The Day in Question 2013

Set List:
01. Steppers -Parade-
02. National Media Boys
03. Candy
04. Django
05. Miu
06. Buster
07. Cream Soda
08. Dress
09. Bran-New Lover
10. Serenade -Itoshi no Umbrella-
11. Hamushi no You ni
12. Suzumebachi
13. My Fuckin' Valentine
14. Rhapsody
15. Kuchizuke
16. Kiss Me Good-Bye

en. 1
17. Elise no Tame ni
18. Makka na Yoru
19. Romance
20. Taiyou ni Korosareta

en. 2
21. Love Parade
22. Fly High
23. Dokudanjou Beauty

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Live report to follow.

Happy New Year, all.

Shopping Service: Holiday Season Shipping Hiatus

An announcement: due to our Christmas vacation, This is NOT Greatest Shopping Service will be taking a hiatus from shipping orders between December 14th and December 29th. This does not mean that we will not be accepting orders between those dates, it simply means we won't be shipping during that time.  If you would like to place an advance reservation order for any of the items currently available on the shopping service page, feel free to contact us at any time, and we will reserve the item for you and ship it to you after the first of the year. We will still be accepting requests for concert tickets and auction items as usual.  To any customers who have previous arrangements with Cayce about the purchase of items, those arrangements still stand, please contact me privately for details.

Also, any customers who wish to request purchase of Day in Question 2013 goods items, feel free to do so.  Some items sell out, so we can't guarantee their availability, but we will be attending the Nippon Budoukan show and we'll do our best to get you what you want.

Calling all Blog-Tickers in San Francisco!

And now, for an unusual announcement.

KAME'S BACK!! (sort of)

For those of you who have been following This is Not Greatest Site since the beginning, you may recall that Kame was the original website designer, or, in hokey 90's terms, the original webmistress.  She quit the webmistress position at the end of 2009, and Cayce has been managing the site largely independently since that time.

Why did Kame quit, you ask?  The short answer is, the Silicon Valley hotshots gave her an offer she couldn't refuse.  Now she's located in the Bay Area, where she occasionally samples Jack Dorsey's curated whiskey collection, among other duties.

Anyhow...currently, Kame is working on some plans for a new j-rock-related project that you will just ooooh so love, and she's interested in meeting up with any Blog-Tick readers who might be in the area. Want to learn all about it? You can talk to her in person this Saturday at Dir en grey's show at the Regency Ballroom.

Can't make it to Dir en grey's show? You really should talk to her anyway. Interested? Contact Cayce, and Cayce will connect you to Kame (like a phone operator, but not.)

Going to the show, but too shy to approach her in person?  Get over it!  She's really friendly!

Look for the small, short-haired blonde wearing a polka dot headscarf and this dress:

and this jacket:

A likely place to spot her will be by the bar, getting sloshed on Franzia. Because that is what classy Californians do.

Actually the Franzia is a lie. We don't even know if they sell Franzia at the Regency Ballroom. Kame will probably be drinking voldka sodas, and complaining about Franzia. Not that it matters.

So yeah. Blondie in a polka dot dress...like Debbie Harry but younger and with more Angelic Pretty and sad to say, probably not quite as cool as Debbie Harry...but, she built this site eight years ago.  Go say hello.  You won't be sorry.

By the way, the cake is also a lie.

Buck-Tick Billboard

Buck-Tick adorably announced that they were once again going to be featured on a billboard outside Tower Records Shibuya.  Since the last time they were featured on such a billboard was before the release of Memento Mori, this is kind of a big deal for them.  Unfortunately, the billboard they're on this time is nowhere near as big as the one they were on then.  For those of you in Tokyo who'd like to check it out, it's in the entryway of Tower Records Shibuya, up in the lefthand corner, and it's kind of overshadowed by JAPAN.

Unfortunately, not this JAPAN.

(And yes, that's Tsuchiya Masami standing to the right of David Sylvian in the above picture.)

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No, unfortunately, it was this Japan.

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That wall is about 5 meters high, by the way.  The Buck-Tick billboard is objectively large, but subjectively small.

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And here's Kuroyume advertising 109 Men's, for good measure.

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São Tomé and Príncipe, and Buck-Tick

This, my friends, is the biggest WTF item of Buck-Tick arcana I have ever discovered.

