The Buck-Truck

Yes, kids. We attended Buck-Tick's 30th Anniversary Festival, and it was quite a do. We have plenty of photos and a live report waiting to be written, but bear with us - Buck-Tickistan's been so busy these days we've hardly had time to sleep, let alone write. Those of you who attended the festival, please feel free to share your experiences and impressions in the comments below.

Also, we had the pleasure of attending the Video Music Awards Japan live show, where we witnessed the Buck-Tick members receive their awards on live TV. As you can see from the photo, they looked nothing short of delighted to be honored in such a fashion:

More information on that can be found in our forthcoming live report of that event, when we get a chance to post it.

But for now, we hope you'll be satisfied with our photos of the Buck-Truck, shamelessly stolen from Instagram by Suzie, Buck-Tick's one and only South African fan. Thanks, Suzie! And if there are any other African Buck-Tick fans lurking on here, please post a comment and represent! As for the shameless stealing, we wish we'd gotten the chance to see the truck ourselves, but unfortunately, there wasn't time, so under the circumstances, stealing was our only viable option.

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Tower and Babel

The announcements have been ringing out across Buck-Tickistan so quickly, it's easy to lose track of what's going on... and what's most important. But Buck-Tick are a band, which means that the most important thing is always going to be music. And this is it, kids: they're releasing a new single!

Entitled Babel, Buck-Tick's first new music release since last September's Atom Miraiha No. 9 will be released on November 15th, and will contain the following two tracks:

01. Babel (Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi / Music: Imai Hisashi)

02. Moon -Sayonara wo Oshiete- [Takkyuu Ishino Remix] (Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi / Music: Imai Hisashi)

The single will come in the following three editions, available for the following prices:

Limited Edition A - CD & BluRay - 2570 yen

Limited Edition B - CD & DVD - 2030 yen

Regular Edition - CD only - 1080 yen

The video disc in the limited editions will contain the music video for "Babel." In addition to including a video disc, the limited editions will also be contained in special packaging and come with a "playpass download" for easy smartphone listening, available until November 30th, 2018. If you're wondering what "playpass" is, don't ask us - our phone is far too stupid to know. 

Customers who purchase either of the limited editions from select Tower Records, HMV, Tsutaya, Shinseido, or Bunshindo outlets, or purchase the limited editions online through Amazon, Rakuten Books, or the Victor Entertainment shop will receive a special extra in the form of an A5 sized commemorative photo. Blog-Tickers who would like to order this single through Cayce, just shoot us an email.

A few notes on this release - "sayonara wo oshiete" means "tell me goodbye." I guess Mr. Sakurai had to add a subtitle to the song title, seeing as he already wrote a song entitled "Moon" for The Mortal. Takkyuu Ishino is a member of famed electronic music unit Denki Groove, and in addition to his work with Denki Groove, he often performs solo shows as a DJ in his own right. In fact, we've seen him play live, and he's a lot of fun, so if you're into trance and dance, go check him out. Whatever Victor's other failings, hooking Buck-Tick up with another talented eletro musician surely not going to be one of them. Those of us who loved "Melancholia -Electria-" should really be looking forward to this release. As for the title of the single, it undoubtedly refers to the Biblical story about the Tower of Babel, an origin story on why human beings speak so many different languages. However, we'll save our notes and analysis till after the single is released and we can look at the lyric booklet.

In the meantime, here's Buck-Tick's new promotional photo, and we're tremendously pleased to see them looking so naturally decorated with the dignified lines of middle age, rather than photoshopped into Glowing Plastic Visual Kei Bishonen Barbie Dolls of Death (tm). And Fish Tank, if you see us sharing this and it pisses you off - fuck you. This is a promotion photo. The whole point is for people to share it to promote the band, which is what we are doing here. But just in case, once more, with feeling, in Japanese: プロモ写真なのでシェアさせていただきます。是非皆さん、B-Tのシングルを100枚でもご購入下さい！

(Now everyone, on the count of three, help us blow a giant raspberry together! On your mark... one... two... three... BLFFFFT! Bonus points if you got some drops of spittle on Acchan-chan's face.)

