject that's been debated since the beginning of philosophy, but one thing's for sure: however you define your reality, within your own soul, that's how reality is, for <i>you</i>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's undeniable that neurodivergent people are at certain disadvantages in "lolsociety." Neurodivergent people, HSPs included, have to deal with sensory overload all the time: traffic noise, air pollution, trucks driving around blaring political speeches, annoying talking machines, obnoxious blinking lights, TV screens in all the trains, anime girls with giant balloon boobs wherever you look... good god, try being neurodivergent and living in fucking Tokyo! If you're neurodivergent and you visit Tokyo, make sure you never leave your AirBnB without sunglasses and a good pair of headphones! </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But, everything is a yin-yang. Flip it around. Would you, sensitive person, really give up all that sensitivity, that enables you to feel so much, perceive so much, appreciate so much - would you give that up in order to be a herpdy-derp office drone? Would you give up those unique sensory gifts that allow you to perceive aspects of the world that many other people don't have access to? Would you surrender your secret key to join the hive? To the extent that you have felt set apart from others, confused by others, misunderstood by others... do you want to give up your essential self and be like them? Or do you want them to accept you for who you truly are, but they haven't done that yet, to the extent that you wish they would?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'ma let you sit and think about it for a minute.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">*Puts on "<a href="https://youtu.be/Nl_T0gu2Te8?feature=shared">Check-Up</a>" by Buck-Tick while you think*</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">From the lyrics to "Check-Up":</span></p><p><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>Chapter 3<br />How are you? Lesson 3: yourself<br />Which one did you choose?<br />1. The type who survives by bowing to power<br />2. The type who waits for a lucky shot</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;">.</span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;">So, do you have your answer? No judgment if you chose 1. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that most Buck-Tick fans are the type to choose 2. You want to express your essential self. And maybe society won't let you. But have you considered, that perhaps, if you are an unusual, sensitive person, you might have more of a natural capacity to express your essential self than the so-called "neurotypical" (whoever they are, I don't think I know anyone like that, but then again, I live in a cave and rarely venture out except to attend Buck-Tick shows, so what do I know...) All it takes is courage. It starts with you.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you remain in a victim mindset, externalizing blame onto everything around you, you'll never change your life. "Because society" blah blah... there is always, always something or someone out there waiting and ready to do you wrong. That's just the kind of sick, sad world we live in. So, what to do? I challenge you: be the superhero of your own life! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What are your potential superpowers?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">- Keen observational skills</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">- Intellectual curiosity</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">- Ability to see things in unusual ways</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">- A healthy distance from the "noisy school" (see "Aikawarazu no 'Are' no Katamari")</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">- Empathy born from the experience of being "otherized"</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">- Strength of character born from the experience of dealing with adversity on a daily basis</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">- Obsessive tenacity</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Looking pretty good to me, so far.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even if you have these naturally, you still do have to develop them (but that goes for all talents). However, I see these as the key "superpowers" that a neurodivergent person has potentially much more ready access to than a so-called "neurotypical."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There may be a lot of things in this world that you can't change, but I guarantee you, there are also things that you *can* change. <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">Any system that people created is a system that people can change. </span></b>And given that neurodivergent people are actually quite a significant proportion of the population... think how much change could potentially be wrought! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">What about we start by redefining what gets valued in society?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">What if we valued interpersonal relationships over the company's bottom line?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">What if we valued moments of beauty over material objects?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">What if we valued staying true to our authentic selves over putting on a sham act in an attempt to please a lot of nebulous "others" who don't actually give a shit whether we live or die?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instead of saying, "sorry, Cayce, but that just isn't the kind of society we live in," why don't you get up and push back! I don't want to hear that defeatist crap that people pass off as "pragmatism" any more. No more of that shit. If y'all hadn't noticed, on this planet, <i>we are all out of precious sweet fucking time</i>. If you are still, at this late date, doubting that, just ask the people flooded out of the New York City subway, or burned out of Lahaina, etc. etc. etc. Get off your ass and start doing what you can do or you are part of the problem, not the solution. Yeah, it's hard, it takes time, it takes sustained effort from many, many people. But it sure as hell beats getting into arguments on social media with people who actually basically agree with you, and would gladly join you, if you could stop quibbling over <strike>numerology</strike> I mean terminology.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And while we're tackling changing the world, let's throw this in the pipe and smoke it...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="color: #ea9999;">What's with all the pathologizing, anyway?</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wouldn't any truly sane person agree that sensory overload, depression, anxiety, introversion, etc. are totally rational responses to a totally irrational world?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The only reason things like ASD and ADHD are called "disorders" is because they don't fit in with what that irrational world wants you to be... but... are you just going to let the world win? If you are, I'm disappointed in you. Remember when "hysteria" was a "disorder" caused by a woman's womb wandering around her body? Remember what happened after that? *<a href="https://youtu.be/rq1bcVOmyjw?feature=shared">Suffragette City</a>*, that's what happened! (I mean, the women's suffrage movement, but the David Bowie song is good too). But it took guts. It took a lot of ladies putting on the pants and going out in the street and saying <a href="https://youtu.be/ubLRB7tb78Q?feature=shared">ENOUGH IS ENOUGH I'VE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHER FUCKING SNAKES ON THIS MOTHER FUCKING PLANE</a>. (If you haven't watched that movie, please do watch it, btw.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instead of whining about how we have it so tough, let's just change the whole fucking conversation, already. Iconoclasm, BiTches. The time is now.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yeah, it'll be difficult, everything worth anything in this life takes effort to attain. That goes for learning to play guitar, and it goes for social movements. That's why no, I'm not going to accept perfectly healthy "neurodivergent" people as having a "disorder." Y'all don't. The disorder is in society. <a href="https://youtu.be/hkG3oj2aw90?feature=shared">It's physical neurose, oh too blue sky</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">Be the fucking hero. Let's all be the fucking heroes together.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But also... as I keep saying, respect the spectrum. Labels get dangerous when they stop being useful (categorizing the record story) and start to get tribal (your band isn't goth).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Beware! Are you using a label because you don't know who you are when you take the label off? Stop. Take off the label. Get in the bath. Have a nice long relaxing soak. Then get out of the bath, look at yourself in the mirror. See yourself. You are YOU. <a href="https://youtu.be/ml3sCQXzY-I?feature=shared">Only YOU</a>. No label needed!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Are you using a label on someone else because you want to feel closer to that person by both using the same label? Stop. Take off the label. Look at the person. What do you see? I'm guessing you see a human being (even if that human being is merely a disguise for an ancient praying mantis from Andromeda). Hell, this is equally relevant even if you see an ancient praying mantis from Andromeda. Whether you see a human being or you see an ancient praying mantis from Andromeda, just let them be who they are. No label needed!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div>Over the past decade or so, I've seen a lot of use of labels by people who want to have a label in order to feel special. I'm sure y'all have seen this as well, seeing as you are internet-inclined people, probably much more so than yours truly. This "label to feel special" thing is another big reason I despise labels. If you need a label in order to feel special, and you need to feel "special" in order to feel okay, the fact is, you are insecure. Everyone is special already. Everyone is unique already. Reiterating and beating a dead horse here: everyone has struggles, and pain. Everyone feels alienated sometimes. Yeah, even "normals." Probably more than you realize. And there is always, always someone who has it worse than you do. And there will always, always be someone who did something that you can't do, has it better than you, etc. <i><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">But only you can do what you can do</span></b></i>. Life isn't a contest. Life is a rainbow.</div><div><br /></div><div>I feel like I've said this before, but I'll said it again... which is the "best" color in the rainbow? That's a fucking stupid question, right? Without all the colors, there would be no rainbow.</div></div></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">You don't need labels to connect with someone, ever. All of us are part of the unified consciousness of the Universe. Each of us is a mirror on the Great Cosmic Disco Ball in the Sky. I am you and you are me. That was what Buck-Tick were trying to get at, with <i>Yumemiru Uchuu</i>, only it seems almost nobody got it at the time, because they/we were so preoccupied with separation, with ego, with boxes. But you can let it go at any time. You have a choice. Choose your own mindset. No labels are necessary for us to connect and be close. We are connected already.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And a small note, before we conclude.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Because this is a Buck-Tick blog, and if there's one thing Buck-Tick loves, it's masks, and masquerades.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As far as "masking" goes... we <i>all</i> do it. There's not a single person on earth who feels comfortable or accepted all the time. "Neurotypical" people have these struggles too. Autistic people may need to "mask" more than "neurotypical" people, but it's simply a matter of degree. I humbly submit that if we normalize this understanding, it will make life easier for absolutely everyone. The isolation of the internet seems to have convinced people that there's some kind of Barbie and Ken ideal majority of people out there "living their best lives" but... have you ever turned on the news? (Not that I recommend turning on the news, it sucks. But, really. Who the hell, NT or ND, is living their best fucking life in Ukraine right now, for example?) Life is a cabaret, and it's a <a href="https://youtu.be/dYf59eQa5QU?feature=shared&t=1039">theater of the grotesque</a>. All the world's a stage. The whole point of this life is about playing a role, playing the character you created to be yours. So, why not play it up, and play it on your terms?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whew. This has been the longest article we've written about NOT Buck-Tick on this blog, but we're not about to change this blog to This is NOT Buck-Tick Blog, so, to conclude:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If y'all wanna debate this in the comments, go right ahead, but I'm not going to write any more essay-length responses because I want to get back to focusing on Buck-Tick related content. I respect all of you and I appreciate your input. Again, I really appreciate that Blog-Tick has such a polite, intellectually engaged readership. This is a great community and I'm honored to be here for y'all. So, to that end, I'm gonna get back to Buck-Tick from now on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you have any questions or requests related to B-T content that you want me to cover, please leave a comment or send me an email.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I reserve the right to moderate all comments, so please be aware that your comment will not appear on the blog until I approve it. In principle, I approve all comments unless they are spam, totally irrelevant, or hate speech. If I haven't approved your comment yet, it just means that I haven't gotten around to checking the blog to approve comments. It doesn't mean that I hate you, so don't worry or freak out. The purpose of the moderation settings is to maintain the quality of this community, not to silence anyone. (Y'all haven't seen the spam I'm protecting you from, please trust me here you do not need robots purporting to be from Kyrgyzstan selling you multi-level marketing schemes.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also, to end on a pleasantly internet-appropriate defensive and personal note: a fun fact about Cayce... Cayce can, in fact, play the guitar! Not gonna challenge Robert Fripp to a duel any time soon but Imai, get on "Boukyaku" and FIGHT me.</div></span>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-37027710112603240232023-10-01T04:24:00.002+09:002023-10-01T04:28:29.862+09:00Moon Gazing<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_f8p8bYNeiTgb5AoSjAIyKT7UOAWYSQYXrcuf86tjE1LpmnsNI_w3NKQzE7hBb-q7DrWNzG_SQB7gvjdPlKIAIRX6fk_Xj9Nfh-ehG5om-WhrHO_qkVQTWZrQH5LOFQUpFDFkJBe_ThBTnHPGtcrmswX3iu7NTwJKJ6Kc6XUQXs_VlWKwVqiFCGhd7-Y/s5184/IMG_4849.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_f8p8bYNeiTgb5AoSjAIyKT7UOAWYSQYXrcuf86tjE1LpmnsNI_w3NKQzE7hBb-q7DrWNzG_SQB7gvjdPlKIAIRX6fk_Xj9Nfh-ehG5om-WhrHO_qkVQTWZrQH5LOFQUpFDFkJBe_ThBTnHPGtcrmswX3iu7NTwJKJ6Kc6XUQXs_VlWKwVqiFCGhd7-Y/s320/IMG_4849.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoPKop37f6iIjESD0ZCX7LUlnHbaNzNTJrhyphenhypheniQfl-_gg2C9QM0AWN0ZljNrCxBgiq8N4GXEAT9gyR7Rt5ZBuel-KZOvbjHBiEpaG2D8aUdWTfofwXR2U80NvQfiqVV0H56BGDwY7evJahI85Jk7bbGlrQ-biYVidzuibyL69zRh7Y1zNIvlONWmBPJmwU/s5184/IMG_4886.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoPKop37f6iIjESD0ZCX7LUlnHbaNzNTJrhyphenhypheniQfl-_gg2C9QM0AWN0ZljNrCxBgiq8N4GXEAT9gyR7Rt5ZBuel-KZOvbjHBiEpaG2D8aUdWTfofwXR2U80NvQfiqVV0H56BGDwY7evJahI85Jk7bbGlrQ-biYVidzuibyL69zRh7Y1zNIvlONWmBPJmwU/s320/IMG_4886.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #04ff00; font-family: verdana;">*spaced out*</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbWeI6CsVjPyKFLlcEEJgdX6aclK3xAzCVwlVvlH8AQ66n6490LRyeQs9GvqAPnBOhB1E0Acu9DvY0HOD1oCjoXkho5M3X6g5bHAtZvGZqmO-S-ArkET-K1Ql-wtwV-tDy17WXew4ni6f5UgkqQX2JdklVayvy476ZB_PRaI1WxTbkRQ7bH925YvZe_zg/s5184/IMG_4932.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbWeI6CsVjPyKFLlcEEJgdX6aclK3xAzCVwlVvlH8AQ66n6490LRyeQs9GvqAPnBOhB1E0Acu9DvY0HOD1oCjoXkho5M3X6g5bHAtZvGZqmO-S-ArkET-K1Ql-wtwV-tDy17WXew4ni6f5UgkqQX2JdklVayvy476ZB_PRaI1WxTbkRQ7bH925YvZe_zg/s320/IMG_4932.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLOk0zrSZyPRuoFIQJikp7zaQFDeMLnIY6Ua9qt9n7jYsc2X7u69RRJ4xSrKznWA23LuxHXHkgBZSD-UQiNQf0DGRDgA4oT1b5Ts_r_saAdTOuRRggAMaFe6XgdnAENKw6_XpOWaYqbg1hJMk6UivUPx-cFm9o16S19HX_MSBmOGQ3TcyrzEz1_YRvhJo/s5184/IMG_4892.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLOk0zrSZyPRuoFIQJikp7zaQFDeMLnIY6Ua9qt9n7jYsc2X7u69RRJ4xSrKznWA23LuxHXHkgBZSD-UQiNQf0DGRDgA4oT1b5Ts_r_saAdTOuRRggAMaFe6XgdnAENKw6_XpOWaYqbg1hJMk6UivUPx-cFm9o16S19HX_MSBmOGQ3TcyrzEz1_YRvhJo/s320/IMG_4892.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #04ff00; font-family: verdana;">*blinks*</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #04ff00; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #04ff00; font-family: verdana;">"There's a tiny cicada on my third eye chakra... I C U, TINY CICADA." </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JVNtXzBaPN8oDA-jtj8X2c_qJHarzFLL-GPcysR7EoSLFkcaNmzbMEyxEGFgFQ4ufSWoPlET0ibGtV8GXTDeu9zoCthDo7SMpDUUMaxw_oCInf3mmnwGYHQFM_wUqIAGnnHclXwkJPDthlt3-7OabnWkbP_6To9kkzLGANRFx_W63c19Ua3jv0nx_30/s5184/IMG_4917.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JVNtXzBaPN8oDA-jtj8X2c_qJHarzFLL-GPcysR7EoSLFkcaNmzbMEyxEGFgFQ4ufSWoPlET0ibGtV8GXTDeu9zoCthDo7SMpDUUMaxw_oCInf3mmnwGYHQFM_wUqIAGnnHclXwkJPDthlt3-7OabnWkbP_6To9kkzLGANRFx_W63c19Ua3jv0nx_30/s320/IMG_4917.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><span style="color: #04ff00; font-family: verdana;">"...whoaaa... that black hole next to the full moon looks like the outline of Gunma prefecture!"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #04ff00; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9xOo8Rl4v8mFcMoCaNA5kopR2UW8atMtvKWS0lxANA_vA0LGiuiTNDm2X7t1xaI8VySqvUwOX1CDXRlZxdxEl7Fd9jdDOl7GIafto0nYuEAFLtdQX2aVG6N2lIXZ8tgm8JY0rxyFHzvghLk1hjUFrrmVS7WPxIc2Ijr_Xzu3uDhYb0Lcnr2zOiIR0cKw/s800/BT230919_FINALO_tenugui_P4rqANWC.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9xOo8Rl4v8mFcMoCaNA5kopR2UW8atMtvKWS0lxANA_vA0LGiuiTNDm2X7t1xaI8VySqvUwOX1CDXRlZxdxEl7Fd9jdDOl7GIafto0nYuEAFLtdQX2aVG6N2lIXZ8tgm8JY0rxyFHzvghLk1hjUFrrmVS7WPxIc2Ijr_Xzu3uDhYb0Lcnr2zOiIR0cKw/s320/BT230919_FINALO_tenugui_P4rqANWC.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #04ff00; font-family: verdana;">*so wrapped up in Gunma prefecture-shaped cloud hole that he failed to notice there was an even smaller cicada acting as a hair ornament*</span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj04e1_WwABi2MYlUb2Pfmg8azgo5PdmRpwlRn7IK7NJmJLTBZ5_-8BXaDVh4d8FanS1EfpJu6EM1qEAOBmGvbd6UKNlH5jY4_Gg1ImyA23BjgnK4wNQvDB_qbicApiDSyLzcvse0tsbXOdf0aaJwJwgOsaFTgVGw_2haZMDxKgJEXDew9RiWASlvAQ9po/s5184/IMG_4901.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj04e1_WwABi2MYlUb2Pfmg8azgo5PdmRpwlRn7IK7NJmJLTBZ5_-8BXaDVh4d8FanS1EfpJu6EM1qEAOBmGvbd6UKNlH5jY4_Gg1ImyA23BjgnK4wNQvDB_qbicApiDSyLzcvse0tsbXOdf0aaJwJwgOsaFTgVGw_2haZMDxKgJEXDew9RiWASlvAQ9po/s320/IMG_4901.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #01ffff; font-family: verdana;">Though the night meadow was full of the rustle of grasses and the symphony of cricket song, as the small cicadas gazed at Imai, they were dumbstruck, filled by an overwhelming sense of the inexplicable, boundless, wondrous, tongue-tied, awkward silence of the universe. </span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;">Note from Cayce: The insect on Baby Imai's face is not, in fact, a cicada, but a relative of the cicada called a "leafhopper," the common name of any of many insects from the cicada-adjacent family Cicadellidae. Leafhoppers, "Hamushi no You ni," you tell us. I</span><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;">f Cidacellidae sounds Psychedelic to you, well, don't ask us, please go ask Imai. Or ask the cicadas. They will gladly give you this simple rhyme that will help you remember the Holographic Principle defining our Universe:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana;">"Little bugs have smaller bugs</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana;">Upon their backs to bite 'em.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana;">Smaller bugs have smaller bugs,</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffa400; font-family: verdana;">And so on, ad infinitum"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #04ff00; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #04ff00; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #04ff00; font-family: verdana;">Happy Harvest Moon, and Happy <strike>Imai Month</strike> October.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #04ff00; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #04ff00; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;">All photographs copyright yours truly. All photos 100% no-filter, unaltered, completely devoid of photo editing of any kind (for once not even being a troll here, even the bugs are real, they were literally on Imai's face (don't ask how (whoops nested parentheses (holograms got ahead of me))) anyway no tiny cicadas were harmed in the making of this program.)</span></div><p></p>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-24606841268243935562023-09-01T21:05:00.047+09:002023-09-02T17:22:32.089+09:00Safety Dance, or What the Fxxx is Up with Nagoya?<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Here's something most of you probably don't know unless you've lived in Japan: in Japan, September 1st is "celebrated" as <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">"Disaster Prevention Day"</span></b> (though we personally like to call it "Safety Day"). The yearly event was launched to commemorate the anniversary of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake that hit Tokyo and surrounding areas and sparked massive fires throughout the city that claimed the lives of at least 105,000 people (that's nearly as many people as were killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima). Tokyo at the time was mostly made of wood-and-paper buildings, so you can only imagine how deadly the firestorm must have been... oh wait, you don't have to imagine, we're getting Firestorm Redux all over the world now, everywhere from Maui to Athens to Alberta.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mm... and September 1st, 1939, was the day Germany invaded Poland, starting WWII (yeah this is Cayce here sitting on our ass in Tokyo watching Barbenheimer instead of going to Nagoya. If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky that would be like the splendor of "Taiyou ni Korosareta." But we digress.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In an eerie sort of time-loop effect, today, September 1st, 2023, marks the 100-year anniversary of the Kanto Earthquake disaster, which remains the deadliest natural disaster in Japan's history to date. For comparison: it is estimated that slightly fewer than 20,000 people died in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 11th, 2011. Disaster Prevention Day isn't a national holiday - people go to school and work as usual, but what's special about this day is that schools and workplaces around the country hold disaster safety workshops for students and employees, who are encouraged if not required to attend. Safety workshops include presentations on practical tips to survive a major earthquake, post-quake protocols, and hands-on training such as visiting and interacting with emergency supplies, or even obstacle courses where participants put on masks and learn how to crawl through burning buildings while avoiding smoke, etc. (Fun fact: as a young office drone in Tokyo, Cayce got to attend a very intense version of one of these trainings, complete with fake dry-ice smoke. It was a lot more fun than working in the office!)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">How ironic, then, that <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">Buck-Tick's Izora Tour Nagoya show</span></b>, initially scheduled for June 3rd, 2023 (which was incidentally the night of the full moon, also known as the Strawberry Moon) was rescheduled due to heavy rains and flooding from a massive typhoon that hit central Japan on June 2nd, and not only that, it was <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">rescheduled for September 1st, 2023</span></b> (which is incidentally the day after the last Blue Supermoon for the next decade and a bit - Supermoon element relevant in that Supermoons, or perigee full moons, are commonly associated with high seismic activity and fun fact the Great East Japan Earthquake also happened on a Supermoon known as the Death Moon because go figure Death Moon is the traditional name of the March full moon in Virgo fun fact Mr. Sakurai's birthday was also the full moon or Death Moon of March 1966, but we digress) - that is to say, the Izora tour Nagoya show was rescheduled for today, Disaster Prevention Day/Safety Day. The show was rescheduled because the trucks with all the stage sets and sound gear and such have to depart a day in advance of the show when the band are on tour, to ensure that everything can be set up in time, but there was no way any of the tour trucks could have hit the highway in that weather. So the band's management went and rescheduled the show for Safety Day. Maybe they thought it was auspicious, but...