A 2009 commemorative stamp sheet from the small equatorial island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, featuring some of the "greatest stars of Japanese music and cinema."  São Tomé and Príncipe is a Portuguese-speaking island country located in the Gulf of Guinea, the second-smallest country in Africa after Seychelles, and the smallest Portuguese-speaking nation in the world.  It gained its independence from Portugal in 1975.  Like Japan, the São Tomé and Príncipe islands are volcanic.

Anyhow, according to São Tomé and Príncipe, in 2009, Japan's greatest music and film stars were Mifune Toshiro, famous for his roles in Kurosawa Akira's masterpiece films Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, The Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo; Hamasaki "Ayu" Ayumi, called "Japan's pop princess" for her incredible lasting popularity throughout Asia; Kitano "Beat" Takeshi, famous for his hard-boiled, deadpan, blackly humorous yakuza films, and Sakurai "Acchan-chan" Atsushi, famous for his love of felines and for being the third sexiest man in Japan after Hoshino Hidehiko and Yagami Toll.

Perhaps this answers the question about whether there are African Buck-Tick fans.  If you are an African Buck-Tick fan, please comment on this post!

Found on an online collectors' stamp shop.  Please, Sun Goddess Amaterasu, please tell me this is real.

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Fish Tanker's Only 2013 DVD Release

The Fish Tanker's Only 2013 DVD was released today!

Cayce is currently watching it.

Cayce will not be live-tweeting it.

I'm only posting one screencap, because I know this is all you guys care about.

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Oh wait, here's another.

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Hide spit that pick out of his mouth, because he's a Sexxxxxy Beast.

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Sex 4 U.

Kishidan Banpaku

My live report of Kishidan Banpaku is up over at Not Greatest Site.  I'm sorry if I come across as grumpy in this report...but then, if Grumpy Cat could become a celebrity on nothing but the strength of his grumpiness, surely you can forgive Cayce now and again. It's just a little hard, when coming to the festivals of others, not to wish I was coming to Buck-Tick's festival instead. There were no intentional puns or word plays, dirty or otherwise, in that sentence.

It's just that you know, coming to a non-Buck-Tick festival is a bit of an anti-climax together, all told.

Also, in this instance, "hide with spread beaver" should have been called "negative hide plus spread beaver."  Because believe you me, Hideto Hide was not there.  And crazed pink-haired Hideto Hide fans...don't get on my case about the caps vs. lowercase thing. Always spelling "hide" in all lowercase is effing confusing. Also I have to find some way of distinguishing Hideto Hide from Sexy Beast Hide, so caps it is.

Japanese Word Processing

Not Buck-Tick related, but I think some of my readers who are currently students of Japanese might be interested in this article on Japanese word processing.

Also, a quote from the new issue (Issue 69, doncha know) of the Fish Tank newsletter:

Interviewer: "Mr. Sakurai, fans wanted to know what it was you were drinking out of that mug during the scene in the recording studio."

Sakurai: "It was the blood of the village virgins."

Interviewer: "We also received many comments from fans about the scene filmed in your dressing room, Mr. Sakurai.  They commented in particular on the fact that your redacted was caught on film. We'd like to hear your feelings about this."

Sakurai: "Just what do they find so interesting about an old man's redacted, anyway?"

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If you haven't seen the movie yet, I guess you'll just have to clutch your knickers and find out.

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Buck-Tick Festival Tour Goods

Tour goods have been announced for the two fall festivals at which Buck-Tick will be performing: Kishidan World's Fair, this Saturday, and The Solar Budoukan, next Sunday.

Goods are viewable here, under "tour goods." http://buck-tick.com/live/live.html

Cayce will be attending the Kishidan World's Fair, and will be taking orders for tour goods at 20% commission.  If you want me to get you anything, let me know asap.  Last year, the hooded towels had detachable horns, so perhaps they will this year, too.

Sorry, I know that was boring, so I'll add that in the realm of juicy gossip, Hoshino Hidehiko went out today to an undisclosed location. He was not wearing underwear.

Buck-Tick Gossip via. The Hisashi Inquirer and the Daily Toll (Tabloids of Buck-Tick Land)

Since Anonymous has aimed its Foxy Guy masks and low orbit below-the-belt bitcannon at me and my blog and accused me of being "boring," and demanded juicy Buck-Tick gossip, I have no choice but to obey.