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Anyhow... Babel might have been the end for the universal language, and for humanity's chance at building the stairway to Heaven, but it's only the beginning of the news from Buck-Tickistan! Since Babel was all about building a tower, it seems fitting that Buck-Tick's second bit of news concerns the new opening of Tower Records Takasaki. This new shop will be located on the 7th floor of OPA Takasaki, and will open for business on October 13th, to much promotion and fanfare, including lots of promo for Takasaki's hometown boys, the Buck-Tick members. Promotions will include the following:

-A collaboration poster between Tower Records Takasaki and Buck-Tick (shown below)

-Limited edition goods that will be available for purchase only at Tower Records Takasaki

-Free postcards with the same design as the poster, which will be given to customers who purchase Buck-Tick CDs at Tower Records Takasaki (available while supplies last)

-A special Buck-Tick nostalgia corner, including old CDs, DVDs, a display of old posters, etc.

㊟プロモ写真なのでシェアさせていただきます。是非皆さん、Tower Records高崎オーパ店、ご来店して、コラボポスター等を100枚でもご購入下さい！

Takasaki's a 3 hour train ride from Tokyo by local train, but those of you who are in the area in October may want to go check it out. 

As an aside - those of you who are tremendously offended by Cayce's use of keigo in the above Japanese disclaimers, please leave a comment on this post expressing how offended you are and next time, we'll write up a post on how to use some basic keigo phrases. Bonus points if you include some sweeping racist stereotypes of Asians in your comment, for extra realness. Because if there's one thing we've learned from some of our Russian readers (a very small "some" - most of our Russian readers are lovely!), it's that not only is it possible to be a homophobe and yet still be a self-declared fan of a band as queer as Buck-Tick, it's also possible to be racist against Asians and yet still be a self-declared fan of a Japanese band. Humanity's capacity for cognitive dissonance is a stunning, breathtaking thing of beauty. (For the record: we, Cayce, unequivocally reject and repudiate all forms of racism, homophobia, and other isms that contribute to making the world a shitty place, and we encourage y'all to cut that shit out immediately, and if you're in the mood, go punch a Nazi while you're at it. Fighting violence with violence isn't really the solution to a problem but ooooh boy does punching Nazis make for a good meme, and everyone knows that good memes are the main ingredient of a successful life! Meme away!)

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But wait... there's more from Tower! Turns out Tower Records Takasaki doesn't get to hog all the hoopla for itself after all. In addition, giant posters autographed by the Buck-Tick members will be displayed in the following Tower Records outlets: Shibuya, Shinjuku, Kinshicho, Sapporo Pivo, Nagoya Parco, Diver City, and Takamatsu Marugame. In addition, the above outlets will also be providing the following Buck-Tick related fun and games for y'all:

-A message board where you can write comments to the band (we wrote ours last night in Shibuya... see if you can spot it!)

-Buck-Tick promo videos on the video screen outside the store

-Limited edition goods for sale

and last but not least...

A PURIKURA MACHINE!

Kids, the purikura machine is magical. We tried it last night. For the ridiculously inflated price of 500 yen per photo, you can take a photo booth photo with a band member of your choice, which will be printed on postcard-size glossy photo paper labeled with the Tower Records and Buck-Tick logos. You've only got two chances at the photo per 500 yen spent, so make sure you have your pose planned in advance. You can slap them, you can snog them, you can give them bunny ears or the finger! The only limit is your imagination. This is your chance to pose for a photo with Acchan-chan. Don't waste it!

Here's the purikura machine in action. Notice how the sample photo of Acchan-chan-sama-chan has already been stolen by a rabid fangirl.

Here's a Buck-Tick banner outside Tower Records Shibuya.

And some visual kei fanboys fanboying together over Buck-Tick on what is definitely, surely not a gay man date.

Goth Bondage Jesus Acchan-chan performs in the "Jupiter" PV.

Totally Hair Barbie Acchan-chan performs in the "Dress" PV.

Note how the top of the display is decorated all over with not one, but a whole horde of Kurumi cutouts.

The message board... can you spot our message?