</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">...yesterday evening, it was announced on the Buck-Tick official website <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">that the Izora Nagoya show was being postponed yet again</span></b>. The official reason? Mr. Sakurai felt sick and tested positive for Covid-19 AGAIN. Here's where it gets weirder, though: last year, as some of you may remember, the band arrived in Nagoya on the evening of August 3rd in preparation for their Fish Tank x Love & Media Portable Members Only 2022 show at Zepp Nagoya, only for Mr. Sakurai to start feeling ill, take a Covid test, and test positive. The August 4th, 2022 show in Nagoya was postponed, along with the August 14th, 2022 show in Fukuoka, and the Fish Tanker's Only 2022 show that had been scheduled for August 11th, 2022 at Toyosu PIT in Tokyo. Mr. Sakurai later reported in FT and on the Buck-Tick official website that he felt extremely ill and had been required to quarantine at a Nagoya hotel for ten days, because due to Covid protocols at the time, he wasn't allowed to return home to convalesce. Later, at the rescheduled Fish Tanker's Only show in Toyosu (which was held on Yutaka's birthday, January 24th, 2023), Sakurai stated "I really thought I was going to die back there." </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, we all know he's a much tougher bastard than that - in fact, less than a week out of quarantine, he <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">took to the stage at Club Citta' Kawasaki to perform with Buck-Tick at Toll's 60th birthday extravaganza</span></b>. This was a big deal for a number of reasons. First, the 60th birthday is considered a very important milestone in Japanese culture. A person turning 60 has lived through a full rotation of the Chinese Zodiac: five turns of the twelve zodiac animals (</span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar)</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">, with one year with each animal in each of the traditional Chinese elements (air, water, fire, wood, and metal). Therefore, the 60th birthday is called 還暦 ("kanreki," or "complete rotation"), and age 60 is seen as a "return to childhood" or "second childhood" in which the person is able to start fresh with a youthful heart in older age. Historically, living to age 60 was considered a great achievement, because in pre-modern times, many people died young of disease, accidents, violence, etc. The 60th birthday is traditionally celebrated with all kinds of festive customs, including eating lucky red rice and dressing the birthday boy/girl in a bright red coat called a "chan-chanko." The color red is used widely because (as adopted from Chinese traditions) it symbolizes good luck, longevity, prosperity, and vitality. In short: there is no way Mr. Sakurai was going to miss performing on Toll's big day! Later, in FT, Mr. Sakurai confessed that he wasn't quite sure he would be up to performing, he didn't feel his performance was up to his usual standards, and he felt very exhausted after the show, but of course, he did it anyway, because he's a tough guy, with a lot of pride, and a great sense of loyalty to the other band members.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Not only that, but one of the many illustrious guests who performed at this show was none other than Issay, vocalist of the band Der Zibet and "very close special friend" of Mr. Sakurai since their indie days late 80's Tokyo. During his later career, Issay was a member of a regular rotating group of musicians in the Tokyo underground/goth scene who often made guest appearances at each other's shows or played jam sessions at events featuring multiple bands. Toll was another high-profile member of this group, and the two had a longstanding working relationship entirely outside of Sakurai and Issay's notorious "friendship," but nonetheless, Issay had never performed as a guest musician at one of Toll's birthday shows since Toll's much-discussed bombshell 50th birthday show (held on August 19th, 2012, also at Club Citta' Kawasaki) that featured a guest live set by Der Zibet in which Issay and Mr. Sakurai performed a reprise of their 1991 duet "Masquerade" (originally released on Der Zibet's album <i>Shishunki II: Downer Side</i>), involving possibly the single most sexually explicit stage routine either of them has ever performed, strip teases included (and we say this in full knowledge and direct personal experience of just how sexual those two can get on stage even when they're up there solo without the benefit of a <strike>special friend</strike> to <strike>get off</strike> play off. Also anyone who tries to claim that Mr. Sakurai hasn't ever done a proper strip tease clearly wasn't present at the November 23rd 2011 Utakata no Razzle Dazzle show at Akasaka Blitz, also incidentally a show that was rescheduled due to the Great East Japan Earthquake.) </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, on August 19th, 2022, Issay took to the Club Citta' Stage again with Mr. Sakurai to perform guest vocals on Buck-Tick's "Itoshi no Rock Star" for the first time in... god only knows how many years. The original Six/Nine studio recording of "Itoshi no Rock Star" (released in 1995) featured Issay singing guest vocals (show of hands: how many of you didn't even realize it because Issay's voice sounds so similar to Sakurai's on this track?). Sakurai later reported that he had written the lyrics of "Itoshi no Rock Star" in Issay's image, just as Issay reported that he had written the lyrics to "Masquerade" in Sakurai's honor years earlier. Issay also appeared as a guest on several dates of the Six/Nine tour, with photographic evidence pointing to a similarly steamy and salacious pas de deux, but no videos of the tour were ever released (even though we know they exist in a secret vault somewhere), so the history of "Itoshi no Rock Star" largely fell through the cracks of the Archives of Buck-Tickistan. While by all accounts, the 2022 reprise of "Itoshi no Rock Star" was a great deal less sexual than the "Masquerade" performance of ten years earlier, it was still a unique moment in Buck-Tick's history, a shivering presentiment of tragedy hidden in the killing effulgence of the August su</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">n: </span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"If I turned into a pig, you'd laugh<br />If I turned into a bug, you'd laugh<br /><br />If I turned into an ape, you'd laugh<br />If I turned into a star, you'd laugh"</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It was the last time Sakurai and Issay ever performed together. August 11th, 2022 - Sakurai sick with Covid-19 in a hotel room in Nagoya, unable to perform at Toyosu PIT, turns too swiftly toward August 10th, 2023, the day Issay's death was publicly announced. The August 4th, 2022 Nagoya B-T show canceled due to Mr. Sakurai's bout with Covid turns too swiftly toward August 4th, 2023, Issay's last full day on this too blue planet with its too-bright killing sun. (He died August 5th. But he loved the blazing sun and blue ocean of summer better than any other season, and surely he wouldn't have chosen any other day to fly away. Born on July 6th, the eve of Tanabata, gone back to the sky on August 5th, the eve of Hiroshima. Life is art, my friends. All things move toward their end, but nothing is random, of that you can be sure. Die the way you lived, with an abundance of aesthetic style. There is a much greater pattern and design at work than most people allow themselves to see. Don't fear to be a part of it.) </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And now here we are, the second rescheduled Nagoya show in less than two years, and... Atsushi goes and gets Covid again? On Safety Day? Sure, Nagoya is an industrial cultural wasteland of a city, regularly voted "the most hated city in Japan" in opinion polls (not making this up, Google it)... though it has its interesting elements, from the robust South American diaspora to the flourishing doom and gloom subcultures (see: Nagoya-kei) spawned by the reflections of post-modern industrial malaise upon its disaffected youth to the Acchan Ramen Shop, a real place (if it's still in business) whose tagline is "Yappari Kyou mo Acchan" ("Let's have Acchan again tonight!") and whose sign the eponymous Acchan posed in front of during a B-T tour of yore in order to proudly display the photo in his column in FT (if anyone has this on hand, please send, we're too lazy to look it up and photograph it right now). </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But, y'all, <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">what the efffff is UP with Nagoya?</span></b> There's some kind of Doom Spiral going on down there and it needs to be stopped! We can't let the Black Hole of Nagoya suck down the magic of Buck-Tickistan! So here's my first request of y'all: say some prayers for poor old Nagoya to stop attempting to eat our boys. Nagoya is sad and traumatized but it's expressing its trauma badly and we need to get it help so take off your hats and Safety Dance for Nagoya in hopes that we can stem the spiral before it gets truly out of hand. If Acchan doesn't feel strong enough to attempt a boss battle with Nagoya's Scylla and Charybdis just yet, at least we can help weaken Nagoya's bad juju by firing our Sailor Moon crystal healing powers at the place before he has to go there again for real. All hands on deck! Open your third eyes and send some beams of Cosmic Love down there, because we, Cayce, Grand Tabloid Journalist of Buck-Tickistan, refuse to stand for any more of this behavior from a Japanese city that doesn't even have its own <i>real</i> castle, just a concrete reconstruction of one. Know your place, Nagoya! (Hint: it's not at the cool kids' table.) Being "most hated city" is no mean feat. Eat your karma now, Nagoya! Eat it with your stinky miso cutlets and your stinky automotive plants and your stinky Captain Hook Crocodile vendetta against our Mr. Sakurai! In the name of the Moon, consider yourself punished! (Yeah, Nagoya. I'm Aichi-shaming you. For the capital of a prefecture whose name literally means "knowledge of love" you sure seem ignorant. Sailor Moon was never above a little speechifying dress-down of her antagonists before a fight, and neither are we. Miso cutlets, really? Ewww.)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But, more to the point. Despite having released numerous collaborations, touring together, and doing numerous joint interviews over the years, Sakurai and Issay consistently downplayed their relationship in the media. They were the subject of reams of fan fiction and doujinshi (apropos, considering that Issay actually more or less started his career as a "professional bishounen," entering beauty contests and posing nude for boys' love magazines before he ever really launched as a musician - yes this is true, cross my heart, I'm not making it up for humor value, see JUNE magazine, pronounced Ju-nay, for Jean Genet, notorious queer provocateur author of the seminal gay aesthetic murder suicide novel <i>Our Lady of the Flowers</i>, if you can find barely-legal Issay's nude shoot in this one pat yourself on the back for not only having done better than 99.9% of the aging yaoi fangirls in Japan but also for being twisted enough to f** to possibly underage photos of a dead guy, congrats 2 you U sick fuck, but I digress.) In addition to being chased and stalked by Japanese nutcase fangirls aplenty, the diabolical duo were also the target of a series of frightening stalker fangirls from the Gaijin Internet (yeah, we know who you are. A&I knew it too and guess what, they weren't impressed, fancy that. <strike>Crimea</strike> cry me a river.) And yet... it seems that the true nature of their relationship remained compartmentalized in fangirl minds as the stuff of early 80's boys' love manga, all subtext and no substance. Which just goes to show how puzzlingly out of touch with sexual reality their fanbase was, despite the fact that both men made their careers out of publicly, unashamedly plumbing the depths of sexuality and sexual psychology, and it was precisely this sexuality that their fans claimed to be drawn to. The longer it went on, the more brazen the joke became. Each one kissing a mask of the other at his show, baring just a little more cleavage here or thigh there, laughing through their teeth at the screaming women attempting to wrestle them bodily off the stage, as if daring them, "What would you have even planned on doing to me, if you actually had me? Do you even know?"</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But, real talk here. Because it's 2023 and we can finally real-talk. At this late date, do y'all really still believe that Tokyo's most famous long-haired boys in lipstick and eyeliner, the ones who sang harmony together on "<a href="https://youtu.be/roJwK3gPw4o?feature=shared&t=1160">Koi no Hallelujah</a>" and kissed unashamedly in public, even in the eye of the media, were merely playing dress-up in their stepmothers' clothing? Do y'all <i>really</i> think that? Do y'all <i>really</i> think that the guys who wrote songs like "Dance Tengoku" and "Upper Queen" spent all their days in Goldengai without ever stepping a toe into Nichome? (Districts in Shinjuku. Look it up. I can't give everything away.) These are the guys who penned "Masquerade" and "MasQue" respectively, and call me old but I'm pretty sure that back then, Q didn't stand for QAnon. If you don't know what I'm trying to say, go back and listen to Episode 6 of "The Music of Note with Atsushi Sakurai," the part where he talks about going to see <i>Bohemian Rhapsody</i> multiple times in the movie theater and then plays "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">If, as you read this, you feel tempted to say, "Cayce, don't be a B," then all I have to say to you friends is, B is the first letter in B-T, and the universe in which Mr. Sakurai and Issay so sensually resided was a "B Universe." Men, women, what does it matter? In a B Universe, it doesn't. L for the Lucy, G for the G-Spot, B for Japanese babies... Q for all the QT B-T fans...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So what's my point here? </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's this. Just like "special friend" in <i>Everything Everywhere All At Once</i> was for one Chinese laundress to introduce her multiversial hellion of a daughter to the father she feared could never be pleased, "I have Covid-19" is the most ironclad excuse in a wide world of Japanese excuses for a hugely successful professional musician with a slightly punishing sense of personal responsibility to use when he knows that the words "Good night, sweet Prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest" will fall on deaf ears with the Victor brass because he knows that those guys have definitely never read "Hamlet" and probably never even heard of it (Ophelia who?) The great thing about living in 2023 is that the lockdowns are over and the masks are off and the fans are allowed to cheer at concerts again, but the moment you come down with Covid-19, you're an invincible hikikomori by legal sanction, free to stay in your house with the drapes closed, eat takeout, and grieve in peace because Covid is the Unassailable Bugbear, and therefore Covid is your best friend (not special friend) when you know, despite your continuing tendency towards guilt and self-blame, that you just couldn't possibly get up on a stage in a concrete box in a concrete jungular armpit like Nagoya and sing "Hizumi," much less "Die," much less "Na mo Naki Watashi" before an adoring crowd. So, y'know, god bless Covid-19. Whether Mr. Sakurai actually has it or not at this moment is almost beside the point. It's finally useful for something, after all. Because professional rock stars don't generally get to take mental health days.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In conclusion: I'm calling on all of y'all to please send your best vibes to our Acchan-chan, as loudly and often as you can. He's a very strong person, and deep down, he knows that. He knows his job isn't finished. But he's experiencing choking, overpowering grief, and all the sense of futility and mortal fear it brings. "Why shouldn't I be next?" "My life is almost over anyway" "I'm too old" "<a href="https://youtu.be/9jg4ekLG9Zo?feature=shared">Too old to lose it, yet too young to choose it</a>" "Why are there a zillion criminals and abusers out there living as billionaires and yet you're the one who's gone?" "What even is the point anymore?" "What did I actually accomplish in all this time?" "Why..." (and a thousand other bargaining/anger/denial questions). And the "Why can't you just suck it up and move on?" And the "You could have/should have..." (continue with second-guessing here). And the "I'm letting everyone down" (continue with the self-flagellation here). And the "I shouldn't even be here anymore" (continue with the survivor's guilt here). And the (insert all the beautiful, sensual, dizzyingly real memories here).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So please, y'all. Send him your love. Send him your encouragement. Tell him he's enough. That he's loved. That it's not his fault. That there are more tomorrows. The Mothership is waiting patiently, but this field trip is not over. And he doesn't have to eat miso cutlets if he doesn't bloody well want to.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And this... (February, 2021)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="color: #ea9999;">Are there any foreign artists you would like to collaborate with ?</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999;">ISSAY: All of the artists I would have loved to collaborate with passed away, unfortunately... (laughs). You know what, recently I had a dream, which is a bit embarrassing to share but, the world was coming as one. The borders disappeared. All the countries around the world unified and merged to form one and only country. In order to celebrate this union, an anthem was needed. I don’t know why but David Bowie and myself were chosen to create the song. I</span><span style="color: #ea9999;">sn’t that amazing (laughs) ?!</span></div><div><br /></div><div>(From <a href="https://www.verdammnis.com/interviews/der-zibet-eng">this interview</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div>Who's going to sing the anthem, eh, Acchan? If not you, then who?</div><div><br /></div><div>There's no <a href="https://youtu.be/l4rhJx2YPo8?feature=shared">remedy for memory</a>, so we won't say "get well soon." But help us say "<a href="https://youtu.be/HCtDnwh5CSw?feature=shared">You can do it</a>. <a href="https://youtu.be/RpELE8tajZQ?feature=shared">Mada da yo</a>. Izanae, tabidatou." It ain't over till the fat lady sings and she ain't singing yet and more to the point, you ain't no fat lady!</div><div><br /></div><div>.</div><div><br /></div></span></div></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1p_BvaHsgGg?si=8sMYpxJQtsL0sM9j" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>.</div>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-73696654495980317622023-08-14T00:28:00.003+09:002023-08-14T00:28:59.094+09:00This is the End, Beautiful Friend<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Hey, Blog-Tickers.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is just to say that Issay was a close personal friend of ours for many years and we really, really don't want to talk about it. And we will not be posting anything related to him or Der Zibet in the near future.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Don't expect us to write an article about it, ever.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">We still plan on getting back to the blog and the site but our life these days is like a Pac-Man maze of never-ending time sucking bullshit, misery, and now cataclysm, and therefore, we cannot currently predict when we will be back. Sounds like excuses and we wish it were, but it isn't. Thank you for your support in the meantime. We have received a lot of emails from new fans lately - thank you so much, all of you, we appreciate hearing from you, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. </span></p>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-27163323211988696832023-06-03T00:26:00.004+09:002023-06-03T02:01:30.592+09:00Mugen Loop ~teaser~<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.) </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1JqX__dABkbSVz4koXF2aVKpR8wZFjA7Pd_6CAluaZJJ0gmvqU0h8MjA9jtF8rehgbZUzNk6LmlBwAywk0zge6oGmraCvqiSjbGbpeq-tYwRKU5R1D_h6VLTxHGkHbP-JpPrReIKMfXNnNVoVY8lNDMLgJrFumnVi1BNRseI8NhOCNS3mF7u7xB04/s5184/IMG_5979.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1JqX__dABkbSVz4koXF2aVKpR8wZFjA7Pd_6CAluaZJJ0gmvqU0h8MjA9jtF8rehgbZUzNk6LmlBwAywk0zge6oGmraCvqiSjbGbpeq-tYwRKU5R1D_h6VLTxHGkHbP-JpPrReIKMfXNnNVoVY8lNDMLgJrFumnVi1BNRseI8NhOCNS3mF7u7xB04/s320/IMG_5979.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a 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href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVbqNUqMUZuifQiRcYt3WzIJdl2B6fcdWQ1UTn2v7crKlSUtPSBMtG3AssU-3KCk5UkEO4g6yZFvF4eaiEHeV3yvfpXqSDc3QPbFxSMCQ_zWv7D7r3rKZeRUxYloenbzJZso8zSvdkAFxW4cW0o4TnUVyutrVlPC_mxiyn7E4FlLin66WG5WSvamfn/s5184/IMG_1974.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVbqNUqMUZuifQiRcYt3WzIJdl2B6fcdWQ1UTn2v7crKlSUtPSBMtG3AssU-3KCk5UkEO4g6yZFvF4eaiEHeV3yvfpXqSDc3QPbFxSMCQ_zWv7D7r3rKZeRUxYloenbzJZso8zSvdkAFxW4cW0o4TnUVyutrVlPC_mxiyn7E4FlLin66WG5WSvamfn/s320/IMG_1974.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Infinity Loop</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Music: Imai Hisashi</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">You feel the south winds blow</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">They're beckoning to you</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Full of a sweet perfume</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Making you smile</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Come, darling dance with me</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">At the edge of the soft waves</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">You know, I'd like to try</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Stopping time now...</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But partway through</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">My blissful dream-world</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A flash then a flash of</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Seeing you, dreaming of you</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It makes me twitch my nose</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ineffable feeling</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And yet then I forget</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Every single scene</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But still somehow</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In my blissful dream-world</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A shred then a shred of</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Seeing you, dreaming of you</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Infinite loop, ooh</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The waves on the seashore glow</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the gloaming</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Moon rising wet like the dew</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Essence of beauty</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To love is to become joy</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the gloaming</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">You flowing wet like the dew</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Infinite loop, ooh...</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A dream of you</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lulls me in slumber</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A flash then a flash of</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Seeing you, dreaming of you</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Infinite loop, ooh</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The waves on the seashore glow</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the gloaming</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Moon flowing wet like the dew</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Essence of beauty</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To love is to be sorrow</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the gloaming</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">You rising wet like the dew</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Infinite loop, ooh...</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Infinite loop, ooh...</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Forever, I love you</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(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.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">.</p>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-64092723553754796212023-06-02T17:27:00.007+09:002023-06-02T21:23:28.394+09:00Not Greatest Site Not Found<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hi, folks.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">We have received a number of inquires from y'all in the past few weeks about whether we'll <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">translate the lyrics of Izora</span></b>. 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. <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">We have not, I repeat, have NOT decided to abandon NGS/Blog-Tick</span></b>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However...</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On May 30th, 2023, Google Sites <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">summarily deleted This is NOT Greatest Site</span></b>, 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. <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">The deletion of This is NOT Greatest site was NOT our fault or our intention</span></b>. 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.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Furthermore, several posts on Blog-Tick were automatically censored by Google's algorithms for supposedly containing "sensitive content." The posts in question are "<a href="https://blog-tick.blogspot.com/2017/11/babble-of-babel.html?zx=d1ad6d26b5db170f">Babble of Babel</a>" from November 17th, 2017, and "<a href="https://blog-tick.blogspot.com/2017/01/thighgate-or-this-amazing-fanart-will.html">Thighgate</a>," 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. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>This is where y'all readers can help us out!</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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 <span style="color: #ea9999;">post a comment AND also email us directly at themadaristocrat at gmail</span>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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, <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">how much would you be willing to contribute to getting This is NOT Greatest Site up and running again</span></b>, 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. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-25968929758165152052022-10-27T20:17:00.004+09:002022-10-30T18:57:55.599+09:00Buck-Tickets<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #ea9999;">So, what's up with the tickets?