After all, Anonymous are legion.

Next thing I know they'll be hacking my brand spanking new Twitter account, and will be posting my secret Acchan-chan fantasties all over the internetz.

So, Buck-Tick gossip:

Gossip Number 1. Cayce attended Toll's birthday tour at a certain club in a certain off-the-beaten-path part of Tokyo. Some actions were initiated at this gig that caused certain fangirls to experience what is technically known as a "Tollgasm." Cayce has been planning on writing a live report of this occurrence, but has been being forced to translate reams of security briefings in exchange for lunch money, and hasn't had much writing juice left to spare for Toll (toil takes a toll on us all.)  Having to engage in boring tasks to earn money: the not-so-fun part of adulthood.  As to the fun part of adulthood, kids, I ask you the following - do children enjoy childhood as much as adults enjoy adultery?

Gossip Number 2. On Toll's birthday, Imai Hisashi gave birth to a healthy baby (his first) and is now healthily lactating it. Word has it that he's settling well into his new role as mother. The father is unknown but rumored to be Motokatsu, former drummer of the Mad Capsule Markets. Motokatsu was not available for comment in regards to this article.

Gossip Number 3. Most recently, a source tells us that Mr. Imai was spotted attending a Satanic summoning ritual to bring the late esteemed Hideto Hide Matsumoto back from beyond the grave for a few short hours on the evening of Saturday, September 14th, to perform as the headlining act at Kishidan's rock festival, The Kishidan World's Fair.  Our source tells us that the ritual involved participants performing Hide songs at high speeds while clad in sparkly outfits patterned with pink rhinestone spiders. Mr. Imai was spotted with his guitar hanging around his neck and his baby on his back in a papoose. Our source assures us that the baby was outfitted with noise-cancelling headphones to protect the eardrums of its future pop genius from harm. The baby is rumored to have eyes exactly like Mr. Imai's. Mr. Motokatsu was also spotted at this event. The purpose for his attendance could not be confirmed.

Gossip Number 4. Mr. Imai went to a party with Sugizo who poured liquor down his throat till he passed out. Shame Sugizo, don't you know that man is a mother now?

Gossip Number 5. Higuchi Yutaka went to the beach and got a tan.

Gossip Number 6. I know the only person y'all really wanna hear about is Acchan-chan, but he's been too busy making cat gifs to answer any of my texts.

Shopping Service Updates

Newly added:

Sexual XXXXX!

Seventh Heaven

Aku no Hana

Koroshi no Shirabe -This is NOT Greatest Hits-

All original pressings (not reissues.)  As always, all items are 100% guaranteed Japanese originals. Absolutely no bootlegs. I do not sell bootlegs.

Shopping Service Updates

Two new items added!

Rendezvous Single (first press)

Ai no Wakusei (Sakurai Atsushi's solo album) SOLD (if you want one too, contact me.)

Both are in near-perfect condition.

I will also be announcing new items on Twitter from now on.  Follow me.

A little bird told me...

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...Cayce is Twittering.

@NotGreatestSite.

Strictly irrelevant information only.

Shopping Service Updates

I have new items available!  They include:

Tenshi no Revolver (first press)

Galaxy single (first press)

Kuchizuke single (first press)

BT (best-of collection) SOLD (blimey, that was fast!)

I recommend the BT best of collection in particular for new fans.  It contains two full CDs' worth of tracks from Buck-Tick's debut up through Cosmos.  The track selection is unusual, not the regular greatest-hits fare, and includes b-sides such as "Under the Moonlight," "Narcissus," "Rokugatsu no Okinawa," and "Kimi e," as well as the single mixes of "Rakuen," "Mienai Mono," and "Kimi no Vanilla," which are each quite different from the album versions.

All the first-press items are in mint condition.

Click here for more details.

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P.S. There is a baby Imai.

Shopping Service Updates

Once again, I've added some new items to the Shopping Service page, and once again these are all in stock in Chez NGS, so if you want to order any of them I can ship them right away.  This week's picks include:

Gessekai Single

At The Night Side Live Album

Hide Tribute Spirits Album (contains Buck-Tick's cover of Doubt '99)

...and

Picture Product II First Press Box Set.