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In still other (and definitely less interesting) news, Victor is pissing itself with pleasure to announce that they've posted special congratulatory comments on the Buck-Tick 30th Anniversary website. The comments are mainly from journalists, producers and directors who've worked with the band, and while these people certainly have a good perspective on Buck-Tick's work, their comments are by and large boilerplate platitudes, and thus very boring to read. Victor, don't you know that the kinds of comments fans want to read are the ones from the band's musician friends, rife with in-jokes and simmering with thinly disguised homo-eroticism? Come on, now. If you don't work harder, you might find that The Hisashi Inquirer will go out and solicit these comments instead of you... and if that happens, loose tongues might waggle more than you'd be comfortable with. What you won't provide to the fans, the fans will take for themselves! Is that a threat? Probably ;) We'll let you decide.

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But wait, there's more! As we might have expected, there is another Buck-Tick ad truck on the loose! It'll be driving around the west-central side of Tokyo between Shibuya and Ikebukuro until September 24th, so if you're out and about in the city this week, see if you can spot it! If anyone manages to get pictures, please send them over to us. We'll be happy to post them.

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Oh, wait! There's even more! Volume 10 of PHY magazine is running a cover feature in honor of Buck-Tick's 30th anniversary. It's 1400 yen, and it's out right now. If you'd like to order it through Cayce, shoot us an email.

㊟プロモ写真なのでシェアさせていただきます。是非皆さん、PHY Vol. 10を100枚でもご購入下さい！

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Anyhow, that concludes our news for today. Whew, what a long post, and we have so much more work to get done before the day is done. If we don't see you tomorrow, we'll see you at the festival.

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For the Sake of Drums

Well, folks. We stand corrected! When we read through the menu for the Tower Records Buck-Tick Cafe, we took a tentative guess that the title of the sake in Toll's original cocktail was pronounced "Dorakumu," because this would be the standard reading for 道 ("dou") + 楽 ("raku") + 夢 ("mu"). We figured we were probably wrong about it, though - read this post to find out why.

Those of you studying Japanese may have seen some or all these kanji before - they're all common, useful, and often to be found in Buck-Tick songs, so for those of you who are interested, here's a little Japanese lesson. (If you're confused by any of the terms I use in this post, please refer to this article on Not Greatest Site.)

Most kanji characters used in Japanese have at least two possible pronunciations, called yomi, or readings. One of them, called the on-yomi, is derived from the Chinese pronunciation of the character. The other, called the kun-yomi, indicates the native Japanese pronunciation of the character. In fact, most kanji have more than one on-yomi, and possibly more than one kun-yomi, but the principle remains the same no matter how many readings a given character has. On-yomi are usually used when the kanji is found as part of a compound word, while kun-yomi are usually used when the kanji stands on its own (e.g. to form a verb or adjective stem, etc.), or when the kanji is used in a person or place name (on-yomi are almost never used in Japanese names).

About names, though - names are a weird animal. Kanji have been in use for thousands of years, and names are an important expression of individuality, as well as being (in linguistic science terms) resistant to language standardization and natural language evolution. Therefore, it makes sense that there's a great deal more quirky variety among name readings than anywhere else in the Japanese writing system. Many times, you can't guess how the name of a person or place is supposed to be pronounced just from reading the kanji. Somebody has to tell you. This is why the names on Japanese business cards are always annotated with small hiragana (called furigana), indicating how the name should be pronounced. It's also why the signs at train stations always include the name of the station in hiragana as well as kanji. The genesis of many irregular name readings is lost to history, but you can't very well expect a nation that uses such a versatile, complex writing system not to play games with it, and play games is exactly what Japanese people have done on many occasions. Kanji which are deliberately selected to represent a particular word that isn't usually written in kanji are called 当て字 ("ateji"). Usually, the kanji with the most relevant meaning and readings which decently approximate the sound of the word are chosen, and then if the readings of the kanji selected don't exactly match the pronunciation of the word, whoever chose the ateji just fudges it, and asks you to suspend disbelief by pronouncing the kanji the way they want you to rather than the way they're usually pronounced, just this one time. In cases of ateji, the kanji are usually accompanied by those handy little furigana to indicate the irregular reading.