</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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 <span style="color: #ea9999;">non-transferrable</span>, 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 <span style="color: #ea9999;">the tickets can't be resold</span>, 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">How so? Well, not only do you have to register all your own personal information, but if you buy more than one ticket, <span style="color: #ea9999;">you are required to enter the name, birthday, and other info about your plus one</span>. Not only that, but in order to claim your tickets, you are first required to register an account on <span style="color: #ea9999;">TixPlus</span>, the extremely dodgy, <strike>shitty</strike> excremental, incompetent company that currently manages B-T's fanclub and ticketing (blame Victor for this one). You then need to download the <span style="color: #ea9999;">TixPlus app</span> - but you also need to download the official <span style="color: #ea9999;">Buck-Tick app</span>, because, though TixPlus administrates the ticketing,<span style="color: #ea9999;"> all B-T concert tickets</span>, 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, <span style="color: #ea9999;">all Buck-Tickets can only be accessed through the Buck-Tick official app</span>. 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Once you download those apps, you also have to<span style="color: #ea9999;"> register a photo of your face</span> on their facial recognition software, because apparently posting really <strike>shitty</strike> 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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 <span style="color: #ea9999;"><i>at least</i> 20 solid A4 pages in point 12 font</span>. 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 <strike>bullshit</strike> horse manure used to be around 1-2 pages, tops! Where did this <strike>shit</strike> 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 <strike>fucking</strike> copulating pickle. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Apps: <strike>kill them with fire, please</strike>. We politely tell them to <strike>piss</strike> urinate the <strike>hell</strike> underworld off.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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). </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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 <span style="color: #ea9999;">Japanese address AND a Japanese mobile phone number starting with the digits 070, 080, or 090</span>. Furthermore, the phone number you register when you buy the tickets is the <span style="color: #ea9999;">ONLY phone number</span> 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. <span style="color: #ea9999;">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.</span> 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. <strike>Fuck</strike> fornicate you very much, too. You racist <strike>assholes</strike> anal orifices.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, if you <span style="color: #ea9999;">join Fish Tank</span> (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 <span style="color: #ea9999;">Love & Media Portable</span> - last time we checked, LMP was only available to fans in Japan (</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><strike>Fuck you very much, too. You racist assholes</strike> 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">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.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">1) <span style="color: #ea9999;">Join Fish Tank</span> 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">2) Get someone in Japan to <span style="color: #ea9999;">rent you a Japanese mobile phone</span> to take to the concert, and <span style="color: #ea9999;">use their address and the rental phone number</span> to make an account on Ticket Pia to buy tickets through general sales.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">3) <span style="color: #ea9999;">Wait till you get to Japan to buy the tickets</span>, 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 <span style="color: #ea9999;">none of the tour dates are selling out</span>, 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">4) Last-ditch measure - <span style="color: #ea9999;">go to the venue early and buy same-day tickets</span>. 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.)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, we did a little digging and it seems there are some services available that will let you either<span style="color: #ea9999;"> create a virtual Japanese phone number, or rent a Japanese SIM card from outside Japan</span>. 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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, <span style="color: #ea9999;">if you want to contact them, you have to do so through the Fish Tank web site</span>, 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 <strike>crappy</strike> 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)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But, in conclusion, we'd like to say the following. This new policy is not, and we repeat, is <span style="color: #ea9999;">NOT the fault of the band members</span>. 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!?) </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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 <i>is</i> 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, <strike>dipshits a la fuckee</strike> I ran out of censored swearwords so fine, I'ma just go with fucking dipshits here. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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 <strike>shit</strike> poo-poo is <strike>bollocks</strike> 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. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I feel sorry for the tomatoes, though. They didn't do anything to deserve this crap.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: verdana;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-49966870027936080212022-10-27T18:35:00.002+09:002022-10-27T20:33:52.292+09:00Sayonara Shelter<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;"><b>Goodbye Shelter</b><br />Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi<br />Music: Hoshino Hidehiko<br /><br />Ephemeral candle<br />In the bunker, dancing and flickering </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(1)</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">A lamp with a genie </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(2)</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Flaming in your eyes</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Reach out your hand now</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">You've almost got that love love</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">At your fingertips</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Playing with shadows</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Oh my darling princess</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Endless rain now</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Pretend it's a dream now</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">And all I want to do is hold you tight</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">But someone's coming to kill us all... tonight </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(3)</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">It's senseless oh, it's senseless, I know</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Tonight, I promise that I'll come to meet you</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">While you're sleeping safe and sound for me</span><br /><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Just wait for me in that shelter</span></span><div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">Tonight, the Earth is a like shooting star, so lovely</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">I want you to bathe in the beauty</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">Just wait for me in that shelter</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">A colorless landscape</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">In a world with no sound, my love song</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">In trembling soprano</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">A little girl singing</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">The rain is so cold now</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">I wish this were all lies</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">And all I want to do is hold you tight</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">But I've got to go off and kill somebody... tonight </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">(3)</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">It's senseless oh, it's senseless, I know</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">Tonight, I promise that I'll come to meet you</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">While you're sleeping safe and sound for me</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">Just wait for me in that shelter</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">Tonight, the Earth is a like shooting star, so lovely</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">I want you to bathe in the beauty</span></div><div><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: verdana;">Just wait for me in that shelter</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">Note: </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">Sakurai stated in Ongaku to Hito and PHY magazines, as well as on his radio program <i>The Music of Note</i> 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 <i>Frozen</i>) 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 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_zHOBaWfrg&ab_channel=TheIndependent">Amelia's video</a> here. In perfect synchronicity, this video was uploaded on March 7th, Mr. Sakurai's birthday.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">Sakurai also made reference to the word "shelter" in his song "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/the-mortal/barbaric-man">Barbaric Man</a>," from his side project album <i>I Am Mortal</i>. 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">(1) </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">This is a reference to the bunker in which the little girl, Amelia, gave her performance of "Let it Go."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">(2) </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">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 <i><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/new-world">New World</a></i> 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(3)</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">Sakurai stated in PHY magazine and his radio program <i>The Music of Note</i> 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 <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/guernica-no-yoru">Guernica no Yoru</a> for more on this.)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;"><b>Sayonara Shelter</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Music: Hoshino Hidehiko</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Hakanai kyandoru chikashitsu de dansu dansu yureteiru</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Mahou no rampu hitomi ni wa honoo</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Sono te nobashite yubisaki de Love Love ato sukoshi</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Kagee asobi saa ohimesama</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Yamanai ame yume nara ii ne</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Anata wo dakishimeteitai kedo</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Dareka ga bokura wo koroshi ni kuru yo</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Kurutteiru kurutteiru yo</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Konya shizuka ni nemuru anata ni ai ni yuku kanarazu</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Ano sherutaa de matteite</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Konya chikyuu wa marude utsukushii nagareboshi kirei da</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Ano sherutaa de matteite</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Iro wo nakushita oto mo nai sekai ai no uta</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Furueru koe de ano ko wa utau</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Tsumetai ame uso nara ii ne</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Anata wo dakishimeteitai kedo</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Watashi wa dareka wo koroshi ni iku no</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Kurutteiru kurutteiru yo</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Konya shizuka ni nemuru anata ni ai ni yuku kanarazu</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Ano sherutaa de matteite</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Konya chikyuu wa marude utsukushii nagareboshi kirei da</span></div><div><span style="color: #b4a7d6; font-family: verdana;">Ano sherutaa de matteite</span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><b>Sayonara Shelter</b><br />作詞:櫻井敦司<br />作曲:星野英彦</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">儚いキャンドル 地下室でダンスダンス 揺れている<br />魔法のランプ 瞳には炎<br />その手伸ばして 指先でLoveLove あと少し<br />影絵遊び さあお姫様<br /><br />止まない雨 夢ならいいね<br />あなたを抱き締めていたいけど<br />誰かが僕らを殺しに 来るよ<br />狂っている 狂っているよ<br /><br />今夜 静かに眠る あなたに会いに行く 必ず<br />あのシェルターで待っていて<br /><br />今夜 地球はまるで 美しい流れ星 奇麗だ<br />あのシェルターで待っていて<br /><br />色を無くした 音もない世界 愛の歌<br />震える声で あの子は歌う<br /><br />冷たい雨 嘘ならいいね<br />あなたを抱き締めていたいけど<br />わたしは誰かを殺しに 行くの<br />狂っている 狂っているよ<br /><br />今夜 静かに眠る あなたに会いに行く 必ず<br />あのシェルターで待っていて<br /><br />今夜 地球はまるで 美しい流れ星 奇麗だ<br />あのシェルターで待っていて</span></div>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-79128219463807231652022-10-27T18:02:00.004+09:002022-10-27T18:24:59.073+09:00Buck-Tick 35th Anniversary @ Yokohama Arena<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></p><br /><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>Set Lists:<br /><br />2022-09-23</b></span><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br />01. Iconoclasm<br />02. Babel<br />03. Uta</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">04. Gekka Reijin</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">05. Maimu Maimu</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">06. Kyouki no Deadheat</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">07. Kinjirareta Asobi -Adult Children-</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">08. Aikawarazu no "Are" no Katamari ga Nosabaru Hedo no Soko no Fukidamari</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">09. Rakuen</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">10. Revolver</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">11. Guernica no Yoru</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">12. Sayonara Shelter</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">13. Go Go B-T Train</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">14. Memento Mori</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">15. New World<br /><br />encore 1</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">16. Django!!! -Genwaku no Django-</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">17. Aku no Hana</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">18. Illusion<br /><br />encore 2</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">19. Koi<br />20. Yumemiru Uchuu<br />21. Solaris</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">2022-09-24</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">01. Elise no Tame ni</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">02. Babel</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">03. Tight Rope</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">04. Mienai Mono wo Miyou to Suru, Gokai Subete Gokai da</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">05. Moonlight Escape</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">06. Dance Tengoku</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">07. BOY septem peccata mortalia</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">08. </span><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Aikawarazu no "Are" no Katamari ga Nosabaru Hedo no Soko no Fukidamari</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">09. Rakuen</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">10. Revolver</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">11. Guernica no Yoru</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">12. Sayonara Shelter</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">13. Go Go B-T Train</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">14. Romance</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">15. New World</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">encore 1</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">16. Angelic Conversation</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">17. Aku no Hana</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">18. Heaven</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">encore 2</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">19. Boukyaku</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">20. Yumemiru Uchuu</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">21. Kodou</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOk-ZCtIuEugRIY8mBImUt2WRGUqbhPeFyX1n8r8HS94LZUJsND-hFKIQbZKJoGwf3x4qxna_O7N8VPgz5F-pC0q4iiBKlkvQdLwbAef4FGkJiZyzOVOeiSwdDAAFwOp3hw_sTlZlavTNgRp62ds56TvGN42vp0PNasTqYilxq18Q51mq4pvOQS0ls/s5184/IMG_2567.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOk-ZCtIuEugRIY8mBImUt2WRGUqbhPeFyX1n8r8HS94LZUJsND-hFKIQbZKJoGwf3x4qxna_O7N8VPgz5F-pC0q4iiBKlkvQdLwbAef4FGkJiZyzOVOeiSwdDAAFwOp3hw_sTlZlavTNgRp62ds56TvGN42vp0PNasTqYilxq18Q51mq4pvOQS0ls/s320/IMG_2567.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTDbQiSTK0vspHJRrRGivHlhCIT3RfqUCN7IaLH7MLtKuhtOvP2JpZA-uWTWZFF4fdFSonrA6aJSsUu9X6emvcZRrSGAw06qNUH2NDoAmJaNnVBL_QYdldN6Kt0Z7QXiIlnLINslFlKBCpuQolxdiQeiIM0qr3OrkeYTdWraJSWvkuN0lOVuUp-npr/s5184/IMG_2570.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yokohama Arena is Arena as fuck.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWOWI9oVRNCBQHO8a3BShp3f5udZYBjmuwsLz6eLmNB9xaei8U-NTM7-VNhwzSPH_QUl5M2X-uxvPdrWO4G6P0q16m0zHP0wuOnumYNVZmjxvhrr780tFFU79rDTPN0oiVnVYvY9cuKFsrI6FBuBaTpBVTyygg7ZTQL7e0ShEnOgOpmPMpfYb82-5x/s5184/IMG_2594.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWOWI9oVRNCBQHO8a3BShp3f5udZYBjmuwsLz6eLmNB9xaei8U-NTM7-VNhwzSPH_QUl5M2X-uxvPdrWO4G6P0q16m0zHP0wuOnumYNVZmjxvhrr780tFFU79rDTPN0oiVnVYvY9cuKFsrI6FBuBaTpBVTyygg7ZTQL7e0ShEnOgOpmPMpfYb82-5x/s320/IMG_2594.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Aidl8N8_p5PfdXN50XaDsrlsjeii4wmhyBPpIc2yvHd1nyoM4WqQ6sfxI36yZxs1Ftx0RHv9sEWehP8ykww3M7Bh-x1Tkb4SFKjZEDDzLdT4aFRFxFb9KI54rvdiVsQTauDYoSngxo_uKiimD4wqddD8UOkaaVkm-RaUqGTgrzl06_Z8idnz9_54/s5184/IMG_2595.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Aidl8N8_p5PfdXN50XaDsrlsjeii4wmhyBPpIc2yvHd1nyoM4WqQ6sfxI36yZxs1Ftx0RHv9sEWehP8ykww3M7Bh-x1Tkb4SFKjZEDDzLdT4aFRFxFb9KI54rvdiVsQTauDYoSngxo_uKiimD4wqddD8UOkaaVkm-RaUqGTgrzl06_Z8idnz9_54/s320/IMG_2595.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYw_sB6BnekdqzGehoKtlgYigsmfyW3ZG7pvjCGzYYAjNlXNTOCzrzcq5O76CnahUOoGR1D3vP9fDhllnyavWtOVIKQbfGNDKyI36UvFlmPPA1_ofXBBL1w-wSCu493LBBvSdfIG7nYh4akEwWmxTXC_OXOeEedKsYW9TLeMva_FefbPu7bzabkGH/s5184/IMG_2590.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYw_sB6BnekdqzGehoKtlgYigsmfyW3ZG7pvjCGzYYAjNlXNTOCzrzcq5O76CnahUOoGR1D3vP9fDhllnyavWtOVIKQbfGNDKyI36UvFlmPPA1_ofXBBL1w-wSCu493LBBvSdfIG7nYh4akEwWmxTXC_OXOeEedKsYW9TLeMva_FefbPu7bzabkGH/s320/IMG_2590.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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!</span></p></div>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-15521632559231012572022-08-16T22:43:00.002+09:002022-08-17T11:15:10.393+09:00Mr. Sakurai Has Officially Been Declared Corona-Free<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiECJNt0gv-muLxen2ydxbyWaVl9prFSVyWxbD4I4rKn0L4bINO3Pe9xVU1-uYCiQJvl_6TEOv7cgh810UYm7g2UBP8v9F5PcnAq7IFodsLcx02Dt1iZGpKj8XBaVzzNfm5f6ceM1sAO4CELJ36j0NNiA8HoGsgsOhzZC1mE6MibxiES3zXi3F04omP/s853/vlcsnap-2020-06-12-03h39m28s612.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="853" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiECJNt0gv-muLxen2ydxbyWaVl9prFSVyWxbD4I4rKn0L4bINO3Pe9xVU1-uYCiQJvl_6TEOv7cgh810UYm7g2UBP8v9F5PcnAq7IFodsLcx02Dt1iZGpKj8XBaVzzNfm5f6ceM1sAO4CELJ36j0NNiA8HoGsgsOhzZC1mE6MibxiES3zXi3F04omP/w495-h279/vlcsnap-2020-06-12-03h39m28s612.png" width="495" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">.</p>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-68749409725016216562022-08-04T23:48:00.003+09:002022-08-06T02:33:09.673+09:00The Corona Report<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well... this isn't nice news. But we'd rather you hear it from us than The Net.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">How much does this suck? A lot. It sucks of lot of <strike>ducks</strike>. 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> 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. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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). </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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].</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">.</div>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-88226675793518884102022-07-21T21:25:00.002+09:002022-08-05T00:31:51.203+09:00Bouyaku (Forgotten)<div style="text-align: justify;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I am so, so sorry to keep y'all waiting for this translation for a whole year and a half... but in a way, I'm not actually sorry. This is, without exaggeration, the most difficult Buck-Tick translation I've ever done (runner-up, Guernica no Yoru.) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's not because "Boukyaku" is technically difficult in terms of words and phrases - it's not. But the meaning is oblique. Yeah, the lyrics to so many Buck-Tick songs are oblique in meaning, and I never let that stop me before. But at the nexus of the pandemic, the cancelled Buck-Tick tours, and the things I've been going through in my personal life through this time, this song aroused a lot of very strong emotions in me and I wanted to sit with it, tease it out, let it percolate before I translated it. Like so much of Sakurai's recent work, it's yin-yang level multi-faceted. Is it happy, or sad? It's both, and one in the other, and both in each, both because it's each, each because it's both. How best to express that?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you just glance at these lyrics, maybe you'll think they're simple - and they are, deceptively so, like most of everything Sakurai has ever written. Let's start with the word "hitosuji," which he uses in the first verse to mean "stream (of blood)" (as in, one drop of blood dripping down), and in the second verse to mean "stream of a tear" (one tear dripping down). In Japanese, this word literally means "one line." So first, we have the comparison between a drop of blood flowing, and a tear flowing. The verb here, "nijimu," is one that Sakurai likes a lot, and we've seen it before very recently, in the lyrics to "Koi" and the lyrics to "Villain" - in both cases, to express oozing blood. Here, we see it to express both oozing blood and oozing tears - a upwelling and slow flow that leaves a trail behind - so, a drop of blood flowing down skin, a teardrop flowing down a face. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">But then, we have the ever-present "me vs. you" that Sakurai employs in his lyrics. He stated in interviews that in this song, he was trying to express the way that some people hurt others because of the pain in their past, because they can't get past it, because they can't help themselves - but that ultimately, through hurting others, they hurt themselves the most. Sakurai, the son of an abusive alcoholic father, who has spoken openly throughout his life about the trauma he has suffered, is clearly referring to himself in the victim role - but probably also in the perpetrator role. Why do I say this? Because he's written many songs where he laments having hurt other people without meaning to - "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/rain">Rain</a>" is probably the most notable, but there are a sheaf of others ("<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/megami">Megami</a>," "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/zangai">Zangai</a>," even "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/guernica-no-yoru">Guernica no Yoru</a>.") On this album, "Villain" might get an honorable mention - not that he's admitting to cyberbullying (perish the thought! <span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: x-small;">but just sit for a minute with the image of him typing spam comments on Buck-Tick's YouTube channel...</span>), but in most of his lyrics about injury or crime/punishment, he maintains a sense of culpability, like he really doesn't want to turn a blind eye from the way everyone can be complicit in tableaux of abuse. He knows he is the next link in the chain of his family's trauma.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, "senketsu hitosuji," or "stream of blood." How is it relevant? Well, a stream usually only flows one way. It flows from me, to you (or you, to me?). That's just like time, which is the other theme of this song, and also a one-way road. Time flows from then, to now. And yet, there's the implicit duality in the lyrics, the pas de deux of perpetrator-victim. There is a sense of back-and-forth flow, as the pain inflicted rebounds on its originator. (Which connects well with the ambiguous back-and-forth perpetrator-victim dialogues in "Villain" and "Urahara-juku.") At first I thought of translating "hitosuji" as "track," as in "tracks of my tears." But does a "track" flow? In writing this translation, I thought a lot, even more than I usually do, about word choice - not just the denotations and connotations of the words, but the way they sound when you speak or sing them. I really wanted this translation to flow, like blood, or like tears. "Track" sounds harsh, stopped-up, thick. So instead, I chose "stream," to express that flowing feeling - the nature of blood, tears, emotions, time, memory and wind - the main themes in this song.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">There's a connection here to the theme of Buck-Tick's album <i>One Life, One Death</i> (2000). The title of this album comes from the lyrics to the song "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/cyborg-dolly">Cyborg Dolly: Soramimi: Phantom</a>" (by Imai), which go "You live on the straight line / We’re born once, we die once / We die once, only once." We doubt that Sakurai was thinking of this when he penned the lyrics to "Boukyaku," but the two form another sort of dialogue. "Hitosuji," the straight line, the arrow of time, the thrust of a sword into a wound - same as Imai's thesis statement, "we die once, only once." Sakurai comes to more or less the same conclusion at the end of "Boukyaku," with the line "all these irreplaceable days." Life's a one-way street. You can't go back. And yet, in "Boukyaku," there's still this sense of flow, of connection, of return - that everything is not quite as linear as it might seem.