This comes with a velvet-bound photobook and trading cards in a binder.  The DVD contains PVs for "Glamorous," "21st Cherry Boy," "Kyokutou Yori Ai wo Komete," "Trans," and the multi-angle version of "Zangai" with five different versions, one for each band member.  Also contains a secret live clip of "Ai no Uta" and making-of clips from the photobook, including the bizarre scenes pictured below.

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I also added the following magazines:

Bridge vol. 73 SOLD! (Blimey, that was fast!)

This is the one with the recent 20-page feature on Mr. Sakurai!  Lots of gorgeous photos, with cats.

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Bridge vol. 63

This one contains an interview with Sakurai and Imai on Dokudanjou Beauty. The photos are beautiful.

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Bridge vol. 58

Contains a long interview with Sakurai and Imai on Memento Mori. The photos look nicer in person than as photographed by Cayce.

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Ongaku to Hito March 2009

Contains a zillion awesome photos of Buck-Tick and an interview on Memento Mori.

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UV vol. 87

Contains a huge feature on Mona Lisa Overdrive, including interviews with all the band members, and the pullout poster pictured above.

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Check the shopping service page of NGS for more details.

Chara

Blog-Tick reader Juli poured a glass of haterade on Chara...and Cayce discovered this PV!

Seriously guys, I have a creeping sense that Imai would dig this.




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Full PV viewable here.

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And holy crap, while you're at it, watch this one too.

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FT Only 2013 DVD Pre-Order Period Extended

The pre-order period for the limited edition of the Fish Tankers Only 2013 live DVD has been extended until this Friday, August 16th.  If you would like my help in reserving yourself a copy, please contact me ASAP!  

Please note that if you live in a country other than Japan, your time zone is likely later than Japan Time, unless you live in Papua New Guinea or another Pacific island country east of Japan.  If you live on the West coast of North America, you're 16-17 hours behind Japan Time...this is why, if you want to take advantage of this extension, you really need to contact me immediately, because your Friday comes after my Friday.  Whether that's because you're living in the past, or I'm living in the future, I'll let you decide.

New Shopping Service Items

I've picked up some new items!  These aren't in Disk Union or any other store, they're already in stock in Chez NGS.  Therefore, if you wish to purchase any of them, I can ship them right away.  Soft Ballet fanboys take note...I have a significant portion of the Soft Ballet discography on offer right now, including the first press version of Earth Born. Buck-Tick fangirls...I have the first press of the Kagerou single, which includes a DVD with the PV.  I also have the first press edition of Memento Mori, which, in addition to absolutely gorgeous packaging, contains a DVD with a documentary of the band recording the album, kind of like a mini-version of Buck-Tick: The Movie.

Items currently available:

Buck-Tick - Mona Lisa Overdrive XANADU (DVD)
Buck-Tick - Darker Than Darkness -Style 93- (album)
Buck-Tick - Kagerou (single) first press
Buck-Tick - Hurry Up Mode (album) limited edition
Buck-Tick - Memento Mori (album) first press
Buck-Tick - Mienai Mono (single) first press
Buck-Tick - Six/Nine (album) first press
Buck-Tick - Symphonic Buck-Tick in Berlin (album)

De+Lax - Sensation (album)

Lucy - Rockarollica II (album)

Malice Mizer - Bara no Seidou (album) first press
Malice Mizer - Merveilles (album) first press

Soft Ballet - Earth Born (album) first press
Soft Ballet - Form (album)
Soft Ballet - Incubate (album)
Soft Ballet - Million Mirrors (album)

Go nuts.  For details on prices, shipping, etc, go here.

Fish Tank

If Mr. Sakurai Had a Blog...

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"Living on the Net"

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"Desperate Girl"

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"Mermaid"

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"Jonathan Jet-Coaster"

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"One Night Ballet"

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"Doukeshi A"

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"Ijin no Yoru"

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"Diabolo"

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"Lion"

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"Miss Take"

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"tight rope"

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"OK oneself to the fly high"

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"Alice in Wonder Underground"

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(part 2)

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"Speed"

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"Buster"

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"Climax Together"

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"Baby, I want you"

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"Revolver"

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"You Spin Me Right Round (Like a Record)"

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P.S. I know it's not Caturday but we need it more on a Monday anyway.

P.P.S. All of this is from Acchan-chan's real blog.