Ateji show up in all sorts of places, but one common place they're found is in words which were adopted into Japanese from other languages during the Meiji Restoration in the latter half of the 19th century, during which the Japanese emperor instituted a policy of rapid industrialization in hopes to prevent being colonized by European countries with superior technology. Part of the modernization included the adoption of new words like 煙草 (tabako, "cigarette"), 缶 (kan, "can"), and 珈琲 (koohii, "coffee"). These days, words adopted into Japanese from other languages are usually written in katakana, but back then I guess they had a higher sense of nationalism regarding written language, and they made ateji for all those new words, which is pretty badass if you think about it.

Actually, a lot of Japanese young people recognize the "cool factor" of ateji. Another place you commonly see them is on the "kamikaze coats" worn by members of biker gangs, and these days, everything retro is in, so similar sorts of ateji pop up all over the place. Yet another place they pop up is sake titles.

Just like wine making, sake brewing is a highly codified art and there is no limit on the extent to which people will get obsessive, nerdy, defensive, and emotional about it (to learn more, I recommend you watch the film Kanpai: For the Love of Sake, but if it drives you to drink, I'm not responsible.) Anyway, it makes sense that naming your sake is a big deal, and sake brewers come up with all kinds of creative names. For example, Cayce's favorite sake is called 裏死神, "Ura-Shinigami" or "Backwards Death Angel," written with the characters for 死神 in mirror image. (If you find this one in a bar somewhere, drink it all immediately - it's a season-limited release. Only a relatively small number of bottles are produced per year and once it's gone, you have to wait till next year. You can usually only find this in small bars with discerning barkeeps. You will definitely not find it in the grocery store. It tastes like Acchan-sama's tears - whether of pain or pleasure, I'll leave as a mystery for you to solve on your own.)

Therefore, we might expect that sake names would be a rich source of ateji, and indeed they are. Most notably, our friend 道楽夢 up there. It turns out this isn't supposed to be pronounced "Dourakumu" after all, but "Doramu," for "Drums." Shucks, it seems so obvious now.

So what do these kanji mean, anyway?

「道」 means "path," "road," or "way." The on-yomi is "dou" and the kun-yomi is "michi." You'll see this one all over the place, especially on the names of highways. It's also used to write 道場, "dojo," i.e. a place where one practices martial arts, because martial arts are a "way" of dealing with the world. Kanji are highly metaphorical. That is not a racist stereotype.

「楽」 means "pleasure," "ease," "fun," and "music." The on-yomi are "raku" and "gaku" and the kun-yomi is "tanoshii." Isn't it great that the same kanji is used for both pleasure and music? And by the way, this isn't just earthly pleasure we're talking about, either - not only is this character found in words like 快楽 (pleasure in a smutty sense), but also in words like 楽園 ("paradise"). It's also found in the word 音楽 ("music") and 楽器 ("musical instrument"). By itself, as 楽しい, it means "fun." This is definitely one of the best characters in the Japanese orthographic system.

「夢」 means "dream," and given the frequency with which it appears in Buck-Tick songs, I know you've all seen it before. The on-yomi is "mu" and the kun-yomi is "yume." It's usually used by itself, as "yume," to mean "dream," but we've seen it in many compounds, too, such as 夢幻 ("reveries"), 夢魔 (a dream demon such as that seen in cases of sleep paralysis, also the worst song Buck-Tick have ever written), and 白昼夢 ("daydream").

In sum, they look like perfect kanji to represent Buck-Tick on a sake bottle.

Or in this case, just Toll. Because that's what's going down, folks: Toll will release this signature sake 道楽夢 as a collaboration with the Nakazawa Sake Brewery in Takasaki. It's a version of their sake 結人 ("musubibito"), meaning "tying people together" - which, if you think about it, is very similar to the reason Buck-Tick named their management office Shaking Hands, Inc. all those years ago.

道楽夢 will be made entirely of Japanese rice and koji mold (that's how they ferment it, yo - also, real talk: koji mold is the most delicious mold on the face of the planet), and will contain between 15% and 16% alcohol. It will be officially released on October 1st, and sold in 720ml bottles that will retail for 3500 yen apiece, which is a little bit pricey, but nowhere near as crazy as that Buck-Tick wine. There doesn't seem to be anywhere to pre-reserve the sake on the website, so those of you who want to drink this will have to wait for October... though of course, you can also head over to the Tower Records Buck-Tick Cafe and drink it right now.