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Another main theme in this song is wind. This is another deep one. In Japanese poetry, the image of strong wind is often used as a metaphor for adversity, though it can also be used as a metaphor for positive support, with the word "oikaze" ("tailwind.") In this song, I couldn't help but also think of Bob Dylan's famous anti-war/protest anthem "Blowin' in the Wind" (if you don't know it, look it up, please.) It's not entirely clear whether Sakurai wrote this whole song before or after the pandemic began, but it seems like he finished it up following the pandemic. But even if he didn't... it doesn't really matter. "Wind" is also breath. The breath that we breathe in and out every minute (and isn't that theme of breath pandemic-relevant, despite Sakurai's insistence that he didn't want to let the pandemic affect his lyric-writing). But "wind" is also the spirit of life. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The English words "spirit," "inspire," "respire," and "conspire" are all derived from the Latin root "respirare," meaning, "to breathe." Spirit = "that which breathes." Inspire - "to be given breath." Respire = "to breathe again." Conspire = "to breathe together." But this connection is by no means limited to languages influenced by Latin - it goes much, much deeper into human consciousness. In Japanese, the phrase "kaze wo hiku" ("to catch a cold") literally means "to pull the wind." Also, the kanji for "kaze" (「風」, "wind"), when read with its on-yomi, or Chinese-derived reading, "fuu," means "feeling," "vibe," "atmosphere," or "flavor." It can be found in words like 「風」 ("fuu," "manner/vibe"), 「風味」 ("fuumi," "flavor"), and 「風景」 ("fuukei," "scenery/view"). There is, naturally, a deep-seated sense in human beings that the flow of wind and breath is what propels life forward. Each breath we take marks the time we live on this earth. Wind travels from one part of the earth to another, carrying messages. In Western occult symbology, the element of air (wind) represents ideas, concepts, dreams, and imagination. Things that float past. Things that have no substance. Spirits, vibes. Things that travel from here to there, like sound waves, and like time. Things that flow, like sound waves, and like time. The stuff of thought, or memories. Wind and water have a commonality in the fact that they flow, they are never still, and Sakurai draws on this commonality in these lyrics, not just by mentioning both tears/blood (i.e. water) and wind, but also connecting the two with the image of "toori ame," or "passing rainfall." The wind blows the rainstorm across us, over and away, as the water falls, then ceases.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Overall, the connection of these two images lead us to the heart of the song: nothing ever stays static. Everything flows onward. You can't hold onto anything. The passion and the pain both rain down and then blow away. And, depending on your perspective, this could feel like grief, or like a blessing. On the one hand, there's often so much we want to hold onto from the past - the beautiful moments with people and places now lost. On the other hand, there's so much we want to be able to let go of. The pain of the times we were wounded or abused. The pain of the memories of the times we ourselves were the ones who caused the pain or abuse. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">In this song, Sakurai says, "let it go." He says that it's okay to let go of the past, that it doesn't define you, good or bad. His invocation of "the rainbow you saw today" underscores this. How many moments of wonder, joy, and beauty have we forgotten, or let us pass us by? In the last stanza, Sakurai says, everything passes by anyway, and it's fine to forget about it - but, remember, it's irreplaceable. He doesn't come and say it outright, but the ultimate implication is, you have to live in the moment. Be here now. Feel what you feel. It's kind of the opposite of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." It's, "see that rainbow before it fades." (And then there was <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CDfwYwdpmHP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link">this adorable post</a> on Imai's Instagram, about the rainbow his daughter saw in the park.) In any case, in my final draft I chose to translate the final line as "Oh, all those irreplaceable days." But my second choice translation was, "Today's the only day, every day." So I've also written an alternative ending.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">In translating this song, my biggest question was, who is Sakurai really referring to when he says "you"? In the first verse, it seems clear that the "you" is another person, someone he (or the narrator of the song) hurt, but as it goes on, it gets less and less clear. When we get to "Ah, but when I am embraced by you / All my tears, they slowly vanish," I started to wonder. Is this a tale of forgiveness and redemption? Is this "you" the same person who was hurt, or another person who has forgiven the song's narrator his past sins and absolved him with love? Or, is this "you" a more cosmic "you," the love of the entire Universe, as it takes our souls back into its arms after our brief mortal lives here on this Earth? The answer, as usual, is probably, "all of the above," and/or "you decide." But I wanted to draw attention to the ambiguity here.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is a strong belief in Eastern religion and philosophy, going back many thousands of years, in the non-linear nature of time - cosmic cycles and reincarnation. But if we are reincarnated, why don't remember our past lives? The answer is an idea called "the veil of forgetting." Each time we're born, our souls pass through this veil, and temporarily lose all memory of their previous lifetimes. Then, each time we die, we return through the veil, to the outer cosmos, and regain the memories. Buck-Tick have dealt a <i>lot</i> with themes of reincarnation over the course of their career, hell, they even made a whole album about it (Six/Nine). So, why forget? What's the point of reincarnating if you have to start everything over? Why can't you keep what you've learned? In fact, in many cases, people <i>do</i> keep some of what they've learned - whether through flashes of past life memories, or more nebulous things like dreams and gut feelings and inexplicable attractions to certain places, people, or activities. But the point of forgetting everything before each new birth is so that each new lifetime can be experienced afresh - so that you can live in the moment again, as the new you, having new, authentic experience, without being weighed down by what might be tens or hundreds of lifetimes' worth of not only joy and pleasure, but also pain, regret, sorrow, and trauma. Between lifetimes, and also within lifetimes, forgetting can be salvation. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">As always, if you enjoyed this translation, please consider supporting us on Ko-Fi. Times are tight and your support is much appreciated!</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><b>Forgotten</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><i>Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><i>Music: Imai Hisashi</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">I sit alone here waiting</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">For nightmare</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Fresh, a stream of my flowing blood</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Like tears falls</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Oh, how I have wounded you</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Deeply, oh, so deeply</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">And so, too, have I wounded me</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Deeply, so deeply</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">In the quiet, my panting breath</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Unravels</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Fresh, a stream of my flowing tears</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Still falling</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Ah, but when I am embraced by you</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">All my tears, they slowly vanish</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Ah, and when I'm wrapped up in you</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">The tears all melt away</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Ah, let go and let it be forgotten</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Pass over like a brief-falling rain</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Like on a sunny day spent doing nothing</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Wind blowing, let it blow it away</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">In the wind</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">But when I melt into you, the pain</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Ah, slowly it leaves me</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Ah, and when I'm wrapped up in you</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">The pain, it leaves you, too (1)</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Ah, let go and let it be forgotten</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Pass over like a brief-falling rain</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Like on a sunny day spent doing nothing</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Wind blowing, let it blow it away</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Ah, let go and let it be forgotten</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Just like that rainbow you saw today</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Like on a sunny day spent doing nothing</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Oh, all those irreplaceable days (2)</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Everyone</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">Everybody lives them through</span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: verdana;">[Alternate ending]</span></div><div><div><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: verdana;">Ah, let go and let it be forgotten</span></div><div><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: verdana;">Just like that rainbow you saw today</span></div><div><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: verdana;">Like on a sunny day spent doing nothing</span></div><div><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: verdana;">Today's the only day, every day (2)</span></div><div><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: verdana;">Everyone</span></div><div><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: verdana;">Everybody lives it through</span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">Note on the title: "Bouyaku" can be translated as "oblivion" or "forgetting." After much consideration, I settled on "Forgotten," because I think the theme of this song is less about the way everything vanishes with time (though it certainly is about that), and more about how it's okay to live in the moment and let the past go. Happy or sad, don't hold onto regrets, hold onto love.</span></div><div><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">(1) This isn't quite a literal translation - in the original Japanese, it's unclear whether the pain belongs to the "I" or the "you" or to both. However, Sakurai stated when this song was released that one of the themes he wanted to express is the way in which our past pain leads us to hurt others, but when we hurt others, we hurt ourselves, too - so I added the "you" into this line to help keep that back-and-forth balance (which has been a big theme in Sakurai's lyrics since day one.)</span></div><div><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: verdana;">(2) Sakurai stated explicitly that, in addition to being about the general "you can't take it back" nature of life, this line was about his feeling of poignant regret, come the pandemic, that Buck-Tick tours are probably never going to be what they used to be - the sense of loss on realizing that, despite him singing about death all the time, it still hurts when you realize things you thought were forever can vanish in an instant.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;"><b>忘却</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">作詞:櫻井敦司</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">作曲:今井寿</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">悪夢を待っている 独り</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">鮮血一筋 滲む</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">あなたを傷つけた 深く とても 深く</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">そしてこのわたしを 深く 深く</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">呼吸は静かに 乱れ</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">涙が一筋 落ちる</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">あなたに抱かれている 痛みが消えてゆく</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">あなたに包まれて 消えてゆくよ</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">忘れ去られてゆけばいい 通り雨のように</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">何気ない ある晴れた日 風が通り過ぎる</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">風が</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">あなたに溶けてゆく 痛みが消えてゆく</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">あなたに包まれて 消えてゆくよ</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">忘れ去られてゆけばいい 通り雨のように</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">何気ない ある晴れた日 風が通り過ぎる</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">忘れ去られてゆけばいい 今日の虹のように</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">何もない ある晴れた日 かけがえの無い日々</span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-family: verdana;">誰も 通り過ぎてゆく</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><b>Boukyaku</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><i>Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><i>Music: Imai Hisashi</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Akumu wo matteiru hitori</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Senketsu hitosuji nijimu</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Anata wo kizutsuketa fukaku totemo fukaku</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Soshite kono watashi wo fukaku fukaku</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Kokyuu wa shizuka ni midare</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Namida ga hitosuji ochiru</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Anata ni dakareteiru itami ga kieteyuku</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Anata ni tsutsumarete kieteyuku yo</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Wasuresararete yukeba ii toori ame no you ni</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Nanige nai aru hareta hi kaze ga toori sugiru</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Kaze ga</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Anata ni toketeyuku itami ga kieteyuku</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Anata ni tsutsumarete kieteyuku yo</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Wasuresararete yukeba ii toori ame no you ni</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Nanige nai aru hareta hi kaze ga toori sugiru</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Wasuresararete yukeba ii kyou no niji no you ni</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Nani mo nai aru hareta hi kakegae no nai hibi</span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: verdana;">Dare mo toorisugite yuku</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div></div>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-13986197347277900992022-07-07T00:35:00.030+09:002022-07-12T08:30:29.429+09:00Why, Fish Tank Tour Goods?<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Welp, we can't post the photos of the goods here because they're all too fucking tiny. Web design, in Buck-Tickistan? What country do you think this is, eh?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But, while they have all the money and the lack of web design skills, we have the WHYs y'all are looking for. So, here's why.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">1. Imai-designed Masks and "Half Pants" (c'mon Imai, these are call shorts. I know, I know, "shorts" is a euphemism for "panties" in Japan, but if Acchan-chan did it, so can you.) So, why? Chiropractor, kids. For his old man brokedown hip. We recently sprained our non-corporeal knee and we've been commuting once a week to the generously insurance-underwritten chiropractor, where we lie on an air conditioned bed listening to 90's and 2000's pop (both Japanese and Western... by the way, we are never, ever ever getting back together.) while receiving exotic services such as electric massage and chiropractic manipulations by an extremely handsome, charismatic young man who should probably be a televangelist or a used car salesman instead of a chiropractor, but we respect him the more for the fact that he isn't. And what happens when you go to a Japanese chiro clinic with a sprained knee, folks? They have you change into these standard-issue "half-pants" that look pretty much exactly like the ones Imai's got on offer. The masks go without saying. Cuz corona is gonna kill you but them masks will save you. Vax or no vax. So you're snorting into your mask and your half-pants and just wishing that that 90's playlist included "Dress," which of course, it doesn't. Mr. Imai, 9500 yen is a lot of money for some chiro clinic pants, and you know it. But your hip still hurts, and you really, really want to get back up onto those ridiculous boots, so we get it.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">2. Yutaka: Serious Bear Round Squishy Ball Keyholder. Well, well, well. We know that aside from Mr. Imai, Yutaka is the most happily married of the bunch in Buck-Tickistan, and what Serious Bear doesn't love to lightly squish a nice, squishy, squishy ball? At 2000 yen, this is very cheap, fit for an everyman... every man who wants a nice, squishy ball. Yutaka, my but you're sweet. Squish squish, it's a boob, it's a ball, it's a stress reliever (is there any difference?) Why does poor Serious Bear look so glum? Probably because none of us can attend the tour and that fucking sucks. But we could buy this thing and squish all of our latent, long-lost longing for Buck-Tick into it, and even if that doesn't make things feel better, it does help that this baby is very cute (and would also make a good cat toy, probably. If Yutaka has a cat. Or if he goes to visit Acchan-chan, which is unlikely.) Yutaka, you are the sweetest, the bestest. We love you.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">3. Yagami Toll: Super Ice Cold Ultra-Chilled Sake Set, anticipating our annual global warming 36-degree summer here in Japan. Toll is going to turn 60 on August 19th, kids. Right in the middle of that sauna. Will it be 36 degrees? Will it be 37 degrees? Let's hope to fuck it's not 60 degrees, or we really will all die. But yeah, what does Toll like? Nihonshu. That is to say, "Japaneez sake" (as Mr. Sakurai sings in "Goblin"). When does he like it? Whenever he goddamn well pleases. He has surely earned that right, by now. But if you buy this sake set, you not only get to enjoy that cute zombie-with-a-mohawk Toll graphic, and remember that Toll was ready to give up rock music for a life of drinking away his misery <i>before</i> he ever joined Buck-Tick (see <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/articles/features/love-me">Love Me</a> on This is NOT Greatest Site for more info), but also, Toll has been drinking sake that entire time and he's still alive and pushing sixty, so really, the point is, what you can learn from Toll's life is that you should do what you love, *if* doing what you love involves painstakingly reviewing each and every video of your drumming post-concert (while drinking nihonshu), lecturing to young drummers (while drinking nihonshu) that they shouldn't be so show-offy and should pare their style back to something more refined and Japanese minimalist so as to better show off Mr. Sakurai's voice (like nihonshu), and just plain ol' drinking nihonshu. While maybe checking out your super-duper cool mohawk in the mirror (and toasting your reflection with nihonshu), even though you're alone in your house. (Who says he doesn't do that? Can you prove he doesn't do that? No, you can't!)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">4. Hide: Hairband, With Bow (presumably intended to be affixed to your dog's head as she goes running with you.) Why? Well, Hide is an over-50 soccer dad whose very uncool hobby is getting up at 5AM to go jogging along the river. Why does he do this? To stay in shape for playing soccer? Nope. He's just that kind of guy that likes to get up very early in the morning to go jogging. And he's secretly flattered by the groups of 80-something year old ladies who regularly and unabashedly hit on him, with pickup lines like "oooooh look at the handsome prince!!!" They have no idea who he is, no idea that he's famous, no idea what a Buck-Tick is or where to buy one. All they know is they saw that silver fox in his hairband, modestly priced at a department-store price of 2500 yen (price of the man or the headband, you decide, this is a choose your own adventure), because he's an <i>everyman</i>, jogging by the river with his little dog, and their jaded hearts were stirred by his purity of spirit, and by his well-exercised muscles, and by his chiseled features, and his silver beard. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">They heckle and heckle, because when you're 85, you're just over it. "Nice pecs!" "Nice beard!" "Nice biceps!" "Nice bxx!" "Whoo-hoo!" "We like a man with a nice dog!!" "We like a man with a nice headband!!!" And somehow, Hide feels just as small and shamed as any 18-year-old girl getting cat-called by construction workers... and yet... he's still flattered. His ego is inflated and deflated in equal measure (as are other parts of him). Because he knows, work that thang when you still can (and how long can he?? Oh, god, don't go spiraling down this loop anymore...). Because secretly, loss of self-confidence is a very real fear for this extremely handsome, talented, six-foot-tall professional rock star jock. Because everyone's life has to be hard somehow!!! But look, early-morning jogging is a slippery slope. By the time Hide's 70 (oh dear we said it perish that thought now kill it with fire), his wake-up time will have moved back to 4AM. Fun fact: one time Cayce was walking along the seawall in Yokosuka in the middle of winter at 4AM (please, <i>please</i> don't ask why.) And we kid you not, there were not one, not two, but a whole steady stream of very old Japanese people (we mean like octogenarian old), wrapped up in anoraks, jogging along. And, kids, they looked so very, very miserable, running through that blistering wind. They were cold and it was still pitch dark out, and their were heavily hoisting their venerable bodies along the road, and we couldn't help but want to ask them... my dudes, why don't you just wait until it's like 10AM and it's sunny and warm out here and you can see the ocean while you jog? We've got nothing against jogging, exercise or health. These are undoubtedly good things, keeping Japan with the longest life expectancy in the world. But, why put yourselves through this sadness and hardship, at a time in your life when you could and should just be kicking back and working in the garden and cuddling with your cats? Is misery virtue? Welcome to Japan, a country where that question has never been satisfactorily answered.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">5. Mr. Sakurai. Hanky Panky Hankies. Okay, we know what you're thinking. You know we know what you're thinking. Lace handkerchiefs into which to loose your impotent fantasies is so much more romantic than tissue paper. "You are the honey I spill all alone" ("<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/sasayaki">Sasayaki</a>"). So much more elegant with a hanky than a tissue from the grocery store, ain't it? And ain't nobody getting any younger. You think he can still actualize those fantasies of his? What woman would do it? What woman <i>could</i> do it? They are all listening to K-Pop and playing otome games now, he's an old, old, OLD man, like 5666666 years old, and those fantasies of his, well, they are <i>epic</i>. Nope, Acchan-chan is alone, alone, in a world of plastic-surgified very young very perfect-faced male idols and very, very scary large and overripe fangirls, and he's a hikikomori who prefers to stay safe at home in his own home sweet home house, thank you very much, and make his own "fun." With some nice, lovely, silk handkerchiefs. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Except, kids, that's not even what's going on here. You know what Acchan-chan loves, even more than sxx (fun fact: he gave that up long ago, he's faking it, no one is worth it anymore, Covid ruined everything, goodbye, I don't even watch porn anymore, it's all an act, signing off. Nen nen korori yo.) Acchan-chan loves watching really sad, scary, and/or twisted movies. His favorite Ghibli film, by his own accounting in multiple sources, is <i>Grave of the Fireflies</i>. He's currently penning lyrics all about how fucking pissed he is that there is another fucking war in central Europe/Asia. And you know what happens when you write lyrics about the war in Ukraine while watching <i>Grave of the Fireflies</i> on repeat? You cry, kids. You bawl. You snivel. You hork snot and then you snivel some more. Because what the fuck even is this life and why the fuck does it have to suck this much, kthxbai. It sucks for everyone, Ukrainian, Russian, Japanese, American, every fucking person, it just blows (like you blow your nose in that hanky panky hankie). Jobs suck. Being bombed sucks. Being blacklisted by the world through no fault of your own sucks. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Being ruled by oligarchs and megalomaniacal egomaniacs sucks. Late-stage capitalism is what's sucking us all dry.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Japan sucks a lot less than the rest of the world in many ways, but when you're Acchan-chan, you feel ALL of the world's feels at once, so you're in constant pain, but you are too gentle and retiring to complain enough to get a well-insured appointment with that spiritual chiropractor. And furthermore, Sugar does not have the time or the patience to be Acchan's napkin on which to rub his bogeys, even though he would prefer Sugar's fur (Kurumi would just scratch his </span><strike style="font-family: verdana;">lovely</strike><span style="font-family: verdana;"> old old OLD 56666666 year old face and glare at him and have done and he just doesn't have the heart to inflict his misery on Maru because for him Maru is a little angel and maybe the only scrap of loveliness this world has left, because Sugar is guilty of Gluttony and Kurumi is guilty of Envy and in a way that makes him feel closer to them bc 7 deadly sins and all but he needs to feel something of the divine just to get the energy to get out of bed and into the studio each morning). But, he's Acchan-chan. He has class. He has style. Whether or not he's getting any hanky-panky, he needs a fucking hanky. Here you go. A whole 4500 yen's worth (per color!), and you can't even go to the tour - he's got that covered, too. This is your hanky to cry in. Can't go to the tour. It sucks. Cry with him in solidarity. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-33755364623862291722022-04-19T23:27:00.005+09:002022-04-20T01:22:20.596+09:00Villain<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hey, kids, we're here with the long-awaited (long-lost?) translation of "Villain," in our antepenultimate bid to round out our translations of the lyrics on Abracadabra (damn, it's so great to find a place to use the word "antepenultimate" in common speech.) We'll be with you again soon with the latest news from Buck-Tickistan (sunglasses, dollies, and masks, oh my!), but for now, we'll focus on this: how Mr. Imai's ode to Disney villains hooks up with Mr. Sakurai's screed against cyber-bullying. As in our previous post, we are using text colors that don't appear satisfactorily on mobile phones, so, for best viewing, please view on your PC. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Also, to reiterate what we said before - Google Sites has completely changed their platform and it's completely unacceptable in terms of editability and general visual appearance. Due to this, we are unable to make updates to This is NOT Greatest Site. We are not a web designer, and if there's anyone with expertise in this area who would like to help us out fixing up a new site that looks nice and is easily navigable, please contact us directly at the mad aristocrat [at] gmail [dot] com.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A third thing - to that person who translated the "official international edition" of Abracadabra - we know you're a solid professional just doing your job. It wasn't your fault that Buck-Tick's management decided to hire someone who was eminently qualified to translate marketing boilerplate and patents and subtitles for corporate training videos, but had never read or written poetry, let alone listened to Buck-Tick. We are not blaming you. Giant paycheck or not, you're not the villain here. We've all gotta hustle for a living in this miserable late-stage capitalist hellscape nightmare RPG game called "life," so, y'know, giant paycheck ftw and all that jazz. It's not <i>your</i> fault that some of our readers decided that they don't care if we finish translating this album because there is already an "official international edition." Everyone's got free will, they're entitled to read whichever translations they want to read. So, readers - if you feel our translation is redundant, go on, see yourselves out. It doesn't matter. We won't stop you. We can't stop you. We wouldn't even if we could, but we can't. It's not like we know who you are, anyway. The anonymity of the internet preserves you from any judgments we could render upon you (not that that internet anonymity protects you from data mining and mass surveillance - but that's not our problem). To us, you have no name. You have no face. Ciao.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;"><b>Villain</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;"><i>Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi/Imai Hisashi</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;"><i>Music: Imai Hisashi</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">They're born to be the anti</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">At extraordinary level</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">So carelessly they do it</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">They're the Flowers of Evil </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(1)</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">They don't know any fear</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">They're the wellspring of sin</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">It's their single-minded goal:</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">Unleash the madness within</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">Hello, taboo</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">Ciao, smile</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">Hello, taboo</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">Ciao</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">hey i know you! you, yeah! i know it's you!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">you're the one who raped me, i know it's you!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">you're so ugly! yeah! the villain sore! </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(2)</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">oozing thru my heart i feel the villain sore!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">yeah i know you! i know it's you! </span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">you make me sick! you nameless jerk!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">i know it's you!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">The world is still outrageous</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">It murders the absurd</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">You spirits who aren't in the trap</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">Don't let it take you in</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">It's all the more magnificent</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">Uncommonly high-level</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">So carelessly it's blooming</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">It's the Flower of Evil </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">(1)</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">Hello, taboo</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">Ciao, smile</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">Hello, taboo</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">Ciao</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">hey i know you! you, yeah! i know it's you!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">you're the one who killed me, i know it's you!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">the oozing blood! yeah! the villain sore!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">yucky yucky aching it's the villain sore! </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(3)</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">yeah i know you! i know it's you! </span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">you make me sick! you have no face!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">i know it's you!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">hey i know you, you, yeah, i know it's you</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">you're the one who raped me, i know it's you</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">it's so ugly, yeah, the villain sore</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">oozing through my heart i feel the villain sore</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">you make me sick! yeah! i know it's you!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">you're the one who killed me, i know it's you!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">the oozing blood! yeah! the villain sore!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">yucky yucky aching it's the villain sore!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">yeah i know you! i know it's you! </span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">you make me sick! you make me sick!</span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana;">i know it's you!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Note on the title:</span> <span style="color: #674ea7;">Sakurai and Imai stated that they wrote their parts for this song independently of each other, and "it just so happened" that "Villain," Imai's working title for the song, forms a perfect double-entendre with the Japanese "biran" (糜爛), which Sakurai said was his main keyword when he started writing the lyrics. "Biran" is a fancy literary word meaning something like "oozing sore." For supposedly not having discussed anything together before writing the song, the two sections fit together uncommonly well - so either there's something Messrs. Sakurai and Imai aren't telling us, or they're telepathically connected (or what they're not telling us is the fact that they're telepathically connected, which, let's face it, is entirely likely.) </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #674ea7;">Imai didn't discuss why he chose the theme "villain," but since at the time of this song's release, he's the father of an elementary school girl, we suspect Disney villains might have something to do with it (Disney, and Disney villains, are hugely popular in Japan). Imai's part of the song appears to narrate the psychology of absolute evil. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #674ea7;">Sakurai, meanwhile, stated that his inspiration for this song was his anger at anonymous cyberbullying. He said that he feels filled with disgust at the way that people think online anonymity gives them license to bully others with impunity. He said "I want to let people like that know, I see you. I know who you are." Cyberbullying has certainly become a major issue worldwide, and Sakurai mentioned being angered by several high-profile cyberbullying incidents that were covered in the Japanese media, but considering that Sakurai never writes lyrics about themes that aren't of personal significance to him, I suspect that there's another layer to this song that he's not discussing openly - namely, some serious incidents of cyberbullying among Buck-Tick's Japanese fan base. Incidents of fan bullying have been happening since the band first became famous, but the anonymity of the internet affords a much greater reach for the spreading of vitriol and defamatory lies. In fact, we have witnessed some of this personally, and it wasn't pretty. Because the types of fans who bully others are also the types who tend to spend the most money on the band, Sakurai probably feels like he can't call them out directly - though, then again, these lyrics are a pretty direct call-out when you stop to look at them carefully. Whether the Cyberbullies of Buck-Tickistan realize they're being repudiated is another matter - bullies don't tend to be the most self-reflective types. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;">Sakurai stated that he used the short, percussive phrases and excess exclamation points to echo the style of aggressive online flame comments, but also to underscore his own anger at this type of behavior. To reflect this in the English translation, I used all lowercase letters for the sections sung by Sakurai. Sakurai's sections appear to be back-and-forth dialogues between the bullies and the narrator of the song (Sakurai himself?) but, as in "Urahara-juku," it's ambiguous who is speaking which line - so, use your imaginations - if it's ambiguous, it's because he meant it to be that way.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">1) </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;">"Aku no Hana" is the Japanese translation of the title of French poet Charles Baudelaire's poetry collection <i>Les Fleurs du Mal</i> (The Flowers of Evil). <i>Aku no Hana</i> was also the title of Buck-Tick's best-selling 1989 album, released after Imai's release from six months of house arrest for possession of LSD. Aku no Hana remains the best-selling album of the band's career, and the song "Aku no Hana," the title track and lead single, is one of the band's best-known hit songs, along with "Just One More Kiss." Imai claimed that he didn't intend the phrase "aku no hana" in these lyrics to be a reference to Buck-Tick's earlier album, but... this is from the guy who claimed that the album title <i>Mona Lisa Overdrive</i> had <i>nothing</i> to do with the William Gibson novel of the same name. This is from the guy who claimed that the "Atom" in Buck-Tick's album title <i>Atom Miraiha No. 9</i> had <i>nothing</i> to do with the Tezuka Osamu manga <i>Tetsuwan Atom</i> (known in English as <i>Astro Boy</i>)... and then went on to produce official <i>Astro Boy</i> tie-up goods for the tour. So... come on.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">2) </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;">As explained in the note on the title, the word in this line, "biran," forms a word play with the song's title "Villain," since in Japanese, the two words are pronounced more or less exactly the same. In Japanese "biran" means "oozing sore" or "inflamed wound." Sakurai seems to be expressing that the anger and hatred in the hearts of people who engage in anonymous bullying are akin to an oozing wound. Or, conversely, that bearing witness to such bullying incidents causes his own heart to feel like an open wound.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">3) </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;">In this line, the Japanese word "yumeyume," which I translated here as "yucky yucky," is not Sakurai's usual beloved 「夢夢」, meaning "dreamy dream," but a completely different word spelled in different kanji, 「努努」, which doesn't really have any meaning in its own right - rather, it serves as an emphatic like "absolutely" or "absolutely not," to underscore the force of the whole sentence. What's brilliant about this word choice is that because the emphatic "yumeyume" is a homophone of the dreamy "yumeyume," it creates a world play expressing the way that the hatred in the hearts of the bullies is fueled by their own dreams, or delusions - especially true in the case of fan bullying, which is generally fueled by jealousy of fans for other fans. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;">In a single word, Sakurai expresses both the general condition of the mindset of bullies - who are often perpetually excessively focused on perceived slights which have little to do with reality - and also the dark flipside of the beautiful romantic world he creates on stage - the way his romantic fantasias have inspired some of his fans to attack others in impotent jealousy based on their own wildly skewed perceptions ("X band member likes that girl better than me, I hate her, so let's kill her," etc. The essence of fan bullying.) Sakurai returns to this theme of fantasy vs. reality, and his own complicity in the whole fan delusion, in "Maimu Maimu." It's further interesting that "uzuku," the word which appears after "yumeyume" in this line, has generally been used by Sakurai in previous lyrics in a sexual context - most notably in "Baby, I want you" ("anata mo uzuitekuru darou baby" / "you're aching for it, baby"). For those familiar with Buck-Tick's lyrics, this creates a second layer of meaning expressing how unfulfilled desire is often a big motivation for fan bullying behavior, and bullying in general. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;">Here, I translated "yumeyume" as "yucky yucky" in order to preserve the general prosody and violent feeling of the Japanese words, and add some more sharp attack to the "k" sounding in "aching."</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><b>Villain</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">作詞:櫻井敦司・今井寿</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">作曲:今井寿</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">生まれながらのアンチ 稀に見るレベル</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">軽々とまさに 惡の華</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">恐れを知らぬ 諸悪の根源</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">ただひたすらに 狂気の沙汰</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">ハロー タブー チャオ スマイル</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">ハロー タブー チャオ</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">おまえを知っている! そう! おまえだ!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">俺を犯したおまえだ!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">醜い! そう! 糜爛が! 俺の胸にある糜爛が!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">おまえを! 知っている! 気味悪い! 名無しの!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">おまえを!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">理不尽な世界 不条理を殺す</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">囚われぬ魂 逸脱せよ</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">あまりにも華麗 稀代のハイレベル</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">軽々とそれは 惡の華</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">ハロー タブー チャオ スマイル</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">ハロー タブー チャオ</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">おまえを知っている! そう! おまえだ!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">俺を殺したおまえだ!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">血が滲む! そう! 糜爛が! 努努 疼く糜爛が!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">おまえを! 知っている! 気味悪い! 顔の無い!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">おまえを!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">おまえを知っている そう おまえだ</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">俺を犯した おまえだ</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">醜い そう 糜爛が 俺の胸にある糜爛が</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">気味悪い! そう! おまえだ!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">俺を殺した おまえだ!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">血が滲む! そう! 糜爛が! 努努 疼く糜爛が!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">おまえを! 知っている! 気味悪い! 気味悪い!</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">おまえだ!</span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;"><b>Villain</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;"><i>Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi/Imai Hisashi</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;"><i>Music: Imai Hisashi</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Umarenagara no anti mare ni miru reberu</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Karugaru to masa ni aku no hana</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Osore wo shiranu shoaku no kongen</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Tada hitasura ni kyouki no sata</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Hello taboo ciao smile</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Hello taboo ciao</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Omae wo shitteiru! Sou! Omae da!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Ore wo okashita omae da!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Minikui! Sou! Biran ga! Ore no mune ni aru biran ga!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Omae wo! Shitteiru! Kimi warui! Nanashi no!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Omae wo!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Rifujin na sekai fujouri wo korosu</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Torawarenu tamashii itsudatsu se yo</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Amari ni mo karei kitai no hai-reberu</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Karugaru to sore wa aku no hana</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Hello taboo ciao smile</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Hello taboo ciao</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Omae wo shitteiru! Sou! Omae da!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Ore wo koroshita omae da!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Chi ga nijimu! Sou! Biran ga! Yumeyume uzuku biran ga!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Omae wo! Shitteiru! Kimi warui! Kao no nai!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Omae wo!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Omae wo shitteiru sou omae da</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Ore wo okashita omae da</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Minikui sou biran ga ore no mune ni aru biran ga</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Kimi warui! Sou! Omae da!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Ore wo koroshita omae da!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Chi ga nijimu! Sou! Biran ga! Yumeyume uzuku biran ga!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Omae wo! Shitteiru! Kimi warui! Kimi warui!</span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: verdana;">Omae da!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-5349850105848612812022-04-09T00:01:00.003+09:002022-04-20T01:13:19.235+09:00Go Go B-T Train<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Happy cherry blossom (and tulip) season! The weirdness of the world continues apace, but thank god that never stopped the flowers from blooming. On the one hand, the stuff that's going on right now in Ukraine (and Afghanistan, and many other places) is terrible, and we're also sending our thoughts and prayers to our many friends and readers in Russia - we know you are not your government, that many of you are praying for peace just as much as the rest of us, and that the sanctions are hitting a lot of people who are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time (just like the people who are getting hit by the bombs). We hope all you readers in every part of the world join with us in praying for world peace everywhere. Because really, we are one human family. Can y'all imagine a war between the black cats and the ginger cats? Maine Coon vs. Siamese? Persian vs. Siberian? Bengal vs. Scottish Fold (oh god, we really went too far there, pleez y'alls bless and sanitize us with some of your holy water, for we have sinned...) but seriously this shit is ridiculous. Human beings are human beings are human beings, and your prayers matter. Let's blast a cotton candy sparkle unicorn rainbow of peace so hard across this world that the cherry trees up and decide to bloom an encore for us! (...while in the meantime, secretly eagerly awaiting what kind of trenchant saltiness Mr. Sakurai has in store for us this time, because let's face it, if there's going to be one good thing about yet another stupid, pointless war, it's going to be listening to Mr. Sakurai getting operatically and theatrically Very Very Angry.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In any case, we beg your apologies on making you wait so long, but spring is doing us a world of good, physically and mentally, and so we are at last pleased to bring you the translations and notes for <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">"Go Go B-T Train</span></b>" and <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">"Koi."</span></b> We will be posting them on NOT Greatest Site as soon as we figure out how to revamp it on a new platform to our liking. In the meantime, you can enjoy the translations here on Blog-Tick. If you appreciate our work and would like to support us, please do buy us a Ko-Fi. Also, if you're looking at this on your phone - Blogger's phone interface doesn't support the background and font colors we like to use. For the best visual experience, we recommend that you view this post on your PC. As usual, the English translations of these songs are singable with the original melodies.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpr6VRQcqOwoL0adWKk418H89j8pKgenmuNdk2l4WZu_J4z2ZPN-sOs68CT4fpwQ3WhTKbVRvwdpZmtbtWd9N99QCjyR5OUcdYFjnzLVgj6WeVThHRN8hgLtkUNImKa-JIEEzIdo1U86V-qM7DtRV3j5td62qsc4b66T75y_U7zlKDw2DZU0ibI76T/s1500/Go%20Go%20B-T%20Train.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1340" data-original-width="1500" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpr6VRQcqOwoL0adWKk418H89j8pKgenmuNdk2l4WZu_J4z2ZPN-sOs68CT4fpwQ3WhTKbVRvwdpZmtbtWd9N99QCjyR5OUcdYFjnzLVgj6WeVThHRN8hgLtkUNImKa-JIEEzIdo1U86V-qM7DtRV3j5td62qsc4b66T75y_U7zlKDw2DZU0ibI76T/s320/Go%20Go%20B-T%20Train.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Go Go B-T Train</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Music: Imai Hisashi</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And so the dream continues Baby</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'll show you pomp and circumstance</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And now the boarding bell is ringing</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">You, too, get on and come with us</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is a one-way journey only</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A beautiful trip</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's time to kiss the earth good-bye</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">With you, two-lips <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(1)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Deep in my heart now</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oh light my fire</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Run run on B-T Train</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Running on love now <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(2)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Go rumble Baby <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(3)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oh fly, my B-T Train</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And so the dream continues Baby</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">La la la off to everywhere</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Clickety-click clackety-clack <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(4)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Over the fields into the dark</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Go blow a kiss out </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To the steamwork crescent moon <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(5)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">We'll kiss the Universe good-bye</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tulips with you <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(1)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Deep in my heart now</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oh light my fire</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Run run on B-T Train</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Running on love now</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rumble on Baby <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(3)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oh fly, my B-T Train</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Running on love now</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Running on love now</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Run run on B-T Train</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rumble on Baby</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Go go on Baby <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(3)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oh fly, my B-T Train</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And so the dream continues baby</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">La la la off to everywhere</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Note on the title:</span> <span style="color: #674ea7;">Many long-time Buck-Tick fans probably saw the title of this single and on first blush assumed it was a case of Mr. Sakurai picking up Imai's working title for the demo song and running with it. Not so! Mr. Sakurai was at pains to tell all the magazine interviewers (who also initially assumed that the title had been authored by Imai) that the "Go Go B-T Train" concept was all his own. He said, "I heard the lumber of a train in the demo tape," and further elaborated that he thought very carefully about which words to use, and deliberately settled on "train" rather than the likes of "express," because he wanted to evoke an old-fashioned, clickety-clack, driving through the endless countryside, stopping at every station, we'll get there when we get there kind of feeling, rather than kowtowing to the speed-is-king "innovations" of modern life. He said that writing this song was his re-commitment to taking the project of Buck-Tick as far as it can possibly go, "until it disintegrates into scrap." He went on further, saying "maybe this wording sounds lame, but I don't care." </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #674ea7;">Implicit in the train motif is the image of a circus train, carrying the performers from city to city, extending Buck-Tick's long-running Parade metaphor. (For great examples of this trope in action, see the song "Casey Junior" from the Disney film <i>Dumbo</i> (no relation to Cayce Pollard) and Erin Morgenstern's novel <i>The Night Circus</i>.) It feels slightly poetic, if bittersweet, that this re-commitment to the band's creative enterprise came at the exact time that Mr. Imai broke his hip and the planned fall (haha "fall," haha) 2021 tour to support this single had to be cancelled as a result. "The Buck-Tick train broke a wheel and had to stop for repairs," Mr. Sakurai quipped to multiple news outlets. "But we'll keep on chugging as soon as we're able." Every time Mr. Sakurai has stepped up in taking more creative authorship in the band's work, it has resulted in a great leap forward in the band's creative output, so, Imai's pain aside (take care on those goddamn boots, Imai!) maybe this was a blessing in disguise. "Maybe this sounds strange, but it seem that you've become the wholesale promoter of Buck-Tick these days," journalist Ishii Eriko remarked in her interview with Mr. Sakurai in the October 2021 issue of Ongaku to Hito. "I know what you mean," Mr. Sakurai responded. "I felt a little like I was one step below the idea that Buck-Tick=Imai Hisashi. But, from long before now, I've been coming to understand that Imai does Imai, and I do me. In that sense, I feel I'm much more instrumental in promoting the band than I was in the early days."