Check it out, kids. Toll has always been the most photogenic member of the band, and that hasn't changed with age. Look at that smug face. He'll drum you a dream, all right. And maybe if you get him drunk enough, he'll tell you a ghost story. (He told one to Cayce once. It was a beautiful tale.)

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The Return of the Tower Records Buck-Tick Cafe

To those of you who were feeling disappointed that Buck-Tick's 30th anniversary should pass not only without a multi-band festival and tribute album, but also without a culinary celebration: fret not! The Tower Records Buck-Tick Cafe will be returning, this time for not one, but TWO stints, each involving slightly different foodstuffs.

The first stint will run from Tuesday, September 12th to Sunday, October 1st, and the second stint will run from Monday, October 2nd to Sunday, October 15th. As before, the cafe will be located in the Tower Records Cafe space, next door to Kiddy Land on Omotesando in Harajuku. The cafe is open daily from 11AM to 10PM, with the last order at 9PM. For more information on the cafe space, check the official website here.

While supplies last, fans who order Buck-Tick themed drinks at the cafe will receive a Buck-Tick coaster, while fans who order Buck-Tick themed foods will receive a special postcard.

As to the menu, it's extensive this time, and it looks delicious!

First, of course, we have the obligatory original Buck-Tick beer. At 1000 yen a bottle, it's not cheap, but the label looks like this, so we think it's worth it.

Also, we can say that we drank the beer at the last incarnation of the Tower Records Buck-Tick Cafe, and it was absolutely tasty enough to merit the marked-up price - a rich, honey-colored lager, heavy on the hops, and somewhere between Kirin Ichiban Shibori and a typical IPA in bitterness. Assuming this new version is the same beer, we definitely recommend giving this one a try.

The first stint of the cafe will also serve the following dishes. Descriptions were translated directly from the original Japanese on the Tower Records Blog, and we swear we took hardly any artistic license with them. They really are that cheesy.

PART I

(Savories)

UNDER THE MOON LIGHT (1300 yen)

This hamburger plate was inspired by two "moonlight-themed" songs, ranked 4th and 5th in the fan vote tallies. Both were big hits of the band's early career! The first dish was designed in the image of a crescent moon. This is the only song ever composed by Buck-Tick's bassist, Higuchi Yutaka! We hope we hear this song live... add your hopes to ours by eating this dish.

Baby, I Want You (1300 yen)

This tropical, loco-moco-style bacon plate is dripping in steak sauce. Played live, this sexy, up-tempo number instantly jacks up the voltage! Fill yourself up with juicy meat to store up energy for the outdoor festival and tour to come!!

LOVE PARADE (800 yen)

Buck-Tick use the "Parade" theme to symbolize big turning points. This time, for the 30th anniversary, they're throwing a bigger parade than ever, sending out a message with the feeling that "anyone can join in the fun with us, anytime." This dish is for all of you, so you can continue to enjoy the Parade in your own fun, stress-free style - a light garlic toast caprese plate.

(Sweets)

Angelic Conversation (900 yen)

Buck-Tick are known for their hallucinatory imagery, but even so, this song ranks at number 1 for plunging deep into an immersive fantasy world. The "snake-strawberries" in the lyrics gave us the idea for this waffle smothered in frozen berries and ice cream. Eat up while waving your crimson resolve like a banner. [Note from Cayce: yeah, this sounds good. But does it really contain the secret ingredients necessary for holding a truly Angelic conversation in authentic Imai style? That remains to be seen.]

Serenade -My Sweet Umbrella- (900 yen)

This isn't just any love song - the real beauty in it is the way the heart-warming cuteness gently creeps up on you. This desert is a crepe, inspired by the umbrella mentioned in the lyrics. Forget the rainy-day blues with this song and this delicious dessert.

Alice in Wonder Underground (900 yen)

This adorable song is undeniably one of Buck-Tick's greatest live hits! In honor of Alice in the title, we offer you an Alice-themed chocolate cake.