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">1)</span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"> In Japanese, the word "churippu" or "chuurippu" can mean "trip," "two-lips," or "tulip." Sakurai openly stated that he used this wordplay to tie the song together, and I have endeavored to preserve the triple meaning in my translation. Judging from the imagery in the music video, I think we can safely assume that "trip" refers not only to a physical trip, but to a psychedelic or psychological trip. Two-lips obviously refers to a kiss (as is echoed by the tulip imagery and the red lips imagery on the single jacket and in the music video.) </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;">In flower symbolism, tulips have long been a symbol of perfect, unconditional love in Turkish and Persian folklore, centering around variations on a folktale of the perfect love between Farhad (usually represented as a commoner tradesman, such as a stonecutter), and Shirin (a beautiful woman generally represented as being above Farhad's social station). Various permutations of the tale exist, but most end in tragedy, with red tulips blooming on the site of the lovers' spilled blood, symbolizing their everlasting love for one another. (Side note: wouldn't it be nice to live in a world of "and then they lived happily ever after" instead of "our spilled blood turned to tulips, which are indeed lovely, but, wouldn't it have been nice if we could have stayed alive to enjoy love instead of being martyrs for it?" Just sayin'.) Sakurai used this same trip/tulip wordplay in the lyrics to "Kick ~Daichi wo Keru Otoko~". Underlying the entire metaphor is Sakurai's lifelong thesis statement that life is an endless journey in search of ever-deeper love.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">2) </span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;">The phrase here, "ai wo moyase," literally means "burn love," but Sakurai clarified in the magazine interviews that he means this in the context that the B-T Train runs on by burning the love of the fans as fuel. The burning bouquet of tulips in the music video would seem to suggest an additional interpretation, that love is a trip, and it's better to go for it (burn it) than to hold anything back, because life, whatever we might wish, is always a journey of no return.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">3)</span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"> The word here, 「轟轟」 ("gou gou,") means "rumbling" or "roaring," but Sakurai ties it together as a word play with "go go," evoking the rumble of the B-T Train as it go-goes on over the tracks. I have attempted to preserve the dimensions of this wordplay by altering my translation of the various lines where this phrase appears. Use of the phrase "gou gou" can also be seen in Imai's lyrics to "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/igniter">Igniter</a>," on the album No. 0. There is, of course, also a nice tie-in here with the use of the word "go-go" in relation to nightclub performance, and by extension rock shows, a meaning which Imai has used with relish in his songs with his side project Lucy, "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/lucy/anaconda-a-go-go">Anaconda a Go-Go</a>" and "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/lucy/lucifer-a-go-go">Lucifer a Go-Go</a>." (And, by loose extension, Lucy's "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/lucy/ga-ga-disco">Gaga Disco</a>" and Buck-Tick's "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/dada-disco">Dada Disco</a>," as well as "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/les-enfants-terribles">Les Enfant Terribles</a>.")</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">4)</span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"> As mentioned in the note on the title, Sakurai stated to multiple <a href="http://blog-tick.blogspot.com/#:~:text=Gentle%20Director%20Starts%20Directing">media outlets</a> (Ongaku to Hito, Rock & Read, The Majestic Saturday Night, etc.) that he deliberately used the word "train" rather than "express," in order to evoke a slow, old-fashioned, clickety-clackety train. He stated that the band might not be able to go fast, but they will keep going for as long as they can, "until we turn into a pile of scrap metal." He also waxed poetic to several magazines about his love of train travel, and his desire to get on a train and be whisked away to destinations unknown, stating that the "train," for him, held a romance and promise that the "express" didn't, and he wanted to preserve this in Buck-Tick's music to the very last.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">5)</span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"> This tongue-in-cheek steampunk reference underscores the image of an old-fashioned steam train, as opposed to a state-of-the-art superfast electric train of the kind that are common in Japan. The word here, "jouki jikake," meaning "steam-powered," was also used by Imai in the lyrics to "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/lyricsyndrome/lyrics/buck-tick/once-upon-a-time">Once Upon a Time</a>," on the album <i>Arui wa Anarchy</i>, to refer to a steampunk Sphinx. It would appear to be a Buck-Tick in-joke, perhaps a concession to the fact that Sakurai took over this song wholesale from Imai, who is a known steampunk fan.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div><b><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">Go Go B-T Train</span></b></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">作詞:櫻井敦司</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">作曲:今井寿</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">夢の続き Oh Baby 派手に魅せてやろう</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">君も乗りなよ さあ 発車のベルが鳴る</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">片道だけの素敵なTRIP</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">サヨナラネ地球 アナタトチューリップ</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">この胸に 火を付けて 走れ B-T TRAIN</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">愛を燃やせ 轟轟 On Baby 飛ばせ B-T TRAIN</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">夢は続くよ Baby ランランラン 何処までも</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">ガタガタ & ゴトゴト 野を越え 闇をゆけ</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">蒸気仕掛けの 三日月投げキッス</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">サヨナラネ宇宙 アナタトチューリップ</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">この胸に 火を付けて 走れ B-T TRAIN</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">愛を燃やせ 轟轟 On Baby 飛ばせ B-T TRAIN</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">愛を燃やせ 愛を燃やせ 走れ B-T TRAIN</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">轟轟 On Baby, Go Go On Baby 飛ばせ B-T TRAIN</span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">夢は続くよ Baby ランランラン 何処までも</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>Go Go B-T Train</b></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><i>Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><i>Music: Imai Hisashi</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Yume no tsuzuki Oh Baby hade ni misete yarou</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Kimi mo nori na yo saa hassha no beru ga naru</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Katamichi dake no suteki na TRIP</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Sayonara ne chikyuu anata to chuurippu</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Kono mune ni hi wo tsukete hashire B-T TRAIN</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Ai wo moyase gougou On Baby tobase B-T TRAIN</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Yume wa tsuzuku yo Baby ran ran ran doko made mo</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Gatagata & gotogoto no wo koe yami wo yuke</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Jouki jikake no mikazuki nage kissu</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Sayonara ne uchuu anata to chuurippu</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Kono mune ni hi wo tsukete hashire B-T TRAIN</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Ai wo moyase gougou On Baby tobase B-T TRAIN</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Ai wo moyase ai wo moyase hashire B-T TRAIN</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Gougou On Baby, Go Go On Baby tobase B-T TRAIN</span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Yume wa tsuzuku yo Baby ran ran ran doko made mo</span></div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhffZ6704UhpnjOuNX7w4aHBsTucEWGd8cPuna0xQiUglFHmhZQx76BWAoqjFQArH08yWDVXERPBgIRDloB5jw3dceTtpZVsfeKYHBBl0YkZdMQUP5MtKGbn6p73lH_smZblQjEJBa_puPEmcE1JOXHl20iLqtTwf--AFtngojQD9i18zxc-ZpazD-X/s5184/IMG_0828.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhffZ6704UhpnjOuNX7w4aHBsTucEWGd8cPuna0xQiUglFHmhZQx76BWAoqjFQArH08yWDVXERPBgIRDloB5jw3dceTtpZVsfeKYHBBl0YkZdMQUP5MtKGbn6p73lH_smZblQjEJBa_puPEmcE1JOXHl20iLqtTwf--AFtngojQD9i18zxc-ZpazD-X/w400-h266/IMG_0828.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0K_NRgvFWfJAakcRof-0q4KuecTC7Ki6CtL2kh0OHyJnIromsT8ck09DlvighjVlOyLtaYZqA7yPJrc2pGayE9Tu92osaS7GtWneaeGwIfDlk7FY9uxc4G-ujLXaHQnlxgQ3cZVO0O0KPeYfPb5vThf-G4Y39pyS2tvU1v2ltNVD63dGQBmo8OQ0c/s1920/vlcsnap-2022-02-19-03h38m54s698.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0K_NRgvFWfJAakcRof-0q4KuecTC7Ki6CtL2kh0OHyJnIromsT8ck09DlvighjVlOyLtaYZqA7yPJrc2pGayE9Tu92osaS7GtWneaeGwIfDlk7FY9uxc4G-ujLXaHQnlxgQ3cZVO0O0KPeYfPb5vThf-G4Y39pyS2tvU1v2ltNVD63dGQBmo8OQ0c/w400-h225/vlcsnap-2022-02-19-03h38m54s698.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Love</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Music: Hoshino Hidehiko</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">For so long I felt it, you see</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I felt it deep within me...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It was somebody who you knew</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I knew you <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(1)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Please, oh won't you show me your face?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Please show me your smile</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oh please, I want you... to call... my name</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I burn</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">With romance <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(2)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A dream</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A fantasy</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But now you say it's time to sleep, tired from dancing, ah</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">From the pure-white tips of your toes, the blood dripping, ah </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">You're already climbing the Stairway to Heaven, ooh <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(3)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And so now I go it alone</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oh I'm all alone now</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Out into the new-falling rain</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Like everyone</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Do you have the courage to go</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To walk through the darkness?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I told you that I'm not afraid</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I told you... a lie...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I burn</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">With romance</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">(2)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">My dream</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Disintegrates</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But now you say it's time to sleep, tired from dancing, ah</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Out from my circling arms, I feel you slipping, ah</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">You're already knocking on Heaven's Door, ooh <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(4)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dancing, dancing, dancing, you - you are love</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Delicate, so delicate like watercolor, my romance <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(5)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dancing, dancing, dancing, you - you are love</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Delicate, so delicate dissolves my romance <span style="color: #9fc5e8;">(5)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">Note on the title:</span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"> Japanese has two main words for "love," "ai" and "koi." Japanese teachers tend to say that "ai" can mean any kind of love, including cosmic love, familial love, romantic love, and all shades of love in between, while "koi" tends to mean specifically romantic love. When this single was released, various media outlets (such as Ongaku to Hito, Rock & Read, and Chiwaki Mauymi's radio show The Majestic Saturday Night) asked Sakurai what his personal view was on the difference in meaning between "ai" vs. "koi." He said that for him, "ai" was something existential, heart's-blood deep, while "koi" could be something lighter and more innocent. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;">He said that in this song, he was trying to capture a feeling of youthful purity, platonic, rather than sexual, and that he was trying to sing the part of a pure, gentle, innocent character. He went on to state that a number of people in his orbit have recently passed away, and while on the one hand he felt it wasn't his place to tread on the grief of others or to overly aestheticize death and grief, he nonetheless made the decision to write these lyrics as a sort of vicarious expression of the grief that the people around him were experiencing. He also stated that it was in part inspired by the yearly summer melancholy he feels in August, around the time of the anniversary of the atomic bombings. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;">However, for various reasons, we suspect that this song is in large part about one very specific person. Who it is, we're not at liberty to say. Let's just leave it that it was someone who was very, very close to one of the Buck-Tick members, not Sakurai, also a personal acquaintance of Cayce, and much, much too young to go. Our two cents: this song is a truly beautiful send-up to the memory of the person in question. Sakurai was not overstepping bounds here. He was doing this person a great honor.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;">Fun fact: Sakurai is the one whistling during the instrumental break. He told Rock & Read that the whistling was originally Director Tanaka's idea, and at first, whistling in the studio made him (Sakurai) so nervous that, in his words, "I went home and practiced so much I made myself sick... my lips were swollen from me licking them too much."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">1)</span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"> This line is ambiguous. Depending on interpretation, it could mean "you knew someone," or "I knew who you were." Sakurai may be evoking the feeling we sometimes get when we meet someone important in our lives, that we already know the person, even though we've only just met - or sometimes, the feeling we get before we meet someone important, a sense of premonition that someone who will be very dear to us in the future is about to walk into our lives.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">2)</span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"> The literal translation of this line is "I burn with love," but I translated it as "romance" instead, in order to underscore the airy, youthful quality Sakurai said he was aiming for with his word choice of "koi."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">3)</span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"> "Stairway to Heaven," released in 1971, is the most famous song by the classic English rock/metal band Led Zeppelin, and widely regarded as one of the most influential rock songs of all time. It's impossible to overstate how enormously influential Led Zeppelin were on Buck-Tick's generation of rock musicians in Japan. Yagami Toll is a particularly enthusiastic Led Zeppelin fan.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">4)</span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"> "Knocking on Heaven's Door" is a song by American singer-songwriter and Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan, originally released in 1973. The song was most famously covered by Eric Clapton and Guns N' Roses, but was also covered by dozens of other well-known artists, including Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Paul Simon, Lana Del Rey, Roger Waters, and Nina Hagen.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">5)</span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: verdana;"> This line literally means "delicate, delicate, blurring, my love." I translated it the way I did to better evoke the visual quality of the word "nijimu," which implies something wet spreading, oozing, or blurring. Sakurai used the word "nijimu" earlier in the song to describe oozing blood, but "nijimu" is also often used poetically to describe slowly welling tears (or the way that fallen tears can blur writing, pictures, etc.) I chose the word "watercolor" because of the connection with tears, and because I felt it fit with the general light, ethereal atmosphere of the song, and with the band's stage performance of the song at the DIQ 2021, in which Sakurai sang the song wearing a women's furisode juban (under-kimono), as if expressing a lost youth, and the color of the ephemeral cherry blossoms, which bloom and fade so quickly.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><b>恋</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">作詞:櫻井敦司</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">作曲:星野英彦</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">ずっと前から そう わたしの中に..</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">あなたが誰かを 知っている</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">お顔を見せて ねえ 笑って見せて</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">私の名前を 呼ん で 欲し い</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">恋 焦がれ 夢 幻</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">あなたは踊り疲れて 眠る ああ</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">真っ白な爪先 血が滲む ああ</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">天国への階段 登ってゆく</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">ひとりでゆくのさ ひとりきりだよ</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">降り出した雨に 誰も</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">暗闇を歩く 勇気はあるかい</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">怖くは無いよと わた し 嘘 を</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">恋 焦がれ 夢 破れて</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">あなたは踊り疲れて 眠る ああ</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">わたしのこの両手 すり抜ける ああ</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">天国への扉を 叩いている</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">踊る 踊る 踊る 君は 愛</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">淡く 淡く 滲む 僕の 恋</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">踊る 踊る 踊る 君は 愛</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: verdana;">淡く 淡く 滲む 僕の 恋</span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><b>Koi</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><i>Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><i>Music: Hoshino Hidehiko</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Zutto mae kara sou watashi no naka ni...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Anata ga dareka wo shitteiru</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Okao wo misete nee waratte misete</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Watashi no namae wo yon de hoshii</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Koi kogare yume maboroshi</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Anata wa odoritsukarete nemuru aa</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Masshiro na tsumasaki chi ga nijimu aa</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Tengoku e no kaidan nobotte yuku</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Hitori de yuku no sa hitorikiri da yo</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Furidashita ame ni dare mo</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Kurayami wo aruku yuuki wa aru kai</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Kowaku wa nai yo to wata shi uso wo</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Koi kogare yume yaburete</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Anata wa odori tsukarete nemuru aa</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Watashi no kono ryoute surinukeru aa </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Tengoku e no tobira wo tataiteiru</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Odoru odoru odoru kimi wa ai</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Awaku awaku nijimu boku no koi</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Odoru odoru odoru kimi wa ai</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">Awaku awaku nijimu boku no koi</span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">To all of you who've written to us - thank you so much for your correspondence and support. We will write you back as soon as we are able. More translations and news coming soon.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-72337221120980232622022-01-31T19:55:00.013+09:002022-01-31T22:46:03.368+09:00(We're not Allowed to Post This)<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #3d85c6; font-family: verdana;">By popular demand...</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #01ffff; font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #01ffff; font-family: courier;">This guy is Harada Kenta, guitarist from Toll's band. We met him once. Let's just say, he had a very high opinion of himself. Poll question: did he puke on Mr. Sakurai's white, white, white shirt later in the evening? We don't know, you tell us. Where did these photos come from? We don't know, you tell us.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCOvGITNp12_Apj9HfM9QKCkdYjl2Sf6K6V0FFaF9HLAyqqE0hVSu0dzXIiEpOHO_VejaNKomQw75R6LTwnp1rUI8ax3k9-Oa3mI3Clz7R9895AHsEauLIu-E_P2HukeTtDhVXRPwaksPEPL1YRTjPofLlRviOS3Y8zqR90Y5iOVXKUDSdlV-Ehwwx=s900" style="background-color: black; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCOvGITNp12_Apj9HfM9QKCkdYjl2Sf6K6V0FFaF9HLAyqqE0hVSu0dzXIiEpOHO_VejaNKomQw75R6LTwnp1rUI8ax3k9-Oa3mI3Clz7R9895AHsEauLIu-E_P2HukeTtDhVXRPwaksPEPL1YRTjPofLlRviOS3Y8zqR90Y5iOVXKUDSdlV-Ehwwx=s320" width="256" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #800180; font-family: courier;">(Acchan is laughing with you, not at you. Of that you can be sure.)</span></div><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIiKgJ5cg_4t4-hvDXkW3YEhKvwlw5ZMHADazbScnjL959w_KZ-2iu0H5UgZnRppWO1vam_P9nKKC69gS2cC0V6WKHE6gnFBYVhPwez6gOG3HIh6J6bklInPUAulEVmvBnEyGp5_zLDaFk3UsKkBMCXUOa4G1pL_GlEecn19CSelIqUHidi5pxWG5M=s891" style="background-color: black; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIiKgJ5cg_4t4-hvDXkW3YEhKvwlw5ZMHADazbScnjL959w_KZ-2iu0H5UgZnRppWO1vam_P9nKKC69gS2cC0V6WKHE6gnFBYVhPwez6gOG3HIh6J6bklInPUAulEVmvBnEyGp5_zLDaFk3UsKkBMCXUOa4G1pL_GlEecn19CSelIqUHidi5pxWG5M=s320" width="259" /></a></div><span style="background-color: black; color: #fcff01; font-family: courier;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #fcff01; font-family: courier;">These are the two Bengals. Guess which is which? Which one looks more underfed, and which one looks more jealous? (C'mon guys, this isn't even a quiz. Even if you don't read Japanese.