PART II

(Savories)

MOON LIGHT (1300 yen)

Now for our second moonlight-themed dish, based on a song from Buck-Tick's first album, Hurry Up Mode, released in 1987. This mega-hit song goes to show how Buck-Tick's melodies never lose their loveliness no matter how much time passes!!

MISS TAKE -I'm a Miss Take- (1300 yen)

This squid-ink spaghetti was inspired by the fantastical imagery in the music video for Miss Take, Buck-Tick's second release off their independent label, Lingua Sounda. We attempted to evoke the black and white dress and cave reminiscent of a deep-sea grotto. As bands go, Buck-Tick sure have a lot of black in their imagery!

LOVE PARADE (800 yen)

Buck-Tick use the "Parade" theme to symbolize big turning points. This time, for the 30th anniversary, they're throwing a bigger parade than ever, sending out a message with the feeling that "anyone can join in the fun with us, anytime." This dish is for all of you, so you can continue to enjoy the Parade in your own fun, stress-free style - a light garlic toast caprese plate.

(Sweets)

Kuchizuke (900 yen)

From the song to the CD jacket to the music video, this whole single was just too beautiful! Not only that, but the song was the first opening theme to the anime Shiki, whose theme of the living vs. the dead we attempted to convey in this parfait. Above ground, the living are represented by a mix of rare cheese and fruits, while below ground, the buried dead are represented by chocolate and berries. The theme might be "horror," but this parfait is chock-full of fruits! [Note from Cayce: by "chock full of fruits," do they mean this parfait is full of GAY? And maybe will make you GAY if you eat it? Bravo, Tower. Apparently you did your research and discovered that not only are 70% of the Buck-Tick fan base queer in some fashion, but at least 90% of this 70% are still at least partly closeted and need to come out. Also please someone buy this one for Cayce. We don't even eat sweets that much but this one sounds scrumptious.]

Sapphire (900 yen)

This dessert, inspired by the song title "Sapphire," oozes with sensual atmosphere. This parfait is topped with sapphire blue pineapple jelly, rare cheese and fruits that glow like jewels. This dish has unforgettable visual impact! [Note from Cayce: but does it also contain sex? Is "rare cheese" just a euphemism for "contains sex"? Fangirls, chow down with caution. You might get some sex in your mouth by miss take!]

Alice in Wonder Underground (900 yen)

This adorable song is undeniably one of Buck-Tick's greatest live hits! In honor of Alice in the title, we offer you an Alice-themed chocolate cake. This time, the bunny rabbits from the luxurious dark-fantasy-inspired music video also make an appearance. [Note from Cayce: is there a vegetable-only cake friendly to actual bunny rabbit Buck-Tick fans? Because a little bird told us that Buck-Tick has been gaining great popularity among the bunny rabbit demographic.]

DRINKS

Gem-quality Cock Tales cocktails selected personally by the band members themselves. (Same for Part I and Part II)

Presented by Sakurai Atsushi: Cuba Libre (850 yen)

The Cuba Libre, an alcoholic drink selected by Mr. Sakurai of the magnificent, sensual voice. [Note from Cayce: kids, we swear that's what it actual says in Japanese. Those were not our words. We never uttered them.]

Presented by Imai Hisashi: Goldfish (Kinmiya Shochu mixed with soda water and garnished with hawk's talon peppers and green shiso leaves) (850 yen)

Mr. Imai's favorite shochu and soda, with hawk's talon peppers and shiso leaves swimming in it for a unique, stylish touch. [Note from Cayce: Welcome to a drink that tastes like a gastronomic re-imagining of one of Imai's ugliest outfits! Hipsters rejoice: this is exactly the sort of unnecessarily pretentious and disgusting kind of cocktail you live for! Bonus points if they serve it in something that isn't a glass! For those of you who don't know, hawk's talon peppers are HOT PEPPERS. They are SPICY. They will BURN YOUR MOUTH. Shiso is a Japanese herb which could be described as an acquired taste, somewhere between toothpaste, wormwood, and tarragon (ewwww). Between you and us, we like almost all foods, and we still haven't acquired the taste for shiso. It comes in purple and green varieties. The purple variety is a lot better, but note that this drink contains the (in our opinion) inferior green variety. Also, drink shochu at your own risk. We love booze almost as much as Mr. Sakurai but shochu never fails to make us see our dinner again sooner than we'd like. Mr. Imai, you are a troll.]