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUAmGzVypWLQ0R71aaVBFDGiziSwZ52GCVo1WsY7Xi6YAbP-5eXrS9u-YpE40nxWXce805DvLqUPjU_HWjmxhUtl_8_nzQ1PvxwT0xQZcTsLcztGsMF74n4AyMDeip3PR7E2TaJN8lLwRhzs8ExrKTjBRaEz3O3dN4UYijFz3q8FqwKdUpwYxQeCfL=s936" style="background-color: black; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUAmGzVypWLQ0R71aaVBFDGiziSwZ52GCVo1WsY7Xi6YAbP-5eXrS9u-YpE40nxWXce805DvLqUPjU_HWjmxhUtl_8_nzQ1PvxwT0xQZcTsLcztGsMF74n4AyMDeip3PR7E2TaJN8lLwRhzs8ExrKTjBRaEz3O3dN4UYijFz3q8FqwKdUpwYxQeCfL=s320" width="246" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #04ff00; font-family: courier;">Here it is. You asked for it, and he took it himself, so there's really nothing he can do at this point. If Fish Tank has us shot by firing squad for posting this, well, know that we died thinking of you.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1bhIOct-5TB8LEwnwmF9ycFAfQ871J37HG2e_IqM_OcCxW--3Ekj7H1u_f6skmkjqINCZffEvyMd1qjd3DCSUQmGF-R38FmfTFLEMFOf8VrdC1XrHT9VfBQYOQvKDoVFJKn9CpZOuazLpry_16wu5zDewfBNLDrV-vLi8C2jC9u_syAiXg9lzHhJq=s870" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="870" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1bhIOct-5TB8LEwnwmF9ycFAfQ871J37HG2e_IqM_OcCxW--3Ekj7H1u_f6skmkjqINCZffEvyMd1qjd3DCSUQmGF-R38FmfTFLEMFOf8VrdC1XrHT9VfBQYOQvKDoVFJKn9CpZOuazLpry_16wu5zDewfBNLDrV-vLi8C2jC9u_syAiXg9lzHhJq=s320" width="265" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #ff00fe; font-family: courier;">This is not, and I repeat, is not a post by The Hisashi Inquirer. This is a post by Cayce, being an asshole. Because we're just over it. And we miss The Internet the way it was in 2003. Welcome back, Geocities. If we could make this text blink and flash, we would.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: red; font-family: courier;">Mmm-hmmm. HOT BATH SELFIE. RED HOT RED HOT. SLURP SLURPEE SLURPEEEEEE.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #ffa400;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #ffa400;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #2b00fe;">... what color is that beard, eh?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #ffa400;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #ffa400;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #ffa400;">(God / Allah / Buddha / Shiva / Flying Spaghetti Monster forgive us our sins.) OH wait, you know, THIS time we're going to ask for the forgiveness of Ishtar / Parvati / Saraswati / Izanami / Amaterasu / Sakurayhime and Iwanagahime / Kwan Yin / Aphrodite / Athena / Freya / Lakshmi / Mary / Benzaiten and Yemaya, Maman Brigitte, Hecate, oh not to mention Bastet, please insert your preferred goddesses here, (please feel free to list them in the comments below) there are way too many to list but we would love to list them all, it really has been too fucking long. Plus everyone knows that Acchan-chan is a goddess in a man's body and that's really the whole problem.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #ffa400;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #ffa400;">Love</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #ffa400;">Love</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #ffa400;">YEAH</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #ffa400;">PEACE🌈🌈🌈</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-64783945522499806752022-01-28T21:10:00.087+09:002022-01-31T21:02:53.681+09:00Happy Birthday to Us (This is NOT Greatest Birthday) or, "For the First Time in Forever"<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, it's a day late. But, yesterday was the <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">16th anniversary of This is NOT Greatest Site</span></b>. We know, we've been AWOL for quite a while, and we are sorry. There have been some black days and some black dogs. First and foremost, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you readers who kept supporting us on Ko-Fi and such while we were pulling our vanishing act. You were a light to us in dark places, when all other lights looked like they would go out (yes, that's a paraphrased quote from Lord of the Rings, yes we are nerds.) </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What happened to us...? A LOT of stuff. Jesus / Allah / Buddha / Shiva / Flying Spaghetti Monster have mercy on our souls. This is a long post. We've been away for a long time, so we wanted to catch y'all up. Bear with us. But hey, if you didn't like reading long rambling screeds of crap, y'all wouldn't still be here, eh? P.S., Happy New Year to y'all, let's hope it's better than the last one...</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><b>Freak Show</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">First... what happened in Buck-Tickistan...? Well, y'all probably know by now. The band played what may be their best show to date <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">"Misemono Goya ga Kurete Kara..."</span></b> or <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">"The Freak Show After Dark"</span></b>, to an empty hall filled with camera and sound techs, and streamed it on July 17th, 2021. As we'd been begging them to do for many years, they finally played a <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">full acoustic set</span></b>, including a re-arranged <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">acoustic version of "Uta"</span></b> that Mr. Sakurai said he had persuaded Imai to create because he was so inspired by Shiina Ringo's acoustic version of "Uta" on the 30th anniversary tribute album. There was also a re-arranged <b><span style="color: #ea9999;">acoustic version of "Just One More Kiss,"</span></b> inspired by Fujimaki Ryota's cover of the same song, also on the 30th anniversary tribute album. When we originally listened to this tribute album, we felt that Shiina Ringo's and Fujimaki Ryota's tracks were by far the best of the bunch, so it certainly tickled our pickle that the Buck-Tick members thought the same. Plus, self-covers of covers... how meta is that? The band continue to outdo themselves. Not only that, but "Misemono Goya" also featured a preposterously large number of songs composed by Hoshino Hidehiko. A whole three, count'em, THREE songs: "Yuuwaku," "Satan," and "Gensou no Hana." Furthermore, Mr. Sakurai stated in FT that it was Mr. Hoshino himself who had requested that "Satan" and "Yuuwaku" be in the set list. He further quipped that, "Out of all the songs Hide's written, why did he chose 'Satan'?" Oh man, Mr. Sakurai, listen to yourself! You LOVED that song. Everyone LOVED that song. That song was like having sex in a rainstorm while drinking wine, eating chocolate and peaking on molly! (Wait, that was literally actually what the song was about, right!?) Oh, wait... the need to roast Hide goes above and beyond any other mandate in Buck-Tickistan. Hoshino Hidehiko: the poor handsome jock who can't catch a break. But, for ourselves, we're gonna say, good on you Hide, for standing up for yourself, finally, after all this time! Listen, kids: even if you're 55, it's never too late to decide to grow into a man and start to wear the pants for a change, even if you still prefer to wear sloppy glittery skirts on stage. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #ff00fe;">The Old-Man Debacle</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then, of course, the old-man debacle: Mr. Imai fell off his boots and broke his hip. At the Budoukan on December 29th, 2021, we spoke to a long-time Japanese Buck-Tick fan acquaintance, but when we suggested that it was Imai's boots and his dancing on them that had done him in, she pooh-poohed us, saying, "if Imai had fallen off his boots, everyone would know about it." Excuse us, but... what? How much do you <i>really know</i> about Imai Hisashi? How much does <i>anyone</i> really know about Imai Hisashi?? I know, you know, I know, it's not just the QAnon people who have been promulgating the theory that he is, in fact, the earthly incarnation of a several-billion-year-old 2.5-meter-tall hyperintelligent anthropoid praying mantis from an ancient and infinitely wise interplanetary empire in the Galaxy of Andromeda... for fuck's sake, he's all but outed himself several times, including in the lyrics to "Alice in Wonder Underground" ("Adromeda's tambourine is an upside-down clown") and "Bolero" ("</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Before you and I were born/</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">We must have both been stars above/</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yes, I think it’s true/</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Just look up right there/</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Near Andromeda"), and also, what about his penchant for that bug helmet and all those buggy-eyed glasses? He's trying to tell us something, folks. Doesn't take a brilliant conspiracy theorist to figure that out. Those boots were just the next phase of it. He misses having those mantis legs and he needs them back! (He also needs to be taller than both Mr. Sakurai and Mr. Hoshino, and since Mr. Hoshino is already tall as a beanpole and Mr. Sakurai is in super-chunky heels to beat Mr. Hoshino, but Mr. Imai's a mere 175 cm ((which is actually pretty tall for a Japanese guy!!!)) it takes some doing.) In any case... how did Buck-Tick become such a success? Imai channeled his otherworldly Andromeda powers to, in the words of Captain Picard, "make it so." How is it that Imai always seems to know in advance what's coming next, from next year's hot fashions to the title of the reign of new Emperor Naruhito (for those of you who just came in, "Reiwa," the title of the reign of the current Japanese emperor, Naruhito, which began on May 1st, 2019, can be translated via kanji wordplay to mean "Number Zero." Buck-Tick's album <i>No. 0</i> came out in 2018. The title "Reiwa" was not decided until March of 2019.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anyhow, what we really mean to say here is... did y'all <i>see</i> Imai dancing around in those boots? If you did, I think you'll agree, kids, that that dance, plus those boots, is the most precarious hip fracture waiting to happen that the Milky Way Galaxy (bless its little heart) has ever seen. It unreels like a film in your mind, when you open yourself to see it. Buck-Tick were in rehearsal for the Go-Go B-T Train tour. The Andromeda Galaxy was all like, "Imai, if you're going to do stupid shit, we won't stop you. But don't say we didn't warn you." Imai was all like "I miss my days as a mantis, goddammit." Next thing, he'd spaced out in the middle of rehearsal and... ooops! Over go the boots. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Wipeout, Imai. And he's no spring chicken (excuse us, spring mantis) anymore, so off he goes to the hospital with a hip fracture and next thing we know he's "Living on the Bed." (See Instagram @imai_bt for more details #LivingOnTheBed #Abracadabra #Peace). But it's not like he's going to tell his fanbase why it happened. Would you, if you were him? If you were a zillion-year-old slightly omniscient being who had managed to do something as embarrassing as break your hip falling off a pair of boots, would you want the world to know? Not if you're planning on getting back on those boots at the Budoukan, you wouldn't. No sir, no ma'am. And that's exactly what he did. Get back on the boots at the Budoukan, that is. And he used his Andromeda Mantis powers to hush up his mishap, so no one ever knew. Except us. And now y'all. Whoops, the cat's out of the bag, now. It's okay, Imai. We all do stupid shit. Don't sweat it. Just make sure your wife doesn't eat you after your fervid exchanges of intimacy, okay?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZzaElOTvCPVJbOIEDe-uEwrpAHAnti-xB6RA5NTWJmwK4YWBLrsCz6_g3T91fpiIZtDpby7bAKwbk8ncJtkDMyGZgb34wpzREQh2ARbYdampD7t1ioODeJVIc8Xxa-xbb6t2B8GtGaaewKtSfPa6Y5H_3g6NhDJ8h9ycNIqv9eYnnlOoYkYP4Ltqh=s1280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="1280" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZzaElOTvCPVJbOIEDe-uEwrpAHAnti-xB6RA5NTWJmwK4YWBLrsCz6_g3T91fpiIZtDpby7bAKwbk8ncJtkDMyGZgb34wpzREQh2ARbYdampD7t1ioODeJVIc8Xxa-xbb6t2B8GtGaaewKtSfPa6Y5H_3g6NhDJ8h9ycNIqv9eYnnlOoYkYP4Ltqh=s320" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">According to <a href="http://blog.livedoor.jp/cosmos_costume/archives/9935970.html">Cosmos Costume</a>, the blog of Buck-Tick's long-time costume designer Yagi Tomoharu, he (Yagi) modded these boots (above) especially for Imai to wear at the Budoukan. Hand-studded the rhinestones and everything (or rather, that's what you hire interns for).</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <span style="color: #ea9999;">"Imai said he wanted to 'level up' his boots for this show, so I added rhinestones. I was surprised that Imai wanted to wear high-heeled boots after his bone fracture,"</span> Yagi wrote. <span style="color: #ea9999;">"I made him a new cane to match the height of the boots."</span><span style="color: #f4cccc;"> </span>(To view the rest of the pictures, check the link).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #ff00fe;">Gentle Director Starts Directing</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, that was that. <span style="color: #ea9999;"><b>The Go-Go Buck-Tick Train tour was cancelled.</b></span> "One of the wheels on the Buck-Tick Train broke, so we had to stop for repairs," Mr. Sakurai quipped to numerous media outlets. But, while Mr. Imai was in seclusion healing his upper femur, Mr. Sakurai was steaming at full throttle, chugging and choo-chooing the rounds of the media circuit. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">"Maybe this sounds strange, but it seems that you've become the wholesale promoter of Buck-Tick these days,"</span> journalist Ishii Eriko remarked in her interview with Mr. Sakurai in the October 2021 issue of <i>Ongaku to Hito</i>. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">"Who... me?"</span> Mr. Sakurai replied. <span style="color: #ea9999;">"Was I not... promoting us before?"</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">"No, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant,"</span> said Ms. Ishii.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sakurai: <span style="color: #ea9999;">"But, I know what you mean. I felt a little like I was one step below the idea that Buck-Tick=Imai Hisashi. But, from long before now, I've been coming to understand that Imai does Imai, and I do me. In that sense, I feel I'm much more instrumental in promoting the band than I was in the early days."</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ishii: <span style="color: #ea9999;">"I see. If Imai had put the words 'Go-Go' or 'Train' in the working title of the new single, we could interpret the new song as being a collaboration between the two of you that developed from those keywords. But, you created this title all on your own, which makes me feel that you have much more confidence in leading and affirming Buck-Tick as a band."</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sakurai: <span style="color: #ea9999;">"Oh, I see. Yes, yes. I'm promoting Buck-Tick as hard as I can! People will probably say I'm lame!"</span> (Lol, 'lame,' lol, Imai, lol, no pun intended, actually pun intended, lol. Laughing at injury and illness isn't funny, we know, sry, kthxbai.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ishii: <span style="color: #ea9999;">"That's why I didn't say it (laughs)."</span> (Buuuuuurn! Sick buuurn on Mr. Sakurai, Ms. Ishii! Cayce approves.)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sakurai: <span style="color: #ea9999;">"But, I know that's what you're thinking! No, I'm joking (laughs)."</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ishii: <span style="color: #ea9999;">"Hee hee. Well, with this title, and the first line where you write, 'Oh so here the dream continues, I'll show you pomp and circumstance,' it feels like you have a very strong will to continue with the band to the very end."</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sakurai: <span style="color: #ea9999;">"That's right. This is all I've got. I said it earlier but, all we can do is keep running till we fall apart into a jumble of junk and flakes of scrap iron... but, saying it like that makes it sound like I'm trying to be cool. But, I think that we </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">[the band members]</span><span style="color: #ea9999;"> all want to maintain that kind of strong fighting spirit."</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So... in case you didn't catch that... "Go-Go Buck-Tick Train," a title which, like "Inter Raptor," y'all probably pegged on Imai, was in fact entirely Mr. Sakurai's idea. In interview after interview, he re-affirmed his commitment to continuing with the band as far as they can possibly go. He further stated that he chose the word "train" instead of "express" because he wanted to evoke the clunk and clatter of old-fashioned local railways, to evoke that wherever the band are going, even if they can't get there fast or smoothly, they will go, and that he, Mr. Sakurai, eschews slickness in favor of character. These men and this band age like wine.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">We dunno about y'all, but we've been waiting for this day a long time. There are many different kanji you can use to spell the name "Atsushi" in Japanese, but contrary to popular fangirl belief that "Atsushi" means "hot death," Mr. Sakurai's kanji actually mean something like "The Gentle Director." Every time he has stepped up and asserted greater creative control of the band, it has resulted in a quantum leap in their creative output - <i>Kurutta Taiyou</i>, <i>Juusankai wa Gekkou</i>, and his return from The Mortal with <i>Atom Miraiha No. 9</i> are the biggest three examples (though I'd argue that his return from his near-death experience to <i>Sexy Stream Liner</i> was almost as big a leap.) Imai had to be put in the shop for repairs, and Mr. Gentle Director started directing. Keep directing, Mr. Director! Or should we say Mr. Conductor? We can't wait to see where you take the train to next!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><b>No One Ever, Ever Feeds Sugar</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Of course, what you really want to know is... what about that third cat??? Yes, it's true. Mr. Sakurai posted pictures in FT, which we're not sharing, not because we're scared of incurring Fish Tank's ire, but because we don't currently own a scanner. But we daresay those photos are probably on social media somewhere, pissing off aging Japanese fangirls who have nothing better to care about than unauthorized gaijin fans posting unauthorized Fish-Tank-only photos without full authorization from the Fish Tank KGB... in any case, yes, Mr. Sakurai has adopted a third cat, another (brown) female Bengal, whom he has christened "Sugar" and nicknamed "Gacchan," because she's one of those cats who just won't stop whining that you never, never, <i>never</i> feed her, she is starving, staaaaarving...! ("Gatsu-gatsu" is Japanese onomatopoeia for "eating with gusto." "Gacchan," like "Acchan," is a contraction of the Japanese "tsu" character into a geminate consonant ((like a double consonant)) glottal stop ((stopping the air in your glottis, at the back of your throat, before it reaches your mouth and can become a sound)). Bet you're sorry you asked a cunning linguist. Lol. Moving on.) In any case, a quiz appeared in FT, in which Mr. Sakurai was pictured holding both Bengals, Kurumi and Sugar, one in each hand. The challenge: guess who is who? But, frankly, it really wasn't much of a challenge. Sugar has the giant round eyes of a dog sitting by the dinner table, waiting, waiting for a bite (pleeeeze, you neeever feeeed meeee!!! I'm sooo cuuuute! pleeeezzzzz). Kurumi has the slit eyes of a shrewd Queen Consort who won't let anyone within spitting distance of her precious Demon King. If Kurumi is the lover, Sugar is the spoiled daughter. And Maru, as always, is a cute as hell lazy ball of fluff who sleeps all day and holds the entire universe in his perpetually dilated pupils (Imai can relate, we daresay). All hail Cat-Tickistan! </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mr. Sakurai discussed the cats at length on Chiwaki Mayumi's radio show, The Majestic Saturday Night, on which he has been making regular appearances. It's almost like Ms. Chiwaki knows he's lonely and wants to give him something to do... ? In the latest radio installment, the theme was "the album that inspired you as an artist." What album did Mr. Sakurai pick? Was it Bauhaus? Nope. Was it Siouxsie and the Banshees? Nope. Was it The Sisters of Mercy? Nope. Was it Yamamoto Linda...!? Nope!!! It was David Bowie's <i>The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars</i>. Did y'all see that coming? We did, but we didn't. In the interview, Mr. Sakurai said that his favorite song on the album is "Starman" (he particularly likes the intro) and that he was incredibly impressed that the album told a story which ends in the death of the protagonist (yeah a part of him is for sure still a teenage theater goth writing angst poems...). He said that the reason the album inspired him as an artist was because it taught him that albums could be like novels, and tell stories. And boom, the Buck-Tick concept album was born! God (Allah, Buddha, Shiva, Flying Spaghetti Monster, etc.) bless David Bowie, we know he's having a grand old time up there in space while we toil through capitalism and terms of service updates down here on Earth. Those of you who understand Japanese can enjoy listening to Chiwaki and Sakurai fangasming over 80's rock <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O0wR79I_NU" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As for the much-discussed "Mr. Sakurai's hot bath selfie." Kids, that is not a bath, okay? 1) A bath has smooth tiles, not rough bricks. Moisture, and mold, and all that jazz. 2) If it's anywhere indoors, it's a gym. Hubba Hubba. Pump that iron! (omg, omg, omg, fangirlz, fantasize yourself silly over those armpronz even though we all know he's skinny as hell now because no one ever, ever, ever feeds him.) 3) You can't take photos in Japanese public baths, for obvious reasons. 4) Did you ever imagine that someone like Mr. Sakurai would be able to go to a public bath without being eaten slowly and delicately like an ice cream cone by a horde of gay (and straight but gay once they saw Mr. Sakurai) men? For those of you who just came in, public bath=gay (and thought they were straight till they came to the public baths) guys checking you out. You have now been edumucated (but seriously guys well I guess we mean gals we know you read yaoi manga you are supposed to know all this already). And anyway, Mr. Sakurai has no time for that shit, he has to work his ass off to feed his starving cat because no one ever, ever, ever feeds her. 6) You know he's trolling you, right? 4) Did nobody notice the beard? What color is the beard? We're not going to say. That's for you to find out. 6) What exactly made y'all think he was nekkid when you could only see him from the neck up? Oh, oh, "neck," "nekkid," we get it. Fine. 5) Mr. Sakurai is a troll, I repeat, a troll (is this news?!?). 11) Wait, did we mess up the numbers somewhere in there?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><b>Buck-Tickets? More Like Buck-No-Tickets.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yeah, now that we mention capitalism and terms of service updates... what's the bad news?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, for starters, Buck-Tick's management have implemented a new ticket system whereby all tickets are smartphone-only, can only be opened in a dedicated app which includes facial recognition software, and are, in principle, non-transferrable... so, buying tickets for someone else? Those days are gone. Giving a ticket to a friend because it turned out you couldn't make it to the show? Nope. Caught The Omicron and can't make it to the show? Shove it up your ass. The app is buggy, and it only works on certain kinds of phones. The customer support is atrocious. The facial recognition software doesn't work. The terms of service (which we read in full, and which amount to approximately five whole pages and if you don't read Japanese just go and hang yourself, you pathetic gaijin devil with hairy palms because translator? what translator? foreigners aren't even allowed in this country anymore) basically reserve the rights of the management to just say "fuck you" and walk away with your money. If you lose the phone onto which you download your ticket, you're fucked. If they don't get around to answering your customer support query in time, well, then, fuck you very much. And there's no phone number to call, only an email system, and do they get back to you? Yeah, of course... at noon on the day of the show itself, when you're ready to fly out the door to go and check at their in-person tech support counter at the venue as soon as it opens, because they haven't gotten back to you, and then what does that customer service email reply say? It says "go talk to the in-person tech support counter at the venue." To top it all off, the price for the tickets for The Day in Question 2021 (technically, "Misemono Goya ga Kurete Kara... Live in Nippon Budoukan") was doubled from the previous price of 8500 yen to 17500 yen. Only 17500 for a week of hell that will ruin your Christmas and give you the distinct impression that, like Gregor Samsa, you've turned into a hideous insect. For this level of intense virtual reality escape room game, it's a steal!!!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">At first we figured the upped price was because they sold the venue at half capacity due to virus restrictions, but nope. Budoukan packed to the gills. We ended up in the literal back row, approximately 376 light years away from the band members. The plus side: being able to put your stuff on the empty floor behind you. Also, not being hassled by security guards. The minus side: not being able to see the stage, because it's 376 light years away (we think we caught a glimpse of Mr. Sakurai's beautiful red furisode swirling around on "Koi" somewhere in there. Have you guys ever seen a UFO? It was something like that. We could hear Buck-Tick, playing from Outer Space, but where were they...?) When we watched the WOWOW broadcast, how amazed were we to find out that Imai had been rolling around in his accident-waiting-to-happen boots on the very same red velvet divan that Mr. Sakurai had pleasured himself on during the 13th Floor With Diana tour? Spoiler alert: we were very amazed. (Also, where is Buck-Tick's secret warehouse of ex-stage sets and costumes? Someone with a security key, we will bribe you a big bribe to let us in there. We promise we won't write <strike>PENIS</strike> in Sharpie on any of the set pieces. No siree, we would never do that, never...)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But, we've been in the back of the Budoukan before. That's really not the point. With Japan's borders closed to all foreigners except residents, and this being the first live Buck-Tick show we were able to attend in two whole years, we felt extremely blessed just to be there... and see Mr. Imai actually walking and dancing while playing guitar, despite his injury, despite his accident-waiting-to-happen boots. The B-T Train Go-Gos on! That's not nothing. They wouldn't let us cheer, of course. Cheering kills! But we cheered in our hearts. We cheered on behalf of y'all.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, it's got to have been the single worst concert experience we've ever had, from a customer service point of view. Bug after bug in the goddamn app, and no one to answer our questions. Till the day of the show we sincerely doubted whether we'd be able to enter the venue or whether they'd just blow a raspberry in our faces and tell us to go home, pocketing our 17500 yen. The Buck-Tick management say they introduced this system to stop ticket resales... but really, (and we should know) ticket resales were never a huge problem in Buck-Tickistan. They happened a bit, but not enough to make any sort of major problem. Ticket resales is how we got a lot of y'all your tickets (and ours). The management say they instituted the facial recognition system "because corona." I'm sorry, what? No other bands are doing this. Our former webmistress Kame reports that the band Plastic Tree are still issuing paper tickets and doing old-fashioned data entry contact tracing. Facial recognition? Seriously? Is this Buck-Tickistan, Dystopia Edition (tm). The software didn't even work for us anyway. We took about eight selfies before we gave up and had the tech support guy bail us out. We're just lucky he was there to bail us out.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A week earlier, when we had a problem with the ticketing app, we called Ticket Pia (the only place that had a phone number to call). They said, contact Fish Tank. Fish Tank said, contact TixPlus, one of the Hydra heads of the shady, shady, shitty company that runs Fish Tank and all of Buck-Tick's ticketing operations now, plus the ticketing site eplus, plus... who else knows? Those Satanic tunnels under the Atlantic through which Oprah is smuggling small children? Maybe TixPlus is the independent AI operating Elon Musk's brain? It's impossible to tell anymore. The only thing that can be said for sure is, "You, I mean you, peon. Fuck you! Fuck you very much!" It's Kafkaesque shit like this that makes people believe (admittedly hilarious) ideas like QAnon. TixPlus had no phone number. We spent hours and hours wading through nested FAQ menus and terms of service documents (and if you don't speak Japanese, just go die, you inferior slug-like mis-evolved waste of carbon). The top item on the terms of service: "please understand that we may not be able to answer all queries." Translation (for those of you who don't speak Japanese and are therefore advised to go die): "We reserve any and all rights to fuck you up, down, and sideways, whenever we want to, for all time. Signed, The Entire World We Live in Today. You're welcome, and have a nice day :) We value your comments and are committed to endeavoring to initiate new innovations to leverage our experience to generate positive-feedback-loops of continuous improvement in consumer support for a global era. We are also definitely not funding The Taliban or Libyan pirates who are killing Syrian refugees on behalf of the EU. (smile emoji) (globe emoji showing America, not Asia) (rainbow emoji)"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the end, y'all want to know what the problem was? Why couldn't we download the ticket onto the godforsaken BUY OR DIE ticket app? Because we had the language of the operating system on our phone set to English, instead of Japanese. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">How idiotic is that? </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">How xenophobic is that? Not to be too negative, there are still angels in heaven - there was that handsome, capable tech support angel who fixed the problem for us, and *angelic fanfare Hallelujah* we got to go see the show (cue "Angelic Conversation"!). But... it was only <i>four hours</i> before the doors opened that we finally got the problem resolved. This, after a <i>week</i> of trying to get through and waiting for a response from these miserable, incompetent stooges. And then there we were, waiting in the cold for four hours for the doors to open, so we thought we'd take a walk along Chidorigafuchi, the Imperial Palace Moat, known for its picturesque old cherry trees, which lies just a hip skip and a jump behind the Budoukan... but it was all blocked off due to sinkholes. "No entry" signs everywhere, ropes, barriers, and police patrols (actual policemen on motorbikes riding around the place, stinkeyeing everyone. We shit you not.) This is the world we live in now, apparently. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Still, just a thought... if the Buck-Tick management really wanted to keep people from reselling tickets, couldn't they just have done like they used to do for the Fish Tank only tours, and checked people's ID at the door? New tech is not necessarily better tech. You know what tool does best to hammer in a nail? A fucking hammer. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And, much as it pains us to say so, it doesn't escape us that it may very well be in part our fault that this "smartphone ticket surrender your firstborn child at the door" policy happened. The shopping services we provided y'all with over the years, to those of you who came here in the Before Time... along with certain other circumstances (we can't discuss it, but suffice to say, we got framed for something we didn't do.) Remember when <a href="https://blog-tick.blogspot.com/2017/07/attn-fish-tank.html" target="_blank">Buck-Tick Zone got a cease and desist letter</a> and got kicked out of Fish Tank? Well, that's something like the position we're in now (not as bad, but... not the greatest, haha.) If these management people knew what was good for them, they would have hired us and Buck-Tick Zone as international promoters, or team up with us as influencers, but instead, they slam the door. It really breaks our (my) heart. There's nothing to be done, now. This is the "new normal." These corporate people won't listen. They never have. They never do. They just keep updating and updating the apps till you can't use them anymore, and doubling and doubling and toiling and troubling the price, and closing and closing the borders.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">All we (I) want to say for posterity is this: us helping y'all get tickets to those shows was a completely victimless crime. Wait, was it a crime? How the fuck was it a crime? The band got money, and international fame they never had before. You guys got to enjoy seeing the shows. Nobody lost anything. Everybody won. Everyone was happy, except for a handful of bitter, racist, jealous fangirls, some of whom are management, apparently. This is the end of an era. The final stanza from "Boukyaku," one of the songs which we haven't translated yet, quite frankly because every time we listen to it, we can't stop crying (it is trendy in the 2020's to be vulnerable about mental health issues but tbh we aren't exaggerating and maybe this kind of issue is a little tiny bit related to our AWOL, though there was a lot more there as well.) Anyhow, "Kakegai no nai hibi/Dare mo toorisugiteyuku." What does it mean? It means, "All those irreplaceable days/Everyone, everybody lives them through."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Kakegai no nai" is something you get once. It never comes back. One day you wake up and you're old and your hip is broken and you're living on the bed and the country's in lockdown. One day you wake up and you've spent the past 3+ years recovering from a horrible illness and you're living in a smartphone surveillance state with closed borders and just... where did the time go? Happy birthday, NGS. It's your Sweet Sixteen. Have you ever been kissed? Let me tell you a story about when you were young, and there was a thing called "international travel," and there was a thing called "The Parade," and you bought these slips made of a thing called "Paper" and you handed in the slips at the gates and went into this crazy circus place with other people who had traveled from around the world to see the amazing band, Buck-Tick, and you pressed against each other and coughed in each other's faces and sweated on each other and screamed and yelled and sometimes people beat the crap out of you but even with the bruises, you were happy, you were carefree, you were a depressed cynical theater goth writing angst poetry about how it all ends like dry leaves sometime sooner rather than later, and yet somehow, some sweet, childlike part of you was chomping on caramel apples and running through the halls of mirrors and riding the carousel, thinking it would all last forever... never been kissed? Kiss my ass. So said Time. Guess he/she/it says that to all of us eventually, but God / Allah / Shiva / Buddha / Flying Spaghetti Monster etc. etc. damn it. (Dude, Buddha definitely never said "damn." Except when he stubbed his toe). Anyhoo, all we ever tried was to do right by y'all and spread the Buck-Tick love around the world. Let no good deed go unpunished. Words to live by. Never fucking forget that.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But, please, you, my readers, do not give up hope. The power of collective consciousness is very strong. Send your prayers for a better future for Buck-Tickistan. An end to the pandemic. An end to the curtailing of personal freedoms and Orwellian surveillance. An opening of the borders. A day when once again, the Buck-Tickistani diaspora can come here and board the Buck-Tick Train. With paper tickets.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><b>The (Dead) Pony Express</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In other, similarly depressing news, which our customers know already: Japan Post is also fucked up down and sideways over a barrel. They are (and have been for some time) refusing to ship packages to most of the countries where you folks live. They also keep changing the policies. It's nonsensical. For example, you can send a letter to Canada, but not a parcel. You can send a parcel to the USA, but you can't send it with a tracking number. What!? All international parcels now require printed shipping labels, printed off a dedicated (buggy as a wasp's nest inside an anthill) app, that doesn't allow diacritic marks or special characters. Developing an app specifically for international shipping labels that doesn't allow diacritic marks? Real good job there, dudes! France and all of Central and Eastern Europe, not to mention Vietnam, are giving you the finger and farting in your general direction! Oh, wait, you probably don't ship to Vietnam anymore, because they're "Jung13 Azns" and whoever is making these shipping policies is a racist, xenophobic, idiotic fuck. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But here's the thing... if you send a *letter*, rather than a parcel, you don't need that printed shipping label. You can still use a good old-fashioned pen to address a letter. What!? Japan Post claims that the whole reason for the printed labels is that the USA won't accept any packages with handwritten labels anymore, and therefore, soon the rest of the world will follow suit (Americuh, Fuck Yah!), so if you don't use printed labels, "they cannot guarantee" that your package will be delivered. We asked them what "cannot guarantee" meant. They gave us no straight answer. We have our sincere doubts that this has anything to do with the virus, or America. We're betting that it's more like, in this age of digital everything, people have lost the ability to read handwriting. That's a real shame. Handwriting is an art, folks. Take it back. The pen is mightier than the sword. Pick up a pen and take it back!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anyhow, for most countries, the only parcel post shipping option currently available is by sea. Sea mail means that your package goes in a shipping container to be shipped on a shipping ship. The downside: it takes three months. The upside: it's cheaper, and we haven't had a sea mail parcel lost in the post yet (yet... fingers crossed.) Though the policies for individual countries have changed erratically, this general issue has not changed since 2020, and we don't expect it to change anytime soon. This is all by way of saying that This is NOT Greatest Shopping Service is still open for business, but we're beholden to the whims of the nonsensical International Shipperies Ministry of Silly Walks, so it's a little bit "buy at your own risk." We are sincerely sorry. They claim all of this is because of the virus, but how, why? Why can you send a package without tracking, but not with tracking? Why can you send a package from Canada to Japan, but not from Japan to Canada? The plane has to go and come back. The virus doesn't live in cardboard boxes. To quote Buck-Tick's "The World is Yours"...<span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: verdana;">"CRAZY NIGHT CRAZY MAN CRAZY MOON You are crazy</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #ea9999;">CRAZY LOVE CRAZY EYES CRAZY DREAM I’m a crazy"</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oh wait... we're the sane ones, it's the world that's gone crazy! Keep your eyes and ears open, kids. <b><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Think for yourselves.</span></b> Don't just blindly believe what anyone tells you, whether they are established authority figures or conspiracy theorists or both. Take in as much information as you can, observe the world, analyze, process, draw your own conclusions. We're globally off the deep end. We (I) can't tell you "what's really going on," because we (</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I) don't know. But what I can say for sure is that things are much more than they seem, and different than they seem, and nobody's got all the pieces of the puzzle, and there is a LOT of suspect and/or misinformation being spread around, and in some, perhaps many cases, the people spreading it believe it, and they don't mean ill, but it's still <i>not true</i>. So, all you can do is trust your gut. If something feels off, it probably is. Follow the money and the vested interests and ask yourself, who stands to gain, and what do they stand to gain, from telling me (whatever story they're telling me)? What am I being asked to give up, and in service of what gain, to whom? What's in this for me and my family and the future of the world I want to live in? And most importantly, ask yourself, what is worth most to you? How much is freedom worth, to you? How much is love worth? What's worth more to you, love or fear? If you knew you'd die tomorrow, what do you wish you would have done, or said? </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I am not, I repeat, I am not, promoting any one philosophy or ideology here. I just want to say that the human race has lived through a zillion pandemics (smallpox, Black Death, cholera, syphilis, Spanish flu, AIDS, etc.) and survived. Life expectancy for most of recorded human history on this planet was decades shorter than it is today. I probably mentioned this before, but the number of people who died of suicide in Japan in 2020 exceeded the number of people who died of Covid-19, and the suicide rate skyrocketed (because of Covid-19). Would you rather live fast knowing that you may die young, or never live at all knowing that you may die young anyway? Free will is a fundamental law of the universe. This is your choice. With great freedom comes great responsibility, but you've got this. Choose what your heart tells you, not what someone else tells you to choose.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: verdana;"><b>NOT Greatest Site is Truly Not Greatest</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sorry we veered into some off-topic negative territory there. But... this is life, now.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anyway, we wanted to welcome this birthday by posting some new translations of the remaining songs on <i>Abracadabra</i>, and "Go-Go B-T Train." But... Google has us fucked up down and sideways over a barrel in that regard. In September 2021, Google Classic Sites, the platform we have been using to create NGS since 2012, was retired. And, the new Google Sites is... to put it delicately, <i>dog barf</i>. All in the name of "innovation," they've made the editing interface a wash of impenetrable cryptoglyphs (oh-ho, Silicon Valley, excuse me, "intuitive innovative icons") and pre-selected "themes." We were never web designers, kids. That's why we used Google Sites. But in the old Google Sites, we made our way. In the new Google Sites, we can't even figure out how to change the fucking font or the text color. So our dear old site is now like a beached whale, slowly turning to fossilized bones, because in order to update, we'll have to remake the whole thing by re-publishing it in the new Google Sites, and that is, as far as we can tell at this moment, utterly unacceptable. The new interface is ugly as a strip mall on top of a strip mall, edited Vaporwave-style in Microsoft paint by a colorblind kid who never used a computer before (oh wait, "kid who never used a computer before" doesn't exist anymore. Shoot us, put us out of our misery. This is Gray Goo. The machines own us.) But yeah. We can't figure out how to edit the text colors back to what they were (do you know how many fucking hours we spent on those text colors? It's better off if y'all didn't know. We ourselves don't know. If we had a five-yen coin for every hour we spent on those text colors...). But yeah. We can't even figure out how to get our lovely galaxy background back in there. Bye-bye, Milky Way. It was really, really nice knowing you. Say hi to Andromeda, from us.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I supposed I should really stop using this "we" by now. I, Cayce, am a translator and a writer, but I am not technologically savvy. I've been rendered obsolete. I was decently good at computer-ing, at one point. But the march of Big Tech, the constant updating, every day another social network, every day another interface, every day new Terms of Service with a new "fuck you very much" clause, has me so worn down that these days, I haven't been able to even look at it without wanting to throw up. The Blogger interface has also been updated, I might add. Our good old Trebuchet MS font that we've been using since 2009 is gone, even. So, kids, welcome to Verdana.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anyhow, I am hereby welcoming suggestions from y'all as to how to proceed. I will, as my time and physical strength permit, post updates on here, including (I hope) some new translations. If any of you have tech expertise and would be interested in helping with the site, please contact me directly at the mad aristocrat [at] gmail [dot] com. I want to continue with this project, but I am out of my depth and at the end of my rope. My goal is to maintain the site in an aesthetically beautiful, easily navigable fashion, such as I endeavored to create in the Before Time (who knows if I succeeded, y'all can be the judge of that, but I spent oh God / Allah / Buddha / Shiva / Flying Spaghetti Monster forgive me my sins numbers of hours trying). </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anyway, in honor of our new machine overlords, I bring you, Google's translation of Buck-Tick's "Boukyaku." Because I'm obsolete. Nobody needs translators anymore. There's an app for that.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ea9999;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Oblivion</b></span><br /><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lyrics: Atsushi Sakurai</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Composer: Hisashi Imai</span></i><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Waiting for a nightmare alone</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fresh blood bleeds</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hurt you deeply very deeply</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">And this me deeply and deeply</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Breathing is quiet and disturbed</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tears fall straight</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The pain that you are holding is disappearing</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Wrapped in you, it will disappear</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">It should be forgotten, like rain</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">A casual sunny day, the wind passes by</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">wind</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The pain that melts into you disappears</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Wrapped in you, it will disappear</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">It should be forgotten, like rain</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">A casual sunny day, the wind passes by</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">It should be forgotten, like today's rainbow</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nothing, a sunny day, irreplaceable days</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Everyone passes by</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Translated by Google Translate's AI. Cayce was not involved. But, you know, "Fresh blood bleeds, and this me deeply and deeply." Might as well Cayce not to be, because this is the next "To Be, or Not To Be."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">.</p>Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994365939017837190.post-36633318444310629892021-03-13T01:42:00.001+09:002021-03-13T01:42:51.945+09:00Happy Birthday Sakurai Atsushi<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What a shame that this post is a few days late. We wish it were not so, and yet, to take the lessons of Mr. Sakurai's lyrics to heart is to prioritize living in the moment, the ephemeral joy of being, over the fussy recording of events. So, we took it to heart, and into our own hands, to celebrate Mr. Sakurai's birthday the way it should be celebrated properly: by spending the afternoon at Tokyo's one and only Alice in Wonderland-themed cat cafe. Mr. Sakurai has now threatened numerous times to open his own national chain of cat cafes, claiming that the danger of him actually doing so is "very real." </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgiczAW-_siyWCgAVSrvmr5pZSCrYjpQz716LLY1mrv_Gb9M6fUTBoahmmXu9X4bp_MQJwaJUoss5R5gP556Z55M4FOI3dQ7l90lA8FKE5mti8XtbnJxtLlElfr_bugDfvJy_R0dZCb6E/s1920/vlcsnap-2018-03-07-01h50m52s662.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgiczAW-_siyWCgAVSrvmr5pZSCrYjpQz716LLY1mrv_Gb9M6fUTBoahmmXu9X4bp_MQJwaJUoss5R5gP556Z55M4FOI3dQ7l90lA8FKE5mti8XtbnJxtLlElfr_bugDfvJy_R0dZCb6E/s320/vlcsnap-2018-03-07-01h50m52s662.png" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">So, food for thought, Mr. Sakurai - how would you beat this? We know you could. Get brainstorming! And the rest of y'all, abandon yourselves to your squeals of "kawaii!" We assure you that however soft and fluffy these cats may look on film, they were 500% softer and fluffier in person. Plus, how about that decor? Good thing Mr. Sakurai's probably never been here, otherwise, he might never leave! (And Mr. Sakurai, if you're reading this, please enjoy these cat pics as a birthday present from us.)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrE2257N9pTNdPxQqysStWzCSvvoYmj-DlzQMBfbWlmSFBoHpDswZ4ApsXRv6EG3MJCj83rP-iSgCytGpeFO6nnuYRqQ-6MzHGN3fp3aJS6xqhH8BgqBcHuzL0zfKal0sp2QbPyFIE-ME/s5184/IMG_9158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5184" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrE2257N9pTNdPxQqysStWzCSvvoYmj-DlzQMBfbWlmSFBoHpDswZ4ApsXRv6EG3MJCj83rP-iSgCytGpeFO6nnuYRqQ-6MzHGN3fp3aJS6xqhH8BgqBcHuzL0zfKal0sp2QbPyFIE-ME/s320/IMG_9158.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Lined up for the dinner time show!</span></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwHz4uZysLVT-5sWoG6NYX9bRcuCcgltDgUBshDEnjENlChBpiO5MOTiKJmTjM1uxaYK9E4BWsg6Mf9ryAZ5C9RxdlVeiTSgPsQ8rrHmstwV1q4SV6LlCloQ6UEHM6Jrfm8ZERQ9JJtkw/s5184/IMG_9176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwHz4uZysLVT-5sWoG6NYX9bRcuCcgltDgUBshDEnjENlChBpiO5MOTiKJmTjM1uxaYK9E4BWsg6Mf9ryAZ5C9RxdlVeiTSgPsQ8rrHmstwV1q4SV6LlCloQ6UEHM6Jrfm8ZERQ9JJtkw/s320/IMG_9176.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcqpxVCVHoaAeR1FzVtwrFpQ3bGs6B9qCmkm7WCMW_cIJeYmtzlm8a2NlbMaAhmrqa_4JvRIReh1Y4JVjzY8KSr067Yd-l4xKwJKomni62JsIJAh81ZDZOPGvNrx033QBkuq2Iz4E16NM/s5184/IMG_9175.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">And a warning to all customers about taking care of their teas and coffees.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihwnFL1Mb7k05eV4PhYgTipcADE4njoHDQme4PSUPQbwPdeCGtNXv-xBEnF3n1PqZQpRozxN8mwDB8TL71EVIMqIHQRKUZ4ExNVuAap51n_5WQfTs5Fv_FQBz4A2ou9uQCNZ8BOrKGyMw/s5184/IMG_9160.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihwnFL1Mb7k05eV4PhYgTipcADE4njoHDQme4PSUPQbwPdeCGtNXv-xBEnF3n1PqZQpRozxN8mwDB8TL71EVIMqIHQRKUZ4ExNVuAap51n_5WQfTs5Fv_FQBz4A2ou9uQCNZ8BOrKGyMw/s320/IMG_9160.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Happy birthday, Mr. Sakurai. Hot on the heels of a year of repdigits - Buck-Tick's 22nd album, released on their 33rd anniversary, Mr. Sakurai turns 55. May the magic spread forth through Buck-Tickistan to cover the world in this much love. Happy birthday!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuh8eKhvf-7rLJ3Kn3SqZWSmGKpjRvqGRHhSBRtVcIGT5KM3CXbxEwrpwSZQ_2WUaOZNrkwdDBvBGRbQxxb-f0_qQT1mTauN0kpf7q3wnS3HY3lWCBKrMDMZlf71R0hbvoBFXESkt70kc/s1920/vlcsnap-2018-03-07-01h48m53s042.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuh8eKhvf-7rLJ3Kn3SqZWSmGKpjRvqGRHhSBRtVcIGT5KM3CXbxEwrpwSZQ_2WUaOZNrkwdDBvBGRbQxxb-f0_qQT1mTauN0kpf7q3wnS3HY3lWCBKrMDMZlf71R0hbvoBFXESkt70kc/s320/vlcsnap-2018-03-07-01h48m53s042.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In other news, it has been announced that Mr. Sakurai will be releasing a "produced by Mr. Sakurai" corsage, as birthday goods. However, no other information save vague concept art has been released since the initial announcement was made, on March 7th, Mr. Sakurai's actual birthday. Why bother announcing the damn thing if none of the details have been determined? Well, it's not much in the way of birthday goods if you don't at least announce it on the birthday. Guess Cayce isn't the only one procrastinating. Sorry, fans! Thank you for your patience. In fact it wasn't procrastinating, it was... mountains of other work... in Mr. Sakurai's case it was probably mountains of cat toys... in any case... blah blah blah, we will report on this developing story as more details become available.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">.</span></div><br />Caycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05982217665840858486noreply@blogger.com9