Presented by Hoshino Hidehiko: Caramel Latte (800 yen)

A sweet iced caramel latte, topped with a squeeze of whipped cream. [Next on the program: Hoshino Hidehiko vs. Murata Yukio COFFEE HIPSTER FIGHT TO THE DEATH. One of them plays secret soccer on an all-guitarist soccer team. The other moonlights as a coffee pornographer on Instagram. One likes it sweet, creamy, and made of richly stylish grey suede. The other likes it single-origin Hokkaido roast and ten of the same hat in slightly different colors. They would both spend a night at a hotel making sweet love to an acoustic guitar. They both love horizontal stripes and small beards slightly more than their pinky toes. This situation is untenable! "What did you do to my brodude Acchan in that karaoke box last night!??" challenges an irate Hide, oblivious of tearful Acchan's pleas for them to settle their differences by making peace with their unacceptable similarities... and so the EPIC BATTLE BEGINS.]

Presented by Higuchi Yutaka: Serious Bear Matcha Milk (800 yen)

Hot matcha milk, topped with Higuchi Yutaka's original character Serious Bear. [Congrats, Yutaka. You're now tied with Acchan-chan for "least pretentious and most drinkable," and we can't even manage to milk a gay joke out of a green drink. You're safe... for now.]

Presented by Yagami Toll: Dourakumu Lemon (850 yen)

Sake on the rocks, with a twist of lemon for a fresh taste. [This is a hipster cocktail, but we'd drink it anyway. Still, by rights it should be Piccante Piccini box wine.]

Gekka Reijin (800 yen)

"Gekka Reijin," a song of ephemerality and loss, which also served as Shiki's second ending theme. The moon in the lyrics is represented by pineapple sherbet, while the flower is represented by berry-inflected grape soda. Enjoy the brevity of life in a glass!

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Whew, that's a lot of stuff! If you're confused about the "blue pineapple" thing, we encourage you to look up Okinawa's Blue Seal Ice Cream, "Blue Wave" flavor, because we're pretty sure it explains everything.

But food isn't all, folks. In addition to food, the following Buck-Tick x Tower Records collaborative goods will also be for sale:

Decorative Plate (3132 yen including tax)

Stoneware Mug (1080 yen including tax)

Clear File (324 yen including tax)

These items will also go on sale at the following Tower Records outlets: Sapporo Pivo, Shibuya, Kinshicho, Diver City Tokyo Plaza, Umeda NU Chayamachi, Nagoya Parco, Takamatsu Marugamemachi, and Tower Records Online. The goods will go on sale at these stores from September 19th, but the mug and the clear file will be available at the Tower Records Cafe from September 12th. However, the plate won't be available till the 19th, even at the Tower Records Cafe. There are a limited number of items, and once they're gone, they're gone, so spend your money faster than everyone else, kids! If any of y'all wants to reserve these items through Cayce, just let us know. This time our fee is you treating us to a drink at the cafe.

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But wait, there's more! There will also be 30th anniversary festival goods on sale at the cafe and at the Tower Records outlets above. As above, they'll be available from the 12th at the cafe, and from the 19th everywhere else. However, since no information has yet been released about what the 30th anniversary festival goods will be, we can't very well recommend that you buy them. They'll also be selling the 30th Anniversary Best Album, because duh.

Anyway, which of these items are y'all interested in stuffing into your pie-holes? Which berries do you hope will be included in all these very berry mixes? Who do you think will win the battle of the coffee hipsters, and would you drink Imai's odious cocktail? Let us know in the comments.

Video Music Awards Japan

Hey, Blog-Tickers. We're sorry to have kept you waiting so long for a post, but it's been a long, hot summer, and strangely, not much has been happening in Buck-Tickistan... but this week, we just got a few updates, so here we are.

First of all, to those of you who wanted to order the "sacosh" (a.k.a miniature shoulder bag) designed by Hoshino Hidehiko... YOU CAN'T! (*blows raspberry*). Hide's nutso fangirls already ordered all of them literally the minute they went on sale earlier this week, and they're all gone. And frankly, this was a fail on the management's part not only because they're losing the opportunity for more sales, but also because they didn't even post a picture of the damn thing on the web shop until it actually went on sale, and who the fuck is going to spend 6800 yen on a bag when they don't even know what it looks like? Oh wait... apparently they did post a picture on the official site, but the email which Fish Tank sent out advertising this item the day before it went on sale didn't contain a link to that picture. Gods, but I'm sick of having to check every single separate Buck-Tick website just to get basic information.

Anyway, it looks like this, kids. To us, it looks like the sort of thing you could wear to work at a Japanese office (read: the worst place on earth) and not get side-eyed (read: have the fuck passive-aggressively judged out of you), which means it's so passive-aggressively unoffensive (read: boring) that you should be ashamed of ever wearing it anywhere, including to the office (sorry, Hide). Pale grey suede, really? This looks like the sort of thing the ghost of Steve Jobs would masturbate over. But even if you like it, you can't have it, because it's all sold out :P Enjoy this hot steamy fuck you from Hoshino Hidehiko! Don't worry, it will never be judged out of you.

UPDATE: They're getting the sacosh back in stock. It will once again be on sale from 8PM on September 7th, Japan Time. Good luck, kids.

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But on to our main announcement, which is that Buck-Tick have been awarded a sort of Lifetime Achievement Award as part of MTV's annual Video Music Awards Japan award ceremony. The award to Buck-Tick celebrates them as being "a band who have exerted great influence over Japanese music today." That is to say, Buck-Tick are a band with Wow Much Cool Very Fanboys in the Japanese rock scene. For our part, we have seen countless j-rockers practically wet their pants fanboying over Buck-Tick at industry parties, so we can verify that this is true. Buck-Tickistan forever!

Not only that, but Buck-Tick will be appearing in person to accept their trophy and give a live performance at the Video Music Awards Japan live event, which will be held at Shinkiba Studio Coast in Tokyo on September 27th. Those of you who will be in Tokyo during that time can visit this website and watch any of the winning music videos to access a link to a page where you can fill out an application form in hopes of winning a ticket to actually attend the event and see Buck-Tick perform live in the sweaty flesh. You can only enter once per email address, and you need to have a valid Japanese address, since if you win, they'll mail the ticket directly to your house. Entries are open until September 17th.

As to who else will be performing, Buck-Tick will be appearing alongside Kick The Can Crew, Mondo Grosso, Wanima, and rabid killer teen idol blob Momoiro Clover Z, so if you were disappointed that you missed out on Nogizaka 46 opening for Buck-Tick at the Kishidan Expo in 2013, now's your big chance to see socially awkward middle-aged male otaku mouthbreathers get the living shit beaten out of them by fat middle-aged fangirls with glowing red eyes, fangs, claws, and huuuuuuuge crushes on Acchan-chan-chan-sama-sama. It's better than pro wrestling!

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Last but not least, reservations are still open for Buck-Tick's forthcoming Fish Tanker's Only 2017 live DVD, scheduled for release on December 20th. We were personally in attendance at this concert and we can attest that the thing Mr. Sakurai did with that water bottle during "Future Song" is something he's never tried in public before, and he only did it that once for the DVD, so this DVD is definitely worth buying just for that. Oh, sorry, it's not just a DVD, it also comes as a BluRay. Anyhoo, as usual, there's a first press edition which costs twice as much as the regular version and includes two live CDs, a fancy slipcase, and a photobook for you to jill your lady pearls over all the livelong night.

The cost is as follows:

Limited Edition BluRay - 12480 yen (including tax and shipping)

Limited Edition DVD - 114000 yen (including tax and shipping)

Regular Edition BluRay - 7080 (including tax and shipping)

Regular Edition DVD - 6000 (including tax and shipping)

Reservations are open until October 6th. If you're not a Fish Tank member but you want to buy this DVD, please contact us immediately, and we will help you on a first-come, first-served basis. If you're interested in this item, we strongly encourage you to buy it now, as Fish Tank only DVDs usually cost at least 17000 yen when resold as used items, and in practice they often cost much more.

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That's it for now. We'll be back with more news as it becomes available.

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